What a long, strange trip it's been...

[waz]

When I was in college in Melbourne Florida in 1978, I owned a Honda CB360 that I took for a tour down towards Miami on A1A.  Somewhere near Boca Raton, I stopped to get some gas and spied the most gorgeous motorcycle I had ever seen: a royal blue Kawasaki KZ650 parked on the main street.

"I've got to get me one of those," I said to myself, and less than a month later, I did.

$1625 w/ a trade-in, tax & tags. Little did I know that I would own this bike 30 years and 35000 miles later.

I bought a sissy bar (remember them?) on the back for my girlfriend's peace of mind, and discovered that I could slip my old frame backpack over it to make some cheap touring luggage.  Some of the more memorable journeys and incidents that the KZ and I have shared:

- from Florida to Pennsylvania 2 times on backroads and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Once while camping solo off the Skyline Drive in Virginia, a herd of deer visited my tent at 2 in the morning, scaring the snot out of me by snorting and stomping and making a general ruckus.  I thought it was Bigfoot until someone told me that bucks do that.

- from San Fransisco to Yosemite, up to Mt. Lassen, across to Eureka, then back down to SF.  It was July and hot as all get out in the bay area, so I didn't take any gloves with me.  But in Yosemite and Lassen, snowdrifts lined the roads and it got below freezing at night.  I rode down towards Mono Lake with 2 pairs of socks on my hands, and had a major pucker moment when the tires slid on a frozen sheet of water across the road; if I had hit the guardrail, it was about a 1000 feet down.

- the wiring harness melted on me one morning in the north Georgia mountains.

- for about 4 years it was my only vehicle.  I moved from Florida to Boone, NC and had to buy a $500 Subaru after riding the bike through the snow one November night.

- since I was a poor student (then poor teacher) w/o a garage, the Blue Bomber spent the first 12 years of its life parked outside.  This has meant 2 major renovation projects and a paint job (changed it to dark red). 

Regretably, I bought a new Suzuki Bandit in 2003, and the KZ sat for 5 years. Just last night I picked the Scarlet Avenger up from a student of mine's house.  Her dad retired from the navy, went to MMI, and now works on bikes all day and on the side at night. 

It's running decently and the front brake is unfrozen, so I'm looking forward to getting back on it and putting another 35000 miles on it.

[anarki650]

Wow, what a history!!!!  I wish I even knew the back story on either of my 650s, but I guess I'll have to be content writing the remainder of the story with them. 
Thanks for sharing!!