The page has turned, and another legend has slipped from the \u2018here and now\u2019 into the shadowy mists of fading memories. My good friend called yesterday and asked me for a favor\u2026 No way I could refuse\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2026 He and I along with the buyer of Jim\u2019s old bike loaded it onto the trailer that would transport that bike, Jim\u2019s last one forever, to its \u2018new\u2019 home\u2026<\/p>\n
Jim is awaiting his upcoming seventy-third birthday, but we will recognize that milestone with a little less enthusiasm as times have indeed changed\u2026 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.<\/p>\n
Many times, I\u2019ve listened to Jim recall his experiences riding the circuit\u2026 I\u2019ve 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\u2019t mind that, though, as he dearly loved the sport and was happy to just be a part of it all\u2026<\/p>\n
As far as I know, Jim has only owned one cruiser type bike in his life\u2026 and he did not like it. It just didn\u2019t suit him, he\u2019d flatly stated, so he stuck mostly with dual-sport and \u2018adventure bikes\u2019 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\u2026 his first trip there.<\/p>\n
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\u2026 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2026 a \u2018road scholar\u2019 if ever there was one! I learned much from this wise and well-seasoned veteran of the road and of life itself\u2026<\/p>\n
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\u2026 I\u2019m 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\u2026 Life goes on\u2026 We take what comes our way, give thanks for all we have, and fondly remember what once was\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The page has turned, and another legend has slipped from the \u2018here and now\u2019 into the shadowy mists of fading memories. My good friend called yesterday and asked me for a favor\u2026 No way I could refuse\u2026 I jumped on …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meanderings-by-ddt-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}