Larry's Birthday Bike

Last night was our monthly bike club meeting and the Treasurer's (Larry) birthday. Of course we had to take a ride downtown to celebrate not only his birthday but his brand new Harley Ultra Glide. Stopped at The Ticket Sports Bar. While we were sitting and talking old-fart-retired-military crap, this odd dude dressed in a cowboy hat and sneakers came up and intro'd himself. Rickey Paul! Yes, he uses his first and middle name. Seems he works for "the government" but can't tell us more 'cuz its classified. Yeah right. More about him later.

As the "leader of the pack," Larry drove up on the sidewalk and all 7 bikes followed (duh - what were we thinking?). But hey, it was Wednesday night, not many people strolling around downtown. Only stayed about 45 minutes. Walking out and up pulls a police cruiser. Oh great. Seems some sergeant called in that 8 bikes were parked on the sidewalk (not blocking a damn thing) and, yep, we all got tickets. Nice. Ticket Sports bar. The irony.

Now, lets reintroduce Rickey Paul! Out he strolls and gets in the face of one of the cops. Oh, not good Rickey Paul. Says to the cop that he "works for the government" and that he knows all of us. Huh? Okay Rickey Paul, whatever. Cop says back off. Words are said. Rickey Paul backs off a bit. All tickets are written.

Happy birthday Larry!

Everyone mounts up. Uh oh. Larry's bike won't start. Cops are still there. Now what? Not easy to push a big 'ol Harley down the street to kick start. 30 minutes later - bike finally starts, but not running right. Cops still there, but have started bs'ing. Seems one of them is retired AF and they both ride. Stories start swirling around. "Hey, you were a medic too?" And one of the cops suggested that good 'ol Rickey Paul might be a serial killer since they tend to use both names. Creepy.

A call is made to the club Prez (Butch) to bring his trailer and load up Larry's birthday bike. We wait. And wait some more. An hour later seems Butch's trailer lights are screwed up and he can't come. Sigh. That took you an hour, Butch?

More bs'ing with the cops. Its now 11:30 and I wanna go home already! Give one of the cops a card from our club. He's retired military and can join.

More bs'ing. Larry's bike decides to start! Yay! We can go home! Mount up.

Cop says - "Oh, those little yellow pieces of paper I gave you? Tear them up."

Hooray! Birthday salvaged.

Lesson learned? Don't follow Larry!

Steve & Kathy Cora