The California Rat Years: March 1983 to July 1988

This volume is dedicated to.....The Rats. That’s right. Whether it’s a nasty Rat Bike, a gnarly Rat Rod or a dilapidated Rat Car, these are the Rat Vehicles we love that transport us from Point A to Point B. Maybe our Rats are dependable, and maybe they ain’t all that dependable.

That’s all part of the fun and excitement of having a Rat and keepin’ it goin’ down the road, often much to everyone else’s surprise.

I also hafta mention the fine California folks that made this part of the Rat Life is extra fun. From my original California ridin’ partner, another transplanted Texan Oakland Steve (RIP) to California native Frisco Dave, who is still with us and still ridin’ to Kent & Lori, where ever they are today. And a special thanks goes to the shop crew at Frisco Choppers, Dudley Perkins and Corvette Corner. All those wonderful shops are just special memories today, for those fun shops are sadly long gone today.

And last, I gotta give a special Rat Nod to the great state of California. As a snot-nosed kid born in 1955 and raised in Dallas, Texas, I had long wished to live in wild and crazy California, enjoying that west coast bike and car scene, and I finally got to do it in the 1980s. California was a fun place to live and ride back then, before the helmet law.

You wanna ride your Rat on Highway 1 and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean? It’s there waitin’ for you. You wanna ride your Rat through the Redwood Giants? They’ve been their hundreds of years waitin’ for you to come to visit them. Whether you like gigantic tree-lined mountains, flat hot cactus-filled deserts, crashin’ rivers or big lakes, rolling farmland or the wine country, California had it all. I consider myself very lucky to have spent 9 years living in that great west coast state on the Pacific Ocean.

I hope you enjoy this Rat Trip back to Rat Time.