(c)2008 NPT PHOTO BY DAVID POPIEL Norman Stringfield, a local businessman, stopped by the Plain Talk with his 2003 Triumph Bonneville 795cc motorcycle. He is a long-time rider of Triumph and BSA cycles.

Late April is a time for mowing more grass this year, a late spring break for students, and the VFW Buddy Poppy Sale that was going on in our hometown on Saturday morning.

Last Monday several of us went to visit with a relatively new business in Newport but one that has been around for decades in Florida. The name Norman Stringfield was not new to me, as he had sent information to me, including a newsletter he handles for a national Triumph motorcycle group. Betty McMillan, Sheila Gorrell, and I went to the Goddard building, which was the wrong destination. We walked upstairs and saw a sign, Diversified Drywall. In the office was Diane Mantooth, who used to work for us years ago and she had been married to Tommy Crowder. It only took a few minutes to realize we should have gone to Luke Goddard's old office further west to find FDI Technologies. Minutes later we got to meet Norman and Lila Stringfield, who operate the unusual business. He has the title of director of marketing and she runs the show. In a nutshell, the company handles invoices for various companies across the nation-about a million invoices per year. Most of these are for trucking companies who choose FDI to help them save money and get their bills paid properly and promptly. I will tell you more about this interesting couple later and their business. They moved from Jacksonville, Florida, to Newport after settling in Del Rio about two years ago. We can thank Don Norwood, Gaylynne Norwood and her business, It's All His real estate. Norman told me he had been invited to Cosby to see a cabin a friend was building off Lindsey Gap Road. The Stringfields stayed at Fox Den Campground and later discovered the scenic 25/70 route to Asheville, which is Norman's hometown. They came across The Shack and enjoyed a great grilled hamburger where they met Don. He showed them what turned into their future homesite off Midway Road, at Seay Hollow. Midweek, Dan Ford, was in the Plain Talk, when Norman appeared in our parking lot wearing his brown riding leather jacket and invited us to see his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. I had ridden a 650 cc Triumph in Miami as a teenager. It was a racing bike owned by my old friend "Flash" Perfumo, so I was interested in Norman's cycle. Dan and I walked outside to see the cycle. It prompted Dan to tell us a story about a Triumph motorcycle that had been bought by his father, Cebo Ford and his brother, Elmer. During the 1920s the Grassy Ford young men bought the cycle but were having trouble getting it to start and run. They got the brilliant idea to hitch their Dad's mule to it. Well, this worked as the Triumph started and bellowed a huge backfire. That scared the dickens out of the mule, still tethered to the cycle. It must have pulled and dragged it eventually destroying the cycle at the bridge not far from Dr. B. Parker Ford's house. "It hit the ground every 50 feet and left Triumph parts for two miles," said Dan.

If you ride around enough you will see some unusual sites like I did late Thursday afternoon. Leaving the office, I drove up Woodlawn and saw someone pushing a dolly loaded with an appliance. It was preacher Charlie Boggan approaching the Mulberry crossing. We didn't have time to chat so I assume he was getting exercise or doing a good deed by delivering a washer or dryer to someone who needed it.

Several times driving along Highway 25E near Freeman's Furniture I've watched a hill gradually disappear until only enough of it was left to support a mobilehome. Being curious, I went over to Crowder's and bumped into Charlie and Tommy Crowder. Like I do, Charlie was taking his morning blood pressure pills. He is 78 and plans to stay that way for at least a year. I said, "I didn't know you were that old" to which he replied, "I was nine months old when I was born." Tommy owns the acre-plus lot next to Freeman's and has been removing the hill to make better use of the property. By the time you read this, the trailer may be gone and a lot more diesel too. He confided that he might use $1,000 of diesel a day for his excavation business with prices at $4 per gallon. While we talked, he also asked if I knew about the new business leasing property he has off Transport Drive, which is a short road behind Renner Trucking, another huge user of diesel fuel. There are two giant black tanks in a fenced area. These contain used oil for recycling. The company is Hydrocarbon Recovery, of Spain. A trucker goes about the area picking up oil and bringing it to the depot. The company also recycles antifreeze and fuel.

On Friday, I had to visit Baptist Hospital to prepare for minor eye surgery this week to be done by Dr. Charles Lindsey, who is one of the finest ophthalmologists serving us. We are proud he is a Newportian. At the admission station where Melissa Kelly helped me, I chatted with a woman volunteer. Her name is Freddie Thompson, originally from Waynesville. She confided that her father was expecting a boy. She retired from a major law office and moved to Newport to be close to her daughter, who is married to Newport native Bobby Sawyer. I don't know him but he instructs auto technology at the Tennessee Technology Center in Morristown. Bobby's father was Fred Sawyer. Maybe you knew him.

In plain talk, with fuel prices going so high you have to wonder why there aren't more motorcycles and bikes breezing along the highways in spring.