Russ McKee is Gone

This is a one-minute video that was not uploaded directly from my phone. Still figuring that part out. Sideways is a problem too, the phone lets me rotate still pics but apparently videos aren't so agreeable. But it's real and screw it, I'm leaving it.

The video was recorded this morning in Detroit as I was headed home after burying uncle Russ McKee in Lansing MI yesterday. As far as I'm concerned he was a great man. Maybe not as the CNN world sees him but certainly in almost everything he touched. He was instrumental in Michigan environmental issues loooong before it was fashionable and he was a prolific writer and story teller. And just a fine human being to boot. I continue to strive to be like him. Sometimes yes sometimes no. But he remains to be a model for me and others.

Springtime in Seattle

I rode the flattie yesterday, did some freeway time at 55, edged up to about sixty at one point. I know the old baby has more in it but I just choose not to go there. There was a time when I could not even CONCEIVE of going on the freeway. More on that later. What a great ride. Thanks, Bob.

Check it out! Attached below is today's 7 day forecast from the Seattle Times. Dreary dreary. This is typical spring here, every day seems to be like the last. When the sun comes out people seem to get a little bit crazy. When it's "cold" on a spring morning, like 45, it seems to cut to the bone, it's weird. Believe me, I know cold - I've lived in some pretty harsh places like Wisconsin and Upstate NY, where 20 below is not unusual. But the Pacific Northwest cold just has this . . . . edge.

And. AND. Summer in Seattle is scheduled, every year, for July fifth. In 1980, on our very first Fourth of July, we went to Elliott Bay to watch Ivar's fireworks. It was cold and rainy and we wore our parkas because we had to. We watched the rockets disappear into the clouds, the clouds glowed briefly and we'd hear a report BOOM! That was it, glowing clouds and a lotta noise. Then came July 5th like summer in the midwest. 85 degrees and sun sun sun. Yeah baby. Seattle, you are forgiven.

I choose to live here, moved here twice for a total of 21 years. The last time I moved here that voice inside my head said "I'm home" when we crossed the state line. So today I choose to stay. But boy howdy I don't mind telling you New Mexico looks pretty good right now.

A little commentary about the Times forecast. Today is Tuesday, right? Why in heaven's name do they want to give me a forecast for yesterday? And they TEASE ME!! I ride pretty much every day, year round, and the weather forecast is more than just a curiousity for me. I'm a little bit obsessive and sometimes, every now & then, maybe, I'll check the forecast two or three times a day. OK fine. Two or three times an hour. At least once a day, it seems, they promise a sun break tomorrow and I say YAYNORAINGEAR!!!! Then they shut it down to gloom again 20 minutes later. Then sun. Then rain. I understand how Charlie Brown feels when Lucy says "Go ahead Charlie Brown, kick the football. I promise I won't pull it away this time!" Sigh.

7-day Seattle forecast
Mon
52° / 51°
P/C showers

Tue
62° / 49°
P/C showers

Wed
55° / 42°
P/C showers

Thu
60° / 44°
P/C showers

Fri
58° / 48°
P/C showers

Sat
63° / 46°
P/C showers

Sun
54° / 49°
P/C showers

Intro to The Big Run

Alrighty then. Let us begin. I have a story to tell, I'm in the middle of it, and I have no idea how it will end. Call it a saga, call it an odyssey or an old man's dumb-ass fantasy. Whatever - to me it's a huge story that will culminate in what may be the biggest adventure of my life.

This is a quick video taken in the high desert somewhere near Sparks Nevada as I was riding my 1941 Harley Davidson UL, a 74 cubic inch Flathead. The plan was to spend the night in Virginia City then press on to Dixon CA for a swap meet run by the AMCA, the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. I was running with five other guys, four of whom were also riding pre-1950 Harleys, dating back to 1932. This was my first run with these guys, but for them it's been an annual event for over a decade : a small group of guys riding ancient Harleys from Seattle to Dixon CA or Davenport IA to look at, perhaps buy, old motorcycles or parts. Or just look and wallow and absorb.

When I bought the Flattie in 1999 I was content with the notion that I would just ride it around town, on back roads where I wouldn't have to run the old baby more than 45-50 MPH. When I could get it to run, that is. Then, a friend turned me on to Bob aka The Wizard, the guy who builds these old things to RUN. He told me about the annual trips and I asked to join. No problem. Then, one day in June 2009, I found myself screaming across the desert at a terrifying speed of 60 miles per hour. That's 88 feet every single second. On a 68 year-old machine. Fast.

I hope to add more details later, but this video was taken about 4 days into the trip. I was a very happy man in that moment. I was running across the high desert on a deeply cool old bike, sharing the joy with 5 like-minded men, and life was perfect. God, I felt like a kid on a swing for the first time. WHEEEE!!!!

These old bikes are very simple machines, everything is manual; cables and pushrods move levers, they push and pull controls, and they make the bikes stop and go. One very critical control is the spark advance, the left twist grip which affects the ignition timing. Even as I was taking this video I'm sure I was letting the ignition slowly move to the retarded position. Right then the motor was running like a sewing machine - smooth and clean. By the time we arrived in Sparks I had melted a piston and fried the motor. Awwww shit.

Two months and four thousand dollars later, the engine was put back together. As of today I have about 2500 miles on it and it's back to running like a sewing machine. By the way, the ignition is safety wired to fully advanced, it's staying right there. I have one problem solved.

We're leaving for Dixon again in about three weeks. I'm doing it again and if I break down again I'll be back next year and the year after that. And so on, and so on, until I can't ride any more. I love it. It's all about the ride.

Here's the best part. Depending on how our schedules work, Bob, his wife and I intend to tour the United States, either next year or in 2012. And we will be doing it on ancient Harley Davidson motorcycles. Cool, huh? Wanna watch?