And the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado came to my house today!

And what a day it was!  Hey, Dana, come on in!  What are you riding? 

Oh, I see, it is Sherman's Black Matchless!  Lookin' good!

 

I wanna' go for a ride!  And Dana, ever the gentleman, took me!

 

And we feasted on pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans and all the other good stuff, topped off with an upside down German Chocolate Cake.  My grand daughter helped with the cooking and the clean up.  Great to have her around and not just because she is a work horse.

So it was a very fruitful day and I am very tired.  This was the one year anniversary of when the club came to bid farewell to Sherman.  Next week marks the one year anniversary of his passing, so it was a bittersweet celebration of that time in our lives. 

So let me just thank everyone for today.  And an especially big thanks for giving me the ride Sherman would have given me.  Thanks, buddy!  Hope we meet again soon!

 

 

Big misunderstanding on my part about the Sherminator!!!

Just had a short email from the Danaman.
 Lou,
          The Sherminator is for racing @ Bonneville, it's not street legal. So I will be coming down to your place on Sherman's black Matchless that I got running awhile back. Now I am counting on giving you a short ride on the Matchless, so make sure your life insurance is paid up (hah!)
Danaman
Hey, that is even better.  Check this out!  Whoops, never mind.  Was going to link you up to the youtube of the Matchless, but that is not there any more .  RATS!

Thanks, Dana!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y57dnNtUk_Q

 

Yes! It is a go on the cook out at my house!

SHERMAN J SCHROEDER, JR.

MEMORIAL RIDE AND COOKOUT

JULY 6, 2013

FEATURING THE

Sherman's Black Matchless

RIDDEN BY DANAMAN

AND ESCORTED BY THE BMAC

Call for details  719-546-1555

Just heard from the DanaMan and July 6 is a go!  Soooooo, the bike club should arrive here between noon and 1:00 for lunch.  I just want to say, if there is anyone out there who would like to join us for whatever reason, just give me a call so I have a heads up on how many to cook for.  Or leave a comment at the end of this blog.  Or send a message through my email.  I will give you good directions to my house and be most happy to see you.

Dana added this: I don't have email addresses/phone numbers for these three, so could yet let them know about the ride ? Let them know they can either come to Colorado Springs for the starting point of the ride, or just meet us at your place for lunch. We will start the ride @ around 11:00 AM from Johnny's Navajo Hogan bar and restaurant ( 2817 N. Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO ). I would guess we would be arriving at your place between noon and 1:00 PM.  Also if they want to attend our club meeting at the Hogan, that starts at 10:00 AM, they are more than welcome.

I would love to see a good turnout for this event.  This is one week before the anniversary of Sherman's passing so we need to celebrate the little fellow one more time.  Sherman was one in a million!

Here is a link to the newsletter showing lots of pictures.  http://www.bmacinc.com/Newsletter.html
And look for them on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/293247852308/?ref=ts&fref=ts

So that is the scoop for now.  I look forward to seeing or hearing from some of you very soon.
loumercer3@aol.com
 

Just a heads up for you biker fans or Sherman fans.

This is the "Sherminator" and it is ready to run.  Pretty sure this is going to Bonneville this fall!  The BMAC is having the annual Sherman Schroeder run and Dana called yesterday to tell me the plan.  We are not sure exactly where but it will be before noon. 

 

As soon as I know I will let you in on the specifics.  For now, just know it is in the works!

 

When Sherman passed last year he left the garage to his beloved British Motorcycle Association of Colorado, which he had helped found back in 1983.  Only one of the founders is left and hopefully he will be there that day. 

Any way, the club dug this out of the rubble in the garage and have spent the past year restoring it to museum quality.  This is going to be very exciting, at least for me

Oh, this is so damn cool!!

This was sent to me by my friend, Mark Bosworth, who runs the Photography Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.  I copied the letter so you will know all I know:
***

Lou, I thought you would appreciate this one.  In our collection we have a glass plate negative of Lincoln.  The negative was made in 1859 from a 1858 ambrotype portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The original print no longer exists according to historians in Springfield, IL. and as stated by Mr. Loyd Ostendorf, famed author and historian of Lincoln.   The original print was made by Preston Butler of Springfield IL.  Six cities lay claim to where the photograph was taken.  The negative was taken by A. R. Nicholson of Peoria, IL. Attached is a photograph we took today of me holding the negative.  I am really enjoying working on this museum project. Mark     The International Photography Hall of Fame has the copyright on the image.   ***

Now, I ask you, is this amazing or what?  Click on that above and it will get bigger.  Then look at it real hard and know that in 1858 Abraham Lincoln posed for this picture.  At that point in time photography was pretty new, especially when you stop and think that today we point and click then load the digital image on a new media device and there are no such things as negatives.    But the part that fascinates me is that some one was just a few feet from this man and there is a record of this meeting in glass.  Mark is all twittery because he will be holding the grand re-opening of the Photography Museum in St. Louis on September 3 of this year.  See, it was his job to go to Oklahoma City (?) and pack it all up and move it to St. Louis, where he lives.  That is an opportunity few people get!   Mark was a very good friend of Sherman's from way back when.  One of Sherman's most treasured possessions was a picture of him taken when he was 50 years old standing behind his Norton Motorcycle.  Mark had printed the picture on special canvas.   When Sherman gave the picture to me, I knew I was very special.  Today I have the picture and Mark has the Norton.  He completely restored it and brought it to Pueblo so he could take Sherman's picture behind it 30 years later.  I have a copy of that picture also.      This story is told so you will all know just how devoted this man is to the art of photography and the preservation of the art.  And how blessed Sherman Schroeder was to have such a devoted friend.  Greater love hath no man.

September 8 and the British Motorcycle Association is buying and selling!

Ah, here I am safely on my side of the fence!  And on the other side is the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado holding the sale as per the terms laid out by the late, great Sherman Schroeder.  Dear Sherman worked many years and invested many dollars to accumulate a garage full of frames, motors, wheels and every part imaginable for a British Motorcyle.  The ad that ran stated very clearly that these parts were only for Truimph, Indian, Norton, Matchless and things like that.  Harley owners were out of luck completely.  Sherman and two of his friends started the club back in 1983 in Denver.  Now it is centralized in Colorado Springs.  As a true Brother of the Wheel, he remembered the club in his will by donating that whole side of the garage to them!

This little fellow is Mark Bosworth from St. Louis, Sherman's birthplace.  He and Sherman remained friends for over 30 years.  Like Mark said, " I was a snot nosed kid and I met this old guy with a garage full of really neat stuff and he let me hang out with him.  It was so cool!"  And the friendship survived all those years and it was Mark who stayed with Sherman on several occasions when he was not well.  Mark took him to radiation and cooked for him and held his hand as well as his head.  Truer friendship hath no man.  See the little fellow shooting back at me with his camera?  I ought to warm his little fanny for him!

And under this pile of tee shirts dating back to the beginning of the club is a "kit car" that Sherman was working on when I met him and is still not done.  He has three sets of everything he needs to finish it except the frame and the body.  3 motors, 3 sets of headlights, 3 carburetors, etc. (you get the picture!) 

So I got to tell you about the sale.  Until noon it was only open to the club members.  Now remember the club gets all the receipts.  So here is the scenario...the club members are buying the items and are jacking up thier prices to themselves because it all benefits them anyway.  Ever watch a bunch of bikers talking to themselves?  One of the fellows who shall remain nameless had 3 different colored markers in his pocket.  One color for the asking price, one color for the price he wanted to pay, and one color for the actual selling price.  I told him if he only had a yellow marker he could have drawn sunflowers on everything!

But it was a fun day and when it was over, we saw the floor in Sherman's garage for the first time since I met the man!  And we were all sure that Sheman was up there some where watching and smiling because every bit of anything that left that garage Saturday had at some point in time been held by him, paid for by him, and probably moved around the garage many times by him.  And we are secure in the knowledge that we are doing everything just the way he wanted it done.  Everything is going to a place where it will be cherished by the new owner and I know some of his parts will eventually make it to Bonneville, every BMAC members dream!

 

Namaste!

 

**********************************************************************

Your chance to buy my first novel!

From the back cover

Chapter One...Loose Ends
Lou Mercer

Meg Parker led a simple life.  She was a widow of three years and lived on a chicken farm at the foot of the mighty Rockie Mountains.  Life was good and her little store on eBay made her extra spending money.  But snow and wildlife were not the only things lurking in the forest above her house.  Nor did it stay in the forest for long.

Marshall Purcell came home a wounded veteran from vietnam.  He still had his dreams, but they were of an incestuous past that threatened to consume him.

When Meg and Marshall met it seemed an inconsequential meeting, but it changed both their lives forever.  And change is not always a good thing.

This is adult fiction at its best without all the sex.  Well, maybe just a little bit. 

About the author.  Lou Mercer was born in Nickerson, Kansas. She came to Pueblo, Colorado in 1977 and is now a product of the majestic Rockie Mountains

Happy Birthday to the baby boy!

Kind of hard to tell that this is my baby boy.  But it is.  Last one of the litter.  And today he turns 20.  Just one more before the big one.  Course he has already flown the nest and he and his girlfriend are in their own home in Florence.  You would be amazed at what all they are learning.  Gas to drive to and from work is very costly.  And groceries are out of sight.  It is not really necessary to have 2 cell phones with "Everything data" from Sprint for $178.00.  That is not all though.  They have also figured out that if they do not pick up after themselves, house work is a never ending chore.  Think that was their rudest awakening.  I have figured out that they were not the only messy ones living here.
But it is his happy birthday and I can not help but remember where I was when I turned 20.  I had been married for 11 months and was 5 months pregnant with the Debbie.  A couple months earlier we were living in Yates Center, Kansas.  I had gone to the doctor and when he said I was going to have a baby my mind leapt around the small town. 
" Well, where is the hospital?"  That seemed like a very good question to me.  He, however, looked at me like I had just landed my spaceship.
"Well, it is about 75 miles away."
"Well, what about when I get ready to have his baby?  How do I get there?"  Then he sighed and looked at me like I was a complete idiot.
"Well, around these parts, women have their babies to home."  I immediately left his office, ran down the street to where I had left Duane in the pool hall, having a beer to settle his nerves.  When he saw my face he knew we had a situation.
"What did the doctor say?"  And I broke it to him as gently as possible given my terrified state.
"Well, he said pack up your clothes because you are going to have to move back to Hutchinson, cause there is no where to have babies around here."  And we did.
Now what all that has to do with Bret is more than I can understand, but you knew I would make it into something all about me, didn't you?
So, Happy Birthday to the baby boy.  I know he will not get to read this because his new frugal lifestyle does not allow him to have high speed internet and even if he did he does not read my blog.  I only have 3 kids out of  10 that does.  That is 30%.  Kind of poor percentage rate if you ask me, but who am I to judge?
OK. I have got to figure out what to do for the little guy's birthday.  Probably spanking him is clear out of the question.  And when they grow up and leave home, momma is no longer responsible for his every thing like when he was a baby.

But gee, I kind of miss those days.!

Five words no mother wants to hear, ever.

Always in my mind, the 5 words I never wanted to hear were, "There has been an accident."  I heard them years ago when I lost my brother.  And then I heard them yesterday.  They held the same paralyzing fear yesterday as they did back in 1965.  Only this time I heard them through my mother's ears and there were other words, motorcycle, son, ambulance.  Each word was tearing me apart and I had to pull into a parking lot to make sense of them.

Lou, this is Carolyn and I was on my way to town and there has been an accident.  Bret, Amanda, motorcycle, Cruiser, ......."I need to know which hospital you want him transported to.  They will want to know."  A million questions rushed through my mind, but I asked none.  She had no answers, so it was not fair to ask.  My first instinct was to race to Santa Fe Drive to the scene, but a cooler head prevailed.  I would go to the hospital and wait.  So I did.  I left my car with the valet and went immediately to the ER.  No ambulance yet.

I would call my minister.  Phone book was in the car.  So I called the church.  Answering machine.  In case of emergency call.....my pen was in the car.  Why is it that we delude ourselves into believing we are organized right up until the moment when we need to lay our hands on information and we find we are like Babes in the woods.  I knew I should call some one, but I did not know who.  Oh, wait.  He has sisters, I have kids!  But what would I tell them?  What did I know?  Motorcycle, son, ambulance.

So, Lou Mercer, the woman with so many friends stood in an empty emergency room staring out a window all by herself, the loneliest woman in the world.  And like so many mothers before me I turned to the one person who could and would listen.  I had never faced anything like this with any of my children before, but yesterday I did and yesterday I remembered why I had spent my whole life clinging to this man.  So I called on him,  "Oh, God!  I know I am always wanting something, but this time I really, really need you to do this for me.  Make it right.  Make this go away and if you choose not to do that then give me the strength to deal with what I must."  I am sure there was a lot more said and I bet I made promises, but God knows me pretty good.  We have been there before and while some of his greatest gifts were unanswered prayers, I knew in the depths of my being that he would answer this one.

It was orchestrated from the beginning when a friend came upon the accident and she chose to call me instead of letting the sheriff call, and she was allowed to call.  Things always come easier when delivered by a friend.  I want to thank her for doing me that favor.  I will not use her last name, but she know who she is and she also knows that I loved her when she was my daughter in law and I love her today, because she is a beautiful person.

So, as you have guessed by now, little Bret is alright.  He is alright because all the things that usually happened did not.  The speed limit there where this happened is 50MPH but it was moving slow.  Amanda saw a wreck ahead so she slowed down and changed lanes.  Bret passed her and then he saw the accident so he cut in front of her and slowed.  Some one ahead hit the brakes, Bret hit his brakes and Amanda hit hers.  She hit the back of the bike which shot out from under Bret.  All speeds were reduced or the boy on the bike would not be here today.

Later Bret was recounting the accident and he said " I seen Amanda coming behind me and I knew she was going to hit me, but I had to brake."  I asked him, "Did you at that point in time wish you might have been a little nicer to her?"  His answer was, "Oh, yeah!"

So today we are getting through the "what if " phase of this.  Will he ride his bike again?  Sure!  Will he wear a helmet next time?  No!  I never wore one.  It restricted my vision and my hearing.  On long trips I guess they are all right.  Will Amanda drive again.  Sure!  I hauled her to work today, but that is not going to happen again.  Things happen.  Life goes on.  What will I do different?  Keep a phone list in my purse or make sure all the important numbers are in my phone.  But the most important number is burned in my brain and that is the hot line to Heaven.  And the best part is that no matter where I am, it is still a local call!

Take me home, country roads!

Oh, I thought  I had already done this blog!  When I had taken Sister Mary to meet her kids, we met at the Garden City Truck Plaza.  As luck would have it there was a display of old restored Triumph motorcycles.  Oh, I was so happy that I had the trusty camera!
 
Oh, there is just something about a Triumph, or an Indian that just brings back old memories.  Harley Davidson has that wonderful rumble that they have tried to patent, but Triumph's always bring back my gully jumping days.  Do not think I did this a lot and at no time was I ever the driver when the bike left the ground, but I did have a husband at one time who thought that he was Evil Knievel.  Remember him?  I mean Evil Knievel, not my husband.    The man was actually very good at the art of jumping and landing on the other side still upright.  I was damn good at hanging on, too!

At that point in my life I rode a Honda, as I recall.  I loved that bike.  I was waiting tables at the Red Rooster Restaurant in Hutchinson, Kansas along with my mother.  My good friend Gibby was the cook.....but that brings up a whole 'nother subject.  I rode my bike every day that it was not raining or the wind blowing at 40 knots.  We did not have to wear helmets at that time, and I tell you there is just something about the wind in my hair  and the road blurred beneath  the bike that makes this girl want to strap a guitar on her back and hit the open road and not look back! But, alas, I was a mother and mother's do not do that.  They go to work and come home.  Take the kiddies for short bike rides and instill in them the thrill of the open road. 

But what does all this have to do with a Triumph and gully jumping?  Who knows.  I did have a wonderful outing in Colorado Springs not long ago with a fellow who took me to a meeting of the British Motorcycle Group up there.  I met a really nice bunch of guys.  Upon finding myself the only female in the group, I had a brief moment of panic.  But then I seen the difference between the group and the gang mentality.  These guys were perfect gentlemen!  There was not even the slightest hint that I would need to rear back on the "bitch seat" and pull my tee shirt up for the whole world to see.  These were just a bunch of guys who really enjoyed talking about their prize possessions which just happened to be motorcycles.  One guy rides a Kawasaki!  I think one might have a Harley.  Guy I was with has a whole garage full of them, but the one I am looking forward to a day trip on is the BMW.  I am not sure he remembers he has it, but I think I can remind him!

I will make that my mission for this summer.  That will be just great to pack a little lunch, crawl on the back of that big machine and head up the mountain for the day.  I will get to sight see while he has to watch the road.  Oh, high altitude, pace maker, high blood pressure....maybe not.  Well, it was a thought!