Mission accomplished

 

I’m home from a 900-mile road trip to Saint Amant, La. and back to help BMW friend Charlie pick up a bike he bought on Ebay for his wife.

It’s a 2006 BMW R1200GS and here’s a shot of Charlie (in the hat and yellow jacket) securing it to his trailer at the home of the seller.

We got up about 6:30 a.m. today and Charlie’s cold was much worse. He was coughing and could hardly speak – mostly just croak. We availed ourselves of the free Comfort Inn breakfast – rather Spartan compare with the one served in Dodge City, Kans. – and headed into Cajun country to complete the bike transaction.

It was only 24 degrees and Charlie realized he was in no shape to take the bike for a test ride. The seller seemed like a straight-ahead BMW rider type and the bike looked immaculate and sounded perfect when he fired it up, so Charlie paid him and we loaded it onto the trailer.

It was clear to me that Charlie was near the end of his physical endurance, so I took over the driving duties when we got back up to I-12 and drove the 430 miles back to Jonesboro while Charlie mostly slept.

I checked out the men’s rest room at the Shell station at the Durant, Miss. exit on I-55 and was dazzled to notice the wall-mounted condom vending machine also dispenses something called “Genuine Horny Goat Weed” for only $1. I kept my quarters in my pocket.

We rolled into Charlie’s driveway about 5:15 p.m.