Mike jogged my memory. A Story retold

A Short true "Believe it or Not"

In the summer of 1983 I owned an '82 Honda 900F, a nice bike.
I decided to visit my sister in Minneapolis. To make the trip interesting, the plan was to get there
by way of the upper peninsula of Michigan and so I did.
I packed my gear into a couple of soft saddlebags, added some camping gear, and, although I
had quit smoking years back, I put my trusty Zippo lighter in my pants pocket for lighting the
camp fires. I left New Haven, got on I-69 and rode north at a little more than a leisurely pace. The
weather was beautiful, riding was, well you know, and everything was fine until I got close to
Grayling Michigan traveling on 175. My soft saddlebags had tilted and were touching the upswept exhaust
pipes, so I stopped in Grayling for gas and lunch and tightened up the straps across the seat to
make those bags behave.
Now the skies were turning dark. Of course I rode on, it's not agonna rain. I was wrong! The
skies opened up and I had to stop under an overpass just shy of Big Mac, and put on the
rainsuit. No further problems and the sun was shining again as I crossed the bridge on the
concrete, no grating for me that day.
The ride west on highway Two (my favorite) was great with the view of blue Lake Michigan on the
left. I stopped at a motel on the east side of Manistique.The temperature was 95 degrees and the
motel didn't have AC, normally not needed with winds blowing off Lake Michigan.
The next morning was bright and clear and I rode into Wisconsin and headed west on highway 8
through Rhinelander. Farther west I noticed that a big thundercloud was coming up from the
south and about to cross my highway. Naturally I turned up the wick, somewhere on the other
side of 85mph (PC speedo that year). Damn, I'm motoring now. Oh crap, blue lights in my rear
view mirror! I pulled over and maybe my white hair helped, whatever, I only got a warning.
Ok, back on the bike, at a slightly more easy pace, riding into the storm with the usual too late
drill on the rain gear.
By the time I got to Minneapolis, the chain was dry and squealing, and I was wet and squealing.
After a two day visit with my sister, I headed back towards home. I bypassed Chicago, rode
down to Kankakee,(now there’s a name) then caught Lincoln Highway 30 and got back home, safe and sound EXCEPT that my lighter was gone.

! The lighter that went to basic training with me, the lighter that went to Korea with me,
the lighter that was engraved by a Papasan in Korea. Where did I lose it? Somewhere along the
1600 or so miles of road, gone for good.
Here is the rest of the story. The following summer, the wife and I drove to the UP on vacation.
As the lighter was still on my mind, We stopped at that overpass by the bridge. It could've fallen
out when I rain suited up. It didn't. I gave up on finding it.
We traveled all over the UP, Houghton, Copper Harbor, the works. Beautiful place, the UP.
As luck would have it, we came back on highway Two, drove through the town of Manistique, and
proceeded east . I thought, no way, but one more try!
I turned around and drove back to that little motel on the outskirts of Manistique, that motel where I spent the night a long year ago. I parked ,I went inside to the office thinking that they're going to know that I'm a fool. I asked the desk clerk; "Ma'am, in your lost and found would you by any chance have a Zippo
lighter with an engraving of a dragon and the words 1953 on it" She reached under the desk and
pulled out my long lost friend and said; "Is this it?" Tears came to my eyes, why I don't know.
And then she told me the rest. . The lighter was found under the bed a week later. It
was sent to the last occupant of the room. It was returned because those people knew the value
of this worn but not worn out old Zippo. Maybe it was an omen of things to come. After all, it is an engraving of a Dragon and the Valkyrie is a Dragon!

Looking back at that period of my life, I am grateful for those memories. My wife has now been gone for seven years and posting this story again helps me to remember those wonderful times with my wife.

Wayne