90Brougham350
04-03-06, 05:19 PM
Hey everyone, well, as many of you know, I've been in Italy for the past few months, and I get home on Good Friday (oh thank God!). I'm ready to be home, get back to the Caddy Forums, and start working. Anyways, our term is over this week, but we spent this past week in a town on the coast called Follonica. Great hotel, great food (I discovered I can't eat calamari anymore, after spending a day bent over the toilet), and great weather, about 70 and sunny every day. Well, every guy here can empathize with this, I haven't driven a motor vehicle, held a tool, or participated in any physical sporting activity since Christmas, so like my friends, we all had the itch. We found a scooter rental shop, and talked the guy into giving us 3 125cc scooters for 24 hours for 50 Euro a person, not a bad deal at all. Well, we picked up our scooters at 10:00 Friday morning, and left for the day. We ended up driving about 110 kilometers during the day around the mountains along the coast and having a blast.
After we were tired out, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, and a few drinks before dinner time. Well, after 2 660 bottles of Heineken (each one is 24 ounces), and not having eaten in 4 hours, I was feeling a little buzz, but miles away from drunk. Then one of the girls came in and asked us if we could run to the market and grab a few items and some more booze. So, we headed off. My first mistake was not putting better shoes on. I was wearing some pants, a leather jacket, and sandals. The market was only about 2 minutes from the hotel by moped (provided you're driving like an Italian), so within 10 minutes we were back to the hotel, and ready to go inside, when my buddy says, "hey, let's go for a quick spin, I wanna see where the disco is," so we go for another 2 minute cruise.
Keep in mind I'm not drunk, just right at the point where I know I have alcohol in me. So off we go. We find the disco, and head back to the hotel. Then, as I'm turning around a left-hand corner, I hit a patch of sand (makes sense, being in a beach town and all), and the rear-end slides out on me. I'm going about 15 miles per hour I figure, I think the guage said 25 kph. Next think I know, I'm sliding along with the bike on my left side, and sparks are flying everywhere. I let go of the bike which slides a little further, and then we stop. When I get up, the bike is off, my sandals have burn marks on them, and my feet are bloody. The bike looks fine, it was a little crappy looking when I got it, so I breathe a sigh of relief I won't have to pay to have them fix it.
My leather jacket has one scrape on it, my pants have a hole in them, but my legs are fine. The bike starts right up, and I get back on. There are some Italians standing around staring at me, but my friend dusted me off and we rode back to the hotel, not wanting to be a part of a scene. The girls in our group cleaned me up well, but I can't walk too well right now. I lost all the skin on the top of my big toe well into the muscle, and the entire bridge of my right foot is healing now, but was pretty raw. I'll never get on another moped now, and I feel bad I was drinking before I went riding. I made a mistake with sandals, but thank God I was wearing my helmet.
I have mixed feelings about it. It was a lot of fun to ride around town, and I'm very thankful to be alive right now. I wasn't going very fast, but in Italy, a man lying in the street has a deathwish. Someone was watching over me. I laugh about it now, my toes hurt a lot, but I'm alive, and thank God I am! I'll never regret riding though, I needed to do something like operating a vehicle, I was going crazy without it. But if you ride a motorcycle, please always wear your helmet and all the right gear. I wasn't, and I'll be walking with a limp for a month or 2, but it could have been much worse!
I can't wait to get back home to good old America. I appreciate the things we have at home so much more now, the little things, like being able to get fast food at 2 in the morning, or knowing that people will stand in a line to buy beer at a ball game, or that 30% of our GDP isn't un-accounted for black market. I miss America, and I'm glad I'm still here to be able to enjoy it in a few days. I miss the forums too, I see I'm gonna have to renew the supporting. I'll be home soon, Chad and LC, we'll get together with the others for the 2nd Minnesota CF meet. See you soon! Ciao!
Brian
http://x11.putfile.com/1/119261019.jpg
After we were tired out, we headed back to the hotel for a nap, and a few drinks before dinner time. Well, after 2 660 bottles of Heineken (each one is 24 ounces), and not having eaten in 4 hours, I was feeling a little buzz, but miles away from drunk. Then one of the girls came in and asked us if we could run to the market and grab a few items and some more booze. So, we headed off. My first mistake was not putting better shoes on. I was wearing some pants, a leather jacket, and sandals. The market was only about 2 minutes from the hotel by moped (provided you're driving like an Italian), so within 10 minutes we were back to the hotel, and ready to go inside, when my buddy says, "hey, let's go for a quick spin, I wanna see where the disco is," so we go for another 2 minute cruise.
Keep in mind I'm not drunk, just right at the point where I know I have alcohol in me. So off we go. We find the disco, and head back to the hotel. Then, as I'm turning around a left-hand corner, I hit a patch of sand (makes sense, being in a beach town and all), and the rear-end slides out on me. I'm going about 15 miles per hour I figure, I think the guage said 25 kph. Next think I know, I'm sliding along with the bike on my left side, and sparks are flying everywhere. I let go of the bike which slides a little further, and then we stop. When I get up, the bike is off, my sandals have burn marks on them, and my feet are bloody. The bike looks fine, it was a little crappy looking when I got it, so I breathe a sigh of relief I won't have to pay to have them fix it.
My leather jacket has one scrape on it, my pants have a hole in them, but my legs are fine. The bike starts right up, and I get back on. There are some Italians standing around staring at me, but my friend dusted me off and we rode back to the hotel, not wanting to be a part of a scene. The girls in our group cleaned me up well, but I can't walk too well right now. I lost all the skin on the top of my big toe well into the muscle, and the entire bridge of my right foot is healing now, but was pretty raw. I'll never get on another moped now, and I feel bad I was drinking before I went riding. I made a mistake with sandals, but thank God I was wearing my helmet.
I have mixed feelings about it. It was a lot of fun to ride around town, and I'm very thankful to be alive right now. I wasn't going very fast, but in Italy, a man lying in the street has a deathwish. Someone was watching over me. I laugh about it now, my toes hurt a lot, but I'm alive, and thank God I am! I'll never regret riding though, I needed to do something like operating a vehicle, I was going crazy without it. But if you ride a motorcycle, please always wear your helmet and all the right gear. I wasn't, and I'll be walking with a limp for a month or 2, but it could have been much worse!
I can't wait to get back home to good old America. I appreciate the things we have at home so much more now, the little things, like being able to get fast food at 2 in the morning, or knowing that people will stand in a line to buy beer at a ball game, or that 30% of our GDP isn't un-accounted for black market. I miss America, and I'm glad I'm still here to be able to enjoy it in a few days. I miss the forums too, I see I'm gonna have to renew the supporting. I'll be home soon, Chad and LC, we'll get together with the others for the 2nd Minnesota CF meet. See you soon! Ciao!
Brian
http://x11.putfile.com/1/119261019.jpg