Seems some high winds the night before blew my friend around a bit…and while not injured, my friend was hung up and nobody could get close enough to help.

Bonus…got to drive my bucket truck on the sidewalk too! It’s not every day I get to wrangle a 18,000 pound truck on the sidewalks through the center of the city square.  Weeeeee!

Left-handed Fargle-snorkers DO occasionally come in handy.

The right tools make the job ever SO much easier…

Note the official VRCC Inzane shirt…(expecting my residual checks from VRCC staff any day now )

Some wiring for holiday lights had come loose, and the Flag had wrapped pretty good in the ends of it, and then somehow managed to flip the entire set up and snag on a guy wire. Must have been some serious winds. It was VERY stuck. The city couldn’t lower the flag and nobody (not even the fire department) had a tall enough ladder to safely reach it.

Another bonus…all you electrician types know…treat all electrical wiring as live. Fortunately my card says, “Author, Adventurer, Electrician”.

You can see here just how wrapped it was…

Annnd…we’re Free!

Took longer to untangle it than it did to set up the truck, but in the end, no harm done. Nobody died, and “…the Flag was still there.”

The snag on the guy was a single puncture in a folded edge seam so there is no damage…the weave closed right back up. I tied the errant electrical wiring back up out of the way. I even managed not to smush anything with the bucket truck! Plants, planters, poles, statues, cars, trucks, and Chamber of Commerce presidents all survived!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Yeah, about two minutes after I took this pic I hit this horrendous storm…75mph down the freeway…cold rain and windy…soaked in seconds…lightning hitting all around…thunder cracking so loud I could feel it. ‘Wrath of God-type stuff.’

100 miles of that. Then a break…just about enough to dry out…then I hit it again. I felt like I was going through a washing machine…miles of horrendous rains, then dry out. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. There was never any light rain. It was either on…or off.

Probably 400 miles of rain alltogether.

And then there’s me, laughing my ass off…passing the trucks…splashing in the rain…riding as fast as I could see and yelling to the storms, “Is that all you’ve got!?”

Just a fraction below out of control…for hundreds of miles.

So…I’m a little bit nuts. Maybe I knew that.

It rained so hard…that 100 miles after I left the storms…after a 100 miles of dry roads…I stopped for fuel and as I was dripping on the floor at the gas station the clerk asks, “What the hell happened to you?”

Made it here. Tire’s holding up. Having a good time. 300 Valkyries all in one place…more on the way. Some of the finest people you could ever meet riding them in. Social when I need it, but in minutes I can be alone, speeding down the open road.

Perfect.

Out on the road again. I’ve needed this. I might come back.

Y’all be safe…or at least fun.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

The new Shadow…

That’s a 2007 Honda Shadow 750. 3000-something miles. Red and flames. No scratches/dings etc. Very nice bike. She also did very well on the price.

The new Shadow with its new rider. Looks even better with the blonde on it, yes?

Gotta say…a lunch ride beats an actual lunch any day of the week.

Ride on Susanne!

Zoom Zoom!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Lots of food, great music, and pretty good weather made for a fun day. Lots of high-caliber artists with quality wares made for a “target-rich” environment for the discerning collecter.

I sold some books, made some friends, and generally mucked about having a good time.

Krashdragon came all the way out from Cleburne to pick up a book! THANKS for coming out! It was great to meet ya!

I expect to see the rest of ya’ll for next years festival!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

The trip was to eat some fine Italian food and scope out the Old Vic.

About 16 riders from the Dallas area, and we even had riders from Texarkana!

I had the Left-Handed Fargle-Snorker on the square to work on the tower my evil headquarters and so was in a unique position to see them arrive.

I think everybody enjoyed the lunch, and those that toured the Old Vic and the evil headquarters had a good time (most universally expressed sympathy at the amount of work we’ve got to do LOL!).

I must say…leading from the square to the Old Vic…I’ve never led a motorcycle group with a bucket truck before…

Oh, and Jeff “Wanderer” L. managed to capture and subdue a wild BMW thing in the yard…and is is usually the case when one manages a … feat … of such note, there were about 20 witnesses.

Most with cameras.

Alas…no real harm was done (Wanderer’s Ego is un-damageable) and the captured BMW thing was released unharmed.

We really enjoyed having y’all…and if you feel like you need some “skills” in the remodeling department bring your work clothes and we’ll have some lessons for ya!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

This year the 2010 Clarksville Fine Arts Festival will be Saturday, May 22, 2010, from 9:AM to 4:PM on the historic square in Clarksville, Texas.

This year’s festival is shaping up to be a great one. There will even be glass blowing demonstrations!

I’ll be there signing books and will also have original art and some prints.

Art. Music. Food. Fun. What else could you need? Come on by and see me!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

A run to Hico for some pie and to meet some new friends.

A big shout out to Darlene and Andy, visiting from Canada. Darlene managed to get Andy all the way to Texas for a little surprise (Andy, I’d keep an eye on her ).

They brought me a new Gremlin bell, which is timely as my current one was worn out.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Texas!

Thanks for the pie and the bell!

A 250 mile run home from work?

Well there was pie!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

I heard this song this morning…it popped out of my mp3 player on the way to work…I didn’t even know I had it. A message perhaps. Not the strangest thing that’s happened to me over the years (and miles). Not by a long shot.

I was instantly overwhelmed by intense feelings. A person lost to me and all the feelings we’d experienced together leapt to mind. It’s been a year now since that story…the untold tales…and the unlived chapters closed…unexpectedly and rather harshly.

It shouldn’t have been so hard…that year ago. My part in her story was over long ago…a decade? Two? I was not a part of her story way before her final page was written.

That final page…A year ago.

Really? A year? Perhaps that triggered the strongest feelings of all. Just where do all the days go? How do I not notice? What opportunities have shot by unnoticed as well?

I had to look in my journal to be sure…and that made me feel guilty. Once…I would have known the exact second…but there’s been so many over the years. So many seconds. So many memories. So many lost possibilities. The strength of the memories matters little, when there are so many of this intensity.

Passion as a principle has its cost.

Yes, it had been a year. More actually. That meant it was time to ride.

I left work…pushing hard into the heat. A hundred mile ride just to brush my fingers on the rough stone. The monument was cool depite the blistering heat of the day, but to my surprise there was nothing here for me.

That confused me even more. Surely there would be something special in this place?

Turns out there was only the dead.

It took a moment to realize…no…there was nothing special here because that essence…that presense I expected…as with many more that have touched my life…was with me all the time.

Never far away…

Passion as principle has its benefits too.

The journal:

Friday, February 01, 2008

I’ll see you on the road.
(end journal entry)

Steel and earth and fire and blood.
Never far away…

Yeah…

I’ll see you on the road.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Left to right…Speedo, Rainmaker, and Thalas’shaya.

‘Twas a cold day for a ride so they spent some time inside, warming up and swapping stories.

Great to see you’all (technical Texas term). I look forward to the day when the house is in a fit state for entertaining!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Jack was an active biker and forum participant, rode a Valkyrie, and was from the Dallas area.

Y’all take a moment to remember him and his family in this holiday season.

And take a moment to remember your loved ones too…

Life’s short…let’s ride.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer