Motorcycle true story, Added a pic

[solo1]

This story appeared here some time ago and a number of you read it.  In the last year i have brought back a few stories here but they haven't seen much activity................... Not so, my political comments.
My political comments are useless except for me just getting it out of my system.

So this is another try at going back a little bit to my great motorcycle experiences over the years.  It's a change back to thinking of better times of riding and enjoying this forum.  For what it's worth, here is the story........again.



                                              A Short True "Believe it or Not" Story

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 , for the night,  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.  However, the owners found a nice fan for me to use.
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 (Politically correct speedometer that year).     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  mumbling..
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 papason 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 .as Paul Harvey used to say.
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, ,Munising,  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
motored east  on highway Two.. This was the same route that I had taken  a year ago on the Honda.  We passed the motel on the outskirts of Manistique that I had stayed in last year.  I wondered, could it be?  Nah!

Oh heck, it's worth a try, I decided.

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 pulled into the parking lot, got out, and. 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 Korea 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 of the story. . . 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 personal value
of this worn but not worn out old Zippo. Maybe it was an omen of things to come.    The image of a Korean dragon on the lighter was similar to the Valkyrie's image, a fire eating beast. Thirteen years  later I bought the Valkyrie

Wayne, Solo1


The inscribed Korean dragon on the lighter has been my avatar here on the VRCC.

[Oldfishguy]

Good one, nice piece of work.

David

[baldo]

A great story, Wayne......

[hubcapsc]

I got Wayne's permission to use his dragon on the SC VRCC shirts
I made a few years ago:



-Mike

[John Schmidt]

Great story Wayne, amazing how some things work out....often years later. One day I hope to make that trip up through Michigan, across the UP and over to my daughter's place in the Green Bay area. That was my plan following the first Michigan InZane but was forced to cancel those plans.

[msb]

Nice story.... enjoyed it a couple of years ago when you previously posted it,  reading it again now brought back two memories of mine -  one recent and one from a similar time in your story.

I road that route for the first time on my way home from Inzane this year, and I really enjoyed the many and varied sights along the way. My first true experience with the Great Lakes,  other than flying over them or  being at the shores of Lake Ontario along Toronto's waterfront.

I was also reminded of the times when I had those throw over leather saddle bags on my '80 HD, and had to contend with with them sliding over to touch the pipes, not being smart enough or taking the time to find a better or more permanent solution than just having the seat hold them on. When I first met my wife in ' 82 I had just swapped my stock seat for a solo seat. The day after we met we took off for a 3 day ride over to Vancouver Island and WA state,  with her sitting on a piece of 2" foam on top of those saddle bags,  skillfully keeping them in place on the back fender.

Over 40 years of motorcycling has provided so many great memories for me,  as I'm sure it has for most others on this board. Your particular one here obviously has a lot of personal significance for you... It's funny how things work out sometimes. Thanks for re-posting it

[Gavin_Sons]

I got Wayne's permission to use his dragon on the SC VRCC shirts
I made a few years ago:



-Mike

Awesome shirt, now I want one 

[hubcapsc]

Awesome shirt, now I want one

Thanks!... I only made about ten of them, years ago, and gave them all
away. Big Al has one 

-Mike "I still have one"

[Karen]

Thanks, Wayne, all the people that did the right thing, it's how I grew up. A great reminder of how things should be...

[Valkorado]

Great story, thanks!

[old2soon]

Just as interesting as the first time I read the story.  I too had picked up a Zippo in basic and carried it with me thru out my 4 year hitch. Every duty station every ship I'd been on and a few of my favorite watering holes were inscribed on that Zippo. When mine became lost it stayed LOST!    As any service man that carried a Zippo knows-you DO become attached to them. It was ALMOST as much of a constant as the America flag was. I KNOW it was as much of a constant as my uniform was. RIDE SAFE.

[Gavin_Sons]

Awesome shirt, now I want one

Thanks!... I only made about ten of them, years ago, and gave them all
away. Big Al has one 

-Mike "I still have one"

Idea just came across my brain. Since Steve and I do the dragon round up every year and Wayne is from Indiana, wonder if he would give permission to use that dragon in on our design next year. Maybe we could adopt it as an official vrcc dragon? I like it alot. Not to take your Idea or anything but I would send you a shirt and also Wayne.

[hubcapsc]

Its a great idea. And also the idea about sending Wayne a shirt,
I sent him one of the SC ones... he'll probably see this and
chime in... it is a very authentic Dragon...

-Mike

[solo1]

Just got back from the range and read your post.  I started looking for my SC shirt and couldn't find it.
I wore it once but it shrank (my story and I'm sticking to it). It ended up too small for me.

I wouldn't mind if you 'adopted"  my Korean Dragon. Keep in mind that Korean Dragons were not fire breathin' or nasty but just the opposite, peaceful with long beards and no wings, and a tail almost like a fish. If they had claws, they had only four since one was lost coming from China (according to the online scoop)

Note that the original tail was pointed forward but I changed it on the sidecar.   I think that the closer that you come to the original on my lighter, the better.

Go for it. Reserve me a 2XL and give papasan the credit, LOL.

wayne

[art]

Hey Solo1, not trying to hack your post but check out this site , flying Miata. It's about V8  Miatas.

[Hook#3287]

Very Cool Story 

[jim@98valkyrie.com]

Excellent story!!

[Hooter]

Great story Wayne! Glad you found your treasure! Michigan is a beautiful state and great riding. Especially away from the bigger cities. The sight of and away from the bridge is beautiful. The Great Lakes themselves are something to see for those that haven't. Crossing on the grates on the bridge can be unerving on a light bike. The U.P. is God's country! I've been on that same route you described. The people in the U.P. call us that live in the lower "trolls " cause we live under the bridge.

[Alpha Dog]

It's the magic of the U.P. Wayne.  You found your lighter.  In 1995 I found the gal I would marry about 40 miles away to the east in Curtis, MI.

By the way - those cb900f were a pretty bad ass bike.  I have a buddy that still has one in very good condition.  Also just love that ride on Hwy. 2 in the U.P.

[solo1]

The UP has always been my favorite region. Very little traffic away from the (big) cities like Newberry and Marquette The pasties ain't bad either.

My favorite bridge taken from the UP side, nice little park.

[The emperor has no clothes]

The UP has always been my favorite region. Very little traffic away from the (big) cities like Newberry and Marquette The pasties ain't bad either.

My favorite bridge taken from the UP side, nice little park.

Hmm.... I thought pasties were only worn around here at Spring Break. That pic looks a little "nippy" for pasties. 

[solo1]

For the uninformed, paste ez are used to cover nipples and pahs t's are a kind of pot pie that copper miners took for lunches in the UP.   Of course you knew that, didn't you?

I bet that you thought i didn't know about that. Look up Sally Rand.

Always a joker in the crowd    

[SpidyJ]

So cool....

I love stories like this!

[The emperor has no clothes]

For the uninformed, paste ez are used to cover nipples and pahs t's are a kind of pot pie that copper miners took for lunches in the UP.   Of course you knew that, didn't you?

I bet that you thought i didn't know about that. Look up Sally Rand.

Always a joker in the crowd    

Actually I didn't know that. Just getting wore down from the Clinton/Trump stuff. Thought I'd try to lighten it up a little. 

[solo1]

Meathead, I know how you feel, that's why I posted this story.

Another photo from Inzane at Bellaire. Not in but close to the UP.  That, for me, was the best Inzane I ever attended .