The Last Goodbye - June 16

Peekskill, June 16th

When I arrived yesterday, I was glad to leave the bike with Jeff. By now it had a bald rear tyre, the rear brake started to squeal a bit, and on The Taconic State Parkway it gave me a good scare by suddenly have the engine die. It was just the spark plug cap that had popped off. But taking the short half-hour ride back from Woodstock, on these typical 35 mph New England blacktops winding their way through woodlands, I do get a tinge of sadness over letting it go. The MZ has, after all, behaved really well: It always started on second kick and the saddle was fairly comfortable even for long stretches of road. Sure the power loss and the poor mileage was annoying, as it was when the rear wheel bearing died, but that's all minor compared to what could have gone wrong.

Czechs with a relatively modern Jawa twin.

Not everybody gets this....

Rokon 2-wheel drive motorcycle for serious off-roading. The wheels can be filled with water or fuel, as needed.

Chevrolet 'cab-over-engine' light truck.

Back at the swap meet I'm doing the final rounds, trying in vain to locate a Ner-A-Car owner who lives not too far away, and just take in the sights of this plethora of motorcycles: A flock of H-D Servicar trikes riding by, a Cleveland Four riding the other direction, dragbikes and shortrack racers making one hell of a racket, now a hot Asian babe slowly cruising down past the stalls on her 1920's Indian Scout. Hodaka trail bikes, 'Sears Allstate' badged Puchs, the odd Hesketh and Vincent and on and on it goes. Yesterday the swap meet seemed a bit tame, but today it's okay, though people tell me it was much bigger years ago, when it was a national swap meet, rather than a regional one.

Jeff, who picked up the MZ, brought along this 1912 Henderson Four.

Darryl, a friend of Miles, didn't come to the swap meet to sell or earn anything, but having a stand at a mere $50 means you get a place to park your RV and hang out. One of his bikes was this pre-war Zundapp K800 flat four.

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H-D hillclimber with oversize rear sprocket.

I met the nicest people on this Honda, and they really looked the part.

The MZ remains a big hit, and of course some here have heard about the brand. A number of guys from Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Poland tell of how this was their first bike (an MZ was mine too). Then a bit past noon I take off the little PAV one-wheeler, Jeff rolls the MZ into his trailer and we strap it down. I pack up my belongings and head for the main gate, where Nancy, my ex, will pick me up. Then it's just the usual follow-up talk about the people we knew here and in Denmark.