Motorcycles, Scooters, Guns, Adventures, Opinions, and More
We are living in interesting times. I like to read the news every morning with my first cup of coffee. This assessment and presentation by General Caine is worth watching in its entirety.
The presentation struck a lot of notes for me. I think you’ll enjoy it. I sure did.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
Gordon knives? You may think you’ve never heard of them, but maybe you’ve seen them without realizing what you were seeing. Gordon, you see, is the house brand for Harbor Freight knives. You know Harbor Freight: It’s where the folks who badmouth Chinese motorcycles buy their tools.
I don’t shop much at Harbor Freight these days, but it’s not because I think their stuff isn’t any good. I’m an old guy and I have all the tools I’ll ever need. But I still get the Harbor Freight ads, and one of them caught my eye recently. It was for what I initially thought was a Buck 119 hunting knife, but it wasn’t a Buck: It was a Gordon. They call it the Gordon Bowie/Hunting knife. So I rolled on over to my local Harbor Freight store to check it out.
You can see the Gordon Bowie before you buy it because it’s packaged in a clear plastic bubble wrap container. Getting the knife out of that package was a bit of a challenge.
The Harbor Freight website lists the blade material as 7Cr17MoV stainless steel. Even though I had a course or two in metallurgy in my formative years, I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I Googled it:
7Cr17MoV is a Chinese stainless steel, often used in budget-friendly survival and kitchen knives, known for its good balance of hardness, corrosion resistance, and toughness. It’s essentially a modified version of 440A steel, with added vanadium to enhance strength and wear resistance. While it may not offer the best edge retention compared to high-end steels, it’s relatively easy to sharpen and is known for its durability under hard use.
A Buck 119 goes for about a $75. The Gordon? It’s a whopping $29.99. I had to take a look, and when I did, I liked what I saw. So I picked one up. At $30, I can take the risk of it not being perfect.
Then I noticed another Gordon knife hanging on the Harbor Freight display next to the Gordon Bowie. It was a monster that caught my attention (it was hard to miss, actually).
Harbor Freight calls the knife you see above their Survival/Hunting knife. In addition to its size, the other thing that grabbed my attention was the price. It was either $9.99 or $6.99. I couldn’t tell which, and I’ll return to that part of the story in a minute.
The gigondo Gordon is called their Hunting/Survival knife. It’s a monster with an 8-inch blade. The knife has a hollow handle with a cap that unscrews, and inside the cap, there’s a compass. Cool beans. A compass.
When I later read the online reviews, one guy said the compass didn’t work. But you know those online reviews. Some folks would complain if you hung them with a new rope. Mostly these reviews consist of what emanates from the southbound end of a northbound bull. My compass works just fine.
Gordon also gives you some thread, a few matches, and oddly enough, a button or two. It all fits in the handle and it’s focused on helping you survive in dangerous places. You know, like LA. In case you need to hack your way through some bamboo or you lose a button.
The Gordon survival knife is cool. It makes me feel like Rambo. Maybe that’s what it is supposed to do. The upper part of the blade has a sawtooth pattern milled into it. The blade is sharp. Is the metal any good? Hell, I don’t know, and I probably won’t find out. I’m not planning any expeditions into the Amazon basin, and even if I were, I probably couldn’t get on the airplane with this thing. Will it hold an edge? I don’t know that either. But at $9.99, if I can’t sharpen the thing I’ll just buy another.
The blade material is specified on the Harbor Freight website simply as “stainless steel.” A Reddit post by one of the many folks on the internet who post such things states that it is 8CR13MOV steel (I don’t know if that’s accurate, but it’s the only blade material reference I found). Here’s what Professor Google has to say:
8Cr13MoV steel is a popular Chinese stainless steel known for its good balance of performance and affordability, making it a common choice for budget-friendly knives. It offers decent edge retention, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening.
Both knives come with sheaths, not that I’ll ever use either. But it’s nice to know they’re there just in case I ever get the urge to make a Rambo movie.
You know, it’s funny. The young lady cashier at Harbor Freight asked if I knew the price of the knives. I told her the 6-inch Bowie Buck 119 wannabe was $29.99, and the big Gordon survival knife was either $9.99 or $6.99. I explained that I wasn’t sure because there were two price tags on the larger knife. She explained that if I was a Harbor Freight member, I could buy the knife for the lower $6.99 price, but as a plain old Harbor Freight nonmember, I’d have to pay the higher $9.99 price. She went on to explain that the annual Harbor Freight membership fee is $29.95. I told her I didn’t want the membership because, like Woody Allen, I wouldn’t be a member of any organization that would have me as a member (I thought I was really on top of my game with that one, but my borscht belt shtick went right over her head). She then told me if I told her my email address, I could select one of four different prizes. As a guy who still gets excited opening a box of Cracker Jacks, her offer appealed to me. (I was really having a good day. I love going into any store that sells tools, I was getting two cool knives, and now I had a offer for another free prize.) I gave that young lady my email and she showed me a menu. I selected the convertible screwdriver. And finally, when she rang up the knives, she looked at the Buck 119 wannabe. “Why is this one so expensive?” she asked, pondering its $29.99 price against the much larger $9.99 survival knife.
So there you have it. Are these knives any good? I think they are, but hey, at these prices, who cares?
Like our knife stories? We have more, you know.
A Custom Bowie Knife
A Buck Canoe
Buck, Cold Steel, and Chinese vs. US Quality
Man, This Is Scary
A Tale of Two Pocketknives
A Stag Film?
Texas Rangers Smith and Wessons
The Buck Stopped Here
The Buck Stops Here
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
Day 1
The phone in my hotel began ringing, I fumbled for the receiver as I looked at my cell phone stating the time was 00:02. I had slept pretty hard and woke up thinking I was in Marrakesh, Morocco. I had one hour remaining before my Sherpa was due to arrive at my hotel. As I became a bit more aware it hit me that none of what just went through my head made any sense. Suddenly a pounding on my hotel door began echoing through my head. Ok, it was my Sherpa, but I was in Katmandu and not Morocco. Dammit, it happened again: I lost track of where I was. To add to the matter, the Sherpa was an hour early or I was an hour late. Either way there was a gap in communication somewhere and it was time to get going.
Having just spent two days exploring and meandering through the vast number of temples in Kathmandu, the time had come for me to load up my gear and begin a 12-day trek to Everest Base Camp. Once having my wits about me and double checking all my sensitive items were in tow, my Sherpa and I began our walk to a local bus stop where we would catch a shuttle to Ramechhap Airport. My flight was set to depart at 0700 that morning.
The 5-hour shuttle ride to Ramechhap was anything but smooth. Most of the roads through this portion of Nepal were under construction so there was no sleep to be had by anyone along the ride. Eventually the rough van ride came to an end. I had arrived at Ramechhap Airport with enough time to grab myself a coffee and my Sherpa a hot tea prior to checking in for what was to be a quick flight to Lukla Airport.
Lukla is the world’s most dangerous airport. It sits at around 9,000 feet in altitude and the runway is literally a giant ramp. This airport even on good days faces some heavy dangers for aircraft due to winds and very low visibility. It is also the start for the Everest Base Camp (or summit) treks and during the high season is very bustling for such a small hub with only that one ramp of a runway.
As I checked my backpack and went through the airport security at Ramechhap I learned my flight would be delayed due to low visibility. I wasn’t thrilled but I also have the luxury of time, so there was little to do outside chat up several other travelers who were also doing the trek. As far as airport delays, this one was actually pleasant due to all these really wonderful people I was surrounded by.
As the day went on (as did the full ground stop) my Sherpa and I began to lose hope of making it to Lukla. This was a bit frustrating but out of our control, so we booked a hotel and would try again the following morning to get to Lukla. There was really nothing to do but go with the flow and enjoy some of the local food and people that were here.
Day 2
The routine was similar and again there was yet another full ground stop for fixed-wing aircraft. This time it was fog at Lukla. It was only a 20-minute flight to get there.
With many of the same people from the previous day there we all began talking and telling stories to pass the time. Some of these people chose to pay $400USD to take a helicopter into Lukla as the conditions were safe enough for them. Many of the others didn’t have that luxury of time that I did, as most were on vacation. As 1400 rolled around we knew we would not be making it to Lukla this day and yet again a hotel was the plan. We would try again tomorrow.
Day 3
This was starting to get a bit silly. The airport café guy knew my order by this point. I was one of the first people at the airport that morning and I helped with opening the gates and letting vehicles onto the airfield (I probably wasn’t’ supposed to do that). I was feeling like Tom Hanks in the movie The Terminal, but the weather looked sunny and the first couple flights had taken off. Cheers erupted through the airport and it was now our turn to board our flight. Everyone was loaded into the small prop plane and just as soon as the engines fired up they were cut. We were told to deplane and that winds kicked up again. It was our third day being scratched and although I was in no rush this scene was getting old.
Rarely do I use tourism companies but this was one time I was happy I did with all the cancellations. Kiran, the tour operator from Holiday Treks & Expeditions, took care of everything from the rebooking, to the hotels, to (sadly) my painful van ride back to Kathmandu. This made my life much less stressful and quite easy, but it didn’t look like Everest Base Camp was in the cards for me. It was a somber ride back to the city, but sharing a couple beers and jokes with my Sherpa helped keep morale up. My main objective in Nepal was to see Mt Everest and to experience the base camp trek, so I wasn’t sure what would be my next move.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
Several months ago as part of my new pocketknife collecting hobby (and to hit the $100 free shipping threshold for MidwayUSA.com), I bought another Buck pocketknife. This one was the Buck Canoe. The Canoe moniker comes from the pocketknife’s shape (when its two blades are folded and you view it from the side, it looks a little like a canoe). The knife was only $30, I liked the look of the thing, and I clicked on it. My reloading components and the Canoe bumped me over $100, and the order shipped for free. Free shipping. Yippee!
It wasn’t too long after I entered the order and the pocketknife (along with my bullets) arrived. I like it. The scales are jigged bone replicas (they’re some sort of plastic) and they look good. The bolsters are nickel plated, and the two blades are fabricated from 420J2 stainless steel (from what I’ve read, 420J2 is a good and economical knife steel). Yes, there are better steels out there, but this thing was only $30. The knife is made in China, so if that sort of thing bothers you, you can stop reading here. It’s doesn’t bother me. I like the knife and I’m a happy camper.
My next email from MidwayUSA showed their price had dropped to a third of what the Canoe’s cost had been: It was now just $10. Folks, any time you can pick up a Canoe for $10, that’s a good deal. You might think I was annoyed that the price dropped, but I wasn’t. In fact, I ordered four more of the things. I’ve giving them away as gifts to my friends. They think I’m generous and a big spender (so don’t tell them about this blog).
What’s going on here is that Buck discontinued the jigged bone scaled Canoe, and they now only offer a version with wood scales (like the one you see with burlwood above). I got a good deal on mine, and my friends will get an even better deal. That burlwood knife goes for about $27 from Midway, and it’s kind of appealing, too. Maybe the next time I need to hit that $100 free shipping threshold from MidwayUSA, I’ll add one of them to my order.
If you missed the Canoe on ordering one of these from MidwayUSA, fear not. You can still buy a Buck Canoe from Amazon.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
It’s good to have friends, and it’s even better to have friends that go back to your earlier childhood. I have a few of those, and the one I’ve known the longest is good buddy Paul. We were next door neighbors back there in rural New Jersey from the time we were babies. Our dads hunted, fished, and shot trap and skeet together when we were little. They were friends and it was natural that Paul and I were friends. We fished, explored the area’s woodlands, lakes, streams, and ponds, and generally got into all kinds of trouble together. In other words, we had fun, and that continues to this day.
You have read some of my posts on my latest obsession: Pocket knives. Paul is what you’d call an enabler. He has an extensive collection of both pocket knives and fixed blade knives, including some that are absolute masterpieces. Paul is a craftsman, and he’s fabricated several fixed blade knives. He recently made one for me, and it’s become the touchstone piece of my modest knife collection.
Bowie Knife History
First, a bit of background on what a Bowie knife is. The term has come to denote a large fixed-blade knife with a handle, a guard (the piece between the handle and the blade), and the blade. Jim Bowie is the stuff of legends, a frontiersman in the early 19th century, a hero of the Texas Revolution, and a fighter who died at the Alamo. Although we don’t know with certainty, the Bowie knife design is generally credited to Jim Bowie, his brother, Rezin Bowie, and blacksmith Jesse Clifft. Legend has it that Rezin designed the a knife, with inputs from Jim, and Clifft crafted it from an old file (custom/hobby knifemakers sometimes similarly make knives from old files today).
Jim Bowie used the knife in the 1827 Sandbar Duel, where he used the knife to injure an enemy in a fight. The Bowie knife concept spread, and the term planted itself in our national lexicon. The knife became a frontier tool, equally adept in combat, in skinning and butchering animals, and as a general cutting and chopping tool. It has been carried and used by soldiers to this day; indeed, one could argue that the famed Marine Corps KaBar knife is a direct descendant of the Bowie. Numerous custom knifemakers offer various interpretations and takes on the Bowie concept, including famed knifemaker Randall Knives. William Westmoreland, whom I met once when I was in the Army, carried a Randall. Paul owns several Randalls and he’s trying to convince me I need one. So far, I’ve been able to resist taking that plunge.
My Custom Bowie Knife
During a recent phone conversation with Paul, he mentioned that we was working on a new project. When I asked what it was, Paul told me I’d find out soon enough. And I did, when a package arrived at my front door with the Bowie knife you see in the photo on the top of this blog. It’s awesome. Paul also sent along photos showing a few of the steps involved with his making this knife.
The knife’s handle is curly maple finished with nitric acid and one coat of TruOil. Paul has built a number of custom black powder rifles with curly maple, using nitric acid as the finishing agent. It’s not something for amateurs, as it requires special handling. Nitric acid causes the wood to darken, which brings out the figure in a piece of curly maple (as it did on my Bowie knife).
Here’s close up of Bowie’s blade:
Here’s a photo of the guard and the handle. Check out the figure in the curly maple.
Here’s the finished knife, on top of a background I’ve used for many photos appearing here on ExhaustNotes.
This Bowie knife is a cool gift and a prized possession. Thanks much, Paul!
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
India Part X
Shaking off the continual feeling of being around rats, we began a 4-hour drive to Amritsar. It was crucial we get there early, as our plan was to Uber 45 minutes to the Pakistani Indian border for the closing ceremony. From what I had heard, it was just an insane spectacle to witness. Our ride was almost uneventful this day. Almost.
Around 10:00 a.m., we were still within the state of Rajasthan and we pulled over in a bustling city for a coffee break. It didn’t take too long before we were surrounded by locals wanting selfies of us and asking a lot of questions. This was mostly normal for us although it did seem at this particular stop there was an alarming amount of people surrounding us (not just the usual five or so). Within a few minutes, three serious looking men sat at our table and began asking some deeper questions than the normal chit chat. They asked to see our passports and stated they were Indian Federal Police. I am not sure why but I replied with “Show me yours first.” Which they did. Okay. It seems we were in a tourist forbidden zone as we were just a few kilometers from the Pakistani Border, which in Rajasthan was not a good thing (in Amritsar this was a non-issue).
Not wanting to lose physical control of our passports we chatted them up and in unison began to de-escalate the situation. This took about 10 minutes of back and forth as two more Federal Authorities joined in the questioning. There had been no signs or warnings stating this was a non-tourist area. I guess it was just common knowledge to most (the common knowledge we sort of lacked). Eventually the situation worked itself. They offered to buy us another coffee, but we thought it best to continue to Amritsar and not test our luck any further. We mounted our Royal Enfields and were on our way.
Shortly after we arrived in Amritsar without any further issues, we parked the bikes and paged an Uber to go to the Pakistani Border. Along the ride my riding friend in the front seat ate what seemed to be his baked goods from the Bhang shop (he bought these two days ago). He was talking to the Uber driver about pretty much everything under the sun as he wolfed down his pastry or whatever it was. I found it odd yet entertaining and his banter helped pass the drive until we pulled into the parking garage and began our short walk to what looked like a giant stadium.
There were thousands of Indians entering the long tunnel to the stadium interior. The really cool thing about this experience is that as foreigners we were treated as VIPs and given the best seats in the house. We were only 10 meters from the Pakistan border. This was after three different security and passport checks. Once we were seated we noticed it would be more than an hour before the ceremony started, but that made no difference to those on the India side as music was thumping through the speakers, and people were selling popcorn, sodas, Indian Flags, and all kinds of souvenirs. It was like being at Fenway Park but with much more going on in every direction.
As the time drew near for the ceremony, we could see through the fence that the Pakistani side was filling up. They had their own music thumping. Meanwhile, on the India side, there was a “ring announcer” riling up all those on the India side to include hundreds in a massive mosh pit on the stadium floor.
While these pre-ceremony festivities were occurring, I kept looking to my friend on my left. His eyes seemed a bit…well, off, and he was acting a bit freaked out. I nudged him to ask what he thought of the show. He could barely reply. He finally said, “There sure is a lot going on here.”
It took me a bit to finally pull out of him what was going on. The Bhang shop pastries were a type of legal edible marijuana, and he had consumed a rather large portion during the Uber ride in. My friend was higher than a cat on acid, at the India/Pakistan border, while all these activities occurred. Oh, man, it must have been a hell of a show for him. For me, even without the pastry, it was probably the craziest thing I have ever witnessed. Each stadium grew louder and louder. The only analogy I have is this: Picture Giants Stadium cut in half with two football games going on simultaneously, and being on the 50-yard line.
Fortunately for loaded friend, once the actual border ceremony began the ambiance began to tame down somewhat as the soldiers each performed their border closing duties (to include a halftime moment of them shaking hands with a short bow to one another). The flags of each country were lowered, carefully folded, and the ceremony came to a close. My friend’s eyes were about as wide as you can imagine throughout it all. We made our way back to the Uber for a relaxing 45-minute ride back to our hotel.
The day was far from over as we were to have dinner at the Golden Palace that evening.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
The pocketknife craze continues unabated, and I am finding that in my collecting I am stabilizing around the idea of the large folding hunter style knife. These are commonly referred to as a Buck knife, even though many similar available knives are not manufactured by Buck.
Don’t get the word Buck confused with deer hunting, as if someone armed with a Buck knife is going to chase down Bambi for a knife fight. The “Buck” in Buck Knife is actually the name of the man who founded the company, and that company is in Post Falls, Idaho (a stone’s throw from the Canadian border). I know that because I recently chatted with a guy there.
What most of us think of when we think of a Buck knife is the Buck 110, the classic folding hunter knife style. The idea Buck had back in the early 1960s was to create a folding knife (like a pocketknife) that could do the same thing as a fixed blade hunting knife. Buck envisioned a folder with a thicker 3.75-inch-long blade that locked securely in place when opened. The concept was that it would be able to do things a hunting knife could do (like skin and dress game animals). The Buck 110 style (the large folding hunter) has been widely copied and the term “Buck knife” is often used describe any large folding knife (like Kleenex is used for tissues and Xerox means making a copy).
I like the Buck 110 a lot and I’ve written about my custom Buck before, so when I recently saw an ad for an “automatic” Buck 110, I was hooked. An automatic knife is what we used to call a switchblade. You know, like in West Side Story. That would be cool. I liked that movie and I always wanted a switchblade. The automatic Buck 110 would scratch that itch. When I received an email from Chicago Knife Works offering the Buck 110 automatic for a measly $153, I was in.
A week later my switchblade arrived. I wasn’t happy with it. The bolster cutouts around the blade lock had tool marks. They weren’t mirror polished like they are on my other Bucks. It bothered me, so I called Buck Knife’s customer service.
The guy I spoke to at Buck knew exactly what I was talking about. Buck changed their manufacturing process to remove cost and that’s why the tool marks were there (evidently, I wasn’t the first guy to call with this concern). I get it. I’m a guy who spent a career finding ways to reduce manufacturing costs in products ranging from bombs to biomedical devices, so I understood. But there was still this nagging problem: I spent $153 on the Buck and I wasn’t happy. The Buck guy understood that completely without my being a dick about it. “Send it back in to us,” he said, “and I’ll get it polished out.” They’re going to engrave my initials on the blade, too. That’s cool. A personalized switchblade. I felt even better when I went on the Chicago Knife website later that day and learned they had bumped the price of the knife I just bought from $153 to $199. Wow. It’s those Idaho tariffs, I guess.
The fact that I like pocketknives is out there now. Siri has been listening and I’ve been on a lot of knife websites. I get emails every day from companies selling knives.
One of the emails that caught my attention was from good buddy Jeff Bezos. It was for a Cold Steel Ranch Boss II that looked a lot like a Buck. I guess I missed the Ranch Boss I (I came to the pocketknife craze late in life). The Ranch Boss. I like the name. I especially like the price: $39. Cold Steel. I like that name, too. There is a unit in the US Army (Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment) called Cold Steel Charlie, so named for their heroism and lethality. The marketing guys at Cold Steel ought to get a raise for that bit of branding genius. It sure worked its magic on me.
Amazon didn’t try to hide that the Cold Steel Ranch Boss II is manufactured in China. That didn’t bother me. I know from my CSC days and my many visits to Zongshen, Zebra, and other Chinese companies that there are companies in China making good products. The Ranch Boss. It has a John Wayne vibe. I could be a Ranch Boss. The Marlboro Man theme song played in my head. Ranch Boss. Yep, that’s me.
In the email and on Amazon, the Ranch Boss looked like a big, heavy folding hunter. $39. Complete with holster. Man, $39. That’s a sandwich with a beer these days. Buy now, and I could have it the next day. Yeah, it’s Chinese, and a real Buck is made in Idaho, but hey: $39. Buy now, Baby!
My Cold Steel Ranch Boss folding hunter was on my doorstep when Susie and I returned after our Jameson Motorcycle Museum 800-mile weekend. That’s one the porch pirates missed.
You know, the Ranch Boss is a nice knife. It looks and feels good. It’s actually slightly larger than the Buck 110. It uses a liner lock instead of the Buck 110 lock design. The thing is sharp, as in razor sharp. I like the looks of it.
The finish on both the Buck and the Ranch Boss is brushed stainless steel. I like that look. The Buck has polished brass bolsters; the Ranch Boss bolsters are the same brushed stainless steel as the rest of the knife.
The Buck 110 scales are real ebony wood. They are riveted in place with brass rivets. The Ranch Boss scales are fake sawn bone. I imagine there’s a single supplier providing this material to several knife makers. I recently picked up an ultra-inexpensive pair of Old Timer Chinese-manufactured pocketknives at (where else?) Walmart. They were only $25, and the scales on those two knives look identical to those on the Ranch Boss.
I like that the Ranch Boss scales are secured with little Allen bolts instead of rivets. If I want to craft a set of custom scales of maple or walnut to match one of my six shooters, it will be easier to do than on the Buck. A real Ranch Boss has to be properly attired, you know.
Buck’s standard blade material is 420HC, a tough, corrosion resistant steel that takes a good edge and is easy to sharpen. The Ranch Boss knife blade is SK-5 steel, a Japanese steel that is well suited (or so I’ve read) for knife blades. It has good durability and abrasion resistance, and is generally corrosion resistant. The SK in the designation stands for steel kougu, which translates from the Japanese to “tool steel.” For my purposes, the differences in steels between the Ranch Boss and the Buck are moot. I just like looking at the things.
Both the Buck 110 and the Ranch Boss are big knives, with the Ranch Boss being a bit larger than the Buck. These are not really knives you carry around in your pocket. They’re cool.
The bottom line here is that I like both knives. The Cold Steel Ranch Boss II, at $39, is a lot of knife for not a lot of money. The quality of the Ranch Boss is better, in my opinion, than the Buck. But Buck is standing behind their product. I’m eager to see what my Buck 110 Automatic looks like when it is returned from the factory. I’ll let you know.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
India Part IV
The next day was the day we would pick up the Royal Enfield Himalayans. I was excited to show my new riding partners the bikes, having taken them out a couple days prior. We all met at Iqbal’s motorcycle shop bright and early. As we unpacked our gear and transferred it from boxes and backpacks into the panniers and saddlebags I noticed one thing: They had a LOT of gear. This wasn’t a bad thing as I was missing a lot of necessities such as tire repair kits, jump starters, and tool bags. As I looked over at my moto and the gear I had, I realized it was pretty limited, which at first glance had me concerned but then after thinking it through I thought: How many tire repair kits do you really need?
After wrapping up the final paperwork with Iqbal, we suited up and were off. It would be a short day with just a little over four hours of riding. This was perfect, as it took an hour just to navigate through Delhi, whiz through the suburbs, and eventually find our way into the country where we could relax while riding a bit. For me, the relaxation didn’t really happen as I had no communication between the others and my phone seemed to constantly go in and out of cell coverage. This meant that I had to keep eyes on at least one of the other two to avoid drifting off and getting lost. If nothing else, it was a motivator and solid excuse for my aggressive riding. At least that’s what I told myself.
Around 1500 hours (Ed Note: That’s 3:00 p.m. for you non-Airborne guys) we decided to call it a day, get a hotel, some food, and a couple beers in a tiny town called Alawar. I say a couple of beers because the local beers (called Kingfisher) were a crapshoot with regard to how strong they were. They fluctuated between 5% and 8% ABV (alcohol by volume), so until you had one you really didn’t know which end of the spectrum you would end up on. This was a nightly roulette game where we would play “who got the 8% beer?” Over the next few weeks we all had our time with the 8% beers at one point or another. This added yet another unknown into our travel equation (as if we needed any more unknowns), but it was fun nonetheless at the end of a long riding day.
Another interesting nightly game was “which switch controls the lights?” It seemed that every room had at least two panels with a minimum of six switches per panel. This made turning the lights out each evening about as doable as solving a Rubik’s Cube (especially if you were the guy who had the 8% Kingfishers that evening).
After dinner, the Kingfishers, and solving the light switch Rubik’s Cube, I was pretty wiped out and it was time for a peaceful night’s sleep. The next day would be our first full day of riding. Although my confidence was high after Delhi’s chaotic roads, there surely would be more surprises. This would prove to be especially true as we went further into northern India’s countryside.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
India: Part III
My third day in India: I had met Iqbal (the motorcycle rental guy) and I bought new motorcycle gear (helmet, jacket, gloves, all for $73 USD). I am not saying this gear was high end Aria or anything, but it was something. In the event of a crash I would hope it would be low speed and I could count on my paratrooper skills to fall properly and not get too banged up. Things were coming together nicely and my confidence and morale was much higher than I had expected. With an extra evening to kill, it turned out one of my offshore developers that worked with me in 2014 lived in Delhi and had invited me over for dinner.
When I was in corporate America I loved hanging out with my team whenever I wasn’t out roaming around the world. Well, when I met this guy he had just gotten off the plane in Seattle and it was his first time in the United States. Knowing this, I directed another one of my team members to pick him up and bring him to Pike Market where we could get a few beers and I could fully christen him to our great country.
Of course, my idea for the full American immersion was to bring him to a proper strip club that was next to Pike Market. Without getting into details, he probably had one of the best nights of his life. We kept in touch over the years and whenever I would walk by the strip club I would send him a photo of the sign, and that is how you maintain high morale on a project team (leadership at its finest).
I arrived at his apartment and met his lovely wife and sister-in-law. After catching up and chatting for an hour they invited me to their parents’ home for dinner. The conversation then turned to birthdays, and they asked when mine was. I pulled out my phone and looked at it intensely. They didn’t know what I was doing as I should know my birthday (which I did). They were surprised to hear my next words: “My birthday is in 3 hours and 42 minutes.”
I don’t know a lot about the Indian culture but within two minutes I had a birthday cake in front of me, so I am guessing they always have a birthday cake in the freezer “just in case.” Either way, it was very sweet and I felt more than welcomed into their country.
After a few pre-birthday whiskeys, it was time to return to my hotel and get a solid night’s sleep. I needed to wash away any remaining jet lag I had as my friends were due to arrive the following day. As I peacefully fell asleep with thoughts of riding the new Royal Enfields, my phone rang. “Huber, I need a place to sleep!” Well, I guess I would be meeting at least one of my new friends sooner than expected as I buzzed the hotel door to let him in. It turned out his hotel had given his room away so we would be roommates until we departed on the motorcycles in two days.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
San Diego, Calilfornia. I love that town. One of its best attractions is the USS Midway Museum. I’ve been there three times. The first was a few years ago with Susie, and that visit resulted in a Destinations piece in Motorcycle Classics magazine and a CSC Motorcycles blog article. Another time was when I attended the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in San Diego with good buddy Mike. The IACP had their big evening party on the Midway’s flight deck, and the keynote speaker was James Comey (the FBI Director; we heard his speech literally days before President Trump fired him).
Most recently, I returned to the Midway for a visit with Susie and my sister Eileen. You could say I’m a big fan of the Midway and all she represents, and you’d be 100% correct. If you ever find yourself in San Diego, the USS Midway is a “must see” visit.
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in World War II in our fight against the Japanese. Movies have been made about it; one of the best is currently streaming on Netflix. Woody Harrelson portrayed Admiral Nimitz and he did a wonderful job. The two men even resemble each other.
Construction started on the USS Midway during World War II, but the war ended before the ship was commissioned. The Midway went on to serve in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf wars. You may remember new stories about our departure from Vietnam and the helicopters being shoved off the flight deck and into the sea to make room for more refugees. Those film clips were on the Midway. I was in the Army and I didn’t have really anything to do with the Navy (other than later working in companies that designed and manufactured products for the Navy), but if I had been in the Navy, I think I would have liked to have served on a carrier. There’s just something magnificent about these ships. You may recall my piece on Admiral Gordon Smith, one of my best bosses ever. Gordon was a carrier pilot. I admire and miss him greatly.
The docents at the USS Midway Museum are all prior service people. They are friendly and gave great talks. When Susie and I were on the flight deck, one of the docents told the two of us about a jet and described it as “my airplane.” Susie said, “Oh, you flew one like this?”
“No,” he answered. “I flew this aircraft.” It just doesn’t get any better than that. Well, maybe it does. When we bought our tickets on our most recent visit, the lady behind the counter asked if any us were former service members. As usual, my mind was in neutral. I kind of just stood there and Susie quickly explained that I had served in the Army. That provided a steep discount and a sticker to put on my pocket designating me as a prior service guy. Every one of the docents asked me about my service as we made our way through the museum. It’s been so long ago (almost 50 years) that I had to stop and think with every question. It was fun. The folks on the Midway made me feel special. You can’t put a price on that.
There’s just so much to see and enjoy in San Diego. If you are lucky enough to visit this wonderful town, you might want to stop for dinner or a late lunch after seeing the Midway. One of the best restaurants in town is The Brigantine, just up the road from the Midway along the Embarcadero. The Brigantine’s fish and chips dish is one of the best I’ve ever had. If you like family-run Italian restaurants (they’re at the top of the list for me), try Volare’s (at 3528 Barnett Avenue in San Diego).
On our first visit to the USS Midway, Susie and I drove across to Coronado Island after visiting the Museum. After a fine dinner in Coronado, we took in the San Deigo skyline across the bay at night. It’s one of my favorite photos.
Join our Facebook ExNotes page!
Never miss an ExNotes blog:
