A little JACK SHIT LOS O PHY

If you never go to the doctor

you will never ever be sick!

... at least that is what my father always said.  We would laugh each time but damn it if he wasn't right!

I can't tell you how many times we would hear this from him.  Dad, the engine hood fell down and latched with your hands caught in there, you need to go to the doctor.... WHY, I ain't sick?  I am injured and all I need is some ice and to walk it off.... remember that one folks, your father or coach would slap you on the ass and just say, c'mon son, just walk it off!

Well for the past few weeks, I have been "walking it off" and instead of ice, I have been loading up on anti-biotic!  I got so many messages from you guys when I pulled the disappearing act a few weeks back and I haven't been on here to write since.  For those of you who wrote all those amazing messages, thank you so much for your concern.  For those of you that wrote the violent hate mail style ones, I am especially sorry to you guys!  No, I won't let it happen again without letting you know why!  I hope in the time that I was gone, you took some time to check out the list of blogs that I love to read over on the right side of my page...

Some of you have somewhat of an idea of how sick I was, others not, so let me tell you now what happened and it once again lends proof to my dear departed dad's Jack Fitzlosophy!  As you guys know, I will do any thing that is asked of me if it is within my ability to do it for you and on a few occasions even when it wasn't if a friend truly needs me.  I got a call from my dear Brother Adam... he said hey man, on such and such a date, can you take me to the dentist office?  I got some real trouble going on here and I have to have it dealt with right away.  It's bad enough that they have to knock me out completely to do it!  Holy shit, of course I'll do it.  Well thank God that he called the night before because I had clean forgotten about it!  The other reminder I received the day before was from my doctor telling me that I had to be at their office at the same time.  Of course, I cancelled my appointment and took my buddy.  They treated him like a child and insisted that they meet me and talk to me about the "procedure" for picking up my friend.  For any of those who are wondering, yes, Adam listed in the space for; In case of emergency call? _________________.  He wrote Jack Shit!  They took one look at him and just shook their heads, he said "no really", call Jack Shit. 

I thought it so funny when he told me this that when we walked in to the office he said to the woman behind the desk in Adam's soft and gentle way, " this is fuckin Jack Shit, I told ya".  I leaned on the counter when I talked to them, then I touched the door handle, opened the door and left.  Be back in an hour and a half, "okay" I said.  Fourty five minutes later they call early and tell me to come get him.  I got there and they walked him out the door and he was high as a kite, out of his mind and by the look in his eyes, still anesthetized.  I grabbed on to him and along with the "gas man" walked him to my truck.  I touched all kinds of shit in that office.  Got him back to his house safe and sound and dropped him off and headed home myself.  Within 12 - 16 hours of stepping through the door of that dentist office, I began to feel a little bit of pressure up in my sinus'.  I was in the garage rubbing aluminum polish on the front wheel of the FXRS and blown away as with each wipe away of the polish I realized that the wheels were shiny, really shiny.  I thought I had gotten a headache from leaning over for a few hours and I went to bed and I slept like a baby!

At 8:15 am I rolled over and yawned big and loud and with that, it felt like someone jammed an ice pick straight up into the center of my very back upper tooth.  In an instant I shot up and out of bed....  It hurt so bad that all I can say is that imagine if you took a toothpick and opened your mouth really wide, placed it up and down between your top and bottom teeth and bit hard down and it shot straight up through the top of your mouth and right up and in to the brain!  I was walking around in fast circles in my bed room and talking to God and doing it out loud!  I have some damage in that tooth from the last time some idiots kicked me in the face.  We had eaten P.F. Changs the night before and thought that maybe a piece of rice or some super spicy chunk of food lodged in there.... I grabbed my electric tooth brush and raced to another bath room.  I didn't want the noise to wake up the lil woman!  I loaded that bitch up with tooth paste and dug in with a fury.  I was like that old janitor with the floor waxer and buffer just making endless circles around the tooth, the gums, the top of my mouth etc.  In an instant, the pain was gone.... I rinsed out my mouth and put my finger in and ran it along the gum line... in horror I thought, what the fuck was that?  It felt like part of the tooth had broken right through the side of the gums.... oh boy!  As I walked back to my bed room with zero pain or discomfort all I could say was thank you God for that quick hook up.  Wow, I really dodged a bullet with that one, whew!  I crawled back in bed and got in to spoon position with my girl and closed my eyes with deep fear wondering, why did it stop hurting?    I was awoken not 20 minutes later and for the next 9 days I would never again have to worry as to why it stopped hurting again! 

I grabbed my trusty bottle of water from my night stand and figured I will give my mouth a good "swishing"  SWEET BABY JESUS was that the incorrect answer..... as two big fat ky jelly sized tear drops rolled down my left cheek, one from the eye, past my chin and down my neck, immediately to be followed by one more.  I grabbed on to the granite on the vanity and squeezed as hard as I could muster.  It hurt so bad that I pictured myself crushing it like Graham crackers! 

As the insanity of that blinding pain subsided, I was facing the mirror and watched my eyes open wide like I had just seen the light that very moment that I heard my father's voice sound off in my head, IF YOU DON'T GO TO THE DOCTOR YOU WON'T EVER GET SICK!  I went to the dentist's office and now I have a massive tooth problem, MOTHER FUCKER!  I grabbed my trusty bottle of pain meds and like I was in Vegas at the black jack table, I doubled down!  First it hurt to lay down, so I sat up.  Then it hurt to sit up so I compromised and laid down with my head propped up.  Each would work for a few hours and the combo of the pain and the pills, I would just drift off to sleep as soon as the pain eased!  Each time the pain returned, I changed positon.  I knew that it was infected because of the way I had such pain in my sinus.  Here is a tid bit of info you may or may not know; you can not be made numb when the area is infected.  I knew what I had to do.

I grabbed my trusty bottle of long expired over the border Mexican Anti-biotic!  500 mg, hell, I better start with three of those....  I did that twice to jolt my system and then two at a time for another day and then one every six hours.  Beat the infection and ease the pain and then get it fixed.  I was a man with a plan.  I'll just keep busy.  I will go in the garage and work on the FXRS and get that bitch cleaned up.  I was after all blown away by what I found under her grease and grime.  I would do that for a while, get some pain, take a pill and then do it for a bit longer.  That lasted for the first evening and part of the next morning.  I was so completely exhausted from the walk to my garage that I couldn't hold my arms up.  Back to bed and that is where I stayed for 6 days!  I would walk to the toilet to pee and have to take a 4 hour nap from the effort!  I could not eat, I could only take little baby sips of water and each time I tilted my head back to do it my heart would race just a little bit more from the anticipation and I braced myself just in case a single drop of water made it to the other side of my mouth and hit the wide open exposed ROOT! 

Days passed and it only got worse, not better.  My wife pleaded with me to come sit out on the couch and at least let her change the sheets so I would be more comfy.  Yeah, she is a damn saint, I swear!  The thirty steps to my couch were more than I could handle and I just sat on the couch unable to open my eyes.  On the morning of the 5th day, I realized that I hadn't even so much as turned my computer on in nearly a week, it was sitting on the table right next to me and I didn't feel like I had the strength to pick up my lap top.  If Pam Anderson had come to her senses and decided to take me up on that offer I had made to her just 3 weeks before in Trader Joe's, sent me an email and said take me now, I would never have known nor did I care to.  I was in trouble and fading fast.  All the while, riding the waves of, holy shit I am so cold to wanting to pull my hair out just to cool off my head and so it went on and on until the chest pain began.  I could hear every one's voices playing back in my head of the stories they told me about uncles, cousins, parents and things they had seen on television about people dying from tooth infections or at the very least having suffered strokes from them and becoming paralyzed!  We made an appointment the next morning for the dentist, there was no waiting for the infection to subside.... I didn't care if they cut it out with a chain saw, fuck it, take them all and take them now!  That is if I could make it through the night without heading to the emergency room! 

If you don't go to the doctor, you won't ever be sick!

It just kept playing over and over in my head....by God, my father was right. 

I could tell that the dentist wanted to slap me when I told him about how I had treated myself with expired, smuggled Mexican Anti-biotic.  Hell, looking back now, I wonder if they were even for humans or if they were for chickens because that is what I was and they were not doing shit to help me!  So just yesterday, I finished the last of my Z Pak and the infection is down if not gone.  I have gotten most of my energy back and I am even able to stand long enough to package all of those I know Jack Shit shirts that you guys ordered.  Thank you again by the way for all of the orders, you guys are incredible and it seems that they are once again, A HUGE HIT with everyone who's mail brings them a little something special from their pal Jack Shit.... perhaps now you can see what the delay was in "our shipping department", the entire department had a horrible toothache!  The damn tooth is still in my head.  I am debating on telling you here now why but don't want to run the risk of this thing running on and on.  I will this about the situation though.  Upon leaving the dentist office with my NEW prescription for some NEW fresh American medicine, the nice lady behind the counter was kind enough to create a plan of treatment as I asked.  On it, it put in to columns the cost of each and every thing right down I believe to the ink used to print the fucking invoice.  The left column listed the item, the next what my cost was, the following to was what the insurance picked up, they were all blank and then the final column of what it would cost with no insurance.  This I did not understand but hey, it was half the price in the first column then it was in the last.  Luckily for me, the first column was mine.  About 3 days after leaving, I get a message on my phone as I am still incapable of speaking to anyone without coming off like a complete jerk off.  The message played and it was; hello, John?  Terry from the Tooth Fairy's office I have a bit of a problem with the estimate that I gave you.  I seem to have left out a few lab fees.  I must re neg on that offer of services.  I have the new information all ready so please give me a call.  Now it's not as good as the price I gave you that you "loved so much".  Thank you and have a nice day.  Lab fees?  Price I loved so much?  Was this bitch inhaling the nitros oxide at the office?  WTF?  So I call, give them a fax number and ask them to send it over.  Yes, the price was in fact incorrect.  Including the new code for the insurance company, the new total was double!  Yes, double the original quote.   This nice lady was only off in her quote by 100%.  Can you imagine telling your clients, oh, I'm sorry, the quote was off by a small percentage, oh that's okay,  by how much?  Oh, well, uh, you see, uhmmmm  100%!  I thought my head was going to explode.  Needless to say, the tooth or teeth or jaw bone or whatever the hell else that was giving me all the trouble, is still an original equipment installed option in my mouth!  I am just grateful that I pay all that money for insurance and it covers, wait, let me see, just doing some math here, yes, getting the total now...... NOTHING! 

So then, as your friend and some one who cares deeply for all of you, I have only one thing to say to you, take care of yourself and whatever you do,

DON'T EVER GO TO THE DOCTOR!

Politics and Religion, never discuss either, OR ELSE!

Unless you are absolutely sure that you want to really

fuck up a party, a friendship, a job, etc.,etc., etc.!

Allow me to say this to you all first.  I am not a democrat, nor a republican.  I am in the party of common sense and just plain DOING THE RIGHT THING!  I make no decisions because that is what I am supposed to do or expected to do.  I do what my heart and my brain tells me is the right thing to do!

As shocking as this may seem to some of you fine folks out there who read my writings.  Bike related, philosophical, comedic and shear stupidity are usually the topics that I touch on in some cases and write in depth the details of a great adventure in others.  More often than not, I hold back on the topics of politics or religion!  I have seen the dearest of friends, friends for a great many years that would damn near be willing to die for one another have their relationship go to complete shit if not come to TOTAL BLOWS over these two topics at damn near the spur of the moment, the drop of a hat or in an instant in some cases with absolutely no warning what so ever!  To see people have a total meltdown like flipping a light switch is fun to watch at times but horrifying to watch at others when it is people you care about.

Having grown up back in the North East, I am sure you can all imagine how deeply the attacks on America and especially the World Trade Center would have hit me.  I come from a long line of Police Officers and Firemen, hey, I am Irish after all.  It was either do that or become garbage men so my family went in those directions.  I'll never forget members of my family going to anywhere between 5 to 10 funerals per week for some time.  Then again more services each time that a new body or worse yet a body part was found and identified.  I was not in NYC that day, I had not been there in a few weeks by the time 9/11 occurred.  But we all have stories.  One of my clients back in the day was a restaurant named Windows on the World and it was on the very top of the World Trade Center.  At the time that this tragedy began that spectacular September morning, would have been the exact time that I would have been making a delivery to the top, there would have been no surviving it for me and I often reflect on that.  I awoke that morning on the couch upstairs in my living room.  I had come home late the night before and just fell asleep there.  I heard my wife scream downstairs and wasn't sure if I were dreaming.  Then I heard the dog barking in a panicked way, he was scared as he had never heard her scream like that.  I could hear her racing up the stairs repeating OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!  Jack, baby, please wake up, please baby wake up and with that, I heard the television go on.  The first plane had hit the tower and I watched in horror.  We knew so many people who worked there and we were so scared that this accident had happened.  Then only minutes later, the second tower was hit and my heart sank, it was not an accident, our nation was under attack by using our own airliners as missiles.  I will never till the day that I die forget the sights of watching people jump from the buildings full well knowing that they could never survive but just couldn't handle the pain of being burned alive and they chose to have one last moment of control, of choice, they made that choice and jumped!

From that day on, I was a news junkie.  I never changed the channel on the television, not for months and months!  I wanted to know the people who had done this, I wanted to know the reason and I wanted to know what drove them to do this.  I was in Daytona for bike week when I watched the first bombing of the trade center years before.  What could bring people to attack innocent people in such a cowardly fashion.  So you see here where I am going with the title of the blog, Politics and Religion, which were the cause of this chicken shit attack on our nation.  I have never been a fan of reading fiction, but mostly kept my reading to True Crime or of biographies of great people, but no longer.  I needed to find answers so that I could find understanding and no matter how much I have read and I have learned since that tragic day, I still have really very few answers. 

I fancy myself to be a reasonably intelligent person who longs for knowledge.  I believe that the greatest gift one can give them self is education and or knowledge.  I learned so much about the middle east, about Al Qaeda, the mujaheddin, hamas, Hezbollah and so much more.  I will never make a final opinion until I have heard each side of the story, whether it be from two friends fighting over a misunderstanding or two ways of life fighting over what they believe is their cause!  I also keep a truly open mind until I hear the facts.  Many times I can understand points of view or at the very least the often ill fated logic that seems to have taken them to take their position.

Now we are a nation at war.  We are a nation at war fighting on multiple fronts at the same time and this is hardly sustainable even for the world's greatest military force.  After 9/11 all of us, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Iindependents all wanted payback!  When you are attacked, I don't care what has been preached to us, you can't always turn the other cheek, better yet there are times you would be fool to.  Everyone was for going in and getting these COWARD FUCKS.  I don't know of a single person here in America who short of those who agreed with the attacks because America is of course the Great Satan, that was not behind our President!  Yes, I will say those two now un-speakable words, George Bush.  Did the guy really screw up in the end, well sure.  Did we find WMD's, no!  Were there WMD's, from all that I have read, there sure were and the Mujaheddin was in charge of them and they were moved right over the border in to Iran.  You know those guys, Iran, the friend of the world where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is there for all.  Well all who are at the very top of their crooked ass Government, if you don't fall in to that category, well then you get beatings, jailed or executed for speaking your mind.  As I am doing here, as so many of you did when you called President Bush a Nazi or even worse or all of the things I read and hear about our current President, right or wrong, we at least have the right to say it!  Sure is nice to have the right to speak freely isn't it?

Well before I go off and start getting in to what caused this war that they are fighting over there in the middle east since damn near the beginning of man walking up right, I will get in to what got me so fired up these last few days.  What got me to sit down tonight, write this and quite possibly lose both readers and friends is shame.  Not shame of being an American, not shame for supporting our troops nor shame for wishing that any person on earth who longs to be free should get just that, freedom.  What I am ashamed of is the way that we, "our government" has acted in these last two years.  When did we go from defending the underdog, defending those who can't defend themselves from brutal dictators and genocide and saving the free world in WWII, to being the nation that goes around the world and apologizes for being the nation that we are.  Shame because we have placed this Bullshit Global warming, oh wait, they proved that wrong, but there is still a shit ton of money to be made in it, so now it's new and improved with a new marketable name, what is it, oh yeah, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE!  Who could argue that right?  Was it hot yesterday, well yes!  Was it cooler today, well, yes!  HA!  PROOF RIGHT THERE, CLIMATE CHANGE!    We have placed this shit above human rights, saving lives and helping to spread freedom to those who long for it.  We have put protecting unions who donate tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to campaigns above standing up to a dictator who is slaughtering his own people in the streets.  Shame that we make no moves to do the right thing any longer until the polls are taken and these politicians wait to see the results to determine what action we will take.

Forget about what just happened in Egypt, I won't get in to that whole debacle but I'll say this.  We knew this was coming for over two years, this administration who was so surprised by the "sudden uprising" was in fact holding, training, teaching and supporting the young man, the student who got the whole thing started and paying for it all and providing him with his Visa to be here in America, somehow didn't know anything about it.  I won't go any further on this. 

What finally was the proverbial straw that broke Jack Shit's back was this shit in Libya.  People are being murdered in the streets for saying a dictator must go!  We said nothing!  It gets so bad that we begin plans to close our embassy and officially, we have no position!  We have the greatest Naval force on planet Earth and we sent not one ship even in to the area.  Still, while every ambassador and staff and foreign national from every other country is racing to get out of the country, we say nothing!  Every single nation with a Navy sent warships there and immediately loaded up their citizens and got them out of the country before they could be kidnapped, tortured and killed and we did and said nothing!  There are over 6 thousand Americans registered who live there.  The excuse by this administration for doing and saying nothing was that they didn't want to make anyone over there mad at us until we got our people out.  Did we send ships from the most powerful and state of the art Navy on earth there to get our people out?  NO!  WE RENTED, YES RENTED a ferry to save the lives of our citizens.  I'll say it again, WE RENTED A FUCKING FERRY!  So instead of having ships there to protect our citizens while they were being loaded on to one of OUR SHIPS, they were loaded on to a ferry that was such a piece of shit that for nearly 40 hours it could not leave the dock because the water was too "choppy" for this piece of shit to make the short journey someplace else!  How many days ago was that?  FRANCE STOOD UP TO GADHAFI BEFORE WE DID!  Yes, you heard me correctly, France stood up to them first.  NOW I AM REALLY ASHAMED! 

On this subject I will say one more thing and this is why I call bullshit!  With the exception of the plane that we chartered, not military transports, a chartered plane, just like the fucking ferry.  Maybe we got a deal on the rental who knows, carry how many people?  The ferry took 250 Americans from Libya, what does a plane hold, another 200 or so?  That is 400 - 500 people, Americans.... where are the other 5500?  We said nothing because we currently have people in office with no spine, no heart and no common sense and damn it is pretty scary.

Today, for the very first time, our fearless leaders here in the good ol' US of A made an announcement, that he must go!  REALLY?  NO SHIT!  We all knew this already because France stood up to this bully more than a week ago!  Today too now, we have only just started to steam our ships even in that direction.  I am not a war monger.  There is nothing on Earth that I hate more than war.  The senseless loss of life for what?  But just as we had to do in WWII, there are times that you must stand up to an evil dictator and put a stop to the senseless killing of men, women and children who have done nothing but maybe wanted to have a FACEBOOK profile of their very own.

I will say this to you now.  If I offended you with this understand one thing and remember the disclaimer at the top of the page and the promise that I made to you when I first began this blog.  I will never lie to you.  I will never mislead you and never for personal gain will I ever give you information with a "personal slant" to make you lean one way or another.  What this world needs now, not just America, is a return to simple common sense and a return to live and let live.  We have become the police department to the world and although for the most part I have come to truly hate the police, there is a reason that they need to exist.  Sometimes the cops have to kick down the door of a murderer who is hiding in a house and holding hostages.  There are times when you must risk losing on your end, to help an innocent who can't protect themselves or has found themselves in harms way.  When you have the ultimate SWAT team, what good are they if you can't use them because the Chief of Police is afraid that if he sends them in, he will upset or offend all the other criminals and they may commit more crimes.  You deal with one Scumbag at a time and then you deal with the next. 

I truly do hope and pray that in our times or at the very least our children's times that there may one day be peace!  Now let's just take a small unit of Delta and some Rangers and go take this piece of shit out of the picture before he can use chemical weapons or some other un-Godly weapon on his own, innocent people who just want to live a good life, raise their children and be FREE!

A GREAT MEMORY IS THE BEST ANTI DEPRESSANT EVER!

Some days, no matter how good things are going in your life, no matter how good your health may be, no matter what, you still feel a little bit down.  Sometime there is just no rhyme or reason as to why you feel the way you do.  For me, all can be great but if I don't see the sun shining brightly I feel shitty.  Give me a few days with no sunshine and I am like a junkie who has gone cold turkey and is desperately in need of a fix.  Today, I NEED MY FIX!  I'm in Arizona damnit!  Where the hell is the sun?   I can remember years ago, in my first home, I was laid up post surgical and really a mess.  I had to sleep on the living room floor for a few weeks as I could barely move.  I would just lay there, feeling down and in all kinds of pain and one day I rolled over and looked up at my wall.  What began as a huge blank wall with one photo in the center had grown in to a 20 foot wide collage of blown up photos from great moments captured in time.  The longer I looked at it, the better I felt.  I could stare at each photo and I was transported back to the moment that it was captured and I could feel the happiness that I was feeling that day and you know what, it eased the pain and the sadness.  I didn't look at them and think woes me, I looked at them and thought "what a day" and I can't wait to make more memories like that!  Staring up at those photos on the wall carried me through that horrible time.  I no longer have a wall of photos like that in my home now, but I do have my lap top and a few years of incredible memories captured in split seconds of time!  I take a walk down memory lane without ever even having to stand up and it makes me feel great.  So when you feel a bit blue, grab that box of old pics, you remember those right?  Take them out, remember great times and then go out and make more!  Here are a few shots from this last year that bring back great feelings and motivate me to go out and make new friends and new memories that will carry me through other rough patches, I hope you enjoy these shots!

I got to ride an amazing journey with my dearest friends!

Nothing like taking a pic of the greatest bike lifestyle photographer on earth,

 taking a pic of you at the same time.

I got to carry a war hero's fake leg and put it someplace safe.  But forgot to tell

him exactly where I put it!  Woops!

Met my first Tuba Ho in Memphis Tenn.  I still have the

dent in my head from where that tuba whacked it!

Spent Christmas with dear friends and family in my new home.

Got to see one of my oldest friends in the world after not seeing him for 20 years

rip the roof off a joint.  Black Label Society was amazing.

I got to host one of the greatest bars on earth during the

greatest bike rally on earth.  That is my knuckle logo on the banners.

They were all over Sturgis!

A great friend did one of the sickest burnouts ever on an

incredible knucklehead at The World Famous Broken Spoke Saloon

and did it for me!  Thanks Brother Teach!

One of the highlights of my life, I had a Doobie Brother tell me,

He enjoyed my performance, can you imagine?  What a classy guy he is too!

There are times in your career where you must just keep going and going

to make sure that you have done it right!  Hours and hours of this is brutal!

Salvation Mountain, Slab City, Niland California.  One of the most

amazing labors of love I have ever witnessed.  That is a hand painted mountain!

Chopper ride down to the town too tough to die to visit brothers.

Tombstone, Arizona with our family!

What can I possibly say about this?  This one speaks for itself.  You know

ladies love outlaws!

An amazing family visit and a day spent shooting in the desert.

I won't soon forget this day.

It's not often that the family actually gets to be together.

Shot in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere,

at the Slab City Riot in California

I hope you enjoyed these photos.  These were but a few of the great memories I have been able to make

over this last year.  I could have posted hundreds of pics but there was no need.  By the time I had gone through the files to find these, they did their job and I already feel better! 

So go out, live life and make memories that will last forever.  No photo that you capture is ever stupid and may one day give you the strength to pick yourself up and carry on!  Love your life, Love your friends and whatever you have to do, LOVE YOURSELF!

UNTIL WE SEE EACH OTHER ON THE ROAD;

KEEP THE WIND IN YOUR FACE,

TITS IN YOUR BACK

AND THE MAN OFF YOUR ASS!

KARMA AIN'T ALWAYS A BITCH !

As you guys know, I picked up that FXRS last week.  As you guys may also know that modern bikes aren't really my style.  The problem with runin old iron is the wear and tear that it puts on them.  Running a nice day ride and putting two hundred miles on her is a good day.  Once you get going and you begin to hit in the 3 and 4 hundred mile mark on the odometer not only does your ass begin to hurt but your brain starts drifting in to the what if scenarios?  What if running hard at 85-90 mph is just more than this old girl was really ever meant to handle?  Now that I am 250 miles out in the middle of the desert, what the hell do I do if I need parts for a 64 year old bike?  Although nearly every time my old girl makes these trips loud and proud that worrisome little bug still gnaws away in the back of my brain.  Sometimes you need to hit the miles hard and make both time and distance and doing it on a knucklehead isn't the best option. 

So I got this FXRS to take over the duty of the "road bike".  A bike that I can just hop on without any real worries and go bang out 500 miles at 100 mph and still no that not only will I not be pissing blood but maybe I can even walk when I get where I am going!  The problem is that right now this particular bike is not really set up for this type of riding.  I have always been a real fan of the FXRT and P because of the fixed fairing and the tour packs.  The funny thing is that when these bikes came out nobody wanted them because they looked too much like jap bikes.  Now, good luck finding the parts for all this shit! 

That is where the title of the post comes in to play.  As you guys know from my other writings, I am always there for others, without fail.  I have never, not once in my life, fucked anyone over and I can say that with 100 percent certainty.  My family, like a great many in America these days finds ourselves fighting the good fight to survive.  The bills are big and the income at times quite small.  Add to that the insane cost of a family dealing with illness and most months there is just not an extra penny to be had.  I often ask, when is this shit going to turn around for us?  The old saying, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have none at all seems more and more to be more than an old saying but more like my personal motto!  We have amazing Karma, good pure Karma, when will it come back around on us?  Well it appears that it may be doing just that.  Are things swinging our way?  Seems that since getting this bike, so many people have reached out to me with part after part to try and help me get the bike set up for doing some long hard miles.  I get calls like, I got this and I got that and all you have to do is come and pick it up... When I ask what they want for the parts, they just say, I didn't offer to sell them to you, I said, COME PICK THEM UP!  Then you got a guy like Roadside Marty, check out his blog, www.flatbrokecustoms.blogspot.com and check out the amazing bikes he builds.  Who calls me now nearly each day now to tell me of another part that he has found for me.  I could go on and on with stories like this that have been happening all week.  I am blown away.  All of this just so that my friends can help get me back in the wind.  Touched and humbled doesn't come nearly close to how I am feeling about this all.

I don't know if my good Karma has finally come full circle and has worked it's way back to me so I try not to question it!  But here is the way that my sick mind has grown to work over the years.  I am that guy who has gotten so screwed over, so abused by the system that I am conditioned to just expect the worst!  So now as each of these good things begin to happen for both myself and my family, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Is this a tease?  Seems that each time I take one step forward, I get pushed 3 steps back.  No matter what, I knuckle up, keep my chin down and keep on fighting, giving up is not in the cards but it does make me wonder.  Is the Universe fucking with me again.  Is it giving me a little taste of good, just so it can haul off and kick me in the balls again?  I don't know the answer to this and I guess only time will tell what it is going to be.  When I know, you will too! 

My wife asks me why I am not happy about the way things are going?  I tell her it's not that I am not happy, I am just worried that on the scale of the good that is happening to us lately, I just worry that the scale of bad that usually follows may be worse than ever!  For now, I am coming to grips with the good.  I am not a taker, I am a giver.  Nothing warms my heart more than helping  someone out or being able to give an amazing gift to someone, but to this day I find it very difficult to accept gifts and nice gestures.  For me, it is definitely better to give than receive!  But I could really get use to good things happening as long as it's not the Universe setting me up for another practical joke.....  oh well, these were just my thoughts as I sit here tonight, once again after midnight trying to figure out the meaning of life and once again finding no answers.  I guess after living through bad for so long, I am conditioned to not only expect it, but to accept it.  I believe if you don't get yourself all worked up with hope, you won't be disappointed when you don't get it!  It is nice to see things turning around, I just can't remember how to deal with good things, I am just so use to the bad!

I hope that these tough times turn around for each and every single one of us.  Keep putting up the good fight, it has to pay off in the end right?

I am honored!

I turned on my blog a short time ago just to see how it's doing.  Once I start up on something I can get a bit obsessed.  I had been told for so long by so many to start a blog.  I was afraid to, the very same way I was before I started doing stand up.  What if I do it and nobody laughs?  With the blog all I could think of was what if I write it and nobody gives a shit?  I had a new friend who works for my favorite Cycle Rag and I got a message saying how much they enjoyed my writing and I should really do it.  That was what I needed to hear.  Someone who writes and "reads" telling me that my writings were worth enough for people to want to not only read them, but share them.  That was it, I started one and I went in Blind!

I took a look at a few friends blogs and saw how they were laid out and what a blog even was.  They had followers and posts and lots and lots of page views or "hits".  I set a goal that I would write it for a year and slowly build it up.  If I could get 20 followers and 1000 page views in that first year, I would continue it.  I began the blog, I believe in the middle of December.  In the short 3 months since I began writing and sharing on this blog the stories of my life with my friends I could not believe the responses I have received.  In just 3 months I have nearly 75 fine folks following it and I am fast approaching 10,000 page views or "hits".  I am so honored and truly humbled that you guys read it and send me the most amazing messages about it.  But I must say what truly blows my mind is when I get a message saying that someone shared it with them.  Or they saw it on a facebook page linked by someone I didn't even know liked it.  I just wanted to say thank you so very much.  You guys may never know what this means to me.  If you promise to keep reading it, I promise to keep it coming at you with 100% brutal honesty!

Yesterday I posted up on facebook info from here that I just couldn't believe.  My blog has now been viewed and shared in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Philippines, Australia, India, Portugal, Spain, Vietnam, and Denmark.  When I first started it, I had a few readers in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and even one girl in Iran.  Soon after,  my blog was banned there and turned off.  I was so proud.  Well today when I turned it on, there were five page views from Saudi Arabia!  Maybe it's back on or some folks just got real crafty in getting it!

I also saw today in those stats and info that a dear friend of mine and Cycle Source Mags, Motorcycling's Man of the Year, the shop teacher that I only dreamed of having, the founder of Chopper Class with Mr. Baas, the one and only Kevin "Teach" Baas has signed up to follow us and check in and keep up with what's going on in Jack Shit's World.  Welcome and thank you so much Brother Teach!  I am once again honored my friend that you joined us here.

That picture above was taken on one of the best days of my life.  It was my birthday and I was hosting the festivities at the one and only world famous Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis for the 70th anniversary.  The day was huge, we had so much going on that even Radical Randy from Florida came in to help keep the madness under control.  Not only did we have the Easy Rider Ride In Chopper Show, but we had the winners from the girls high school chopper builders, build a bike from scratch right up on the stage in one day and fire it up.  We had contests, we had playmates of the year, music all day and night, it was great.  Mike Lichter came down and spent the day with us and told Jay Allen that he wanted to shoot some burnouts.  Jay relayed this to me and I said let me see what I can do.  It's the world famous Spoke, we can't just have any ol' burnouts.  Well both Teach and Roadside Marty crushed in the Easy Rider show with stunning bikes but they then turned them loose in the burnout pit and did INSANE ALL GEAR BURNOUTS!  They each told me in the end that they did it for me, to support me at my gig there and it touched my heart.  These guys are the definition of class!

In the few years that I have gotten to know Teach and his lovely wife Amy we have gotten to spend some good quality time together and each year I look forward to them coming to see us in Arizona again.  Since the first time I have met him, I have never heard a bad word spoken of him, the man is truly a gentleman and does it all FOR THE KIDS!   They say that a man can often be judged by the company he keeps and since meeting Teach, I was lucky enough to meet and become friends with all those he surrounds himself with and they are some of the finest people I have ever had the privilege to know.

Both Roadside Marty's FLAT BROKE CUSTOMS and Teach's blogs are over there on the right side of my page and they are both phenomenal, you will love them.  If you are in to any thing bikes you will think they are cool, if you are passionate about bikes and choppers they you just may drool.  Let em know I sent ya.

Again, for each of you who has taken the time to read this blog, thank you.  For each of you who has shared this blog, thank God for you!  Let's build this up together and please, don't ever hesitate to let me know of some cool shit to share with all of our friends.  Hope the weekend was incredible for all my friends and let's knock this thing over the 10,000 hits mark and I'll send you all .............. well, nothing really but a great big thanks!

I'm telling you, this shit really works!

So the other day I had written about always doing the right thing, at any cost and I truly try to live by it.  I also received comments about the Karma Truck backing up to my front door and unloading and I said oh yeah that day is long over due.  You get a bit disheartened sometimes no matter how much good you do.   Everyone always says that it is better to give than receive and I too believe that from the bottom of my heart but, sometimes it just feels good to be recognized or thanked. 

Now about this shit really working, here is a perfect example.  You all know about "Panda" getting killed on the bike right?  Even though I didn't know him, I still performed the memorial service to help ease the pain of some friends.  A week or so later, I volunteered my time to host the benefit to raise money for the boys he left behind.  See, doing good things right?  So while there, a friend from facebook and hell, maybe even myspace that I had never met in person walks up and introduces herself.  We had photo comments and such but never really much conversation.  Since we really never met, what did we have to talk about right?  She turned out to be really very nice in person.  As luck would have it, I got pulled away and our time was cut short.  The Microphone called!  Now this fine lady is helping another friend who lives here in Az.  He is going through a world of shit and I mean a WORLD OF SHIT!  To make a long story short on this part, the state put this poor bastard on the rack and stretched him until he nearly broke!  In this glorious process, he has damn near lost everything.  The fine lady that I mentioned earlier invited him to stay with her and gave him a roof over his head.... that's good shit to do for someone!  MORE GOOD DEEDS HAPPENING NOW!

So less than 48 hours after meeting this lovely lady I get a message.  Her ex is jammed up and is really getting it good from the system.  Like so many, he is beat down and near busted from the world we are all living in right now.  He has a bike, a good bike and he needs to get rid of it.  One friend suggested to another that they reach out to me.  "Jack Shit is asshole deep in this shit" he said, if anyone can help you get this done quick, it's him!  I got the message and took a look at a pic taken by cell phone online.  It was hard to tell how it really looked, hell, it was at least intact!  I reached out to the ex and made arrangements to check it out.  When we got there, we got to talking about all the shit going on in every one's lives.  I explained that we too had been beaten down hard over the last few years and suggested he just keep knuckling up and pushing forward.  Here is the bike that he had to sell

Imagine my surprise when I got there and saw that not only was it an FXR but a FXRSC, yeup, the ever elusive Convertible.  I was no longer interested in helping these fine folks to move a bike that had to go and find someone to take it.... it was taken!  The person was found!  Now although the paint and shiny stuff is not at all my style, THIS BITCH IS BAD!  So while bullshitting in the back yard, we negotiated a fair price for both of us.  This guy was dynamite, he knew what he had, but knew too well that it had to go and go quick, with no getting jerked around and he was a realist when it comes to what used bikes are worth.  He was such a nice guy that we decided that we would do not only a good deed for him but a great deed.  Here is another picture of the bike and then I'll tell ya.

So now it was quite hard to come up to the number he wanted and it was quite hard for him to come down to the number I wanted so we found a happy medium and the deal was done.  After just learning what my new friend was going through we put our expertise in gear and we explained to him how in a deal that he was involved in, he could make an extra, 2-3 thousand dollars and come out ahead of the game by using this little known trick.  Turns out that he didn't know and it felt great to help him find out about it!  So by him not being a dick when we came together on the price, what we taught him will put far more money in his pocket than what he came off on the price of the bike. 

See where I am going with this all?  When you do nice, good things and do right by people, maybe the universe does kick it back every now and again?  Had I not helped my friends in their desperate time of loss, I would never have been at the benefit, had I not been at the benefit I would not have met this friend in person, had she not met me in person, I would not have come up in the minds of my friends when they thought about the bike, had I not been a good friend to the friend living with her I would not have been suggested, had I not been a good person the guy with the bike would have thought me a scum bag and not made a deal with me, had he not made a deal with me I still would have told him about how to do better for himself but I may not have felt as good as I did about it!  lol... 

I always say just do the right thing and do it for just that very reason, because it is the right thing!  It is just that simple!  I will say though that it does feel really good to have something good happen back for you.  I really began to forget about what it felt like when that happened.  Don't get me wrong, I have exceptional friends that would do anything to help us anytime we asked, the thing is, we virtually never ask.  What makes this so great is that this happened and I never asked for it to......   and THAT SHIT ROCKS!  So, ya wanna see her ass?  I thought so, here you go, hope you enjoy it.

I will not say the who's who or the who did what's or why but I will just say thank you to;  Coty, Ed, Tracy, Diane, Byron, Mario and Panda, the friend I never got to have.  You each had a SIGNIFICANT SPOT in the direct line of GOOD DEEDS AND GESTURES that made this all work out for the very best.  Beginning sadly with the loss of a friend to me back on the road with a reliable scooter and putting me hard in to the wind again!  Now everyone, get out there and do some good!

 I'm telling you, it pays off in the end in more ways than one.  I guess I'll not only be seeing you on the road, but I'll be seeing you on roads much further away!

No bullshit here, this is "hands down" the best I have ever had!

Every now and again I come across a place that is a must see, a road that is a must ride, a person who is a must know, an artist who is a must check out and on the very rare occasion, a product that is a must have!  I have come across one of those products and I want to share it with you guys, my friends.  Now understand from the get go, no one is paying me to do this, there is no promise of a hand job if I say something nice, nothing like it at all, but now that I said that, I'm thinking it's not such a bad idea, anyway,  I just know when something is good and when something is shit!  Typically, if it is Shit, I say nothing!  I am not in the business of hurting people's feelings.  Oh wait, I am a stand up comic, so that may not be fully the truth.  Let's say for the most part, I am not in business of doing it and I don't normally take pleasure in it, normally!

I got mine nearly a year ago and I never ride without them, NEVER!  NO it's not a 64" front wheel, and no it's not some amazing new braking system because God knows, I don't use them because hell, I don't really even have them.  I call what I have, Suggested Retail Rear Brakes, they are not all they are cracked up to be and honestly worth less than a third of what they are valued at!  What I am talking about is something that we take for granted and just grab any old pair.  Now I know where your mind is going and again, NO, I am not now talking about TITS either.  Although now that I am a bit older and have my very own pair to play with any time I like, they are not nearly all they are cracked up to be either!  Hey, at least I don't need a bra yet or that just may be the next product I bring to you.

Last June I think it was, I was riding cross country on the Horse Magazine's Long Road.  I had planned on going for months.  I was going to ride out to New Mexico with George The Painter, Brother Porn and Jay, party with them for 2 days and then ride on off solo to Rockingham, N.C..  As the day of departure neared I started to have second thoughts about riding the Knuck all that distance at such a break neck speed, balls out if you will.  I began to count myself out on the trip.  Turns out that just prior to leaving I got hit with a huge expense and it damn near wiped us out for the month.  How do I justify then leaving for a cross country trip?  My dear friend Daryl could see the disappointment on my face and pulled me aside and said listen man, of all people on earth, it is killing me to see you down, you are there for everybody, always, without fail and now I want to be there for you!  Really, what do you mean?  He said he was going out of town for two weeks and that there would be no way for him to ride, so "just take my new bike and go man"!  Are you shitting me?  Really?  You mean rather than ride a rigid, 64 year old chopper 5k miles, you want me to ride your brandy new Bike?  Let me think for a second, okay!  This is what he gave me!

That bike was damn near brand spanking new.  I think it only had 2500 miles on it!  Some of you may not know the shape that this old scooter jockey is in, but I'll say this, it ain't the best!  5 knee surgeries, a surgically reconstructed hand and wrist and a few ruptured discs take their toll on a guy.  Not to mention my plethora of head injuries and living each day in horrible pain.  What at first felt a little like cheating, riding a bagger on a chopper ride began to feel like a stroke of mad genius!  I took him up on the offer and thought, hell, I'll get off that bike each day and feel like I've never even been on one..... boy oh boy was I mistaken there.  100+ temps matched with 100% humidity at 100 mph will take it's toll on anyone, much less a guy like me.  There were times that my hand and wrist were so bad that I could barely hold on to the bars.  By the time I got to Memphis I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  Take a day to get the feeling back in my left hand and then head back maybe, a BROKEN BITCH!  Well thanks to a new friend that didn't happen.

While sitting at the bar in Memphis, I was hanging out with the one and only Bean're.  C'mon, would you expect less?  He had met a good friend of his there, her name was Lynn.  While we were hanging out she took a look at the brace on my wrist and said "what's that all about", I explained.  She asked if it made it difficult to ride?  I began to explain, "funny you ask but yes, sometimes it does".  We talked back and forth and I began to explain what was wrong with it and how it was repaired.  I told her how bad it was and that I had even thought about turning back.  She told me not to move, that she would be right back, so I didn't.  She returned and asked me about what kind of glove I wore riding.  I don't know, I wear glove, gloves!  What do you mean?  Leather gloves, I wear leather gloves.  Well check this out she said.  She handed me what looked to be a pretty strange pair of gloves.  Different than anything I had ever seen.  Now we have all seen gloves with a pad here or some corny shit that is supposed to help you ride and they actually make it damn near impossible to even hold onto the grips.  You realize you just pissed away more money on shit gloves.  I was blown away by them.  She explained to me that her friend was an orthopedic surgeon and he too rode.  She explained in great detail about the parts of the wrist and hands that get beat up extra hard when riding and holding on to the bars.  Every part of the hand and wrist she mentioned is what was hurt and repaired on mine, what are the odds?  That's why it hurt so damn much!  I told her that I loved them and they felt great and I wished her good luck with them.  I meant it too, they felt pretty good.  She asked if I wanted a pair?  Of course I did but like I said before, cash was really tight and I was on a shoe string budget.  She said that she didn't want me to suffer any longer and she heard in my voice how much I didn't want to turn back.  She said, "TAKE THEM, THEY ARE NOW YOURS"!  Really?  Are you shitting me?  I was blown away!

I got on that bike the next morning and said to hell with it, I am just going to point the bike east and go as far as I could.  About 250 miles in to the trip that day, I all of a sudden realized, WOW, my hand don't hurt and as a matter of fact, neither does my wrist!  HOLY SHIT!  Further on and on, the miles melted away and no pain in the wrist and hand, not only was it incredible, but it was the first time ever that I rode without serious pain, EVER!  I am going to load up a pic so you guys can see these bad lil bitches!

If you click on the pic it blows up full size.  Take a close look at these.  This is not a padded glove by any stretch of the imagination.  These are designed by a specialist!

The back of the gloves are perforated so that you have amazing air flow over them.  Mine are leather on the palms and the backs but they are offered in other ways and materials as well.

Notice that the shape and placement of each pad are designed to hold on to handle bars

and help to keep an extremely tight grip.

I have ridden with these gloves on every single ride since June.  They got me from Memphis, Tenn. to Rockingham, N.C. without hand and wrist pain and without question SAVED MY TRIP!  I met some amazing people in person for the first time on that trip rather than on silly facebook or myspace.  I made business contacts on that trip that will last a life time.  I had one of the most incredible rides that I have ever experienced and none of it would have at all been possible had I not stopped in Memphis and met this dear friend of Bean's named Lynn Rowe.  I believe that the universe puts people in your path for a reason and what you do from there is up to you.  No, they don't all live up to the standards that we have set but you have to take a chance and if they don't, screw em, cut em loose, life is too short to surround yourself with assholes or leeches who suck the very life from you!  I almost said too short to surround yourself with Shit, but that would have cut me right out of all of your lives! 

So now, I want you to do us both a favor.  I want you to go to http://www.qwinerveprotector.com/ and check these things out.  They have nine, yes nine, different styles of glove just for riding.  They also make driving gloves and bicycle gloves amongst other things.  The truck drivers that I have turned on to these gloves say that they changed their lives as well.  Also, here on Facebook, you can find my friend Lynn Rowe, ask to add her as a friend and you won't regret it, this lady is first class!  I could go on and on about these gloves but the web site is really the most informative and will answer any question you have.  They have every glove in ever size from xxs to xxl, they will have a glove for you.  Don't forget to tell them that your friend Jack Shit sent ya. 

I have made it clear to Lynn just how grateful I truly am for her generosity and I want you to feel the same way towards me after you have yours.  Remember on that next ride, when you get off of your bike and your fingers still work well enough to dig out that frozen snottsickle, I want you to think of me!

All bullshit aside, check these out, they will forever change your riding for the better.  Whether you ride rigid or you are riding a big road sofa it don't matter, these things are amazing.  Thanks for checking them out and the next time I come across something amazing that has grown to mean something to me, I'll let you guys all know!

Here is the link again;  http://www.qwinerveprotector.com/

When I do GOOD, no one remembers but when I do BAD no one forgets!

.....the answer is YES if you are wondering if that is the one and only Randy Pants, one of the fighters from Choppertown Camparound!  While we are on that subject let me just say that motorcycle events in general have changed so very much in the last few years that some are barely recognizable as such.  Not Choppertown!  This is the shit, the real deal, strap what you can on your bike because you don't need any more kind of party on the side of a mountain in Arizona and it's second annual is just around the corner!  Please google that shit!  The date is earlier this year and it's during AZ Bike Week, so if you want a touch of what "riding and brotherhood" use to be about and still lives on here, then grab a tent or your sleeping bag and get your asses up there, this you will not regret!

Now on to the subject line, the title of this blog post.  Very few things in life I have found to be more true than those very words above.  This holds especially true if the evidence lends itself to show that you are a biker.  For years this really pissed me off to no end.  Why is it that you can stop your bike at an accident, smash windows to pull people out of their wrecked, gas leaking vehicles, get them away before the cars burst into flames and then go sit on the side of the road to drink some water and have one of our fine public servants, yes, they are supposed to protect and serve us, the people, come over and read you the riot act because of where your bike is parked?  Then after being accused of causing the accident, obviously because you are a scum bag biker, this fine officer notices that the registration tag on your plate expired two days prior and writes you a ticket while people are shouting for him to help out the injured, but he just continues on, checking your vin number, because the piece of shit you obviously must be, must have clearly stolen that fine piece of American Iron that you are riding.  It must be stolen of course because no one who looks like us could possibly be capable of holding down a job or better yet a career and be a productive part of society, right?  I could go on and on with stories like these that I have experienced personally or have been shared with me but I won't, I am sure you guys must get the point, right?  I have decided to go the other direction and this is why.

A few years ago I found myself in the battle of my life, fighting for my life and my freedom.  The  reason that I was  forced into this battle was the very fact alone that I was a "BIKER".  The lowest of the low, a gang member that must be swiftly and with extreme prejudice, removed from the streets for the safety of the community and the security of our nation!  I CALL BULLSHIT!  We put up the fight of our lives and although I can't really say we won, because in no uncertain terms, we DID NOT, I am free to live, to love and to learn.  The first lesson that I learned back then was that there is NO JUSTICE, in the JUSTICE SYSTEM!  The entire system is flawed if not totally fucked!  I am not going to go in to any further details of the who's, the what's or the why's all this happened, you will have to wait for the book for that one and believe me when I tell you, you will want to read this story.  What I will go into is the aftermath of it all.  I turned myself off.  I removed myself from the BIKER WORLD and I just disappeared and moved out west.  When you have a crooked cop who is on a mission to ruin your entire life and you get a chance to run, YOU RUN FAST and that is just what I did.  I was tired of being pre-judged because of the way I looked so I cut off my 16' goatee and gave locs of love a 31" pony tail for the kids with cancer.  Which for the record is the 3rd time this SCUMBAG BIKER has done this.  I slipped into the world of the CLEAN CUT for the first time since I was 13 years old.  I went from being this guy;

To being this guy; For the record I was actually a bit scruffy below from travelling cross country.  My hair was growing in and my goatee was thickening up again.

I had changed what I looked like on the outside but nothing about me had changed.  I was still the very same person on the inside.  Boy oh boy did it all change after the haircut and leaving the life.  Strangers would smile at me walking past, old ladies wouldn't clutch their purses as I passed, people stopped trying to run me off the road while on my bike and the biggest thing, no one tried to kill me anymore!  All this changed because I cut my hair and trimmed my beard?  Is the world that screwed up?  For the first year, I spoke to barely a soul.  I stopped attending toy runs, charity events or anything else for that matter.  I just slipped away.  Over time I found that there was a great big hole in my soul.  I wasn't sure what was missing? 

I slowly got back out in to society and rather than ride alone, I began to meet folks out here.  That old Knucklehead of mine is sure good at breaking the ice with like minded chopper jockeys.  The more I rode her around, the more people I met and many of those people are in my life to this day.  Had I let them keep me down or I had I given up on who I truly was, I would have missed out on so many great memories and so many amazing people!  I slowly began my return to charity events.  Diane and I rode on our first Arizona toy run and were stone, blown away by the sheer size of it.  When we reached the end point and saw hundreds of down and out kids receiving those donated toys, I damn near cried.  For the record, those donated toys were donated by us Scum Bags.... Diane was picked from the crowd to go up on to the stage and hand those toys out to these children and the strangest feeling came over me.... I was warm, I was happy, I was content and I was at ease and I hadn't been any of these things for 3 years by this time.  When we left that day I noticed that my rodeo bike that we rode there was leaking oil and you know what?  I didn't care!  We had no idea where we were because we rode in with a pack of nearly 800 bikes and now we were alone and lost and you know what?  I didn't care!  The sun was setting, we were under dressed and it was getting cold and you know what?  I didn't care!  We rode home and we each had a smile on our faces from ear to ear and right there and then I realized.....  I DO CARE!  I care about my friends, I care about my brothers, I care about my family, I care about my community, I care about homeless soldiers, I care about people who have lost homes to fires, I care about strangers who have less than I do, I JUST CARED!  After having had it beaten, quite literally beaten out of me, again, I cared!

I opened up my mind again to helping others without worrying about going to jail for it!  I once again was able to live my life without looking over my shoulder for a crooked cop who may just kill me.  Most importantly, I opened up my heart again and allowed people the opportunity to earn a place in it and you know what?  It felt amazing!  From that moment on, all I wanted to do was once again, go back to being the person that I truly am.  No more hiding under short hair and a shave.  I once again became INVOLVED in the world around me and tried to personally correct some of the wrongs that happen to people.  I gave as big as I could, I gave till it hurt.  I never once turned away anyone who came to me in need, not one single time and you know what?  It really made me feel good.  I came to the conclusion that I really didn't give a shit what people thought of me because anyone who is willing to judge someone based on their appearance was not someone I could care about what they thought nor would I allow them to ever again influence one single solitary thought.

This has all come freshly to the forefront of my thoughts because of what I did yesterday.  Rather, I should say because of what so many did yesterday.  I had written previously about "the best friend I never had", a cat named Kenny "Panda" Rohrer, a person whom I had never even met.  He was killed a few weeks ago on his bike.  The accident so bad he couldn't even have an open casket.  I had gotten a call from a dear friend who was absolutely devastated by the loss.  She asked if I would help with the memorial service.  I didn't know this man, but I did know this friend and if I could help in any tiny little way, how could I refuse?  So I did the service and it again lit a fire in my heart.  So many people hugged me, said thank you and cried on my shoulder.  After the service, I was informed about a benefit to be held to help out his 3 sons who were left without a dad, a role model or a hero and asked if I could help.  How could I say no?  Will you host it?  Of course I will.  Will you perform?  Well, I'll try to make people laugh, no promises! 

Yesterday the benefit was held and it was nothing short of incredible.  The weather, the turnout, the donations and the love shown to this family were overwhelming!  I was honored to be a part of it.  What I always assumed to be a waste of time and effort, "the bike wash", raised over 500 bucks alone for these boys.  That silly bike wash was worked nearly all day and in to the afternoon almost entirely by two ladies who broke their asses to help out.  Shit, my fat ass is exhausted after cleaning out my truck and I am sure they must have been too, but they just kept going.  They worked so hard that on several occasions they didn't even realize that one or both of their boobs had fallen out.  Now that is devotion! 

 One of the 50/50's, the big one, was won by a woman named Michelle and she promptly returned all of her winnings, there's another 500 bucks for the kids!  I don't know in the end what was raised for these boys and it's really none of our business.  I know that not only were they left a bit more financially secure, but they got to see the love, the honor and respect that people had for their dad!  Kenny did a lot of bad things, made some mistakes, hell, we all do.  But more importantly he did so many more GOOD THINGS....  There is a big hole in this Universe that needs to be filled, I hope we each step up a bit more and try to fill that void!

In closing, I have come to the conclusion that I don't give a shit if you remember the good that I do and I don't care if you ever forget the bad that I have "allegedly of course" done, I am good with me and I am surrounded by people who love me, are loyal to me and respect me and I need nothing more.  In the end, remember that it is better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6!  Do whatever you must to remain true to the person that you are.  As I walked out to my bike last night before knowing how the day would end, I wondered if Kenny would have enjoyed the day and I looked up and saw this;

Right then and there, I knew in my heart that not only would he have enjoyed it, but in fact he DID ENJOY IT, because he gave us this gorgeous day and ended it with this spectacular sky!

Long may we all run!

UNTIL WE ALL MEET AGAIN ON THE ROAD,

KEEP THE WIND IN YOUR FACE

TITS IN YOUR BACK

AND THE MAN OFF YOUR ASS!

Ride Safe and Ride Free my friends!

I didn't take many pics yesterday because I was a busy lil beaver, but I captured a few so I thought I would just add them here in the end, no explanation, just a few shots.