Steamboat,-40 and James A. Michener

Having never spent too much time in sub zero temperatures,I never realised just how difficult -42 can make most everyday chores that we all take for granted,like starting a truck or doing most anything else outside.
In December when I arrived in Steamboat,the cold killed the battery on the bike,well nearly killed,so I decided to invest in a new one anyway since it still had the same battery in it from when I originally bought it.

When I got back to Steamboat from visiting me Mum in Fl,it got seriously cold,down past -20 on a daily basis.Anything above zero is only pretend cold,just ask anyone in Steamboat.
So cold in fact that in order to leave the Boat and get over to see mi amigo Dom in Denver,I had to put the bike on a trailer in order to get over Rabbit Ears Pass.
I had planned to ride had I been able to put snow studs in the tires or build the bike skis that I had planned to,but I didn`t have the bike so it proved to be difficult to build them remotely.

It's an idea that the Euros have been using for a long time now,but over here most people balk at the very idea of riding in cold weather let alone snow.

See,it's legal and fun.

Anyway,back to the trailer.So on the first try at leaving Steamboat at -40 ,the tow truck died a few minutes after it started.

Why?.

Diesel gels at about -10° C/14° F,turns into jello really is what it does,so you end up with a clogged fuel filter if you're lucky.If you happen to be unlucky,you end up with a clogged fuel filter and a fuel starved engine,no fluids,no motor.

So on day 2,the truck with the trailer arrived.

It was a tilt trailer,tilts down at the back to ride or drive a vehicle up,then tilts level again.

It uses hydraulic fluid to operate..............which gels in very cold weather.You can see a pattern developing here,right?.

The trailer wouldn`t tilt down,so we had to improvise on how to get the bike on the trailer.A pair of Pete's snowmobile ramps did the trick.Thanks again Pete.

I would have taken some pics,but after about ten minutes of tying the bike down on the trailer,my hands and nose were painfully cold,I felt like I had frostbite.So I jumped into the truck and stayed there `till we got over the pass.

Heading out,we took 40 over Rabbit Ears and down to I-70.From there it was a hop `n a jump to Dom's place in...

...no,there is no town called James A. Michener,but there is a town called Centennial,and yes,the book is based on a fictional version of the town in Colorado.

If you are a reader,I highly recommend this novel,in fact most any book by Michener.Not a quick read by any means,but the research that goes into his novels is astounding and factual,so you end up learning something at the end of the book.

Michener has authored over 40 titles,most of which were sweeping sagas,most over 900 pages,and usually covering many generations and geographic locales,incorporating historical facts into the stories.He was known for the meticulous research behind his work.

As a young teenager,Michener began hitchhiking across the United States.Of those days,Michener writes in his autobiography "The World Is My Home",(Random House,1992),

"Those were the years of wonder and enchantment,...some of the best years I would know.I kept meeting American citizens of all levels who took me into their cars,their confidence and often their homes."

James Michener was adopted shortly after birth by Mabel Michener,a poverty stricken widow with two other children.The family lived in Doylestown Pennsylvania,surviving with few resources and often little to eat.According to John Hayes,author of James A. Michener: A Biography(The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc,1994),Mabel was Michener's birth mother,but being unwed,she used the adoption story to protect them both.James Michener held to the adoption version and never discussed the subject.

As my travels start to expand in time and increase in distance,I feel a little akin to how Michener must have felt back in the 1920's,hitchhiking around the country.

When I first left Ireland for America at 16,I remember feeling similar to the way he describes his sojourns across the U.S.

When I first arrived here in `78,I bought a Greyhound Bus Pass,and with a backpack and  a guitar,went about exploring the U.S., it's people,customs,culture and scenery.

I returned to Ireland full of wonderment at the sheer size of the place,it just blew me away,it was like nothing I had ever seen.

That,for me was the beginning of the end of my days in Ireland.I couldn`t get those images out of my conciousness,I dreamed about life in Colorado,or Montana or even Arizona,I didn`t care,I just knew where I wanted to be,and also where I didn`t want to be,back in  my parochial and cloistered little town,Bray.

I lasted there until I was 25,but not before spending some time in Europe,and going back to the U.S. a few more times before I packed two suitcases,got on a plane,destination New York City.

I still feel a sense of wonderment at some of the places I pass through,its what keeps me alive really,a throwback to those days of innocent backpacking and hitchhiking around the world.

The World Is my Home.

Be Well.

Murph

1928 INDIAN SCOUT................Barn Find.

1928 INDIAN SCOUT

My friend Tom Benson has an Indian Restoration business that he operates in Montana.He also builds and restores powerplants for said bikes.So a while back,maybe fifteen or twenty years back,he heard a rumor of a one family Indian Scout stored in the area somewhere,but didn`t really do much about it,until a few months ago.

Tom Benson

When the original owner died,his son put the bike away in the basement of their house in New York.Then came a move to another state,and the bike followed,to be put away again in the resting place that you see here where Tom found it.

Finds like this are becoming a rarity,especially in this condition.Most have already been molested or restored.

If it were restored,it would be worth less.

Unfortunatly the gas tank was repainted,hence the lack of the Indian tank logos and stripes.

And speaking of Indian Motorcycles,as I was researching on some sort of stabilizers or skis for my bike to be able to ride in the snow and stay upright,I came across this:

Indian made these skis as an aftermarket item for the bikes in the fifties I believe.Instead of resting your feet on the footrest,you pushed them down on the skis,and voila,you`re staying upright in the snow.

I already have the plans drawn up for a set for the Beemer.

Murph

Upcoming:1928 INDIAN SCOUT Barn Find.....and JAMES BALBONI.

UPCOMING POST:Tom Bensons 1928 Indian Scout Barn Find

The piece of white cloth beside the tiller is covering a 1928 INDIAN SCOUT,a barn find by my friend Tom Benson.You can just make out a back wheel.It`s a one family one owner bike.He`s sending me some more shots and info on it,so i`ll have it up for the next post.Stay tuned.

Meanwhile,after posting about

Jaco Pastorius,I got quite a bit of email from people,some who remembered him play down there in Ft.Lauderdale,and others just to thank me for posting about him.Fond memories I guess.

So,I thought i`d stay in a S.Fl frame of mind,even though i`ve departed from S.Fl and am in CO right now working on the bike.

My friend James Balboni is a great maratime photographer,so I thought i`d put up some of his work here.He works on one of the big tugs in the Port Of Fort Lauderdale,but his passion is his pictures.

Don`t know if this is Jimmys tug,but he caught this lightning strike just perfect.

Shrimp`s up.

Well,what else would you cook in the galley of a tugboat,right?.

Now this is really great shot.

The Blue Angels from an Air and Sea show a few years back.

If you happen to have a 100,000 ton ocean going vessel,you might bump into Jimmy,literally.

Otherwise,go to his website,or keep an eye out for him out and about in Fort Lauderdale.

Thanks Jimmy.Fantastic shots,wicked good.

Murph

OAKLAND PARK FLORIDA and JACO PASTORIUS

I noticed the park a few years back, since it`s right around the corner from my house just a mile or so North on Dixie Hwy, made a mental note to stop by, bring a book or a CD that Jaco was playing on, but at the time I was still drinking, so I never made it there. But I thought before I leave for another year on the bike it was well worthy of a write up.

As it happens, alcohol and drug abuse was the how and why Jaco`s life ended like it did, a beating at the hands of a bouncer due to Jacos mood swings and  temper.

Jaco Pastorius,though born in PA moved to Oakland Park FL at a young age, and went to school in Wilton Manors where I live.
He, like myself, started out playing drums, but a wrist injury from a football accident left him unable to play.
At the time he was playing with a local band, The Las Olas Brass, and since the bass player decided to quit, bought a used bass guitar for $15 from a local pawn shop and began to learn to play the bass.
He went on to buying an upright bass, but soon realised the difficulties of maintining it down in the humid sandbox of Florida. After a crack developed in the body of the upright, he traded it for a  1960 Fender Jazz Bass.

My first introduction to JP was on a Joni Mitchell album,Don Juans Wreckless Daughter, and his unique technique and sound he managed to get from the bass were awesome.

Jacos signature growl was a combination of his playing style and his amplification.

This is one of my favorite tracks on the album that is so Jacko Pastorius.

Jaco was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and had shown numerous features of the condition long before the initial diagnosis. The condition in it`s earlier stages is likely to have contributed to his sucess as a musician, as Hypomania, the cyclical peaks that distuinguish bipolar disorder from unipolar depression, have been associated with enhanced creativity.

Early in his career Pastorius avoided both alcohol and drugs. It was during his time with the group Weather Report that they became a regular part of his life, ultimately exacerbating his already anti social behavior from his bi polar disorder.

A young Jaco outside their Oakland Park home in Florida with the Fender Jazz Bass.

During the course of his musical career, Pastorius played on dozens of recording sessions for other musicans both in and out of jazz circles.

Some of his most notable are four highly regarded albums with Joni Mitchell, Hejira(1976), Don Juans Reckless Daughter(1977), Mingus(1979) and the live album Shadows and Light(1980).

He also recieved acclaim for the Weather Report album Heavy Weather, one of the most popular jazz albums of all time. Not only did this album showcase Jacos bass playing and songwriting, he also recieved a co-producing credit and even played drums on his self-composed "Teen Town".

Pastorius was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz hall of Fame in 1988, one of only four bassists to be so honored, and the only electric bassist.

He is regarded as one of the most influential bass players of all time.

After sneaking onstage at a Carlos Santos concert in `87 and being ejected from the premises, he made his way to the Midnight Bottle Club in Wilton Manors, Florida.

After reportedly kicking in a glass door after being refused admittance, he was engaged in a violent confrontation with the club bouncer, Luc Haven, after which he was hospitalized and fell into a coma.

A massive brain hemorrhage a few days later led to brain death.

Jaco Pastorius died on September 21st, 1987, at Broward Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

He was 35.

Murph

THE NORTON PROJECT

Even though my Daddy always told me that stealing was wrong,reinforced by the Christian Brothers at the school I went to in Bray with canes made from bamboo(the sadistic bastids),in this particular case,the thieves were two brothers,the victim was their father,and the item that was stolen was his 1969 Norton Commando,to be returned to him fully restored at Christmas.

This is the video they made of the experience.................




The Norton Project from Jamtron on Vimeo.

Reproduced and embedded with permission from Jamtron on Vimeo.

And here are some pics that Jeff just sent me a few minutes ago.Jeffs the one with glasses in the film.
Thanks Jeff,a good thing youse goise did there for your old man.

Hey Mom,lookin good there......

Boootiful...

The Universal "HOLY SH*T" look......

Oh Yeah,thats how I roll........

One proud Norton owner.

A look that only a motorcyclist knows......right Dad?.

This Dad has two awesome sons in his life,lemme tell you.

Obviously,he musta done something right in raising them.

Hope you`re still opening her up in the curves Dad,safe riding.

Jeff,thanks for letting me share these pictures.

Murph.

2 YEARS AND COUNTING.....

My personal Peak to climb.

....since I last had a drink.
I write about this,not as a personal accolade to myself,but because there were two people without whose help and foresight I would not be here,and they derserve to be thanked and acknowledged for this feat.
The first is my friend Michele Desoer,who dropped everything at a moments notice,literally,and left work at two in the afternoon and listened to my drunken drivel(yea,I was drunk when I went in...shocking) as she drove me out to rehab two years and one day ago.She deserves A Golden Globe IMO.She now calls CA home,but at the time she resided in Florida.
Thank you Michele.

The second person who helped me out of that horrible dark and depressing place that I was in is my friend Mandy Miller.
I guess that unbeknownst to me,Mandy and Michele saw this coming,and had already made a call months prior to an intermediary friend,a placement specialist,who upon recieving said "SOS" call,was able to whisk me into a facility the same day.Lucky for me they did,as my potassium levels in my liver were off the charts,according to the NOD(Nurse On Duty),and every hour on the hour for the next two days,took my vitals,regardless of whether I was sleeping,on the can,anywhere.
As it turned out,the first two days were lying in bed,just full of brutal withdrawl symptoms,made a little easier with medication but still not something I wish to re-live ever again.
I asked the nurse out of curiousity if I had kept up the consumption at the rate I was drinking,how many weeks would it have been before I would have collapsed.At which she looked at me with a very tender and caring look in her eyes,and replied with a tinge of sadness in her voice,"Weeks?,you were one or two days from a wooden box at most,in fact we didn`t think you`d make it.Thats why we took your vitals every hour.We had one finger on your pulse,the other on the 911 button on the phone".
I still shiver at how close I came to turning out the lights for good.

It`s good to have friends like Michele and Mandy.Thank you both for helping me save whats left of the rest of my life.

Mandy was originally born in Scotland,and now calls Fort lauderdale home.

Mandy Miller

Ultras 4 Mortals

An attorney by day,and a damn good one at that,she is also,along with her husband Andy an accomplished Triathlete,with some really impressive races in her resume.Too many to list here,seriously,but to name a few,the six day,151 mile(243 km) Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert should give you an idea that she`s no wimp.She also completed the Death Valley Badwater Ultramarathon,135 miles of grueling running through the hottest place on earth.
8 Ironmans and more marathons than she can remember,the Keys 50 in 2009(3rd female overall),the Peanut Island 2011 6 hour where she got First Female Overall.
No,our Scottish lass is no pushover,so if you ever,EVER tangle with her in or out of the courtroom,be sure to bring plenty of reinforcements.
Don`t let the long sun bleached locks of flowing blonde hair fool ya people.
This woman has more inner strength than any man I know.

If you have any designs on running or training for an endurance event,Mandy is the person to talk to.Go to her website,Ultras 4 Mortals,and see for yourself.
She is certified in coaching by the Road Runners Club of America and USA Triathlon.

To Michele and Mandy,on this day,I owe you both a tremendous debt.

Murph