Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Wild hair scratching


Well, I scratched that wild hair over the weekend. I bought a vintage 1971 BSA Thunderbolt motorcycle. It's an awesome bike, and I plan on restoring it to mint condition slowly. Right now, I'm putting new tires, a battery, a chain and all the things necessary to make it road-worthy. It's a beautiful bike. I drove down to Merritt Island, FL to pick it up over the weekend. It was a long drive (and the subject of countless stories to come). Sixteen hours one-way, only to wait an hour and travel home. I left Friday night around 6 p.m. and stopped in Dalton, GA around 1 a.m. I slept a total of 4 hours, then got on the road again. I arrived at the seller's house around 4 p.m. Saturday and waited about an hour for him to get off work. Around 6 p.m., I was on the road again with the bike in the back of the soon-to-be-ex's truck (a story there, as well - she's currently accusing me of "stealing" her truck, never mind that I asked her to use it and she said "yes"). Anyway, I stopped for the night around midnight, then got up at 5 a.m. and started the trek toward home. I was making damned good time until, just outside of Nashville, I hit a traffic jam. Two hours later, I made it out of the traffic jam and was on the road again. I arrived back in Carbondale around 5:30 p.m., tired as hell. But, it was worth it. Just look at the bike. She's a relic from a better, lost time....just like her new owner.

Hopefully, I'll be riding her soon.