Dragons

By Tim Notier

Knighting our motorcycle with its rightful name was not an easy task. It involved days of consideration and deep meditation in order for us to find the One True Name of our newest family member. I think that if Marisa and I had a child, it would have been easier to name.

"Tim Junior?"

"T.J. for short?"

"Sounds good!"
​
End of discussion.

But our motorcycle needed a name that not only had meaning to us, but one that others would be able to understand the magic that was built directly into the machine. Our last motorcycle was named Pegasus, as it was a mythical creature that carried us halfway around the world. With the Honda Goldwing pegs installed as Marisa's foot pegs, the name just came to us and we dubbed the bike Pegasus right there in the middle of Death Valley.
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The name of our newest motorcycle had to come to us just as naturally. I was also up to the trial of a peyote induced hallucination where I might find the bike's spirit animal. But sadly, Marisa denied my request to leave this realm in my hunt for true clarity. The two of us just wanted the bike's title to have importance to us, and one to be proud of as we spoke about its great accomplishments.

While on the road over the last four years, I often found myself missing some creature comforts. Not of old habits that I used to have, but the actual comfort of the creatures that I left behind. My cats Kamiko and Moto were my little buddies, and 22 years later, we just said our final goodbye to my best friend Moto. After a blood-clot in his right paw, Moto was on the tail end of his journey, and even though we said our farewells to Kamiko years ago, her and Moto have always been a part of our adventure.
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But with them in mind, I couldn't name my motorcycle Moto. That seemed a little redundant. And Kamiko's name has a whole backstory that I wouldn't necessarily say upsets Marisa, but is kind of awkward. Long story short, I named my cat after a girl in high school that was super pretty, who also happened to be one of Marisa's good friends. So naming the bike in honor of either of my cats seemed unrealistic.

Pegasus was a legendary animal, but in reality, we slithered our way across the ground in place of soaring above the clouds. Fluids and acidic spit dripped out of nearly every gasket instead of the pristine and stoic image that comes to mind of the divine winged horse. We rode on the back of a dragon, not a flawless deity of perfection.
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Dragons came in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Our newest wyvern would hopefully be able to claw its way to Alaska with us mounted in its saddle. I realized that speed will not be our greatest feature, but the reliability and dependability of a tank. It then dawned on me that our bike's spirit animal was a Komodo dragon. And with a little splash of improper spelling, which I am almost a pro at, we have now knighted our KTM 1190 R 'KaMoto' as tribute to our best friends that will join us in spirit, as well as honoring the motorcycle's true nature.
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It is the best of both worlds as we explore the globe on our lumbering beast of burden. I am happy that we found its name and am thankful that Marisa insisted that I not take magic mushrooms until we felt all other options had been exhausted.
 
We are so excited to be back in the thick of nature, this time with my three best friends along for the ride. Marisa, my copilot, and my two little buddies making the engine purr as we all go over the mountains to see what we can see.
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