SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
This morning my wife and I were up early. I was sitting on the couch watching the news and sipping my coffee while she took her shower. On the news they talked about how what they thought was a tornado had ripped through the area where my parents live. I didn't think about it, I just grabbed the phone and tried to call my parents. I didn't get through, all I got was that damned tri-tone followed by a message telling me their phone was out of service.
I fired up the computer and checked the local news for their area. All it talked about was multiple Mobile Homes damaged in their area. Okay, I'm starting to plan. My wife comes out of the bathroom and I tell her what's going on. I grab a couple of things and head out to the car.
I'm stopped in my tracks when I see that my car has two tires flat. (No nothing sinister here. One had a screw buried in the tread and the other had what looks like a pice of Hubcap buried in the treads.) Now this is posing a problem, I only have one spare tire.
I'm standing there cursing up a storm when I have an idea. Sitting there in front of the car is the Beast.
Okay so I got that damned cylinder to fire but the bike still needs work. I have to Synchronise the Carbs. Once that's done then I can start road testing it, slowly working up the distance. I think about this for a bit. Parents/bike, Bike/parents. It takes me all of maybe a second to decide. I head inside and shiver in front of a heater while telling my wife about the change in plans and why. We grab our gear and a sweatshirt each. Hey it's hovering around 50° out there. We grab a few more thngs and toss them in the cargo box before rolling the bike out.
I fire up the bike in the dark and feel it shift as the wife climbs aboard. We motor out and down to the local gas station where I fill the tank. The attendant just looks at us and shakes his head as he huddles over a heater.
Back on the road I hit the onramp to I-95 and roll on the throttle. When I glance at the Tach. before shifting from second I'm smiling. 45MPH in second gear at 7K RPM. Hitting the highway I shift lanes and settle down as I shift up more. Soon enough I'm cruising along at the speed limit and shivering slightly in my leathers. (Hey this is south Florida and 50° is chilly.) I was glad for the windshield. I'm dodging traffic until we reach the next city north then things settle down.
I'm riding nervous as the sun comes up and starts warming us. I hadn't planned on a long ride this soon and the bike still does need some work. I can hear that every time I slow down and it backfires through the exhaust. Even so it runs nice and we continue our ride north.
An hour and a half later, or 96 miles we finally pull off the highway and hit a gas station I know. We fire the bike up again and continue the next couple of miles to my parents place. As we rode closer we could see the flashing lights of both Fire/Rescue and Repair Crews up ahead of us. Thankfully they were well beyond the entrance to my parents place.
As we rolled into the park I didn't see any damage which made me happy. When we pulled into my parents place we found them standing on the patio brewing coffee on a camp stove as their place had no power. To say they were surprised to see us would be an understatement.
Over the next couple of hours my father and I wandered down the road to check things out. We saw plenty of damaged and destroyed places. Thankfully no one was killed. While we were doing this we were approached by a local cop who recognised my father. He asked about me as I stood there looking on with my long hair and heavy leather jacket. My father told him I was his son and had ridden up from where I live to check on them. The cop looked at me and smiling told me I was one crazy assed biker. (He was a Moto Cop.)
When I checked over the bike I found the oil was down just a bit, less than half a pint. Other than that everything was looking good.
The ride south was much less stressful. I knew the bike was going to keep running and I knew my parents were okay. Hell they even had power back before I left.
I still need to synchronise the carbs but at least the bike is running.
Cat
I fired up the computer and checked the local news for their area. All it talked about was multiple Mobile Homes damaged in their area. Okay, I'm starting to plan. My wife comes out of the bathroom and I tell her what's going on. I grab a couple of things and head out to the car.
I'm stopped in my tracks when I see that my car has two tires flat. (No nothing sinister here. One had a screw buried in the tread and the other had what looks like a pice of Hubcap buried in the treads.) Now this is posing a problem, I only have one spare tire.
I'm standing there cursing up a storm when I have an idea. Sitting there in front of the car is the Beast.
Okay so I got that damned cylinder to fire but the bike still needs work. I have to Synchronise the Carbs. Once that's done then I can start road testing it, slowly working up the distance. I think about this for a bit. Parents/bike, Bike/parents. It takes me all of maybe a second to decide. I head inside and shiver in front of a heater while telling my wife about the change in plans and why. We grab our gear and a sweatshirt each. Hey it's hovering around 50° out there. We grab a few more thngs and toss them in the cargo box before rolling the bike out.
I fire up the bike in the dark and feel it shift as the wife climbs aboard. We motor out and down to the local gas station where I fill the tank. The attendant just looks at us and shakes his head as he huddles over a heater.
Back on the road I hit the onramp to I-95 and roll on the throttle. When I glance at the Tach. before shifting from second I'm smiling. 45MPH in second gear at 7K RPM. Hitting the highway I shift lanes and settle down as I shift up more. Soon enough I'm cruising along at the speed limit and shivering slightly in my leathers. (Hey this is south Florida and 50° is chilly.) I was glad for the windshield. I'm dodging traffic until we reach the next city north then things settle down.
I'm riding nervous as the sun comes up and starts warming us. I hadn't planned on a long ride this soon and the bike still does need some work. I can hear that every time I slow down and it backfires through the exhaust. Even so it runs nice and we continue our ride north.
An hour and a half later, or 96 miles we finally pull off the highway and hit a gas station I know. We fire the bike up again and continue the next couple of miles to my parents place. As we rode closer we could see the flashing lights of both Fire/Rescue and Repair Crews up ahead of us. Thankfully they were well beyond the entrance to my parents place.
As we rolled into the park I didn't see any damage which made me happy. When we pulled into my parents place we found them standing on the patio brewing coffee on a camp stove as their place had no power. To say they were surprised to see us would be an understatement.
Over the next couple of hours my father and I wandered down the road to check things out. We saw plenty of damaged and destroyed places. Thankfully no one was killed. While we were doing this we were approached by a local cop who recognised my father. He asked about me as I stood there looking on with my long hair and heavy leather jacket. My father told him I was his son and had ridden up from where I live to check on them. The cop looked at me and smiling told me I was one crazy assed biker. (He was a Moto Cop.)
When I checked over the bike I found the oil was down just a bit, less than half a pint. Other than that everything was looking good.
The ride south was much less stressful. I knew the bike was going to keep running and I knew my parents were okay. Hell they even had power back before I left.
I still need to synchronise the carbs but at least the bike is running.
Cat
