Toonder and Lightning.

You old folks remember the boxer Ingmar Johannsson? He was a Swede who held the heavyweight champion title in the late 50s. They called his punches toonder and lightning. I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I remember that...

Anyhow, we had lots of toonder and rain yesterday so I took care of some mundane tasks, one of which was getting the van's air vents fixed. Air would only come out of the vents by the windshield. No problem down at the beach, but I needed some air in the cab if I was to survive the 80 degree temps around here.

I pulled into a recommended garage to ask about an appointment and two guys came out and fixed it right where I had parked. A half hour and 40 bucks later I was cruising with fresh air in my face. Outstanding! It would be nice to have an air conditioner, but that would cost more than I paid for the van.

The days before the rain started, Ron and I rode some of his old restored bikes.

We took some dirt bikes out to his back pasture and scooted around and up and down hills like a couple of kids. We came back in with a couple of ticks though. Boy, does that make you feel itchy or what?
I got to ride a Hodaka Wombat. 125cc I think? What a kick!

We also went out on the road and I rode a 1967 Honda 305 Superhawk. It has an antique plate on it so my (new) gray beard, half helmet and waxed cotton jacket fit the image perfectly.
Back in 1965, when I was stationed in Thailand, I had a Super Hawk. It seemed like such a big bike back then. Of course I was a couple of pounds lighter back then.

The little Superhawk ran like a champ as we went along some twisty back roads. The back roads here are excellent, by the way. Smooth, no bumps and no potholes.
We came to a roadsign that warned of a section of particularly twisty road ahead and Ron took off on his 650 Kawasaki KLR.
I hunched down to get it on, looked to my right and spotted a huge billboard in front of a church. "Prepare to meet your maker." it read. No kidding! That really took the wind out of my sails and I putted slowly through that section.

Its rainy again today and Ron & Kate are at work so I think I'll go exploring in the van. See if I can find some pie.

...more follows..