Good Work ( if you can get it. )
I've been an online editor for a custom car club and motorcycle club and their magazines for about a year and a half now. It's hectic, part of a dying industry, and probably the coolest job I will ever have. I write about industry news, products, tech articles and several emails a week on all of the above. Here's an
example.
A couple weeks ago I got to co-lead our annual member ride where a fraction of the 60+ thousand members get together for meet and greets, rides and basically spend face time talking to people you've only met online or not at all.
This year we all met in Deadwood, SD and toured the Black Hills, Wyoming, dipped into Montana and basically hit all the things in the Sturgis Rally two weeks before the event itself. We still got the T Shirts, destinations, dinner, drinks and sunburn - but without the crowds. ( You can always photoshop people into your pictures with the time you've saved not waiting in line 20 minutes for a lemonade. )
Forty Three people signed up but we were never able to get everyone in any one picture and due to the amount of things to see and do and the inability to actually keep a couple of dozen bikes at one gas station, road side diner or photo op everyone ended up breaking up into smaller groups with similar paces and riding styles.
It never ceases to amaze me how convenient, fast and streamlined electronic communication is AND how utterly incomplete. I get emails all the time from people like me, that type in fragmented sentences and say things they've been stewing on for hours and you're never quite sure exactly what they're thinking.
Catching up with many of these people I can see where they're coming from and how similar everyone is. My friend Walter came with on the trip. He and I went out to Sturgis fifteen years ago when I had just met my wife so I was reminded of that time off and on. Reminded when we drove through Needles Highway at excessive speeds, driving past the noisy bar I called her at from a pay phone because I wanted to hear her voice. All that sappy stuff. ;0)
We also had a couple people in the group in their eighties believe it or not. Still out on bikes and reminiscing of coming to Sturgis thirty years back when it was a fraction of what it is. It reminded me that being in the middle of life, a job and relationship is a good thing because there's plenty of activity behind and in front of you.
What are you in the middle of?
14
tomorrow connie and i will be married 14 years!
home is where the mess is
I made it home today from my a bike trip and if you're reading this as past tense I'll wrap up what you'll see in the next few posts. You won't see a couple posts I made two days ago around a campfire in Colorado. I've been posting from a cell phone via email and it didn't work every time for some reason.
I've wrapped up a 4300 miles bike trip which was almost two weeks of bliss where rode from Minneapolis, MN to Tucson, AZ and back. The main leg was an attempt to join the
Ironbutt Club by driving 1,000 miles in 24 hours. After that I decided to tack on another 500 miles for their 1500 miles in 36 hours "bun burner."
I drove to Tucson to visit my little sister who was graduating then catch Monument Valley and other assorted 4 corners scenery on the way back with a stop by my in-laws in Denver. I arrived back home a couple of hours ago and am doing laundry and unloading pictures. Mr. Windsor N. Coke is visiting as we listen to the Skatalites. He reassures me the overgrown lawn can wait.
Sid the cat is having some serious separation anxiety. I've removed him from the keyboard 1/2 a dozen times so he's laying down right on the edge of it in front of the monitors.
Nothing wrecks a nice bike like repeated road trips. It's picked up dings, scratches and all manner of scarring that has permanently made this poor thing a functional motorcycle and no longer a flashy cruising vessel.
One of the biggest offenders to this bike's pride is the insect. If Starship Troopers has taught us anything, it's that creatures with ecto skeletons are not to be trusted whether they're beetles, ladybugs, big black aliens or a robo-cop. Good grief, even Doogie Howser knows the eminent danger of these beasties that out number humans several times over.
Despite the numerous kamikaze missions launched against us, recreation prevailed and a good time was had by all - except the bugs. You fought well my persistent brethren. You have not died in vain.
brrrrr
vail pass 10k feet with snow. this where a smarter man would've put on his raingear... or at least long underwear.
western town
after driving through the navajo reservation that engulfs monument valley, seeing every color of dirt imagineable then wrapping up in moab, seeing stoplights can be a sensory overload. :o)
here's mainstreet where my dinner just atrived at a sidwalk cafe. somebodies getting a big wind generator for their birthday...
degrees of seperation
what a difference a mile makes... especially if that mile is straight up.
phoenix late this morning: 107 degrees. two hours later in flagsaff, about 30 degrees cooler.
next stop: monument valley!
fine dining
a chandelier made of corona bottles... how could i fit one of those in my basement?!
taz
"taz" has no longer been limited to tattoos applied during a drunken stupor on spring break. getting a new tire put on at the tucson dealer who's also got $30 baseball hats and
TAZ HARLEY shirts with wings.
My shame is now complete.
dwarfed
ahhh. 7 am and only 75 degrees f.
morning stroll
walking through the desert with my dad after breakfast while it's nice and cool.
yes sir
my little sister is now a liutenant! she made it through eod school ( explosive ordiance disposal - bomb squad ) then served in iraq.
she's finished nursing school and rotc today so can blow you up and put you back together... mostly.
did it!
with about 30 minutes and less than a gallon of gas i arrived in tucson and punched in at the gas pump 10 minutes ago. over 1500 miles in 36 hours.
dos cervesa porfavor.
dry heat
the bike and i are down a quart so we're stopping in hatch, nm to top off.
skin is burning so i need to put jacket back on. "dry heat" is like saying "dry ice." it sounds almost appealing until see a nail pounded in by a banana...
