Journey from the past

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

From the past! OK, here we go. I've always liked bikes. I can remember ordering a Triumph catalog by mail when I was about 12 years old. I pored over it until it fell apart, but there was no way I could come up with any kind of motorized cycle. Drafted in 1968, I managed to avoid Viet Nam. I'm in Thailand, stationed on a U.S. Army tugboat in 1969. A new guy shows up, and like me he's an engineer and we both work in the engine room. We become good friends, and the talk turns to bikes. He rides! So does his whole family. His Dad has an older Triumph and a Road King. He asks me if I ride, and I say, Oh a little, not much. Then one day, we find out that it is possible to rent a bike at the sleepy little seaside resort of Pattaya, just a few klicks up the coast road. At the next payday, he's chomping at the bit, let's go, c'mon. At the vendor kiosk on the beach road we check out the row of pretty new Honda 350's. We pick two, and I'm crapping bricks. I don't know how to ride. How am I going to get out of this? My buddy puts on the mandatory helmet, starts it up, clicks it into first, and zoom, he's out of there. I get aboard mine, helmet on, and the vendor can tell this is not going right. He comes over, and like most of the service people around, can speak enough English to do business. He can tell I don't have a clue, and he gives me a quick lesson is how to ride this thing. OK, into first, clutch out, go a little ways, stop, do it again. Then go again, shift into second, and hey, I'm riding. I click it into third and fourth, and I'm headed down the road. A few klicks, and I see my buddy stopped by the side of the road. I pull up, and he shouts out some exclamation of glee, and zoom, he's out of there again. After that, we'd rent bikes for a day almost every month. Fast forwad, I'm still in the army, but in Virginia.My buddy has got out and lives in Michigan. I have my car there, and I leave VA and head to MI, where we meet up. He lives in his childhood home, a small farm near Owasso, MI. I stayed there for three weeks, and during that time he and I rode all over the local place, he on his Dad's Triumph, me on his new Triumph Bonnie. I also went with him and his whole family on a vacation ride around Lake Superior, both of us two-up on his Bonnie switching up driver/pillion. Took nine days to get around the lake, camping every night in a KOA campground. I am still in contact with my buddy, and several years ago, he came out to visit me when I lived in California. I took him sailing to Catalina Island and to Ensenada, Mexico on a six-day jaunt.