Okay, now I am going to try again. Last time I went to update, the phone went berserk and so did a lot of peoples systems so I had to ditch it and start again.
Okay, well I went and got a refill of coffee and the wireless keyboard and still no ringing of the phone so here we go.
Man has it been that long since I have done an update? Oh well lets hit the biggies off the top and move on from there. Fair warning I am doing this after ¾ of a cup of coffee so if I start to ramble, just ride it out to the end, it will go somewhere eventually.
Vintage Motorcycle Days
So the first thing of note is I committed a big mess-up as to the location of the event. Somehow I got it mixed up with National Trails, which sits about 15 miles from my friends house and where it actually was, some almost 90 miles further north. I dorked, I admit it publicly, but lets move on.
It was Saturday morning and I got up early so I would be awake and ready. Plenty of coffee, some food for energy, check the route map again online with backup routes in case of construction, and check the weather report. Rain. Was it raining outside? Yep, sure enough the skies had opened up, but my brain had bypassed it somehow. Bugblatter beast of Trall defense I think; If I do not acknowledge it exists, it does not and therefore can not harm me. Scallia Labs, the University weather service said it would end by 8am.
8am came and went but the rain did not. I waited till almost 9am with the idea they may have had their time off, being weather and all one cannot expect it to be punctual. Clouds being all fluffy and such do not keep day planners. So, I ride.
Fast forward 1 hour later; Corning Ohio. This is usually a 35 minute ride. By thins time my face is red and swollen from the pounding of the rain. I dump the water out of my shoes and realize my pants are soaked completely. No big deal, I am hard core according to some so I will press on.
Hit the fast forward again, 45 minutes later. I am now at a crossroads and it is almost 11 am. The clouds and rain have lost their breakfast reservations in Parkersburg as the have not even left yet. I have gone to about the half way point but the rain is a little lighter. I find a gas station with coffee to warm me up. With a brilliant stroke of luck they also sell hunting and paintball supplies. I buy a face cover as now the rain has beaten my lips to the point of bleeding. I am glad I have a helmet. I do believe that riding without one in that rain would have led to a story with a not so happy ending.
Fast forward 30 minutes this time to New Lexington OH. I am now ¾ of the way to sanctuary. I stop for coffee again. Not that I am thirsty that much as I am now super hydrated from having the water pressed into my body. Jump back on the bike and kick it to go.
BOOM. Boom? What was boom? Ah, backfire. It happens on a big single. By this time I am too wet and cold to care about being cool and kick starting so I go for the electric starter. Whirr, whirr, whirr, nothing. I can smell gas. I must have flooded it so I take my helmet off and hang out in front of the store to try to enjoy a dry smoke while the bike clears itself. 10 minutes goes by and I try it again. Whirrr, nothing. So, the mind takes over and kicks to troubleshooting mode to figure out what is wrong. I have power. I check the tank and I have fuel. Dismount from the bike and check spark ZAP, yep got spark. Shake hand hard to return nerves to proper operation. Look at other side of engine, crouch down with mouth hanging open staring at the carburetor dangling off of the air box. Apparently said BOOM was powerful enough to low the carb out of its manifold and therefore keep the bike from starting. Grab a screwdriver out of the ammo box on the back and in 30 seconds it is back on. Put tools back in boxes and give it a kick, Varrroomm, thump, thump, thump. All is right with the Curry Rocket.
Fast forward again another 45 minutes and I am at the junction of 70 and US13. Soaked totally thru the leather and upper layers of flesh, muscles are starting to cramp from forced water under skin. Go into small gas station to get warm and dry off a touch. Pour coffee and apologize to nice ladies running place that I need to drink some of it before my fingers will work enough to be able to manipulate my wallet so I can pay for it. Also apologize for washing their floor. The get a chuckle when I point to my feet as I am walking and little gyres of water shoot out of the air holes on the tops of my shoes. The tell me it is okay and just to drink the coffee, don’t worry about paying for it. Gee, I must have looked fairly sad at that point. Finish coffee and say many thank yous to them as I go outside again. Dump water out of shoes again. Feet so waterlogged they hurt.
So 20 more minutes later, I make it to our friends house, Mayapple. After even more coffee to warm up and dryer clothes we decide that any more distance on the bike could be deadly. So, I agreed and we took the car the last part of it.
The Vintage Bike Show.
Forgot that was what this was all about hu?
So we get there and the ticket process was to say the least painless. We had pre ordered them on the net and just picked them up. Parking on the other hand was something else. After a small trip through the vendors by car, both in forward and then reverse when we ran out of room, we did finally find somewhere to park. It is still raining. Judi was with me as we started looking for one of the vendors in particular. No listing of vendors so it was like a very soggy scavenger hunt. I must say she did not complain about being there in the rain nor my bad navigation through the swap meet. She did ask if we could get her a hat since the rain was so heavy she was not able to see out of her glasses. What a trooper!
So, we went up to the tshirt-ripoff-o-rama and got 2 shirts and a hat for her. She undid her hair bun and put the hat on to the exclamation of one of the vendors /My god! What beautiful hair!/. Yea, she likes the attention.
So we continued on for about another hour of walking till by sheer luck we cam across the Classic Motorworks tent and they guy I wanted to see, Dan from DRS Cycle. Gods bless that man, as he is so cool and helpful. He was they guy I got my bike from. I told him thank you again many times. He gave us free t-shirts! See? Told you he was cool. There was nothing there in parts I really needed so we continued on. After a bit we got one purchase we had agreed on while driving up, A RAINSUIT.
Behold me oh ancient gods of weather for now I have my rain suit and no longer fear you! I shake my fists at the heavens in defiance of the rain, ha HA! *–BOOM-ZAP* , oh yea, I remember, sorry.
There were hundreds of bikes of all shapes and sizes from micro rice rockets to the newest of the bellybutton models from Detroit. From the Enfields I saw only five or six I wanted, but I figured I would pass as somehow the idea of living in a cardboard box did not appeal that much, even with 6 cool bikes parked out front. I could do another post just on what bikes I saw.
Anyway after that we returned to Mayapple and Barb fed us real well with roasted leg of lamb. Poor little thing did not even stand a chance, not when it was hanging out with roasted fingerling potatoes with garlic, and home made rice pilaf. For sides, Lebanese green beans. YUM!
Sleep came hard and soundly that night. In the morning we took a little trip with Barb and Morgana to Flint ridge for a little visit to the museum and a walk in the bugs, er woods. Being a beginning flint knapper and long time confirmed rock hound this was a very difficult trip. The trails were very good and they were quite clear. Clear enough to see the flint outcroppings. The beautiful flint out croppings. The beautiful colorful flint outcroppings with quartz crystals you cant touch cause it is an archeology preserve! Frack, pissed as a diabetic unattended in a candy factory. Anyway it was still fun, Morgana and I seemed to get the most out of it.
The trip home was uneventful. That is a good thing. Somehow I beat Judi back home even though we almost left at the same time. Guess there is a little time displacer field generator on the bike I did not know about. That would explain how a little 10 minute ride becomes and hour very quickly. It must be charging.
Till next time,
Be mindful and awake.
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