My father was fascinated with World War II and had a collection of uniforms, vehicles, and memorabilia. At one point he had his own Jeep and half-track. He was equal-opportunity about it and collected both U.S. and German articles. To him, it was an era when the world knew right from wrong and was willing to fight for it.
As he got older it became harder to maintain his collection of vehicles and he sold them off until only about a dozen remained; a 1964 Corvette, a '63 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, 2 Cords, an ancient fire engine, and the actual taxi from a Laurel and Hardy movie that was his pride and joy.
When he passed away in January he left his two motorcycles to me. A 1941 Indian Scout Sport and a 1943 BMW R75 from Rommel's Afrika Korps. Through no fault of my own the inventory grew. A large growth it was because the R75 comes with a side car. So I drove to Calif with UHaul's biggest trailer with high hopes.
Of course there were problems. The BMW with sidecar was just a few inches wider than the trailer opening. Weighing almost 900 pounds there was no picking it up and moving it around.
Scooting under it I was able to remove the kick start lever and the left foot rest and guard. At the very last moment I realized that this was also the mounting shaft for the transmission so I left that alone.
With a perseverance ( and a few choice words! ) my brother and I were able winch it into the trailer and get it tied down with loading straps.
The Indian was next and it was another big bike. It just barely fit in the remaining space and, thankfully, was easy enough to just roll in and strap down.
Now came the really hard part, driving back to Utah with 3/4 ton of motorcycles behind me. The first part was to get out of the SF Bay Area before the Monday morning commute madness began. Sunday night meant that everyone was flooding back home as I was headed east. An overnight stay in Sacramento at my sister's cut my drive back by 100 miles and let me escape the commuter traffic. Then it was up and over Donner Pass and off across Nevada on I-80. By 8:30 that night I was home. Unloading could wait for tomorrow.
Just one question: How can Calif have the highest gas taxes and the worst roads in America? I-80 over the Sierras was rutted so bad that I had to straddle two lanes so that the trailer wouldn't sway back and forth. I find it truly amazing that the people put up with it!
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