JR Motorsports

I saw this four cylinder Kawasaki KZ750 probably from the 1980s and the words Universal Japanese Motorcycle popped into my mind. I was over at Jiri's motorcycle repair shop on Laurel Avenue, Stock Island just to pay a visit and I was looking for bikes to photograph.Jiri's new assistant was organizing the next repair when my eye fell on this R100S by BMW in a shade of purple my wife would approve. When I was a youngster I rode motorcycles as my only wheels and a BMW with shaft drive and easy maintenance with secure luggage and a reputation for longevity was what I wanted...but could never afford. These machines still look good to me even though many boy racers think they are staid. I have more miles on my 2007 Bonneville but at least this machine has been ridden a bit. My romantic view of elderly BMWs got a re-write in the excellent English website called Real Classics. http://www.realclassic.co.uk/profiles.html I like the symmetry of the design, the sensible large tank and proper motorcycle proportions. Had it been a fully faired R100RS I'd have passed out... My next appointment with Jiri will be in a couple of thousand miles or sooner when my rear tire will need replacement and the bike will get it's 12,000 mile valve check, air filter change and cables lubricated and carburettors balanced. With 50,100 miles on the clock I am slightly off the Triumph schedule of every 12,000 miles plus 2,000 for the initial service but the bike is running perfectly so I am happy in all respects. Happy too to have Jiri at my doorstep. Here's another essay I wrote about towing my Bonneville with a flat tire to Jiri's shop:

http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2010/10/bonneville-towed.html

Key West Towing

It was too early in the afternoon to go drinking so we drifted by, my Labrador and I, me with thoughts of Smithwicks draught and she with thoughts of I-don't-know-what.Private tows have ceased to occupy a lot of public debate about now but the situation isn't really resolved by any decree from the city commission. If you see a sign like this one below when you go to park your car expect a bill between two and three hundred dollars to get the car back. Or put your credit card in a meter machine and pay less than two dollars an hour to park at any metered spot anywhere in the city. It seems an obvious choice to me but people aren't too bright it turns out. Then, when they get towed they call the police threatening lawsuits and tears and outrage. I was admiring this narrow offset, so picturesque and so typical of cheek-by-jowl Key West living, thenI walked past the front of the house.

It looks abandoned and may very well be another of thoise bank repos that are doing so much good to neighborhoods across America. First they offered absurdly cheap credit to buy absrudly expensive homes, then they took away everybody's jobs and homes when the banks needed to vacuum up all the money to clear those ridiculous bets the banks made. And now we are told the economy is improving. Really?

Cheyenne kept going, one more lane to explore.

She wasn't around, enjoying life with me, but I did explore this lane a while back in this essay: http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2009/06/caraballo-lane.html

Cheyenne was on the end of a chain popping puppies for some abusive military family in Key West who got reassigned according to the SPCA and dumped her for being "too old." I hope they suffered myriad private tows while in Key West.

Key West Parking

It has been apparent for some time that we are in a drought in this part of Southern Florida. Winter is typically dry season but this year's dry season seems excessively prolonged. As a result trees that are trying to bud in time for Spring are looking shriveled and others are actually dropping their leaves making it look rather wintry despite the actual heat. We are living through positive blizzards of dried leaves in the Lower Keys. Parking issues remain on the City Commission agenda in Old Town. Plans to restrict residential free parking to actual residents of Old Town did not go over well so Commissioner Weekly dropped that idea before it even made it to the Commission for debate. When I have seen scooters like this Vespa, below, parked "like a car" in a parking spot I tended to dismiss the rider as not a "real" motorcyclist. However association with a friend of mine who uses two wheels to reserve space for four in front of his Old Town home, has taught me that parking like this is a legal and smart way to reserve a precious spot... One mentions from time to time that housing stock in Key West is not only expensive but not of the highest livable quality sometimes, and people don't get what one means. This is what I mean: Key West Electric Supply, 311 Margaret Street, has had this banner flying for some time, no takers apparently. The last time I went in with one of my water cistern pumps I told them I was distraught that they were closing. "Not at all," the clerk said with a sigh of frustration. "Everyone thinks that. We just want to move to spacious quarters in New Town." They are first rate with pumps and seals and electrical motors, and losing them would be a tragedy.

I saw this innovative shade covering for an elderly VW and wondered at the wit of key West residents who treat cars as nuisances rather than status symbols.

The "roof" is a front luggage rack from a VW van. Brilliant use of a parking space.

Caroline Street

Cheyenne is slowing down a lot this time of year, the heat has turned on suddenly and though the humidity remains low, temperatures in the upper 80's are the norm, rain is a distant memory, and walking the backwoods is just not much fun for my Labrador.I took these pictures downtown, under the weird Tiki hut shelter across the street from harpoon Harry's, a place that used to be occupied by the residentially challenged and that is now posted with a very severe "No Loitering" sign. Being as how I have a home, shower regularly and was simply giving my dog a chance to rest in the shade, I figured a little harmless loitering would be okay. This guy across the street was suffering the heat too, it seemed like, though the shade was retreating rapidly across his toes. One of the odd things about Key West's population of street people is that they ebb and flow with the seasons. In summer they retreat Up North, how I don't know though I expect the Greyhound bus to Miami is one way out. I saw these kids come out of Maun's Market, now known as New Market, in the background, and they got on their scooter, pulled a u-turn and headed toward Duval. I snapped their picture out of some sentimental memory of my own youth in Italy riding mopeds legally at age 14, and what a useful tool a 50cc motor is to a teenager. Or an adult in Key West.

Harpoon Harry's was getting a fresh coat of paint. Warm work for sure. Harpoon Harry's used to be nothing more than a breakfast and lunch diner but like everything else in the boom years the diner concept expanded.

As I work nights I don't eat breakfast out much anymore- breakfast time is bedtime for me, but I sometimes miss the good cheer and eggs at Harpoon Harry's.

Pretend Bar Hopping

I saw this piece of street art at Bayview Park and couldn't quite figure it out. A spindly coconut palm perhaps?Florida has something like a hundred speciality tags which makes figuring out where they are from quite a strain. The tags are a way to raise money for particular causes in a state with no personal income tax and masses of assorted fees to make up the difference. I have no idea where the money raised by this specialty tag goes. These tags cost $25 a year extra and to get a design approved 5,000 people have to promise to buy one if it goes into production. Cyclists rule I guess. Cat sleeping. Cheyenne stumped on by, not noticing a thing and caring even less.Rain has come to the Keys, a very small dose, but the first moisture in months so I hope we can start to see plants reviving in public places.It is starting to feel like summer, with daily temperatures in the 80s. It's tough if you wear a fur coat. This Harley had a fur coat on the seat. I thought it looked odd, but American motorcyclists have a nationwide obsession with seat comfort., and there is a huge aftermarket in weird seat designs and accessories to make riders out of shape backsides more comfortable.If this bike is ridden by a man I wonder at the resilience of his testicles. My Bonneville has a stock seat, fondly referred to by many as a plank. It works fine for me.The Green Parrot Bar was apparently being patronized by many cyclists. I love Key West's overflowing bike racks. Every city should look like this: Or this character who paraded up and down on Whitehead Street looking like Baron Samedi.I have one of these growing next to my dock. I forget what they are called but Robert told me they are non native and grow like crazy.If not riding bikes all sorts of people can be seen riding around town on scooters, the other practical means of transport in the Southernmost City. Lots of riders drag their feet as they ride, but this one was tottering up to the light with enormous heels. I could never manage to ride in such footwear:I wanted to know what their story was as the marched up the sidewalk, an image of long standing commitment and rectitude next to the boozers at the Parrot.See? Middle aged scooterists rule. Riding is not a statement about being cool, just the best way to get around town. Too bad the rest of America hasn't figured out what Key West knows.Walk down the street in a bikini and you will get some wolf whistles from crass young tourists but she appeared practiced in ignoring them.

I failed completely to pop into the Parrot for a drink. I had places to go and people to see and if I drink alcohol in the middle of the day I fall asleep (which might be the point).

Higgs Beach Summer

I know summer has arrived in Key West; the bums have gone.The Tiki hut where my dog is seen taking her ease is occupied all winter long by a group of more or less noisy gentlemen of the highway who come south to enjoy winter and disperse Up North when the season is over. That they are gone is proof positive that winter has fled.

Year round residents find themselves edged out of the amenities by a combination of residentially challenged and busy snowbirds but now the free beach on the south shore of the island is a family destination. More or less. Temperatures in the middle of the day last week were hovering in the mid 80s, warm enough to keep sensible dog owners out of the dog park. We had it to ourselves and Cheyenne pottered along sniffing and pausing and sitting for a while in the shade while I read the newspaper.

I am told seawater temperatures are rising rapidly and several Conchs have mentioned that the ocean is now comfortable and warm enough to actually swim in. I must refurbish my outboard on the skiff. Certainly the water looked inviting: I saw a bunch of people painting and they gave Higgs Beach a civilized air, Edwardian ease, as they dabbed their canvases. In the sort of odd coincidence that peppers life in these small islands, I saw these people gathered a while later on Ann Street perhaps transported by tour bus, back downtown. The welcome shade of a non native coconut palm. They come to look and are whisked through the park with a brief shout out about the White Street Pier, the African cemetery and the Martello tower fort. Then they are gone...

On the subject of the African cemetery, a recent addition after remains believed to be those of slaves brought ashore from an intercepted Spanish slave ship and essentially left to die on the beach but for the intervention of the post master of the time. The discovery of more remains is leading some people to think parts of the dog park may have to be assigned to an expanded cemetery...What better way to spend a vacation than in the Keys on a bike with no shirt?

Astro City is a fenced in sandy playpen for small children and patient parents.

Casual scootering in the sun.

And then there is that other 19th century style of travel, by sail.

I walked Cheyenne back to the car after she had taken her fill at the dog park water fountain and she flopped eagerly on the back seat of the air conditioned Fusion.

We drove round to Higgs Beach from White Street and this is what the place looks like from the road. Mind the speed limit, I have known people to get tickets here...