Motorcycle Mike and Sandy - Part 4 - Six Days After - Lather, Rinse, Repeat...

As I pulled up...

After the water receded...

Victims...

Side car tub...

Wet Vette

Knuckle Chopper waiting to be drained...

Getting to the Knuckle

Excelsior Drainage...

Ugh...

Yikes...

Draining the Knuckle...

Had to lean it over to drain the trans...drain plug was shot...

A weeper...

God No!

Filled...

Just watch it run out...

The work area...

No words...

Mike and the Mighty Oz!

Time for drainage...

Are you fuckin' kidding me???????

Mike's world turned upside down...

Got the Flatty drained, oiled and running...

Pull off the return and let it flow through until clear...

Got the Pan squared away and working...

Joe Oz tears into the Chief...

Ugly...

Draining...

Next...

Still draining...

Mike takes the Pan out for a test run....

Still draining...

Oh that poor Nomad...

Oh yeah and that poor 'Vette...

Plenty more to go...

Thor drainage...

Yank and dump...

Finished for the day...

What a day at Mike's on Sunday. I pulled up to find him in the yard moving crap around next to his sign that states I'M HERE AND PROTECTED!! (I can vouch for that). I brought in the beer and five gallons of kerosene and began to survey the damage. It was shocking.... I grabbed a broom and started sweeping out the garage, then we fired up the generator for some lights and I said, "Where do you want me to start?", Mike said, "You're a Knucklehead man, how about the "46 Chopper?" We moved a bunch of stuff out of the way and wheeled it out. I pulled the motor drain and watched the salt water flow! I then tried the trans drain plug but it was shot so I took out the fill plug and gave it a lean and dumped the water out of the trans. I proceeded to remove the spark plugs and the front cylinder was full to the brim! I was looking in the hole at the water and Mike said, "Stand back while I give it a kick". No sooner did I move back when the fuckin' water shot (no lie) 25 feet in an arc out of the spark plug hole missing me by inches. I never seem anything like it!!! It shot over my shoulder over the Nomad and into the neighbors driveway!
That was the start of it. We drained, rinsed, oiled, flushed, cleaned wire brushed and fired up all day. We finished one and grabbed another. Joe Oz came back by and joined in the festivities. Neighbors dropped by now and again bringing food an encouragement. Mike's buddy Neil dropped by and went out for a couple of pizzas. But it was mostly water, kerosene, oil and gasoline all day.
When I left for PA at the end of the day I was feeling like I should stay and do more....We made some good progress but there is much to be done.
I have spoken to Mike several times since Sunday and he is working non stop. I need to find some time to get back down there.
The weather man says a Nor' Easter is on it's way tomorrow...shit!

Motorcycle Mike and Sandy - Part 3 - The Horror...The Horror...

The night of...46 UL

The night of...AAAAHHHHH!!!

The night of...a few bikes were on lifts....

The night of...The Hydra Glide

The night of...

The next day...the water starts to recede...

The next day...don't panic that actually is Mike's Car Boat!

The next day...not a Car Boat...the poor 'vette....

The next day...Hydra

The next day...

The next day...view from the back yard...

The next day...

The next day...Mike's back yard...

The next day...view from the deck...

After the water receded ...Joe Oz first on the scene to help with restoration!!!

Drying out the cars...

The horror...the horror...I don't know what else to say.
I could not imagine gazing helplessly as mother nature devoured my machines... The entire event was surreal... from when I called Mike on Monday evening to check in on him and all seemed well, to the days of no contact and then the reports coming in from Joe Oz on the scene...and finally to my arrival on Sunday to witness the carnage first hand... The most amazing thing about this event was Mike's demeanor, he was "matter of fact" and in good spirits...(although he was also admittedly in a "daze"). We worked on bikes, laughed, drank Yuenglings, ate pizza... I would have considered this a great time if it wasn't for the near destruction of a motorcycle and car collection...

Well above are the first in the Mike vs Sandy series. The above pics are from Mike's own camera. He took some horrifying shots of the garage as it filled up and then the next day as it receded. The bikes were completely submerged except for a few that were on lifts.

Digest these pictures and tomorrow night I will post the pictures I took as we worked to resuscitate the bikes on Sunday...I can only handle so much at a time...
Here's a taste of what's to come...ugh...

Motorcycle Mike and Sandy - Part 2

I tripped over to Jersey today to help Mike with the Hurricane damage. More pics to come...Unreal!

Motorcycle Mike and Sandy...

Mike with his Henderson at Brookfield NY this summer...

My good friend Mike lives on the Jersey Shore. I finally got a chance to talk to him last night. He is alive and well but his stuff took a beating. Mike lives right on a lagoon with boats in the back and bikes and cars in the front. He lifted his house a few years ago and built a sweet garage underneath....Man Cave...
I talked to him Monday night as the storm arrived. He said all was OK and the water hadn't risen. He joked about how high the water would rise...
The next day I could not contact him. I got a call from Todd in CA who said he received a text at around midnight from Mike saying 4 ft high in the garage and rising...I'm Fucked...and that was it.
There were calls back and forth to Rick in Canada, Joe Oz in Jersey and Todd in CA. We were all trying to find out how he was.
It was a couple of days before anyone had contact with him. Turns out he got about 5 ft of water. His house was saved because he had lifted it up but the stuff in the garage below was all under water.
I don't know how, but Mike was in good spirits last night when he called me. He is getting help from friends Joe Oz, Dave Minerva and others.
Mike asked me to post on the Blog that he is "OK" and that the bikes got a "good washing". He got his Panhead running yesterday and took a spin through the devastation. This is now his only transportation. His van is shot, the 'vette is wet and the Nomad is getting worked on today. I hope to get down there soon.
My problems are minuscule in comparison....

Aftermath and First Post Sandy Ride...

Every other road around here looks like this...

Put the boys to work... (One of Four and Two of Four)

Reconnected! Thank you cable guy!

Been breaking my ass all week and finally got out for a little ride today after getting some clean up and reconnection done. About half the roads it seems are still blocked by down trees and power lines. A lot of people still without power. I got lucky and ran into the power company guy and showed him which line was down causing my outage. So now I have power. I also got the cable guy over here to reconnect me and I have Internet /cable again! One of Four and Two of Four were home so I put them to work...sweet!