Coop's Corner: Vincents Across America

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Vincents Across America - 2023/08/30

This is not about Vince, he's a rider I know and I'm absolutely positive that he's not riding across America, though I'd have to assume that he'd really like to be.

No, this is about a brave, ambitious and well-prepared group of folks that are riding their Vincent motorcycles from the East Coast to the West, their goal the National Rally in Ventura, CA. California can be a long ways from Portland Maine.

Blog friend VSL informed me that her friend had just started a blog about an endeavor that he was involved in and that I should take a look at..... You too should take a look, Phil is attempting the valiant task of riding all day and THEN finally after everything else documenting each day's happenings. I could try and summarize but that would be foolish when Phil has already done it all so much better.

https://vincentsacrossamerica.blogspot.com/

Only just a few short days ago, one thing quickly led to many others, those being communications including emails, texts and finally an introduction. To cut to the quick, the intrepid group would be in Rochester, MN the evening of August 30th, new friend and member of the riding group Phil invited me to stop by and visit with the crew. It was touch and go with my work schedule but in the end, Priorities Prevailed and I was there Wednesday afternoon....early and was able to witness both the setup of the (very capable and well equipped) Support Crew and the arrival of the bikes on their day's trip from upper Michigan. What a treat!!

Way down at the far end of the parking lot, there it was.....the Team Norton trailer, a sure sign that I was in the right spot.

I have to say right off the bat that while lurking only a short time, I was welcomed to come over, sit down and enjoy the shade. Wearing my Moto Guzzi Hat ("Going Out Of Business Since 1921") cap and VJMC T shirt, the conversations started immediately. Mark and Ryan were busy but not too busy to graciously invite me in. That is Gracious, upper case "G". Everyone, all evening made me feel welcome and connected, food, drink and of course their/our motorcycle histories and stories. Not only an extremely capable and dedicated group, but a warmly open and sharing one as well. Motorcyclists....how could they be anything else? I was humbled you guys, truly!

Right away, the stands were setup and Ryan was busy repairing a wheel bearing (check out Phil's story in the blog), a quick Uber ride for a local replacement was called for.

I was hearing numerous "......how far out are they....." comments and then, suddenly there they were.

Phil's missing battery clamp.....allowed the top strap to short out the battery terminal.

The bike....

Phil's image image

Phil's ride for the day when his needed the trailer ride....

My evening ended far too early with the group, I had an hour's ride home in the deer-infested dusk and I don't ride at night any longer for a reason, maybe a few reasons. As it was, there were only 9 deer and they were seen in the Serious Zone, the 3-4 miles nearest home. I must admit though how absolutely wonderful it is and was on an end of summer late evening ride.

Mark, Ryan, Phil, Ian (thanks for the photo!), Richard and.....your sharing time and words with me, your welcoming smiles after a long day appreciated more than you know. A memorable evening not forgotten, I promise you.

Wishing you all safe and fun travels to and during the Big event in Ventura!

4 comments:

VStar LadyAugust 31, 2023 at 6:45 AM
Nicely posted Coop!
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redlegsridesAugust 31, 2023 at 8:19 AM
Sounds like a great event and bunch of guys! I've seen Vincents and they truly are beautiful motorcycles.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)