8.19.06 - Just Like Coming Home
ABM HAD THE ONLY CHOPPER AT THE FIRST DAY OF CRIPPLE CREEK VET'S RALLY '06:
Some won't ride wet, but this summer has broken my cherry. Black bike is so dirty, it gets extra looks...unbelievable, who woulda thought?
THE RUN:
A vet told me today to expect 20,000 to 40,000 American Biker Veterans, riding toghether, in one continuous column, to C.C. tomorrow morning, rain or shine, ABM will be there to see it all.
Man, what a great Friday! The 8am ride up Colorado rt 24 thru my old neighborhood of Manitou Springs, ("Man-it-two"), flashed me back-the old run-down apartment building was refurbished and turned into a $300/night fancy joint with an elevator! Wonder what $2000 wk guests would think if they knew we rented it by the month for $35 each?
UP ON CRIPPLE CREEK...SHE SENDS ME....
Headed west, up past no-snow Pike's Peak, all the while, going up up up, getting colder. Slower trucks, underskilled drivers (it's good to know your limits),
fade to the right..weaker cages overheat, rattle, slow down..no flat stretches, its ALL UP. Rt 67 winds through the last 20 miles of mountain to finally get you to the little alpine valley goldstrike town of Cripple Creek, now prosperous, thanks to legal gambling, (more on that later), used to be a hippy community of less than 100 people, and a half-assed gold & silver mine. The fancy gambling joints were apartments, or hippy blanket-knitting-basket-weaving farts 'n' crafts stuff.
There were some high-country Colorado girls--but-you had to risk your life on a SINGLE LANE GRAVEL ROAD WITH NO GUARDRAILS TO GET THERE. On corners, blow your horn and listen if anyone blows back....insane, but we still made it up there on weekends. This is the REAL HIGH COUNTRY. Up around 9,000 feet, just walking down the street can make you high, and the freshest air you ever sucked into a lung makes you want a couple eggs, easy over, hash-browns, base-ball-sized bisquit, and couple cups of black coffee, which we had, for the gross sum of 49 cents, (plus tax) That's right, sports fans, total tab for two: something like $1.07! Left a nice tip. Bronco Billy's.
BUT WAIT!!!....THERE'S MORE..
At the joint across the street, you DON'T PAY FOR DRINKS SO LONG AS YOU ARE GAMBLING...Figure...a $3 Corona? How about 6 Coronas...18 bucks..park your ass in front of a quarter-suckin-one-armed bandit, and play ten bucks. Even if you don't win anything, theoretically, you're still EIGHT BUCKS AHEAD! Am going back tomorrow, (right after that 49 cent breakfast). How in hell the ABM interviews ever get done, is beyond me.
THE BEST PART:
The Dogs of War. Sons of ordinary, everyday middle class American familes, called upon to do the unthinkable, my BROTHERS IN ARMS. Hear their voices... VETERAN'S DAY WEEK, this fall, on American Biker Minute.
Some won't ride wet, but this summer has broken my cherry. Black bike is so dirty, it gets extra looks...unbelievable, who woulda thought?
THE RUN:
A vet told me today to expect 20,000 to 40,000 American Biker Veterans, riding toghether, in one continuous column, to C.C. tomorrow morning, rain or shine, ABM will be there to see it all.
Man, what a great Friday! The 8am ride up Colorado rt 24 thru my old neighborhood of Manitou Springs, ("Man-it-two"), flashed me back-the old run-down apartment building was refurbished and turned into a $300/night fancy joint with an elevator! Wonder what $2000 wk guests would think if they knew we rented it by the month for $35 each?
UP ON CRIPPLE CREEK...SHE SENDS ME....
Headed west, up past no-snow Pike's Peak, all the while, going up up up, getting colder. Slower trucks, underskilled drivers (it's good to know your limits),
fade to the right..weaker cages overheat, rattle, slow down..no flat stretches, its ALL UP. Rt 67 winds through the last 20 miles of mountain to finally get you to the little alpine valley goldstrike town of Cripple Creek, now prosperous, thanks to legal gambling, (more on that later), used to be a hippy community of less than 100 people, and a half-assed gold & silver mine. The fancy gambling joints were apartments, or hippy blanket-knitting-basket-weaving farts 'n' crafts stuff.
There were some high-country Colorado girls--but-you had to risk your life on a SINGLE LANE GRAVEL ROAD WITH NO GUARDRAILS TO GET THERE. On corners, blow your horn and listen if anyone blows back....insane, but we still made it up there on weekends. This is the REAL HIGH COUNTRY. Up around 9,000 feet, just walking down the street can make you high, and the freshest air you ever sucked into a lung makes you want a couple eggs, easy over, hash-browns, base-ball-sized bisquit, and couple cups of black coffee, which we had, for the gross sum of 49 cents, (plus tax) That's right, sports fans, total tab for two: something like $1.07! Left a nice tip. Bronco Billy's.
BUT WAIT!!!....THERE'S MORE..
At the joint across the street, you DON'T PAY FOR DRINKS SO LONG AS YOU ARE GAMBLING...Figure...a $3 Corona? How about 6 Coronas...18 bucks..park your ass in front of a quarter-suckin-one-armed bandit, and play ten bucks. Even if you don't win anything, theoretically, you're still EIGHT BUCKS AHEAD! Am going back tomorrow, (right after that 49 cent breakfast). How in hell the ABM interviews ever get done, is beyond me.
THE BEST PART:
The Dogs of War. Sons of ordinary, everyday middle class American familes, called upon to do the unthinkable, my BROTHERS IN ARMS. Hear their voices... VETERAN'S DAY WEEK, this fall, on American Biker Minute.
posted by americanbikerminute at 9:12 AM
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