Greetings from your treasurer and my... I mean our
money. It’s been far too long between rides for me, but I couldn’t have picked
a more enjoyable event than the Prescott
ride, hosted by Dee and Deanne Cameron, to get back into the swing of things. I missed the Musgrove’s ride last year and by
all accounts it was equally as great an adventure. I believe that the Arizona Highway
events should be repeated whenever possible even considering the effort it
takes to get the time off (three days) and drive 400 miles. It is totally worth
it.
We were warmly greeted by all, the host hotel owner
who said I could park my bike in the room, the local citizens who stopped by to
view our machines, the tourist towns of Baghdad
and Jerome, and of course the local law enforcement, a little more about that
later.
Dee did his level best to
keep us from the sinful ways of downtown Prescott and the
wicked Whiskey Row, but
some people whose initials are Kevin Spears, found a way to indulge and still
manage to arrive at the ride locations before the main group. I would have made
an effort to partake but I’m so out of shape from a lack of proper training in
that area that I would most likely have just injured myself, so I left the
serious stuff to the pros. On the plus side, I guess I must have saved some
money. But at what cost? God bless you Kevin, you’re my hero. That is,
right after "Doc" Sucher who at 89 still likes to get out there among
the basket cases. It was really good to see him, Vic and Marge along with the
rest of the SoCal members, about 15 to 20 in all, as I recall.
The only real breakdown came from our President,
Tim. His chief gave up the ghost in the ghost town of Jerome. Even the magic of
the great wizard, Homer Knapp, couldn’t make Tim’s machine right again.
Actually, Homer might have used up all his wizardry conjuring up the dark
spirits to keep his own four wheeler moving toward Arizona
on the previous day. I have it from reliable sources that Homer had made four,
yes four, starts in his all original, one owner ‘59 Ford RancHERO before he
arrived ON TIME. Homer tells me that he used up his allotment of fuel on the
one way. $96.00 dollars worth, of course that was due to his extending that 400
mile trip to 725 miles. Homer’s return to his home base was the result a need
for maintenance on the ‘59 he should have completed some 45 years ago. Original
spark plug wires among other things. You da man, Homer.
Others will describe de’lovely events and ride
locations much better than I can, so I will concentrate on ragging on those who
fell to misfortune one way or another. I will start with myself. Maintenance is
a must. Homer trained me in this area, so I have an out on this one. I was
having a lot of fun on the way to Baghdad rolling the throttle on and off, retarding the
spark and cleaning out the exhaust with loud blasts on the mountainous downhills. Oh what fun. The fun
stopped right about the same time the throttle (the whole thing) came off the
handlebar. Naturally this happened right after I rolled on a good chunk of fun
on a curve. At first I thought that the rubber grip was all that came off. I
soon realized that the problem was a bit more complex. I’m lucky I didn’t knock
over a group of Grabers who were behind me. I did
manage to push the throttle cable back in and stop my studdly machine without
dropping my throttle grip mechanism. Easy repair job and I was off again.
The other noteworthy event as I see it came about
back at the host hotel. One of the few, the brave, the misinformed got stopped
by a local sheriff’s deputy just as he entered the parking lot. The traffic
stop was the result of a lack of mirrors on the bike in question. No big deal,
just a possible equipment violation. The young deputy was, as he should be, all business and totally concerned with the matter at
hand, LUNCH, AKA a motorcycle rider. Homer, with his tool sack hanging from his
neck, mystical sparks flying in all directions, approached the young deputy to
question him on some matter or another. The young deputy, who resembled a
mountain lion about to devour his meal, bared his teeth as he spoke to Homer
and questioned his presence near the dinner table. I could see that this wasn’t
going to go well at all. Fortunately, Homer realized that he was about to become
dessert and backed away until the growling stopped. The rest is history
including my "assumed position" on the deputy radio car. I suspect a
photo will follow, but I can explain.
Following the two days of riding the Arizona
highways, Dee and Deanne put on a feast at their estate. It’s a two structure
location. A well appointed two story, antique filled party palace and a two and
a half story well filled 9 car, two truck, thousand
motorcycle heaven on earth garage with a pro car lift, bathroom, music, phones,
sleeping area, heating, cooling, refrigerators, coolers, etc. My question is:
Why was a house added?
A pig was made one with mother earth in a cooking
pit and appetizers were served. Piggy did not get fully cooked by dinner time,
but no one noticed as we were stuffed from the "appetizers" of steak,
chicken, chili, salads, chips, and all the drinks you could ever want in one
place. All provided by the Cameron’s. It was an old time Bar-B-Q with club
members, neighbors and friends. It was very outstanding in all aspects.
As always, the bench racing, dinners and tail end
Bar-B-Q made this event as much a success as the riding itself. Then you add
the great scenery and interesting locations of the old towns and the ride
becomes a real special event. Hope to see more of you all
soon. Tom….