Random Thoughts

My older brother called me today at at around 10 minutes after 1.   He was driving back from phoenix, and called me to tell me to meet him at his house, he had my bike.    I was pretty stoked, counted down the minutes.   what man doesn’t get excited to say a Harley Davidson is coming is way?     Maybe you’re more stoic than me.

I’m not sure most people would understand.  You build a bike…. a pretty special and fast bike that hauls ass and is your design, from cams and crank to paint job.   I’m not sure i’d turn that over to anyone.

Here’s the bike.   It’s in the garage now, took the kids for a ride, washed her up and said goodbye to the cage till november.    I can’t wait to take her down the canyon to work tomorrow morning in the cold.

My old bike was fast, but this girl is faster.   Around 3500 RPM she starts to get demonic.   Doesn’t like to idle, but open her up and its clear where she wants to be.    Add in that 6 speed baker and I’m a happy man.     I’ll put her to use.

Sunday was a great day.    I still haven’t gotten over her.    This is one sick engine.   I need to take her touring next weekend.

My brother left for Arizona this morning, and he’s bringing back my Road King.   I wished I could have gone and rode her home, but with work busting out a new software in 2 weeks, I didn’t even ask because I have too much to do.  I can’t hold a thought in my head thinking about it.   Having her in the garage, sitting next to it and examining every inch.   Popping a beer, washing her down, fiddling around and turning a few screws.   The weather is still pretty cold up here in the mornings, but fuckit.   I won’t be caging for a while now.    Man, I can’t wait.  I’m hoping monday, but maybe tuesday.

I’ve ridden this   bike.   shes a 1999, fuel injected FLHRC Road King Classic.   Custom Paint, Custom wheels, Custom brakes, handlebars that look like they belong on a brahma bull they’re so wide.   103 Cubic Inch Engine.   S&S cams, ported heads, stroker crank, roller rocker arms.   Rhinehart exhaust.   Baker 6 speed tranny.   Starts cold, and those cams lope long and hard.   The kind of bike you start and go eat breakfast, then when she’s warm she begs you to run her with your wrist twisted low, because that’s where she was meant to be. This bike begs to run. My street glide was quicker, but this bike is faster by a long shot. She’s loud, deep blue, and built right.

I feel like a man in an arranged marriage, waiting for the day.    All I know, is no matter what, its the start of a beautiful relationship.     Theres things to see, places to ride, and fun to have.

God I can’t wait.   First ride with be a 2 nighter, dialing her in.  I don’t know that I remember all the little things that a saddle bag has to have in it. Round up my maps, my ipod, that grungy toothbrush holder that served me all those years. What a killer problem to have!     Man, I’m this close to being back in the saddle.

Hey!  that reminds me of a song!

“Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
– Walt Disney

I just like that quote.   I’ve always liked Walt Disney.   I’d almost rather go to see his history building there, when you first walk into the park then ride pirates of the Caribbean (even tho its pretty close.  Pirates is pretty cool, and my kids love it).

I am starting to plan rides.   Pour over maps.    Calculate mileage, Find Gas Stations, KOA’s, Motels, and places I can just crash for the night.   I haven’t ridden since last October.    next weekend, I’ll have a bike again.   A permanent one.   A hulluva fast one.

I’m really fucking curious as to what’s out there.

This fucking blog is about to get back to what it’s intended for.

Will be here may 5th. Road King. 103 screamin’ Eagle engine. Baker 6 speed tranny. Heads are ported. Rhinehart Exhaust. Custom paint and wheels. Lots of torque, Lots of horses. Man, I am counting the days. I’ll make a full report from the road. it’s time to ride.

way interesting. Made me realize: It’s the same reason why I ride. James Cameron got Titanic in his craw, because he wanted to know what happened, and spent so much of his own money to find out: Archaeology leaves clues that beg to be answered for the curious. He just got curious. Without scientific training, without a government grant…. he had to know. It’s like riding a harley by an abandoned Anasazi ruin, or an 1850’s cobblestone footing from pioneers you didn’t know about. Or a neon Route 66 sign in a back alley, from a cafe back in it’s heyday. James Cameron, brotha…. I can relate.

He wanted to know the stories, and couldn’t resist the mysteries.

When I was a kid, I used to draw pictures of the titanic as she might look on the bottom of the Atlantic. I even bought a model of her in 1977 when I was 10 and cut her hull with a hot exacto knife so I could imagine how she sank.

Fast forward. Yeah, I’m a fan. There’s lots of history all around you, and you’re not seeing it on a cage, you’re on a bike. Feel the winds they felt, feel the terrain they experienced. Get a little curious, and the world opens up. At least it does for me.

You know what you’ll find? 100 or 1000 years ago, they had the same concerns as us. Staying alive. Worrying about kids. Keeping them safe and providing for them. And they were curious too. I love history.

I’m a James Cameron Fan.

That mean’s riding season.

Bikes have been  hitting the canyon for almost a couple months now.   I don’t miss a single one.   I notice the bike, the helmet, the leathers…. hell, the snow suit.   Been wishing for month’s they were following me down the mountain.     I’d follow them.       I just wish I was riding.

I’m thinking next week.   This is a new climate and new terrain.   Can’t wait to gas up with a fuel pump in one hand, and a hot dog in the other.   Hoping the pump would hurry, so I can keep exploring.   new ground.   Mysteries to figure out.

Very soon.    Pretty sure I was born to do this.    Can’t wait to put it all my blog.

I know I’ve probably posted this before.  I gravitate toward certain youtube songs.   Enjoy!

The rules:

• retro still works.   Somewhere in all of us, at some level, we all want to spend a stretch in Mayberry USA.
• This chick is extremely hot.
• Bro’s before Ho’s.

Where did music like this go? Good blues, old rock…   Songs that go beyond a rave with flash colors and really shallow shock factor.     I gotta think we’re ripe for a music revolution again, where whats common to all of us gets buoyed up and made popular.     Right now, its shallow as fuck and doesn’t go beyond much more than a night club dance scene.     We’ve all lived more than that…

The light of the matter, is this song has been in my head today.    It’s really quite a good song.

it’s spring out there.   Bikers are starting to pull bikes out of the garage and ride places.    There’s riding to do.

You might not be feeling it on the Blues Traveller song I posted.     Kinda ironic, the song might be about that…    Found me some lyrics, googling John Popper.    Rewatch, and read a long.

It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I’ll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job then it’s your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don’t mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much Peter loved her
What made the Pan refuse to grow

Was that the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

Suck it in suck it in suck it in
If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin
To see
What you’re doing to me this MTV is not for free
It’s so PC it’s killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feelings on the shelf
I’ve tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute ditties
I wanna bust all your balloons
I wanna burn all of your cities
To the ground I’ve found
I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck because…

The hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook…
On that you can rely

I’m going here.   its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.

The road alone is worth the ride.   Its 8,000  feet california desert.     The tar snakes on the road look safe at that elevation.

I gotta take my brother Skeezix.    I would love his perspective on this old mining town.    Yeah, I got the fire.   I gotta go.

Ya know?  Life is pretty good.

It’s been a mild winter here by even a desert boys’ standards.   Some days, I feel pretty bulletproof.   Other days, I see the chinks in my armor and even that is good.   Brings me back to center.

I love what I do for a living.   Man, I don’t know why, but I do.

No, thats not true.    I know exactly why I do.     Thats another post, for another day.

But i’m starting to sense spring.    Something to explore out there.    A nap under a tree in a park by a saddled up bike, in a town I don’t know.   I can hear the engine ping as it cools down.   I’m in a whole new neck of the woods, and man, I’m ready to explore it and document it on this blog.   I just need a friday night to get lost, a saturday to get even more lost, and a sunday to figure out the fastest way home.

But its different up here.   The desert proves, and  preserves old things.   Snow, rain and altitude rots structure.   Time will always take its toll, and there’s more time up here between me and this old history.     The ghosts will be different; but maybe a break in the repetition is good for the soul.    I know route 66 like the back of my hand through 3 states.    man, I rode it a lot.  There are nights I see  the old road in my dreams.   Up here,  There’s new trails to plow, and places to know with some intent.    The history up here is a little different.    The desert will educate a less experienced traveler;  back in the day and even these days.  Air conditioners in the 50s and cars with water bags in the 40’s changed what the landscape we’d see to the average man.     it’s not so much the okies up here, its the pioneers.     Maybe its a deeper history.   Hell, I don’t know but circumstances and pins in maps will let me explore it.     Maybe I’ve avoided it.

Either way, I’m ready to re live it.

it’s not like it matters.   A new road is a new road.    Queue the eagles and rubberneck the roadside as it passes through old towns.    Sooner or later history is gonna make make you turn around if you’re in tune, because you can’t miss what you thought you saw a mile back.    Who knows if you go this way again?   To me, thats why I ride.   It’s the old sign, from the guy who put his shingle out to get a little of the money that was passing by his piece of land.   His startup money was neon, his successors;  did they try to recapture it?    Either way, that old, funky neon sign means you have to ride back.   Get a picture.   Feel those ghosts…of another day.   To me, it was a better day.   Ingenuity was rewarded.   Life was simpler.    Honesty was part of hard work.    Thats why I ride.   it’s disintegrating fast.    It’s gotta be drank in, so you can have a piece of it and pass it to your  kids, because if you do it right it will become a part of  you.   A really good part of you.  Reporting it on my blog,   It just feels like my part of the whole deal.

Yah, life is really good.

It’s just a perspective that I can’t get enough of.   It fills my whole soul.    It might be gone forever, and I gotta see it.

I just need a bike to take me there.    Sure as shit, I’ll find it.    Man, I need a bike.   One thats in my garage so I can know.

I will figure this out.