You know the old fisherman’s tale about the big one that got away. No fish, no picture, no proof?

Pearl and I headed out for a short ride along the coast on A1A last Sunday morning. The ride was supposed to be just long enough to shake off the last of the work week stress and still leave enough time to get everything done on my to-do list. I packed the Nikon, a bottle of water, my wallet, phone and a hat into the new tank bag and we took off.

Pearl and I are cruising along A1A between Dania and Ft. Lauderdale beach. This stretch is not much to look at – store fronts and the airport until you get to Las Olas and head east to the beach again. Wait… What the f*? I see this vehicle headed south (of course I was headed north) that looked like something out of a 50’s sci-fi movie. The thing looked like ancient Siamese twin station wagons coated all over with silver paint. And not just paint, but every kind of silver automotive part you could imagine attached in various artistic sculptural ways. It had a column of about 6 different mirrors on the driver’s side and some kind of revolving antennae on top. There is no way I can adequately describe this vehicle. Only a picture would tell the story. So I made a U-turn at the next available intersection and went in search of the mystery vehicle.

After about 10 miles, I decided I had missed the opportunity and headed east back toward the beach and then back north to ride my original route along Ft. Lauderdale beach. And there it is again! I had to turn around again and finally caught up with it. I slung the Nikon around my neck at the next red light and prepared to capture the “sighting”. We finally ended up side by side at a red light and I poised the camera only to realize that I had no battery juice and no spare. And so the big one got away. Maybe I’ll see it again this weekend and you can bet I’ll have a fully charged battery this time!