HCPU was a rock-a-silly blast. Beautiful ride out, great cars, free beer (well, I had one free PBR before they ran out), fried meat, and an Adventure Ride back.
Chad, Quinton, Ron, Matt Siegel, “mystery small frame guy,” and myself left Krispy Kreme around noon-ish. MSFG was on a stock 1974 Vespa 125 that Quinton very nicely babysat for the whole ride out. I kept the GL between 60-65 mph and at one point everyone on P200s zipped off and I watched them turn into itty bitty dots on the horizon. *Perfect* riding weather, open roads, fall colors, no major mishaps, just a great, great ride. A few wrong turns and a closed bridge later, we were at the Grundy County Speedway. Tom Mulvenna told his clubmates to let any scooter that wasn’t a P200 in the show, and since Chad and Ron’s bikes are nearly unrecognizeable as P’s, they were able to join my GL and Quinton’s lammy on the “concourse”.
Here are pics of the best car in the show ( 123 ). It’s the Holey [Grace’s, uh, perforated Vespa VBA —ed.] of cars, except instead of having 322 little holes, it has one big one on the top. It had tons of cool little details, like the pop bottle overflow (as indicated by Quinton’s turkey leg). The bottle looks like it’s full of chicken fat, no? Just perfect. When I took this pic, Quinton was walking around with a big turkey leg in one hand, a free PBR in other, saying “the only way this day could get any better would involve something I can’t talk about in mixed company.” I even ran into one of my old Harley buddies from Champaign! I was telling a story just that morning about a Harley guy I know that killed a deer, skinned and tanned its hide, and then made his seat cover from it. Now *that* is hardcore. The only thing that would have made that story better is if he killed the deer with his bare hands, like if he walked up to it and punched it in the face. Anyway I was talking about him, and then there he was! Bolt (that’s his nickname, I swear) was walking by the scooters and did a great double-take when he saw mine.
I rode back with Quinton and Ron. Ron’s bike started bogging shortly after we got on 171, but luckily it was just a fouled plug. My pilot bulb, tail and brakelight burned out AGAIN (but my horn started working?!?) and Quinton’s taillight as well as speedo were non-functional. Then MY speedo crapped out, and my 6v headlight was useless on the unlit roads after the sun set. So Ron “taillight for three” stayed in the back to keep us from getting run over, and I stayed in the middle most of the time, navigating by the guys’ headlights. Kinda scary. Just kinda. I was cold, deaf, and shaking by the time I got home but more beer and warm jammies made it all better. I love my GL, have I mentioned that lately?
Grace