Lance’s Gift… NM

Tuesday, September 12th, 2017

Please email me directly [icon above] for “autographed” International shipping rates or multiple orders.

"It is so hard at times to find that inward seed giving us the true meaning of Life, yet, I keep looking for it."

-5200 xxx

If I were to write another Book, “Lance’s Gift” would definitely be its title. I don’t believe much in coincidences and as I sit here almost 12 years later from that day we packed up the sidecar and headed West, I have no doubt Lance has been watching over us. I don’t take Life for granted, the Gift of living in itself is quite a Present, being in valleys at times somehow we have always managed to get back on the peaks. There are hundreds of people, you, that have also landed a hand [or two!] but he has been overseeing it all. So much has happened, situations we escaped while I feel we should not even be here.

BOOTS

A ride in Louisiana in the early days. We were attending a Rally and decided to join a group for a local ride. At one point, as a turn was coming up on us, the sidecar went one way and the motorcycle another way. The sidecar did not completely detach, it was dragged and followed me in a strange angle while at the same time Spirit decided to bail out. He did not have a harness yet but a 15’ long leash. The length of it prevented him to be dragged as we went off the road, a short jump off the shoulder with a cushy landing in a sugar cane field, mud up to the axles only because it had rained the night before. The scenario could not have been any nicer! The other riders stopped and a couple of them went back to camp to send a vehicle with a winch and trailer. It was a crazy day but we were safe.

boots (2) 

A ride in Southern Utah one afternoon. Twisties galore, endless roads while we finally made it back to our camp in Mosquito Cove a bit passed Zion. Great cold day, great ride. We got ready the next morning for another ride, all geared up, Spirit’s goggles and helmet on, we rode no more than 5 feet when the sidecar suddenly tipped inward toward the motorcycle with two broken arms leaving only one to support it. Five feet! It could have happened the day before on one of those curves, one of those cliffs, one of those endless drops. We slowly rode with the sidecar strapped and dangling to a local welder who fixed us up. I remember him asking me if I wanted “ugly and strong” or “pretty and not as strong” as I did not want to get into taking the sidecar totally apart and realign it. You probably know what my answer was…

MY CAMP

On the road to Canyon de Chelly my rear wheel locked up. Broken shaft drive. Frozen with a nice skid mark on the asphalt. A bulldozer was passing by and I flagged him to pull us off the road and sit us on the shoulder which he kindly did. I called the only Friend I knew in Arizona who at the time lived in Show Low, 155 miles away. I told him we had broken down and without asking him for help he told me to just sit tight, he would be there soon with his trailer. A garden variety trailer and I already knew the sidecar was not going to fit on it because of its side railings. But, I didn’t say anything thinking we would find a way. There is always a way. He arrived and as I thought, the sidecar was not going up while the front of the exhaust and one jug, the left one, were in the way. A small Ford Ranger pick up truck stopped as three Natives got out of it trying to help. One of them told me he had a collapsible engine lifter apparatus with a “cherry picker”. I didn’t know what that was as I only smiled and thanked him for his thoughts. It is only a while later after more battling that I turned to him and asked him what he meant. He put together this upside down U-shape engine lifter, went home to get three spare car wheels, lifted the sidecar while him on it balancing and my Friend drove the trailer underneath it resting on the three spare wheels! I could have been waiting there for a hundred years and this would have never happened. The best however was the look on the mechanics once we got to BMW of Tucson to get it off the trailer with three jacks slowly rolling it back one little step at the time.

 flat tire a

There are so many scenarios as above which have taken place. So many sunrises and sunsets we have witnessed. Such a mental uphill even if not there yet. Without going too far in time and space  how about the sale of The Oasis to the nicest people it could be happening the only one day [and for one day] we were there in months after surgery and soon later finding this little home which has a page long of "being so perfect" in its every details. And timely I must say. This was no coincidence.

191-13 xxx 

Yet, when a Friend and I have a conversation, "that conversation…", about the meaning of Life, I am still stunned not having too many answers especially when within these times still carrying a sliver of anger towards it. And yes, I do. I honestly admit it even if when I try to put a lid on it. It could be a sign of weakness when I tell myself "I can’t help it", but, that is the reality of past and present moments. It actually has nothing to do with being strong or weak, it has to do from being robbed away the Love of my Life.

191-17 

Strangely enough I had to go to the Cardiologist today. One of the many steps of this "body tune up" and search for the cause of the leg pains, and as we talked about my five bypasses I had at the age of 47, 22 years ago [!], he says "you sure got a lot of mileage out of that surgery". Well, yes I have and why am I still standing here and Lance is not? How can I correlate with this particular meaning of Life? And yes, stress test and echocardiogram are now scheduled. He is curious. Should I be? Eventually we will run out of tests and Doctors…

191-18

So what is this meaning of Life we talk about? Few wear my shoes, few have been dealt this card as I call it, this card I never wish on anyone, or for that matter for anyone to understand and feel because trust me, as much as one can imagine the situation it is impossible to feel that dagger which will never be taken out as the pain like droplets of blood makes its indelible path inside and out. It has given me I must say the ability to see much that surrounds me as trivial and yet at the same time do as such without offending anyone. 

191-19

191-20

I respect anyone who’s meaning of Life could be a nice car, a nice suit, jewelry, a mansion, an imaginary status on the different stages of Social Media scored by the numbers of "likes" and even sometimes a striking color one might constantly wear as a label for an indispensable but also imaginary podium. Yet, I find the truer non physical attributes of Human kinds having more value such as respect, honesty, principles, kindness, love and yet expressed honestly and not mixed in bold letters on a same page with hate and anger which only reminds me of a yoyo bouncing endlessly on its rope trying to catch as many flies as possible.

-1594 

"If I could give but one gift from all the treasure that Mankind posses,
Or, give Mankind one gift from what little I have,
It would be the Peace I found in the comfort of your arms… "

EH Albert
 

road a

Thank You…
                 Stay well, Ara and Spirit

spirit a

Share and Enjoy:
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • RSS
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Technorati

7 Responses to “Lance’s Gift… NM”

  1. domingo chang Says:

    Quite the mishaps you’ve had with the rig, glad none of them were injury-producing.

    That portable homemade lift was impressive. When I was in similar situation with my long gone V-Strom Rig, I ended up having to separate the sidecar from the tug for it to fit in the trailer that was available from a friend. What a mess.

  2. Randy Says:

    Thank you Ara.

  3. Bill Says:

    Have you ever read “Fate is the Hunter” by Earnest Gann? He too deals with fortune and misfortune.

  4. Dean Says:

    Remember that day, but forgot that the Indians drove back to their place to find the old car wheels so that the rig would fit on the trailer, close to 200 miles down to Show Low and several days later the drive down to Tuscon to Iron Horse BMW for the repair. My wife and I really enjoyed Ara’s stay and Spirit and our Dog became fast friends. We had a heck of a time getting the rig out of the trailer down at Iron Horse, a great BMW dealership BTW.

  5. judith Says:

    I hope you keep writing and posting so we can know how you are and what is happening. One gets interested and cares in spite of oneself.

  6. Ara & Spirit Says:

    I will. Thank You for the care and interest. This to shall pass…

  7. Ara & Spirit Says:

    No but I will! Thank You. I read a lot, I don’t own a television!!!

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.