Another Treasure from Grandpa’s Farm

Last week my son, Ryan, got to hang out at Grandpa’s old farm with my parents for the day and managed to find another treasure from Grandpa’s Farm – Grandpa’s old 1980 Honda Express moped.

Along with having old cars like our 1947 Dodge, Grandpa was always a motorcycle lover and had many motorcycles over the years. In his later years, Grandpa bought a moped that he could use for quick trips to town.

Ryan has been excited about all things motorized lately and especially keen on getting a minibike or moped. He had a chance to drive a neighbor’s minibike a year ago and has been talking about buying one ever since. He’s been saving his money and checking out Craigslist for a moped, minibike or go-cart to drive (basically, he’s been looking for any sort of motorized vehicle to own) but hasn’t found something he can afford to buy.

Ryan knew Grandpa’s old moped was tucked away in a shed at the farm. It hadn’t really run in years but Ryan has had it in his head that he could get it going again. Ryan must be a bit of a charmer because after spending one day at the farm, he had talked my parents into letting him take the moped back to our place to see if we could get it going again.

So, last Wednesday evening we found ourselves loading an old moped in the back of my minivan. Ryan sat next to the moped the whole way home and couldn’t have looked happier.

The following day I found Ryan sitting on the moped in our hangar with a big smile on his face making “vroooom, vrooom” noises. He had already washed the moped at the farm but I gave him a toothbrush and some rags and got him going on cleaning tiny areas of the moped. Later in the day, I found Ryan was texting my little brother, Joel, and talking to him about what he felt he needed to do to get the moped running again. Joel was sounding as excited about the moped as Ryan, so I invited Joel and his son, Liam, over to check things out.

Within a couple of hours, Joel, Owen and Ryan had the old moped running once again! Then it was time to test drive it. Joel rode it first. Then he checked Ryan out on how to drive it – he sure looked happy! I even had a chance to take it for a cruise.

At the moment, “Howard the Honda” (my name for the moped – Howard was my Grandpa’s name) kicks out quite a bit of blue smoke but it’s running a-ok. Seems like the more Ryan drives the moped around, the better it runs so I guess we’d better make sure Ryan gets out on it often.