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.