Happy New Year, everyone! Hope your Christmas and winter holidays were everything you wanted them to be. Winter actually arrived in December this year—a rarity in SoCal. Usually we get our winter from mid-January to just the beginning of March, so a bit of a surprise to have some winter when the rest of the country was having one. But still, that just doesn’t rule out our winter riding season. Some events are consistently blessed with perfect weather for their rides. A good example is ABATE 27’s Polar Bear Ride, coming up in February on the 23rd. I’ll give you a bit more in February, but make sure you save a spot on your calendars for this fun ride… Nice running into Don Kline at a couple events recently. Don says he’s looking for some freelance writing gigs—just in case anyone’s looking… A noticeable lack of running into quite a few people at my usual end-of-the-year runs this year. I didn’t see Buck and Lois Fries, nor did I see Mel Skaggs. Where were you folks? Wooster? No ABATE 19 Toy Run? Jeff Allen? Greg Kammerman? What the heck? I count on seeing all you guys at least once a year. I felt let down… But I did see lots of friends. Sally Cappello showed up as Mrs. Claus at one event, so we chatted for a few minutes. Steve Broughton stopped me to let me know he’s looking for a replacement for his faithful FXR that met a sad end this spring. He came with Sporty, who I never did catch up with, but hiya anyway to Sporty of ABATE Local 1. And since I chatted with Steve, I had to be reminded of the Motorcycle Riders Unification Rally on Saturday, January 11 at the state capitol at noon… Leslie Anderberg had a cool booth at a toy run where she was selling custom-made bracelet and necklace charms. Very cute, and a cool idea for a different type of vendor. You can shoot her an e-mail at leslielockets@origamiowl.com. Also nice seeing her honey Travis Anderberg manning the ABATE booth that same day… Good hearing from Tony Lynn. He says it would be really handy if you folks making flyers could add the zip code for the departure place. Good idea, Tony!… Congrats to New York Myke and his crew on the opening of the new San Diego Harley-Davidson store. I’m hearing great things, but haven’t been down to see it yet. This place is so big, it has its own tattoo parlor and barber shop. Cool, huh?… Also getting a remodel are all the Southern California Motorsports stores, finishing up in January with the Triumph store expansion… Nice running into Robert Johnson, who has an old-school Harley shop out in Hemet. If you need some help with your ride, you can give him a call at 951.415.1470… So about those birthdays—first, let me apologize to Rhonda Brogdon for not getting her birthday in with December’s. But, since it’s the 31st, you’re almost a January baby, so I’ll include you here! And January has a boatload of birthdays, so lets get the birthday cake cooking! Walt Gaston and Brad Valdez kick off the month. Happy day to Jen Esqueda and Kelley Cox. Allison Woods (co-owner of Coachella Valley Motorcycle Training), you deserve a special day! Saralyn Delk, Ana Storton and Ron Downing, have fun. Amy Broich, who often sends me stuff, has a January birthday, as does Richard Morrow and aptly named January Jeffers. Rjoh Riise also has a birthday. The CREW’s Anna Chavez celebrates on January 9, and my own Marine, Aaron Weigand, celebrates in January too—hope Okinawa celebrates in style, honey! Bobbie Mars-White and Frank Waldrop share the same birthday, and my friend Paul Wilson’s is the very next day, January 14. Hellen White and Charity Privett both have January birthdays too. Hank Hallmark is having a birthday at the end of the month, so I hope it’s a good one, Hank! My trike-riding friend Suzie Nellis has a January birthday—hopefully she’ll be out of the hospital where, in December, she was recovering from a tractor trailer versus her truck and camping trailer accident. Poor Lil Nugget! You’ll find another, Suzie! Hope your bones are healing too, girl!… Since January 14 is National Dress Up Your Pet Day, I’m expecting to see a lot of biker pet apparel. I always manage to find something absolutely ridiculous for my sis Dee’s dog, Rebecca Rose… That’s it for me this month. Stay dry, dig out your electric vests and get to riding.
