Good times

I'm 78 years old and I'm sitting here thinking about this thing called life, I was the fifth of five boys, actually I was the seventh, two of my adopted brothers passed away at a very young age before I was born, I had eight sisters, three sisters and three brothers have passed on, I've also lost my Mom and Dad. I can honestly say that if I had a choice to pick any family, I would still pick this family, our life wasn't easy, but it was fun. I can remember as a young man, I had all these Tio's,Tia's and cousins in my life, this gave me a lot of people to look up to, my folks taught us the difference between right and wrong, but so did everyone else, kinda along the lines of "it takes a village to raise a child" when our elders spoke we listened. The river, bicycles, trees, orchards, railroad tracks, old barns, rice silos, Indian reservation, old dirt roads, our baseball diamond on the cement out in front of the rice silos, were our play grounds. None of us kids were over weight, cause we were always doing something that involved physical activity, and we were always hungry, back in them days you got three meals a day and if you were late, oh well you missed out, there was no McDonalds or In n Out, you usually only had sodas and if you were lucky, a hamburger on the weekend, in the winter you could just forget it. Back in them days we just dealt with things as they showed up, when something broke, you would fix it just good enough to get you through the week and on weekends if it was the car, it would be a priority to fix it right, to get you through the week, at my age now, I appreciate things that are old and dinged up a bit, cause it gives em character, don't really care for new things, give me an old car, old Harley, old Levi's, tennis shoes, t shirt and my old lady and my little family and I'm happy. Money's not a big priority for me, it's nice to have, but I don't think being rich and Buddy Gomez were ever meant to be and I'm cool with that, if you want to be rich and have a lot of nice things, that's cool too, I believe we weren't put here to think alike, we're all different and that's a good thing.
 Us kids usually walked home together, but there were times when I walked home alone. I remember going to the show when I was just a kid and walking home late at night by myself and I was certain La Llorona was going to jump out and get me, certain areas like the cattle corral where a lot of Hobos used to sleep, I would run as fast as I could, there wasn't any street lights and in them days people were usually asleep before 10:00. A child walking alone at night would not be seen by anyone other than the Hobos and La Llorona. Things didn't get much better once I was home, cause the house was supposedly haunted, this all made for some interesting walks home at night. Our neighborhood was dark and mysterious at night, but early in the morning it would come alive with roosters crowing, dogs barking, kids running around like kids do when they've been cooped up all night and the smell of a good down home style Mexican breakfast being cooked by my Mom and my Abuelita who lived across the street, I'd eat at home then go to my Abuelitas  and eat again, I was always hungry and the food was always delicious. I can still picture my Mom making tortillas for breakfast and my Dad sitting at the table drinking coffee, if my Dad was sitting down he would usually be fixing something. My folks didn't like to see us just sitting there doing nothing, they'd either put us to work doing house chores or make us go outside, for me as soon as I ate, I was out the door looking for something to do, I didn't want to do no stinking house chores. Our neighborhood consisted of Mexican, White and Indian people and we always got along fine till I got older and got a car and the lady next door started calling the cops on me all the time for burning rubber and the lady at the corner would throw rocks at my car. by that time my Grandma had passed away and my cousin had moved away and my brother had joined the Army, so I found a new group of friends to hang out with, they enjoyed hanging out at our house and a lot of times some would spend the night. Mom n Pop were cool that way and of course they loved Moms cooking. Back in them days you had to be creative to maintain your car, gas, oil, tires, etc. wasn’t easy to come by and jobs were very scarce, I could go on, but I think you get the picture. My friends would chip in for gas and beer and we’d head out to a new adventure on the weekend, we’d usually go to Marysville, Yuba City or Woodland. I can’t think of any time we didn’t enjoy ourselves. Just a buncha kids doing what kids do.

Sixth st.

We lived on Sixth street for about 15 years, during that time we got to know most people that lived there or in the area. I did get to know these three characters that would walk by the house quite often carrying a bunch of bottles that they would cash in at the store and buy themselves some booze and get snockered. One day I was mowing my front yard and they came walking by and they started talking about the night before, apparently they bought some beer and drank it at the park near by and got pretty wasted, they were too drunk to go home so they decided to go to the rice mill behind my house and get out of the cold. It was pretty cold outside so they went in one of the silos or the tall building, I couldn't understand them too well cause they were still drunk, anyway they told me the three of them went inside and sat next to this ladder that went straight up the wall, and they started to finish up the last of their beer when one of them got up and said he was going to climb the ladder, they tried talking him out of it, but he was adamant he was going to climb the ladder, so the other two said heck with it let him go, well they said it was dark in there and they watched him for a bit then they sat down next to the ladder and finished off the beer, then they heard this big thud and they got up and sure enough it was their brother, they got up and checked him out and they came to the conclusion that he was dead and they didn't know what to do, so they left him there and went home and went to bed, they said about two three hours later he came home, apparently he had just been knocked out. They came by my house later that day and were telling me what happened and all three of them were cracking up. Knowing these Dudes, I believe they are totally capable of doing something like this. Another time my wife and I were asleep and we heard people arguing outside, so I get up and look out the window and there was two drunk girls arguing with two people in the car a guy and girl, they were calling the girl in the car all kinds of names, the Dude in the car jumps out the car and punches one of the girls in the face and lays her out,  jumps back in his car and he was gone, the one girl gets the other girl up and they go staggering down the street. We must have missed a good party that night.

House on Kentucky Ave

I moved from Colusa to Woodland when I was about 19 I believe, my Dad had a job for me working with him out at the Knaggs ranch, Mom and Pop lived in the large house on Kentucky, with the half circular driveway, the long spacious porch with the wide steps that were perfect for the kids to sit on and get in the way, how about the large front door, with the awesome brass hardware. As you walk in, the hardwood floors, large living room with fireplace and the opening into the large dining area where we would all enjoy many of Moms delicious meals was awesome, going back farther was the ball room, I had never been in a house with a ball room in my life, kids dug it, cause they could run and slide on the hardwood floors, till they were told to go outside and play, back then, the kids never walked in the house, they ran, seems like they were always enjoying themselves and it seemed like you could always tell which kids were in the house, just by the way they laughed. My kids thoroughly enjoyed being at Grandma and Grandpas house with all their cousins, the memories the kids shared with their cousins developed a strong bond between them that has followed them into adulthood. As you walk through the rest of the house, the five bedrooms, three bathrooms, large pantry, good size kitchen, long hall way, three porches and to top it off, a large spooky wine cellar, The house was surrounded by a tomato field, it was not for everybody, but I dug the smell of the tomato plants. Hell if you wanted a fresh tomato, you could walk out to the back yard and pick one.
I don't think anyone can think about that house with out thinking about the water fights, volley ball games, crack the whip and other games, all the laughter, the food, Moms ice tea, the parties and most of all, Mom and Pop and family and it seemed like on the weekends, I'd be driving to Mom and Pops and I'd see the kids heading over to Kentucky Market to get their candy.
I spent many Sundays sitting on the front porch, sipping ice tea and listening to Mom and Pop telling their stories about the old days, it was even better when some of the older folks had spent the night and would talk about the good old days. Having a beer and talking to Tia Chana and Tio Ray was always fun, I can still picture him rubbing his hands together and teasing Tia Chana about something, my Tia would just say "oh you don't know what your talking about" Belinda and I loved having a cold one with them.
I remember going to work with Pop in the morning, I'd eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, I know, weird huh. Eating Moms tacos out in the field was always my highlight of the day. Hell, coming home from that hot dusty field, a shower and eating Moms delicious food was also a highlight of my day, I guess you could say, eating Moms food was a highlight of my life.

El Rancho Grande

My family used to live on a ranch called Chibics, not sure if that's how you spell it, but close enough, I remember the place well, we used to drive on this old dirt road, till we got to the ranch, I remember our car getting stuck in the mud quite a few times when it rained. There was an opening at the entrance to our ranch that had two palm trees, one short and the other very tall on each side of the entrance, being just a kid at the time, I was always trying to throw a rock or whatever over the top of the tall palm tree, I was also trying to knock that big ass owl out of there. At the front of the house, there was a small pump house that we used to sit up there with our dogs, Fido and Rusty, next to that old pump house was one of them old hand pumps that was connected to a well, you'd pump the handle and grab a tin cup and fill it up with cool and fresh and best water ever. To the right of the house, there was two big pear trees that had some very delicious pears, we would climb up there and eat to our hearts content, you always had to be aware of the bees though, especially since we were always bare foot. At the entry way to the porch there was a very small slab of cement, I remember my Bro and I found some live rounds from Pops gun and for some crazy reason, we were beating on them on the cement with a couple of butcher knives, thank God they never went off. Thare was an old rickety porch at the front of the house, as you walk in there's a small living room and a bedroom on the left, going straight back there was the kitchen, with the stove on the left with the sink right in front of it, I remember my Mom making our meals there and helping Pop clean catfish in the sink, Pop made his own fish hooks out of nails and he would take us fishing, the river was only about a ten minute walk from the house, if we didn't catch any fish, it was beans, papas, rice and tortillas for dinner, still my favorite today. As you walk out the back door of the house, there was an old refrigerator on the left side of the doorway outside, there was a chicken we used to call fren, who used to lay eggs up there every day, when Mom told me to go gather eggs, it was the first place I'd look. There was a shower house on the right, but I never used it, I was still small, so I took a bath in a  tina, one time there was a big commotion out front and people were running back and forth and my Tio's were out there with rifles, my bro and I started running over there to see what was going on and come to find out, it was a skunk, someone shot it and my Mom called my Bro and I back to the house and one wiff of us and it was back to the tina for us, my Mom gave us about three baths in one, threw our clothes away or burned them, we didn't have on more than underwear, t-shirt and jeans. Poor skunk didn't stand a chance. There was a little house on the left side of ours where a old Dude we used to call Tio lived, we owened a cow and one day I came home and the cow was hanging from the tree out front of Tio's house, apparently he killed the cow and was letting it bleed, he had a tin cup and let the blood fill the cup, then he drank it, he offered us some, but no thank you Tio, I'll stick to beans and tortillas. Behind Tio's house, there was this big ass fig tree, my bro and I would sit up there and eat figs and throw figs at the chickens. We were surrounded by prune orchards and there was this big slough we had to cross to get to the one orchard to go to work, I always loved the smell of that slough in the spring when everything was blooming, I have some sage plants in my back yard now, that give off that sweet pungent odor that still reminds me of our Rancho,  we'd leave the house early in the morning when it was just getting light and come home when it was just getting dark, I always liked walking in them old dusty roads barefoot, the dirt was like fine powder and it kinda burned your feet, Mom used to be the first one home and she'd start cooking dinner, seems like her work was never done, but she always found time to sit with us kids and tell stories about the old days and how things were for our family, wish I would've written that all down. My bro and I slept in a little Army cots in the living room, I remember when my cousins came to visit, we had to get creative finding a place for them to sleep, I always looked forward to my bro coming home from the Navy, cause there would always be a big party for him with music, food, sodas and drinks for the older folks, seems like everyone was happy and there were kids running around everywhere playing made up games and having the time of our lives.
My Bro and I always had rocks in our pockets and sling shots, if something moved it was curtains for whatever it was, my Pop would get mad if he caught us killing an animal, so we'd head out to the orchards and just run around out there without a care in the world, chasing rabbits, squirrels, birds or whatever we found, we use to pick up snakes, not knowing if they were poisonous or not. We were as free as the animals we encountered. We never wanted for anything, if we had company, our food portions were smaller and nobody complained, if you went to bed a little hungry, that's just the way it was, Mom made us breakfast lunch and dinner, if you weren't there, it was your fault, we got to go to town once a week and a trip to the movies was like a trip to Disneyland, Mom would buy bread, mayo, potato chips, bologna and we all got a soda and we'd head to the drive in, if we had a pickup, all the kids would jump in back, uncomfortable as hell, but a lot of fun. When winter came, we'd all get new clothes and a big heavy coat and my folks would stock up on non perishables to get us through the cold season. Pop would work as much as possible to buy whatever necessities that were needed, we were usually at the mercy of whatever old man winter sent our way. I gotta say that our childhood was the best ever. Mom and Pop taught us about family values at a very young age, they never liked seeing us fight or argue, Mom made sure we went to catechism and we all had to go to church on Sundays, my Mom always had her candles and Jesus and the Virgin Mary to pray to every night. To this day I always think about how we as kids, did all the crazy ass things we did and never had so much as a broken bone or any major injuries, the good lord must have heard my Moms prayers. Thank you Lord Jesus. Some people would say our life was hard, thinking back, I guess it was hard compared to the way a lot of other people lived, but for us, that was just the way it was, that's living the life.

In the 70's I worked with my Dad out at the ranch by the river, Pop had this old 64 Ford truck that he got from my Bro and he was very proud of that truck, it was green and it had this big wooden camper shell on the back with all his tools in it, I liked the smell of that ol truck, with the oil, grease, dirt, old tools, old canvass and what not. if you went around a turn too fast, it felt like it was gonna tip over, it was very top heavy, my Dad changed the oil regularly and washed it every weekend, he had his own concoction for washing it, which consisted of water, dishsoap and a touch of diesel fuel, diesel fuel has oil in it, so it left kind of a glaze on the paint that made it almost look polished. My Dad loved his truck because it was very reliable and being that he got it from his son Jack, made it more special to him. Every morning I would ride to work with my Dad going down that old river road bat outta hell about 45 MPH. A 15 minute drive would take about a half hour. Some of the boys from Mexico used to work with us at the ranch and one day one of the boys asked my Dad if he would sell him his truck and of course my Dad said no, well this young man was relentless and my Dad kept telling him no. One morning Pop arrives at work and there's this beautiful red Mustang parked there with the young man standing next to it and he tells my Dad, look what I got, I don't need to buy your truck anymore. The young man opens the hood and there's this big V8 engine in it, just a beautiful car and my Dad tells him so. At the end of the day when everyone is getting ready to go home, the young man comes over and tells my Dad, "let's race back to Woodland, I'll even give you a head start" anyone that knows my Dad will tell you a comment like that will set the wheels in his head to turning, so my Dad tells him "ok I'll race you if you give me a head start" young man agrees. Well over in them walnut orchards the roads were made of dirt with a real fine layer of powdered dirt on top, when you drove on these roads it created a big trail of dust and you had to wait till it cleared before you could see anything in front of you, my Dad starts his ol truck and takes off bat out of hell about 20 MPH down that dirt road and you can't see his truck with all the dust that's being created, when my Dad gets to the levee, instead of turning right to go to Woodland, he keeps going right over the levee and takes this road to some trees and parks behind them and waits and sure enough in a short while this Dude in his red Mustang comes flying up the levee and makes a right turn, almost goes off the levee and goes bat out of hell towards Woodland. My Dad gets kinda worried and he's thinking "I hope this fool doesn't kill himself", My Dad starts his ol truck and starts heading home. Next day when he gets to work to my Dads relief, the guy is standing next to his Mustang in one piece and he goes up to Pop and asks him, what kinda motor do you have in your truck ? He says I was doing about 100 MPH chasing you all the way to town and I couldn't catch you and I almost killed myself. I don't know if my Dad ever told the guy what really happened or if the guy ever figured it out, but I'll betcha the boys all knew. That's just one story about Pop, can you imagine all the other stories that are out there. I think his sense of humor is alive and well in all of us.

My life

I was born Oct. 29 1944. So that means i went through the 40's,50's,60's,70's,80's,90's,and all the way to the present. I was 6 years old when the 40's ended, but i still sorta remember what it was like living in San Jose at that time. Dad had a good job and we had a nice house and the neighborhood wasn't that bad. Don't know why we moved and i don't remember my first time coming to Colusa. It seems like all of a sudden we were just there. At the begining of the 50's we were working out in the fields, I must have been 6 at the time. That's just the way it was for a lot of families back then. You made the most from what was available. We were living at the Colonia in Colusa at the time.

I wouldn't change my childhood for anything, because we experienced so much more than most and i believe having been brought up with such great parents and brothers and sisters made my life so much more enjoyable, of course it wasn't always all fun and games because there were times when we did struggle and sometimes it was very hard to live the way we did, but we always found a way to get by and that had a lot to do with Mom and Pop. The other thing that had a significant impact on my life was my Tio's and Tia's and of course my cousins. We spent a lot of time together. We were more like one big happy family. You throw in all my parents friends and their kids and you can get an idea of what i'm talking about. There was always a bunch of kids running around our neighborhood. Did we fight with eachother? yes we did, but it was never a big deal. For the most part we got along just fine.

I remember when Rock and Roll first came around with Lil Richard, Fats Domino, The Clovers, The Platters, Johnny and Joe to name a few and how the older folks reacted to how Elvis "the pelvis" Presley danced, they were mortified, but the young folks couldn't get enough of them and this changed the way people started dancing to their music, it was a cool time and place to be. The music, cars, clothes, it was all cool.

There was a lot of prejudice in them days, and sometimes you had to go and fight with someone because of it, because if you didn't you would be in for a long bumpy ride and especially at school. Some of the most racist people were the ones that should have known better, because they were in a position to change things,but most of them were satisfied with the way things were. Although there was a lot of prejudice during these years you had to learn how to get by. I've always had this way of getting along with people so I've always had friends of all colors. If you were half way cool, you and i could be friends. I remember hanging out with kids who's families were very rich and other kids who's families were very poor, it didn't matter to me cause we always had fun hanging out. You just have to learn how to adjust to different situations. It was kinda funny how i could be friends with a kid, but i couldn't talk to his folks. When it was time for the folks to come home I had to leave. The kids accepted me, but the folks wouldn't ( their loss) and these were supposedly educated people. One was a doctor for Christs sake. I could go on and on about this, but it was all about ignorance and it's still alive and well today. Although it has gotten better i see/hear it all the time and i'm talking about in all races. This is the year 2012, were supposed to be smarter then this.

I was reading an article in the paper the other day that said the auto industry is having a hard time connecting to the young folks. Apparently the young people are not as interested in buying a new car as they were back in the day, so they're trying new selling strategies. Back in the day we lived for our cars. Your car was your status symbol. We looked forward to the new cars coming out like we look forward to the Super Bowl. There was just nothing like seeing that new G.M.C., Ford or Chrysler products and there were also the Studebakers and Ramblers although they were not as popular, we still looked forward to seeing them. We never heard of Toyota or Nissans. I remember the first time i seen a 57 Chevy. This kids Dad owned the Pontiac garage and he bought his son a brand new 57 Chevy Bel Air two door hardtop. It was lowered and had Supremes and was painted olive green. That car was the talk of the town. I also remember when the Mustangs first came out, A friends Dad bought him a 1964 Mustang with a 289 motor. It was fast but he got blown away by a friend of mine with a Chevy with an Olds motor in it. Man was he pissed. Then the Olds 442 came around and it just blew everyone off the road. That was one bad ass ride and fast too. We had a quarter mile drag strip marked off out in the country and we would go and race each other. It was cool when some new guy came around with a nice ride, cause he would always be challenged and a whole bunch of us would head out to the strip to see who had the baddest ride. The people i hung out with had rides that weren't built for speed, they were built for cruising and they were low,lower,lowest to the ground. We used to cut or take some body parts off so they would go even lower. After work on a Saturday you could find us working on our rides. washing,waxing and getting it ready to cruise. We took a lot of pride in our rides, the clothes we wore, and the music we listened to. It was all part of a style we were all proud to be a part of.

I remember when the first Impala came out. It was 1958 and it was a beauty. What was really cool was that it came out with a 348 motor and it was hot,hot,hot. in them days you could buy one brand new for under $3,000.00. The following year they came out with the 59 with the cat eye taillights, then the 60 Impala and so forth.

I remember the day President Kennedy was assassinated and i remember it clearly. I was working at the Chevy garage learning body and fender work. as soon as my boss heard what they shot him with, he said he'd never survive. I remember walking down the street after work and people were pretty upset. That was a pretty sad day and a scary one because of all the stories that were going around. I was told that we were going to get bombed. It was 1963 and i was 18 years old.

When i came to Woodland, my life changed. I was 19 years old and married with twin daughters and all i did was work at my job and work on my car. I had a 1958 Impala at the time. I worked at the Rambler garage till i turned 21 and for some reason after that i felt i was missing something in my life and that led to my ex and i going our separate ways. The people here in Woodland were a little different then i was used to. Don't know why but they were. It took me awhile to make friends. I was living at my Moms house, but during the summer months i just lived in my car, cause i didn't want to bother my folks. At that time i had a 1957 Chevy Bel Air. I traded up to that car from a 1954 Chevy that i bought from a good friend of the family, i traded the 54 Chevy for a 57 Merc. and traded the Merc. for a 58 Impala, ran the Impala into the ground and traded it for a 55 ford truck, rebuilt the motor on the truck and traded the truck for a 58 Chevy Bel Air. turned around and traded the Bel Air for a 57 Chevy, sold the 57 for $250.00 and bought me a real cool little 53 Chevy. I was right back where i started, except this car had nice wheels and it was dropped and had twice pipes and a record player in it and a cool maroon paint job. I was styling.

My Harley

When i was a kid i used to go to my Grandma's house and check out my Tio's Harley.( Uncle Tommy ) It was a cool bike, i didn't know why it was cool, but i just knew it was. We used to get on it and pretend we were riding it till my Grandma would come out and tell us to get off, apparently Grandma knew it was cool too. That bike sat there year after year and nobody ever rode it, it just stayed covered up with a canvas. I was only about 7 or 8 at the time, but the bike made an impression on me. Some years later my neighbor bought his son a small motor bike and i knew i wanted one, but i didn't have the money to buy one of course. One day my neighbor fell on his motor bike and he was pissed off cause i was laughing at him, so he says you think you can ride it and i said yes. He told me to go ahead take it for a ride. I know he was hoping i would fall, but i got on, fired it up and took off, what a trip. I took it for a short ride and then took it back. The kid wasn't too happy, so i guess he did want me to fall.

When i was a teenager my brother Mundo bought a brand new Norton 500, beautiful bike. One day i asked him if i could ride it and he said no cause i didn't know how to ride it. So i started walking towards the bike and he's saying "no stay off it" and i kept walking to the bike and he keeps saying no. I got on the bike and he's telling me "no you can't ride it" I think he's curious to see if i can ride it, but at the same time he's thinking "well if he kills himself, at least i can tell Mom i told him not to ride it" I fire that Norton up and took off, all the while i can hear my Bro saying "no don't do it" After that i used to ride that bike everywhere, in fact people thought it was my bike. Poor Mundo he could never tell me no and mean it, God Bless Him for that. When i learned how to ride it pretty good, i headed out towards Princeton ( the town ) got it on the straight away and had it up to 95 mph. No helmet, no glasses, i could hardly see, there were tears pouring out of my eyes. What a thrill. A bug hit me on the forehead and made me slow down. Man that hurt, it left a welt. Needless to say i wanted a bike after that. Bought me a car, but could never afford a bike till the 70's, i bought me a Triumph 500. It was a pretty cool bike, but i still wanted a Harley. Some years later i bought a 650 BSA for 50 bucks. It had been in a fire. Took it home and put it in the back room of our house and started taking it apart. B comes home and walks in the back room and says what in the heck are you doing. ( not her exact words ) i said i bought me a bike. nuts, bolts gas tank, oil, tires and all kinds of parts all over the place, the room pretty much looked and smelled like a motorcycle. Love that smell. We'd been together long enough for her to know that once i set my mind on something, you can pretty much forget about trying to talk me out of it, besides that my wife's always been cool. I took every nut,bolt and screw off that bike . i painted it myself, and basically rebuilt the whole thing. When it was done i fired it up and took it for a ride, there's not too many things you can compare that feeling to. There's just so much pride in an accomplishment like that. You can't compare going out and buying a new bike to rebuilding one yourself, there's just no comparison. I never told my sister Lolly, but i can say it now, I took Jeff for a ride on that bike when he was just a little kid, he loved it. He was telling me about that one day last year when he came down to visit. I also took him out in my Chevelle Super Sport when he was a kid and just smoked them tires. He said it was a real thrill. Did i have an influence on Jeff ? I think not, I believe Jeff was going to be Jeff whether he knew me or not. Jeff thinks out of the box and he'll tell you what he thinks, something i admire in a person.

I didn't own another bike till i was 64 years young and it was my first Harley, a 1977 Shovel head Lowrider. I bought it from a friend at a very reasonable price. It was partially assembled. You know how it is when a women has a baby and all the women go over and check out the baby, well that's how it was when my biker friends came over to check out my bike, i think a couple of them even pinched the gas tank. I was so proud. i met this Dude who has a Harley shop out in the country and i told him i wanted to learn about Harleys, he said well you sure bought the right bike for that cause them ol Shovels are always needing something fixed on em, but they're pretty cool bikes. About $2,500 worth of parts and labor later i fire it up and take it for it's first ride. No license, no tags, no insurance and no helmet, just me and my Harley. What a trill.

With this recession and the way things are, i told my wife i was going to sell my bike and she says she doesn't want me to. I told you my wife's cool. I have it in my American Pickers garage and every once in awhile i'll go and put the battery charger on it and start it up and remind my neighbors that i still have my Harley. I put some straight pipes on it last year and took it for a ride around the block setting off car alarms, no license, no tags, no insurance no helmet and thankfully no police, what a thrill. I know, Uncle Bud's a little crazy, but that's what happens when you think out of the box, right Jeff.