Pins

Rode dirt bikes in the 70's
Nothing in the 80's 

(Too busy with kids and work AKA "Life")
Then in the late 90's finally...
In the great scheme of things
Was able to buy my first Harley
Wife's fatal words that day were,
"Why don't you go ahead and look?"*
That was my ticket outta' Palookaville

*The one sentence in our 40+ years together that she likely regrets. Well...maybe after "I do."

I immediately caught a serious case of fanaticism

"The Vest"
Notice autographs of Willie G
and his son Bill Davidson
For Sale: $1,000,000 or your first born
(I am looking for a grand kid)

Scouring catalogues and other bikes
For cool things I could do to personalize mine
Also for clothes, knick-knacks, you name it
Anything related to Harley-Davidson
Much to my wife's dismay
After all, how do you correct a kid
Who has hit his mid-fifties?!

I was traveling a lot in my work
That took me to a lot of cities

Throughout the US
I began looking up all dealers there
To visit...and to exercise my fanaticism
A habit likely related to my 

1/4 Chippewa origins
Counting coup as it were...

Except, rather than hitting my enemy with a stick,
Or a hatchet as my ancestors later preferred
I would purchase a dealer pin for my collection
Okay, that was a bad comparison
But I still like to think of it that way

At first I attached the ones I really liked to my leather riding vest
Along with pins customarily given to commemorate bike runs
I also pinned others to a cork board I purchased for my office
Then I ran out of room on my vest
In fact, it got so heavy I retired it from wear
Eventually I also had to buy a bigger cork board

After the first couple of years
I finally got a little more selective
Having noticed, in a very brief moment of lucid thinking
Some dealers stocked pretty pathetic representations of their logos

Perhaps I had the makings of a rational man after all.......
Nah.

"The Corkboard"
I have been fortunate to visit every one of these, and more
Click on it to blow it up for astonishing detail... 
well, maybe not.

Now, I have more than a couple hundred pins
Give or take
They represent places I have visited from all over the U.S.
Texas to Florida, California to Ohio
Washington to the Carolinas (Didn't find one in NY City)
Even Florence, Italy and Cancun, Mexico
A lot of them are from biker Mecca, 

The Sturgis Bike Rally
And other biker events like 

The Laughlin River Run
And Reno's Street Vibrations

Pins... just one more way for a Harley rider to punch the old
Figurative fanatic's card
Like the t-shirt says 

(yeah I have a mess of those too)
"I Was There", counting coup in homage to my heritage of course...

Still, I am missing many...no, not marbles as you may be thinking...pins.

I am missing many pins  
There is work to be done.

Note:  Click on the photos for a much better view...

For more on pins plus the "Mother of all Rallies - Sturgis" and related Badass matters, click anywhere on this sentence!

Veni. Vidi. Velveeta... (They don't make'em...)

Reno's famous Virginia Street during Street Vibrations

...like they used to.

A recurring September event - dateline Reno circa 10 years ago or so

Veni (I came)
The Coyote, his bride and I
Were to meet early for our annual trek
To Reno, Nevada for the biker event "Street Vibrations"

Both had to work late
The previous night
So they begged off our departure time
I had to get there earlier as I also had
A World Poker Tour tournament
I wanted to enter
I left ahead of them
Had the Harley packed light 

Just for a couple of nights

I should have been forewarned things might be cockeyed that day
But I pressed on
There were warm temperatures on both sides of the Sierras
So I dressed light
T-shirt, shirt and light jacket
Figured I would endure the cold over Donner pass

The trip was smooth and uneventful
Set the cruise control on 80 and let'er rip...
I hit Reno in a couple hours with a little time to spare
So I headed for Chester's Harley Davidson
To present my HOG (Harley Owner's Group) fanatic card
And pick up my 'proof of life,'
A commemorative event pin for members only

Got that done then went to the wrong casino
To enter the tournament
They were both off the main strip
And I'm easily confused
But then repacked the bike
And found my way to the right casino in time

Vidi (I saw)
There I quickly paid up
And had a few moments to grab a bite
Went to the table a couple of minutes early
Sat in my assigned seat
And noticed a player there who looked familiar
I asked, "Is it possible I have seen you on the rectangular screen?"
He said "Yes."

This is TJ
He doesn't look mean at all in real life.
(It took a Poker Hall of Fame pro to knock me out of that
tournament... I'd like to spin it that way.)

I said, "Please forgive me for forgetting but you are...?"
He said, "TJ" and the dealer said his last name but I couldn't make it out
So I said something dumb like; "Well, it's awesome to be sitting at the same table with you."
He turned out to be TJ Clotier
My first genuine poker pro and I was gambling with him
Me and eight others that is

(I'm thinking; 'Wow, these are all pros here? I am in wayyyy over my head.)

Velveeta (OK, so I didn't conquer)

I broke (yes, a play on words) into tournament poker here in Sacramento a few months ago

And have played with some pretty tough hombres

So I was surprisingly comfortable with the table

Got about an hour and a half into the puppy

Was a couple thousand ahead

Then after small initial bets ("blinds"), TJ and I were head to head

After the flop I had a flush draw.

TJ was first to act and pushed all in with over 12 thousand in chips

There was a king in the flop
I correctly assumed he had another as one of his hole, or "pocket" cards

But was still surprised at the size of the bet

I knew I had a 15-20% chance, twice to hit the flush

It would be on the turn (sixth card) or the river (seventh and final) card

I had recently seen one of the top players in the world, Phil Hellmuth

Miss a flush in similar circumstances... three consecutive times in a televised tournament

So I had a little more vivid picture of my chances in spite of the odds

Yet, I had a chance to knock out a Hall of Fame poker player

I took the chance and called

It wasn't to be
My flush missed and I was out of the tournament

I again thanked TJ for the privilege of playing against him 

Wished the rest of the table luck
(Two had been knocked out before me)

And headed on my way with another precious memory

To tuck into the cranial treasure chest

In all, TJ is a really friendly person who plays fairly tight poker
(But I am truly unworthy of judging)

And entertains the entire table with short stories of his past adventures

(That part I CAN judge...)

As for the rest of the trip...

I had a $49 dollar room that night at Reno's Silver Legacy

Right on the strip and in the middle of the biker/vendor action

They close down Virginia Street
For bikes, spectators and vendors only

It was impressive how low key things were...

Not as many bikers and not as many vendors as years past

The recession has made it less than half of what it once was

But the Coyote, his bride and I still got a chance to mosey

Down the middle of the street,

Enjoying the night lights, a damn good Santana tribute band

A couple of beers and a couple of stogies

So it was...beat out of a tourney, a low density crowd and few vendors but great friends, music, and atmosphere

Cheap and cheesy.. just the way I like it... Velveeta
...and a little spam can't hurt either! 

Pimp Walk

A few years ago I was learning to accommodate

My pimped out 100th Anniversary Road King.
Changed her for a new Street Glide in '08.
I miss her and all her bling!
Click on the photo to enlarge

An arthritic hip and associated back problems
That made me adjust my gait
When I had a memorable chance encounter.

I was at the grocer's
Had parked and was walk/shuffling/limping into the store
When an employee, a black man
Returning carts to its entrance noticed me and inquired, "Hey man... Is that your pimp walk or did you hurt your leg?"

I laughed and all I could think of to respond was; "Both!"

Fast forward to yesterday
Hip just replaced, I now have a fairly normal looking walk.

Daughter Samantha and I were in a theater parking lot
And I said, "Hey Sam!  Remember that story about the pimp walk?
Now that my hip is fixed I can really do it watch!

I then did my best impression and she quickly said,
"Dad, I don't think you own it."
I said, "What?" (A word my pitiful ears have made me internationally famous for.)
"Own," she said, "I don't think you own it."

Another fine laugh and memory.
I love how these things keep accumulating
Adding to a treasure chest of warm hearted moments.

So you are asking yourself what this has to do with a blog about riding Harley's right? Well, before the hip and pimp walk fix... I would hardly ride a mile without feeling like I had a toothache in my rear end. Now...toothache gone!