Who says you can’t take it with you? Well, Billy Standley in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, proved that you can. Billy was recently buried astride his 1967 Harley-Davidson, and the plan was 18 years in the making. After Billy’s wife Lorna died in 2003, Billy bought three plots alongside her grave and his casket was completed in 2009. It took all three plots to hold the Plexiglas box his sons built for him. Billy not only wanted to go to heaven on his Harley, he also wanted everyone to see him do it. He recently died at the age of 82 from lung cancer, and it took five embalmers to prepare his body with a metal back brace and straps to secure him to the bike. He was dressed in his leathers, gloves, glasses and a white helmet with his name on it. No need to be concerned about deterioration of the box, as Billy and the Harley were buried in a 9′ x 11′ septic tank… Happy birthday to all you riders who celebrate in March. Happy birthday to USMC MC members Teno (Rowdy) Cardoza and Rick Hunter. Happy birthday to Iron Steed H.O.G. members Lou DuPont, Mary Reynolds, Allen Clements, Joe Owens and my good friend Terry Hurst. Happy birthday to Sheryl and Peter Donovan, members of the Intermountain H.O.G. chapter in Boise, Idaho. Happy birthday to Norm Kelly in Hubbard, Oregon, and to celebrity riders Vince Vaughn and Eric Estrada… Heads up! You are about to get eyes in the back of your head. Let me tell you about the Skully motorcycle helmet. The founder, chairman and CEO Marcus Weller, Ph.D., began his innovation in Silicon Valley in 2013. He rides a Ducati, and has created a full-face helmet engineered to bring all of the technology you could possibly want along with you as you ride. It is called the Skully AR—short for Skully Augmented Reality. It is a smart helmet fully loaded with integrated microprocessors, cameras and sensors linked to advanced optics. In other words, this helmet has a built-in screen with a 180-degree review camera so that you can see behind and around yourself as you ride. It has a navigation tool with GPS to get you where you are going, and also offers Bluetooth connectivity with smartphones so that you can listen to music, send a text, make phone calls or call up the Internet—all while you ride. And all of these features are voice activated so that you do not have to pull over and stop to change venues. It is battery operated and capable of nine hours of continuous use before recharging. Advertisements say that it is DOT and ECE approved. I believe the patent is still pending, and the helmet itself is currently in the test phase and set to be released later this year. It is expected to include an open software development kit to allow programmers to design their own applications. There is a good video that will give you the sense of riding with a Skully. Go to www.skullyhelmets.com and see what you think… Wow! I just cannot believe it. David Kinchloe is an old-time IHR biker who is famous for riding a pink motorcycle he named “Miss Piggy.” David is colorblind so he thinks Miss Piggy is grey, but he is tough enough to ride any color he wants. So, now I hear that David has sold his bike, is done with riding and that he bought a camper. I have ridden with David since about 1995 and, honestly, he has given me some of my best riding memories. I cannot imagine not seeing him on the road. Sometimes I just hate it when time marches on… Here is a get-well wish for Dale Visage, an IHR member who lives in Medford, Oregon. Dale is founder and lead singer with the rock group Hog Wild mc. (Note the small “mc” stands for “music club.”) Dale was performing at a Mexican Restaurant/Cantina called Habañeros when he started losing his voice. He was coming down with a cold, but he plowed through. After all, the show must go on! Maybe his sidekick, Lloyd Morris, will have to take the vocals for a few days. If you want to hear some great tunes, check them out at www.hogwildmusic.com.
