Jiggity Jig

Nothing too eventful this year, no shootings, no colors, nothing more than a broken shifter arm, lost glasses, and lots of great riding.

Luckily one of my friends was able to repair the shifter arm. No such luck with his glasses. Something to remember: when you're flying down the highway at 75 MPH, you should never open your windshield bag for anything because things, glasses, tend to fly out.

We had some great meetings with some builders and other general contractors that had good advice and great leads. We watched people, met people and looked at the menagerie of bikes and bikers.

Instead of taking two days back to Portland this year, we took three. We wanted to check out a new route and go by Crater Lake. It was incredible. Although I was a little pissed that the best motorcycle road I've ever been on had construction happening and we had to follow a pilot car for about twenty miles, still it was gorgeous. I'm ready to ride it again next season without the construction. For you Oregonian riders it's State Road 138 from Crater Lake to Roseburg and it's fantastic! It's full of great curves and beautiful scenery. It goes through the Umpqua National Forest, and that's one beautiful forest.

I can't even begin to tell you how many forests we went through, although I don't really understand how a desert can be classified as a National forest.

Now for a few pics of the trip!

Virginia City

Bar from the 1800's

Isabella

Lake Tahoe

Really?

Burney Falls

Mt. Shasta

Long Horns in Oregon, really?

 

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The Event

I'm so glad I pay for vacations and such a year or so before I take them. Next Tuesday I'm leaving for Reno for a rally called Street Vibrations. It's the fourth largest motorcycle event in the country.

The reason I'm glad I've already paid the non refundable fees is that this year I'm flat broke. We missed almost six months of work, but it seems to be picking up some.....fingers crossed!

The group leaves Tuesday the 18th and will be home the 25th. It's usually a two day ride to Reno but on the way home we're going to take a different route and go through Crater Lake Park. That will turn the 2 day ride into a 3 day ride.

Thank God for cell phones and the Weather Channel app! If it even looks the least bit cold at Crater Lake, elevation of around 7000 feet, there's no way in hell I'll be riding through it, even with my heated gear.

I'm kind of wondering how this year's rally will go. They've made it into a "no colors" event, which means the clubs, better known to the public as gangs, won't be able to wear their "cuts," their vests proclaiming which "club" they belong to.

Street Vibrations has traditionally been claimed by the Hell's Angels and their support clubs.  Sometimes other clubs try their luck and show up. At last years event a member of the notorious club called the Vagos (look 'em up, their some pretty bad dudes) shot and killed a Hells Angel chapter president in a casino firefight and the war was on. The next day an Angel shot a Vago.

This years dress code is pretty strict, down to shoe laces. No club colors in bandanas, patches, wrist bands, shoe strings, etc. Which leaves me in the lurch, some of the bandanas I usually take are red and white, the colors of the Hell's Angels. It's going to be interesting to see what takes place this year and if they're able to keep the clubs at bay or if the clubs will rebel and show up in full force.

Either way it will be interesting and a much needed time away.

I'll try to post some pics along the way. It's a beautiful ride and the event itself is pretty cool, well, if you like motorcycles. 

 More later,


 

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The Culture

I love the biker culture. I love that a biker will help another biker at any time for any reason. I love that everyone that rides is a "brother" or a "sister."

I love the sounds of bikes, I love the looks of bikes. I love the leather and the tattoos. I love the diversity and I love the respect bikers show for each other.

There is one part of the culture that I really don't get, or maybe I don't want to get.

I was sitting at a bike event tonight listening to the band. It was the perfect night for a gathering, the weather was warm and dry and everyone was still celebrating summer. As we sat there I watched the girls.

There are always unattached girls around. Most scantily dressed with their short shorts, tight short dresses, high heels and torn t-shirts. It's easy to see they didn't get there on the back of someone's bike and they certainly didn't ride themselves. 

They're women hoping to pick up a biker for the night, or perhaps a little longer. They stand out, they really stand out. In the world of the biker these girls are called "pass arounds," for obvious reasons.

There are also what's called "biker babes." In the words of a "club" member  "a biker babe enjoys the lifestyle, has morals and will gut you for unwanted advances," and "a pass around welcomes them."

While the band played the pass arounds danced seductively to the music all the time holding tightly to their beer. They were doing their best to be noticed and hopefully picked out of the crowd by anyone that would give them the attention they were seeking. 

They are as young as those in their twenties and as old as late fifties, early sixties. I took pictures but decided not to post them. It was sad watching them do their thing. Watching those lonely women do everything in their power hoping to be noticed by someone that would most probably give them what they wanted and throw them away a few hours later was very sad.

I know there are people like that in every arena of life, but for some reason the biker world seems disproportionately filled with them. The girls are at every event, every gathering, every rally, and every biker bar. 

It's sad, very sad.

On another note, check out this bike. It is covered with pennies and nickels. Strange, very strange. Someone had a little too much time on their hands it appears. But in a way it's kind of cool being so different.

Then there's this shot I like.

 

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Tell Me It Didn't Happen

Before I knew it, it was there. There was no notice, no "Hey, I'm running by," nothing.

It had been a perfectly beautiful motorcycle ride. The September air was warm and the feeling of autumn was far away. There were no clouds, the mountains could be seen for miles.

My friend and I had been riding through the countryside of Washington, going to get a peek of Mt. Adams. We hadn't a care in the world and were thoroughly enjoying every second of our Sunday ride.

Then it happened. It was so fast that I didn't have a chance to react. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a brown fluffy tail, then felt a thump, a thumb beneath each of my tires. I couldn't look back, I couldn't look in the mirror. It had to have died.

Then a terrible thought entered my mind, what if I'd only injured it? My friend was right behind me and I knew he would also feel those thumps, then it would surely be dead.

I couldn't get it out of my mind for the next half hour. I couldn't believe I hit something, I couldn't believe I killed something. No matter what I tried to fill my mind with, thoughts of the horrible act kept creeping back.

Finally we came to a stop. I got off my bike and pulled off my helmet. As I was shaking out my hair he walked up to me. I asked him if he saw what had happened.

As only he can do, he began laughing so hard I thought he might actually have a heart attack.

As his laughter subsided he managed to get out, "Teri you NAILED it! It jumped out of the woods, ran into the road and BOOM, you killed it! Then I hit it, so I'm sure it's dead."

"But WHAT was it?"

"What do you mean what was it? It was a squirrel, what did you think it was? Sasquatch?"

I could feel my eyes stinging with tears.

"Teri, it was a SQUIRREL!"

"I know, but there's probably squirrel guts all over my bike!"

Mt. Adams

Mt. Hood

Hood River

Windsurfers

The Columbia River Gorge

 

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Not Allowed

Some of you know about my son Joshua. He's 19, has aspergers/autism and is in the Job Corps.

He came home for the summer for a home based work internship at a grocery store deli near the house. He's studying culinary and wants to be a chef one day. He's a sweet kid with a good heart but there are some deep, dark problems with some of his behaviors.

He's shown these behaviors since he was about 12 and was in intensive therapy for them for years. Nothing we did seemed to help. I don't want to go too far into them but I will say that Nikki and I are  the ones that are victimized by his behaviors. We have to be on constant guard when he's in the house. 

While he was home this last time it happened again, only worse. The last time it happened his dad told him that if he did these things again he wouldn't be allowed back in the house. He would have to find another place to live, that his actions were making it unsafe and fearful for people in the house and that wouldn't be tolerated. 

We had no choice but to keep our word and tell him that he would not be allowed to stay at the house again.  Right now he's at Job Corps and has weekends off. He can come home or stay at the dorms. Since he left he hasn't asked to come home for the weekend, he knows he can't.

Yesterday he called. He wanted to see us, he was lonely and wanted his family. I went and picked him up to go to dinner and it was wonderful. He's so mature and he was so sweet. It broke my heart to know how he must feel that he's no longer allowed to stay in his home. But there are other lives involved and we can't allow his choices to endanger those that are at home.

He finished with his culinary training with honors and now is beginning a second trade, business. That should take about 14 months to complete. So for now we don't have to worry about where he'll be sleeping and we can always go out and visit him and take him to dinner.

It's when he finishes that training that I worry about. Where will he live? Will he make enough money to survive? Will we have to go to court to be able to help him take care of his money and living situation? There are so many questions. Luckily Job Corps will help with all of that.

Even though I know the full situation and how it impacts the family I can't help but feel extreme compassion for my child. I'm scared for him, I worry about him and I hurt for him. The reality isn't only hard for him, it's hard for me as well. I just hope we can make it all work out in a way that benefits us all.

I  love my son no matter what and I want him to have the best life he possibly can.





 

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I hope I Was Dressed!

My sons just informed me that my Ambien sleep walking is not over! I thought I had it licked.

Evidently several months ago I got up in the middle of the night frantically yelling for Cole. Jeremiah said I had cake all over my face and insisted I needed Cole.

Cole came upstairs and they took me back to bed. Geeze, I sure hope I was wearing something!



 

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Questions, I Need Your Questions!

I thought I had this under control. I thought I knew the right questions to ask. I thought I could keep a psychologist for more than a month. But I thought wrong.

The last psychologist fired me just a month into treatment. I guess that was a good thing. I'm still not sure why he thought Dialetical Behavioral Therapy would be a better option for me, maybe I just scared him.

In therapy I don't hold any punches and I say and ask what's on my mind. Then after the mini-crisis I had I think he thought he was going to have to work harder. Geesh! And I didn't even call him during it!

My other docs I lost all due to "health care reform." They said the face of medicine was changing and it was going to be way too expensive for them to keep their private practices. I understand that one.



So I'm asking for your help this time. Help me with questions for these new docs I'm interviewing. It can be anything, I'm game. I have my standard list of questions but I'm thinking I need to add more to it. 

The new doc has to be willing to be interactive, have a sense of humor (a humorless psychologist is SUCH a bore!), and be willing to work with me, even it the going gets tough. I'm generally an easy patient, but I need someone to work with me and not against me.

I know my diagnosis, I know my issues, well most of them, and I need someone to help me work through them and not around them. I'd really like someone that will want to jump right in and work and not do the dance of the obligatory "get to know" you routine. I know they have to get to know me, but it doesn't take a month to get to know someone, especially when they will have a chart of several years worth of notes to look through.

So what do you think? Do you have any questions for me to add to my list? I'm dying to hear about them if you do. And I will give you feedback on your question, whatever the doc says, I'll tell you.

So let's get to work, shall we?



 

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