Forty Years Go By -

Here's a picture of my parents back in late June of '71, my dad had just turned 21 years old and my mom was just about to turn 19. My dad's sporty, packed with camping gear, ready for take off. Where were my parents headed? Their honeymoon. Story I've gathered is that they took off on a motorcycle camping trip, only to get hit by huge storms along the way. One storm was so crazy, they thought their tent was gonna tear to pieces and in the morning all of their shit was completely soaked. Probably from being on a bike, no one would help them out, except for a nice lady in a camper. She let them in, helped them dry their gear and fed them hot coffee. I don't have all of the details, but for the most part, that's how the story went... My parents lived this kind of live for years, before my older sister was born in '75. My dad had multiple bikes in that time, a couple that he chopped(the bike at the bottom of this page is one of his old ones). I can't believe my mom agreed to this, a good woman for sure. After my sister was born, my dad sold his bikes and took a hiatus from riding for 15 years until he bought his used '86 Liberty FXR(an old Milwaukee Police Bike, siren buttons and all) when I was 10 - I clearly remember the day we went to look at it and my dad bought it. I have that FXR now and it means a whole hell of a lot to me, and it handles like a champ - it's an FXR. My dad is the main reason I am who I am and why I love the lifestyle that I live. I'm a wrenchin' and ridin' dirtbag who slings drinks in a kick ass dive bar to support my addiction and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I owe it to my dad.

So, Pops, Happy Father's Day. Hope this brings back good memories and I'll be riding with you before too long(little over a month).



To celebrate, since I can't spend the day with him, I'm firing my chop up for the first time in over 6 months - finally done, just the spark plug and coil/ignition wires are left to get hooked up on the re-build and I'm off, breaking it in the next few days before the long haul through the Rockies and across the Desert . I think he'd want me to spend my day that way.