Free FAME and GLORY by K.T. Hastings

cold.  We were hot tonight but the Utahans were cold.  It happens.  Just keep rocking.  There's magic in the air next time out.  I can feel it in my bones.”
     
    Diane raised her glass of iced tea.  “I propose a toast," she said.  “to saying goodbye to Utah and hello to the great state of Wyoming.  Maybe I'll meet a hot cowboy in a cool pair of chaps, and”, she paused for maximum effect. “Long may we buck.”
     
    The members of Brandee laughed and clinked their glasses together.  They had tomorrow off so there was no need to get back to the hotel anytime soon.  They called for another round of Bruce's favorite appetizer, breaded mozzarella sticks with ranch dressing, and settled in for some bonding.
     
    ***
     
    The next day, the two couples and Diane all had different plans about how best to spend their day off.  They were staying at The Marriott, which was connected to one of the largest malls in the western half of the United States.  Diane had been waiting for this day for quite some time. She loved to shop, so this would be a great opportunity for her to indulge herself in some retail therapy.  She believed that a day away from Brandee might do her some good as well.  She liked the little songstress okay, but she thought that it would be a pleasure being apart from Brandee's preening ways.
     
    Diane also had another reason to go off on her own.  She had spotted a Dippin' Dots machine in the Salt Lake City Mall.  Diane was a fanatic for the super- cooled ice cream pellets that make up a bowl of Dippin' Dots.  The way that they froze her tongue and slowly melted into the taste of a banana split (her favorite flavor in the world) brought a smile to the drummer's face, and she was determined to have some of that today.  She also knew that the others would worry about her diabetes if they were around.  She had been good for a long time.  Her numbers were fine.  “Dippin' Dots, here comes Diane Hoover.”
     
    ***
     
    Bruce and Suzi were miles away from Diane and her Dots, but they were shopping, too.  They were at Schober and Taylor's Harley-Davidson dealership in Ogden.  Bruce and Suzi had found a mutual passion that they shared beside music.  They were both into bikes.  The bigger the bike and the louder the sound, the better they liked it.  Suzi owned a Honda CBR600RR that she had purchased about two years earlier.  Bruce had owned a Kawasaki Ninja 650R before his latest time in rehab.  He had sold the bike to pay for the treatment and hadn't owned one since.  He and Suzi were ready to ride.
     
    At the very moment that Diane was enjoying her first bite of frozen bliss, Bruce and Suzi were working out a deal with salesperson Karina Kimem for 2 2011 V-Rod Muscle Bikes.  They were going to celebrate their budding relationship by purchasing matching bikes.  Neither of them had ever owned a Harley.  They wanted a biker's bike, and intended to get a couple of them.  At just over 1000 cc's, it would be the fastest things either of them had been on.  They had done their due diligence in terms of research and were ready to take possession.  They would arrange to have the bikes shipped back home so that it would be waiting for them when the tour was over.  First though, they had something that they needed to do.
     
    The Bonneville Salt Flats was a desolate area that began about 88 miles west of Salt Lake City.  Flat, barren, and remote, it had long been a mecca for people who wanted to bring their vehicles out just to see how fast they could go, flat out.  Years ago, the Land Speed events were held at Bonneville before speeds in excess of 350 miles an hour proved too fast even for The Flats.  This was where Bruce and Suzi were going to bring their bikes before setting them up for shipping.  By midafternoon, they had arrived.  The nearly 100 miles from Ogden had gotten the musical couple used to their new bikes.  They were ready to open them up.
     
    They took off together,