Thursday, July 3, 2008

Dad's New Toy


He's a happy camper! Doesn't he look cool in his new helmet? He's begging me to ride it to the beach, but 2500 miles is a VERY long ride on the back of a motorcycle! We took a trip yesterday just to see how far we could go on a tank of gas. The bike has no fuel gauge, so it was just a guess as to how far we could go.

Grace, Idaho is a tiny town about 60 miles north of Smithfield, through some of the most gorgeous farm country on the earth. We were entralled by the beautiful surroundings, and completely forgot to check the gas tank. After we had run about 112 miles, we hit a down-hill run into Grace and pulled into the only gas station in town. We checked the tank, and yup, we were running on fumes!

Dad reached into his pocket for his wallet and yup, he'd left it home! So here we were, two old people on a motorcycle we had no business riding, 100's of miles away from family and friends, in the middle of no where, without gas nor money! Not a happy place in which to find oneself!

So your Dad goes into the gas station office to tell his sad story, and I rack my brain to try to remember our credit card number. Thankfully the God's were smiling on us (as the 100 degree sun beat down on us), and the lady entered the numbers I spouted off the top of my head, and TA DAAA! It worked!

We put a whole 2.8 gals of fuel into our tank and headed back home. We were terribly paranoid, however, fearful that we would be pulled over by a policeman. Since Dad already got a speeding ticket a couple of weeks ago, he really didn't need another for driving without a license. He'll end up in jail if he's not careful!

Anyway, we had a blast, and he's getting pretty good at starting up without stalling. Yippeeeee!!

Come see us and he'll take you for a spin!

6 comments:

somestratt said...

Are you sure he didn't die, because as far as I know my dad that is as close to the definition of "gone to heaven" as I know. The bike is beautiful, and the ride sound even better!

I am Sam said...

nice, pop.
40 mpg... think it needs a turbo too?
love ya'all

Jeremy said...

good for you Dad!!!! I am happy to see that retirement came with a motorcycle for you. May you have many sundrenched rides through the Utah mountians. Love ya.

cindy baldwin said...

I am SO coming to visit!

Jeffro said...

A speeding ticket! Well I never... We do not get speeding tickets in this family young man! And you need to go get your motorcycle license. It doesn't matter that your sons have been riding for decades without them. That doesn't make it right!

Just kidding : )
Right on dad. This just gives me a little more evidence that it's not just your boys that are encouragable, it's hereditary. Yeah!

somestratt said...

I predict that sometime in the next year we will see a picture of Dad and Ramona with matching black tee shirts that say "Heavens Angels" on them.