Random Memorial for Monday 3/15/10

Gone but not forgotten: my motorcyle summer.

As the weather warms and I fight to find parking in my Chicago 'hood, I can't help but reflect fondly on the summer I shared a motorcycle with my brother Corey. My friend Erik hooked us up with a little 79 Honda cycle, and I learned how to drive by riding on the back of my friend Greg's bike (almost killing us the time I leaned the wrong way when we took a turn in the woods of 322 between Ephrata and Lebanon at 70+ mph). I also learned that I could bear right without issue but had to slow down considerably whenever the road curved to the left (an as-of-yet still unknown inner ear imbalance -- or proof that, despite my creative streak and my attempts to cultivate both sides, I am more left-brained dominant than I thought?), which made for awkward highway driving on the road trip I took to the shore one day on a whim. (Without a working headlight, that was also the trip where I had to spend the night in a roadside motel because I didn't plan ahead for the length of the trip!) Since we each thought the other one was taking care of the maintenance on the bike, my fun was restricted to the one summer once the engine siezed.

All the same, my days as a soft-core biker ... you are missed!