2015 - the way it happened to Tip, Tweeks and me....

[cowpuc]

Back when I was a very young man of 40 years of age I worked for a man who was in his late 50's. Tip and I had gone to the home of this fine man and his wife's for a Christmas party which included a large group of other Management persons who also worked at our plant under my Boss's excellent leadership. We were sitting around playing this game that involved stealing each others Christmas presents. The place was dead quiet and covered with a wide eyed group of other Managers and some Supervisor's glaring at me for having had the nerve to "steal" my Bosses wife's Santa Clause Cookie Jar that she had just opened and was showing off to all of us - my boss looked at me and grinned from ear to ear when he noticed their responses. As Linda, my bosses wife, bent down to retrieve the box the Cookie Jar had came in she let out a moan as she rubbed her lower back. We all stared at her in helpless wonderment and asked if she was ok. Her comment in retort of the many hands reaching out to help her is one that has stuck with me in both the memory of her accurately spoken words and actual happenings to my own body that started at the end of 2014 - she said "I was healthy like you youngsters just a few years ago and when I hit 50 years old, health issues started plaguing my body and everything changed - these back pains are relentless!! I encourage all of you to enjoy your youth while you can!".

Tip and I made it successfully to almost to our 60th year of a wonderful life by listening to Linda's advice of enjoying our youth before her prophetic words started to ring true for us. After spending those years leading up to late into 2014 enjoying our summers chasing the front wheel of our 1983 Yamaha 1st Gen Venture named Tweeks all over the country (a couple short stories of those years of fun can be found here starting in 2013 = http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?80470-on-the-road-again followed by a short ride story about 2014 here = http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?94309-Ahhhh-the-summer-of-14-ADVENTURE-SERVED-UP-GORMET-STYLE!!!!&highlight=summer+2014 ) before Linda's prophetic words did indeed begin to catch up to us.

I spent the winter of 2014/2015 chasing around from one doctor to another trying to figure out exactly what was happening to my body. After a couple of really scary findings including discovering I had a Meninga Seal leak, a bad signal to the bottom part of my heart, and case of Prostate Cancer, the doctors still could not find the issues causing my symptoms of extreme fatigue and mental confusion.

In the early Spring of 2015 an Emergency Room Doctor was attempting to rule out some Stroke symptoms I was displaying and, among a fairly large grouping of other weirdly named drugs, he had given me a high dosage of Prednisone to get some blood vessels in my head to react for testing - Prednisone is an artificial adrenaline I was told. While discovering I had not had a Stroke (thankfully) we did discover that the Prednisone produced a positive effect on the symptoms I had been battling for the last several months. My family doctor then placed me on some small dosages of Prednisone in an effort to get me back to being somewhat functional while she sought to get me in to see an Endocrinologist to see if he could figure out what was happening - the Endo Doc was a critter who had a 4 month waiting list to get in to see!! Thankfully I responded positively to the small dosages of Prednisone and I found myself no longer needing to sleep 20 hours of a 24 hour day.

The timing for this could not have been more perfect. I have a friend that lives on the other side of Lake Michigan who I really enjoy sharing stories with and even teasing from time to time. His screen name on VentureRider.org is @Flyinfool (the man LOVES flying!!) but his real name is Jeff. Jeff, like many other people in our Club of lop eared gifted varmints, is a very talented individual both mechanically and electrically. Fool's demographic location and his love to tinker inspired me to start harassing him about owning a machine now known as FlyinFool's Wisconsin White Washer. The make believe tease is that Jeff owns a machine that produces snow and he is now pretty much the turn to guy in our club for any questions concerning where/when and how much the weather is going to keep us VR Riders from riding our bikes. Ironically, the story goes that Jeff had actually shut the White Washer off about a month before the Prednisone episode began so Tip and I KNEW something good was about to happen.. Follow this story in the upcoming days if you would like to meet the White Washer himself as I believe I have a picture of him in here somewhere that I will share!!

Shortly after Fool had decided to shut down his infamous White Washer for the season I noticed that a VentureRider.org gathering known as "Freebirds Maintenance Day" was posted on our Clubs calendar. Tip was aware of how badly I had always wanted to attend one of these awesome Freebird's M.D.s as I had never had the honor of actually meeting our clubs founder and the master intellect behind our band of misfits getting to know one another and I had always wanted to meet this amazing varmint, plus I LOVE meeting face to face with other members and this outing would definitely be a good chance to do so. Tippy began encouraging me to saddle up and go have some fun with some old friends of ours and maybe even meet some of those new ones. As the date for Freebirds M.D. drew closer it occurred to us that I would probably end up having to make the ride alone - just Tweeks and I. Soon after the discussion of this foreboding topic had taken place, I received an inquiry from another VR Club member from Wisconsin named @eagleeye (aka Steve). EagleEye wanted to know if I had any information pertaining to places to camp in the Ludington Mi area and any entertaining roads to follow from Ludington that would lead him to the Maintenance Day rally being held in Oberlin Ohio.

Steve was going to make the trip across Wisconsin to a place called Manitowoc, a town in Wisconsin that is home to a cross lake ferry known as the Badger. He was then going to take the Badger over to Ludington Michigan and proceed toward Don ( @Freebird ) and Eileens home in Oberlin Ohio where the Maintenance Day rally was going to be held. In the process of processing Eagleeye's route it occurred to me how much fun it would be to trick,, I mean to see if I could encourage Steve into traveling down to our home in Muskegon after he departed from the Ferry and spend a night with my wife, Tip, and I and then maybe ride down to M.D. together - NEAT IDEA EH? Our soon to be house guest and riding partner liked the idea and accepted the invitation!! He gave us his ships arrival times and I proceeded to clear a spot out in our garage to house his bike and trailer.

Tip, Tweeks and I talked about it and decided to ride up to meet Steve and his gorgeous RSTD at the Badger in Ludington. It was really fun watching the Badger come into port. Apparently the ship is to big to turn around in port and we discovered that the only way the ships crew can turn the ship around is by dropping the anchor while the ship is in motion, let the anchor hook onto the bottom of the channel and then letting the weight of the ship turn itself about - WHAT AN AMAZING SITE!!! I had seen this done in the movie "The Pirates Of The Caribbean" but had no idea this could actually be done with such a HUGE vessel! Come to find out - its done all the time up there in Ludington Michigan - wayyyy cool!!

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by cowpuc
Spelled "EH" "EAY".. Corrected it - that will teach me to try and speak Canadian, eh!!

[Flyinfool]

WOW

What a story

Thanks Puc

[billmac]

Wow Puc, get all these stories in book form, printed up to sell and you could get a second gen Venture for new chapters to your book.

[Flyinfool]

But if Puc got a 2nd gen Venture for the new chapters they would be some real slow reading.......

[eagleeye]

Yeah, hearing that anchor chain go out and seeing him spin that big boat around was really amazing. Who wouda thought?

And then seeing that LOP EARED VARMIT and Tip there when I rode off??????????????????

Cool!

[Condor]

So... is that the end of the story?? I read the whole thing, and all that leading up to a ship doing an about face on an anchor...?? I already know this is true and correct, because I've seen it done in the Movie 'Battleship'..... Maybe it's Puc's writing style...leaving you wanting more.... Or like Paul Harvey... We need the 'rest of the story'.... I can relate to what Puc is talking about. Hitting the wall... My own started right around 65 with the bod getting progressively sorer and weaker. Culminating with colon cancer surgery in '12. Every year I keep saying this years VR West is going to be my last hurrah, and Yreka last June was maybe the deciding factor??? It was not fun, and I don't think I'm up to doing another...... maybe?? I still have a lot of Ventures laying around in various baskets. I guess one of the reasons I keep them is I'm not willing to admit that the clock is ticking... and they are memories... Just maybe I can make a few more in 2016...

[The Tooch]

Great Story Puc.

 

But.....I have to comment.....it's not...."NEAT IDEA EAY".....it's "EH" !!

 

Looking forward to your next instalment of, How the Tweeks Rolls 2015.

[Yammer Dan]

2015?? Can we just skip that one??

[cowpuc]

Great Story Puc.

 

But.....I have to comment.....it's not...."NEAT IDEA EAY".....it's "EH" !!

 

Looking forward to your next instalment of, How the Tweeks Rolls 2015.

 

Problem solved David,, note my comment in the edit comments

[cowpuc]

After they got the ship properly docked, Tip and I waited for our new friend who we had never met in person to come rolling off the boat. We started getting a little concerned as a whole bunch of people had disembarked, no one had even looked at us like they might know us and, quite frankly, no one looked like a biker either.. I noticed that the employee's who worked for the Badger boating company were driving travelers vehicles off the ship and I asked one of them if they also had to do that with motorcycles. I was glad to hear him say "NO WAY,, I wouldn't trust my bike to a stranger and I certainly would not expect anyone else to do so either" - GOOD NEWS!! After a short discussion of concern for his where abouts, a smiling lop eared biker looking varmint riding a GORGEOUS Yamaha RSTD with a trailer in tow came cruising up to us and we KNEW our new friend had found us!!

A howdy hug of a first time greeting (see video) and a little small talk and we were on our way back to our home followed by our new friend from Wisconsin, The EagleEye had landed and SPRING WAS LOOKING UP!! Tip, Tweeks and I led Steve and his RSTD onto some of the prettier back roads that led to our home in Muskegon. We were in no hurry, we stayed off off the Interstate and just enjoyed the peaceful back country of West Michigan's Lake Shore. When we arrived at our home our new friend presented us with some AWESOME home grown chicken eggs and some OUTSTANDING cheese that he had brought just for us all the way from a far away land known as Wisconsin!! Tip later said she thought Steve was a perfect gentleman and an excellent house guest - I told her I didn't know nuthin about all that but I could vouch for his taste in motorcycles n cheese and that he was an EXCELLENT egg picker upper - definitely my kind of varmint!!

Steve and I sat out front of our home talking motorcycles and making plans for our ride that would take place the next morning. He also shared with Tippy and I about his trip across Lake Michigan on the Badger. Neither Tip nor I had ever been on that boat before so we both got a first hand account of what the Badger had been in its early years and what it looked like on its interior. I would invite @eagleeye, or others reading this who have had the wonderful experience of spending some time on the Badger (I believe @Hoss and his wife also crossed Lake Michigan on the Badger when they visited us later in the year) to share any part of the experience with us - sounded like a LOT of fun!!

 

Early the next morning I was awakened to a brand new VentureRider.org friend ready and raring to head to Ohio. Steve gave Tip a hug and thanked her for her hospitality and promised he would keep an Eagle's Eye on me as we traveled to Maintenance Day. I hugged and kissed Tippy and told her I would take it easy on this maiden voyage of 2015, Tweeks cheerfully honked her horn in a farewell salute to Tip as we headed Southwest on the prowl of looking for new and old friends in a place called Oberlin Ohio. Another great season of Chasing The Wheel had begun and EagleEye, his pretty RSTD, Tweeks and I were on our way find those friends and fun we were looking for!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ariReLgao

 

[cowpuc]

It felt so good to have the wind in my face again, even riding the congested roads on the east side of Michigan was a real treat. Steve's RSTD seemed like it had a really good fix on finding its way into Ohio so Tweeks and I just sat back and followed the pretty trailer that the RSTD was pulling perfectly behind it. We crossed into Ohio and were soon headed easterly on a back country road across the Buckeye State that would lead us to our destination. After a short stop at an abandoned store to check our loads, we went right back at it, just a little farther and we would hopefully locate Don's place. I was actually getting a little concerned about our arrival time as there was suppose to be a dinner later in that day at an abandoned Lube, Oil and Filter joint not to far from the Maintenance Day shin dig. I had been picturing a large group of lop eared Venture Rider Club varmints gathered around a grease pit filled with firewood and a pig being rotated above the pit on an old car engine stand and I REALLY wanted to see if any of my visions of the party were accurate. Steve had told me that he had one of those fancy GPS systems that was programmed to locate large gatherings of motorcycles all over the world and that he could lead us directly into Don's place with no problem. As we were mounting our scoots at the abandoned store somewhere on the outskirts of a town called Oberlin, I thanked my new friend for his guiding abilities and gave him the nod to lead on - he grinned at me as if to say he understood exactly why it was important that he be the leader during this phase of our journey. A short while later and we pulled into someones beautiful home out in the middle of nowhere that had obviously been taken over by bikers,, lots and lots of BIKERS!!

Someone had obviously spent an enormous amount of time mowing the surrounding acreage that sculpted a perfect setting for what was to become one heck of party! The place wreaked of biker heaven, it was tucked back into an area that had plenty of room for camping which was steadily being filled with biker tents and campers. It also had a large swimming hole with a sign out front of it warning swimmers to beware of some strange critters that this particular group of riders call "Pond Monsters". I also noticed a plastic outhouse which I would later learn was for men only - pretty cool setup!!

As I surveyed the premises with anticipation of locating a quiet spot to begin setting up my own quiet spot for camping I noticed something really strange.. There, standing right in the fork of the driveway that divided the beautifully manicured lawn stood a SNOW MAN!! I did a double take and asked Tweeks if she was seeing what I was seeing. Here it was at least 80 degrees outside and there stood a SNOW MAN!! All of a sudden it dawned me,,,, this had to have something to do with a club member known to all as "FlyinFool"...

Most folks who have ever read any of my more recent writings about my perspectives of living on a motorcycle know that I am a member of a motorcycle club known as the VentureRiders. As in most biker clubs, there are always people who are just fun to harass and tease. For some reason, a couple of years ago I noticed this member, known as FlyinFool, lived on the other side of Lake Michigan from Tip and I. His home is in Milwaukee Wisconsin while our home is in Muskegon Mi. Both of our demographic area's are known for getting their fair share of lake effect snow fall. One year we ended up getting over 10 feet of snow and I started teasing FlyinFool about him being responsible for terrorizing us with the nasty white stuff. One thing led to another and it wasn't long before it became a known fact within our riding club that FlyinFool had a machine, known as "The Wisconsin White Washer", which gave him advance powers to control the weather. Mr. Fool had always seemed to take the teasing I dished out in stride (and was VERY good at passing out his own tease) BUT,, I had never actually met him in person (always wanted to) and upon seeing the Snow Man located on the finely tuned lawn there in Ohio I knew I was about to find out just how congenial the inventor of the Wisconsin White Washer was in real life. All that thought had just finished being processed in my mind when out of nowhere came a chap with a great big smile on his face,, I knew right away that it was FlyinFool himself!

A short introduction with Jeff (FlyinFool), some talk about the weather, the snow man and some great laughs over the fun that we had had over joking around about his White Washer while playing in the Watering Hole (its a forum at Venturerider.org) and I noticed another smiling character with a shirt on that matched the one I was wearing.

If you were to have looked in my cluttered man cave during the summer of 2014 you probably would have seen a really neat old Harley Davidson World War 2 bike. Its a long story that I wont bore you with here but I had ended up having the privilege of procuring the old girl from the son of the original owner of that 1942 Harley WLA. Having fallin in love with yet another motorcycle, I had written stories about and posted pictures of Olivia (the name I had given the WLA) in the same forum's that a lot of my biker friends on Venturerider hang out in. Here is a link to an introduction to Olivia if you would like to visit her http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?85507-Come-go-for-a-ride-on-a-1942-Harley-if-you-dare&highlight=olivia

Our club (VR) is attended by some of the internets most gifted and interesting biker people known to man. Many, if not all, of those fine people share in a deep love for motorcycles and a deep interest in World War 2 memorabilia too. I remember back when I was posting about my experiences with Olivia, I had received an E-Mail from one of these folks with a screen name of "Tooch". Tooch mentioned his appreciation for our Veterans (he is a Canadian and deeply interested in keeping the memory's alive of what we, as Allies back then, were able to accomplish together for Freedom's sake). He explained that he had access to some "shirts" that were being sold to support a movement that was getting the Allied World War Two Memorial in Normandy completed. Tooch said he had purchased one of these shirts for me to wear when I rode Olivia and wanted to send it to me - AMAZING!! When I received the shirt that had a picture of Olivia with the word's "Dispatch Rider" written upon it Olivia and I made a short video skit for Tooch and that can be seen here in a video included with this story.

I knew that smiling person standing behind FlyinFool wearing a matching shirt to the beautiful "Dispatch Rider" shirt that I was wearing HAD to be none other than Tooch himself!! I shook his friendly hand and hugged him while thanking him once again for his thoughtfulness and kindness of sending me the shirt.

Because of some medical bills associated with stuff that had happened thru the past winter, I had to find Olivia a new home earlier in the spring and Tooch was aware of this. He was also aware of who I had sold Olivia to and that Olivia's new owner had promised to bring Olivia to the abandoned Lube, Oil and Filter joint turned eatery where we were going to be going to for dinner in just a few moments. Dave asked me if I thought the guy would show up cause he was REALLY looking forward to seeing Olivia in real life. I told him I had hoped so too!! Than it occurred to me that, thanks to EagleEye's great leadership ability, we had made it to Maintenance Day in Oberlin just in time to go find out whether or not getting to see my old War bike was gonna happen!! My stomach was growling and Tweeks was tugging on my pant leg so I knew it was time to go in for a Lube Job!

We all got in line for the journey to the Lube joint which was supposedly located in the town of Vermilion Ohio. I had gotten side tracked in the greeting process of putting faces with names at Freebirds bird coup and hadn't had a chance to file a claim with the local County Clerk's office for my little Blue Menard's motel (my tent) so I had to leave the little motel mounted on Tweeks seat for the ride into town. Tweeks and I both REALLY enjoyed the moment we had to share some road with this AWESOME group of lop eared varmints and KNEW that more fun was not to far away!

 

Checking the load!!

 

 

'Fool on the right, crazy on the left! Or did I get that backwards.... LOL

 

OH MY GOSH WE HAVE MATCHING SHIRTS!!!

 

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE SHIRT TOOCH!! Now lets go see if we can find Olivia!!!

 

 

THE GORGEOUS CAMP GROUND AT M.D. IN OBERLIN OHIO!! THANKS FREEBIRD!!

 

Headed in for a Lube job!!

Edited January 7, 2016 by cowpuc
I accidently had the WW2 Memorial as being in "Norway" not "Normandy"! THANK YOU TOOCH FOR CATCHING THAT MISTAKE!!

[Flyinfool]

What snowman?

I don't see no snowman...........

 

You know the rules, it didn't happen if there aint no

I was told this by

[cowpuc]

What snowman?

I don't see no snowman...........

 

You know the rules, it didn't happen if there aint no

I was told this by

 

Ahhhh,, but the story is just getting started!! One never knows if/when or how the mysterious snowman may still appear.. I may have to appeal to my lop eared varmint companions for that to happen though because,,,,, HEY,, wait a minute here,,, cant be jumpin pages in the book now you tricky lop eared snowmakin varmint:big-grin-emoticon:...

[eagleeye]

I knew that "The Rest of the Story" was still out there. He's still out in OHIO someplace. He still has to get through HEAVY RAIN--HIGH WINDS--BLACK SKIES--HUNGER--THIRST--ENEMY FIRE--, wait a minute, that's another story.

 

the best part is yet to come.

[stickhandle2]

Another great story....thanks Puc

[KIC]

Disney called.

 

Production of the movie "Cowpuc and the Princess" starts next month. Harrison Ford has agreed to play Puc with Jennifer Lawrence playing Tip. 4 Sequels to follow. Watch out Star Wars...

[Larry1963]

Puc's words are so true, not only enjoy your youth but enjoy everyday you can. In ministry you meet some interesting folks but what you come to realize disease and death do not discriminate. Enjoy everyday. My daughter had a friend in HS, that had a scholarship to Georgia State, anyone remember a few years ago the Georgia Bulldogs football team wore a #10 on their helmet. It was to honor this young man James Eunice. A short time before he died in a duck hunting accident he penned these words.

 

The Clock is Ticking

Take time to love someone. Today, Tomorrow, For the rest of your life. Because when that unexpected day comes that they pass on, you'll be left wondering what you could've done better. How you could have made them feel more welcome, and show that you do care for them. Don't wait until it's too late like I did. Show the love that Jesus has for you to everyone you see. Let your heart break for what breaks His. Christ is enough. Let Him show you life. You never know who He may touch through you. It is so sad that it takes a tragedy like this to comprehend how our days are numbered. Only He knows. Keep your faith in Him. He will bless you beyond belief. Our job is right now. This very second. So often, God gives me a little nudge towards someone.. and I put it off until the next day.. and then the next and then the next. Stop stalling. God put us on this earth for HIS glory. Not ours.. and so many times, the things I do always point back to me and my stupid self righteousness. So do something with me. Everyone. If this just touches one person, I will have done my job. Don't stall. Judgment is a heart beat away.

 

The website for this can be found http://jameseunice23.webs.com/

[cowpuc]

Disney called.

 

Production of the movie "Cowpuc and the Princess" starts next month. Harrison Ford has agreed to play Puc with Jennifer Lawrence playing Tip. 4 Sequels to follow. Watch out Star Wars...

 

WAYYYY COOL KIC!!

Just read this to Tweeks though and she responded with "if that Harrison Ford varmint thinks that Millenium Falcon contraption was a handful, wait till he discovers a REAL handful when his finds I don't have a second gear and then bangs third and discovers that you have my hyper drive wired to engage when 3rd hooks up!!

[Flyinfool]

Puc we all knew you were a gear short of a full set. But we loves ya anyhow.........

[cowpuc]

Puc we all knew you were a gear short of a full set. But we loves ya anyhow.........

 

:scratchchin::lightbulb:thats cause you lop eared varmints are my kind of folks, a bunch of shifty rascals who love playing with worn out old gear sets

 

:bighug:right back at cha Fool!!

[cowpuc]

Most folks following along in this real life, strange but true, memoir have probably heard the old cliche "love is a many-splendored thing" more times than they care to admit. The problem with people like me is that we tend to look at life thru a pair spectacles that epitomize the over usage of that old cliche. If we are passionate about something we tend to get mesmerized by the splendor of what ever happens while watch our passion unfold in our lives. I have seen this phenomenon play out in life many times and in many forms. I am the type of person who deeply appreciates others passions in life and the splendorness of the love they show in their participation of following their passion. In my case, this deep passion is usually triggered by the presence of a certain motorcycle.

That trigger had been pulled while riding toward the Lube joint as I recalled the fulfillment of my own passion and love during the time I had spent with Olivia. I could not stop my mind from wandering into a familiar zone of thoughts about whether or not she would be there with open arms waiting to greet me at the Lube joint. Thankfully I was riding with a group of fellow members of our Club that shared another passion of mine that consisted of consuming good food and we were all hungry so the ride into town went by real fast!!

Olivia's new owner, a person named "Ben", apparently understood what she meant to me and was true to his word. As I bent down and hugged Olivia's precious old springered front forks and caressed the magnificent tank shifter that hangs on the side of her fuel tank, I could hear the tenderness in Ben's wife's voice in the background as she stood back in amazement, looked at her husband and muttered one little word, "awe". I think my passion and love for the old War Bike was spilling out on the parking lot.

Ben had made a number of changes to Olivia in the form of repainting her to match the other WW2 vehicles that he uses to fulfill his own passion of participating in WW2 re-enactments, but the Olivia that I knew and remembered was still there speaking to me. I climbed into her familiar saddle that had toted me around our neighborhood when her and I had snuck off on daily maneuvers during the wonderful days that I had been her personal caretaker. Ben looked at me, gave me the ol biker nod, I rocked her down off her center stand, went thru the process of setting up her mag/throttle/clutch/tranny and carb to accomplish her "start" mode, reached down and clicked her ignition into the "on" position, pulled her exposed gear drive kick starter out, brought one of her 2 pistons up to TDC and felt for her valves to fall between the closing exhaust and opening intake on her camshaft as I gently rolled her kicker down. A gentle step down once I had found her sweet spot and Olivia came to life!!

My left foot engaged her clutch and the two of us set off together on one last maneuver. Her sweet little 45 inch Harley flat head motor thumped between my knees as the two of us motored between the tiny bomb craters that dotted the parking lot of the restaurant. Olivia's background involved the European Theater so it did not surprise me that she really didn't pay much attention to the collection of Japanese motorcycles that had gathered in the parking lot. I could feel her glee as her and I rode past her old room mate, Tweeks, each time we rounded the corner where Tweeks stood gazing at the honorable moment. Somewhere between delivering our 5th and 10th dispatch delivery, it suddenly dawned on me that her new owner and wife as well as all the other lop eared varmints associated with the Maintenance Day event that I was suppose to be attending had long since gone into the Lube joint to see if the pig on the engine stand that had been roasting over the grease pit was done cooking. I parked Olivia, gave her a quick hug and slipped inside the joint.

The "Steak and Lube" was a gorgeous place whose staff obviously knew just how to cook a pig. All my buddies were gathered around at tables, chewing hunks of what I assumed were perfectly done ham. Their between bite conversations filled the room with biker talk and laughter as the group enjoyed one another's companionship. I ordered a Coke and was in the process of ordering a hunk of ham of my own when I noticed Ben, Olivia's new owner, and his wife motioning me over to their spot at the bar behind my VR buddies. Ben asked me if I would like to ride over to his home and get a peek at his "other" WW2 collectibles. I set my 1/2 finished Coke on the counter of the bar, gave the staff member a couple bucks for the Coke, told her to keep the change and headed back out to the parking lot. On the way out the door, Tooch walked up to me and announced that he wouldn't miss this for love nor money! I leaned over and told Tooch I was glad to hear that because Tweeks and I might need some guidance in re-locating Freebird's home if we missed the return ride back to MD - Tooch chuckled in a way that told me he knew exactly what I was getting at.

Walking into Ben's garage was like walking into a WW2 Memorial Museum. I could instantly see why Olivia had seemed so cheerful when her and I had reconnected back at the Lube shop. She was obviously surrounded by vehicles and other war items that surely she remembered from days long gone by. Ben had a much desired and loved WW2 Jeep and an Ambulance that had both come to him directly from Europe. They were fully reconditioned, fully equipped and completely functional. Tooch and I had a BLAST playing with them and hearing Ben explain in full detail of their functions back in the dreadful days of WW2. Time went by way to fast as the three of us handled with extreme reverence and admired Ben's collection. It was just amazing to actually be touching things that had served their duty in assuring that the Allied forces would be triumphant in securing the FREEDOM that each of us enjoy in our everyday lives to this very day.

After spending a wonderful time with Ben, Tooch and I thanked him for the treasured adventure, we said our goodbyes to him and headed back to the Lube shop with hopes of maybe catching up to an eating frenzy that we both knew would be winding down. We pulled into the parking lot to discover that most of the Maintenance Day riders had long since finished eating and only a few of the riders were still there chatting in the parking lot.

I pulled up next to Slowrollwv who was sitting on his bike with a look of puzzlement on his face. Apparently he had left something "on" on his gorgeous Midnight 2nd Gen Venture and the bikes battery had decided it didn't need all the electricity that had been stored inside of it and it had managed to drain its extra juice somewhere out in the lot. Roller asked me if I had a set of jumper cables. I parked Tweeks to look and see if I could find some cables as the remaining group of riders started to gather around Rollers scoot. It wasn't long before hands were applied to the rear of the Midnight in a joint effort to bump start the bike. I still had a little room left on the SD Card inside my camera and this looked like a perfect opportunity to test my slightly less than amateur movie making skills.

Within the group of fun loving Club VR pushers of motorcycles was this dynamic character known to us Club members as Starfan. I watched as StarFan summons the remaining members of our club into a motorcycle pushing frenzy and away they went - them pushing Chuck around the parking lot on his bike with me trying to get my camera functioning to catch the spectacle. StarFan and his wife had traveled all the way from Iceland to join in the MD event fun with all his friends and I could not help but think how cool it was that this fun loving, high spirited person had come all the way across the ocean just to participate in what was unfolding right before my eyes. The parking lot was built in such a way that it was really not that conducive to restarting motorcycles with dead batteries - it almost seemed like the gang was pushing up hill no matter where they chose to push it. It also appeared that folks were getting tired and there was chatter being heard about going back to the idea of locating some jumper cables. I chuckled as I watched Starfan point at a section of the parking lot that appeared to him as a section of the lot that had a visible downward slant. The gang rolled the bike into the position for one last try, people were pushing and Starfan's Icelandic accent could be heard above the crowd shouting "DO IT - DO IT".. Roller dumped the clutch on the Midnight and the bikes motor jumped to life!! YEEEEEHAWWWW - we were on the road again!!!!

We made the journey successfully back to Don and Eileen's home somewhere in Oberlin Ohio. Folks had already began the process of settling in as I pulled in on Tweeks. EagleEye looked as though he had found a pretty nice location to file his claim and was sitting back enjoying his find. I snapped a few more pics to finish off the memory cards memory space and replaced it with the empty 4 gig card I had brought along to fulfill the Clubs picture taking requirements that mandate pictures with any ride reports posted in our forums so people who cant read have something to look at. If you are still following this crazy story and are reading this, it will serve you well to remember that I DID just replace that full card with an empty 4 gigger - you will find out why that is important later in this story!!

After filing the claim for my own camp ground space, I meandered around the campground and took pictures, got introduced to a BUNCH of wonderful people whose screen names I recognized but that I had never met before as well as hugging and bugging a number of the people who I had already had the pleasure of meeting - SO MUCH FUN!! I snapped some pics of Fool's Snow Man, got some close up's of the "Pond Monster" sign and the pond in which the monster lives. Snuck into the garage that is attached to Don and Eileen's home and grabbed some close ups of Freebird's new Harley (BEAUTIFUL), and FINALLY got to chat with Don and Eileen for a while (AMAZING PEOPLE). I was generally relaxing in the wonderment that goes along with participating in one of the finest, funnest bike rally's that a modern day biker can participate in.

Somewhere in the middle of all the fantastic chaos that sends it's vibes thru events like this, I noticed a discussion taking place that appeared to be very solemn in its nature. I walked over to see if there was anything I could do to help and was told that a dear friend of mine had fallen on his motorcycle on his way to the event. I stood back and listened carefully and waited for the words to be spoken that would indicate that my buddy was ok and I remember starting to breathe again as we were told that Yammer Dan was in the hospital in really rough shape but still alive. Numbness came over my body as I thought about a recent conversation I had with Dan concerning him riding his 2nd Gen Venture named Silver to Don's and how anxious I was to actually get to see my old friend again and finally get to meet his "new" bike. Dan had purchased the 2nd Gen from Freebird and I had heard that Freebird had spent an enormous amount of time tweeking on the bike and I had always wanted to get to see it. Thinking about my friend laying up in a hospital bed made me queezy as I felt tears form in my eyes. That evening was filled with hopes and prayers for our friend and fellow VR Club member Yammer Dan.

The evening seemed to roll in quickly there in Oberlin as groups of people gathered around motorcycles and tents that could easily remind someone of days of yesteryear when Indian Tribes once roamed across our country. A little pow wow here and a pow wow there and pretty soon it was just Starfan, Monty and I sitting under an Easy UP pop up awning that displayed Big Tom's red underwear swaying gently in the Oberlin Ohio night air as if they were waving at FlyinFool's friendly Snow Man who's plump white body formed a ghostly formation in the center of the "V" in Don's driveway. I told the remaining two delightful friends of mine goodnight and headed for the comfort and security of my own little secret hide away. As I approached my little hide away I stopped and listened to hopefully hear the sounds of the Pond Monster sucking down frogs in the pond not far from my campsite but was having a hard time hearing such sounds because someone camped not to far from me was in the middle of a game of "Good Night Johnboy". I turned on my camera with its partially filled 4 gig card, set it to record and walked over to the neighboring campsite to join in the fun of telling Johnboy good night. There were actually two campground motels filled with people who were participating in the game. They all started laughing when I joined in with a "Good Night Mary Ellen". I then scolded the group for keeping the campground awake at such late hours as I walked back toward my little place of peace and quiet. I crawled in my sleeping bag, zipped the door closed and fell fast asleep as I listened carefully for the pond monster feeding on frogs between the laughter of the group as I mumbled one last "Good Night Grandpa" to that bunch of lop eared varmints...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2016 by cowpuc

[cowpuc]

Apparently I had misread the land plot map at the filing office when I had filed my claim for the land on which I built my personal camping spot. I did not realize that a motorcycle hi-way was being constructed within 20 feet of my lowly motel when I built it the night before and was awakened the next morning by the noise of bikers on their machines obviously trying out the newly constructed right of way no more than 5 feet from my little castle.

As I laid in my tent listening to a couple slightly out of tune V-4 engines idling and trying to dismantle the cob-webs in my brain, thoughts of my friend laying in a hospital bed as a result of the fall he had taken the day before rolled around in my head. After I said a prayer for him and his recovery, my thoughts went to wondering what I could do to let him know we all missed him. There had been lots of chatter among the attenders of Maintenance Day the night before concerning our friend and I knew I had to do something to encourage him and to let him know how much we all cared. I thought about going into town and picking up a get well card and mailing it to his home. That is about the time the idea of a "Cyber Card" popped into my mind.

 

I checked the 4 gig card in my camera and it was almost full from pics and video of the night before so the first thing I was going to have to do in an effort to produce a Cyber Video Get Well Card for our fallen comrade was to go find a new SD Card for my camera. I found Tweeks resting next to my tent in the warm Ohio morning air, tossed a leg over her saddle and headed off in search of the SD Card. A short while later Tweeks and I pulled up to a mail man who was parked out in the middle of no-where sorting mail. After disarming his alarmed look resulting from being ambushed (I snapped his picture) by a biker with Tennis shoes and shorts on riding an old beat up Yamaha covered in stickers, he told me how to find the town of Oberlin - a place which he thought would probably have fuel for Tweeks and an SD Card for my camera.

 

After getting fuel and purchasing an 18 gig card, Tweeks and I headed back to Don's to start the task of creating the Get Well Card. Apparently I had been so engrossed in my thoughts about the process of creating the card for my buddy on my way to locating the town of Oberlin that I had completely forgotten to take notice of the roads I had taken on my way there and found a way to get twisted around on the back roads leading back to Freebird's. I made a few turns in the direction I thought looked familiar, rode for a while, came to a little bridge that didn't look familiar and crossed the bridge, rode some more, decided I was going the wrong direction and went back and crossed the bridge again. Knowing I had to be in the general location of the party, I started riding circles within the general Oberlin area, I crossed the bridge a couple more times and finally found my way back to the event.

Having had plenty of time to formulate my plan for the perfect get well card, I was able to avoid the embarrassment of having to admit I had gotten lost that morning when several people inquired into where I had disappeared to that morning. I know there were a couple of people that had told me they were concerned for me and were just about ready to send out a search party but even they were forced off the trail of figuring out my blunder by me turning on my camera so they could participate in the production of the get well wish.

Knowing my own mind and how it likes to forget important things (like the names people I have just met 20 minutes before I try to recall who they were) I came up with an idea of video taping people wishing Dan a complete recovery AND stating their screen name in the video - a true duel purpose card!! I removed the 4 gig card from my camera, installed the new 18 gig card and set about the task of trying to create a "Who's Who list of all my wonderful new friends at Freebird's 2015 Maintenance Day as well as a Get Well Card for our hurting friend, Yammer Dan. A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK THE TIME OUT OF THEIR MAINTENANCE DAY event hours to contribute to this wonderful reminder of who you are as well as wishing our hurting brother God Speed in his recovery - you folks are the GREATEST bunch of friends a man could have!!

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE35uM0sXzo

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ-FOYEC6jY

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq85diGYrqA

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RveY3gJ3WRk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD9PXf9kiGk

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XxbUI3FZ7c

 

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJhj6VmUdm0

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49G8M-I8lRc

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkc24pGKpeY

Edited January 14, 2016 by cowpuc

[Chaharly]

Boy, I gotta tell ya Puc. You are one heck of a guy. I bet Dan could just feel the healing accelerate while he had all the positive thoughts and prayers headed up his way. Its stuff like that that can really change a guy's life, and I'm glad to see we still get to see Dan on the forums.

 

Another thing I LOOVVVEEED to see here Puc was all the . Glad to see an accident didn't hurt anyone's sense of humor.

 

Good on ya Puc and just keep doing what you do!

[cowpuc]

Boy, I gotta tell ya Puc. You are one heck of a guy. I bet Dan could just feel the healing accelerate while he had all the positive thoughts and prayers headed up his way. Its stuff like that that can really change a guy's life, and I'm glad to see we still get to see Dan on the forums.

 

Another thing I LOOVVVEEED to see here Puc was all the . Glad to see an accident didn't hurt anyone's sense of humor.

 

Good on ya Puc and just keep doing what you do!

 

Thanks Cha and I am glad you are enjoying the ride along here! No doubt in mind either that all the love those folks shared helped our brother thru some really rough waters - we were all deeply concerned for our friend and what had happened to him! I also agree with you about all the :stickpoke:and this group of varmints ALWAYS comes up with - they are a RIOT!! Just for kicks, you might wanna check out my next story installment very carefully, take a second and watch the video's - as I recall, someone in there makes a suggestion that I hold off posting the "Card" until Dan's rib's had a chance to heal,, be sure and watch it - it was soooo perfectly put.

Also, I too am glad everything worked out cause I just cant imagine VR without my brother Yammer:confused24: - HE SURE GAVE US ALL A SCARE:8:

[Chaharly]

Speaking of our poor, once battered friend. How are ya doing @yammerdan