Davenport

I busted my girls out of school last Friday for a road trip to attend the 39th Annual AMCA Fall National antique motorcycle show and swap meet at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport IA. My buddies Diamond Jim and Joe Block said I would find all of my Scat parts at this event.

I went to a motorcycle swat meet in Sandwich, IL, but that was before I owned a motorcycle; before I wrenched. So, I consider this my first swap meet and SHIT! It was fantastic! At first I didn’t know what I was doing.  I found a speedomotor :: but how did I know if it would fit?  Where is the part number?  Then I thought I found a break lever!  Yikes, outside of Beck’s Garage and looking at thousands of rusty parts, everything looked the same!  While my girls passed the time by counting how many men had beards, I asked a vendor how I would know to find my Scat parts.  His sage advise :: ASK!  Walk up to a vendor and ask if they have lightweight parts!  So I asked him for practice and he said no.  The next vendor, Fat Bob, said no and pointed me to Isle A to find a guy (with a beard) named Chink (who I never found). Slowly but surely we made our way through the meet seeing the COOLEST old bikes :: a ton of Indians, BSAs, Whizzers, bicycles!  WOW! I was pointing out to my girls the beauty in these wonderful prizes but they only shrugged their shoulders and pointed out the rust.  My love :: a bike you can see through.  So, right now I’m loving the 1908 Indian Twin.  Wow!  Could I even imagine having something like that in my garage some day!? Well, you never know.

I struck gold when I met Leroy of Lange’s Hummer out of Washington state. I bought only two parts from him, but learned a lot including the names of folks who can (1) rebuild my engine and (2) rebuild my speedomoter. 

Next, I found a fully restored and running scat but better yet, the owner, Clayton Olsen, was so kind to let me and my girls ride around the grounds on his Honda Passport and Scooter. This was the first time my girls have been on two wheels!  Two minutes before they were hot and complaining and wanted to leave :: now they begged to stay at the meet so they could ride for hours!  I managed to pry them away, but did return again on Saturday when Clayton was just as generous!  When I get home I will upload photos of my girls zipping around.  It was a beautiful site!!  I met a few other guys on Saturday :: Mo and Bob :: but was dissappointed to see everyone breaking down or already gone.  I’m so glad I arrived for Friday because Saturday was pretty much a bust.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the entertainment :: other than the people watching :: The flat track races on Friday night.  My girls stayed back at the hotel to play while mom did some playing of her own!  The smell and the sound and the excitment!  It reminded me of another thing on my bucket list :: RACING!  althought the bigger bikes were fun to watch because they are faster, my favorite were the…um…I’m gonna get this wrong!  The really old bikes that you have to push to start.  The wood track bikes?  Help me here please!  I love to see the old bikes RUN!

I’m looking forward to returning to my garage where I will tackle my frozen screw issue with a propane torch (Stephen, I will visit you only if I fail at the heat attempt). For now, it’s time to wake the girls to travel back home.