Dangerous Dave
The older I get, the faster I was...
Last night after dinner, the wife says she wants to go for a ride through Hills and Dales park in Oakwood (Ohio) and just do a little sightseeing. Sure...why not. So we stop along one road to check out this cool old castle/tower lookin' thing that's been there for a loooong time, but has since been concreted shut. We walk around it and then see some deer, so we sit and watch them for awhile. Well, I can still see the road and the bike...uh-oh...park ranger stopping. He backs up and parks and is obviously running my plate. I figure we better at least go down there. I go over to his cruiser and say good evening and tell him it's my bike. He asks where they put the VIN on those things and I tell him "on the steering head, just like every other bike". And I start fishing through my wallet for my 'proof of insurance' card. He asks for the last 4 of the VIN, because when he pulled up my plate #, it came back as a possible stolen bike from Canada! So I give it to him and he gets a funny look on his face and asks for the first 4. I give him those, the look on his face gets a little more intense and he tells me to keep reading. Now I'm starting to wonder. I continue reading and finally his face relaxes. I say, "so the first 4 and the last 4 of my VIN matched this stolen bike?". He says "first 4 and last 8!" Holy crap! Today is the mine and the wife's 22nd anniversary. For a brief moment, we thought we might be spending our anniversary in separate cells. :blink: :blink:
Knowing how 17 digit VINs are structured, it kinda boggles my mind that the first 4 and last 8 could have matched, in fact, I find it very hard to believe. Nevertheless, he was a nice guy about the whole thing and we all got a good laugh when all was said and done. But the wife and I spent the rest of the evening thinking about how that COULD have turned out. I told her I would have just jumped on the bike and hauled *** outta there and left her behind. She assured me she would have said she didn't know who I was and just bumped into me on the hiking trails. What a woman! No wonder we've been married 22 years today. A good woman won't rat you out to the cops. :yahoo: :yahoo:
Knowing how 17 digit VINs are structured, it kinda boggles my mind that the first 4 and last 8 could have matched, in fact, I find it very hard to believe. Nevertheless, he was a nice guy about the whole thing and we all got a good laugh when all was said and done. But the wife and I spent the rest of the evening thinking about how that COULD have turned out. I told her I would have just jumped on the bike and hauled *** outta there and left her behind. She assured me she would have said she didn't know who I was and just bumped into me on the hiking trails. What a woman! No wonder we've been married 22 years today. A good woman won't rat you out to the cops. :yahoo: :yahoo: