Warm summer nights

 The days have been so warm lately that I always seem to find
some excuse for running an errand (on the bike of course).

Last night was the Illuminaire Festival in Vancouver and I rode
down there with lightning flashing all around in the sky, what
a light show. Very light (but warm) drizzle.

Near the park where it's held I'm riding down a narrow side street
with cars parked on each side and room enough for only one vehicle
to drive ... and there's two SUV's blocking the road, facing each
other and two parties of east Asians, a group from each one, standing
around making bad vibes ... turns out neither driver wants to back up
and let the other pass, so it's some kind of an Oriental standoff ...
loss of face or some such issue.

Of course my bike is narrow enough for me to get by both of them
and get to the festival.

Meanwhile this evening I'm on the way home from a visit and I pass
a big pile of yard-sale type stuff on someone's lawn, with a big
sign "FREE" ... and so I score a few Wallace and Gromit movies
(British clay animation comedy) and enough other miscellaneous
scroungables to fill my saddlebags.

Riding down Marine Drive I pass through warm and cool zones...
it's cool where gullies come down to the road from the slopes
above, sort of an offshore outflow.

Somehow in weather like this I have a hard time keeping the bike
in the driveway; all I gotta do is touch the handlebars and it
tries to carry me off down the road.

SQ - Screw it. Let's ride.
'06 Zuk S40 / '81 CB750 Custom / various derelicts

 
One of the episodes is _A Close Shave_, featuring a red sidecar rig.
 From the name plate on the tank it looks like a Triumph, and it's
a single cyl but I don't know the model. (Any Brit bike experts able
to ID the thing?) Whatever it is, it sure sounds funky. Wish I had
a bike that sounded like that. My S40 sounds like a sewing machine.

http://moodle.cksd.wednet.edu/file.php/330/pictures/W_G.jpg

SQ - Screw it. Let's ride.
'06 Zook S40 / CB750 Custom / various derelicts

 Further to my last:

 > From the name plate on the tank it looks like a Triumph, and it's
 > a single cyl but I don't know the model. (Any Brit bike experts able
 > to ID the thing?)

This blog, "Motorcycles in the Movies" says it's a 200cc Triumph
Tiger Cub:
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2008/01/29/motorcycles-in-the-movies/

Airfix put out a plastic model. Some hints on how to build it:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/Other/jj_wallace.htm

A real one looks like this:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triumph_Tiger_Cub_200_T20.jpg

SQ - Screw it. Let's ride.
'06 Zuk S40 / '81 CB750 Custom / various derelicts

 Just so you don't have to keep replying to yourself (<g>), it sounds like a
nice ride.  I love riding in the evening past the forests and swamps for
that special moist smell.  Except for the dead animals in the ditch this
time of year tho....
Sue
Minocqua, WI
Yamaha '00 VStar 650
              '04 TW200 (mud = fun)
Kawasaki '95 Vulcan 1500  V#15937

I'LL KEEP MY MONEY, MY FREEDOM AND MY GUNS.  YOU CAN KEEP THE "CHANGE"!

 Hi Susan, thanks for your reply:


The part about the dead animals got me curious so I used Google,
and learned about some Wisonsin guy who had... how can I put this
delicately... a non-gastronomical passion for deer who weren't
necessarily alive.

On a more whimsical note the same search also found a Google book called
_101 Ways to Help Birds_. Procedure #61 is "Remove dead animals from
roadways (if it's safe to do so) and help turtles across the road."

Now I can't recall ever having the occasion to help a turtle cross
a road. It really sounds like something from the Boy Scout manual
doesn't it.

And how does one go about it? "Hello, Mr. or Mrs. or Miss Turtle
as the case may be, I will be your Helpful Human for this road-crossing
session. And please excuse my ignorance if you're technically
a tortoise, as I'm no biologist, just a regular biker.

"Now assuming your intention really is to make the crossing,
we basically have two ways to proceed with this: either I put out
high visibility plastic cones and stop all freeway traffic
for an hour while you make it over on your own, probably causing
a big traffic jam or I could transport you manually to the other side.

"Please indicate in American Standard Reptilian Sign Language which
would be your preference. Ok, you've tried to bite off my thumb...
I take it you'd rather do this yourself... very well, just a moment
while I block the road..."

[Heard soon after on the radio] -- "Good afternoon, this is Milwaukee
Newsradio 620 WTMJ with the latest road conditions -- and it seems that
all southeast Wisconsin freeways and some arterial routes have become
gridlocked from Madison to Green Bay with even some parts of Chicago
affected. The cause is apparently a migrating turtle attempting
an escorted crossing of Route 41 near Fond du Lac. More as news breaks."

SQ - Screw it. Let's ride.
'06 Zook S40 etc