My next major motorcycle was a Honda CL72, a classic Honda 250cc Scrambler.
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| Not the original bike but one just like it that I own now. |
Down the Coast Highway I went. In a little more style than with my little C110. I went to L.A. looking for something that I don't remember. What I do remember is getting tired of the city and riding up into the hills looking for a place to spend the night. A little searching and I found an out of the way place where I could throw down my sleeping bag. I sat looking down at the night lights of L.A. and thought about Steve McQueen's quote, “I rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
I woke in the morning and found I had acquired a few friends in the night. A small snake, a lizard, and a couple of gopher rats had all snuck into my sleeping bag to get warm. No problem, I shook them out and sent them on their way. Fellow travelers in the night.
On the way north I suddenly lost all power and noticed a long black thing laying in the road behind me. My chain had broken and was beyond repair. I pushed it to a nearby house and the owner said they would keep it until I could return with a new chain. People were like that back then. Maybe they still are.
I hitchhiked back to San Francisco and found that Honda had two different chains for that bike depending on whether I had an early or late model. I, of course, had no idea which one I had but I took a wild guess and started south. I, of course, had the wrong one but I got it to work by letting it hang loose and taking it easy on the way home.
I got the right chain and decided to give it a tune-up and general cleaning. By the time I was done it was late and I was tired. I decided to leave it parked in front of the apartment on Grant Street rather than take it to the garage across town.
OF COURSE, it was not there in the morning. Stolen and never to be seen again.
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