Drop
of a hat 2006 - Part 5 November
As I have said
previously, flights to the U.S. are a lot cheaper out of season and if you shop
around you can get some pretty good deals, the only problem is that they often
involve more flight changes and maybe not leaving from the airport of your
choice. This particular flight is from Birmingham into Detroit for easy access
to Canada to check out some bikes and then the return flight is out of Traverse
City Michigan. The annoying thing about it is the flight is with Air France, so
it’s a flight to Paris then the transatlantic part to Philadelphia and finally
an internal flight to Detroit. I am up at 5am and my “Taxi” man Mal is driving
me to Brum to get me there for 7.30, from there I arrive at Paris where the
Charles DeGaulle airport is undergoing some serious surgery, a bizarre convoy of
busses finally gets me to departures after an hour and with just minutes until
my flight leaves, but I am finally aboard the 8.5hr flight to Philly. It is more
than a little frustrating to see that I am flying over Ireland at 3pm after
already having been travelling for 9 hours
L
So, it’s into Philly
to find that my Detroit flight is delayed for an hour which is quite fortunate
as the queue for security is the longest I have ever seen, it’s out of the
Gates, down the concourse, over a walk bridge that covers a double lane road, a
railway and a car park and virtually into the car parking area! I finally work
my way past the dozens of discarded “liquid” bottles at the scanner just under
an hour later.
I finally arrive in
Detroit just an hour late at 9pm (2am my time) unfortunately though, it seems
that my bags didn’t make the tip with me and are nowhere to be found, after an
hour both myself and the lost luggage dept give up as they don’t even have any
record of them being scanned along the route, they ask me to report back in the
morning, it’s an inconvenience to say the least as I have a hotel booked 80miles
South and all my electrical gear and clothes etc are in the missing bags.
So, next morning I try
the automated telephone bag tracking service and it keeps coming up that there
is no info on the bags, I have nothing to lose so I head back to the airport to
find a REAL person that I can hassle to find the bags. The airport isn’t busy at
that time in the morning so I have a desk agent all to myself, she confirms that
there is no news but allows me to look through the back room to see if they are
there, no joy. She goes on to tell me how they had a storm at Philly two days
prior and that they are still trying to catch up, I am not convinced and am more
than a little pissed that they have obviously not been scanned for the bar code
and could be anywhere in the system, not only that but if they are still in
Philly then I have got to hang around Detroit for several hours until they show
which is going to be putting me well behind schedule. I am yet again voicing my
frustration to the lady of them not knowing my bags location when my phone
rings, a voice tells me that they have found my bags! YEAH! I ask her if they
are still in Philly? She replies that they are now in Detroit – I ask here where
SHE is located? “Northwest Counter in Detroit” . .. . . “ermmmm, so am I” Just
then a face on a phone appears from behind a wall . . . . enter - One
embarrassed phone agent and add one embarrassed counter clerk and we have an
amusing situation! Especially as I ask the lady on the counter again just where
my bags are? It turns out they were put on a different airline and are at a
different terminal, but at least I now have them and it is time to hit the road!
So, first stop is a
gas station and what a pleasant surprise, after the $3.10 (£1.75) a gallon on my
last trip, gas is down to $2.20 a gallon (£1.20) which makes a large difference
when you are only getting 15 miles to the U.S. Gallon (It’s smaller than a U.K.
Gallon). As I am close to Grand Rapids Ohio I change the plans slightly and make
a visit to See Ric Seel at “westriverex” ports, Ric has still got plenty of
triples for sale, but they all want work and it needs a little thought as to
whether they are worth buying and restoring, whether to break them or just what
to do. Yet again I leave without buying any bikes, but I have pictures of Rics
stock for future reference.
Next I head east to
hook up with “Herb”, he’s the guy I bought a few bikes off on the last trip to
be restored at a later date, Herb has found me a low mileage H1d and a very
early H2. The H2 is very rough but is numbered under 1000, problem is that there
is so much missing and the motor is off a slightly later model so it would be
futile to pour big bucks into restoring it. The H1d is O.K. but it has suffered
some serious corrosion on a lot of the fixings and will need to be torn down and
rebuilt to be a good looking bike. I decide to leave and do some thinking about
the bikes.
I find a local hotel
and try to book in but no one is on the counter, I use the phone on the wall and
the guy on the other end tells me that he is watching the big football game, and
to take a key to a room and he will see me after the match . . . . . . this is
small town America where people trust each other – I like it! So, once in the
room I see that the game has only just started and beer and food sounds like a
good idea so it’s off down to the local bar and grill where upon entering I see
just how BIG this football match is! The place is rammed full of people much
like you would expect to see in an English bar when England are playing a World
Cup match. Enquiries reveal that this is a college football game between
Michigan and Ohio? It seems that in the U.S. the college teams have just as big
a following as the State teams, the stadium is packed with 50,000 people with
millions more watching on TV. I am always bemused by American Football, I just
fail to see what is exciting about 5 seconds of action and then 5 minutes of
messing around before the next 5 seconds of action – but, be that as it may,
everyone is rowdy and enjoying themselves and after a few beers I am adopted by
a local guy and my quick beer turns into several.
Next morning it is
back down to Herbs and see if I can negotiate a better deal, things go
reasonably well and I am soon loading up the H1d and some old 1968 Yamaha trail
bike, Herb tells me of a pal who has a few AMHRA dirt bikes and we head over to
see his collection, I am impressed, they are not quite my cup of tea but I can
appreciate any bike that has been well restored, friends of friends are good!
And it isn’t long before this latest guy gives a pal with a H1c a call, that
bike is for sale as well so it’s a 40 mile trip further down Ohio and before
long I am loading up a H1c as well.
After
a little discussion I am loading up 3 H2’s in various guises for the journey
back up North, none are known to run but with a little work I should be able to
do something with them.
After
unloading the bikes I have a days rest before heading back down South to Two
junkyards that I have visited before, One of them had Two 1969 H1’s in the field
last year, they were both rough and total restoration projects but my old
archived photographs show that they both had the correct engine and frame
numbers. After trawling around the field for an hour it became all too apparent
that someone had beaten me to it!
The
1970 H1s were still there but both of the ‘69’s had gone. I did however come
across several restorable ’69 H1 exhaust pipes and several other parts. The yard
would bring a tear to a glass eye, it has dozens and dozens of bike engines from
the 1970’s , the problem is however that most have had clutch casings, carbs and
spark plugs removed and then been left to sit outside – virtually all are utter
junk with rusted bores and exposed rusty gearboxes. One thing that is apparent
to me me though is that there is NO new influx of stock here, the bikes that
are here are the same old bikes that were here 3 years ago! It seems that the
World of Ebay has affected a LOT of businesses, I reckon the sole reason is that
folks no longer take their bikes to the junkyard, they just stick them on Ebay
instead.
As I leave the junkyard I get a call
from one of my best U.S. Pals, Cody, (scrambler73) he’s bidding on aYamaha
350
hillclimber that is “somewhere in Michigan” and the auction ends in a couple of
hours, well, as always with myself and Cody, fate takes a hand and the bike is
just 45 miles from the junkyard that I am at – he goes ahead with the bid and I
detour to collect the winners bike . . . . .and a pretty good bargain it turned
out to be! There’s no more time for shopping so I run back up North with my only
trophy being Codys Hillclimber. Once back I have to test ride it for him
J
The bike ran really well, the chassis was darn poor as the head bearings were
about the worst I have ever felt – but a brief spin around the field and up the
hill and I reckon he got a bargain at just over Two hundred quid – the heads
alone were worth that!
So, it is now “thanksgiving day” and
in the U.S. this is a massive event, it is actually celebrated more
enthusiastically than Christmas day, obviously the whole nation is on holiday
and the majority meet up with family and friends for a good lunch. It seems
like an ideal opportunity to me to get a dirtbike out and go for a ride in the
woods and trails, as I am riding through the woods I notice a drum hanging from
a tree with fresh fruit in it and fruit scattered on the ground, a little way
later and I hear a very loud crack, it didn’t really seem like a backfire but
was just as loud! I loop around and come back only to come face to face with Two
VERY irate deer hunters! They had been sitting for hours watching the baited
traps and then along I come on a loud dirtbike and scare off any potential
targets, they were not happy to say the least and told me I could be shot at or
arrested for riding the trails in Deer hunting season . . . OOppps
Next day I am heading out down South
to a junkyard to see what I can trawl up, the guy has a few hundred bikes, many
have been there a LIT of years – Most were junk but interesting to peruse over.
After
spending a while walking around the “junk” I was taken to a barn that stored
some 50 or so bikes that were too nice to break, there was a good variety of
bikes, many dirtbikes but also some unusual stuff from the 1970’s such as this
Yankee which was a dirt bike built in the U.S.A. but using a unique engine
comprising of Two 250 Ossa engines that were built side by side to for a 500cc
Two stroke Twin. There was also a Hungarian “white” 350cc(?)
I bought a handful of the bikes but am
expecting problems in shipping / titleing the bikes, I am not too sure what the
procedure will be for getting the bikes back on the road as they will be on the
national database as having been scrapped.
So yet another trip comes to an end –
Snow is about due and when I get back in Early 2007 and I anticipate some very
hazardous weather on my next road trip
L.
Keep One Wheel Down . . . . . . . .
.
Rick
