“Tiger” Edmonds is at it again. True be told, this one is my favorite, so far. Tiger reminds me of a biker version of Baxter Black. His musings on riding and "the road" are obviously heart felt as well as thought and emotion provoking.
Scootertrash is his second book and it is a random collection of Edmonds' stories from the road. He writes in a unique style. He is profane at times. He has no respect for political correctness, so if you're easily offended, this may not be the book for you. Parts of this book are poetic and deserve to be read aloud.
Here is one such poetic excerpt where Tiger is talking to a young lady. They have very different ideas about being on the road:
“She giggled and asked about the sunshine and unfrozen rivers and flowers and birds and butterflies in the air. She asked about alligators and the Southern Cross and the Spanish moss. And she wanted to know about manatees.
But I told her about the heat and the cold, about just getting' old, and about thousand mile days. I tried to tell her about border towns and local citizens' frowns and about how the highway will wear you down out there between the Mohawk Valley and Tampa Bay.”
This exchange goes on for several "stanzas" and sounds great when read aloud.
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| Here's to being on the road less travelled |
Other parts are humorous in the way he chooses to describe something. Here is Tiger talking about tunnels: “Way I figure it, you got to have a lot of gopher in you to be comfortable riding into a hole in the ground. The trouble is that riding a motorcycle is basically an outdoor activity, and tunnels are seriously indoors. It’s one of them things, like eating oysters,that makes you wonder who was the first guy tried it, and what the hell was he thinking?”
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| Riding through an old rail tunnel at the Scoot NM rally |
Some of his thoughts on "super-slabs": "Interstate highways permit the inept to drive. Hell, they encourage the incompetent to travel cross country. .... It's a real mindless activity, and it can be done by the mentally deficient." (Remember what I said about those who are easily offended?)
I love this book and give it 5 stars. (I hate using "stars" as my rating symbol. Does anyone have an idea about a scooter-appropriate symbol? If so, please leave your suggestion in your comment.)
On days the weather or something else keeps you from riding, find a great book like this. It helps.
Howard
How about giving it "5 scooters" instead? Or taking it on a "500 mile ride"?
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting book anyway! Thanks for the review!
It does sound interesting. I would suggest pistons or pints for a rating system. Back in the day my buddies and I used a $$$ for movies. In other words, would we pay full price, half price or wait for it on basic cable. You be amazed how many of the movies ended up on the basic cable list.
ReplyDeleteJust picked this book up...I'm in chapter 3 and am already a fan. Funny thing is that I have probably waved at the author, as he teaches at the local college less than 15 miles from my home.
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