Simeri Crichi, Italy, early 80's.
In the late 1970's through the early 1980's I was COCO's Assistant (Coordinator Of Chain Operations)/Chain Communications Petty Officer for the Coast Guard Mediterranean Sea LORAN-C (LOng Range Aids to Navigation - a precursor of GPS) chain, at the Master Station located outside of Sellia Marina, Italy.
This being southern Italy, it tended to get quite hot during the summer. Luckily, in addition to some cars, I also owned two motorcycles (mostly just buying vehicles from people ending their tours and heading back to the states). I used the bikes quite often, since I'm not really a big fan of hot climates.
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| A view of the station from Google Earth. |
On one of these 100+ F (about 38+ C) days I took my Laverda GTL 750 out to enjoy the twisty-turney roads available throughout the mountainous foothills of the Catanzaro Region. At about 2:00 in the afternoon, I decided to take a break, stretch my legs, and enjoy the scenic views. Finding a suitable location on a somewhat safe curve in the road which had a grand vista due to an abrupt (though relatively gentle, considering) drop-off, I stopped the bike, put it on the side stand and went off on a walk to stretch my legs and explore a bit.
Well darn, I should have seen that coming
I'm sure you see where this is leading. Black asphalt.... 104 degree Fahrenheit sunshine.... 750cc motorcycle on a skinny little side-stand.... 150 minutes later, after finally having manhandled the bike back up the 80 foot, 60 degree slope - with numerous zig zags and loopbacks, all I could think of was how happy I was that I hadn't decided to take my 1200cc BMW. |
| The Model I had -- a 1974 Laverda 750 GTL-S |
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