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I see something more existential in Seger. It's the birthday cake that Uncle Joe is afraid to cut. Like many a biker, Joe deals with the too-present reality of his mortality by living in denial, refusing to acknowledge the passing of time.
Fire Lake has been a sanctuary for bikers since well before Joe first discovered it as a teenager. Sometimes he goes out for a weekend. Sometimes for two months. But lately the reality is clear --- that the bronze beauties are out-numbered by the bikers, and his likelihood of catching one for himself gets less likely as the time passes and the younger men get first pickings.
But nonetheless, he still feels called to go back. And it kills Aunt Sally. Because she knows one of these days he ain't coming back. Either because he's gonna run off with one of those girls who flirts so well and looks like Sally never will again, or because he's going to lose it all --- including his bike --- on eights and aces. Or maybe because he's gonna make that "first mistake," failing for the first and last time to negotiate the curve on the pass between Tannersville and Moultrie.
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Henley and Frey and Timothy B. Schmitt sing on this (the three Eagles that you want singing on your record). I tend to think it's their payback for Seger giving them "Heartache Tonight," which turned out to be their last number one.
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