“Fellow comrades in mediocrity, I want you to listen carefully..."

Hey, all. I wanted to take a moment and make my obligatory introduction.

My name is Bryan and this is my story…

THE PAST… I spent the majority of my youth under the hot desert sun of Arizona doing what most other boys my age did, chasing spiders, snakes and lizards. She arrived on my 15th birthday in the winter of 1989 and boy was she a beauty. Her name was, Honda Fourtrax 250R. I was in love instantly. Insanely. I am fairly certain that the feeling was mutual. We were best friends from the moment we met. I guess you could say that we was like "peas and carrots". I rode her all that summer and the next and the next. I even took her to Glamis once with her friend Kawasaki Tacate 4. I spent every free moment I had with her. You couldn’t pry me away from her with a crowbar and believe me, they tried! I would have probably rode her until her wheels fell off or my legs fell off, whichever came first, if it weren’t for that damned black mustang that stole me away from her. As it is when we are young, other girls came and went and time went by and I saw less and less of her until that fateful day in the spring of 1994 came and I had to say goodbye. I left her alone on my mama’s back porch as I set out to find my way in this crazy world. I may have been gone but she was always in my memory and never far from my heart.

I returned home in the summer of 2000 to find that my room had been painted pink (yuck, thanks mom) and most of my stuff had been packed up and put away in storage. Lots of things change in six years, but some things stay the same. I decided that it was time I went to visit my old girl. I walked over to the garage where she lived and threw open the door. There she was waiting for me, in all of her red, white, and blue glory! I approached her slowly and made my way around to stand by her side, running my fingers along the curve of her fenders as I went along. I slid onto her seat and flipped her little red switch to “on”. I Pulled her close and gave her a couple good strong kicks, one… two… three… Vroooom!! She came to life with a vengeance. I gave her a few twists of the throttle (yeah, we gave her a twist throttle) and she screamed with delight, as did I. The feel of her heart rumbling beneath me, the sound of her melodic roar in my ears, the scent of her sweet exhaust filled my senses. Suddenly my mind was flooded with memories of racing across the wide open desert with wild, reckless abandon and flying full bore down miles and miles of dusty, dry riverbeds towards the craggy mountains that beckoned me ever closer to them in the distance. I was feeling more than a little nostalgic and more than I had felt for anything else in a long time. I realized that I had better stop and catch my breath before I began sobbing like a small child and embarrassed myself. I flipped the switch to “off” and dismounted her. I was surrounded by a profound silence and at once I felt very alone. I sat down on an old paint can and stared at her, memorizing every scratch, every nick and remembering where each and every one had come from. A smile formed on my lips. After some time I gathered my composure and dusted myself off. It was time to get back up to the house. I gave her one last kick to her tire and a teary-eyed wink as I rounded the corner and headed back into reality. Little did I know that this was to be the last time I ever saw her. Mom sold her to a nice family down the street in ’04. She was 105 years old in dog years and she was ready for a new home, mom says. I wonder if she remembers me and if she ever thinks about me once in awhile. I do miss her so.

THE PRESENT… It was May of this year that I finally decided that it was time to stop mourning and move on. I began searching around at the local Honda “singles” sights (it’s so much easier nowadays) to see what was out there when I came across this black beauty (you know who I am talking about). She was lean and mean and… what, 686 cc’s??! Do my eyes deceive me? I must admit that I was a little intimidated at first. I mean, look at her. I started lurking around on club700xx.com and after reading about all of her amazing attributes and stellar abilities I decided I would give her a shot. Besides if that dude in Transformers could land Megan Fox then surely I can get this with this girl! I made the 2 hour trip to Chattanooga to meet her in person. After our formal introduction I was left speechless. I quivered with anticipation. She was even better than I had hoped and imagined! She is a BIG lady, but she definitely turns some heads. She has a great personality and I love her “bad girl” attitude. Yeah, I think I could definitely fall for a girl like this. I am growing fonder of her with each passing day. Now all that’s left to do I suppose is to take her out and see what she is capable of! Yes, I do believe that I can give this one my heart, but that beat up, loud-mouthed, two-stroke-firecracker will always have my soul!

Please forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes. I was in a hurry. :happy: