I don't know how the drive tests are set up in other states. I'm sure the maneuvers are basically the same tho. Out of sheer boredom, I made this up to show you what I had to do. I dunno if I should be amazed or dumbfounded that I made this from memory. The black dots are cones.
Click to view attachment
It's pretty self explanatory. The speed on the course is supposed to be maintained between 12-20 MPH. The DOT allows you 10 points to accumulate before you fail.
You start by executing a sharp left turn. Then you circle around to the other side and make your front tire stop in the box w/out skidding. Then you go on to the cone weave. This is one of the maneuvers that got me the first time. I made it through the first 3 cones alright but missed the last two. At 2 points a piece plus one point for putting my foot down, I was already entering dangerous territory. The U turn I made OK, but then on the sudden stop, which you are allowed to skid on, I was allowed 10 feet to stop for the speed I was going, but stopped in 16. Well, guess what- 1 point for every foot over your allotted stopping distance. FAILED! 11 points with one stinking maneuver left to go. I was MAD!
So the next day I go back, and this time I'm the only one doing the test for the time of day. It went A LOT smoother. I still missed a cone on the weave, except it was only the last one this time, and did put my foot down AGAIN! And again I went over my stopping distance, except only by 4 feet. Then came the final maneuver, the "sudden swerve." You start at the same point as you do for the sudden stop, and they tell you which way to go. You have to go past the cone w/out touching the line. The first time I was moving too slow and you're allowed one second chance. So this time I revved it up to 16 MPH and couldn't have done a better job executing it correctly.
So... YAAAAAY!
I'm zooming on a bike again. It's gonna be a huge gas saver on the communte between my house and my folks house [that's where my resto is taking place.] Of course, as fate would have it, I drove it to work yesterday, and by the time I was off it was raining. But luckily it wasn't too bad- just sprinkling a little bit. I didn't get too soaked on the drive home.The bike still needs some fine tuning. The tappets need readjusted and I may have to screw with the timing at the points again, but basically it's running and I'm driving it, and it's great.
And the final countdown has begun. As of tomorrow, I have exactly 8 days to my funeral... erm, I mean wedding... or do I?
Yes, it's finally coming down to it. The weird thing is- I'm not nervous or feel like I'm getting cold feet. I think maybe it's because we've been living together for so long that we basically are married, this is just to take care of the formalities.My bachelor party was last Saturday and I had a blast; which is good considering it was thrown together at the last minute. My best man had made the mistake of thinking it was this weekend, so he made all these plans to go golfing and rent a party bus and do a bunch of stuff, all to find out that he had the date wrong.
He was actually pretty pissed about it, but I calmed him down and we got it worked out. My wife to be and I wanted the parties on the same night, and she was expecting about 20 people to show up to hers, but they ended up with about half that, so my party actually got to take their spare van which was pretty cool. The DD was only 18 so he couldn't do any drinking. We started the night off at a pool hall. When I showed up it was just my best man and another friend already there. Before anybody else arrived, we stepped out for a smoke (as of July 1st all public establishments in Iowa are smoke free) and my best man tells me he wanted to show me something in his truck. So we get over there, he reaches into the bed and I can hear a chain rattling. He pulls out a bowling ball with a chain attached to it! I pretended to fight him off, but was a good sport about it and let him put it on my ankle! Everybody at my party, and even the people that didn't know me got a kick out of it.
I lugged that thing around the entire night. When we were having another smoke later, some random guy walked right past us at the door and we know he saw it, but he just kept walking like he sees that kinda thing on a daily basis. 
After the pool hall we went to Hooters for some grub. While we were there the Hooters girls convinced me that I needed to stand up on two stools and do the chicken dance. If you've never been there or aren't familiar w/ it, basically I just tucked in my arms and had to flap them like wings while shaking my ass while the Hooters girls sang a song. It was a blast and most of the people there seemed to get a kick out of it.
The night ended at the titty bar. As if you didn't see that coming.
I got 3 private dances courtesy of my friends; but unfortunately at this point it was about 1:30 AM and all the alcohol was beginning to catch up with me. My best man ended up lugging my drunk ass back to the van to pass out. I don't know how long they stayed there after I passed out, but the next thing I remember is meeting up w/ the bacholerette party back at the pool hall where all my friends cars were parked... and my entire bachelor party singing along w/ "Bohemian Rhapsody" as we pulled into the lot. 
By that point I was feeling better and was able to thank everybody for coming.Despite passing out early it was a blast, and surprisingly I remember everything... well, up until the passing out part.
The funniest thing was the next day I had 3 voicemails. One from my dad, one from my cousin, and one from my best man- all asking if I was still alive. Anyway, I should probably be getting off to work. Been up since 8 AM and it's gonna be a long night till I get off at 1.