A revved up family weekend

Remember when you were young parents with a house filled with noisy kids and you wished for a little peace and quiet? And then the years whizzed by so fast, and now you’re a senior, and your heart longs for a house filled with life and laughter once again? Well we just had one of those weekends. Let me tell you about it.

It was a weekend with a homeward-bound son who’s been gone most of the last ten years, plus two birthdays and a motorcycle project to tie it all together.

As soon as my son, Billy, found out that his brother, Jess, was coming home for a short visit, he and Crystal bought a monster brisket that was on sale to smoke and grille on his pellet-fired smoker that he controls remotely with his smart phone (what will these kids think of next to do with their smart phones)?!

Back in 2016, my son, Jess, who had been deployed to Afghanistan, bought a rare 1989 Honda VTR 250 (V-twin, 250 cc) motorcycle with a tachometer redlined at just under 14,000 RPM. It seemed like it was in fair shape but we never could get it to run right. After a few light hearted attempts to get it running right it has been in one garage after another for the last nine years. Meanwhile, Jess was globetrotting to Israel to work on a Master’s degree, to Germany for the next step in his career, and most recently back to the USA for training in D.C., Georgia and Virginia. Well, last weekend he was home for what was supposed to be a three day weekend; it was more like two days and a couple hours! 

Meanwhile, with a break in our Alzheimer’s racing activities, my son, Billy, and I began to work in earnest on rebuilding that old Honda VTR. We started by shipping off those old gummed up carburetors to one of my cousins in Florida to rebuild, and then taking the bike up to Macon for a set of new tires and replacing a whole host of missing or mismatched hardware, broken lights and miscellaneous stuff that either wasn’t working or was really showing its age.

Well, it just so happened that all these parts started coming together in just the right time and sequence that we thought we might get it running again while Jess was here for the weekend.

About 1 AM Friday the monster brisket went on the smoker for an all night dose of slow cooking that Billy has perfected to a TEE on that fancy smoker of his.

Meanwhile, we had two birthdays hit the calendar: my daughter-in-law, Sandra, and her daughter, Reagan. They opted by a combined birthday lunch at Freddy’s, the burger and yogurt shop. So, at midday, we paused the motorcycle rebuild for a two-for-one birthday party lunch, then came back home for a brief nap.

After an hour or so, the older guys went back to rebuilding and painting the VTR while the grandkids and Uncle Max setup the volleyball net in the backyard that shuttled between volleyball and badminton duty while the ladies were getting the brisket dinner ready to serve.

After the main course, but before desert, the guys were stripping the masking tape off the VTR and polishing the 39 year-old headlight lens so it would be crystal clear again.

By the way, Jess and I were up early Saturday morning before everyone else, using AI on the computer that he and Uncle Max built for me, to find out what it would take for us to convert his nine-year-old Bill of Sale into a legitimate Title of ownership. It turns out that one of the many hoops you have to jump through is to fill out a form and have law enforcement officer come to the vehicle and run the VIN through his computer to ensure it was not stolen or fraudulently obtained. We had that done before Saturday’s breakfast!

By this time, and from several other racing-related columns, you know that hardly a Milby gathering happens that doesn’t involve an old engine of some kind. But it’s that old engine- building that keeps this old senior’s engine revving. 

And this past Family Weekend it was revving full of life; I wouldn’t have changed a thing! I hope you enjoyed vicariously coming along for the ride. 

Thanks for reading All About Seniors, see you next week!

PS… the brisket melted in our mouths without hardly chewing… wow, was it good, Billy!

PPS… and the Honda VTR 250 hasn’t looked that good or run that well since it rolled out of the showroom in 1989… success!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at  https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA