This is a test that was written now and forcibly back-dated to 2009, just to see if I could do it. Since this worked, I should be able to migrate all the old Ghost Cruises content into the blog and maintain the original timeframe. Cool!
Ghost & Mary’s Accident
Note:
The following was the letter I posted to the Harley Digest and the rec.motorcycles.harley newsgroup shortly after the April 2001 wreck on the Cruiser.
The Whole Sordid Story…
As many of you heard, Mary and I were involved in an accident back on April 22nd. The dust is finally settling, so I now have time to make my public confessions and pay tribute to those who stepped forward to help during the crisis.
Continue reading Ghost & Mary’s Accident
Ode to Red
One day I got myself into a bit of trouble on rec.motorcycles.harley and accidentally inferred that Red was old enough to be my mother, which she isn’t.
Continue reading Ode to Red
Paying for Sex in a Relationship: Cash or Credit?
No, this probably isn’t about what you think it’s about. This piece has nothing to do with prostitutes (male or female). It doesn’t discuss the finer points of pimping for your partner in the big city. It also doesn’t define the level of financial outlay (dinners, gifts, flowers, etc.) necessary to get the object of your desire to go to bed with you. This piece outlines the different ways that couples justify (i.e., pay for) the sex in their relationship.
Continue reading Paying for Sex in a Relationship: Cash or Credit?
Writing: Good vs. Good Enough
A number of people have mentioned their reluctance to email me with comments because I might critique or otherwise “tear apart” the prose in their messages. Don’t worry, I’m not that anal retentive about writing. Back in college, I wrote a short piece which was published in the October 1987 issue of Communique. The piece dealt with writing to the level of your purpose. The remainder of this post is the article.
Continue reading Writing: Good vs. Good Enough
What is More?
A funny thing happened on the way back into divorce-induced bachelorhood. Having been married for almost a decade, I figured that I would be better prepared for the socializing/dating rat race because of my extensive knowledge of at least one female’s habits. It didn’t take long to discover that I am still totally clueless.
Continue reading What is More?
Death versus Divorce
While my ex-wife and I were in the process of getting a divorce, I eventually gathered the nerve to tell my grandmother about our impending demise. Grandma (my only surviving grandparent) lost her husband to an aneurysm back in the early sixties, and never re-married. She’s a traditional white-haired, German grandmother, and does not appreciate the typical reasons for divorce. She felt a whole lot better when she found out that the divorce wasn’t my idea (my ex-wife will burn in hell, not me). After a few hours of conversation, she said something that took me by surprise.
“What you’re going through is a lot worse than me losing your Grandfather.”
Continue reading Death versus Divorce
Ivan’s Crash
During the 1997 Sunrun, Ivan Gregory and I shared a harrowing ride through Bear Tooth Pass (still migrating that story to the blog) and lived to talk about it. Later that year, I learned that my invincible riding partner had been t-boned by a Cager and was in the hospital. When I first learned of the accident, it seriously bummed me out. I wrote the following haiku that afternoon:
Dark mountain riders
Thwarting cliffs of death like gods
Now struck down like men
The Definition of a “Cruise”
I call my Bike Cruiser. Keep in mind that my definition of cruising does not involve repeatedly traveling the same 14 blocks of road with the adolescents of the community.
That begs elaboration. . . .
A Cruise (capitalized out of respect) is an escape. It can be 30 minutes or 30 days and absolutely, positively, requires no destination. It is an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and commune with a well-tuned mass of metallic kinetic energy and perhaps a beloved warm body as well. A Cruise is an expression of independence, staking everything on the durability of the machine and quality of your wits. It’s a quest for adventure, daring fate to put something interesting around the next bend. A Cruise is never boring; it’s a raw undiluted experience with no roof, no airbag, and no climate control. A Cruise is isolation, without visiting a deserted island. It’s meditation, with the drone of the motor serving as a mantra. It gives us the energy to endure our day-to-day lives . . . until the next Cruise . . .
This was originally posted to the Harley Digest sometime in 1997.
Posers
The biker/Poser war is largely based on stereotypes. We all need to look beyond the stereotypical images before we pigeonhole someone as a poser.
Continue reading posers