it's been a weird morning

my brother's harley got stolen like a year ago. hadn't heard anything in ages so we figured it's gone forever. last week thursday he flew to Croatia to live there for at least six months. less than 24 hours later, his motorbike was found. once I found out about it I got him to email me a signed release form. this morning I went in to pick it up.

the thing you have to know about this bike is that a few years back when he had a gig on the electrical team at Burning Man a bunch of sand got in the ignition and jammed it up real good so he couldn't start it. luckily he was surrounded by friends who had certain skills that are very relevant when hot-wiring vehicles, so with their help he replaced the ignition with a big old push button on the side of the bike that was labeled "EMERGENCY STOP". if you knew the trick to the bike, you could walk up and start it without the key, but he figured the label would throw people off. (apparently eventually it didn't as it got stolen off the street outside his house a few years later but it worked for a while anyway)

so I get myself dropped off at the impound to pick it up. I see a bike in the front but it doesn't look like the one I'm here for; it's in much better shape. I head inside and take care of the paperwork and they're like "oh yeah here it is; all yours now" and it's the bike out front. I'm like ... "are you sure this is the right one" and they're like "only bike we got right now". I take a closer look at it and I don't see the "EMERGENCY STOP" button but ... I also don't see an ignition. the thief had apparently replaced it with a much more subtle toggle switch under the handlebars, and they had put a ton of work into it and had even added a trip computer thing mounted on the handlebars, but it was the same bike.

now I ride a motorbike but mine is a 200cc CVT; nothing like this beast. even without the modification I'd have no idea of how to start it, so I get on a video call with him and he talks me thru it. in the end it can't even start since the battery's run down. I call triple-A but apparently due to covid they would handle towing the vehicle but they won't let me ride along, so apparently I'm stranded there six miles out of town. I just missed the nearest bus and I'm far enough out that the next one doesn't come by for over an hour. luckily @mattly is in a real generous mood and picks me up.

once I get home I grab my battery charger and head back out on my lil bike. it's actually a really beautiful drive along the waterfront thru a wooded area; honestly quite peaceful. I plug in the charger but it's only capable of putting out 750ma so I ask the attendant if I can leave it there. it's charging right now, and I'm planning on going to try to start it again in a few hours.