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1Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty There's A Road On A Map. Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:09 pm

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I rose early on Sunday and headed out on the red K towards the city of Brisbane, but with an eye to skirt round the CBD and venture into some new territory. There's a road on the map that I've been eyeing for some time now, so yesterday morning I decided to have that look. It would take me a fair bit of navigating since it's within the city limits but in an area that's not easy to reach. This road lies just above the Brisbane River and seems to meander along the river's banks out towards the old Moggill Ferry, up into Pinjarra Hills and then on to Mt Crosby. It was a brilliant, sunny morning and I needed a good old fashioned explore!

After a smooth, lightly trafficked roll Northwards on the M1 into the fringes of the glistening city, I veered off at the neighbourhoods of Tarragindi and Morooka, and headed circuitously towards Rocklea. It's where the Sunday Brisbane markets are held for the masses of fruit and veg buyers and sellers. During January's devastating floods, this entire area was under water. It's a vast commercial warehouse environment but at the weekend is crowded with retail shoppers vying for a fresher avo, greener spinach or juicier watermelon. I didn't stop. Crowds and I don't much get on. If I need something at the shops I'm in and out in seconds, much to the frustration and consternation of my past female partners, who thought that that sort of thing was actually relaxing. It must be a female thing, shopping. For me it's a function and I'm quick and efficient at it. Superman couldn't race into a phone box to change into his undies to fight for Freedom, Democracy and the American Way any faster.

I veered off the main road onto some greener lanes and wandered about the leafy suburbs looking at finely manicured houses with riverfront gardens in narrow, winding streets. I could see that in most the garden was full of furniture and the houses full of plants. Trim young mums wearing joggers and sun visors pushed prams, and Mercedes and Audis filled the shady driveways. The only working class vehicles were those of leaf-blowing gardeners. Tanned urbanites wearing sunnies sat round tables in trendy cafés and restaurants admiring one another. I could almost hear the clink of glass and feel their satisfaction. It all looked to me a pleasant existence. I thought to myself, 'get me out of here before it's too lattè!'

There's a lovely old bridge going North out of pleasant haven that carries traffic across the Brisbane river to Indooroopilly. From there I headed West towards Fig Tree Pocket and the old Moggill Road. New neighbourhoods with massive houses an arm's reach from one another ("Hi neighbour, I appear to be out of loo paper. Can you spare a roll?') are springing up all round this city as the population spurts on and the need for housing and poor planning promotes the usual suburban sprawl. Perhaps one day we'll get away from this single 4 wheeled vehicle for one person mode of existence and get some real urban planning and honest to goodness public transit systems going and maybe as a side benefit save the bush for the animals too!

Through the last set of suburban traffic lights my motorbike rolled and I was underway. The speed limit ticked up, the road banked left and right, rolling up and over hills and through vales, past grazing cows and frolicking horses. It was classic fourth gear stuff and the motor pulled cleanly and easily, the need for speed not a high priority on this fine and sunny morning. I spotted one grey 'roo off in the back of a paddock. At one stage I headed down towards the river and watched the Moggill Ferry carry vehicles across the short span which nine or ten months ago was under siege by the intense amount of water released from the Wivenhoe and Somerset dam catchment areas after weeks of rainfall. Australia has that cyclic hot and cold, wet and dry weather pattern influenced by La Niña and El Niño off the mighty blue Pacific which continues unabated.

After a refreshing break under a vast avocado tree at a green public park near the brown water's edge I headed further West. I wanted to see what was out here and the interestingly named little villages of Bellbowrie, Karana Downs, and the quiet little village of Mt Crosby, intrigued me, and where the roads simply ends. It was worth a look. A lovely place indeed. I imagine that the people who live there are prepared to stay home and work or do the commute into the city at whatever cost. A narrow bridge, that would have been entirely submerged, carried me onto the South side and into the fringes of the city of Ipswich near Tivoli. Since it was only mid-day, I grabbed some throttle and went like buggery through Sunday driver traffic on the Warrego Highway towards lunch at quaint little Fernvale!

Crowded in with Sunday bikers and tourists on a beaut arvo in paradise I found a table at the local bakery and enjoyed a bit of traditional Aussie tucker and a cold drink. Having a squiz at the map whilst crumbs filled my lap I decided to avoid the main roads and the plentiful viewers of the water at the Wivenhoe Dam and headed straight up between the vast reservoir complex dammed in amongst the dry, browning hills, and rolling pasturelands and made my way through the spot-on-the-map towns of Dundas and Crossdale towards the abbatoir town of Kilcoy.

From there, after a brief ride through and look around in the pine barrens, the D'Aguilar Highway carried me back towards the Sunshine Coast via Villeneuve. It's the best long shortcut along that stretch. But the really best bit is the turn off up towards twisting, winding Mt Mee, where strong winds moved the bike sideways, but the spectacular views of the great blue ocean and rolling hills inland make it all worthwhile! Then back down over the range on 'roads to die for' (and bikers frequently do judging by the amount of red pictorial warning signs) into Dayboro for coffee, on through denser forest towards Sanford, Samsonvale, and then the busier roads round The Gap near Brissy.

The last bit was a short blast of Motorway after traversing a few roads through the CBD of Brisbane. All up I'd covered 360 kilometres and done it in about nine hours inclusive of stops for an occasional slash, mid-day tea, arvo coffee and general rest your legs and look at the stunning view breaks. I took no pictures but hope that your mind's eye captured a few images of your own in my story. The Mighty K did her usual best and delivered 10 k's shy of 400 kilometres from a tank of premium, and the recent K1100 throttle body and front brake mods did their job supremely well.

Today's another day off. Where's that map again?!



Last edited by Two Wheels Better on Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:08 am; edited 1 time in total

    

2Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:01 pm

club_c

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Nice...


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"There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over."

1988 K100RS SE VIN 01477554
    

3Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:24 pm

Rick G

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Hmmmm ridden most of those roads many a time and never grow tired of the rides as it brings back many memories of my old stamping grounds.


__________________________________________________
"Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."   Dalai Lama


Bikes 1999 K1100 LT with a Big Block 1200
    

4Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:00 pm

charlie99

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nice one mate .....good stuff ......



youve got to try the road up to o'reilies plateau ....out of canungra ....



33 kilometers of twisty cutbacks ..traversing about 2 mountains in the process ...one laned roads .....trees and vine clambering over each other keeping the road narrow at the apex of the hill climbs in fact the road ....(read track ) dives in ond out of the age old flora along the road on top of the lamington plateau.



pitty there is only one road in ....



i lunched at byron bay ( the pass cafe ) then onto the "healing centre" for a much needed body manipulation of these tired old muscles and sinues ... some "great hands " relieved my stress and tension



i went past logan village on the way down and was going to call in .....but i ran late, the old 'rolla took more of my time than i thought even though i started on her at 6.00am....and i knew if you were "out and about " i would have missed you .

taking today off as well .....just to contemplate

great wordsmithing old friend ..... thanks

    

5Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:12 pm

Jhepburn

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Yep, it's a nice part of town. A lot of that is my commute. Even in the seven years I've been here there has been development and increased traffic, but it's still good, particularly as you head further out. And yes, although we are in a particularly good rental situation, w're not moving without bloodshed.

As for being "cut off": Bellbowrie went partly under and the supermarket hasn't quite opened yet, Mt Crosby was cut off as an island and I assume that low bridge you refer to was Colleges Crossing: Even the trees went under. It took them weeks to clear the debris off the parkland, and the toilet blocks, shelters and cafe have not been rebuilt.

    

6Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:35 am

Guest

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Thanks, mates! I really enjoyed the ride though it was a bit warm and windy, a few clouds threatened, but none followed through with their threats. That throttle body mod, keeping a steady hand for the duration, and the resulting fuel mileage were the impetus for the ride. I done good. I got the same or a teeny tiny little bit less than I ever did before the mod, so the 2mm x 4 increase in size of the TBs has made little difference to the petrol mileage returned, but the seat-of-the-riding-pants fun factor has gone up significantly.

Just for fun and for business I had the opportunity to make a 200+ kilometre fast run on the Motorway this morning after peak drive time. The roads were fairly free of traffic so I was able to hurtle the Mighty Red K from lane to lane and really wring its neck between 100 and 140+. The power really comes on after 5000 rpm and the difference between before the TB mod and after is astounding. It's like it really 'hits' there. I'd love to have been able to do a before and after dyno run. My bum cheek dyno tells the tale perty well though. I can point and squirt through gaps in traffic and the engine literally spins up eagerly with revs.

Charlie, I have done that twisty run up to O'Reilly's via Canungra several times. In fact it was the first ride I took when I relocated to the Gold Coast area five years back. Did you do the treetop walk on the timber bridge and climb the metal ladder up to the canopy of the tree? It's worth it.

I'm home now after a busy free day. The Currawongs are belting out their plaintive and mournful cry, the crows cackle and caw, the Cockatoos careen and dive riotously in mad flocks, the Kookaburras laugh at the soon setting sun, and Mr Koala is hanging about in the tall gum tree behind my little house nibbling slowly away on eucalyptus leaves.

All's right in my little part of the world today. It's time to rip the scab off a coupla cold little vicious ones (beer) and sit back, watch the sun drop behind the trees, then the hills, to sleep. Cheers to all.

    

7Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:13 pm

K-BIKE

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Great stuff TWB.
Regards,
K-BIKE

    

8Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:29 pm

Guest

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Thanks, K Bike, glad to know people appreciate my observations, my ambling, and my rambling words. That means a lot to me. Cheers.

    

9Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:55 pm

K-BIKE

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The wonderful thing you do for us is to paint a picture of a part of the world most on the list will never get to visit but thanks to your writing skills we all get to live the ride and almost hear the birdsong as the bike swoops through the countryside. Good on you mate you really should write a book, you have a magic way with words.
Sincerely,
K-BIKE

    

10Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sat Oct 01, 2011 3:59 am

Toto_jp

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TWB have you done a run thru Cunningham's Gap ? I've only ever travelled up and down it in a truck grossing 42.5 tonne which is interesting to say the least. With all the sweeping bends thought may be good a bike but definitely not at night its a truck race track Smile

Cheers Tony


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11Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:14 am

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Charlie and I rode back to Brissy from K Freak's place near Stanthorpe through C Gap last Winter as night time and the temperature fell. Chazza had his dark visor on and followed me as we made time right up to the....bloody roadworks. We got in the queue slowly winding down the hill behind all of the trucks and cars. No one was racing that night. But we made time once down the bottom and free of traffic.

    

12Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:11 am

88

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"get me out of here before it's too latte.."

So witty TWB. There's A Road On A Map. 44271

Automatically makes me think of places I've recoiled from in the urban jungle but I could never have expressed myself so concisely or humorously. Lovely writing, I want to go for a spin now...somewhere leafy!

88KE

    

13Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:57 pm

Two Wheels Better

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As some of you may know my K is in a storage shed in SE Queensland while I'm away in Americaland riding and working. The bike's well covered, the battery's been disconnected but isn't on charge as there's no power available, but the fuel has Sta-bil in it, and the tyres are resting on slabs of timber instead of bare concrete. I'm sure it'll be dusty and with a flat battery, and the tyres needing air after 15 months of sitting, upon my return next September or October.

This morning I woke up at 2AM (Monday) having a bad dream. I'm suffering mild deliriums, fever and the beginnings of a cold and so am trying to get as much sleep as I can over my usual Sunday/Monday weekend. I'd gotten to bed at six PM the evening before. The dream shot me straight out of bed. In it the red K was ablaze, the storage shed on fire, the factory next door the cause of the blaze, which spread. I could see the metal buildings melting from the intense heat. Just as the bike went up I awoke.

Flash forward to 1PM Monday, eleven hours later. I'm sipping a strong cup of tea to rouse myself from the two-day slumber. I fire up my Android phone and randomly scroll through Australia's ABC news. Some pollie is caught lying. A man is on the run from the coppers in Western Australia. Two DJs are crying what look like crocodile tears. A murderer has confessed to yet another crime. There's a factory fire still smoldering at Boundary and Potassium roads in Narangba. The roads all round the old leather tannery are closed off. Several Queensland Fire & Rescue units are there and it's taken fifty firies two hours to get the blaze under some control.

Thankfully it's about a kilometre away from my storage shed. How is it that such a coincidence can occur? It was only a dream, perhaps a premonition, and I'm 8,000 miles from there. I should go back to sleep.

I miss that motorbike heaps.


__________________________________________________
"A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget!" ~ Anonymous
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT
    

14Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:28 pm

club_c

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Two Wheels Better wrote:This morning I woke up at 2AM (Monday) having a bad dream. I'm suffering mild deliriums, fever and the beginnings of a cold and so am trying to get as much sleep as I can over my usual Sunday/Monday weekend. I'd gotten to bed at six PM the evening before.

That's Rider Withdrawl...

Two Wheels Better wrote:Thankfully it's about a kilometre away from my storage shed.

And just how sure of this are you? Perhaps one of the lads should take a lap around the shed to ensure all is well?

Kinda freaky...


__________________________________________________
"There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over."

1988 K100RS SE VIN 01477554
    

15Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:17 pm

charlie99

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wow ...scarey that one dazza ...you must be sick

ill take a run up the road and survey the sheds ol mate ...will have to wait till the weekend though .


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cheezy grin whilst riding, kinda bloke ....oh the joy !!!! ...... ( brick aviator )

'86 K100 RT..#0090401 ..."Gerty" ( Gertrude Von Clickandshift ) --------O%O
'86 k100 rs.. #######..  "Fred " (f(rame) red ) ( Fredrick leichtundschnell ) - -
bits and pieces from many kind friends across the k100 world ...with many thanks ..
1987 k100rs ########   "Red"  - (red sports rs TWB style )
1989 K100rt #009637   "Black Betty"  (naked rt ala Nigel , now sporting an rs main fairing )
    

16Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:54 pm

Two Wheels Better

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Thanks you two. I checked Google maps and it's the old tannery at the corner of Boundary Road and Potassium Street, Narangba, but closer to North Lakes on the East side of the highway. I'm just mildy creeped about the coincidence of the fire and my dream and the proximity. But fires can and do light off anywhere...Apparently several gas cannisters went up like rockets. Liz is several kilometres away from there right now and as of an hour ago when I rang her she hadn't heard any news of it, but it's just before 9 AM there at this mo'...The Mighty K is safe and sound and still painted red!

Check these links:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/fire-destroys-kangaroo-leather-tannery-on-boundary-and-potassium-streets-narangba/story-e6freoof-1226534154118

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-11/large-explosions-at-factory-fire-north-of-brisbane/4420112


__________________________________________________
"A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget!" ~ Anonymous
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT
    

17Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:27 pm

Crazy Frog

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Where else can you rely on another forum member to check a shed to see if the bike is OK.
You Aussies are forming such a close community that I become jealous not leaving there.

I must not forget the GB's one too. They seem to have a close knit.

TWB, your story is freaky! Halloween is over....

There's A Road On A Map. 212902



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There's A Road On A Map. Frog15There's A Road On A Map. Logo2101986 k75, 1985 K100rt, 1985 K100rt/EML GT2 sidecar, 1999 K1200lt/Hannigan Astro Sport sidecar.
    

18Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:33 pm

88

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I'd find that creepy if I wasn't married to a woman who has dreams like that all the time. Hope everything's ok Dazza!
88


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There's A Road On A Map. Ir-log1188....May contain nuts!There's A Road On A Map. Ir-log11

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." - St. Augustine from 1600 years ago & still true!

K1 - 1989 - AKA Titan (unique K1/K1100RS hybrid by Andreas Esterhammer)
K1100RS - 1995. AKA Rudolf Von Schmurf (in a million bits)
K100RS - 1991 AKA Ronnie. Cafe racer project bike
K75RTP - 1994
K75C - 1991 AKA Jim Beam. In boxes. 
K1100LT 1992 - AKA Big Red (gone)
K100LT - 1988 - AKA the Bullion brick. Should never have sold it.
    

19Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:38 pm

club_c

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CF, I'd check your shed for you...


__________________________________________________
"There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over."

1988 K100RS SE VIN 01477554
    

20Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:44 pm

Rick G

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club_c wrote:CF, I'd check your shed for you...
Now that's what I call going out of your way.


__________________________________________________
"Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."   Dalai Lama


Bikes 1999 K1100 LT with a Big Block 1200
    

21Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:47 pm

Two Wheels Better

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Crazy Frog wrote:Where else can you rely on another forum member to check a shed to see if the bike is OK.
You Aussies are forming such a close community that I become jealous not living there.

I must not forget the GB's one too. They seem to have a close knit.

TWB, your story is freaky! Halloween is over....

There's A Road On A Map. 212902

It IS amazing that there are a few blokes round there who could go have a squiz to check up on it for me. The best part is that they'd do it too, as I would for them.

I didn't really want to acknowledge it, but I dream like this fairly regularly. I got it from my Mum, who knows when something's happening on the other side of the globe, only she's more accurate than me. Once, when I was fifteen years old, she knew I'd pranged a motorbike while she was 3,000 kms away and rang my brothers to ask what had happened to me. I was in an ambulance going to hospital with airsplints on me, temporarily paralysed, and my brothers knew nothing of it. She had a feeling come over her and knew with some detail. I am usually off by a mile...or in this case, a kilometre. Wink


__________________________________________________
"A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget!" ~ Anonymous
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT
    

22Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:54 pm

Guest

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It's rubbish getting sick in foreign climes. All the little bugs just seem to be sufficiently different than the ones at home to make it a worse and weirder experience.

Gute Besserung mensch!

    

23Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:06 pm

Two Wheels Better

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SaKson7-lunchboKsrider wrote:It's rubbish getting sick in foreign climes. All the little bugs just seem to be sufficiently different than the ones at home to make it a worse and weirder experience.
Gute Besserung mensch!

Vielen Dank im alten Germanen, mein K Bike Freund.
There's A Road On A Map. 340248


__________________________________________________
"A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget!" ~ Anonymous
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT
    

24Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:48 pm

bobgass

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A bit off topic, but reminds me of the time I set the gas station on fire as a teenager . . . on accident.


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1995 K75
    

25Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:32 pm

Rick G

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Come on Bob there is a good story there so ya just hafta tell us. Unless of course the FBI doesn't know who did it.


__________________________________________________
"Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."   Dalai Lama


Bikes 1999 K1100 LT with a Big Block 1200
    

26Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:22 am

bobgass

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Don't want to hijack the thread, but here goes . . .

I worked in a filling station in the evenings as a teen, and part of the nighttime routine was to clean the service bays of grease and oil that accumulated on the floor. Wet down floor with water, put some laundry soap on the grease, scrub. On this particular night--in an effort to loosen some particularly tough grease--I poured out about a cupful of gasoline as a solvent onto the stains and scrubbed with the soap and water mixture. Well, maybe a little more than a cupful . . .

Before I could finish and flush the mixture out into the street with the hose (that's what we did back then--not environmentally sound) I had a full-service customer pull in for whom I had to pump the fuel. So I started filling his tank and as I was chatting with the fellow with my back turned to the station, I saw his face go from relaxed to a look of absolute horror.... I turned around to see the entire floor of the service bays on fire.

It was a chilly evening and apparently the kerosene heater that was burning in the office in the back of the building had ignited the gasoline fumes that had crawled across the floor and reached the heater in the back office.

Anyway, I ran back in the station and tried to 'extinguish' the flames with the water hose, succeeding only in pushing the gasoline around and spreading the flames further. As it was only a relatively small amount of gas, it burned itself out quickly, although it seemed like an eternity to me. I often have wondered what that nighttime scene must have looked like to passersby on the highway--the interior of a filling station on fire, awaiting the moment when it flashed over to the outside gas pumps and BOOM--luckily, that explosion never happened.

There was a sooty black mess all over the walls and other surfaces from the gasoline flames, and I tried my best afterward to clean it up.

The next day the boss greeted me for my shift, and although I expected to be fired, he forgave me (a good Christian man, I suppose) and told me to 'use less gasoline on the floors next time.' He had found out from a customer earlier that day about what had happened the night before. He never did find out, I guess, about the other instances of shady characters, girls of questionable moral character and other acts of debauchery and tomfoolery that took place on certain nights after he'd gone home. It was a pretty good job . . .


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27Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:53 am

Rick G

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Oooh that was a close one. I think most of us have done things like that but were lucky enough to have nothing happen. Then later on realize just how dumb it was.
I can imagine what was going through your mind as it was burning.


__________________________________________________
"Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."   Dalai Lama


Bikes 1999 K1100 LT with a Big Block 1200
    

28Back to top Go down   There's A Road On A Map. Empty Re: There's A Road On A Map. Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:44 pm

bobgass

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Really not trying to hijack TWB's thread . . .

. . . but on the subject of lucky . . .

Driving with my newly-licensed daughter this morning. She dropped me off at the corner of busy intersection and instructed her to park across the street as I'd return from appliance store in about 2 minutes. It was a good thing we'd just gotten my new washing machine going, because I crapped my pants as I watched her "in slow motion" pull out into the tight, blind intersection as an oncoming car approached. Tires squeal, other driver took evasive action, offered her a 'splendid gesture' and accident was averted. When I got to her a minute later in the parking lot, she was bawling, saying, "but I looked both ways twice--he came out of nowhere" and in my best, calm paternal tone I assured her that she had "to continue to look vigilantly right out into traffic sometimes and never assume, etc., etc., but it was OK, nothing happened, try to use this as a lesson, etc."

As I sit here and type this now I am overcome with feelings of gratitude and good luck, and I wonder now, as I have many other times, 'how is it that I am alive right now?' We've all had close calls, and we all know too many people who didn't make it back, whether it was any fault of their own. Too many people. . .

I find this a personally humbling thought, as I try to appreciate every minute of every day. Gas station story was just one of many.


__________________________________________________
Bob

1995 K75
    

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