For the past five years, I've driven a yellow Ford Focus with blue racing stripes. I love this car. Not only has she started for me in the coldest of weather, but she often results in an excited wave from young boys I'll pass on the road. Once, I even heard a boy scream: "WOW! Cool car!" It certainly has made me feel special.
I nicknamed my Focus the Poison Dart for several reasons. The first is that her front end seems to come to a point (when one looks at it from the side); the second is that the color of the racing stripes reminds me of the Blue Poison Dart Frog (and I love frogs); and the third is that a dart is "focused" and has one purpose: the heart of the target. Reading Sonny Barger's Let's Ride, I've come to discover that this last reason represents how I will need to ride a motorcycle. While I drive a bike, the heart of my target will be to let go of worries that could cloud my judgment. As Barger noted, "There's no room for it out on the road. I've got enough to worry about just trying to avoid all the other drivers yapping on their cell phones" (15-16).
My car also represents how I'm using my time these days. I mentioned in my last post that I needed to start attending a gym. Well, three times a week (with few exceptions), one will find me in the weight room of County Physical Therapy. They had a great membership special: $80 for three months. That's like a little over $2 a day! That's better than the price of gas per gallon! :-)
Works Cited
Barger, Sonny. Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcycling. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.
