It's finished! First few ride reports..

On Thursday we went to Quaker Town to pick up this
long awaited side car. None of us dared to show any
glimmer of excitement due to all the delays that there
has been. When we started this last July there was no
way we could have known that it was going to take
eleven months to get Arnold built. Anyhow, Thursday is
the day, Kevin Dan and I set off in the van with all
the tools we may need and emergency supplies just in
case we need to spend the night in a hotel, so
needless to say the van was very full.
Meeting Claude with the bike was not overly
complicated, the drive there was very pleasant, some
adjustments were made and then we were ready to come
home. Kevin and Dan rode it back whilst I followed in
the van. We took nice back roads all the way back,
stopping at Hope in order to put a helmet on Dan. PA
law does not require one to be worn and seeing as this
was one of our tricky areas we choose to prolong it as
long as we could.
In order for Daniel to be able to wear his helmet we
have to change the head array system on his chair for
one that allows room for the helmet. I am concerned
with the strap around his neck as it seems to get
tight and what if it strangles him. I am also
concerned that the other head array will not support
him, but this is what we have to do. Dan has had his
moments with being worried also, his muscle tone has
been high and having athatoid CP this all becomes a
bit of a challenge.
The last leg of the trip was more worry some for
Kevin and I as Kevin had to keep looking over at Dan
to make sure all was well, and I am following with my
eyes closely on the head array and helmet. We pulled
over several times, but all was well and Daniel was
just having a great old time.
I must say that Kevin rode the bike wonderfully,
although I saw him cross the center line once! And he
did hit the curb with the rig wheel once, But what a
long ride they both did on the first trip out.

Friday it rained all day long so we just had to wait
for Saturday in order to try it out again. So the plan
on Saturday was to go to Ocean City, why not? I made
sandwiches and coffee so that we could have a picnic.
We packed rain gear, some extra clothing and then we
were ready to go, or so I thought. It seemed to just
take forever to be done. We finally got going at
around 3pm, that was after Kevin fixed the running
lights that had stopped working on Thursday, modified
the tie down system that was not holding the chair
snug enough, got all our clothes on, re arranged all
the STUFF we seem to need to take, in order to get the
door to close on the rig, go back for sun cream, and
on and on. I was really not at all happy anymore. I
was hot , frustrated and cranky. As we pulled down the
road I wanted to take a picture of Dan, as he had the
most wonderful smile on his face, but the camera was
set in view mode and I could not see how to change it,
I had to use great restraint to stop myself throwing
the camera as far as I could. My little man said” how
will you explain that to Kevin,? He bought that camera
for you. You‘ll be sorry”
It took me at least 30 mins to feel different, I mean
I had fantasized that we would “just” go here and
there and how much fun it would be, how Dan and I
could go out together if we wanted. Now I was feeling
that it would be impossible for me to do this for him
alone, and that how can it be fun when it is this
hard? But as soon as I relaxed a bit, and especially
once I rode it my spirits lifted. It handles much
better than it did last December. Claude had altered
the BMW so that is was not as heavy to steer and it is
a huge improvement.
Our first stop with Dan was at the biker bar so that
he could have a beer. This was great fun for him and
several people came by to ask about the rig. As you
can see we got some photos. We then went on to Mays
Landing and stopped by to see some friends what a
surprise for them and Dan! Next it was time for lunch
with a lovely view and later a stop at Dunkin. It was
10pm when we finally got home. Daniel just loved it.
He was excited to feel the wind in his face and the
speed of the bike. After dark he got great pleasure in
seeing the full moon in the sky and the bikes head
lamps light up the trees. This is going to be such a
wonderful thing for us, riding around , opening
peoples eyes as well as ours.