My partner works on a schedule where he has every other Monday off. Today was one of those days. So he can continue to sleep when I rise at 4:30am, he sleeps in our guest room. Fortunately, it’s on the opposite side of the house from our master bedroom, so he can’t hear me in the shower or while I am getting dressed.

The only problem is that boots make noise. And since he waxed the hardwood floors on our first floor, no matter what boots I wear, they make loud squeaky noises on those floors. And cowboy boots would clunk loudly. While I like the clunk sound, I don’t want it to disturb my partner while he is trying to sleep.

We resolve this situation by some advanced planning. I figure out what boots I will wear the night before. I put them out in the garage by my motorcycle. In the morning, I just pad around the house in my socks. When I come down the stairs into our wood-floored foyer, I try hard not to fall on my butt because the floors are so slippery.

I packed my lunch, using only the light above the stove. If I turned the lights on in the kitchen, the light spilling out the kitchen windows causes a reflection that can be seen from the guest room. My partner is very sensitive to light, as am I. We usually rise no later than dawn all year-round.

I gather my stuff to bring to work, pack it in my bag, grab my motorcycle helmet from the top of the ‘fridge, and then quietly and carefully tiptoe into the garage, slowly closing the door behind me. Once I am in the garage, I put my boots on. Then I carefully open the garage door using the manual release. Oh-so-slowly I lift the door so it doesn’t rattle and creak. When the door is open, I step outside and walk around a bit, determining by feel what to wear for protection and warmth as I ride the Harley to Metro. Fortunately, I keep my most regularly-worn leathers and gloves on a special rack that I built in the garage.

It was a very mild morning, so I put on what I wear most regularly in the summer, my light leather shirt/jacket that I got a long time ago. It is light enough not to be confining, but heavy enough to ward off the slight morning chill. I put on my Damascus 302 cop search gloves, which are very light, as well.

I carefully walk the bike out of the garage, then very slowly close the door and lock it. I remount my iron steed and walk it to the end of the driveway, pointing down the street in my direction of travel. Only then do I fire it up, and ride off.

I learned from an article in American Motorcyclist that by starting a motorcycle out in the street, away from where sound can reverberate such as against a garage door or the front of a house/building, reports are that few people can hear it. Thus, no complaints about motorcycle noise. I have to be careful about that, because at 5:30 in the morning when I leave, almost all of the rest of my neighbors are still asleep. I don’t want them complaining to the HOA President about noise that I make. (Well, no worries. I’m the HOA President… but nonetheless, I have a reputation to maintain). I try to be thoughtful, and don’t want to bother people if I can do something to avoid it. And that includes being stealthy inside my own house, not put on my boots until I’m in the garage, and starting up my bike while well away from walls that can reverberate that hefty rumble of my Harley.