Midnight at the Waffle House by Wango Tango
Work was slow and my co-worker didn’t show up, so I was elected to cover his area as well. I managed though, taking my ginkgo biloba pills that are supposed to enhance your memory, and washing them down with copious amounts of industrial strength coffee.
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2010 Ride to Papa Jack's Grave by Wango Tango
2011/08/29 12:12 Filed in: Events and Rides | Gypsy Culture
On the second day of our journey we found ourselves in the small town of Westville, Oklahoma. Just outside the town, we turned down a little country road and pulled up in front of a farmhouse for sale. Eyeball and I followed Raoul and Super Pickle into the property. We watched as they searched through the tall grass in an open field south of the farmhouse. Soon Eyeball and I were signaled to come over to a spot where they were standing.
They pulled the grass back and there was Papa Jack and Jaynie's headstone with the Gypsy logo and the inscription “Together for Eternity” on it. Raoul and Super Pickle had been to the gravesite before and probably knew what to expect, but Eyeball and I hadn't and I was moved, even awestruck, by this sight. Papa Jack was the man who established the Gypsy MC in Texas, and the club as we now know it today. I had no idea he and his wife Jaynie were buried in Oklahoma, actually I had no idea where they were buried. We cleared the weeds from the gravesite with our hands and took some pictures. Super Pickle told us that Papa Jack and Jaynie had lived in the farmhouse on the property, and Papa Jack had suffered a fatal heart attack while tending to his horse in the barn. His wife Jaynie had passed away in 2001, and they were both buried here, with their infant son and Jack’s dog Pistol Pete. Their home was left vacant and had burned. It was torn down in 2007. Read More...
Prospect's Iron Butt Ride
2011/05/11 12:25 Filed in: Events and Rides
Lessons Learned on a Prospect’s Iron Butt
By: Gypsy Prospect Eran Melnik
Doing the Saddlesore 1000 event sanctioned by the Iron Butt Association, i.e., 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours, had always been an aspiration of mine. I can remember riding a Honda GL1800 while I was still in the Marine Corps and finding out about this endurance ride. I knew it was something that I wanted to and would do….eventually. Well, as everyone knows, life gets in the way of things and I went on a long hiatus of not riding. Whether it was being deployed or just the lack of a motorcycle, I found myself in mid-2011 with my pretty-much-new Dyna Street Bob and still no Iron Butt Association patch or license plate frame.
Starting in early 2011 I was dead set on accomplishing an Iron Butt ride. After months of planning and plans falling through, as they tend to do, I finally found myself with a full 8 days off work and only the open road ahead of me. While planning this ride the Houston Chapter Godfather, Raoul, was an enormous help and the fact that he lives in Arizona gave me a destination. Raoul graciously offered to meet me at the end of my 1,000 mile route as well as put me up for a few days at his home and even be my tour guide around beautiful parts of Arizona.
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By: Gypsy Prospect Eran Melnik
Starting in early 2011 I was dead set on accomplishing an Iron Butt ride. After months of planning and plans falling through, as they tend to do, I finally found myself with a full 8 days off work and only the open road ahead of me. While planning this ride the Houston Chapter Godfather, Raoul, was an enormous help and the fact that he lives in Arizona gave me a destination. Raoul graciously offered to meet me at the end of my 1,000 mile route as well as put me up for a few days at his home and even be my tour guide around beautiful parts of Arizona.
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2011 Laughlin River Run
2011/04/30 12:09 Filed in: Events and Rides
I packed my ’09 Road Glide on Tuesday morning and left Phoenix before noon. The ride to Laughlin is just short of 250 miles and, in spite of high winds, I arrived four hours later. The wind was brutal, a consequence of all the bad weather, tornados and such that’s impacting the eastern U.S. At least there wasn’t rain in the desert. The weather is projected to be clear and windy out west with continued storm activity east of Texas. So much for the weather.
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Riding on the Edge - Yet Another Book Review
2011/03/15 17:15 Filed in: Book Reviews
Hall’s story is set in the northeast: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia during a time when the Pagans were developing momentum, establishing new chapters and defending the territory they claimed. Hall’s story tells of much simpler times, when a teardrop gas tank could be filled for a dollar and a man and his brothers could drink all night for a sawbuck. Hall tells stories about the Pagans during his relatively short tenure with the club. The Pagans couldn’t be accused, at least during those times, of being involved in organized crime. To the contrary the club was spontaneous and little they did was organized. There is plenty of criminal behavior sprinkled throughout his story but the story isn’t about crime or criminals. It’s about a bunch of guys who fancied themselves outlaws and pushed the envelope during a time when society was evolving in the opposite direction. It’s about brotherhood and human qualities like honesty and commitment and camaraderie that we’d all be fortunate to share with the guys or gals we ride with. Qualities that are highly prized and seldom seen in the world we live in today.
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