Gomer the Ratster.6

Boy, I thought I had a reasonably cool bike. There was no other bike that looked like Gomer, with the w-i-d-e handlebar, the panniers, and the two-tone blue paint.

Breaking in the motor was easy enough. I just rode Gomer to Las Vegas from the San Fernando Valley, changed the oil by the side of a road in a park near a lake, and that was it for breaking in the motor.

I didn't get any sleep from the morning of July 2 until the late evening of July 3. I only went to bed when I realised that I was trying to fuel the same truck twice. I went home, slept, got up, and went back to work until about 1700. Then I rode over to Pinball's (so called because he would spend a lot of time playing pinball games and drinking a lot of beer at the work site break room) place for a July 4th party with his family and friends. Somewhere along the line, Pinball said, 'Let's go to Vegas for the weekend!' His buddies, Tom and Tom-Tom thought that was a good idea, their girlfriends thought that was a good idea, and I had nothing better to do.

We eventually started our trip without Pinball. He and his wife were trying to reconcile, they could not find a babysitter for their kids, and Robin was not gonna take the kids to Vegas with them. Just as well, as it turned out.

We headed out at 2100. Tom or Tom-Tom, and the gals were in a Nova. The other guy would ride the 1965 panhead that Tom-Tom owned. I was riding Gomer.

We rode for a bit. We stopped at a bar and spent some time there while the other guys and the gals had a beer. I don't know for sure, but I think I live behind that closed bar now. Funny how things work out in life.

We got back on the road again and rode some more. We stopped in Baker for food and fuel. The guys were calling me 'Einstein' for some reason. Probably because I'm a fucktard. I was riding on a bike with a newly rebuilt motor, while wearing contact lenses that I had been wearing since that morning, on maybe four hours of sleep in the previous forty-eight, with folks I did not know. Like I said, a fucktard. The lack of sleep affected my riding ability. Tom warned me that I was gonna get pulled over if I didn't straighten up and ride right.

We made our way to Stateline, put on our helmets, and rode right into the sunrise into Vegas.

More later...
2010.12.02