TRA Christmas Party

With the colder weather, opportunities to ride are pretty much gone, so, the bike sits in the garage awaiting warmer, drier times.

Being on the road is only part of the enjoyment that comes from, as Audrey says, being an "old man in a motorcycle gang". It's the company.

Last Saturday night we joined with other members of the Temple Riders Association for our Christmas Party at the Gathering Place in Gardner Village. We had a nice meal and got to visit with friends that we sometimes only see on occasion but one of the most enjoyable parts of the night, was the "entertainment". I don't think entertainment is really the best word but it will have to do.

President Calder from the SL Temple presidency, using a guitar for accompanyment, recounted the life and sacrifice of the Savior by quoting scripture and Christmas songs. It was a special, touching experience he shared with us. This is what Christmas is truely all about.

Secondary Shirts

The skull with color looks like the main shirts that will be offered as well as a patch for the participants. We also are planning to offer a second black & white shirt. The most likely artwork for the second shirt looks like the horse with a bike overlayed.

Next Fall - Venturerider Roundup

Next fall the Venturerider.org group is going to hold a rally (roundup) for the members of the group that live in the western part of the US and Canada. The roundup is going to be held in Cody, Wyoming, home of the Buffalo Bill Cody museum.

Jan and I are working on the commitee and will be in charge of ordering and distributing the t-shirts for the event. Jan has a really good contact to have the shirts silkscreened from her days ordering this type stuff for the school she worked at. The design is most likely:


Cody will provide good access to Yellowstone Nat'l Park, Beartooth Pass, Chief Joseph Senic Highway and other fun places to ride.

The first day of the roundup is our 30th anniversary - how do buffalo burgers sound for dinner?

Youth Fire Side

Sunday was a balmy 39 degrees in our area, we even had some snow fall. Monday cleared up and the temp came up a little to the mid 40s. I tell you this, just so you can get a mental picture of want was happening in the days just prior to the Tuesday evening youth fireside the TRA was invited to put on for the YM/YW of the Willow Creek 2nd Ward.

Tuesday came, the the temp had made it up to 54 when Jan and I were suppose to leave for the meeting place. We donned the cold weather gear, fired up the bike and headed out. Fifty four degrees really isn't to bad of a temperature, maybe a jacket, sweater or heavy long sleeve shirt, but when you jump on a motorcycle and go down the freeway, it can be down right cold.

We all met at the Rite-Aid a block away from the church house. Given the temperature and the oppotunity many had to go see Michael McLean's "The Ark" on the same night, I thought that participation would be on the light side. Twenty plus bikes showed up, including at least three from the Ogden area.

A little after 7:00 the YM/YW were taken outside to greet us as we rode up and parked. The youth (and the leaders) milled around the bikes for a little bit and some of them took the opportunity to check out how the seats felt. One YW leader even took a short trip on the back of the trike that was there.

After moving inside, we heard some information on how the TRA started and what it's goals are. Also, we heard of some of the special experiences that members of the group have had and one sister talked about the special challenges that the women have while on a motorcycle (going to the temple and changing from pants and skirts and of course, helmet hair)

The main point of the fireside was to teach the youth about protecting yourself with the "whole armour of God". This was demonstrated by the use of the riding gear used to protect you while riding.

I don't believe I had even heard (or maybe I should say - not heard) the youth so quiet during a fireside.

The TRA has done a few of these fireside but this was the first that we were able to participate in. It was a great experience and I hope that we do many more.

SOLD!!

Jan's bike sold last night. For some reason even Jan can't explain, she hasn't ridden her bike much this year because she's felt uneasy about it. Probably for good reason because in July, Jan & I had left Friday night to go stay at the cabin and do some maintainence work there. We were just pulling in (11:00 PM) when we got a voice message that "our son Sam had been in a motorcycle accident".

Jan reached the hospital while I unloaded the trailer with scaffolding etc at the cabin and we headed back. A couple more calls with the info Jan received from the hospital to our daughters to let them know and solicite their help. Audrey was able to get a hold of her husband at FedEx where Sam was heading to work and let them know what happened and not to expect him at work. Vivian, along with her husband, made arrangements for some friends to come stay with their little boy and went over to the hospital to be with Sam while we traveled back. Good thing, or maybe not at that hour, that they live close to the hospital. Thanks to both of our awesome girls and their spouses!!

What the hospital said was that Sam was on the freeway and the bike went down. Sam had been wearing a helmet which did it's job and protected him. He was also wearing a leather jacket and SHORTS. Sam broke his collar bone and shoulder blade, both on the left side and had some pretty good road rash on mostly his legs.

What we found out later when we got to the hospital was that he wasn't riding his bike (1981 Honda Silverwing) but had ridden his mom's bike that night. The front end had started to wobble and he couldn't get it to stop. After slowing what he could and feeling the bike was getting away from him, he put it down on the left side so he could have some control of his destiny. Because it was late at night, traffic was light. A lady in an SUV was behind him and saw what was going on when he went down. She stopped and used her vehicle to block the lane of traffic to protect Sam and called for help. Thank you! Sam had the presence of mind and the strength to move from out of the lane of traffice and get to the median to wait for help.

Sam is almost all of the way healed now, he has returned to work after 7 or so weeks off, and the bike has been repaired. For having been laid down, it didn't suffer to bad of damage. It bent the front forks but the rest was mostly cosmetic or minor to repair.

After all of this, Jan's comfort level was less than before and for good reason so --- SOLD.

Fall Colors - A Ride with Vivian

For the last little bit, Viv has been interested in going on a ride with me on the bike. Last Saturday, our schedules worked that we were both available and there was a ride for a Lehi police officer that was shot during a traffic stop in June.

Viv and I were somewhere in the middle of the bikes. I've heard estimates of 400 bikes and around 1000 bikes. All I can say is there were a lot!!

Motorcycle officers from the Highway Patrol and other agencies help to guide and control the ride. When I first saw how many bikes had showed up, I thought they would split the ride up into small groups but they took all of us in one LARGE group. They shut down roads in each of the towns we went through and allowed us to ride without stopping.

The ride was up over Nebo loop and the colors were beautiful. The money for the ride went to an excellent cause and at the BBQ in the park both Viv and I each won a gift pack. That was fun.

Camp Floyd - West Desert - May 2008

Dan and I tried to organize a Venture Rider ride in May but we were the only two that ended up getting together. We had a nice breakfast and then rode out to Camp Floyd in the west desert. There were a lot of neat artifacts and history.

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth - Rat Fink Reunion

The last three years, Jan and I have had the opportunity go to Manti and participate in the Rat Fink Reunion and Parade.

Each year they have a reunion in Manti to remember the work the Ed did and the innovations he came up with. In the late afternoon they have a parade with antique cars and motorcyles for about 30 minutes to show off the vehicles.

Upgrading the Technology

Although in 1986, the Yamaha Venture one of the premier bikes of it's time, competing with the Honda Goldwing having stereo, intercom, cassette tape player, and CB radio. But now, 22 years later, most of the electronics are still useful but the cassette player (even if it did work) is completely outdated. With some direction from the second group I have gotten involved with, the Venture Riders, I was able to remove the player and install a 3.5mm port to enable IPOD input etc. It works great!!

Wing Ding 29 - Billings Montana - July 3-7, 2007

Since getting our bikes, we've learned a number of new skills in order to improve and do maintainence. One of the things we've learned is how to do some automotive painting. We repainted Sam's bike and he wanted to see the reaction at the Wing Ding in Billings. I had been interested in taking a longer ride, so the goal worked out great.

When we got to Malad, ID, while refueling, Sam's bike tipped into the pump and broke the windshield. Luckily, the TRA member in Rigby had a used windshield we could install with some minor modification.

We rode up through Yellowstone National Park. This is us at Old Faithful!!

We stopped to get pics by the park sign. You have to have proof.

We left the park through the NE gate and passed through the Lamar Valley. There is a large herd of Buffalo that call this area home. We had to stay alert has we went through.

It was a great experience to take this trip. We drove over to the Billings Temple but it was closed during the time we were there so we couldn't attend.

The sad part of the trip was when Vivian and Jake had their little boy Xander (Alexander) born while we were gone. It had to happen Viv!

A Riding Buddy

Jan and I have had a opportunity to take a number of rides. We went to Manti, Logan and a few other places around the area.

Shortly after we got our bikes, Sam (my oldest son) decided that he would like to try riding as well. He found a 1981 Honda Silverwing on Ebay for sale from seller in the Salt Lake area. He bought the bike and made arrangements to pick it up.

Sam needed to find a place to have a ward camp for his singles ward so we took a ride into the Uintah mountains on Mirror Lake Road one Saturday.

Then The Upgrade!!

Along with the purchase of Jan's bike, we learned of a group of LDS motorcycle riders called the Temple Riders Association (TRA). www.templeriders.com

After our first trip on the bikes to the cabin, we realized that if we want to take any long rides with the TRA, the bikes we have were inadequate.

We were able to find a used 1986 Yamaha Venture tour bike at a local dealership and make a good deal on it. It was interesting going from the Virago to a full size tour bike weighing more than 800 pounds but I have loved it ever since and we have been able to take some great rides.



What a ride!!

... I Need a Bike Too

We looked through some adds in the newspaper and before we knew it, we found a nice 1982 Suzuki GL650 for Jan to ride. We clearcoated the paint on the bike and added the sissy bar.

Fastforward 23 Years - Yamaha Virago 750

August of 2005, the husband of a co-worker was ready to sell a Virago 750 prior to starting law school. After a quick conversation with Jan, we decided to buy the bike. I rode it a bit and worked to get my license back. Then came Jan's request ....

The Beginning - 1980 Kawasaki 250

Shortly after getting married in 1979, Jan and I purchased a Kawasaki 250 brand new. We started enjoying motorcycles early in our marriage.

After a couple of years, our family started to grow with our oldest daughter Audrey, we decided to sell the bike.

Jan kept her motorcycle endorsement over the years and I let mine expire.