Blackhawk Down and Out I am watching Merrick Garland make a DOJ announcement about their investigation into the events surrounding the George Floyd killing and has concluded that the Minneapolis PD committed civil rights violations on a rather routine basis. His listing of the evidence of violations of those civil rights, the First Amendment, the American Disabilities Act and various other cultural guardrails is really quite eye opening. The one that jumps out at me…
Be Useful I have just watched the three-part Netflix series called Arnold about the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was recommended to me by my oldest son Roger, who has always had a thing about pro wrestlers, and, I guess, guys like Arnold that build themselves up physically. I found it a very interesting biopic. There were three episodes, one for his early life and bodybuilding career (he was Mr. Universe four times and Mr.…
How the West Was Won Let me start by relieving everyone by saying that the last three days of riding have now turned a corner with my body. What I mean is that I was much less sore today from the ride than I had been any of the last three days. I don’t know if that means it now takes three days of pain to get two days of pleasure, but today was, indeed,…
Creatures of Comfort This is the third day of a five day motorcycle ride we are taking through Arizona and New Mexico. I know what you are thinking, that it might be too hot in the American Southwest for that sort of thing. I would like to expand the term of art to “Mad dogs, Englishmen and Motorcyclists go out in the noonday sun.” I am sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Encanto in…
Fort Apache We are in Apache country on the border between Arizona and New Mexico. Yesterday we took a scenic side trip on Rt. 72 that actually took us right past the historic Fort Apache, but I neither knew that at the time nor did we stop. I suspect that at that time of the day we were all bone weary and perhaps not as interested as we might have been in the morning. Fort…
Back in the Back Today we started our motorcycle ride through Arizona and New Mexico. I really haven’t ridden much since our ride through NorthernSpain and Portugal last October. That has mostly been a weather-related issue, but there has also Ben some dust in the air around our club membership that I have previously described and have no desire to rehash. This ride was organized by one our Phoenix members, so, naturally, it started and…
Dialing Up the Awesome Several years ago, my friend, Maggie Larsen, sent me a card that I keep in front of me at my desk. On that particular shelf I have things that are meant to remind me about the kind of person I want to be. I have a miniature model motorcycle and scooter to remind me of my greatest passion and its origins way back when with a Lambretta 50cc scooter when I…
Staying Loud I am here on the day after the indictment of Donald Trump on 37 federal criminal counts ranging from conspiracy to obstruct justice (one of Trump’s specialities) to willful retention of national defense information (not to mention sharing national defense secrets to unauthorized persons). Meanwhile a grand jury in Washington D.C. is hearing testimony from two fake electors from Nevada, which is part of the ongoing case by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to…
Strapping it On In October 1996, I rode my new yellow and black Honda Valkyrie, a monster of a motorcycle, up to Woodstock Vermont to go on a very chilly ride through the fall foliage of New England. I was meeting our good friends Frank and Barbara O’Connell at their place on the Ottauquechee River, called Robinson Farm. It was a notable farm because it has a massive barn that sits on the hillside and…
Reliving My Life I have for a long time prided myself in saying that I have no regrets. That is my way of saying that I feel I have lived a good life and that I have learned form every step I have taken, whether it turned out well for me or badly. I can point to a number of setbacks in my life, but none of them cause me to regret having gone down…