ORANGE

Sandwich came up to me on Tuesday morning and asked if I would be busy that evening. I told him I was stuck working til 7pm but after that I was free. He asked if I would go up to Tree's after work..his Tins were done. Not bad timing, I believe it was either November or December that the guy took them to paint and here it was June 7th., no bike for the Blessing, no bike for Rolling Thunder, hell for that matter no bike for Sunday rides, no bike for Thursday mystery Rides..simply put...No Bike.

The best part, the date, the 7th of June...with him moving to Ohio in the morning of the 8th. So with all hopes of riding it gone at least it would make the trip to Ohio in one piece. So Sandwich headed to Westchester to pick up the Tins, I got off work and went home. he called about 10pm. He had the parts and was coming out of Westchester heading to Tree's. I hopped on my Scoot and took the cruise to North Stonington. The temperature was fantastic, just cool after a day of hot. I took a route which looped around and came into North Stonington from the east, stopped for gas, then headed to Tree's. I pulled in the driveway and parked next to the Penske truck (packed front to back with all Sandwiches belongings), and was met by Tree, Amanda, and Johna. We moved Sandwich's bike out a bit, and talked as we waited for Sandwich to make the 34 mile trek.

Sandwich arrived with a big smile and a number of blanket wrapped bundles. We set out the tins and I have to say the color is fantastic, an glowing orange which catches the light with a hint of a yellowish gold, Totally striking. We laid out the Blankets and set the tank on one and the rear fender on another, we set the side covers and front fender aside. Sandwich opened his bag of hardware laid it out and went to work trying to remember what brackets,bolts, screws, grommets, and nuts went where, (It has been a long time since he took the bike apart in 2010). He mounted the speedo bracket on the tank, then began placing bolts on the appropriate parts before actually attempting to attach anything. What we found out real quick was that the bolt threads on the tank were not protected against painting, the threads were full, not just painted...there were no threads to be seen and would need to be tapped. We set the tank aside and moved to the rear fender, we mounted the tail-light and the turn-signal LP holder with all the bushings and grommets in place then ran the harness through it. This is where all work came to a screeching halt. The bolt holes for mounting the fender to the frame suffered from the same thing as the tank...paint filled. With Sandwich heading across country in the morning all his belonging were stored in the Penske truck for shipping, his tool box was loaded first, so it was buried somewhere up by the cab. You can't clean out threads if you don't have the tools.

All we could do was re-wrap the tank, re-bag the hardware, and set the tins aside for shipping. Sandwich threw the side covers on so at least there was some orange on the bike. Now came some new challenges, the idea was to roll the bike up the ramp into the Penske moving truck, then connect the ramp across to his pickup, roll the bike across and tie it down in his pickup for the bikes ride home. Problem was with the truck loaded front to rear, there was no way the bike was going into the moving truck. The other problem was that Sandwich's truck had a bed liner in it and no access to the tie downs. So we removed the liner and Tree and Amanda stuffed it in the Moving truck along the top of all his stuff. We also found we had no planks or hillside to use to load the bike in the Pickup, at this point Amanda suggested pushing the bike up the ramp, using the motorcycle jack to raise the ramp, back the truck up, lift the ramp the rest of the way, back the truck up under it and roll the bike in. I told Sandwich that he should be really happy about having her as a girlfriend because she was a genius. So the four of us backed the bike up the ramp, Sandwich got the jack and lifted the ramp, Amanda headed to the cab to move the idling truck back under the ramp. Amanda calls over to us as we're holding the bike, “Hey, the door of the truck is locked” . Sandwich yelled back, “Is the window open?” At this point I said, “OK, maybe not a genius, but she still had a good idea.” As she backed the truck up Tree held the bike and Sandwich and I lifted the ramp. The bike was rolled forward into the truck and lashed down, ready for its ride home, proudly displaying its orange side covers.

With that done I said my farewells and headed home, the air was still comfortable and the ride was rather longer than it should have been since I just cruised along back roads. My path was crossed by a opossum and a fox...but I wondered, when will be the next time Sandwich's and my paths will cross.

To Reuben have a great ride home and a safe ride home, and I hope everything works out back in Ohio.
To Amanda I say...take care of him.



klay



Pictures of the night will follow