Dispatches From The Front... Stuff Left Out

This section is the catch-all for important stuff I meant to get into previous episodes of “Twisted Roads,” but which failed to make it into print for one reason or another. The most common reasons for stuff being deleted is that I was tired, or drunk, or aggravated, or pressured by a cash-job deadline, or that I was convinced that whatever it was I had written was shit. (In this last case, I occasionally change my mind, or just rewrite it.)

Dispatch #471
What Kind Of Person Wears A “Twisted Roads” Tee Shirt...

The classic “Twisted Roads “ tee shirt is not only drawing attention as the best “Get Laid Anywhere” instrument of true romance, but it is turning up as the garment of choice for moto-adventurers, moto-swashbucklers, and moto-maniacs the world over.

World class BMW GS Adventure riders like Gary Christman wear “Twisted Roads” tee shirts. Joined by a dedicated team of Mac Pac riders, Gary Christman led the charge to the Rupert River, in remotest Canada, where this mighty cataclysm is about to be forever tamed to create hydro-electric power. Christman was not daunted by a 300-mile (plus) gravel road (the longest in north America without services), starting in the wildest stretches of Quebec. Christman was good enough to send me these two pictures, as proof, that “Twisted Roads” lead to the coolest places.
Above -- Gary Christman and his BMW GS Adventure on the shores of Janes Bay, Canada (Photo by Gary Christman -- Click To Enlarge)

Above -- Gary Christman carried the "Twisted Roads" message to Oatmeal Rapids on the Rupert River. (Photo supplied by Gary Christman -- Click to enlarge)

Above (From Left) -- On James Bay, Mac Pac riders Ken Bruce, Doug Raymond, Rich Cavaliere, Gary Christman (the only one who bothered to get a Twisted Roads shirt), and Corey Lyba all pose around the banner that is respected and feared worlwide. (Photo supplied by Gary Christman -- Click to enlarge)


Professional “big block” wrenches like Laura Hirth wear “Twisted Roads” tee shirts. She’s as much at home on a BMW motorcycle (with or without a sidecar) as she is in a pit under a diesel truck engine. This is a good thing considering she’s a mechanic for a world-wide shipping company. When not pulling apart transmissions or cylinder heads in the shop, Hirth can found co-organizing and co-leading antique bike rides throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, sometimes with an Australian shepherd named “Larry Bowa” in the side car. She epitomizes the Renaissance women in a world where character is defined by capability, and vision knows no boundaries.
Above -- Pulled over on the side a very Twisted Road, Laura Hirth makes it clear where she goes for the inside straight when it comes to moto-reading. (Photo by Todd Trombore -- Click to enlarge)

Tena and Bugser Abbey are the first readers to wear “Twisted Roads” tee shirts in the great American northwest. They recently made the pilgrimage from the state of Washington to Pennsylvania, to meet Leslie and I. Both are members of Motorcycle Views, where as a cruiser rider, Bugser has been needling me since 2005. Writer and artist, Tena Abbey recently sent me a pouch full of knitted baby harp seals, that I can club with a pencil when the need for release presents itself. I love meeting long-time readers of my blog... On this past visit (which was entirely too short), the Abbey’s presented me with a cup from the Washington Bait Company with the timeless words “Bite Me” emblazoned on both sides.

Tena and Bugser Abbey (Photo By Leslie Marsh -- Click to enlarge)

Dispatch #754

The Great Twisted Roads Tee Shirt Contest...

The Great Twisted Roads Tee Shirt photo Contest has started! Simply purchase the best "Get Laid Anywhere Tee Shirt" on the right, and take a picture of yourself, or the hottest honey you can find, in an exotic background -- wearing this shirt-- and send it to JPRiepe@aol.com, marked Twisted Roads Tee Contest Entry. The grand prize is a $100 gift certificate from the Motorcycle Shop of your choice. All entries must be submitted by December 31, 2009. Submission acknowleges that the sender is the owner of the photograph and has given explicit permission for the picture to be used on this blog. Once the prize has been awarded, all further dealings are between the winner and the bike shop of their choice. The judges decision is final

Dispatch #520
Additional Perspectives of My Labor Day Ride...

I never intended the account of my Labor Day ride to run so long. But even as I was struggling to get it completed, there were a few pictures that got dropped out of the text. I really did want to include these, so better late than never.

Photo #1 -- Ihor Sypko (Self portrait of an Adirondack man -- Click to enlarge)
Ihor (pronounced EE-hore) Sypko and I were boys at school together. I moved up to the Adirondacks in 1984, and Ihor said he’d come too. But he waited until I had moved back down before staking out a spread. This is Mr. Sypko on the porch of the cabin he is building.


Photo #2 -- Ihor’s Cabin (Photo by Ihor Sypko -- Click to enlarge)
The cabin was originally constructed as an outbuilding on the property of New York State’s four-term Governor Herbert Henry Lehman (1933 - 1942), and built around 1910.


Photo #3 -- Ihor’s Cabin Again With Ihor and Local Mountain Woman In Picture (Photo by Ansel Adams Murphy -- Click To enlarge)
Ihor purchased the cabin, had it panelized (disassembled), and moved it to Wilmington, NY. The interior is being rebuilt by hand, utilizing many of the windows, nails, hardware and other fixtures from the period, enhanced with radiant heat in the floors and local river stones used in place of tiles in the bathroom floors.


Photo #4 -- One Last Ferry Shot (Photo By Jack Riepe - Click to enlarge)
There is nothing like a relaxing 40 minute ferry ride across Lake Champlain (12-miles wide in some places), while the sun hangs low over the mountains. These guys were a group of Harley riders tha got on the boat ahead of us. EWe are headed to the dock in Essex, New York.


Photo #5 -- The Sun Going Down over Champlain (Photo By Leslie Marsh/Stiffie)
Two weeks after I got back from cruising around in the Adirondacks and Vermont, Leslie (my hot squeeze) retraced some of my steps while attending an artist’s retreat. (Artist’s retreat = women painting and creating stuff, while drinking hard liquor from the bottle, dancing in the moonlight, and discussing men like they were a cross between athlete’s foot or venereal disease. (Click to enlarge)


Photo #6 -- Sailboats Ride At Anchor Like Huge Ducks (Photo By Leslie Marsh/Stiffie)
This is the bay in Vermont from which the Shelburne ferry sails. The woman on the dock s an “artist” recovering from one hell of a night, apparently. The pilothouse of a ferry can be seen at the 3 O’clock position in the photo. (Click to enlarge)



©Copyright Jack Riepe 2009
AKA The Lindbergh Baby (Mac Pac)
AKA Vindak8r (Motorcycle Views)
AKA The Chamberlain -- PS (With A Shrug)