Every biker… or in my case a motorcyclist as I prefer to be called… is a father… a brother… a husband… a friend… a teacher… etc., etc., etc… We’re people! Just like you. We just choose to ride motorcycles. Why is it that people do not see us? Could it be that you’re overtly distracted… far too engaged with your own life and not really aware of those around you? Therefore uncaring of the impact (literally) even your momentary inattention can wreck upon the lives of all these people…. people just like you!
Because of the price of petrol (gas) motorcycles are far more popular in Europe than the US. As a result, safety is is real issue there! A British Public Service Ad… Sorry SISD-er’s… it’s You Tube, so you’re blocked, but you can try it at home.
One of the truly wonderous things about the internet is you can explore places you will never see. Or in this case… places I’ve already been. Behold… a snapshot taken last year, that is startlingly similar to the one I took in the summer of 1977.
In the summer of 1977 I was sixteen and I was already seriously addicted to backpacking. Behold… me… on Baldy peak, Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, August 1977. This was my highest mileage day ever. As I reckon it today, about 22 miles… with a pack, over a 12,441 ft. mountain along the way.
One year ago today my life changed. This is one of the most positive things to happen to me in the ten years since I left the oppressive debt ratios and mountainous shame of my first marriage. This was a tremendous event in my second life, it ranks right up there with landing in San Marcos, getting to know the Lindsey Oaks Gang, meeting Carrie, returning to a career in teaching and spending loads more time in Big Bend. This is BIG!
I bought a Gold Wing.
A 1996 Honda GL1500-A,Aspencade to be exact… Pearl Blue. At the time, it had about 43K on the odometer. Today it has 52,529. I’ve put danged near 10,000 miles on the bike in one year… about twice as much as the year before on the 1100 Shadow… and twice as much as I clocked on the truck this year. It’s official, the blue beast is my vehicle of choice. This last year I clocked more miles on my motorcycle than I did in my car. Keep in mind I drove the truck to Georgia this last summer… accounting for 2K of the 5K the Escape accumulated this year.
I am sure I could spend hours upon hours of time trying to explain the addiction. But I won’t. You would never understand. Some men golf, some climb mountains. Some watch Nascar. Some men hunt, some fish. Some will lie on the couch all weekend and watch sports. Some work on cars. They garden… some hang out in strip bars and honky tonks. But me… I ride a Gold Wing… all in all… not a bad thing to wrap your passion around. It’s fun owning a Gold Wing. I’m out there… riding on a Wing and a prayer.
Happy Birthday to Maltov, my beloved Blue Beast, the bluest of Cookie Monsters.
Went to my friend’s Garry’s 50th birthday party last night. On the way into Austin I got stuck in a killer of a traffic jamb. It gave me plenty of time to think. I did the math and as best as I can remember, I’ve known Garry for 28 years. Lawdy, lawdy… where did the time go. More to come later as it took me a bit longer to format these images and get them posted to all the right galleries.
Alrighty… back in from church and while the world braces for the Superbowl, I have few minutes while lunch is in the oven. Mmmmm… lasagna.
I am a little ‘iffy‘ on the date of this image. I believe this one was taken in March of 1986, although it could have been 1987. There are a few things that lead me to believe this was ‘86.
Spring break of 1986 was the very first trip Garry and I made to backpack in west Texas. Needless to say the trip was awesome. However, we got our butts kicked most righteously in the Guadalupe Mountains. Which to date is still the coldest and windiest place I have ever camped. It was completely unrelenting… which was made even worse by the fact we were totally unprepared. This picture was snapped in the recovery period of that trip. After we morphed it into a road trip. If memory serves, we made a impromptu trip down to Big Bend National Park. Mostly just to see what was there. So began my life long love affair with the Big Bend region. Also during this time, I still had some access to a colour darkroom at Texas A&M University… where I was finishing my senior year. This image has that grainy and scratchy feel like so many of those images I processed myself. Had it been ‘87, more than likely the processing would appear a bit smoother. Also… at this time, I was shooting with an absolutely ancient (even then) Pentax K1000 SLR 35mm. That camera was a bit funky! At the higher shutter speeds, at which this images was taken, the shutter was a little sticky, rendering the images somewhat over exposed on the left hand side of every frame. I have compensated for that here as best as I am able with editing in Photoshop, but all these indications tend to suggest (rather strongly) that this images taken in March of 1987.
Garry and I were both 26 at the time. So… there were are. Parked outside the east entrance of Big Bend national park… standing next to Garry’s Mercedes with the one black fender… smiling at the camera waving… totally clueless!
Finally… a motorcycle safety device worth owning. I’ve ordered one and it is in the mail… whoo-hoo! I can wait to zap cell phone yappers. Hey that would be a terrific name… we could call it a “Yapper Zapper.”
I lost yesterday afternoon. Because there was a parent report card pick up night… I had to stay at work till six. This is what they call “other duties as assigned” in my teaching contract. So I hung around for about 2 1/2 hours and spoke to 2 set of parents. I teach about 150 students. Needless to say, my time could have been better spent.
But this evening… I bucked it on home in the Ford and dry fitted the radiator cover on the wing. It had a crack so I checked the price at Cyclemax… $75.00. That’s a bit rich for my blood… maybe later. So I have to repair it somehow. I mixed epoxy and glued it. We’ll see… at least the part is still available. I can buy it if I have too… I’d just rather not.
Then the windshield went on… followed immediately by the chrome cowling in the front. I had to fight with that a bit and I was able to adjust the height of the windsheild down about 2″. I consider this a plus… I am not fond of overly high windshields.
Then I glued a new auxiliary circuit strip inside the left fairing pocket hole. I am hoping this will help me to manage add-on electrical draws. The LED lighting. The forward driving lights. The power feed for the air horn.
Of course I rode the beast… took it out for an evening prowl just at sunset…
I awoke at 7:07 AM. I was in the garage by 7:15. Like an aircraft, I eased the wing out into the cold, rose coloured light of dawn. I started cleaning and bolting on parts. I pulled wire. I took things off… bent them just a little and put them back on again. I just kept making trips back to my parts table and tearing open those little envelopes I use to keep all the fasteners and small parts straight. I made two trips to Autozone.
Somewhere around 2:00 PM, I started to think, “Ya know, I might just be able to start this thing today.” By about 2:30 I was fitting my brand new A.G.M. (absorbed glass mat) battery into the right hand side panel.
I dropped it off the lift and pulled it onto the center stand. I ran over my mental check list and said a “Hail Mary.” I cranked it a bit. Plenty of power in that snazzy new battery right outta the box. I added some choke… it fired, revved and held RPMs. I plugged in the air compressor. I moved the truck while my ride idled on the center stand. I checked the tire pressure. The back was two pounds low and the front was dead on. I backed that bad old boy down the driveway and took a romp around the neighborhood with the plastic side panels off, no windshield and no seat. Hallelujah!
<!… insert soundbyte of the choral crescendo of Beethoven’s 9th symphony here …>
After!
I spent the rest of the afternoon continuing to bolt on parts between occasional romps around the neighborhood.
Lawdy, lawdy… my beloved blue beast is alive again!
If I am diligent about continuing to work and the weather holds I might be able to ride to work on Monday… whoo-hoo!
I know that I appear to be a bit obsessed about this machine… but my Wing, pleaseth me!
