Saturday October 22, 2011 (part 2)

Well as I said before the sky was blue, the temperature was in the mid 60’s and the ride was going great only around 50 miles left to my destination. I was cruising along this long and lonely Hwy. 425 when all of a sudden the Arkansas state line sign was upon me.

 Being the blogger that I am, I made the quick decision to pull over in a church parking lot to get a photo. This proved to be a costly mistake; here is why. Well what looked like an asphalt parking lot from the road turned out to be a gravel parking lot with very loose gravel.

As my bike front wheel exited from the highway there was a small lip from the roadway to the parking lot, this caused the front tire to pull quickly to the right, yep you guessed it right into the loose gravel (oh did I mention I was in the middle of hard breaking and still doing around 40 mph) well needless to say that was all she wrote…the bike and I went down with a great THUD!!!

Next thing I know as I’m laying on my back a big dully truck pulls up beside me with a high school kid driving it asking if I needed any help. Turned out to be a great kid, I told him I was alright as I picked my bike up and he went on down the road. I got to admit my first thought was as I hit the ground, am I dead, then I went through a body check,

the thick leather jacket I was wearing saved my upper body, my lower body took on most of the damage. My jeans were still intact but I could feel the blood running down my legs from my knees. All in all I walked away with very little damage, my left knee was scraped and my left elbow was hurting…oh who am I kidding my whole left side felt like someone had worked me over with a bat.

 Ha-ha. Then this thought hit me as I watched the dully truck tail light fade out of site. Would my bike crank? The answer you ask…yes it did after many, many tries. Well as my leather jacket saved me, the crash bars on my bike saved it, the bar on the left side of my bike was now covering my shifter,

so with a lot of kicking and screaming I was able to bend the bar far enough from my shifter that my foot could reach it again to shift gears, so down the hwy I went to the small town “Star City”.

I was the first to reach the Star City Inn;

Walter had not made it yet. I was the only car in the parking lot, not a bad place just no one there…it’s in the middle of nowhere.


About the time I walked back to unload my bike, my buddy Walter pulled up on his Honda.

I told him my sad story, he laugh and called me names…what are friends for, RIGHT?


After he checked in we cleaned up a little and decided to go and get some pizza at a local pizza shop "Mike's Pizza Pro". I think this was the only place in town open on a Saturday night and just like the Inn we were the only customers in the place. Truth is known I think we were the only people who had ever been inside; the employees looked at us like we were from outer space. We ended up ordering a large cheeseburger pizza and an order of bread sticks (pretty darn good)

and my buddy Walter picked up the tab, I think he was feeling sorry for me by now. Ha-ha.


We sat around and swapped war stories and the good time we had in the past for at least an hour and a half. We did a lot of catching up and I was telling him how I had had this bike for over a little over three years now and had never dropped it once until today…I feel a little more foreshadowing coming on.


Time to head back to the room, it was starting to get cold and neither one of us brought our jacket with up as the pizza place was only a couple of blocks down the road. Well my friends never say never; as we pulled back into the Inn (two cars there now) I pulled my bike into one of the numerous parking spots under a big light pole started turning it around so I could back it in to the spot…for some reason still unknown to me this day, in mid turn I grabbed the front break…

yep you guessed it, down to the ground I went, with a huge THUD!!!

This time on my right side, I have to admit I just laid there for a few seconds just wondering what the heck just happened, so once again in the same DAY mind you, I picked my bike up again.


After that it was bed time, I checked out my injures mainly just burses and scratches on both knees now. Funny thing is when I fell the second time (IN THE SAME DAY) I ended up hurting my right knee, it was getting hard to walk, go figure, crash at 40 mph and just walk away, crash at a near stop and injure my knee.

As I was sleeping I was awakened around 4:30am to a loud crashing sound…my first thought was it was someone loading my bike into the back of a pickup but my leg was hurting so I did not get out of bed to see…then seconds later I heard another crash, then I thought they got the second one! I could not take it anymore I hobbled to my feet and shuffled to the window only to find out it was thunder and it was now raining….

The next morning after what had to be the worse continental breakfast,

it was decided due to my knee pain, it would be best to cut the ride short and head home with my tail between my legs…we made a quick stop at McDonalds for lunch said our goodbyes and we were on our way home, me to Petal, MS and Walter to Huntsville, Alabama.


Just as I was around 15 miles from home still nursing a sore knee, I see this crazy man in front of me with his arm out the window of his truck telling me to come around him on the hwy. I got to admit this did not make me happy as I just wanted to get home and off my crippled bike. As I passed the truck who do Isee non-other than Matt (the hammer) Roland looking at me. We pulled over I told him the sad story… he laugh and called me names…what are friends for, RIGHT? Got to get better friends. Ha-ha.


Come to find out he was on his way home from a mountain bike race where he took second place; he even posed for a photo, trophy in hand. (Camera hog)

said our goodbyes and I was home my 5:00pm come to find out my buddy Walter did not get home till 9:00pm. OUCH!!!


GOOD NEWS; my knee has healed itself, except for the scrapes, I'm ready for my hiking trip next week…thank GOD its not in Arkansas.


Till next time


Big Al

Jandy Imports Motorcycle Leather

Ok everyone if you read my last post
http://bigalscompound.blogspot.com/2011/01/diners-drive-ins-and-divesoh-my-la.html
You know there is something good coming in this one...

Let me give you a little back ground first, I’ve been looking for a leather jacket since the day I bought my bike almost 3 years ago…well its not like I have not tried to get one but at 6’5” its harder than you think to find one that fits right. I live in a small town

that only had one motorcycle leather shop that I know of anyway, Dixie leather. I stopped in one day to look around; there were a couple of Harleys, a Honda, and then my Yamaha in the parking lot. As I was walking to the door this old bearded man (owner) walked to the front door and pointed at the bikes and said “I like that bike” (Harley) skipping the Honda then pointing at the other Harley and then saying “I like that bike” then walked inside. Hmmm, we all have our favorite bikes but I find it a poor business move to insult your customer before they even get into the door…well with that said, I found the jacket of my dreams inside, but had to pass due to the owner had…well, pissed me off. (Note: his leather shop is now closed) Karma is a Bitch.

Ha-ha.


My next try at a jacket came when my wife and J & P cycles online catalog, http://www.jpcycles.com/
she was going to surprise me with it for Christmas, well the jacket came in and I loved it but it was to small, so she sent it back and got the next size, still did not fit in the arms. Once again she sent it back, this time it fit like a glove but it happened to be a factory defect and half of the inner jacket liner had not been sewn in at all. You guess it, she sent it back again, to get a new one the same size. You want believe this, instead of a jacket in the mail my account was refunded, J & P cycle thought we were now just wanting our money back, I guess three strikes you out.

Ha-ha. We started to re-order but my now the weather was starting to get warm,

so we decided to wait till next winter.


Then came my trip to Slidell, LA last weekend…after a disappointing meal at LA Pines Café, we rode our bikes the 4 miles to Jandy Imports,  JANDY IMPORTS , to look for a jacket, we loaded the address into our iphone, the iphone lead us to the wrong place for some reason it took us to 3199 E Terrace Ave NOT 3199 TERRACE ave, once there we realized we were at the wrong place, no biggie we were only one road over. We made the block and there it was, it was hard to miss due to all the motorcycles out front.

At first site I was a little surprise at the size of the place, kind of small. Well small until you walk in…

There were three ladies running the place and let me tell you…it was run like a business should be run, I was amazed. The second, and I mean the second you walked in the door you were greeted and offered a drink

(no, no not that kind of drink) the ladies keep a bucket iced down, full of soft drinks and water,

free for the taking just for shopping with them. (Nice touch ladies) we did not even take one but I appreciate the thought.


It was standing room only; the place is loaded with...

leather jackets,

boots,

pins,

helmets, 

biker jewelry

and biker patches with a sewing station to put them on…

I have got to say they have one thing that stood out from everything else…SERVICE!!!

I don’t know how the ladies did it; they were everywhere offering help, answering questions and let’s not forget screaming out every few minutes that there were free drinks at the door.

If they are not the owners, the owners are not paying the ladies enough, they are workers.

Ok now on to my jacket, after looking around a bit, I found a jacket that fit but it had a belt attached around the waist, I considered it but then I saw it…the clouds parted and a beam of light shined down on it.

I put it on and it fit great in the arms,

a little big in the waist, it has side belts that adjust the waist, I moved the belts on the sides to their tightest hole, still a little big…here is where that service thing comes in again…one of the ladies told me to give her the jacket and she would add some more snaps in it,

while I wait and get this…FREE OF CHARGE!!! That is what I call service.


David ended up buying a set of…Hmm not sure what they are called,

they are straps that hold your pants leg down while ridding,

they worked great on the ride home.


Once we paid for our stuff, I used the restroom before the ride home, and just like the rest of the place it was spotless, why bring up the restroom you ask? I got tickled while reading the sign over the commode.

The whole time thinking, these ladies would…service, service!!!


In closing,, I would like to say thank you ladies, it is very rare these days to walk in to a new place and feel right at home…as my buddy Arnold would say…I’LL BE BACK!!!

Great job!!!


Till next time


Big Al