Across the Country on a Honda C70 Super Cub

Nice!!

Awesome!!

Looking forward to the next install !

I'll probably still end up going there for some credits, my sister went there for a couple of years.

She was a nice lady!

Wait and see!

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In front of Time Square, asked an old Italian man to take this picture and I took a picture of him in return.

I woke up to early morning sunlight and stood up. NYC laid sprawled out before me. Outside I could see an endless buildings and I could hear the sound of the city. A couple of months ago I was stuck in class. What a weird world.

Dave, the teacher, woke up shortly after me and bid me a kind good morning. I had to find a new charger for my phone and Dave decided to go take a walking tour of the city that Rock had recommended. Unfortunately every time I tried to find a AT&T store I would end up at a new fashion boutique. Fortunately a T-mobile store front had it and sold it to me for an exorbitant amount of money. Because of this I have some pictures of my visit! I don't want to regal you with all my touristy dilemmas... Part of sight seeing is finding things out for yourself and I wouldn't want to take that away from you.

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In front of Rockefeller Plaza, ignore the asian lady.

I can however give you my impressions.

New York never dies. Where ever you go there will always be something to do or to see. Whether you are the A train watching a Micheal Jackson impersonation or watching a chess game in Union Square you cannot bore yourself. I spent my day running from place to place. Rockefeller Plaza, Harlem, Chinatown, Central Park, Lower West Side.

The world was my playground.

I forget that sometimes.

The most amazing moment however was the Staten Island Ferry. Sitting on the rear staircase away from the crowds I looked out to Manhattan. This place was one of the centers of the world, just think of all the things that have gone on within its small borders. Every single major economic collapse and boom have centered in it. Every United Nation sanction has originated here. One day I think I'll come back to this city, I'm not sure how or why but I think I will.

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New York from the Staten Island Ferry.

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The Statue of Liberty, it was much smaller than I thought it would be. Most of Manhattan towered above it.

More detail about NYC later.

She was a nice lady!




Oh, I don't doubt that she was. It's just that most human beings seem to have this inherent narcissistic side that makes that want to tell you about themselves and what they've done instead of just allowing you to enjoy your moment of triumph and accomplishment.

That reminds me of the time I rode across country via the Northern route and I hit rain and win......uh never mind...

:d

Enjoyed reading this - Thanks.

You're fuckin' crazy amigo! Across country on a 70cc old scooter...


...I gotta give it to ya man, you did it, and you told a great story.. You had me hooked at "Accross the country on a Honda cub" lol, I just had to read. And here I am thinking it might not be a great idea on a 1000cc antique Harley. .. Thanks for the reassurance.


Well done mate, well done.

I wouldn't call it crazy, I'd consider it crazy not to have an adventurous heart and sit around all day watching the boob tube. Life is about the experiences, and learning from them, and as long as you're not physically harming anyone, you're alright. This just reminds me of a movie. Maybe it should be.

>> Pictures included at end of story! <<

When I was a kid, I was very shy. In sixth grade, I had lots of girls chasing after me, but after that, it was pretty much a wasteland up until my first year of college. I spent most of my youth hacking a C=64 hardcore and loving it. I aced high school at the top of my class.

Unfortunately, a hacker's diet of junk food and constantly bathing your brain in a bath of soft drinks, made me totally diabetic. I had no idea what was going on... I couldn't concentrate, think any more, felt fatigued all the time, and confused. So much so at times I couldn't even tie my shoes. I thought I was insane. Suffice it to say, I quickly started bombing out hardcore of the Ivy League college I had won a scholarship to. As far as college was concerned, it was clear I was going to fubar like a drunk driver smashing into a telephone pole on a dark stormy night.

So the new win condition became for me, to get a girlfriend. Dancing one night in the dark in my sunglasses at a fraternity that was rushing me, I locked on to a a tall Amazon hot dangerous redhead that was dancing back at me. We danced, and then she took me to her office, where I found out she was a senior and in the same advanced Science program I was in, in the same building. With the exception of her hillbilly teeth that looked like a train wreck, she was pretty hot, and at least, I had my foot in the door and had broken the ice.

Over the next couple of months, I pursued her, romanced her, fended off the competition, and won her over just by being so incredibly bold. I had to be, I was so shy, and clumsy, I had no idea what I was doing, so I faced my fear and bit the bullet and just held on tight. I was screwed already as far as college was concerned. I won her heart and we had a whirlwind romance.

Somewhere in there during Thanksgiving vacation, I became so homesick, I hotwired a little MG midget someone had abandoned by the Elevated train tracks, worked on it all night long to get it running (it was full of leaves), and showed up that morning parking it under my dorm room window with no hood on the engine, where I rushed upstairs, woke her up, and told her to pack her stuff, we were going to Georgia! She had been sleeping in my pajamas, and while I had been working on my car... burning up my phone bill talking to her ex that night. Ug.

So we took an epic journey to Georgia in that little stolen car that got 50mpg, stayed at my house, and on the way back in some bumble town in Kentucky, I got lost at night in the dark because I had lost my glasses... asked a cop for directions who was already tailing me in an attempt to keep him from running my plates, which he did, and arrested us, and we spent like a week in jail. Until one of her friends wired bail money, and we busted out, and took a bus back to college. They eventually dropped the case because it was just too complicated. The college girl got her car back, now in fixed and running condition.

But I was sadder than ever, that little car had been my victory against the world, and I loved it so, my A student rebellion against a world that had lied to me all my life, and now was telling me I was stupid. And still testing, testing, forever testing me.

On Valentines day, I found my name written on my dorm room in pennies, roses, two tickets to the opera in downtown Chicago, and two airline tickets to Europe for that summer. Wow. She had bought them on her guaranteed student loan.

So that summer, with backpacks, tent, sleeping bags, etc in tow, we flew to Europe, and landed in Paris. Paris is like New York, one dirty, dangerous ugly city, and neither of us spoke French. After seeing the Eifel Tower, I told her we had to get out of the city, any direction, to the country side where we could at least camp in the woods and we would be safe from the city danger... I was a country boy and knew nothing of city survival (and still don't). So we took a train north to Normandy Beach, where we camped, then went east by rail through Liechtenstien, where we hiked to a castle, then on to Frankfurt and Gelenhausen, where I hooked up with my German family.... I just showed up on my grandparents doorstep... with my granddad opening the door in his longjohn underwear... surprise!

My uncle loaned us his VW Golf diesal, and we drove it south to Austria, and through Switzerland, and Interlaken, and then on to the border with Italy, where the roads became insane. Right after the border, in Italy, instead of normal road signs, they all were on one pole that pointed in the direction of the actual city, like in M*A*S*H, not down the road you needed to take to reach them. I imagine even they were kind of fake, still left that way to confuse the Allies during WW2. So I was like, hell no, we're parking, I'm not driving through these potholes, and we'll take a train to Rome. Which we did.

In Rome, we saw the Parthenon, Colliseum, Vatican, and so on. Ended up sleeping in an abandoned ATM booth near the train station downtown, which was dangerous as heck. Took the first train out we could, and went back to Austria.

Now at the border, I had parked somewhere, and had a ticket on my windshield. Obviously I knew I couldn't park there, but I tried to get away with it anyway. So we went to the police station (it was my uncle's car, I had to do something about it), and went to the window and tried to ask about it. Well I spoke English and German, and the guy at the window spoke none of these. So it was a matter of trying to communicate in finger gestures. He wanted to see my wallet, which I thought, he wanted a bribe.

Lemme tell you, we were on what I called a zero eat, zero sleep, zero travel budget plan. Which means we had zero to spend on all of those. Obviously we spent more than that, but if we could we'd sleep outside the campgrounds, etc, or in the parked car. So a bribe, was out of the question, whatever money I had in there I was not parting with, and it was against all of my principals.

In the end, he ripped up the ticket, he was so frustrated with me. It turned out all they wanted to know was that I had money to spend in Austria, there is a bare minimum you need to have to enter the country, so they know you're not a vagrant, but a welcome tourist ready to part with your cash inside their country. Arg!

So being back in the car, was nice. I was happy to be back on an AutoBahn. We went to Schoss Neuschwanstein in Germany, the castle the Disney Castle had been modeled on. I had already been up in it on a previous trip to Europe with family, so I let her go up alone, which was a mistake, I should of went with her. But it was really expensive to get in. I stayed below at a local fair, where I bought a Confederate Flag (ironic, I thought).

We made it back to my grandparents, dropped off the car, stayed some more weeks and got lazy and recuperated, drove my cousins moped around, and then when our time came, hiked our way back to Paris via train. Stayed in a hotel in France to get a shower before we got on the plane... and watched the Dukes of Hazzard in French. Yes, wow, Uncle Jessi in French, and them Duke boys.

Flew into Tampa, Fl, which was still a long way away from my home, and I tried sleeping by a car port by the beach, which was unbearably sticky. Not sure how we made it back to my house in Georgia... I assume we caught a bus.

Vegged out at my house, for a few months, at which point she became stir crazy and threatened to go back to her home in Oregon. Well I was a puppy dog in love with her, so I followed her out there, and that was another adventure in itself.

~

I found this forum because I had been surfing Honda C70 porn all day yesterday, and fell in love with them. Considering 60 million of them were made and they are the #1 selling combustion engine vehicle in the world, they are extremely rare in the South. Extremely. Probably because of the wide distances down here between town, they are not practical. I can count the number of C70's in the entire south for sale right now on one hand. And all of them are too far away for me. Plus my budget is no more than $400 I'm willing to spend for a C70, preferably a 82/83 with CDI ignition, and 12volt system, but I'm not going to be chosy and take whatever I can find.

What I can find though is far away, like PA, or AK, at reasonable prices $350-$500, and not $1200, so I've been scheming some method to get them back to me over a 700 mile trip as cheaply as possible. Considering it gets 100mpg... I'm thinking, the best is to use it for the return journey, as insane as that sounds driving something you just bought with all its unknown problems. Greyhound bus ticket, and then drive the sucker back at 35mph. So I read your entire diary here to get some kind of idea of what problems I might encounter.

I just found a motorcycle boneyard 40 miles away from me with 3000 old Honda/import bikes from the 70's-80's, so my current more rational plan of attack is to go visit it next weekend and see if I can find a C70 or C90 to restore.


A story wouldn't be complete without pictures, so here they are:

A few pictures of our trip, bouncing around Europe in 86:
http://bethany.peachcountry.com

Some pictures of my 85 Honda Rebel, which I took apart completely last summer and restored:

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/mrstarr/rapunzel/?albumview=slideshow

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/mrstarr/rapunzel%20valves/?start=all

http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/mrstarr/Rebel%20250%20Saddle%20Supports/?start=all

My car Zero, which at one time, I had many, many more adventures in, when I was a 20 something, and turned a lot of heads. Later, I would squeeze 4 girls in prom dresses (one of them, my girlfriends, to the prom in it!)
http://zero.peachcountry.com/photos/index.htm

My dream C70, the *look* I'm going to aim restoring to:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_LbFB-mIBjYI/TJy9iUd-sQI/AAAAAAAAC80/SEdZshwkAwk/s1600/1970+Honda+C+70+Classic.jpg


Post scriptum:


Yesterday, when I read this, I decided to take my Rebel to the gas station to get some gas for it, because it was bone dry. I knew it was bone dry, because I had been giving some kids rides around the farm and used up my reserve supply to get me to the next gas station. I figured it would run out, but I decided to chance it anyway. Well, low and behold I run out of gas, and have to hoof it a mile to the nearest gas station, on two knees I hurt the week before jumping off a ladder. Oh the pain. On the way back, at a laundromat, I spot two bikers and I walk up to them and say "Those look like Honda Rebels!" because, well, they were, I can spot a Rebel. One of them gives me a ride back to my bike, which saves half my walking, and tells me they live right up the road, and work on bikes. I come back and thank them at the picnic tables, then later in the small town, after getting more gas and groceries, see their bikes parked at their house. They have a whole collection of them under the car port.


~

And yes, once you go on an adventure, it forever changes you to help out other people bouncing across the world... you literally go out of your way for them. I've gone so far as to give hitchhikers rides, offer them free showers (which they decline), and take them out of my way as far as I can go.

~

When we first landed in Paris, we walked out of the city, and started walking to the countryside to find a camp ground. An old guy in a Citroen aka "Duck" stopped to pick us up and gave us a lift. We told him where we were going by making triangles without hand to signify tent

~

While hitchhiking, everyone ignored us. So we took the cardboard sign we had written our city name on, and held it upside down. Well, that got a lot of response. A lot of helpful people passed us by making circular motions telling us to spin the sign around. No, they wouldn't stop to pick us up, but um yeah, thanks for being so helpful! Jerks!

~

We carried a list of songs in our pocket to sing


~

Oh, and Bethany, the girl, ended up becoming a professor, and paided off the Gurranteed Student loan. Those pictures you see of our vacation, I actually set up as a honey pot to catch her when decades later she did the google search on her name, as I had totally lost contact with her. Well, it worked, before Christmas one year I get an email out of the blue a few years back, and guess who it was. After lots of conversations, we pissed off each other again, and I have since lost track of her.

Here are some shots of Rafael's stay with us at the ADVentureLoft™:

Re-parking the scoot:



Katie (not Hilary): the narcissistic old lady that was torturing Rafael with unsolicited advice.



The show we'd seen was "Sleep No More". Hard to explain, but well worth seeing if you have the opportunity.

It was a nice sunset for grilling:



Rafael said he was craving Ramen noodles, so we whipped up a quick order of ramen noodles, with grilled steak, and ribs and corn and pesto pasta...



and home-made strawberry ice cream, hold the ramen noodles.

I don't think he missed them.



A couple days later... all cleaned up, packed up, and ready to head home:



Great hosting you Rafael, congrats on the scholarship, I'm sure you'll put it to good use.

Certainly not what "I" was picturing from his description
Les

Well, you know, sometimes it's GOOD to get unsolicited advice from people who have been there.......organic......yea......that's the word. Good word. Good advice.

Me neither!

Don't we all? Congrats on your trip and again, thanks for sharing!

Glad to see I'm not the only guy on this site that rocks the tight jeans. They make you more intelligent by increasing blood flow to your brain, that's a fact.

I hope to have adventures like this for the rest of my life.

How did you by this motobike in US?. As I know Super Cub C70 only for asian market. In Vietnam for example, There was plenty of such kinds 20 years ago, but less and less now

Hmmm....I be more like ,I like the way you think. And I'll lay down 3 to 1 odds you bop like a minkky.

Yer not speakin' my language (I don't know what bop like a minkky means)