After the
best part of a year I am finally going to ship my “stock” of bikes back from
Michigan. Whilst the Internet has been good to me it is also a pain when you are
trying to find bikes and parts to sell, it is often the best source for
bikes/parts but it hits such a huge audience that prices become quite
unrealistic, single bolts selling for $40 a piece on Ebay start tongues wagging
and everyone thinks that ANYTHING related to a Kawasaki Triple is worth 50 times
it’s original cost, when you do finally track a bike or parts down the vendor
always says he has or knows someone that has access to Ebay and “I know these
sell for a fortune on there”. The future of this trip doesn’t look too rosy
L
But, this
particular trip was planned from the outset to be stress free – instead of doing
4 weeks work in two weeks I am going to take my time and do 2 weeks work in four
weeks – that’s the plan, lets see how it pans out.
When I left
the U.S. last time I left my poor little GMC Sonoma at the garage having the
transmission fixed, I am pleased to say that “Joe” repaired the transfer box and
had the truck serviced for around Three hundred pounds it’ll live to fight
another day but with around 180,000 miles on it I ought to start looking for a
new truck.
I arrive at
Traverse City late at night, it is “Cherryfest” week and the town has almost
trebled in population – Traverse City is Michigans heart of cherry growing, it
is also Michigans No1 tourist destination. Downtown is lively but I am not fond
of crowds and am pretty tired into the bargain so it’s just a fleeting visit.
Next morning
I try to start the truck but it is having none of it, there is a new battery
already on there and further investigation points to the starter motor, access
to the starter on my back is awkward to say the least! But, after a few checks
it appears that it has to be the starter at fault. With little in the way of
tools and a lot of swearing later the starter is off, it turns out that it has a
sticker on it telling me that it is a reconditioned unit, I bridge the motor out
and it works fine – but there is no way that I am going through all that hassle
of re-fitting it only to have it fail in the middle of nowhere! It looks like a
re-conditioned unit is going to set me back $160 (Hundred quid) until Gary K (my
local pal) suggest I try a local small shop – I am pleasantly surprised to hear
that have one in stock for $70 (Fourty quid) after a lot more\swearing it is
fitted and fires up like a good ‘un!
I realise
that that my poor little truck is on borrowed time and with 4,000 miles to do in
the next week I again set about looking for a replacement, I love the style of
the Dodge rams and even the Dakotas but with lousy fuel consumption and
continuing horror stories of low mileage gearbox failures I decide to look for a
Chevvy or a GMC.
Saturday
lunch and I see I decent priced GMC Sierra some 70 miles North of Traverse – I
have booked a “pitch” at the huge autojumble and classic racing at Mid Ohio for
the following Thursday so if I am to get a new truck it needs to be in the next
couple of days. It was 12 noon and the dealer closed at 2pm. As I headed North
to Petrovski I was wondering more about finding a truck than concentrating on my
speed, I saw a cop car coming at me and looked at the speedometer – 74 miles and
hour in a 55, I didn’t need to look in my mirror to see what the cop was doing,
I hit the brakes and signalled to pull off the road – sure enough when I looked
in my mirror again it was ablaze with red and blue lights. Yet again I had
managed to get caught for speeding, as the officers approached from both sides
with hands over guns I couldn’t help but wonder how I had got away with abusing
the speed limits in the U.S. for so many miles and so many years.
The arrival
of another cop just seconds later shows that unlike the U.K. your chances of
getting away from the cops in the U.S. are slim – there are so bloody many of
them!
I must have
looked sincerely sorry (and I really was!) the officer checked all my paperwork
and advised me on better driving techniques and I was relieved to be let go on
my way – I have to say that in retrospect it was VERY rarely in the next 3 weeks
that I actually broke the speed limits – even on a BIKE! And THAT is totally
out of character J
I called the
dealership and asked him to wait a while, all in vain as the 7 Month old truck
had all the bells and whistles but had obviously suffered the ravishes of a
Michigan winter and not come out of it too well, there were small patches of
rust on the chassis and under the hood that I wasn’t happy about, I feel a 7
Month old truck should still look like new on top as well as underneath, the
salted road had taken it’s toll on this top of the range pick up. As an aside,
the trucks in the U.S. are larger than life, the truck I was looking at was a
Sierra 1500, rated at half a ton. My own truck back in England (Mitsubishi
Warrior) is a 1 ton truck and would have almost fit in the pick up bed of this
one!
I carried on
to another dealership further north that seemed to have a truck at a price that
fitted the bill, I struck a deal and left quite literally 30 mins later with a
truck that should not need to see the workshop for a long time!
That
afternoon was spent at my Pal Gary K’s daughters graduation party, these parties
are a big deal in the U.S. compared to the British attitude of “you’ve finished
school , so what?”
Next day I
got my KZ1000 registered and insured and headed back on it up North to pay the
balance off my truck, a few miles into the ride (in 85 degrees of summer heat)
and I yelp as I feel a burning sensation on my shoulder, I am breaking all my
own rules and just riding wearing sandals, shorts and a shirt, I am convinced
that someone has tossed a cigarette butt from a car that has gone down my shirt,
more yelping as I get sharp pains in my armpit and then chest as I figure the
cigarette is working it’s way down, I am beating my chest like tarzan as I pull
over to the side of the road, I rip my shirt open to see a hornet dropping out –
the little bugger has left me with six stings! Luckily I have pulled up by a
pharmacy and with the application of some insect bite solution I am relieved of
the pain. The rest of the 140 mile trip went without drama, the pleasure of
riding a bike in great weather is indescribable. You just don’t have to ride
fast to cool down.
Next day was
not good, I was informed that my friend and long time club member Joe Akisanya
had lost his life back home after taking a fatal tumble off his bike. Being so
far away was difficult, none of my U.S. friends knew Jow and realised what a
loss this was and no chance of attending the funeral. The only satisfying part
of the ordeal was that I was able to initiate and to some extent organise our
club members to attend his funeral – Some of whom borrowed some of my triples to
attend the funeral as a fitting tribute to a lifelong triples rider.
Life goes on
and I prepare to head for the “Vintage Days” at mid Ohio, I had quite a bit of
stock at Gary’s that was not worth shipping back to the U.K. (Tyres, aftermarket
fenders and exhausts Etc) The trip down South saw Gas prices fluctuate between
$2.10 a gallon to $2.30 a gallon – still cheap but up .50c from February prices.
As Gary and myself entered Ohio the weather was not looking good, we were
experiencing the tail end of hurricane Dennis, constant rain had turned a lot of
the autojumble plots into quagmires. Not only that, but our allotted plot was
not even big enough for the truck and trailer, let alone the tent and all the
parts that we had for sale. Within 20 mins Gary had had enough and I was
inclined to agree that we should just turn around and head back the 400 miles up
North – not only were the few parts we had unloaded now just brown with mud but
my new truck now had a clay interior!
I visit the
organisers who were more than pleased to find me a bigger, better and more
importantly DRIER location!
The tail end
of wind from hurricane “Dennis” put a bit of a dampner on the weekend, there
were very few triples for sale and those that were there were pretty expensive,
around $2,000 for ones needing full restoration, as opposed to last year when
similar bikes were selling for under a grand.
What did
surprise me was Three 40ft trucks full of the kids mini bikes, quads and
battery power tools, a typical 49cc stand up mini scooter was selling for $50
(£30) the quads were $200 and the packs of multiple power tools were just $5 a
box! – All were new but some were water damaged and you had to sort out the best
out of the thousands of boxes available, needless to say they were all made in
China!
I couldn’t
leave without buying a bike and very soon I was riding around on a nice Green
KZ900.
Sales went
quite well with my sales of original Dunlop and Bridgestone Trials tyres going
very well. Obviously I was selling these rare original tyres too cheaply ($20)
but I didn’t fancy the hassle of Ebaying them and then shipping them.
One of the
highlights of Mid Ohio was getting to meet not only “triples message board”
members but also some of my consistent Ebay buyers, D J fisher, Magee, Olive
Oil, Kelly Wright, Mike S, and Frank to name but a few.
The weather
finally cleared up on Sunday, loading up in the sun was far more pleasant than
the unloading, however, leaving at 5pm on the 400 mile drive home was going to
make for a long night, we finally arrived back in Traverse at 2am
The morning
TV news in Traverse always amuses me, if a car gets stolen it is on the news!
This mornings local news was that Two teenagers were arrested for breaking into
a Pizza Hut and stealing a safe containing a small amount of cash, they could be
looking at 10 years jail for breaking and entering, and LIFE in jail for safe
breaking!
After a
couple of days sorting out what was to stay and what was to be shipped in the
next container I headed up into the U.P. and on down into Green Bay Wisconsin,
I’d already placed adverts in local papers asking for old Japanese bikes but
there were few calls. Things seemed to be getting dire and rather than come back
empty handed I bought a 1967 Honda 305 dream, a nice bike with just 3,200 miles
covered in almost 40 years!
From here it
was North again in the 90 degree heat to meet up with Cody in Minnesota who had
grabbed me a filthy, faded but very original H2c (complete with sissy bar!) a
KZ900 and also a “bitsa”. H2 that I can use on my snowjob.
After just
stopping for lunch at the local “Harley” bar it was back on the road and to the
town of Stillwater for their annual “Luberjack Days” – I was somewhat
surprised to see that the guest band was none other than the “Electric Light
Orchestra” playing for free to the crowds. The town is on the Mississippi river
and sundown showed one of the most amazing fireworks displays that I have ever
seen! After a long day and a few more beers, bed was the order of the day.
Next day and
the sun was again blazing down, this was the weekend that I was supposed to be
attending the German annual triples rally, a text from Steve confirmed where I
would rather be, he was in the hills in Germany, it was raining and cold and I
was on a power boat on the Mississippi river, a swim in the warm waters just
made my day – there is nowhere in England (sea Or lake) that I can comfortably
walk into water without standing on tip toes until the “nether regions” get
acclimatised – so many lakes and rivers in the U.S. are just as clean and the
same temperature as bathwater – it makes swimming, boating and jetskiing an
absolute pleasure.
It’s time to
start heading back to Traverse and rather than make a run for it a detour is
planned to see if I can find any “good stuff” I hug the shores of lake Superior
and end the days driving with a stay overnight in the small town of Munising.
The lake is
beautiful as the sun drops and the local bar is small and welcoming - there is
a local girls hen nite and I am invited to “suck for a buck” - - yep, this is
slightly redneck” country and the suck is to chew a sweet attached to the girls
top! – The closer you get to the good bits – the more expensive the chew!
Yet again,
I am at a bar where, to be honest, the beer sucks – it is Miller light, bud
light, coors light – all tasting like warm tapwater – after a couple of beers I
threw caution to the winds and start to drink shorts – which is certainly not
one of my regular pastimes – but a couple of weeks prior to this trip, my old
pal Ralph Schipmann turned up at the U.K. rally with some miniature bottles of
Jagermeister, not a terribly popular drink in England – but in the U.S. it sells
well – with many people drinking “Jager bombers” – which is a shot of Jager
dropped in a glass of “lite beer” – rather than ruin the taste by mixing it with
weak beer I went on to drink it straight and cold. . . . and unfortunately MANY
of them – the pool table looked like a cricket field and the 1am, 5 minute walk
back to the motel turned into a 30 minute crawl – But at least I impressed the
barman – he had never seen anyone drink so many in One night!
Next morning
I was suffering BIG time! I had no incentive to drive (still had some sense
apparently) but I HAD to be back in Traverse early in the morning to complete
the shipping paperwork, I wasted a couple of hours looking around the town – It
was a really nice place in the back of the beyond and they apparently did boat
tours of the old shipwrecks on the lake. As driving was certainly still a no no
It was out on the boat to see the wrecks – fascinating stuff – lake Superior had
more shipwrecks than any other of the great lakes – this mild looking lake (the
size of Sweden /England ) was very deceptive, the crystal clear waters had taken
dozens of boats in it’s time with the last fatal sinking with all lives lost
being as recent as 1974 it was apparently just as treacherous as some of the
worlds worst oceans! After dipping my feet in it in the height of summer I can
confirm it is beautiful but . . … . . damn cold!
After touring
the wrecks on a glass bottomed boat I was still the worse for wear but logically
I was sober enough for the 400 mile drive back to Michigan – an uneventful
drive back thru the U.P. (other than the wonderful sunset over lake Michigan
- - - Oh and stopping for a break in Seney (where my mate Steve ended up broken
down a few trips back). I stopped for gas at one of the more remote petrol
stations and was amused to see this label on the pump.
Monday is
spent getting my customs paperwork ready and mailed off to Detroit for it’s 3
day waiting period, after all my previous catastrophes with shipping out of
Detroit I am ahead of the game and try to make life as easy for the clerks as
possible, I cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s and am convinced this
container will go without a hitch! The rest of the day is spent at Gary Ks
house, working on my bikes and deciding what was and what was not going to be
shipped back to England.
Tuesday is
the big day, I managed to get the container booked for 4pm, this way I can get
help loading as some pals will be finishing work around that time, Pat
especially as he is the owner of a small tractor that we use to lift the bikes
up to the container. Gary and myself line up all the bikes and check that they
don’t spread more than 36 feet, that way we have 4 feet of space for parts at
the front of the container.
We are
allowed 2 hours “free” to load the container and yet again the five of us manage
to complete the task in just 2 and a quarter hours, each bike is held with four
straps brought over in my hand luggage from the U.K. you think a single ratchet
strap is light? – try carrying 70 of them
J
Soon we are
sealing the doors and sharing a cold beer to toast our success. Andrew, who has
helped me to load 3 containers now looked absolutely horrified when I offered
him a beer, Andrew is 18 and he went on to explain – or rather remind me that
you can’t drink alcohol until you are 21 in the U.S. going to a party or a bar
be que at that age means sticking to soda!
So with the
paperwork now at customs (I had called and made sure it was there after previous
years cock-ups) and the container was gone it meant that Wednesday would be a
day for chilling out, and what better than a hours jet ski fun on the bay in
Traverse City ?
The
temperature was nudging 80 and the water was a little cooler than I hoped but it
was still GREAT to be throwing the 90HP ski into all sorts of manoeuvres. The
fantastic thing about abusing a jet ski is that when it all goes wrong you
generally have a soft landing! I was busy trying the jetski from lock to lock
when all of a sudden it high sided me and pitched me into the water as I
surfaced I was aware that the kill switch cable was no longer attached to me . .
. . as in, it was still on the ski and the motor was running and what was worse
was that the riderless jetski was heading for a small boating dock and more
importantly a speed boat was directly in it’s path about 200 feet away! I swam
like a maniac (the ski was on tickover but still doing around 10 mph) I didn’t
stand a chance of catching it - as the ski went on it’s merry way I just trod
water and figured I had lost my $1,000 deposit. As the ski got to within 100
feet of the speedboat it veered off to the right and gradually did a full semi
circle and started heading back towards me – the relief was incredible but after
the relief came the realisation that I now had a riderless 300 pound jetski
heading straight at ME. It occurred to me that my one and only option was to
stay in it’s path and at the last second swim to the side and try to grab onto
it at the rear. It was heading straight at me and just as it was about to
contact I swam to the side and made an almighty lunge out of the water to try
and grab the dangling kill wire from the dashboard. My luck was in - perfect
timing and utter relief as I now had the kill cord in my hand and the ski
spluttered to a halt. After a few minutes to catch my breath I decided to call
it a day and headed back to the shore. A quick dry off and I jump in the sierra
to head back to Garys, as I exit the car park it is rush hour, a car comes up on
me a little fast and I floor it . . . . screech . . . . bang . . . .screech!
Nope, the car hadn’t hit me – the bloody gearbox blew in my new truck! I was
speechless after all those Months avoiding Dodges because the gearboxes go out
at 70,000 my GMC has spit it’s gearbox out at under 10,000! I limp it to the
main agent who confirms it is terminal – I ain’t going nowhere in that truck.
Apparently it turned out that the one way drive/gear bottom left is the
offending item.
Thursday is
spent at gary’s working on bikes, I decide to try and get the Snowjob H2 that I
bought off Cody running, it has no pipes and just downpipes but I figure it
won’t do any harm to run it for a minute . . . . WRONG! I give the K&N’s a
generous dose of easy start and she fires into life first kick, however, easy
start is VERY volatile and with the open pipes the flames ignite the area around
the engine and the soaked K&N’s start burning well. I do my best to blow out the
flames but the fire has now got a hold and huffing and a puffing ain’t going to
put it out, Gary just stares in disbelief as I start to panic, he coolly says
“move it away from the garage dude” – I spy the garden hose and rather than push
the bike to it I grab the bucket that is under it and luckily full! A quick soak
and the fire is out, the damage is light and the bike will run again without too
much work, however next time it WILL have exhausts on!
The weekend
approaches and as the container is supposed to be loaded on the train Sunday and
presented to customs I give customs a call to make sure they still have the
paperwork, they have and all is O.K. That evening I again give them a call to
check that the container was inspected and cleared. The news isn’t good, the
container never made the train – it wasn’t even on the list! Panic sets in and I
ring the railyard where it is stored, they have never even seen the container.
Obviously by now I am somewhat anxious, but as it is Sunday evening all the
shippers and yards are closed. Yet another sleepless night sees me up bright and
early and on the phone to the trucking company, eventually they tell me that the
container was taken to the railyard last Tuesday but the paperwork was missing
a digit on the container number so it was refused, I ask them where it is now
and they don’t have a clue! So, it is Two hours to my flight back to England and
my container that should be on it’s way on a train to Montreal is now apparently
lost somewhere in Detroit. I totally and utterly despair at the inefficiency of
everyone involved at Detroit. For this to happen on virtually every occasion
defies belief! I am on the brink of cancelling yet another flight when they call
to tell me they have found it sitting in the truck yard, I am horrified that :a)
no one had ever called me to report any kind of a problem, and b) the container
has been unlocked in a dodgy area of Detroit for almost a week. I have to make a
decision, do I cancel and head down to Detroit to check it is all intact or do I
carry on back to England and trust that there are no problems when it finally
gets to the railyard and put on a train the following Sunday? I can’t really
afford to stay another week and I can hassle everyone involved and check
progress by phone from England. I board the plane still with my truck in the
shop and can only shake my head in disbelief at why it always happens to MY
containers!
I arrive back
in the U.K. to be re-assured that it now all systems GO! Double and treble check
the status and am happy that the darn thing is heading for Canada and it’s
eventual destination of Nottingham!
The container
finally arrives at my door some three weeks later and I am somewhat relieved to
see the seal I fitted to the doors was still intact, my relief turns to joy as
the doors are opened and every bike is still upright and in the same condition
as when I loaded them!
Rick Brett
