Old School Series - Part 6, A Little Family Story

This post is inspired by a photo in a post courtesy of fellow blogger Tam over at View From The Porch. 

Promo shot from "Smokey And The Bandit"

My Mom loved that movie and Burt Reynolds, and REALLY loved that car. She kept telling my Dad

she wanted one for Christmas. This was decades before Lexus made that a thing. My Dad never

said no, but kinda the "we'll see about that" type of vagary. Then came Christmas morning.

At the end of the opening of presents, my Dad hands my Mom a small gift wrapped package

containing a velvet covered jewelry type box. Inside was a brand new set of GM keys. My Mom's

eyes got as big as dinner plates and she actually squealed like a little girl. My Dad told her to go

look in the garage. Sitting in the garage where my Mom's car normally was sat a brand new Trans Am. Unfortunately for Mom, it was an 8" long plastic toy car version. Dad had her car moved to the

neighbor's house the night before when she wasn't looking, and had the keys made up at a dealership. Instead of being mad, Mom knew it would be impossible to afford the real car and loved her present. That car sat on her desk at the bank until she retired. I don't know what ever happened to it, but I know she treasured it until her death in 2010.

 

Not the exact version, but the closest photo I can find of the one Mom received

 

The fact that Mom didn't actually receive the real car probably extended her life a good 30 years. You see, Mom was a VERY aggressive driver, and when she was driving Dad left his fingernail marks in the dashboard. She would have pushed that car hard, emulating her idol Burt from the movie, I just know it. It would have shortened her life in the same way handing a 16 year old kid that just got their license a brand new high performance 1100cc sport bike would.

Oh Yeah? Come Get Me!

So supposedly, the Xiden Administration, using their DOJ goons, are going to target as "extremist" anyone who questions the 2020 elections on-line or in social media. So here you go (p)Resident Dopey Gropey...

THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN. YOUR PARTY CHEATED AT EVERY LEVEL IN EVERY STATE. YOU ARE ILLEGITIMATE.

Let's dance, motherfuckers

I Did Not Think It Was Possible

To despise and distrust the federal government more than I did during the two terms of (p)Resident Obungo, or Slick Willy before that. But here we are, only 175 days into the Gropey Joe Xiden term and my hatred of anything federal is completely off the charts. Other than filing my tax return, I will have no further interaction with any of them. The reasons are numerous and I am not going to bother listing them because it would sound similar to the list of grievances against George III in The Declaration of Independence.

What prompted this post is the announcement and the leaked details of these federal pukes going door-to-door to discuss jab status. They'll probably include personnel qualified to jab you on the spot if you knuckle under to the "pressure". The fact is, I am possibly facing a situation I don't want and it will most likely end badly. I don't usually dwell or worry about things, but this is on my mind and has me in "Condition Yellow" about it. As it says in my bio I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE! Hopefully it will be such a colossal failure before it gets to me that the program will be dissolved.

No Longer Hesitant

In regards to the "not a vaccine." I am now full blown NO FUCKING WAY! Not now, not ever. As I stated before, I am not an anti-vaxxer, I have plenty of immunizations and get an annual flu shot. THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICAL PROCEDURE, and I am not interested in a role as a lab rat.

Never mind all the bad stuff I have and continue to read about any of the jabs. The fact that supposedly vaccinated people are frightened of the unvaccinated (us pure unaltered humans) should tell you something. 

Gayle King To Ban Unvaccinated Relatives From Thanksgiving

Good Ride, But A Wet One

I say if you're never donning the rain gear on the side of the road in order to get where you're going without getting totally soaked, you don't ride enough. Either that, or you are an unprepared knucklehead that deserves to get wet. My Frogg Toggz raingear got deployed this afternoon for the ride home and kept me nice and dry. Don't get me wrong, I am not hard core enough to be venturing out in a rainstorm or doing a long distance road trip where a rainy travel day becomes necessary. But missing out on a whole day of riding because of the chance of isolated showers doesn't make much sense to me. I have plenty of storage space, so the raingear is always in my right saddlebag.

The ride started out like normal. I filled up with fuel before getting to our meet up spot. Hazy sun off and on and temps in the mid 70's made me ditch my sweatshirt once I got parked. The restaurant we normally get breakfast sammiches from is closed for vacation until tomorrow, so I had to settle for the microwave version from 7-11. The sammich wasn't terrible and the date thing is just a coinky-dink. The planned ride was to head for the northwest corner of the state to the town of Falls Village for a town wide car/truck/motorcycle show. It was KSU about 10:15 and there were 9 bikes hitting the road. This group tends to minimize interstate miles, so we did a short run on I-84 west to get across the river and onto RT.44 over Avon Mountain. A quick stop at the Cumberland Farms in Winsted for coffee and fuel and we were off to our final destination. I was thinking there would be no stops, but we're an older crowd, so...

Apparently, the town roads of Falls Village are where the show happens. Through traffic is blocked except for show vehicles and open to spectators on foot. We were allowed in on our bikes and parked at the post office which was closed for Sunday. Even though the skies were kinda gloomy, we viewed lots of show vehicles. Then it was time for lunch. The local VFW had a grill tent set up with hotdogs and hamburgers for cheap. That's when the sprinkles started off and on. Just enough to get things slightly wet, but after the 3rd round was when the guys without rain gear wanted to leave to try and get ahead of the rain. Shortly after they left the show cars started their exodus, and that's when my Goldwing bud and I also made our exit. I keep a good sized white towel in the left saddlebag for two reasons. First, as a cover for my seat when the sun is blazing. The seat is black and gets wicked hot and the white towel keeps it cool. Second, like today when I can quickly wipe it dry from rain. I let a Harley rider that was leaving the same time we were use it to dry his seat. Kinda guy I am.

We only got a few miles up on RT. 7 when it became obvious we were gonna need our rain gear. We pulled into a parking lot to put it on. I had my doubts whether it was necessary, but those doubts went away as we headed east on RT.44. Through Canaan, Norfolk, and Colebrook it was light steady rain. Then we hit Winsted where the rain got harder and was absolutely pouring just east of town. Not only was the rain a problem, but the temperature dropped into the 60's thanks to the rain. Another benefit of raingear. Some of the riders in our group only had shorts and t-shirts. Once we got into Canton that was pretty much the end of it. The rest of the ride was uneventful. As I got closer to home I got a hankering for ice cream, and got some at a place that sells locally made Shady Glen brand. There are plenty of places to get soft serve, but I am not a fan or 4 years old, and that's just not ice cream.