–Train-stoppin’ news from Bob T.
It’s one of those wacky weeks. The Road King is up and running. The rear wheel spacing is somewhat straightened out. I’m hoping CrazyHorse’s ol’ man can help me with a single spacer that will dial it in completely. I’m still pondering about centering the wheel and whether that’s wise or not.
Laughlin is this weekend and I’m tempted to blast out for a day, for business, then again… There’s a swapmeet on Sunday, rides on Saturday, a Panhead to work on and a book to finish, edit and publish. So what’s a poorboy to do? I’m also pondering a ride to a truck stop. I want to see who publishes Trucker’s books. Maybe they would like to publish a biker’s ramblings. Who the hell knows. Let’s hit the news:
NEW MANUFACTURER?–A couple, Donald and Wendy Atchison, in Idaho Springs, recently built a sport bike. The 35-year-old mechanical engineer and MBA took two years and $100,000 to design and tweak this monster to work. Yet he plans to build 100 Ecosse Heretics next year for $48-$60,000 apiece. Hang on.
TAPS–We in the United States have all heard the haunting song,”Taps.” It’s the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes.
But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings. Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.
During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.
The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as “Taps” … used at military funerals was born. The words are:
Day is done … Gone the sun ….
From the hills… From the sky …
All is well … Safely rest … God is nigh.
Fading light … Dims the sight …
And a star … Gems the sky…
Gleaming bright … >From afar …
Drawing nigh .. Falls the night .
Thanks and praise …
For our days … Neath the sun ….
Neath the stars,.. Neath the sky …
As we go … This we know … God is nigh.
I, too, have felt the chills while listening to “Taps” but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn’t even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn’t know if you had either so I thought I’d pass it along. I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before.
Please send this on after a short prayer, for our men and women in Iraq and all around the world.
–from Mr. Giggie, from Compufire
LOUISIANA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS-APRIL 27–Coming your way Shreveport, LA so watch out for NITRO HARLEYS, UNLIMITED TOP GAS HARLEYS, NOSTALGIA FUEL HARLEYS AND JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER TYPE OF HARLEY YOU CAN THINK OF!!!!!!!! It’s coming your way and Quick!! APRIL 27TH!!AT RED RIVER RACEWAY -: GATES OPEN AT 9am – TRACK OPENS AT 10am. and ELIMINATIONS START AT 2pm.
Also coming up is SWAP MEET -WACO at the H.O.T. Fairgrounds!We will be there SUNDAY MAY 4 – Wheelin & Dealin parts, leathers, bikes in full! and all other lifestyle necessities. Live Band, Parts & Party, Door Prizes & other contests. This is another “Can’t Misser”!! Come See us.
Also want to remind you of our “Big Drags in Big D”! Coming May 18th we are going to rock Dallas our Style!! All Harley All the Way! IF YA’ DON’T KNOW……..YA’ GOTTA GO!Visit us on the web for more info…. www.texasscooter.comor give us a call at (254) 687-9066
Behind the scenes shots of biker chicks by Miss Kriss.
STEVE MCQUEEN AND THE GREAT ESCAPE–Becomes a video game after 38 years. That’s all I know. You’ll have to chase it down.
THIS WEEKEND–LAUGHLIN, Nevada (AP) — The tens of thousands of bikers at this year’s Laughlin River Run motorcycle rally will find twice the usual number of police, plus motorcycle searches for drugs and weapons, a ban on cans and bottles, and a curfew for those under 18.
The changes come a year after a brawl with guns, knives and wrenches killed two Hell’s Angels and one Mongol motorcycle gang member and injured at least 12 other people at Harrah’s Laughlin hotel-casino. Another Hell’s Angels member was shot to death in California.
The bikers attending this year will have to cross checkpoints before they even enter the town for the rally, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Police at checkpoints and volunteers will distribute fliers listing laws and event rules — including a 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for anyone younger than 18.
Most hotels will ask the expected 80,000 motorcyclists not to wear gang emblems or logos, said Andre Carrier, an executive at the Golden Nugget hotel-casino and chairman of the town’s organizing committee. Some hotels will have metal detectors at entrances.
“What we’re trying to do is ensure their safety,” said Lt. Thomas Smitley, head of the Las Vegas police substation in Laughlin, a town of 8,000 on the banks of the Colorado River. “We’ll be proactive and highly visible.”
After last year’s brawl, the town briefly considered canceling the five-day rally.
“But it’s an important event for us — important for our brand, important for our economy,” Carrier said.
–from CNN.com
TRAFFIC SAFETY OFFICIALS SEE SHARP RISE IN MOTORCYCLE FATALITIES–April 22, 2003By DANNY HAKIM. DETROIT, April 21 – Both the fatality rate of motorcycleriders and the actual number of deaths have risen sharplyin the last five years and hit their highest levels in morethan a decade, traffic safety officials said today.
Regulators cannot say precisely what has led to thereversal because, for lack of financing, no comprehensivestudy of motorcycle deaths has been done since the 1970’s.
“More and more people are dying on motorcycles, and weneed to figure out why,” said Rae Tyson, a spokesman forthe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and amotorcycle rider himself.
The nearly 60 percent increase in death rates reversesyears of decline.
Federal regulators see several potential causes. Only 20states have laws requiring all riders to wear helmets, downfrom 47 in 1975. The median age of riders has risen, from24 to 38 since 1980, as baby boomers start or return toriding; older riders have a harder time recovering fromserious injury. Horsepower is increasing – DaimlerChrysleris even considering producing a small number of motorcyclesthat top 300 miles an hour. Safety training programs havebeen cut back and drunken diving is a perennial troublespot.
Deaths rose from 21 per 100 million estimated vehicle milestraveled on motorcycles in 1997 to 33.4 in 2001, comparedwith just 1.3 deaths for passenger car occupants, accordingto the traffic safety agency. The rise in motorcyclefatality rates comes while the death rates of car and truckoccupants are declining. Motorcycles are the only majormotor vehicle category in recent years in which death rateshave risen.
–from TBear
They’re missing one crucial element–motorists. How many deaths were caused by motorists?
THE FRENCH CONNECTION–The makers of French’s Mustard made the following recent statement:”We, at the French’s Company, wish to put an end to statements that ourproduct is manufactured in France. There is no relationship, nor hasthere ever been a relationship between our mustard and the country of France.
Indeed, our mustard in manufactured in Rochester, NY. The only thing wehave in common is that we are both yellow”.
–from Miss Kris
EVEL KNIEVEL TO BE SUBJECT OF NEW OPERA– LOS ANGELES ? Former professional daredevil Evel Knievel has signed over exclusive rights to allow the production of Evel Knievel: the Rock Opera.Jef Bek, a musical director and composer with the small Los Angeles theater company Zoo District, recently flew to Clearwater, Fla., to get Knievel’s blessings after working for two years on the project.
Knievel, who has homes in Las Vegas and Florida, and spends summers in Butte, said he instantly liked Bek and his seven-song demo and signed over rights to stage his story.
“I think it’s a wonderful compliment,” said the 64-year-old, who gained fame in the 1970s by jumping his motorcycle over cars and canyons. His daredevil career left him with 37 fractures, including broken bones in both legs, before he retired in 1980.
Bek, 40, said he envisions the rock opera as an homage to Knievel and to the musical spirit of 1970s bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Knievel inspired a 12-year-old Bek to become a stunt rider while he was growing up in Des Plaines, Ill., but Bek said he abandoned that dream after riding his bicycle into a tree stump.
“He was a living superhero,” Bek said. “He knows I get him, and he knows I understand what’s really significant about his legacy.”
–from Mike Osborn, Associated Press
ONLY FOR CALIFORNIANS– Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God. “Where have you been?” God sighed a deep breath of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look, Michael. Look what I’ve made.”
Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, “What is it?” “It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put Life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a great place of balance.”
“Balance?” Inquired Michael, still confused.
God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while southern Europe is going to be poor.
Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people,” God continued pointing to different countries.
“This one will be extremely hot and while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”
The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land mass and said, “What’s that one?”
“Ah,” said God. “That’s California the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful beaches, deserts, streams, hills, and forests. The people from California are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace.”
Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, “What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!!!”
God replied wisely, “Wait until you see the idiots I put in Sacramento.
–from Chris T.
EMBARRASSING MOMENTS– A radio station recently ran a phone-in competition to find the most embarrassing moments in listeners lives. The following are the finalists:
4th place “While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy & started to run amuck. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust & annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she didn’t start behaving herself right now, she would be punished.
To my horror, she looked me in the eye & said in a voice just as threatening, “If you don’t let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you kissing Daddy’s pee-pee last night!”. The silence was deafening, after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing! I mustered the last of my dignity & walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow.
The last thing that I heard as the door closed behind me were the screams of laughter.”
3rd place, “It was the day before my 18th birthday. I was living at home, but my parents had gone out for the evening, so I invited my girlfriend over for a romantic night alone. As we lay in bed after making love, we heard the telephone ringing downstairs. I suggested to my girlfriend that I give her a piggy-back ride to the phone. Since we didn’t want to miss the call, we didn’t have time to get dressed. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, the lights suddenly came on and a whole crowd of people yelled “surprise”. My entire family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and all of my friends were standing there! My girlfriend and I were frozen to the spot in a state of shock and embarrassment for what seemed like an eternity. Since then, no-one in my family has planned a surprise party again.”
2nd place, “A lady picked up several items at a discount store. When she finally got up to the checkout, she learned that one of the items had no price tag. Imagine her embarrassment when the checker got on the public address system and boomed out for all the store to hear, “PRICE CHECK ON LANE 13.TAMPAX, SUPERSIZE.” That was bad enough, but somebody at the rear of the store apparently misunderstood the word “Tampax” for “Thumbtacks”. In a very business-like tone, a voice boomed back over the public address system: “DO YOU WANT THE KIND YOU PUSH IN WITH YOUR THUMB OR THE KIND YOU BELT IN WITH A HAMMER?”
AND THE WINNER IS! This one happened at a major University in September this year. In a biology lecture, a professor was discussing the high glucose levels found in semen. A young female freshman, raised her hand and asked, “If I understand what you are saying, there is a lot of glucose in male semen, as in sugar?”
“That’s correct.” responded the professor, going on to add some statistical data. Raising her hand again, the girl asked, “Then why doesn’t it taste sweet?”
After a stunned silence, the whole class burst out laughing; the poor girl turned bright red and as she realised exactly what she had inadvertently said (or rather implied), she picked up her books, and without a word walked out of the class, and never returned.
However, as she was going out of the door, the professor’s reply was classic. Totally straight-faced, he answered her question, “It doesn’t taste sweet, because the taste-buds for sweetness are on the tip of your tongue and not in the back of your throat!”
–from Chris T.
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