Riding my motorcycle on sweeping curves surrounded by nature's beauty is the best therapy.
Sharing the ride and destinations with a great group is a brotherhood like no other.
Sharing the experiences with my woman warms my soul.
My first introduction to motorcycles was on the back of my dad's various bikes during my childhood in Maine. I believe one was a Kawasaki KZ750 and the other was a Yamaha 1100. I remember many rides, and I remember melting the sole of my sneaker on the exhaust pipe. I didn't know it at the time, but the seed of motorcycling had been planted in my mind.
When I was 24, at Fort Hood, Texas, the motorcycling seed started to take root. In 1995 a friend bought a used Suzuki GS450 on base for a sweet price and he was kind enough to let me borrow it. I was hooked immediately, although it would be a while before I could get my own bike. We were both new riders and when we were ready we got our M endorsement the same day. We got a sideways look from the trooper giving us our test because we clearly didn't get the bike there legally, but he chose to let it slide. Later that year another friend wanted to borrow my car and offered to let me ride his Suzuki Katana 600 sportbike. I took him up on the arrangement and was amazed by the agility and responsiveness of his bike. We traded vehicles many times after that and I loved riding that sportbike every chance I got. It was definitely a contributor to my riding style.
In April of 1997, as a present to myself for my promotoion to E6, I bought myself a red Suzuki Intruder 800 new off the showroom floor in Killeen, Texas. Although I had a car, I rode that bike everywhere at every opportunity.
Shortly after I separated from the Army in early 1998, I experienced my first long-distance ride when my dad rode his bike down to Texas from Maine and we both rode out to Carlsbad Caverns, then Phoenix to visit my brother, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Las Vegas. It was a great ride, complete with the experience of running out of gas approaching El Paso from Carlsbad. We knew when we left Carlsbad there wouldn't be another gas station before I ran out, but decided to see how far we could get. Fortunately we had tools and a water bottle to extract gas from dad's tank. It turned out the gas station was only 7 more miles away.
I had my Intruder for 4 years, until I got rear-ended coming home from work one day in April of 2001. Because I was turning into a parking lot and nearly perpendicular to the impact to my rear tire without much forward momentum, the bike was pushed out from under me and it was like falling off a chair. I was very lucky, but the bike was totaled.
Coincidentally, I had just earlier in the day been drooling over a two-page ad in a magazine for a new bike that Honda was about to release: VTX 1800. With an insurance check in my hand from the totaled Intruder and a clear vision of what I wanted next, the hard part was finding one to buy. The dealers were only getting 2 a month from Honda, and those were getting claimed several months ahead of arrival. As luck would have it, my dad found a dealer in Ellsworth, Maine that had the exact color I wanted and nobody claiming it yet. No-brainer: fly to Maine, visit family while breaking it in, then ride it back to Texas with a stop in Florida along the way to visit more family. I had 4000 miles on it by the time I got it home from the dealer!
In spring of 2002 I was at the bike shop getting fresh tires for my VTX and while killing time in the waiting room I saw a flyer inviting local riders to ride with the Denton County Texas chapter of the Southern Cruisers Riding Club. I hadn't ever considered finding a group to ride with before, but this group sounded interesting. Later that week I met with them after work for one of their weekly dinner rides. I met some interesting people and had a great time. A few dinner rides later I became a member and soon after that I made them a web site. Riding with SCRC has enhanced my riding experience and changed me in ways only a long-time group rider can know.
I was given my roadname while on a group ride with SCRC to Big Bend in the late fall of 2002. We were in Terlingua, which is the most active ghost town I have ever found myself in. I was a fairly new member of the club, and as is typical in motorcycle culture, new members often earn their roadname while on a multi-day ride. Sometimes it's an inside-joke about something you did, but in my case it was deeper. The ride leader, in his aged wisdom, saw my nature as a drifter. Enjoying life wherever I might find myself and able to pick up and move on to new places without hesitation. My history of changing address every year certainly supported that assessment, but more poignant was my recently hatched plan to move from Texas back to Maine the following month. I loved living in Texas and loved riding with my SCRC chapter, but at that time in my life a big move made sense.
While living in Maine I was able to ride with my dad and his local club, MMMA. One ride I particularly remember was to a rally on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Beautiful area.
Well, after just over 4 years in Maine and I knew I had to return to Texas! I had many good reasons, but in this context I really wanted to rejoin my SCRC friends and take advantage of the much longer riding season of Texas vs. Maine. I came back to Texas at the beginning of 2007 and have been happily riding my motorcycle with my SCRC friends ever since.
I rode my VTX for 12 years, until April 2013 when an SUV pulled out in front of me without any room to react and the resulting crash shattered the top 3 inches of my tibia just below the knee. Fortunately I had an excellent surgeon and made a full recovery. The experience was traumatic, for sure. Three weeks with an external fixator bolted into my leg bones in 6 places, followed by corrective surgery and 4 months of physical therapy. All told, about five months of recovery, complete with walker, wheelchair and eventually crutches. I learned a lot about myself and gained a new appreciation of what others have gone through.
I am very grateful to my family and friends who helped me through the ordeal. It's quite humbling when you cannot perform routine tasks you took for granted. In spite of all the pain and frustration, I have a very fond and powerful memory of my SCRC brothers visiting me while I was in the hospital and during my recovery. The experience was deeply heartwarming and therapeutic. Words don't really convey how awesome it felt, and still feels. I gained a special appreciation for doing the same for others when I am given the opportunity, and an understanding that although it may not feel like you're able to do anything when you visit someone, just being there with a smile can have a profound impact on them. Despite how busy hospitals are, at times it can feel profoundly lonely.
While recovering from my broken leg I was able to research my next bike. There was no question in my mind whether I would ride again. I had known for a few years that I wanted to move up to a sport-touring bike. I wanted integrated luggage, better handling and all the fancy features I knew were available. My VTX handled superbly, especially considering its size and configuration, but I wanted more lean angle. I crafted a comparison matrix of many candidates. I researched all the specs. ABS, traction control, storage capacity, heated grips & seat, motorized windshield, electronic suspension adjustment, cruise control, radio, bluetooth, GPS, reverse. The BMW K1600-GTL looked like a clear winner in visual style and features (had every feature except reverse), but I was concerned about seat height since I have stubby legs. That concern faded immediately when I test rode a dark blue used 2012 model at the BMW Motorrad in Hurst, Texas in September of 2013. I left with that bike a couple hours later. The K1600 was everything I had hoped it would be, and much more! The inline 6-cylinder engine produces 160 horsepower and 129 ft/lb torque, and the traction control keeps it well-planted. A luxury rocket if there ever was one.
In early 2014 I was approached by the First Officer of my SCRC chapter and asked if I would be interested in taking over as First Officer. I hadn't considered it before, and I was honored to be asked. Our chapter has had many great First Officers since its inception in 2001, so I had big shoes to fill. After careful consideration, I decided to accept the responsibility. The experience as First Officer has given me some new perspective on group dynamics and organizing events.
As happens sometimes with machinery, my awesome K1600 developed an annoying problem: it burned through a quart of oil every 1200 miles. I was able to get it repaired under warranty, but the bike was at the BMW shop for 3 months in the meantime. I had a big road trip to Ohio, Maine and Kentucky planned for the summer of 2014 but my K1600 wasn't going to be repaired in time, so I had to make a choice: cancel the trip, do the trip in my car, or buy a second bike. Anyone who knows me already knows the correct answer: buy a second bike! I ended up with a used red 2011 Yamaha Stryker. The price was right, and it is a nice-looking bike with a comfortable configuration for long distance rides. After the trip I decided to keep the Stryker as a permanent second bike. Each bike satisfies a different style of riding, so I can ride the one that best fits my mood.
So there I was, on my K1600 a mile from getting home after a glorious Independence Day weekend 2015 with my woman. Casually approaching an uphill stop sign on a small 2 lane road several car lengths behind a small pickup truck and nobody behind me the last time I checked my mirror a few seconds ago. Next thing I know there is a sharp bump and a car is passing me on the right while my shoulder is sliding across the side of the car as they go by. I managed to get stopped at the other side of the intersection and figured out that the car had been going VERY fast, tried to miss me but hit and ripped/twisted my right saddlebag into my leg as they swerved into the shoulder causing me to lean against the car as it slipped past me, which fortunately kept me upright and aimed me to the shoulder around the truck stopped ahead of me. The car plowed over the stop sign, lost control at the crest of the hill and flipped/rolled with a final landing on the roof. In spite of the car hitting me, a lot of physics were in my favor that day to keep me from going down, diverting me around the truck and clearing the stop sign out of my way. The driver fled the scene on foot and the cops had to track him down. Incidentally, you can't buy a saddle bag from BMW. You have to buy all the individual parts for about $1800 (just one bag) and assemble it. I managed to find a sweet deal on a pair of bags from another K1600 rider who had his pair in the garage when he wrecked his bike, so that's why some of my pictures of that bike are with white bags. I decided the white bags didn't look bad with the dark blue, so I didn't bother painting them.
My K1600 served me well for just over 2 years, but in November of 2015 it got totaled by another incident caused by a negligent driver, who chose to aggressively change lanes into me without looking. I am very thankful for the outstanding ABS brakes that allowed me to avoid getting sideswiped off the road into a large metal electical pole. Unfortunately, in my effort to avoid getting rear-ended by the aggressive tailgaters in both lanes by shooting for the opening left by the car that almost took me out, I managed to get my kickstand into the curb because the road curved more than I had planned for and the bike whipped me down into the grass median. I was fortunate and only sprained my back with a hard landing in the grass. Given the circumstances, that played out far better than it could have and for that I'm thankful. I was able to ride the bike home, but without a left mirror I decided to park it until fixed or replaced. The bike damage was primarily cosmetic, except for a cracked mounting hole for the engine guard on the engine block. Parts for that bike are expensive, so it didn't take much before the insurance adjuster decided it was totaled.
I loved my K1600 so much, I immediately bought a 2016 model of the exact same bike. The new K1600 has a beautiful matte denim blue paint that reminds me of a comfortable pair of jeans. I'm looking forward to many excellent motorcycle adventures for years to come!
On April 29, 2017 my main-squeeze for the past 3 years officially became my wife. Words cannot adequately convey the depth of bond I have with this woman. She is a perfect match for me, and I for her. We coined a term to symbolize our relationship: Awesome2 (Try not to gag on our sappiness LOL)
In addition to loving to ride with me on day-rides, she also respects how much motorcycling is a part of who I am and encourages me to keep it a part of our lives. It brings me great joy to share my riding adventures with my wife, both in person when she is a passenger and in stories for rides she was not able to experience directly. Even when not riding, sharing every aspect of our lives has been incredible and I look forward to many wonderful years with her!