Friends

Many people have a circle of friends who they associate with. They meet up and do things together as often as possible. Maybe they're hunting or fishing buddies, or they might be fellow car enthusiasts they go to car shows with, or go late night street racing with. Over the years, I have had some of all these type of friends.
As the years have gone by, and family activities have taken their place, my circle of friends is almost non-existent. Outside of extended family, you could count my number of friends on one hand, and not use all the fingers.
In reality, I am a loner anyway, and that's how I prefer it. Outside of time spent with my wife and family, I'd just as soon be alone, doing my own thing. I can easily spend an afternoon, alone in my garage, playing my favorite music, and doing car stuff.
But of all my friends who have drifted away over the years, one stands out, and he is who I'm writing about today. His name is Ricky, and I mention him in Chapter 5 in my book. We have been friends for over 40 years. I don't see him very often any more, maybe once every couple years or so, we get together and catch up on what has been going on in our lives.  Out of the blue, a year or so ago, he sent me something he made for me, and it's really neat. It's an ink pen, that is the same color as my 2015 Mustang, and personalized with my license plate, and other automotive details. There is a photo of it below. Now, I take it to car shows with me, and show it off, especially to Mustang people. The mechanism to operate the pen looks like a shift lever, and there are bands around the pen that look like tires. Its pretty cool.
I don't have many friends, but with friends like Rick, I don't need many. Thanks Rick.

The pen my friend Ricky made for me. It's setting on my car, see how well the color matches.

Long Hot Summer

There is a Keith Urban song I like; "Long Hot Summer" which I listen to quite often, and it was the inspiration for my blog post today. That song, and the fact that summer comes to an end this week. The reality is, that here in our part of the country, we have had a long hot summer.
A lot has happened in our life this summer, so it has gone by pretty fast. We have been pretty busy, and the temperatures have been well over 100 degrees on many days this year, so the coming fall season is vary welcome, as far as I'm concerned.
For many people, fall is a favorite time of year anyway, and I myself have been included in that group for many years. When we lived up north, it was always the time of year for the changing leaves, and the mountains were beautiful in their fall colors.
Here in Southern Utah, the fall colors are not the most obvious change, but the cooler temperatures are. I look forward to the time of year when I can get a lot of "car stuff" done. It gets cool enough that I can get the cars cleaned up real well, and get a fresh coat of wax put on, without roasting in the process. Good bye long hot summer.
Those of you who are interested can check out my book at: Grab Some Gears

It was a "Long Hot Summer" here in Southern Utah.

Driving

I have always enjoyed driving. From my early teen age years, to the present day, there have been few times in my life when I couldn't drive.
There was the time when I first went into the military, in early 1970, while going through basic training, and the 4 months of Air Traffic Control school, when I was without my car. I had left it in Arizona with my new wife. I knew she could use it way more than I could, living on Air Force bases during that time, I knew I could walk anywhere I needed to go.
That was the longest time I was ever without a car. Over the last few weeks, I have been reminded what that was like. After my open heart surgery, I was told I couldn't drive for a month. As of today, I have one more week left. I'm counting down the days.
For a life-long "car guy" this has been a tough experience. My beloved Mustang is setting in the garage, and in need of a car wash. This next week can't go by fast enough.

I miss this. (Photo from a day trip to Zion National Park last year).