Rickets continues to be an absolute champ. I swore I'd never take it out of town but it's been over half of creation since I registered it. 500Kg of Cleveland motors? No problem. Emergency runs to see family in QLD? No problem. He is overdue for an oil change and the parking brake is a bit sad but what a fantastic little workhorse. I have installed a proper Carplay head unit in it which makes navigating in unknown places a breeze, something I thought wouldn't be necessary but because I'm in it all the time it seemed worthwhile. Latest trip was to pick up a new project: a Moto Guzzi V65 Sessantacinque GT. I had decided to finally get my bike license prompted somewhat by my mate buying a Yamaha XS650 (he already rides) which impressed me greatly. The bike was in Brisbane (400km from here) and I initially booked a trailer but my mate laughed at me: trailers are for people who don't own utes and much more trouble with motorcycles than simply loading correctly. I was skeptical but bought some ramps and installed some load hooks into the bed of the tray. You can buy motorcycle specific tie downs from Super Cheap. I then spent the evening watching videos of people loading bikes onto utes and failing, with the bikes falling on them, or falling off the ramps, or smashing into things. It was terrifying. A lot of my formative automotive years were spent in Alfa Romeos. The search for another project started with looking at various post-1980s projects (the "new" Alfa Spider) but the looks really did nothing for me and I realised it was more the idea of an Alfa rather than an actual Alfa I wanted. Enter Moto Guzzi. Not as scary as a Ducati, still plenty of italian style and engineering to be had. Plenty of bad electrics too but since this bike is 30 years old all that has been sorted forever ago. It is absolutely beautiful to me. Much better in the flesh than in the photos. Not standard either - the paint on the tank is the wrong colour, the seat is different, the side panels are gone and replaced with bespoke metal covers. Still, despite looking like a cafe racer it retains the passenger pegs and nothing that has been done can't be undone. The biggest wrinkle here is that I can't ride. Well, I can ride ag bikes at slow speed in paddocks but the Guzzi is much heavier than those and has no low speed maneuverability. Like, none. Still, I am in OK shape and have decent balance so I will work it out. It's also fun coming into a new area of knowledge and doing the research. I rather shamefully bought it sight unseen off Facebook marketplace so its very lucky it worked out and the vendor was one of the nicest people I've ever met. He replaced it with a bigger Guzzi so remains in the fold. He helped me load it which was very simple in the end with two people. I had fretted about nothing. The bike did not move once the cam locks on the tie downs were cinched down. I do admit to stopping a few times to check them but for no good reason. My goodness it's loud though. Harley Davidson, obnoxious loud and not dissimilar in sound thanks to that V-Twin layout. I'll have to do something about that.