The page has turned, and another legend has slipped from the ‘here and now’ into the shadowy mists of fading memories. My good friend called yesterday and asked me for a favor… No way I could refuse…

I jumped on ALI and rode the dozen miles or so to his house, and we performed the sad deed that had such a truly sad symbolic under-current… He and I along with the buyer of Jim’s old bike loaded it onto the trailer that would transport that bike, Jim’s last one forever, to its ‘new’ home…

Jim is awaiting his upcoming seventy-third birthday, but we will recognize that milestone with a little less enthusiasm as times have indeed changed… forever. Since he was ten or eleven years old, motorcycles have been a big part of his life. First it was dirt bikes, which he dearly loved, and which he even rode competitively for many years.

Many times, I’ve listened to Jim recall his experiences riding the circuit… I’ve heard him recount the names of many of the famous champion riders, people, he informed me, that he knew personally and many of those who had beaten him on the track. He didn’t mind that, though, as he dearly loved the sport and was happy to just be a part of it all…

As far as I know, Jim has only owned one cruiser type bike in his life… and he did not like it. It just didn’t suit him, he’d flatly stated, so he stuck mostly with dual-sport and ‘adventure bikes’ for the clear majority of his riding life. His last bike was a V-Strom 1100, the one he was riding when we rode together to Alberta to see the Canadian Rockies… his first trip there.

And, it was that bike that was parked next to ALI on the motel parking lot in Calgary, when Terry Nickel (t-man403) walked up and introduced himself to us. The following day I had sold ALI to Terry on a more-or-less handshake deal, bought the VTX from the local Honda dealer, and began the ride back to Alabama with Jim… A huge memory in my life, and a most memorable event for Jim, as well, as that proved to be his last major road trip.

Jim and I did make a few shorter rides together and many day rides over the next couple of years, but his stamina and strength were visibly slipping away, and it became obvious in time that the end of his riding days was rapidly approaching. It did finally come, and loading that bike yesterday was the final punctuation mark to a long and amazing riding career…

I will sorely miss riding with my good friend. He was always a cheerful, easy-going companion, never angered or irritated, a source of many great jokes and humorous observations on life in general… a ‘road scholar’ if ever there was one! I learned much from this wise and well-seasoned veteran of the road and of life itself…

No tears welled-up, but that empty feeling in my gut that came with the full recognition of the profound loss we both felt was clearly evident… I’m grateful it came to an end this way, as I do not look forward to the possibility I may survive him and be faced with another even greater, more tragic loss… Life goes on… We take what comes our way, give thanks for all we have, and fondly remember what once was…