Shadetree > Shadetree's Blog Posts > I Have Won Already!

August 23, 2008 03:20

Friends, this has gone far enough. As one of the “Spartan Six,” perhaps a potentially precarious position, (Remember what happened to the 300), I must stop here to say thanks. Lest anyone feel slighted, these are in no particular order:

Today I rode, (thrashed would be too strong a word), a new R 1200GS from BMW of Oklahoma. Owner Michael Tupps was gracious enough to allow me the privilege of breaking in the gorgeous, Namibia Orange boxer. In his good humor, or perhaps due to a bit of the same torture gene that runs in the Japanese GS Trophy team officials that caused them to grease a telephone pole for their contestants, this bike came with street tires. Maybe Michael simply had enough forethought to realize that I wouldn’t take it in such nasty places without knobbies? Or not.

Today’s outing consisted of a stealthy ride through the neighborhood where we quietly access the South Canadian River, a place I am told that holds more gnarly and wicked bike eating traps than the entire Sahara Desert. But rest easy, Michael. This ain’t this cowboy’s first rodeo. I was careful to stay many a stone’s throw from the dreaded quicksand. Tomorrow, Susan and I will enjoy a backroads ride to Stillwater and Tulsa, then return home via Route 66.

Tobin Lampson of Adventure Motorcycle/Dual Sport News Magazine is also among those deserving thanks. He has endured my drivel and scratch for numerous issues of his publication, allowing me to inflict even the most incurable insomniac with a dose of narcolepsy. He also wrote a glowing recommendation to BMW’s upper echelon on my behalf. (I’ll get that check in the mail tomorrow, Toby.)

James Pratt, friend and Publisher of Ride Oklahoma Magazine. I cannot say enough about this man who took me under his wing with nothing more than a slapdash story about two buddies riding Harleys in Texas Hill Country. He even came to my house, rode in the bed of my pickup truck in freezing temperatures to photograph a re-enactment of parts of that ride…with a broken wrist! I’ve been a pain to him ever since.

Susan. The love of my life. Without her, none of this would be possible. She is my rock. She shores me up when I fail and holds me up to the light of a superior measure, even when I do well, to keep me humble. She helps me be more than I could ever be on my own.

Mom. Norma Dragoo. The mom that “goes the distance,” as told in the story of her 4200 mile ride on back of my motorcycle from Norman, Oklahoma to Canada, parts west and back again, with only one complaint. “Can we keep on going?” She didn’t want to come home yet. Mom turns 74 in November and can still wield a mean clutch and throttle. Mom let me overhaul motorcycles in our living room when I was 14 because we didn’t have a garage. She didn’t want me working outside in the cold. But when it sleeted on us on Logan Pass, she wanted to give me her gloves.

The many friends who negotiated their way through my blog log on. You are the greatest. Mayor Cindy, I still can’t believe you did that! And Laura Curb, my third grade teacher, whom I only recently found by looking you up on Google. At 88, a champion shooter! No wonder I didn’t have many good teachers after that. Who could possibly measure up?

There are so many of you and I don’t want to slight you, but you know who you are. Friends from the side of the road. Friends who helped me pull my bike out of the river…or watched me do it, but made sure I didn’t drown. I still love you, Man. Friends from the bike club, the health club and from Church. Even Nan, my old girlfriend, for Pete’s sake. Top that, guys. They never forgive us!

No matter the outcome next Thursday, I have come to realize more than ever the meaning and power of friendship. Thanks for lending me your energy, sharing your karma, Praying and most of all, for having me on your list…of friends.

Bill

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