Best $100 I Ever Spent

2005
First Day

Back when I had another family living us in Galesburg, I was smitten by a young 2 1/2 year old kid. My son had fallen head over heels in love with a girl in Florida and she had a young boy from a previous relationship. He gave them a bus ticket and they came to live with us for a few months. Her wee one was named Michael and we ended up spending long hours with each other exploring parks, taking rides, and trying to pick up "chicks" in my old cars. We were pretty much inseparable (thus my email address: two.mikes@hotmail.com). A year or so went by and the son enlisted in the Army. Eventually they left to live in Clarksville, Tennessee for a while. Before one of their trips back up to see us I went to Kewanee to buy one of those kid like toys that run on a battery. After a brief bit of apprehensive fright, Michael soon learned how to run it and our visits were never the same. He learned the beauty of powered mobility, and I was the one to come up with new places to go. The miles we put on that machine. I soon learned that the battery had a limited run time. The model was a Chinese-made Yamaha ATV, and with a great deal of skepticism I called to order a new back-up battery thinking I'd end up in India or Bangladesh. Imagine my surprise when I got a great southern-accented lady who was very nice and understandable. She said she would be happy to send a battery and, no sir, you don't need to pay for it. What? Sure enough, in a bout a week 2 new batteries arrived FREE giving us a about 4-5 hours of run time. Later, I would make another call for new tires. Yes, he put enough miles on that he wore the plastic clean through. And guess what? New tires arrived and once again, they were free. Amazing company. In this day of poor customer service this Chinese based firm provided free parts.

We travelled all over Galesburg, and I mean all over. He plied main street like a hooker, even getting an occasional freebie when he would stop a shop owner and begin conversing with them like they were lifelong friends. And I was the guy who followed and helped get the thing over railroad tracks and bad sidewalks and loose gravel. Our favorite spots were anywhere a train might run by, main street, the Cottage hospital underpass, DQ, Inn Keepers for a cookie and milk, but the place we always went to was the train depot. In heat or freezing cold we'd always find time to "saddle-up" and head down the road.

2010
Today

And like the old song, Puff the Magic Dragon, "...dragons live forever, but not so little boys..." Michael left for Canada and after much sadness, I donated the Yamaha to Marvin and Janine in Burgess to help entertain their ever growing herd of grandkids. Last month I went over to see them and there along the wall was the maker of dreams machine. I had to hear it one more time. I hate being being sentimental.