Stories from the road ?

[Rollin Thunder]

Alan what years were you in ?

I was stationed in Oakland and San Diego in the early 60"s

Boatswains mate 3rd

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Alan what years were you in ?

I was stationed in Oakland and San Diego in the early 60"s

Boatswains mate 3rd

72-92 ... 79-80 in Alemeda on the Enterprise, then I was in San Diego 81-82 (SIMA San Diego, my 1 shore Duty). Finished my last 10 years on the Arkansas. Just before I was eligible for transfer (almost 5 years), the Arkansas went into ship yard in Bremerton (Engineering Overhaul). All senior engineering enlisted transfers were frozen.

After shipyard, I could either go to shore again, but, then I'd have to do three years of sea duty again, making it a total of 23 years in before I could retire, or, I could hop to a different ship which meant qualifying all over again, so, I just stayed put.

I already had the best rack on the ship (one of three, the top, that were aligned port to starboard instead of fore to aft (when we were at sea I would get rocked to sleep, unless it was rough, then I needed to strap in. I really didn't want to go back to shore ... way too much politics for me.

That decision probably cost me my last wife, she ended up having an affair with my best friend. We divorced 6 years later, I took her back, but, she kept having affairs so I finally gave her a divorce in 1997 and moved to Colorado to help Mom take care of Dad who three months later died of lung/liver cancer. After that, just stayed to keep mom company, probably the best decision I ever made, like it here. Fun getting to know me huh?

Chief Machinist Mate, Nuke ... they didn't let us out much.

Disclaimer: I'm sure about 72-92, the other dates may be off a year or two either way ... the old noodle just ain't what it used to be ...

[Rollin Thunder]

Alan I was stationed at Navel Station SD right after Boot camp there.

Got real lucky an got a Harbor tug for the next duty station 60 to 62.

Then got a ship out of Frisco/ Oakland.

I remember some damn good times up an down the coast for sure lol.

[Peter A.]

Signed up June 1965 in California

Recruuter, where would like to go/bootcamp-i said Great Lakes........did my time/San Diego

What would like do/storekeeper. Ended up-radioman

First duty station-atop a mountain-Army base ASMARA, ETHIOPIA for 18 months

the remainder of my 4 yrs. were aboard ships out of Little Creek, Virgina.

Seriously though I enjoyed my entire time (almost stayed for 20).

THOSE were the DAYS.



Today I SALUTE ALL SERVICE MEMBERS!!!!!!!!

[k-dog]

four of us were riding on 460 in southern wv one time. when the ride in front got hit by a tomato . some kids on hill were through them at cars. if he hadnt been riding a dresser he would have been ,kids ran hid . to this day we call him mater head. good times

[Rmitchell55]

K-Dog

I grew up on 19-460 just a little southwest of you.

[cScjhb]

A few years ago I was leading my (at that time) wife and another couple on a 20+ day tour. We were in eastern Utah traveling on secondary roads going about 60 MPH. I was on a Spyder pulling a trailer. My wife was on her (really mine) Goldwing GL1800 and the other couple were following on their Spyder, also pulling a trailer. A truck came at us carrying bales of hay from the opposite direction. Out of the corner of my eye I saw "something" . My former wife later said she saw a bale of hay in the air. The trailing couple saw a bale of hay "explode" in the road in front of them. No injuries. No damage. But an experience to remember. Our angels were riding with us that day..... Jim

[k-dog]

some friend and i had stopped at parking lot after a long ride to say good by. leaving i pulled on up grade to road. in second gear bike bogged down, almost turning over. quickly pulling in clutch in shifting to first' came on road spinning side ways. my wife hit me in ribs said you always got to show off don"t you! she didn"t know how close we came to going down. good times'

[Sidecarbill]

One thing that happened to me when I was young. Will probably show how much different the world was back in the early sixties. 15 years old and no money. I had a Harley hummer with a 250 ariel arrow engine, yup weird stuff even back then. So ridin through the woods on a cold fall day. The master link gives up. Push it out of the woods to a pull off on the main rd. Sat for about 10 minutes contemplating my fate. No money for anything. Just then a Rambler pulls in draggin his muffler. Guy gets out got his church suit on. Looks under the car says I guess I'll have to get under there. Nah I got ya covered got some rope on my bike. He asks if it'll catch fire I assure him it won't. All done he says to me what's wrong with your cycle. I show him the part. He says I'll give you a ride to the cycle shop. I just passed it and it's open. Nah I got no money. He says, I do hoppin. So down the road we go. Get there, go in. Says boy here needs a part, show him what it is son. Show the guy and he gives me the part. Guy pays, might have been 30 cents. Anyway drives me back to the bike,waits makes sure it fixed and moves. Yup it works we shake hands and thank each and both go on our way. That would never happen today.

[k-dog]

stopped for speeding years ago, by state police he gives me a lecture on the accidents he seen from people going to fast. tells me he rides, a few days later i see him at the car wash with flip flops and shorts on, washing his bike.

[cScjhb]

Back in the late 60s (year, not my age) I had a 250 Yamaha Enduro. I did a lot of off road riding with friends who lived about 40 miles from me. One blustery day we met at their house to do some serious riding at a place called "The Gravel Pit". Rain, rocks, mud, hills.....the more, the better. Doing a bit of a hill climb my front tire slid into a little trench and hit a big rock. Tweaked the front wheel which caused the front of the bike to come to an immediate stop. The rear of the bike, however, did not get the stop message. It remained in motion and proceeded up the hill launching me like a missile head first. But my flight was slowed by my blue jeans. The tweaked handle bars grabbed the front pocket of my jeans and held on firmly. The momentum of my flight and the firm lodging of the handle bars in my pocket resulted in my jeans being pealed from me down to my knees. And, there were GIRLS watching! Fortunately I had some rain pants strapped to the back of the bike. We rode on back to my friends home. It began to rain hard. I had a 40 mile ride home so my friends tightly duct taped my ankles and wrists around my rain gear. I stayed nice and dry riding home. Then another problem came up. How to extract myself from tightly secured rain gear. My gloved hands could not get the slippery, wet ends of the duct tape to release. Some patience, a sharp knife, some bad words, and a few chuckles and I got myself free. I survived but the Enduro got sold a few days later..... Jim

[Phu Cat]

I survived but the Enduro got sold a few days later..



I attribute dirt riding experience to long term road riding safety. There are a lot of things that can be learned in the dirt (at little expense) that can be very expensive on the road.

PC

[k-dog]

back in the 70s i had a superglide, when this girl i was dateing saw it he said ithought you had a harley .he said harley have saddle bags windshield and they are a lot bigger.forty years later ihad a electric glide .a young guy i worked with saw it, he said i thought you had a harley,he had been watching orange county choppers .he thought all harley had long front ends stretched frames.

[rhino 2]

One thing that happened to me when I was young. Will probably show how much different the world was back in the early sixties. 15 years old and no money. I had a Harley hummer with a 250 ariel arrow engine, yup weird stuff even back then. So ridin through the woods on a cold fall day. The master link gives up. Push it out of the woods to a pull off on the main rd. Sat for about 10 minutes contemplating my fate. No money for anything. Just then a Rambler pulls in draggin his muffler. Guy gets out got his church suit on. Looks under the car says I guess I'll have to get under there. Nah I got ya covered got some rope on my bike. He asks if it'll catch fire I assure him it won't. All done he says to me what's wrong with your cycle. I show him the part. He says I'll give you a ride to the cycle shop. I just passed it and it's open. Nah I got no money. He says, I do hoppin. So down the road we go. Get there, go in. Says boy here needs a part, show him what it is son. Show the guy and he gives me the part. Guy pays, might have been 30 cents. Anyway drives me back to the bike,waits makes sure it fixed and moves. Yup it works we shake hands and thank each and both go on our way. That would never happen today.

Yep...Today that part would be 20$ and out of stock ....You know the Virus......

[Pegasus1300]

June 1970, I had a New Norton Commando, and my friend had just bought a 3 cyl Kawasaki 500. I wanted to take a road trip,I had never done one although I had been riding for a few years,just local. Our wives said ok and we decided to visit his parents in Farmington NM. from Provo Ut. I came home from class and got packed and was ready to leave by 8:30 PM. I was so excited I wanted to leave right then so I called my friend and he said ok. So we left around 9:00PM and headed South on US 6. By Price the adrenalin had started to wear off and by Green River we were both exhausted and it was 11:30 PM.All the motels in Green River had their No Vacancy signs out and the state park was closed also. I saw a train along side the road that led down to the Green River so we rode down there and found a comfy spot under the US6 bridge and slept there,no one bothered us and we didn't wake until the sun hit us in the morning. Been hooked on bike travel ever since.

[TwoBye]

One of my best friends used to be a service manager at a Honda dealership. He had this 305 Super Hawk that was pretty badass for its time. Anyway, he ended getting a sidecar for it. Now I don't think the sidecar was made for it but he was very sharp with his hands and some tools so he mounted it on his Hawk. Then he entered "us" in to a cross country race for sidecar bikes in southern Ohio in an area of hills, streams, trees and snakes. I got to be the passenger and help 'push' the bike when we got stuck (which was often). Moving on, there were either 7 or 8 checkpoints to stop at I don't remember for sure but we rode hard (and I mean hard) for about three hours and finally got to the first checkpoint knowing we were losing this race bad so we found the road and turned around and went back to my truck and loaded up the bike (I had a flatbed 1 ton) and went home. He called me several days later and told me to come to his house, I did and he showed me the trophy they sent him in the mail with a note that said we were the only team to reach the first checkpoint so therefore we had won the race. We laughed so hard we got drunk and destroyed the trophy. Wish we hadn't, it would be a great conversation piece to have today. And there you have it!