22 years in the blink of an eye

22 years ago today, I was down in Florida, in Ft. Lauderdale meeting with some of the world's largest international event producers trying to negotiate a massive event that would take place in NY, Florida, Texas and California over a three week period.  On this trip Diane and I were together visiting venues and hotels.  We had just walked into the cocktail party on the top floor of the hotel, got ourselves a drink and started talking about our plans for Daytona Bike Week.  As with most cocktail parties, the chatter was incoherent unless of course you concentrated on one particular conversation.  If memory serves me correctly, we were at the Airport Marriott and it was one of the nicest airport hotels that I have ever seen.  Servers were walking around with trays of tasty morsels and there against the wall was a long table with all kinds of fill your belly goodness to hold off the power of the booze and carry folks through till dinner.  On the wall above this table was a fairly large tv for the times.  One of the servers put her tray down and turned the television on.  I can remember not only being excited about the trip to Daytona but really feeling great about the momentum that the event was building, there was an excitement in my heart and a satisfying feeling of accomplishment in my soul.  I was a fairly young man back then and to pull off what we had in the works would have been epic.  I can recall feeling at the top of my game and you could not wipe the smile off of my face.
As people wandered around the room the noise suddenly went down by half and it was instantly noticeable.  I wasn't sure what had happened and as I tried to ascertain what it was, the room fell deadly silent, everyone staring in the direction of that big table of food.  My first thought, ALLIGATOR!  Well you have to forgive me, we were in Florida and I had an inherent fear of them. All eyes were glued to the television and many stood there with their mouths wide open.

A bomb had gone off underground, under the World Trade Center!  I'll never forget the images on that screen, the chaos of the situation and the fear on the faces running past the cameras.  That smile on my face only moments before that I was sure nothing on earth could remove was now forgotten. My mind raced to all the people we knew who worked in those towers, how many trips I made up to Windows On The World, the restaurant on top of the tower and quietly pleaded with God that all would be okay.

I recall a story I read years later, the feds were flying a helicopter past the towers transporting a man they had in custody for the attack and the agent nudged him and said "see, they are still standing" and his reply was "yeah, for now"!  Hearing that account sent a chill deep within me and in my gut I knew there would be more to come.  I can't believe that today is 22 years since that day.  I really don't know where the time goes but it sure does pass in the blink of an eye.  Every single time I go to Florida for Bike Week, I am reminded of that trip, that attack and those who suffered from it, I can never forget and I will never forget it!  I won't be going to Daytona this year as I'm still healing up from surgery and didn't book any events, so I hope you all have an amazing time, make some life long positive memories and be safe, come home to your family in one piece but never forget all who serve, have served and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice since that day 22 years ago to fight radical Islam so that we could retain our freedoms and live good, happy lives.

Until we see each other on the road again,

keep the wind in your face,
tits in your back
and the man off your ass!

Your friend,
Jack Shit

GET ON YOUR BIKE AND RIDE

As you know, one of my favorite sayings is "IT'S NEVER THE WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING" and this is one of those times.  Just because the war fades from the headlines and media coverage, it sure doesn't mean that we don't have Americans in harms way, desperate for a little comfort, a reminder of home and the knowledge that we have not forgotten them or the sacrifice that they are all making for this nation!  We are at a near epidemic with homeless veterans in this country and vets who are simply having a hard time adjusting to not getting shot at every single day and that is why I'm so proud to host this event again.  This is a proven event by a group of dedicated patriots who DO THE RIGHT THING, not like those out there who raise money in the name of vets and only a few pennies of each dollar donated actually get to them.

The weather here in the Valley of the Sun could not be better this time of year so that means get that bike out of the garage, pull back the tarp that covers your baby and fire her up because it's time to ride and raise some desperately needed funds to support the men and women who count on us as we count on them!  All of the information you need is on the flyer at the top of this post but if you have any other questions feel free to contact me or the groups listed above.  I've not ridden since my surgery in November and I plan on putting my ass back in the saddle for this ride come hell or high water!  WISH ME LUCK!  I may have to have some of you help me move my bike backwards up the hill to park but baby steps it is for me!  Spread the word, get your friends and join us.  If you can't ride so what, get in your car and join us, a good time is a good time.

Until we see each other on the road again,

keep the wind in your face,
tits in your back
and the man off your ass!

Your friend,
Jack Shit

I'm officially announcing the formation of my exploratory committee to ascertain the possibility of winning a victory of the office of President of the United States..... or well, the nation that was formerly UNITED....  Close your eyes and imagine if you will....  the inauguration arrives, the cold DC wind blows strong, the official holds the bible up for me to place my hand on and as I swear my oath I'm holding a jar of APPLE PIE MOONSHINE in the other hand proudly.....  I have to pause in the middle of taking the oath of office because I need another quick sip!  Ah yes, now that's how you start a term in office.

Okay, fantasy time is over and now for some reality!  I get a whole lot of messages about this blog and questions about what happened to it, why don't I write on it any longer or share pics of my travels and such and to be honest I don't really know what happened to it.  Google started giving me shit about using space and too many pics and wanted me to pay for this and that and it just pissed me off so I began to write less and less on it.  I genuinely meant it when I answered your messages saying I would give it another shot and try to share more but life always got in the way.  This blog was actually something that I was pretty proud of it when it began being viewed in over 100 countries I was thrilled but as I said above, I'm not paying to share my thoughts.  Another reason that I let it decline and then basically go the way of the dinosaur was that a majority of the readers were troops overseas and with the draw down of troops and us eventually "officially" pulling out of these countries writing on the blog just didn't seem to be as important.  I loved getting messages from the troops!  Something tells me that some time soon, we will once again have a whole lot of troops in harms way so I'll try and get this thing started up again.

I want to say thank you for all the get well wishes and all the good thoughts and prayers when my family was in a terrible way this past fall, I'll never forget how you all rallied behind us!  Rally season is firing up again so I'll try to keep you all in the loop of the happenings, where I'm at, where I'm going and where I've been.  I just realized that the last post on here was September 13', holy shit did I drop the ball with this site!  Whoops!  I guess one post every 17 months just won't do it!  My bad!

I did have an amazing, unforgettable year last year and I got to share it in person with so many of you.  I always say when asked what it is that I do, I help make memories is the answer.  My mission is to put a smile on every single face that I come across and I look forward to bringing those smiles back this year!

So vote SHIT IN 2016 because my gut tells me no matter who you vote for, that is exactly what America will get, SHIT!

Until we see each other on the road again,

keep the wind in your face,
tits in your back
and the man off your ass!

Your friend,
Jack Shit