… you’ll never guess
You know the girl you said I’d meet someday
Well I’ve got something to confess…
OKAY ENOUGH OF that, but yeah yeah, Chicago, baby!
Rode 1,000 miles of fast I-90 slab to get here in two days, tractor-trailer wheels grinding by the iron piggy left and right. Professional drivers texting, old drivers & old-as-hell ones, the owners can’t get drivers anymore… Lordy, get a load of that one… give him a corn-cob pipe and he’d be Popeye.
So this morning I get word that CCjon and Nestor trailered their bikes 900 miles yesterday, from Houston to Angel Fire, New Mexico. They’ll spend the day there, roll the bikes off and get set to ride north starting tomorrow. I’m taking the day off, too, use the time to answer emails, do a bit of Phantom writing, change oil on the piggy, spend quality time with Sammy the wonder dog.
Sammy’s defending me from the letter carrier as I type this line.
Sammy was born blind but there’s no fooling him. He knows I’ve taken a knee on the other side of the storm door. Note the ’63 Buick Electra 225 in the driveway.
It belongs to Sammy’s owner, my friend Roger O. No relation to Jackie O.
Roger with three of his late wife’s rescue dogs. Sammy was the last one she saved.
Roger still works four days a week, plans to turn 72 next month. When he left the house this morning Piggy moved into the Electra’s garage space for the day, next to the ’40 Ford Tudor Deluxe.
Piggy’s resting on her starboard crash bar so I can pour a quart of oil in the primary case on the other side.
You can pour it in through the derby cover, no need to lean the bike over for that. Harder to do so through the inspection port, but I like to go that route because it never hurts to take a look at the primary chain tensioner.
A few pics from Roger’s garage, then I need to run.
That’s an official 1940 Ford wiring diagram. I once found an error in the truck wiring diagram Ford published in ’49, still waiting to receive my Cracker Jacks ring-whistle or other suitable award.
Roger saw this somewhere, copied it and stuck it to the cabinet in the garage because the writer’s words spoke to him. In the space of seven months, in 2012, Roger lost his wife of 34 years, Karyn, got a ride in an ambulance after a car running from the police rear-ended his truck, and he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery. Tough old guy, still intent on living.
Here’s Roger & family. Another picture of a picture on the refrigerator door.
Roger’s home from work now, we’re going to get burgers & beer at a vintage car show this evening. I’ll be back on the road headed west before daylight.
Tony DePaul, July 31, 2018, Tinley Park, IL, USA
Safe travels!