The Silence Is Broken

This old geezer had fallen silent for the past month. Why? you might ask; or you might not, but I will tell you anyway.

Michael called me during the last weekend in July and suggested that we do something fun with Kim, who lives in the Chicago area. (If you don’t know who these people are, please go back and find them in former entries because it would take too long to explain here.) Further, he said that there was a motorcycle for sale across the street from him and that he was thinking about buying it so he could ride with Kim (who rides), and suggested that I might want to get a bike so we could all ride together. My initial was response was “no way”, but the more I thought about it the better the idea sounded. Michael bought the 2003, Anniversary Harley Sportster that was for sale by his house and I got a Kawasaki 800 from the local dealer. The goal was to tow the bikes to Kim’s house A.S.A.P. and surprise her.

There were two major obstacles that had to be overcome. First, I had to learn to operate the damned thing (I rode a friend’s bike in the early to mid sixties a few times and owned a scooter, but otherwise had absolutely no experience.) Michael rode a motorcycle about 25 years ago and therefore qualified as the experienced rider. Second, we had to get motorcycle endorsements on our driver's licenses (Michael had previously had one, but let it expire).

I figured 2 weeks practice, before the skills test for the endorsement. So, I spent the first week of August taking short rides and practicing slow maneuvers in a church parking lot. My only injury…. a sprained wrist. I considered myself lucky so far (although the wrist still doesn’t work worth a hoot.) The next Monday, I called to make the appointment for us take the skills test in Lawton on the upcoming Saturday and continued to practice. The only part of the test that had me stressed out was the anticipation of doing the WEAVE. Here, the word “weave” should be said with reverence, and authority, as if it were being said by God with dark and ominous clouds quickly forming overhead.

On the day of the TEST (use the same voice inflection as was used with WEAVE), we arrived at the site, did the paper work, and got in line behind a bunch of confident whipper snappers; all of whom seemed to pass without any trouble. Michael went before me and passed. Ahhh, the pressure was unbearable. My turn, and the first maneuver on the course…. The WEAVE! Clearly I was in trouble. This was not set up at all like the practice course we had used. I launched into the course filled with trepidation. Three cones were successfully navigated when I took the turn too wide to get back into the game and ran over the last two. Had they been people, bodies would have been strewn about like ??? …. Well, like knocked over cones…. Death and destruction would have reigned. I returned to the instructor assuming I would be assigned a new test date, however, he informed me I had lost five points but was still in the hunt. The rest of the test would have to go without incident. No stalling, no dropping my feet to get balance, no errors. Impossible! But no; I actually muddled through the test.


Michael and I made arrangements to visit Kim and spring the surprise on her, which we did. I’ll make our visit with Kim a separate entry, but to show it actually happened, I’ve included here a picture of the three of us at a restaurant near her house in Illinois.