+ Week Those Were the Days My friend.

[klaviator]

I did another trip that September to the HSTA Rally in Townsend, Tn. I trucked the SV down and got there early. I went for a ride to Deal's Gap by myself. Good thing I did because as I got on the twisty part of 129 I was riding like crap. I couldn't hold a steady line in the curves and the throttle response at low speeds seemed really abrupt. I was glad I was riding alone because I would have been embarrassed to have some one see me.

What was going on? I think the problem was that I was used to my EX500 and also R1100GS. Both had very light but fairly slow steering. The SV was the opposite. The steering was heavier but once you made the input the response was much quicker. It just took a different riding style than my other bikes. On sweepers it didn't make that much difference but in the tight stuff it did. It just took some practice for me to adapt. Since I was down there for more than a week I was able to get used to the SV. Once I did that the bike was great.

I don't have any pics from this trip but I do have some stories.

One of the guys I rode with regularly was Gary from Virginia. He was a fast rider who always rode fast, powerful bikes. This time he was on his CBR1100XX. He was one of the few guys I rode with who was faster than I was. So we spent a day riding together. Towards the end of the day we left Deal's Gap heading back to Townsend. Gary wasn't pushing it because I was able to keep up with him. As we were riding along we saw a bunch of guys stopped on the left side of the road with a right hand curve coming up. The next thing I knew Gary and his bike were sliding down the road

His bike ended up hitting a tree just off the road gas tank first. It spun around and disappeared down the side of the mountain

I stopped and asked Gary if he was OK. He said he was but asked me to ride to Townsend to get his friend and have him bring his trailer for the bike. Oh yeah, Don't forget the six pack in his motel room fridge.

Later he told the full story of the crash. Gary saw the guys standing by the road taking pics and decided to show off a bit. He ran the bike out of ground clearance and crashed. As he was sliding down the road on his back he put his feet down and they caught traction vaulting him to his feet. Since he had a lot of forward momentum he had to run forward to not fall flat on his face. He came to a stop at the edge of the mountain just in time to see his bike tumble down the mountain.

They needed a wrecker to pull it back up. Gary ended up fixing the bike using used parts and doing the work his self for 2500 bucks if I remember right.

After the rally I headed down to TWO. At this point I head 3200 miles on the bike and the rear tire was shot. So I called Blue Ridge Yamaha, my go to dealer in this area. They happened to have a Dunlop Sportmax in stock in the correct size. Not only that it was on sale for $99. I knew those tires had a reputation for not lasting long but I needed a tire and the price was right. Three days and 750 miles of riding later that tire was toast. There was still tread left in the center but the edges were bald! Oh well, it was a fun three days

Luckily I didn't have to ride the bike back to Maine. After I got back I replaced the front and rear tires.

Since I have no pics from this ride I'll post this next one which was I have no idea when I took it but was probably somewhere in this time frame.

Someone had put this on the side of 129 between Deal's Gap and the overlook. It's hard to read but here's what I think it said:

Here he lies with piston and crank
Buried up to his ass in the face of this bank
He challenged the Dragon to have some fun
As you can see, the dragon won

 

[EGR]

Maine was a good place to ride but for sport riding it didn't compare to my favorite rides farther south. Maine had the scenery but not roads that you could really ride hard on and I was into speed and hard cornering. So sometime late spring or early summer of 1998 I did a ride to my favorite riding area. On day one I rode my GS from Bath to My friend Bob's house in PA. The next day we rode down to Townsend TN where we met up with some other riders. After checking into Dock's Motel & Cabins we rode to Deal's Gap and back to the motel. Then the next day we rode a bunch of twisty roads down to Georgia. My Buddy Al and I checked into TWO while the other riders decided to get a Motel in Helen so they could watch some motorcycle race on TV. I was so burned out from all the riding that Al and I ended up hanging out at TWO for most of the day. I don't remember what the rest of the ride was like. I have done so many rides that most of them just blur together with a few details standing out. I took some pics but in many cases can't remember exactly when I took them.

Here's a couple I might have taken on that ride.

That's my buddy Bob on the left and his Ducati 900ss.

"racing" on Deals Gap

I had a very interesting Deal's Gap memory that may have happened on this trip so I'll throw it in here.
My buddy Al and I had ridden from Deal's Gap to the overlook near the bottom of the road. We were hanging out there talking to a local who was riding a CBX. I vaguely remember that on the back of the guys helmet were the words "Bad Cop No Donut" I was thinking that wasn't the best thing to have if he got pulled over. Anyway, while we were talking we heard a bike come up the road and about the same time heard a siren in the distance. About 30 a minute or so later a sportbike came riding by. He wasn't going super fast. Maybe 30 seconds later a sheriff's car came screaming by lights flashing and siren on

We wondered if the rider knew he was being chased

Surely he would have been going faster if he knew he was being chased

So we hung out for a while then headed back up the road towards Deal's Gap. Back then the there was no Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort. At that time it was still the Crossroads of Time. The CBX rider went first followed by me and then Al. I was taking it easy because I figured there was a cop up ahead. Well there was. He was standing on the side of the road and waved over the CBX guy and then started yelling at him. I was thinking that maybe the "Bad Cop No Donut" thing might not be the best idea. The Deputy wasn't paying attention to me so I rode by wondering where his car was. Maybe there had been 2 deputies in it and it was somewhere up ahead. So I rode slowly Eventually I pulled over and Al and the CBX guy pulled up. I told them I was concerned about the possibility of another Deputy ahead and they told me there was no other deputy. The car had left 2 long skid marks before going off the side of the mountain. It was down the hill, facing back up towards the road, on it's side with the lights still flashing! I had been looking at the deputy and missed it.
So we rode to the Crossroads of time and told the people there what had just happened. Pete, the owner of the CROT got out his camera and gave it to one of the riders there and told him to go get a pic. He also brought out one of his "Put your bones on the line, ride 129" T shirts and asked if maybe the deputy might want it

I told him I wouldn't want to be the one offering it to the deputy since he seemed to be pretty mad.

I heard the Deputy stood there for quite a while stopping riders and yelling at them.
I ended up coming through there again a few days later and talked to Pete about that incident. I told him I wondered if the rider knew he was being chased. It turned out Pete knew the rider and got the scoop from him. The rider did know he was being chased and slowed down enough for the deputy to catch up just to bait him then sped back up. The deputies were actually under orders to not chase bikes but I guess he couldn't resist the urge. It turned out this deputy wrecked a 2 month old Crown Vic. I'm sure his boss was not happy with him.
The pic of that Crown Vic on it's side ended up on the bulletin board at the CROT store for some time.

Pete’s photo gallery was great. And to be honest, the new owners ditched it and I’m still really disappointed in that and their “up market” changes.

 

[klaviator]

Pete’s photo gallery was great. And to be honest, the new owners ditched it and I’m still really disappointed in that and their “up market” changes.

Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort is set up to handle more people with it's restaurant and bigger parking area but it feels much more commercialized than the CROT. The store has become a T shirt and sticker shop with no character. That goes for the whole area. The dragon has become a major tourist attraction and there are all kinds of businesses that sprung up around that. Back in the 90s there was no Killboy store, no professional photographers and much less traffic. Go there any weekend these days and the place is crawling with car clubs.

Unfortunately change was inevitable and I'm sure it will be even worse 10 years from now.

 

[EGR]

Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort is set up to handle more people with it's restaurant and bigger parking area but it feels much more commercialized than the CROT. The store has become a T shirt and sticker shop with no character. That goes for the whole area. The dragon has become a major tourist attraction and there are all kinds of businesses that sprung up around that. Back in the 90s there was no Killboy store, no professional photographers and much less traffic. Go there any weekend these days and the place is crawling with car clubs.

Unfortunately change was inevitable and I'm sure it will be even worse 10 years from now.

Yep. Just a standard issue geezer’s lament “back in the…”
I was river running VA to GA starting ‘70 and soon riding. The Deals Gap store was long derelict. Kudzu growing out of windows. Pete and Doris resurrected it . Actually carried motor oil and chain lube. Lots of jobs now. Some actually available to locals. Remember it all, well.

 

[klaviator]

Yep. Just a standard issue geezer’s lament “back in the…”

I get it. This thread is all about "back in the day..." I know those days are gone and there is no going back but it is nice to look back once in a while.

 

[klaviator]

Just so you don't think we moved all the way to Maine then just rode the same places we did before we moved there, some riding pics from Maine.
Well, actually I think the next couple might have been in New Hampshire

Dixville Notch. That's the Balsam Hotel in the background. We stopped to check it out. We wouldn't be staying there$$$$$$

.

The most scenic part of Maine IMO was the coast.

.

 

[klaviator]

We went and visited my parents for Christmas of 1999. What does that have to do with riding? One of the things we did while was drive down to the Competition Accessories store. For those of you old enough to remember there was a time when all riding gear was pretty much leather. Then Aerostich came out with their textile riding suits. At some point other companies came out with their own textile riding gear. I'm not sure exactly when that happened but I think it was mid to late 90s. One of those companies was Joe Rocket. Competition stocked the Joe Rocket gear and had it on sale. I liked my Aerostich but this stuff was pretty cool and cost way less than Aerostich.

So we spent some $$ at Competition Accessories.

I think these jackets were on sale for $99 each. For that time they wer really cheap.

Debbi liked her JR jacket way more than her Aerostich and she stopped wearing the Aerostich.

 

[klaviator]

Sometime in the Spring or summer of 2000 we headed south for a family reunion with Debbi's family. Her dad had rented two cabins in the woods near Helen, Ga. We trailered the bikes bikes down to Townsend were we stopped for a day or two and did some riding.

Foothills Parkway:

It looks like it was still the old Cross Roads of Time:

Then we headed for the cabins. On one of the days I took my oldest nephew for a ride over the Ricky Russel scenic HWY and then to TWO and then back.
We rode the Seca because it was more comfortable.

 

[WECSOG]

It didn't take long before I was lusting after bigger and better bikes. It's not that there was anything wrong with the bike I had but I kept reading those motorcycle magazines. I doubt that any of you can relate but that's how it was

Then my KZ400 started running badly. One day it just died on the road and my dad came with his old pickup truck. We managed to lift it into the truck without a ramp. We didn't have much to tie it down with. I think I put it on the sidestand and just sat in the bed and held on to it

I was working at the time and had some money so this was the excuse I needed to start looking for another bike. One of the hot bikes at the time and the one I really lusted after was:

I went to the local Kawasaki dealer. The GPZ550s were all sold out. I asked about the KZ550 but they didn't seem interested in selling me one of those either

Time for plan B......

I had a KZ550 for awhile in '84. When I say "had," I mean the dealership I worked for provided it to me as a loaner for a month. I loved that bike, and should have bought it. 6 speeds, 13,000 rpm redline and it really started moving above 7,000. I rode it like a madman all the time, everywhere. After that I rode a KZ650 for awhile, but the 550 was both lighter and faster.

 

[WECSOG]

So I am living in New Orleans, actually I lived in Metairie a suburb and worked in New Orleans. I wasn't making much money and I was bikeless I needed to do something. I needed a real job that would get me some engineering experience. I decided to give the Navy recruiter a call. Maybe they needed engineers. I talked to the recruiter and he asked me some questions and then asked if I ever considered becoming a pilot? I said no and he said they didn't need engineers so I thanked him for his time. A few weeks before talking to the recruiter I had seen an interesting movie:

I remember think I was so glad I didn't have to go through the stuff in the movie!

Little did I know.............

I was in Navy boot camp the first time I saw this movie. The CC marched my company to a nondescript Quanset hut on base that housed a movie theater. None of us had any idea where we were being marched to.

 

[klaviator]

I had a KZ550 for awhile in '84. When I say "had," I mean the dealership I worked for provided it to me as a loaner for a month. I loved that bike, and should have bought it. 6 speeds, 13,000 rpm redline and it really started moving above 7,000. I rode it like a madman all the time, everywhere. After that I rode a KZ650 for awhile, but the 550 was both lighter and faster.

What did you do at the motorcycle dealership?

 

[WECSOG]

What did you do at the motorcycle dealership?

Salesman. The dealership provided a (used) loaner to the top salesman each month, as an incentive. This was the first year of the Ninja and I got to ride one of those too, but unlike my loaner I didn't get to take it home.

 

[klaviator]

We did occasionally do things besides riding while we were in Maine. We loved to go hiking in the many scenic parks of Maine and we especially liked climbing around on the rocks. Here's a few pics.

This next pic was taken at a spot just off the road on the way to Rangeley. We rode up there a number of times and usually stopped to enjoy this cool spot.

We also took a few trips up to Acadia Natl Park.

Scott and a friend.

Debbi enjoying the view from Cadillac Mtn.

Doing some climbing on the rocks on the shore of Acadia NP.

.

Scott also learned to play basketball. Here he is showing off his NBA level shooting form.

 

[klaviator]

Of course I still had to go to work so I could get paid and be able to afford to do all this fun stuff. My ground jobs here were Safety Officer, Maintenance Officer, Operations Officer and then Safety Officer again. My three year tour was extended to wait and see if I got promoted to Commander which would influence my next set of orders. I was also still flying the C-130. I ended up flying more here than my last squadron and got to spend more time overseas. I didn't take that many pics but here are a few and some stories.

I did many Dets to Sigonella. This was the tourist town of Taormina.

There are some roads in the area that would be a lot of fun to ride but I doubt I'll ever make it back there to do that.


One a winter I went skiing on Mt Aetna. An all day lift ticket and ski rental cost the equivalent of around 25 bucks

The skiing wasn't that great. There was a gondola lift but only one run. The spectacular view and being able to say I skied Mt Aetna made it well worth it.

There were some big volcanic rocks sticking out of the snow.

There was a view of much of Sicily and Mediterranean.

The roads on Mt Aetna were fantastic but and fun in the rental car but would have been great on a bike.

I also went to the Pacific a few times. I got to spend 4 nights and 3 days in Darwin Australia. You would think I would have taken some pictures

One thing I do remember was the bus ride from the airport to the motel. One of the other pilots asked the driver if about alligators. He replied that they had crocodiles not alligators. So the pilot asked what happened to the alligators? The driver answered "The Crocs ate em"

We did go to a croc farm and they were huge.

An old friend of Debbi's was stationed in japan as a Navy Nurse. She took me out on a little tour. We visited an old castle/museum.

We rode a bullet train. Just between my head and the no smoking sign was a screen. It looks blank in the pic but actually displayed our speed. I think it was around 170 KPH. This was one of the "slow" bullet trains.

Many of our flights were only a couple of days long. A common destination was Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico. One flight I remember well was in the winter. We went from the cold in Maine to nice warm tropical weather. While we were gone overnight Maine had a big snow storm. When we got back my co-pilots car was completely buried in the snow which just the antenna sticking out. So I gave him a ride home. I got plenty of exercise the next few days shoveling snow.

Sometime we went the opposite direction to places even colder than Maine. How about 2000 miles North to Thule, Greenland.

 

[klaviator]

Some of you may remember Y2K. Predictions of disaster striking as computer systems around the world crashed. Most computers back then had a 2 digit date system and there were fears they couldn't handle that change from 99 to 00. It turned out to not be a big deal but tensions where high as Y2K approached.

A couple of days before Y2K I flew a C-130 to Mildenhall England on the way to Sigonella. When we got there one of the planes props was leaking oil. The props on the C-130 were very complex and the number one reason for the plane being down. The props maintained a constant speed and if they couldn't do it the engine had to be shut down. This was more common than you would think, often enough that we sometimes referred to the C-130 as a "Lockheed Tri-motor with a spare"

Anyway, we needed a new prop and it would be a few days before we could get one so we spent Y2K in England. It was actually pretty interesting. I'm not sure which TV channels were available there but I got to watch the news with a much more international flavor than in the US.


Much more dramatic than Y2K itself was something else that happened in the year 2000 and that story involves riding and was something that would change the course of my future riding dramatically. I took another trip south in September for the HSTA rally in Townsend as well a week of riding the area. By this time I was really used to the SV and I had put some Bridgstone BT56 sport tires on it. They were super sticky and lasted much longer than that Sportmax I had put on earlier. I had a week of great riding

much of it spent leading other riders on bigger and "faster bikes". My last day of riding was on a Monday. I'm not sure were I rode but I ended up at Deal's Gap late afternoon. All that was left was to ride Through Deal's Gap and over the Foothills Parkway back to Townsend. So I headed off at a fun pace but not pushing it. As I came around a tight right hand curve I noticed a group of cruisers coming the other way. They were also in a right hand curve. The next thing I saw was the lead cruiser on it's side sliding towards me

I remember thinking I could go left into the other lane possibly running into oncoming riders, right into the ditch or stay straight and hope for the best. I really didn't have much time to think or calculate the trajectory of the oncoming rider. We hit head on

The next thing I knew I was flying through the air. I think I did a somersault and landed on my head and shoulder in the ditch on the right side of the road. It was a pretty impressive vault but I didn't stick the landing so I only got a 4.5 from the Russian judge

So I laid there for a moment. Nothing was hurting. When I tried to get up I almost passed out. After a couple of attempts I got up. I checked myself over and the only injury I could find was a probable broken collar bone. My Joe Rocket Riding gear had done it's job. Later I found a bruise on my shoulder right where the edge of the shoulder pad was.

So the THP and a wrecker eventually showed up. The other rider was also OK. Since he was already down when we hit I went right over him. He was wearing leathers which protected him from road rash. Anyway he claimed I was in his lane and it was my fault. The Officer said he'd leave it to the insurance companies to figure out despite the fact that all the scratch marks on the road from the accident were in my lane.

The tow truck took my bike back to Townsend and helped me load it in my truck. I drove to the local emergency room where they told me my collarbone was broke, gave me a sling for my arm and recommended going to the drug store for some Advil. I then spent the next two days driving home. Good thing it was my left collarbone because I was driving a stick. That might have been tough with only my left arm.

The SV was totalled. The front wheel and forks where bent from impact then the tumbling and sliding that followed damaged all kinds of stuff.

So I couldn't fly or ride for about 2 months while I healed. That was a real bummer because I missed the fall riding season in Maine which was always beautiful. I decided to wait to replace the SV since we would be moving in 2001 and figured it would be better to buy after we moved. I did still have two bikes to ride

 

[klaviator]

Debbi and I took a trip in 2000 or 2001, I;m not sure which. This trip was Debbi's idea. She wanted to go see the reversing waterfalls Near St John, New Brunswick. Of course I wanted to ride there. That's what we were planning until shortly before the trip I noticed that the rear tire on my GS was about worn out

There wasn't time to get a new one so we took the truck and put the Seca in the back so we could do some riding when we got there.

We stayed at a B & B in St John. Mostly we did tourist stuff. We walked around town. It was very picturesque. Debbi posing with a couple of locals

We went out and checked out the "reversing waterfalls". It wasn't really a waterfalls but actually some rapids. Due to the high tides in the area the falls reversed direction with the tides. The St John River empties in to the Bay of Fundy which has the most dramatic tides on earth with an extreme range of as much as 47.5 feet. The "reversing falls" label may have been used to attract more tourists. One of the ways they took the tourists money was by offering jet boat rides into the "falls". Of course we did that. We were the only passengers on this particular ride.

We needed the rain suits because the water was cold and the driver did his best to drive the boat into the waves in a way that sprayed the most water on us.

We took a ride into the countryside and to Fundy Natl Park.

Somewhere in the countryside:

Fundy Natl Park:

That's it for Canada. Yeah, I did a crappy job of documenting it. If I ever make it back I'll do a better job.

 

[klaviator]

We lived in Maine for 4 winters. One of the things I am proud of looking back was the fact that I went out and rode every month of those four winters except for one January where I was Sigonella almost all of the month. If it sounds like I was really hard core for doing this, it really wasn't that hard. The weather along the coast where we lived was not that bad in the winter. There would often be days were the temps got into the 30s or even low 40s. As long as it hadn't snowed in a few days the main roads would be reasonably clear. The little back roads had too much salt and sand to ride but there were still some nice roads to ride. One of my favorite winter rides was down to Land's End. It was about an hour ride round trip. I remember riding with blue skies, blue water views and snow everywhere except on the road itself. I know I missed some great photo opportunities. Here's a couple I did take.

.

Riding, however was not our main activity during the winters. We did something that is in many ways similar to riding. We went skiing. Like riding it's an individual activity that you can do with others. You have to deal with the weather and elements and get to spend time in scenic places. We skied all four winters but the last winter was by far the best. That was the winter that we had the most snow. Scott was in fifth grade and Maine had an interesting program where fifth graders could get a ski "passport" good for three free lift tickets to every ski area in Maine. They just had to be accompanied by one paying adult. The cost of this passport was only 10 bucks. On top of that all the ski areas gave military discounts, some as much as 50%. We took full advantage of this.

Our favorite ski area was Mt Abrams. Note the Florida tag on our car.

I'm not sure what that really tiny person was doing on the hill

This ski area was near Rangeley and it was bitter cold that day.

Sometime around the end of Winter the results of the Commander promotion board came out.

Here's Debbi and Scott pinning on my Silver Oaks Leafs a few months later

.

So now it was time to call the detailer and see where we would move to next.

 

[klaviator]

I knew where I wanted to go next but getting it might not be easy. Although I made commander my chances of getting promoted to Captain were slim. On top of that I figured I would retire after 20 years and move on to something else. It's not that I didn't like being in the Navy it's just that the more senior you get the more likely you will end up flying a desk. So far I hadn't done any non flying tours which is actually very unusual for a Navy pilot. My only choices for a flying tour where to go to the Wing staff in Fort Worth where I'd get to fly once in a while or go to one of the Reserve Air stations and fly the C-12 again. There were only a few reserve air stations and by far my top choice was NAS Atlanta. Not only would it get me close to my favorite riding area but it would be a good place to retire and find a job.
The problem was that Atlanta was a very popular place to be stationed. A detailer once told me they considered Atlanta to be a "Black Hole" He said you could send people to Atlanta but then they would never leave. If they tried to give them orders to somewhere else they would just get out of the navy.
So I called the Detailer. Luckily he was new to the job. His last duty station was at NAS Brunswick and he had lived just down the street from me in Bath

So when I asked for Atlanta I got it

Atlanta would not be a good career move for me and would probably kill any chances for future promotion but that was not an issue for me.
Sometime later the detailer called me again and asked if I was interested in going to the Air Force War College and getting a Masters degree. I always hated going to school. Actually it wasn't going to school that I hated, it was the homework, tests and writing papers I hated. On top of that what did I need with a degree in "strategic studies"? So I told him I was not interested. He told me he had already called a number of other prospects and they had also said no. He said he had a few more people to call but if none of them accepted he would have to send someone and I was one of the prospects. He would be taking a week of leave and when he got back he would make a decision and let me know.

During that week I did some thinking, some research and talked to a graduate of the school. I thought that it might be a good idea for me to go back to school. It might be painful but it would also be interesting and it would force me to improve my computer skills which were somewhat lacking. Besides, he had told me I would still go to Atlanta afterwards. So I called him back a week later and accepted.
So now we would be heading out mid summer of 2001 for Maxwell Air Force base in Montgomery, Alabama.
So I still had a few months left in Maine. They would prove to be a very interesting few months.

 

[klaviator]

One weekend in early summer Debbi went off for the weekend and left Scott and me unsupervised. That might not have been such a great idea

So she got home on Sunday after noon and asked what had we been doing for the weekend. our conversation went something like this:
Me: " we've been out riding our dirt bikes"
Debbi: "But you don't have any dirt bikes"

Me: "sure we do"
Debbi: "no you don't"
Me: "sure we do"
Debbi: "well where are they?"
Me: Just go look in the garage"

So she did.

It was not a good idea for her to leave us unsupervised

Ignore the date stamp, it's not accurate.

 

[klaviator]

Now for the "rest of the story" concerning the dirt bikes.
Back in 1985 Cycle World did a comparison test of the Yamaha XT350 and Honda XL350. I still have that issue somewhere but am too lazy to look for it. Cycle World picked the XL350 as the better bike but I really liked the XT350. Over the years I always though it would be cool to get a dual sport bike and that 350 was a perfect size. I even sat on an XT350 at a motorcycle show. The problem was that I was really hooked on sportbikes and SPEED. I really couldn't justify having more that two bikes. I mean that would be ridiculous wouldn't it.

Yeah that idea is pretty funny looking back from today. So I never seriously considered getting a dual sport. Sure I did own the KE175 way back in the day but I used it as a street bike. So one day when Debbi was out of town I happened to stop by a local dealer. They just happened to have a slightly used 2000 XT350 in the showroom as well as a used Honda XR70.

That Honda would be great for Scott to learn to ride on

Yes I know I was going to wait until after I moved to buy a new bike and we were moving in a few months

So I asked Scott if he was interested in getting a bike.
That wasn't a trick question. It shouldn't have been hard to answer but after thinking a bit Scott said no

How could this be? Was this my son? Debbi was going to have some splainin to do.

Well he thought it over a bit and changed his mind

So I bought both bikes.
Here's Scott on the XR-70 in front of the dealer.