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