Tuesday, September 11, 2007

A Honda Trail 90 Dream Realized Update



Some of you have been hanging around the coffee house long enough to remember a post I wrote back in June titled: Honda Trail 90 A Dream Realized. The post was about how I saw a Honda Trail 90 when I was a kid and decided then and there that I had to have one. This summer, some 40 years later I acquired it, a 1968, probably the same year as the one I saw as a kid. The message of the story was don't give up on your dreams, sometimes they just take a little longer than expected. Yesterday I sold that dream.

Back in June I bought the bike and then the dust thrown into the air by the whirlwind of my excitement had settled. Things returned to normal around my house. The bike sat out in the carport chained to a post. A future project waiting to get fixed and running again. I lacked the mechanical skills to do it myself, so the old Honda waited until I could afford to take it to a shop.

The kids needed school clothes and that was that. I put an ad in the paper and before I knew it, she was sold. My dream realized was passed on to the next dreamer. I'm happy to report that the buyer had plans to fix it up; he was an older guy like me and had the know how and parts to do the job. My Wife who has good intuition said that the bike went to the right guy and I agree, I'm glad he's the one who got it.

After I sold the bike and before the new owner picked it up, I sat for awhile out in the carport enjoying the late summer evening breeze. I looked over at the old Honda and contemplated my experience with her. Why did I buy it in the first place? Was it really the fulfillment of a youthful promise to myself, or was it an attempt to reclaim my past? With a longer road behind me than in front, is that what I was doing? Is this why some old guys have train sets, dye their hair or drive sporty cars? Was it a desperate attempt to stop time and even return to a brighter day? Nostalgia.

I suppose so. Despite our best efforts, the hair dye, train sets, sporty cars and yes even Honda Trail 90s, there is no going back, only forward. Always forward.

I will put the Honda Trail 90 experience behind me. I can imagine the new owner happily tinkering in his garage, working the magic to bring her back to life. I have more room to maneuver my Sportster around in the carport, my kids have new school clothes, and it's all good.
©2007 N.(Kano)Miles, Kano's eCoffee House

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8 comments:

Bill Sommers said...

It seems like I'm always chasing my past, only to realize that I can't quite reach back that far. I bring those moments and memories up in conversation with my wife now and then just to keep the rust from forming on them.

Like you, I have to prod forward and build new moments and memories that aren't quite so dated.

It's fun to look back and share these memories though.

Have fun,
Bill

Kano said...

Bill-Thank you for the comment. I do all kinds of goofy stuff, helps keep me young. I don't dye my hair though and as far as the train set goes, hmm, that sounds kinda good. I could tell my wife it's for the kids.

irondad said...

I tried a similar thing with a bike, once. Somehow the mental picture I cherished was much better than the reality. What was once a great bike in my memories of earlier days became a shabby disappointment.

Like a woman who appears beautiful from a distance and then turns out to be totally fake from up close.

Some things are best left alone. The wanting is often much better than the having.

I, too, wonder why guys try to capture bits of the past. Is the present not rewarding enough? Do they not have the capacity to form a vision for the future? Is it the eternal competition for "trophies"?

Wise move, Sir, to put your talents and efforts into making the present enough by itself for you and yours. Ever see how crooked a line a farmer plows if he looks behind himself all the time?

Dan

Kano said...

irondad-Wise words my friend!

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your nostalgia re Honda Trail 90; I'm embarking on mine now with my 14-year-old son, 2 months ago after a PONY League basebal game we took a backroad toward home...we happened upon a 1972 Trail90 sitting "for sale" out front of the mom-and-pop ice cream shop in Roseville California...not only did I lose interest in ice cream...to my delight so did my son...everything original, runs, 5,990 miles, the elderly owner had sold his camper, was now selling his Trail 90...but he still goes fishing when he can gt a ride from family or friend; it was passed on to a good family; as a teenager in NE Oregon I used to watch deer/elk hunters drive by our Elgin Oregon home with these Trail90 cycles mounted on back of their pickup campers..now "my dream" is complete,,and new memories will be created when my son and I use it for fishing and camping excursions; ahhh, life is good.
David (nesteggs@yahoo.com)

Kano said...

Anonymous -Great! You and your son are going to have a blast with that trail bike! Thanks for stopping by my Blog. Kano

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.

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