Paradise by the Dashboard Lights

I was humming that Meat Loaf song, "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights," the other day.

I love that song (and album!). It encapsulates the rushing emotions of being a teen and seeking the secrets of sexual pleasure. And it's the best use of a baseball broadcast I have ever heard.

Of the non-Beatles albums I must have in my ever-aging music collection, "Bat Out of Hell" would have to be there -- album, cassette, CD, iPod -- it must be there.

I was thinking about it because, as the picture above shows, I was not driving my decade-old Corsica to a trail head of the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail in Kent County. I borrowed my mother-in-law's van which fits my Fuji snuggly (no, not a sexual euphemism) for the 55 mile drive to Belmont.

The Corsica's dash board idiot lights have been ablaze recently. "Service Engine Soon" and "Coolant Low" are the main flashers, along with the occasional "Get a Haircut You Hippie" light.

I've had the engine checked and it's old, like me. It's also leaking lots of multi-colored fluids, like me (did you need to know that?). So, I only take the car to and from work, and the instant oil change garage where they add fluids regularly (like me going to the coffee shop) and run when they see me coming in the coughing, chugging and rusting car (like at the coffee shop!).

The trail

The ride on the White Pine Trail was fantastic. It's only paved from Comstock Park to Russell Street south of Cedar Springs (about 14 miles, I think), but another 8 miles will soon be added to Sand Lake. The trail itself is about 100 miles from Grand Rapids to Cadillac. It's an abandoned rail line (I studied these in college, believe it or not. Who says an Adrian education doesn't pay off?)

The day I went, rain was constant but light. I don't mind riding in the rain. As Paul McCartney says, "Don't complain. It rains for you and me." The worst part of rain is wet socks. Yuck. Can't stand it. Squishy.

The trail went through forested area, through Rockford, past the 150-year-old dam on the Rogue River, by the Wolverine World Wide factory (home of Hush Puppies shoes), by Fifth Third Ballpark (home of the West Michigan Whitecaps) and the Grand River (home of raw sewage from Grand Rapids).

Check out my bike column in the Sept. 4 Holland Sentinel (www.hollandsentinel.com) if you want more details, but the drive through construction on U.S. 131 is worth it.

I'd like to take the kids along the trail some time.

Best thing, of course: No idiot lights on my bike telling me the engine is about to explode.

Thought: We were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife. ...