Thanksgiving

We’re closing in on the end of another year and I’m taking a few minutes to itemize all that I have to be grateful for. The list is too long to document, but I’ll cover a few highlights here.

To begin with, I’m healthier than I was at the beginning of the year and I’m getting better every day. The down time I had was barely a bump in the road.

I went on a couple of big adventures with my buddy Mennonite Mike this year. The first was back in February when we participated in one of Danny Walker’s flat-track supercamps. It was one of those things that you talk about doing, but is out there just far enough to be sort of an abstract. Old Malcolm brought that trip to life for us and I don’t think I could have had more fun being thrown from a short motorcycle to a hard track. The other trip was a four day, thousand mile road bike tour of east Tennessee and northern Georgia. There are some great roads in that part of the world and the weather was near perfect. We made just enough progress everyday to stay ahead of the rain.



I had a fine time with all my trials buddies this year and I’m thankful to all of them for the relentless joy they brought to those occasions when we got together. We were like school kids playing out in the woods. Thanks too, to the promoters of the events that gave us the opportunity to get together like we did.



I had some really great dual sport/sport bike rides this year. The best were with my pals Peewee and Sam. They team up for these mini-adventures on a very regular basis and I feel very fortunate to have been included in a few of them. It’s a shame it has to get cold around here.



Back in April, Tammy and I made a trip out to Arizona for a company thing. They always try to offer some kind of outing to go with all the meetings and one of the choices this year was a one-day Bondurant racing school. Now that was a trip. After some class room stuff, they put us in our own Pontiac Solstice and turned us loose on this little TT track for an hour of timed runs through a series of hairpins. Next they lined us up on a full blown road course and turned us loose to bang on those things as hard as we could go at ‘em for a couple hours. Now that was fun. I also had a chance to ride a helicopter over the Grand Canyon on this trip; not so much fun as the driving course.



There’s other stuff to give thanks for, like a good job in hard times and a home that I’m glad to get back to everyday. But most of all I’m thankful for my family. I’m lucky enough to still have my mom and dad, plus the three brothers that I grew up with. I’ve got my daughter Leslie living a happy life in the warm Florida sunshine with my future son-in-law Scott. I have my son Clay here at home where I get to see him for at least a few minutes everyday. Then there’s the one thing I’m most thankful for in this whole world. That is my little mini-fridge in the laundry room, which is full of nothing but cold beer. How great is that thing? Just joking of course; I am most thankful for my Tammy and the fact that she’s put up with me for another year. That alone puts me in the upper percentile of the luckiest guys anywhere.

Harris C Wallace and Harris E Wallace



Here’s hoping that everyone reading this has as much to be thankful for and that next year brings more of the same. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

SUPERHERO REVEALED!

The prospects looked dim as the group gathered to discuss the obstacles lying before them. There were hills to climb and ditches to cross, logs to jump and ribbons strung up everywhere. It was one huge wooded maze that they must find their way through. But how? Sure there were arrows pointing into the dark nether-regions beyond the clearing where they camped, but were they to just trust this meager guidance? Everything was so chaotic and frightening, the mystery too deep for the mere mortals they were. What they need is someone to lead them. Someone who is brave and wise and skilled enough to clear a path and show the way, but where would they find such a person? Just when they thought all was lost, they looked up to see a Superhero emerging from gloom astride a roaring green machine that was terrible to behold. He was dressed from head to foot in a form-fitting blue suit, with strange markings on front and back. The crowd was struck dumb as the stranger bellowed, “Fear not for I am the Captain and I’m here to save you”. And save them he did, weaving back and forth between the red and blue ribbons with the others trailing in his wake. Once, twice, three times he lead them in and out of the darkness before disappearing into the distance as the people shouted,

“THANK YOU CAPTAIN SAUSAGE!