2010 Mid Life Crisis Tour

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REDMOND, Ore. – I did my turn as a volunteer last night – the 9 p.m.-midnight shift on the shuttlebus.

I was the conductor/safety guy and I rather expected I’d be dealing with drunks going home to their campsites from the biergarten.

Nope.

Guess who rides the shuttlebus from 10 to midnight. Teenagers.

I had the odd experience of riding through the cold and dark on a hard wood seat listening to a half dozen or so Canadian teenagers jabbering about stuff they don’t know shit about for lap after endless lap of the fairgrounds. One or two would get off to climb aboard a few laps later or be replaced by others.

I chose not to share my wisdom, hard won through years of experience – I was going to BMW MOA rallies decades before they were born – because I realized they really don’t give a damn what an old American guy knows.

Once off duty, I fell asleep almost immediately and woke up reasonably well rested a few minutes before the first rays of the sun painted the eastern side of my tent. It takes very little time for the sun to make the inside of a tent unbearable, so I pulled on my pants and boots and stumbled over to the coffee stand to lend a hand.

Back at the Indy Club compound, I bade farewell to Howard Mudd, who was packing to head home to Seattle. If you’re an Indianapolis Colts fan, you may know Howard as the offensive line coach who helped take the Colts to the Super Bowl this year. He has since retired. I’m not much of a football fan, so I know him as a nice guy and a competent motorcyclist. He’s been a member of the Indy Club for several years, but never made it to the meetings because he always seemed to have more pressing business on the Sundays of the meetings.

I hooked up with Dom and we rode to breakfast at Sisters, a small mountain town about 20 miles west of here. We found a popular little restaurant with two open stools at the counter and I wolfed down a cheddar cheese omelet, hash browns and wheat toast.

I led the way back to Redmond, listening to FOX News on my XM radio for the first time since the Great GPS/XM crisis of last Sunday afternoon.

We gassed at a Union 76 station, putted back to the rally site and chatted with friends until we all split up to go to seminars, shop, ogle at bikes or blog.

So there.

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Photos

Must have coffee
Caffeine junkies line up for their morning coffee.

Die Frau in Rot
Voni Glaves, the Lady in Red.

Ken Jacobsen
Indy Club member who lives in Chicago.

Peggy & Wayne
Peggy Rose and Wayne Garrison

Howard Mudd
Howard Mudd prepares to strike his tent and head home to Seattle.

Max
One of my favorite rally dogs.

It's fake
This woman who works for Blue Moon Cycle opined that her daughter would freak out if she came home with a real tattoo.

Closing/Awards ceremonies
We didn't win nothin'.