wishing & dreaming are two different things

When I was a kid, I thought I would own everything.  Big toys, cars, boats, motorcycles, all that JAZZ..

Well, it started about age 13.  I bought  my first boat.  10 foot long... fast...slick...beat everyone on the bay.(So I thought)  I brought it home on a kids wagon. I was dragging it toward m house when my dad came by and asked what I was doing....

You see, I worked cleaning out basements, polishing cars, cutting lawns, helping people doing  anything that would make money.  I saved up $100.00 and bought my friend's boat & motor.  Here I am, walking down the middle of  the street, pulling this wagon with a boat, Like I said and my dad is still looking at me saying   "What have you got there?" Well, I told him.  MY BOAT!!  

When I moved to the town I live in, I was 10 years old.  We live near the water.  I would ride my bike to the bay and dream of owning a boat.  My dad asked if I could swim.. I couldn't.  Dad said I couldn't own a boat if I could not swim.  I joined Boy Scouts  when I was eleven and went to scout camp...
first day there, you take a swim test.  Needless to say, I failed.  It took 28 days of pleading, coaxing, pushing and just plain yelling to get me into the water and swim.  Now there is swimming and there is swimming.  If you can get across a 50 foot length of water without touching the bottom, that is swimming...I could do that.!! My dad asked if I could rescue someone in  a boat  if there was a problem..NNOOO  I couldn't do that.   Next summer I went to Boy Scout camp and learned how to rescue people.. Big shot now was 12 years old!!

My dad said I could now buy a boat.  YEA FOR ME!!!  He asked me what size, what kind and how I was going to pay for the boat and the space to keep it in....Thirteen year olds don't think of things like that....

Now you know why I was cleaning basements, polishing cars and helping people with chores. I also found that you had to  put gas into boats.  I needed life jackets, rope, an anchor and a fire extinguisher too.

Five boats later, I stopped trying to fill that hole with money and got out of the boat part of my life...
Did I tell you about the MOTORCYCLES???

the story teller

Not too long ago I became involved with Motorcycles...

I came home one day with a small Moped-50 C.C. single cyl. engine by the name of 
Honda Commuter.  Needles to say, the wife, loved as she is, asked " What is That?"
That was in approximately 1983, my 40th year. I took that thing all - over.. JFK airport,
out to the Hamptons, along the north shore of Long Island..I mean 'everywhere'
Loved it!!

    Well, as it would happen, I was riding my moped and went  past a "motorcycle store"...
I doubled back and went in. Just like a kid in a candy store, my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  Had to have one.   I went home and talked to my beloved partner. "What are you going to do with that?"  Why, I said, go back n forth to work with it, saves on gas, and it's cool.
We went back to the shop and she bought a lock for security for me. She bought an alarm system for me. she bought a big windshield for me, and a bag to to keep my work clothes in.
You gotta love a wifey like that.

I had that bike about two years and a large bike came and bit me on the butt!!   New, Faster, LARGER, FASTER ,  COOLER!!! Had to have it!!  (did I say FASTER?)  This was a 700.c.c.  machine, V twin.  I could go further, be more comfortable, and "LOOK COOL"..65,000 miles later I bought my favorite bike, it was called 'that's it #4'

Mean, I mean really MEAN..1500c.c. v-twin mean! drove that everywhere, Florida 3 times
I went to Daytona with the BIG BOYS! We went to Nova Scotia,around the St.Lawrence seaway, all over New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia,Ohio....You name it!

Now we are talking 1995, time flys when you ar having fun..Older mature man needs a different style of machine. I went into the Sport cruiser. You know spiffy style, moulded saddlebags, four cylinder, six speed all the bells & whistles. 80,000 mile later (after a double by-pass) the bride asked me if I was through with motorcycles.  Wellllll....."that's it # 6 was getting tired and I need a new look

Muscle Bikes came into being...Power, I mean Power like you can't possible imagine..Picture this,
a sixty year old man out there racing with the "Crotch-rockets"...And beating them!!....Great for the Image, Great for the libido, terrible for the back. 24,000 miles later,,yeah,,,gone!!

Now approaching 70, I have a comfortable cruiser, 1500 c.c. v-twin, 750 lb Barker Lounger with Tires ...35,000 lovely miles cruising around the Great lakes, or New Hampshire in the Lap of Luxury.
But wait.. What is that in the garage hiding on the side? A scooter?.. No, not just a scooter but an old man's super scooter, 105 m.p.h., automatic transmission, fully maintained by experts. On the side in bright green ink  so you can just see it..." that's it # 9...
Kids with their toys. There's no stopping them...