What did you do Dec.24th

As I remember December 24th 2004 was the rebirth of Me!!!!

I think it was December 24 2004 that I was involved in the auto accident that changed the lives of me and many of those who love me.

I suffered a TBI and my life has never been the same......what a way to remember Christmas.

Well, I've come a long ways since then and this year really shows it.

This year I rode the cafe racer into Parker for a lunch with my friend Dean. We had a nice burger at the casino there sitting just feet away from the Colorado River. We had a very cute waitress who had a way about her that reminded me of my daughter Michelle.....very friendly, confident and the way her face lights up when she smiles.

I watched as Dean played my free $10 on the slots and then headed over to Blouse Arizona to check out the camping over there......I found a great spot just a few 100 feet of pavement with a great view of the area and it was nice and level......just about 20 miles from Quartszite and Parker..... is worth moving???

I'm here at the steps and all set up....things have calmed down a lot and I want to stay put for a while yet.

I rode back to the steps and it had been a long day and a long ride.....20 miles for this old man is a long ways and I had over 70 mile and it was getting cold.

I was counting the miles till I get back to the steps and thinking 20 more mins, 10 mins, 4 mins till I'm off this torturous machine......lol......I crossed the bridge and rounded the corner knowing I would be back in a mile or two.......wait, what was that....a Harley with a very small tear drop trailer.....hey that guy is setting up to camp right here next to that noisy bridge, poor guy. I rode on headed to my restful camp with the great view, but then the thought hit me....tomorrow is Christmas and he is alone.....I did a quick u-turn and rode over to see if he wanted to spend some time in a better place.

He very quickly packed up and followed me to the steps.....after giving me the 2nd jump on the Triumph that day.

His name is Merlin and I have never ever met a person who talks more than Merlin......

I took this photo with my cell phone and had to message it to Randi so she could email it to me......that is why it is so fuzzy.

Merlin stuck around for 3 or 4 days and had many interesting stories.....I kept wondering how long I could deal with the never ending conversations covering so many different topics. I found myself giving lots of thought to that as I have not been able to deal with stuff like that since the accident ... as far as I can tell Merlin and myself think in a very similar way. By that I mean one subject leads to another and to another, but somehow it felt natural for my brain to follow and I did not get lost. This was a very new experience for me as since the TBI I tend to need to lead all conversations and following them is very difficult.

I must admit I was very exhausted a few times and as much as I enjoyed the whole visit, I was in need of rest lots of rest.

Today the weather has turned a bit cold, yesterday I was in a tank top and sandals, today I have my heater turned up and Ive been wearing a jacket all day. The sky is cloudy and I'm barely able to function.....so far this has been a wild ride....I go from wonderful days were I feel so great to days like today where I just want to crawl into a hole.....better than months of  looking for that hole!!!!!

The trailer is something Merlin made himself, it is his home and everything he owns is here.

I loved the way he built it....it is built very similar to the way I had thought I would like to build a trailer for myself......he just fine tuned my ideas and he figured out one of my stumbling blocks in my design....the port hole windows are off the self Wall Mart items....let me know if you can guess what they are....time will tell.

The trailer has some very nice design features that most home built trailer miss.....one the shell is not sitting on top of the frame....this way you do not see the frame ( now days most guys use Harbor Freight trailers.....heavy and poorly built). Merlin also found a great way to avoid springs and all the bounce that come with them in some thing this light. I watched him ride away and it looks extremely stable and held the ground much better than I expected....

The inside is just big enough to use a standard twin bed mattress and he has 3(?) shelves......it has solar, a battery, lights, inverter...very nice!!!!

Merlin found this great handle in an antique store.....wish I could find one!!!

Merlin and I had a few nice rides on the bikes and he told me I look very stable, safe and that he would ride beside me any day.....brought tears to my face....I understand what he meant by this and it ment a lot to me....I have had a lot of concern as to just how crazy it is for me to even ride (TBI).....I find riding really clears my head....a lot like driving....besides....have you ever felt depressed riding a bike???

Merlin has as many miles on a bike as I remember ever knowing  anyone to have ridden.....he has been on the road for years, he has seen every state on the lower 48 with this bike and trailer at least once. This Harley has 170,000 miles on it and his last Harley had over 200,000 miles when he sold it to a family member.

This was Christmas day and there was no wind.....I do not understand the way the lake looked....a band of calm when the whole lake should have been calm???

A funny thing about Christmas day was the way the animals around us were acting.....the humming birds were very calm, much more so than before.....I even got to walk up to one and had my hand just under him as he drank from the feeder....he would pull out turn to look at me and go back to drinking all while I could feel the wind off his wings....I kept thinking could I touch him??? He pulled out of the feeded and turned to me, flew right into my face and looked me in the eyes for at least 10 seconds and then went right back to the feeder....there were many birds that day sometimes 3 or 4 at a time.

The spider was extremely calm...a good thing with Erin.

It was like that all day !!!

I have 30  more of these.....hope you enjoy them.

How can someone sitting alone in the dersert be so busy?????

Seems the last time I posted was my Birthday 12-21-1954....well my last post was 12-21.

Lost has happened since then, Christmas came and went, I met more new friends, I had lunch with an old friend and I've had a few good rides on the Triumph....250 miles since I bought it and I like it more and more each time.

This is Mike and his van....I call it his church.

Mike has been living in this van for years and he has some of the most interesting learning displays.
I thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend together.

If you ever spot him PLEASE do yourself a favor by stopping and spending some time with Mike.

This pretty much all he owned and this is how he lives. His only means of support are the blessing from others.

Mike has a book he has written and a cd he loves to share with others, if you are interested please let me know and I will do what I can to hook you up.  I'll give more feedback on the book once I get the chance to read it.

I met a family who live in a motor home Able, Ericka and 6 year old Eric. I met then through Mike and we Eric and I became good friends real fast when he heard I had Ed.

They came up to my place to see the spider, at first neither of them wanted to hold Ed, but she won them over and I have photos to prove it!!

Eric sat here for a very long time not wanting to give up Ed.....she just settled into his hands and stayed put for a surprisingly long time.....

The humming birds were acting very comfortable around us that day also.....kind of felt likes God's gift on that special day.

 My visitors at the time included Ericka, Eric and Merlin....more on him later!!!
As we adults sat around sharing our stories and got to know each other a little better, Eric just sort of hung around being very quite....he was like that the whole time I was around him.....he had a nice pocket knife, one that looked very much like the ones my father always carried....it looked new so I asked if it was a Christmas gift? He said he got it not too long ago, but not a Christmas gift......something told me he may not have gotten much for Christmas this year, so I asked his mother if gifts where ok.....she said yes so I got a Hot Wheels Greased Lighting car my friend Jimmy had given me when I left Ogden.....the best gift seeing his eyes light up....we did good Jimmy.
Erick ran home and came right back with another pocket knife and presented it to me as a gift.....turned out if he gets something new he was to give up something else....and he chose a very nice pocket knife to give me a gift.....I'm crying again just typing this storey....what a wonderful gift....Thank your Eric.

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Here is Eric with his collection of Hot Wheel cars, who would have know he was as into toy cars as Jimmy and me......the one I gave him is the one still in the package.

Had some company today

I was a bit wiped out today from the ride yesterday and the cloudy day so I came into the trailer for a nap.
Donna knocked on the door to ask me if I knew this guy.......King Snake.......so small how did they even see him? He hid his face after I let him know I was not afraid....camera shy I guess!!!

I have had a few guests this year.......

I got the bike out!!!!!

 

Man what a great day yesterday was............

Got the bike out and rode it about 70 miles.
The above photo was taken near the Parker Dam

To be honest I was afraid I might get questioned for looking like a national threat when I got off the bike and started taking photos....

I rode into Parker over on the California side of the river.

What a great road, I saw sand dunes great mountain views and found a few great camp grounds like this one with a view of the homes across the Colorado River.

After riding into Parker for a few items and a bike wash I returned on the California side and found a nice road that would be a road racers dream.......

I did a little hard riding, nothing like the riding I used to do years ago, but had some fun and even got some "AIR" doing about 65 mph.

The surface was really good in some areas and really bad in others.....I have to say if you ever get to Parker Dam with a sports car or bike it is worth looking for the road.....1st right after you cross the dam from Arizona to California.

Oh ya watch for Burros....lol....I saw about 15 of them.

After my unbelievable ride I stopped in Parker Dam for gas and while there met some local Harley riders, Wayne and Paula Olson. They invited me to the world famous floating bar Fox's

Now this is a boat I would love to restore and I'd keep it!!!!!

Too bad they do not serve food.....one thing about this is it rocks and the floor bends.....try that with TBI   :)

If you stand here like this you might find out how they use electronics to tell your age

I love the way this photo makes it look like Paula has a mustache....not very fair to her....she may ride like a man, but she looks like a woman....pretty one at that!!!!

This might explain why I ride a Triumph......the Hog did nothing for me!!!!

I still feel like someone stole my handle bars every time I see my bike from the front.

Now that I have ridden the bike a bit I have formed an opinion.........I love it...so fast so smooth even the clip on handle bars could be lived with.......hit the throttle and the last thing I was thinking about was the low bars....... lol