Early Memories

How far back can you remember? For most people, the things we can remember from when we were very young are few, and usually not very clear. That's the way I am, and I think the things that we do remember from when we were young, probably stand out because they made a significant impression on us at the time.
Some of my early memories had to do with machines, motor vehicles, and places on the South Dakota farm where I grew up. I think most kids who were raised in the country, have some adventures they remember, especially if they were as wild as my brothers and I were.
The memory I am writing about today concerns an old motorcycle that was stored in a dark equipment shed on our farm. When it first came to our attention, it seemed huge, but I was only 7 or 8 years old at the time. It was covered with dust, leaning against the wall, and the dirt floor of the old shed was covered with mouse droppings. To a couple of young adventurers, it looked like the perfect place to play. We dusted it off with an old rag, and we were ready to ride. We climbed on, made all the right sounds, and we were wild motorcycle riders. We would return to ride that motorcycle many times over the next few years.
The motorcycle was a monster. It was a dark red 1941 Indian model 441, with a 4 cylinder engine, and full skirted fenders. My dad had road it all over our part of the country for several years before he was married, but it had been parked in the shed for around 10 years by the time we started playing on it. A few years later, my dad's cousin came and talked him out of it with ideas of getting it running and on the road again. It eventually ended up with a collector in Denver.
As for me, it's one of the early memories I will always cherish. My dad, my brothers, and myself, were all avid motorcycle riders at different times, for many years of our lives. Maybe all because of that same old motorcycle.
For more of my adventures, check out my book at this link; Grab Some Gears

1941 Indian series 441 like the one my dad had. (internet photo)

Local Car Shows

In almost any area around the country, from small towns to big cities, there are local car shows. Many of them are weekly or monthly casual get-to-gathers. Some of them are specific club events, mostly for their members, but many are open to all types of cars, and welcome new-comers. These are the basic enthusiast gatherings that fuel our hobby.
When I was new to this area, 4 years ago, I quickly found the local car clubs, and associations, and was happy to find so many "car people" in the community. There are specific "hot rod" clubs, Camero clubs, etc., and I fit right in to the "Mustang and Ford" association. Most of the events these groups put on are open to all car enthusiasts, no matter what kind of car you drive.
I just went to one of the local gatherings this morning. It's a low-key, "Cars and Coffee" event that happens the first Saturday of every month, in the parking lot of a local coffee shop. I have seen every type of car you can imagine show up there. Everything from "rat rods" to exotic super cars, and everything in between. And, they are all welcomed and appreciated.
If you've never tried it, check it out in your own community. It will be worth it.
Car people who are interested can check out my book by following this link; Grab Some Gears

One of the local car shows in my home town.

Automotive Art

Those of us who proudly admit to being life-long car enthusiasts have always considered that many of the cars we love are a "work of art". We can take our time looking them over, end to end, and top to bottom, taking in all the lines and curves, and appreciating all the styling features that make them the beautiful machine they are.
Many of us read the automotive magazines, study the engineering details, and soak in all the pictures we can find of our favorite models. Some of us follow like-minded enthusiasts on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media, and share our love of cars with thousands of people, from all over the world. We see the beauty that can be appreciated in any language.
As we all know, not everyone agrees. I'm sure we all know some people who just don't get it. They don't see what all the fuss is about. To them, it's just a car. I think they are really missing out on a beautiful aspect of this life.
Some of us enjoy taking our automotive art to another level, adding the images to many forms of artistic expression. The enthusiast posts on social media are full of great examples.

Just a minor example of my own automotive expression.

A Long Hot Summer

The first official day of summer is later this week, but, here in the American Southwest, we have had summer weather for a couple of months now. We have already had many days over 100 degrees, and lots of bright sunshine is pretty much our normal weather around here.
I do enjoy the summer, even though it gets very hot in our part of the country. We just adjust our routine to take advantage of the cooler mornings, and get all our running around done early. I like to be all done with the days chores and just relax indoors by early afternoon.
Where ever you live, I hope everyone can have a great summer. Life is too short. Take advantage of this summer season and enjoy it every chance you get.
You can check out my book at this link: Grab Some Gears

Summer in our part of the world.

The Next "Darwin's Garage"

In the last few days, we have been looking into the prospect of building a new house. We have found a great lot in a good part of town, and have found a suitable floor plan with the right amount of square footage, at the right cost. A big selling point for me is the three car garage. I've missed that on our current home. Our previous place in Northern Utah had an excellent three car garage, and that's a must for any new house, as far as I'm concerned.
As anyone who has gone through this process can attest to, there are a lot of things to consider. This in not an easy decision to make. We may loose some sleep in the next few days. And then, if we decide to go ahead with this project, we will be very busy for the next few months. Wish us luck.

The current  "Darwin's Garage", stay tuned for further developments.

"Grab Some Gears"

My book "Grab Some Gears - 40 Years of Street Racing" was completed in 2006. Here is a sample story from Chapter 2;
"When you participate in clandestine activities such as street racing, you always know that sooner or later you are going to get into trouble. Sometimes that trouble comes when you least expect it. If you are lining up in the middle of the highway for a race at eleven o'clock at night, you always fear that the Highway Patrol may pop over the next hill, or the Deputy Sheriff might be waiting in the darkness just up the road. But when you're just on your way to school, minding your own business, you don't expect to get into any trouble. Such was the situation one morning as I slowed the “59” Galaxie for the stop sign where our dirt road meets the paved highway. I spotted a car approaching, still some distance down the highway, so I turned onto the pavement and started accelerating toward town. When I had almost reached the 70 MPH speed limit, the other car came around me at a considerably higher speed. As the car moved back over in front of me, the thought crossed my mind; “I can't let that Plymouth pass me like that”. I hit the gas, kicked it down into passing gear, and went around the unsuspecting motorist at about 90 MPH. As I continued on toward town, now only a couple miles down the road, I noticed in the rear view mirror that he also had accelerated and seemed to be catching me. Now this was a race. I got the “59” Galaxie up to about 105 or so, and managed to stay a little distance ahead of him. As we approached town, the guy was not letting off. I figured he must be pretty mad and was trying to catch me. I maintained as high a speed as I could until reaching the first few side streets of town, then braked hard and turned down a side street. He followed, so I did my best movie chase scene impression, and managed to loose him after a few turns. Satisfied that the adventure was over, I proceeded to the school parking lot, then went in to my first class. My first class that semester was driver's ed., and before the class got started, I sat in the back of the class recounting my adventure to my buddies. We all had a good laugh, and class got underway. About a half hour into the period, there came a knock on the door and the teacher answered. He turned and looked straight at me and said someone wanted to speak to me in the hall. As I left the room and stepped into the hall, I met the local Deputy Sheriff, and he was not smiling. “This can't be good”, I thought, “not my lucky day”. I got a chewing out that I would not soon forget. It seems that the motorist that I had been racing with was a State Highway Patrol supervisor in his personal car. He had taken down my license number and description of my car, and turned it into the local Sheriff's office. The deputy knew exactly who to come looking for. (We had met on previous occasions). If the state official had not been in a hurry to get to a meeting, he would have stayed around to see me prosecuted, the deputy informed me. This was not a fun day, but for some reason I didn't get a ticket out of that deal. Looking back, maybe it was my lucky day after all."
Anyone wanting to check out more can find it at: Grab Some Gears

Summer Road Trip

As the summer season approaches, many of us start to think about where we might go for a summer get-away. Some are planning a big family vacation, maybe to some far off destination. Others may be thinking more about several different day trip excursions closer to home. Most of us have numerous options to choose from.
For me, in recent years, it usually revolves around some family event that we want to attend. It vary rarely has been a purely optional destination, just to get away for a relaxing day or two, of site seeing or casual recreation. I would like to get back to that.
I have wrote before in this blog about trips that I have thought about for years, but have never been able to work into our schedule. Monument Valley is one that I think about every once in awhile, but have never been able to accomplish. Maybe this will be the year.
Many of us have those family obligations that often cut into our free time, and make it difficult to work in some of those activities that are in the back of our mind for a summer get away. Family is important, and we do enjoy doing things with them, but a little stress free trip would be nice too. Here's to hoping that day dreams aren't the only get away we will get this summer.

The open road to somewhere fun, . . . . or,  is it just a day dream?