My dad had passed on six months earlier and left me a little over five grand and his 1968 BMW R1000 motorcycle. He'd loved this bike, more than my mother and me. That was obvious. He left us when I was eight, moved to LA to open a repair shop and to live in an area where he could "ride my bloody bike year round." Year round wasn't in Chicago where he'd ended up with my mother, forced to live in her hometown.
Dad was from London and never let anyone he came across not be aware of that fact. "Crystal Palace district mate," he'd say when asked. "South London, to be exact." He'd knocked up my mother when she was visiting "Old Blimey." Turned a one-night-stand into me, and parlayed my appearance on Earth into a trip to the states twelve months later. "Got to see my son." That was a six-week visa that he extended into a 21-year stay, through marriage to my mom that tidied up the illegal alien status that he'd acquired by neglecting to go back home. Marriage and me, and an accommodating official made him a permanent resident. One thing I have to say for the old man is that he always seemed to come out on top, until his heart attack that is. He lived life with nary a care always assuming that whatever shit he'd gotten himself into would work out on it's own, and it always did.
Well, dad's heart went pop, I got the call to the bereaved, phoned my mom whose response when I mentioned dad, was "who's that," and I inherited his current ride, the 68 Beemer and five grand, two thousand of which was left after paying off his debt, the storage fees that had accumulated on the bike, as well as the cost for my ticket on the "hound" to L.A. and the start of my journey.
This was 1975 and two grand would go a long way. My journey was to ride dad's bike, now mine, around the country until I ran out of cash. While I thought the old man to be a self-absorbed prick, begrudgingly I had an odd sort of respect for his "screw ya all" attitude. I figured this bike ride a fitting tribute to that, and that was good enough rationale to blow the cash and ride the bike.
I don't know, maybe two weeks and 100 bucks into the trip I was in New Mexico, south of Santa Fe. The area was dry and hot and saw little rain, but given the eroded gullies and washes, it was apparent that when the rain came, all hell could break loose. Today was going to be one of those days, but I didn't know it. I was from the windy city.
The day was hot, probably 95 to 100 F, but that was typical and you didn't feel it riding at 70 miles per hour. The heat bubbled up out of you and around you when you stopped, but on these narrow winding roads in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't much reason to stop.
It was one cloud, but a big mother that decided to crash down on top of me. It went from sunshine, to dark, to blinding rain and hail in less than five minutes and it was during those five minutes that I seriously took notice of the flash flood warnings posted in each and every ravine and dried up creek I rode over. The rain came down like a wall and the next one-lane bridge I crossed had water roaring less than a foot below the road surface. I looked for high ground.
A gravel drive, rushing with water like its own little river wound up a hill, bordered by scrub on both sides. I turned and headed for the top, parting the water with my tires and creating a wake behind me. Positioned at the summit was a house trailer, old but well kept and in good condition, flowerpots at the stoop and maintained with a look of pride. Off to the side was an empty carport and I rode under that for protection. It sounded like the corrugated steel roof was being pelted by rocks, and looking out the rain had turned to marble sized hail and then, as quickly as it started, it was over, the sun reemerging in full strength.
I was soaking wet and parked on somebody's property in the middle of nowhere. What's next, buckshot in the ass? I didn't want to find out. I was pushing the bike backwards to leave when I heard a woman's voice.
"Where you going all wet like that?"
I looked at the trailer, and standing in the door was a woman who appeared to be in her mid 50s, a bit plump, but by no means fat, although it was hard to tell from the shapeless housedress she was wearing. Her hair was grey and tied back and she wasn't wearing any make-up. This sounds odd, but that's something I noticed. I guess I was used to most women having some make-up on, but out here, in the middle of scrubland . . . but as I say that's something that I noticed.
She stepped out and motioned me off the bike and forward. She really wasn't bad looking in a rural, natural, housedress kind of way, and for a woman more than twice my age, but I've always been a dog, and she was obviously unencumbered under that dress and swinging loose. Tits. They do it to me every time. Christ, this old lady was making me hard.
"You a city boy I take it. No one else be stupid enough to get caught in that storm . . . could see it for miles. You lucky the lord didn't take you and that motorcycle of yours in his hand and send you to your destiny in one of them washouts . . . do it just because you stupid enough to be riding about in the middle of his storm . . ."
Her sentence dangled as did her breasts beneath her dress as she turned towards her open door. "Well, you coming in to dry off or you gonna stand there like a soaked dog, to dumb to know what's good for his-self?
What would dad do, I thought? He'd follow the old lady inside, listen to her crap, charm her with the accent, get his clothes dried, eat a free meal, try and shag her, and then bum a day or two at no cost. I'm not my dad, didn't inherit the charm, but dry clothes and possibly a meal were two things I could work towards.