4. How Fast Can You Grow?

The first thing we learned about motorcycling was how quickly the BIG Yamaha 400's shrunk. We'd been riding about two months when our neighbors, Sterdan Frickley and his wife, Patience, bought a REALLY BIG Kawasaki 900. Now that was a mean machine! Tough, growly exhaust note, powerful neck snappin' performance, huge presence on the road and large doses of just plain fun! Judy wondered why anybody would need a motorcycle that big. So did I, but one trip with them on our little bikes - which had suddenly taken on moped characteristics - was enough to convince me that we had to upgrade.

With fresh money clutched in my grubby little fist, I raced to the dealership to purchase a brand new 1978 Suzuki GS750. Although the dealership was nearly empty, no one seemed interested enough in conservative looking folks to help us. So we left taking our money with us.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at the friendly Kawasaki dealer who was only too happy to show us a beautiful 1976 Kawasaki KZ 900 with only 456 miles on the clock. It was dark green with lighter green striping. A really pretty bike. We bought it on the spot! Have you ever heard of cognitive dissonance? Buyer's remorse? Naw, we sure didn't have it!

After we sold one of the small Yamahas, we headed for Texas to show the bike off to Bill and Sue, the Texicans from Cottonwood Pass; the unknown instigators of this whole ordeal. Frickley and Patience went along mostly to get to meet some real Texans but also to protect us from ourselves.

On this trip we learned that sunflower seeds will behave unpredictably behind a fairing when the hulls are spit out at turnpike speeds. Patience loved these little morsels and as she consumed the tasty insides, she discarded the hulls by spitting them at the back of Frickley’s helmet. As the wind caught the seeds, they whipped around behind the windshield, in front of him and disappeared down along the front fork tubes. Frickley, of course, suspected nothing and commented frequently about little "bugs" that kept jumping around in front of him. Patience enjoyed his description of these "little bugs" and the way his head jerked every time he saw one. He provided so much entertainment that she never told him the truth. One can be very imaginative when given the time!

Poor old Frickley. Truly, he never knew what hit him!