It's the end of the season here at Kemble with the sun lower on the horizon and morning fog banks forming in the chill air. The iconic Chi Cheemaun ferry passed by on its way to its winter harbour. And because of an excellent growth year, the carpet of golden maple autumn leaves seems thicker than ever.
The annual shut-down of the homestead has happened. The leaves (see above!) have been raked several times. Most of them get spread on the gardens, like a warm blanket on tender tootsies. The summer vehicles have been winterized and reassured that they'll be back on the road --- topless --- again (but who knows where??). On the top of the hill the lawn gets mowed on the east side while the pond gets skimmed on the west. At the bottom of the hill, the leaves outnumber the rakers about 1,000,000 to 2!
But the big story this week was the sale of my 1964 Honda Cub motorbike. After 51 years, I have passed it on to the future. My nieces have all written about their memories of rides on the bike long ago; comments about being terrorized or having sore bikebum dominate! For me, it's images of doing wheelies as a teenager or riding in Baja Mexico or speeding at night on dark roads, howling like a lone wolf free on the wind. But after years of scouting a Cub repair, it's time to let go. Thank goodness, Pat and I did ride on it together a couple of years ago. Here's the archival pose with this big part of my life:
The amazing thing is, the guy that bought it has big and fun plans to put it back on the road! (We were overwhelmed by him; he counted out the $$$ before saying hello. He didn't want any details from me. He put the Honda up on the custom hoist immediately and shooed us away before I could even take a farewell picture!) Despite having a garage-full (4!) of big BMW motorcycles, he will be riding this little classic next year in an event called the Mad Bastard Road Race. Limited to "scooters", this excuse to drive and drink (in that order) has a hundred crazy guys going about 500 miles in 24 hours on back roads. In costumes and/or silly decorations. Look it up! Next year on June 19-21 we'll be somewhere in southern Ontario watching my former pride and joy whiz by. I expect it will be in the lead, like beloved memories of my own mad times...
But the big story this week was the sale of my 1964 Honda Cub motorbike. After 51 years, I have passed it on to the future. My nieces have all written about their memories of rides on the bike long ago; comments about being terrorized or having sore bikebum dominate! For me, it's images of doing wheelies as a teenager or riding in Baja Mexico or speeding at night on dark roads, howling like a lone wolf free on the wind. But after years of scouting a Cub repair, it's time to let go. Thank goodness, Pat and I did ride on it together a couple of years ago. Here's the archival pose with this big part of my life:
The amazing thing is, the guy that bought it has big and fun plans to put it back on the road! (We were overwhelmed by him; he counted out the $$$ before saying hello. He didn't want any details from me. He put the Honda up on the custom hoist immediately and shooed us away before I could even take a farewell picture!) Despite having a garage-full (4!) of big BMW motorcycles, he will be riding this little classic next year in an event called the Mad Bastard Road Race. Limited to "scooters", this excuse to drive and drink (in that order) has a hundred crazy guys going about 500 miles in 24 hours on back roads. In costumes and/or silly decorations. Look it up! Next year on June 19-21 we'll be somewhere in southern Ontario watching my former pride and joy whiz by. I expect it will be in the lead, like beloved memories of my own mad times...
No comments:
Post a Comment