What's in a Name?

Lafayette, LA

N 30°12'59.82", W 92°0'46.48"

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.21662,-92.01291

Before the dreaded Road Fatigue claims me, a quick note on nomenclature in my road tripping.

I've never been good at naming vehicles. My blue Honda was The Blue Honda, my Buick was The Buick or the Oldmanmobile, and occasionally Pandora if Nathan was around.

The motorcycle deserves better, and as such, I have too many names.

The first proposed was Zorobabel, Zoro to the ladies. Leader of the first Jewish exodus, with a name that translates to Seed of Babylon, he befriended Zachariah in a prison camp on the grounds that Z names must stick together. Seed of Babylon, hell yeah.

The song Born to Be Wild has been stuck in my head for 2200 miles and it got me thinking about the name Steppenwolf. Yes, it's the band, but it's also the German word for the archetypal lone wolf. It only SOUNDS cliched.

Another friend has threatened to disown me for riding a motorcycle, on the grounds that it will kill me. She made some crack about my death cycle, to which I replied, "Oh, you mean Samsara, my Cycle Of Life And Death?" I think this is my current favorite. Feminine-sounding, because the bike is a lady, high brow, clever in a too-clever way, AND it's tempting fate by casually referencing death.

And the three runners up are Windshadow, because it popped in my head as I was knocked around by a tractor-trailer's gusts, Wiley, because in retrospect it may have earned the name by FAILING to kill that roadrunner, and Shadowfax, a la everyone's favorite grey wizard.

Now, I have three things with completely unambiguous names. Each glove, and the gas can.

The can is easy; He's Jerry, Jerry the Can.

The gloves are more fun and require a teeny bit of background. Wearing black leather gloves makes me want to strangle somebody. Nothing against anybody, and it's not in a 'killing' kind of way, but rather a 'making murder' kind of way. It's more sinister and theatrical. I blame crime shows, movies, and assorted cinematographers, but wearing gloves and seeing your hands do things is about the same as the Mysterious Assailant in Black Gloves shots in film. I am also conscious of the fact that I'm not leaving fingerprints, which incites mayhem. Anyway, paired with the fact that they are motorcycle gloves and the handlebars are home to fuel controls named the choke and the throttle, it was only natural that my left glove's name be Choke and my right's Throttle.

I amuse myself, I swear.