How do I drive this thing?

I wasn't going to post all the funny things about Jim and his motorcycle "learning curve", but he thought you all would find them funny. He has such a great attitude and just laughs them off:)

On Saturday when we were at Thanksgiving Point parking lot he got on and we did a quick run down of where the gas, brake, shifter and blinkers all are located. He felt confident and was ready to take off! He got his clutch ready to let go and gave it gas and...it stalled. I asked him why he didn't gas it, and he responded that he was but the gas was really hard to turn. I didn't thing much of it and watched him do it again. That's when I started to chuckle at him "giving it gas". I helped him pull the clutch in before he stalled and reached over to show him to twist the gas clock wise verse the counter clock wise direction he was trying to twist it. I didn't think to tell him how to gas it, I thought everyone knew how to use a motorcycle accelerator! I guess I was wrong!

Then on Sunday after family dinner, Jim wanted to take the motorcycle "around the block". I was excited that he was so anxious to practice driving. I ran in the house and retrieved the key for him. He took the key and proceeded to try and insert it into the switch to turn the reserve tank on. I again chuckled and showed him where the key really goes. You can see in the picture, the gas switch is in the top left had corner and the actual key hole is in the bottom right corner. (admittedly it could be mistaken for a key hole when you are sitting on the bike) His trip around to block about gave me a heart attack. The pipes on the motorcycle are loud enough you can hear them all the way down the street so I listened carefully as he drove down the street. I sat in the driveway anxiously awaiting his return when I thought about running to get the camera. I debated about getting it because I didn't want to miss him coming home, but I wanted to get it on film. I waited a bit longer and ran in the house to find it. I came out expecting to see him coming down the street, and...he was no where to be found, or heard! I waited another 5 minutes and thought for sure he had crashed and was dead on the side of the road:( I went in the house and got my car keys. I was basically out of the driveway headed to find him and there he was! He was driving down the street grinning from ear to ear. He said that he "was" going to go around the block but he was having some much fun he wanted to continue the ride for a little bit. I was so proud of him! He can drive up to 20 miles per hour!

We are still loving the bike tons and hopefully soon I will get to ride on the back of Jim :P