Hi'ya from Hawaii(a)!
We'll be leaving Oahu for home (Illinois) tomorrow evening, and have been having a wonderful time.
A month or so before coming, I PM'd Chickenman from Honolulu to ask if he knew of a place that I might rent a nice motorcycle (aka not Harley) or a super scoot. His reply: "That would be way too expensive. Why don't you just use mine for a couple of days?" This is from a guy who I've never even met! I let him know that I'd be rather uncomfortable with that setup for obvious reasons. Before you know it, we'd emailed back and forth several times and even talked by phone. After a short time, we got to be pretty good friends. He even helped with our itinerary; getting special discounts on some of the things we wanted to do. We arranged to meet over breakfast on out first morning on Oahu. He again pressed us to use his Chickenburger, assuring us that it would be no inconvenience to him or his lovely bride if we chose to do so. We ended up keeping his AN400 for almost three full days.
The Burgy 400 is the ideal choice for the islands. Any speed necessary to keep up with traffic is easily maintained, even two-up ala Sharon and I. We ended up putting around 190 miles on his bike. He's added a Laminar Lip, which seemed to work very well. The best ride was on the Kamehameha Highway along the North Shore. Sharon and I left just after noon from Kaneohe, where we're staying with our neice, riding leisurely along the coast. To the right was gently rolling surf, generally breaking around 100 yards or so off the coast on the reef. To the left was steep, tree and brush covered mountains, sometimes capped with fluffy rain clouds, sometimes not. Along the route were fresh-water shrimp farms, various bays and inlets, and some of the hottest surf spots in the world. Sunset Beach, Pipeline, Waimea, etc. are places that I dreamed of as a kid, being one of the original Lake Michigan surfers in the early '60's. We ended up at the Dole Plantation, which we toured, and then rode back, returning home just after dark. The 400 was as smooth and reliable as my trusty 650, once we reached cruising speed (it shakes a little more on take-off), and the only thing I found that I missed was the fabulous engine-braking of the 650 and it's accompanying diesel noise
.
My neice is training a professional surfer as a Real Estate broker, and she arranged to have him take me surfing in Haleiwa yesterday. Surf was much better - some of the shops weren't even renting boards because the surf was too high - but we were able to get me a long board, longer than the 8'6" Malibu that I owned as a 13 year-old, almost twice as long as the custom 6'2" Gordon & Smith twin-fin that I bought when I was a 19 year-old sailor stationed at San Diego, and I managed to get in a few good rides before this tired old body just refused to paddle out through another set. I'm still running on pure stoke!
Hen (that's Chickenman's name) and his wife, Arlene, are two of the nicest folks I've had the priveledge to know. They left for the mainland to visit relatives last night, and I miss having them around. Hen is a former FAC (Forward Air Controller) in VietNam who was shot down in '69, and has had some accompanying physical problems for most of his life ever since. He plays in a Mariachi (I think) band, which is part of the reason he's looking to attach a sidecar to the Burger. It'll hold the ukulele, but not that fat guitar! I'm looking forward to calling him and Arelene friends for many healthy years.
It's been the trip of a lifetime, but I'm anxious to get back to all my friends doing 10 to Life - NOT!
We'll be leaving Oahu for home (Illinois) tomorrow evening, and have been having a wonderful time.
A month or so before coming, I PM'd Chickenman from Honolulu to ask if he knew of a place that I might rent a nice motorcycle (aka not Harley) or a super scoot. His reply: "That would be way too expensive. Why don't you just use mine for a couple of days?" This is from a guy who I've never even met! I let him know that I'd be rather uncomfortable with that setup for obvious reasons. Before you know it, we'd emailed back and forth several times and even talked by phone. After a short time, we got to be pretty good friends. He even helped with our itinerary; getting special discounts on some of the things we wanted to do. We arranged to meet over breakfast on out first morning on Oahu. He again pressed us to use his Chickenburger, assuring us that it would be no inconvenience to him or his lovely bride if we chose to do so. We ended up keeping his AN400 for almost three full days.
The Burgy 400 is the ideal choice for the islands. Any speed necessary to keep up with traffic is easily maintained, even two-up ala Sharon and I. We ended up putting around 190 miles on his bike. He's added a Laminar Lip, which seemed to work very well. The best ride was on the Kamehameha Highway along the North Shore. Sharon and I left just after noon from Kaneohe, where we're staying with our neice, riding leisurely along the coast. To the right was gently rolling surf, generally breaking around 100 yards or so off the coast on the reef. To the left was steep, tree and brush covered mountains, sometimes capped with fluffy rain clouds, sometimes not. Along the route were fresh-water shrimp farms, various bays and inlets, and some of the hottest surf spots in the world. Sunset Beach, Pipeline, Waimea, etc. are places that I dreamed of as a kid, being one of the original Lake Michigan surfers in the early '60's. We ended up at the Dole Plantation, which we toured, and then rode back, returning home just after dark. The 400 was as smooth and reliable as my trusty 650, once we reached cruising speed (it shakes a little more on take-off), and the only thing I found that I missed was the fabulous engine-braking of the 650 and it's accompanying diesel noise
.My neice is training a professional surfer as a Real Estate broker, and she arranged to have him take me surfing in Haleiwa yesterday. Surf was much better - some of the shops weren't even renting boards because the surf was too high - but we were able to get me a long board, longer than the 8'6" Malibu that I owned as a 13 year-old, almost twice as long as the custom 6'2" Gordon & Smith twin-fin that I bought when I was a 19 year-old sailor stationed at San Diego, and I managed to get in a few good rides before this tired old body just refused to paddle out through another set. I'm still running on pure stoke!
Hen (that's Chickenman's name) and his wife, Arlene, are two of the nicest folks I've had the priveledge to know. They left for the mainland to visit relatives last night, and I miss having them around. Hen is a former FAC (Forward Air Controller) in VietNam who was shot down in '69, and has had some accompanying physical problems for most of his life ever since. He plays in a Mariachi (I think) band, which is part of the reason he's looking to attach a sidecar to the Burger. It'll hold the ukulele, but not that fat guitar! I'm looking forward to calling him and Arelene friends for many healthy years.
It's been the trip of a lifetime, but I'm anxious to get back to all my friends doing 10 to Life - NOT!
