Vicarious Life through Others’ Travels
In 1971, I purchased my first new
car: a Clementine orange VW Super Beetle.
I loved that car. While it still resides in my heart, I wish it still
had a place in my garage. It was
truly the one that got away. If I
still owned the Bug, it likely would travel no further from home than the
coffee shop on Sunday morning, because, well, what if it and its
forty-plus-year-old technology broke down?
I was reminded of this the other night when visitors from
Tasmania, whom we were yet to meet, tooled into our neighborhood on a 1975 Moto
Guzzi El Dorado. Paul and Kerry
Dickson (again, from waaayyyyy down under) purchased this classic a couple of
months back from a seller in Nova Scotia, Canada, basically sight unseen. Her name, they were told, was “Ellie.”
The story goes that the Dicksons flew into New York, caught
a hop across the border, took Ellie for a short spin, laid down their money and
headed west.
That takes some measure of guts, I’d opine. I suppose if I found a seventies-era
VeeDub, I could attempt a similar journey because those old Volkswagens were
not all that uncommon. We still see
a few of them belching about and parts still pretty available.
But on a vintage Guzzi? Trying to find parts for a forty-year old Moto Guzzi must be
a bit like finding the third tablet upon which the rest of the Fifteen
Commandments are chiseled. But Mr.
and Mrs. Dickson were undeterred.
They rode and camped and rode and moteled and rode through
some of the most scenic territory in all of North America seeking small
museums, enjoying mom ‘n’ pop café meals in tiny towns and sticking, whenever
possible, to America’s less travelled by-ways.
The story of their introduction to Ellie, the El Dorado, has
a love-at-first-sight poignancy to it.
Photos of the motoring to the top of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington and
Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower added more bullets to my burgeoning bucket list, while
shots of Montana-Wyoming’s Beartooth Pass reignited the excitement I felt on my
trip a few years back on my then four-year-old BMW. Except they did it on Ellie, a contemporary of my beloved,
long-gone ’71 VW.
Along the way, these travelers stopped in at our house for
some ribs, some rest and this reminder to self: As long as we continue to
expand our view of the world and our appreciation for the diverse gifts it
offers, we can keep our thus-engaged selves young. Perhaps there is no better way to do this than through
travel on a motorcycle.
Better still if her name is Ellie.
o0o
Notes:
More exact details of the Dickson’s transaction and amazing
trip can be found on their blog “Sure – Why Not?” Plan on being captivated by the pictures and the
narrative. And keep checking back
as Paul and Kerry are still composing thoughts and selecting pictures that
represent the completion of their journey. Here’s the link: http://sure-why-not--2016.blogspot.com/.
Special thanks to Patrick Hayes (left) for arranging the
connections necessary to allow for visitors from the other side of the globe to
come to our little place for a meal and a night’s rest. Patrick is a moto-aficionado (and Church
of the Open Road reader) who somehow hooked up with me through the blog during
my Guzzi ownership days.
And kudos to the Guzzi community – as Kerry refers to them –
both in the states and in Canada who helped ensure that Paul and Kerry’s adventure
would be the utmost success. I'm thinking I need to make an effort to "rejoin" that community...
And this...
“You meet the nicest people on a Honda.”
- Corporate slogan ca 1964
I spoke with my 94-year-old mother the other day and shared that visitors from Tanzania would be stopping
over. “Where’s Tanzania?” she
asked. I explained and she said,
“My, you do lead an interesting life.”
No, I thought to myself, but I certainly have met some inspiring
people who do.
© 2016
Church of the Open Road
Press
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