Fonzie's 'Giant Moon' ride

Tina  ..We all hope you can join in next time. we know you love to read our Ride Reports.. and it is at great
expense that we hire the litterateur genius of Guy Shakespeare

That was a lovely read to end my day, put a smile on my face. Thanks Guy.....

Monday afternoon I received a text message from that noted student of astronomy Fonzie that he was assembling a few stragglers from around the area for a night cruise to observe the closest planet to our own swoop by 50,000 km closer than it normally is.

Unfortunately a few couldn't make it at late notice and in the end it was only John Eckhardt (aka The Fonz), Eduard Kuppens (aka Homer) and Guy West (aka Me) who assembled at the Shell servo outside Lilydale at 7.00 pm, looking doubtfully skywards at the low cloud cover.

We rode out to Yarra Glen and stopped to get a coffee at a slightly dodgy cafe because nearly everything else was shut. Not a moon in sight.

Back on the bikes and we traversed that road towards Eltham that ascends steeply through the hills above Yarra Glen and provides some scenic views out to your left if you are not too fussed about watching where you're going.

Suddenly Fonzie must have seen a cloud that was slightly less dark than the rest and pulled over onto the gravel where a couple of hopeful dudes were staring sullenly at the moonless expanse of sky.
Unfortunately 400 kegs of Honda Goldwing and gravel don't mix and Homer's promptly went over on its side, luckily whilst pretty much stationary. Being a Goldwing though, when we got it back up there was not a scratch on it.

We stood around chatting with other moongazers for half an hour or so, every now and then excitedly claiming that the Giant Moon might be behind this cloud or that. It was a bit like the last Full Moon ride in that there was no moon to see, except that the weather was quite mild and agreeable and there was no drizzle this time. I did enjoy the ride.

We decided to cut our losses and head back to Maccas in Lilydale, as I hadn't eaten yet, not being an old bloke who has dinner at 4pm in the afternoon like my erstwhile companions. First Fonzie tried to help Ed reverse back onto the road and there was a lot of huffing and puffing, with Homer claiming that Fonzie was actually fighting him and not helping. A car came past a bit close for comfort and that was when I thought of my greatest pun ever.

I said to Fonzie, 'Our Kuppens was almost runneth over' and The Fonz had to pay that one and give me five. I felt just like Richie Cunningham for a moment.

On the way back to Maccas Fonzie's giant moon actually started revealing itself here and there and Fonzie started pulling over at various spots so we could have a look. Each time, as we performed a u-turn or tricky exit out of a gravelly culvert I could hear Homer muttering under his breath. I must say the moon was pretty spectacular.

After Maccas we all went home and after I had spent 15 minutes in my backyard with the best view of the moon all night I got a text from Fonzie saying that he was also watching it from his porch and also getting the best view all night! Any excuse for a ride, eh?