“If you ever decide to sell…”

By Bud Wilkinson

Two weeks ago, riding wasn’t on our minds. No way. Hurricane Irene was heading up the coastline and preparing for the storm took priority. After making sure the home generator was filled with fresh petrol and running properly, my challenge was to rearrange the contents of the expanded one-car garage to squeeze in the pick-up truck amidst the accumulated mechanical detritus, including three motorcycles.

Why is it that guys always seem to collect too many toys and run out of space to store them? Is it just part of our DNA? The garage will easily accommodate one car (or truck), but not when the motorcycles, a lawn tractor, a snow blower, a leaf blower, electric lawn mower, four lawn chairs, one bicycle (unused for years), a tool cabinet and the aforementioned generator are inside too.

Add in a chop saw borrowed from a neighbor, some boxes of floor tiles, several wrought iron bird feeder holders, assorted garden tools, a small space heater, a portable air compressor and a file cabinet that combined take up quite a bit more floor space, and puzzling out how to make everything fit makes deciphering a Rubik’s Cube seem easy.

The solution was simple that Saturday morning before Irene arrived. When the going got tough, I got going – to pick up a battery for the 1982 BMW R65LS from Doc Motorcycle Parts. Before getting it, though, I drove to Roxbury to see Allen Johnston. I’d met him probably five years ago when I’d stopped in Kent on a ride and his 1974 Honda CB750 Four was parked along the main drag. Metal-flake orange in color, it was gorgeous. I even snapped a picture of it. We got talking that day and I recall saying, “If you ever decide to sell it…”

That time had come. Johnston had emailed a week or so earlier to tell me inform me, so I went to look knowing full well that an already full garage would be problematic. But it was a good excuse to avoid storm prep. Eventually, I made it home and tackled the garage. The first item to get placed, directly by the door, was the generator. Next, the R65LS got squeezed beside the snow blower. Thank heaven it has a center stand. Behind them, lined up parallel on their center stands, were the 1969 Triumph T100R Daytona and 1994 BMW R100RT.

The lawn tractor went against the far wall and the remaining items got placed in the crevasses between all the large items. Hoping for the best, I drove the truck in and tried to pull down the door. No luck. About two feet of the bed stuck out. Inching the truck forward until the bumper tapped the tractor only gained about six inches. At that point, I gave up, attached a long extension cord to the generator and snaked it into back porch so it would be handy once Irene hit.

Wouldn’t you know it, the power never went out. Last Saturday, one week later, and my task this morning was to “unpack the garage” – and find room for a fourth motorcycle that’s on the way. Orange always was my favorite color.

Sept. 8 postscript: The bike has been paid for and insured. It needs to be registered and picked up – once the rain stops.

(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on Sept. 3, 2011 and re-written for RIDE-CT.com.)