March 2013 Newsletter

Gruene trails
Chapter newsletter
Chapter 2062
march 2013
from the editor
at the march meeting we discussed new rides, events and members.
I have to say how impressed I am at how close this group is. you
care about when someone has an accident or family member is ill.
When someone is in the hospital or just going out of town. You reach
out to people from out of town who then become part of us. We are
happy for someone when they get a new bike or find out they just
had a great ride. We may not be a “club” in the sense the
motorcycle world, but we are a family. we have goals,
expectations and disagreements. You pitch in when others need
help and go out of your way to do it. You tease someone when they
do something dumb, while picking them up at the same time.
hog’s motto “is ride and have fun”. all i can say is you guys took it
way past the next level. Keep it up !
tracy and walter keep warm befor the meeting.
More about our officers
Jon Magill safety officer
Jon has had a love affair of 2 wheeled machines since boyhood,
and has been riding street bikes since the age of 16.He was an AMA expert class road racer in
the 600 Supersport, 750 Supersport, Unlimited Supersport, and Heavy Weight Super Twins classes.
He has attended the California Superbike school, the Penguin Roadracing School,various MSF as
well as the Beginner and Advanced Rider's Edge courses. Published moto/photojournalist
Starting in February member of the Gruene Harley Davidson Staff.
Welcome our new members for march
Yahnathan Gonzales
art goble
brooke Tompkins
don’t miss the easter sunrise service on march 31st. You can meet up
a GHD at 7:15 am and ride up to canyon lake dam park, we should be
starting about 8:00 am . also if you ever see anything that says
“blacksheep” on the schedule, everyone is invited, it Will be a non
hog event open to everyone.
Roadside America, Photo Tour
San Antonio Texas
Saturday, February 16th, 2013
By, Joe Costello
While I was putting the details together for this ride together I was asked “what are Roadside
Attractions?” Well, as they (sort of) say, Roadside Attractions are in the eye of the beholder (but ‘ugly’
is to the bone …and that’s another whole story all together).
So my qualifications for Roadside Attractions are these:
1. It’s odd and you think others might agree - the key here being “that others might agree”, If not
then you just run the risk of being considered “odd” yourself - and I was pushing that envelope
a bit too tight already, just ask my wife.
2. It’s on or near the side of the road (clever I know) with only slight challenge to getting our
Harleys in front of the object for a photo, without hurting any animals, children or baby pygmies.
3. For a split second you become Arsenio Hall in that it’s one of those “things that make you
say…hmmm moments”.
If all of these 3 criteria are true then, as I
see it, it qualifies as a “Roadside
Attraction”.
It was a great ride; we were blessed with
great weather and a strong group of
riders who made the event very
enjoyable! Gruene HOG Riders who
showed up included Neil & Michelle
Scirone (each on their own bikes), Jay
(Bird) Johnson, Terry Buck, Matt & Delisa
Gardner.
I knew that this was going to be a nontypical ride, in that our mission to get as
many photo-ops as possible. Since we
had 7 stops in mind (including lunch) the
key was going to manage the time at
each stop so that the day wouldn’t
stretch out too long, that worked well
…for the 1st stop.
Stop #1 – The Giant Justins!
World's Largest Cowboy Boots,
We wheeled into the North Star Mall in San Antonio, cruised around the back of the mall in order to
safely come up to a pair of cowboy boots 40’ tall and 35’ wide that tower next to the parking garage.
Their official name is "Giant Justins," They were built in the late 1970s by Bob "Daddy-O" Wade after
he had built a giant iguana for New York City's Hard Rock Cafe. They were moved to Texas in 1980,
where their innards quickly became hangouts for homeless people and stoners (but not necessarily in
that order, that also explains all the empty Doritos bags laying around). The boots have since been
reinforced to protect unlawful entry. These boots are ‘classic Texan’, because everyone knows that you
don’t get into a ‘butt-kicking contest’ with folks that know how to use 40’ tall cowboy boots! This was a
quick and easy stop and we were even able to convince Michelle that the mall was closed for the day,
you’re welcome Neil. Off to stop #2.
Stop #2 - Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum,
This is where our time table all went out the tail pipes, but that’s
ok since Barney Smith is an amazing person and his stories are
so compelling that you just can’t stop listening!
Barney started to modify toilet seats about 30 years ago. It all
started when he needed a place
to mount a set of small deer
antlers. Apparently the toilet
seat lid was just about the right
shape, and he stuck the antlers
on the lid (we are assuming that
he took the seat off the toilet
first – but you know what
assuming does…). And so it
began. Today Barney has 1,034
toilet seats hanging in his
garage/museum. These are
true works of art. As we walked
around his garage alleyways
snaked through the small
building giving us reason to
pause at every step. Barney is
nearly 90 years old now and has
the wit and sas of a teenager , he is a true joy to visit with!
I’m certain that Barney could tell you a story about every one of those 1,034 seats (as he nearly did
this day). The seats all had a reason but not a particular theme. The seats were commemorative,
funny, inspirational, cartoonish, odd, really odd (did I mention odd?), etc.
If you ever need a reason to get a really great boost of energy then stop by and spend some time with
Barney, he’ll make you feel welcome and a bit self-conscience about the energy he has and all the
additions he is planning to his museum. He asked us to send him some of our HOG Group patches and
he promised that we would have a special toilet seat made just for us! We’ll take votes for who should
be pictured in this “commodel” plaque.
Barney has been interviewed on countless TV shows and magazines ranging from Montel Williams, The
Today Show, Texas Country Reporter to The View. A toilet seat covered with pictures of the various
hostesses from The View – that seems about right! Just last week Barney was featured in the Wall
Street Journal! This guy is a real American treasure.
Terry
Jay, Michelle, Barney, Neil, Matt, Delisa and
Stop #3, World's Largest Virgin Mary Mosaic,
Some say that this is really the world's largest mosaic of the Virgin
of Guadalupe. It's 40 ft. tall, covering the side of a 4-story building,
and is a replica of the Virgin of Guadalupe candle, in the form of a
half-candle relief, complete with eternal flame on top. (and if she
ever needs some cowboy boots I know just the pair)
It was designed and built by artist Jesse Trevino, who lost an arm
in Vietnam. The unveiling ceremony in December 2004 included an
outdoor concert by singer Lourdes Perez with the Dama de Noche
Orchestra. There are hundreds of thousands of bits of tile that
create this amazing structure. This is a great site and one that is
easy to get to but also easy to miss, located at 1301 Guadalupe
Street in San Antonio.
One of the areas that bikers often forget about are the sites that
are available in the city areas around us. Here’s just one example
of a very beautiful object that doesn’t require a long road trip to
see. As we know the challenges of city riding can be daunting but
they can also be very rewarding. Your riding skills will be honed in additional ways as we navigate the
city streets. It’s all part of being a very good, well-rounded rider. There are a lot of sites in and around
San Antonio that are much more easily accessible during Saturday or Sunday morning rides, this is just
one.
Stop #4 The World’s Largest
Motorcycle Made of Scrap
Iron (at least that we know of)
I spotted this weldment on a
cruise through San Antonio
previously. I knew I wanted
this to be one of the stops on
our ride but could not find any
reference to it on the internet. My wife and I decided to take a drive through San Antonio to hunt it
down. A few dozen miles and a conversation with a local police officer (voluntary conversation – I’ve
heard about those but didn’t know they were real until recently) and we found the hulk. Pretty cool!
This is a piece of art fabricated by a guy who owns a welding shop (handy) and decided that he wanted
some unique attraction that would set his shop apart, something that people would remember – I think
he succeeded (and I’m pretty sure he’s not married). This art work was later sold to a local art
museum located at 2000 S. Flores St. in San Antonio. There are enough pieces of odd scrap iron
welded together here to keep you interested for hours. Then there’s Terry Buck, who’s standing up for
bikers everywhere, trick riding his way to fame and fortune! Even if it’s at 0 miles per hour – get’s
great gas milage huh Terry? (Terry spent the next 14 hrs. cleaning this bike while we went to lunch).
Stop #5 (Lunch Stop, sort of)
Frank’s Hog Stand, Giant Pig
Here at Frank's Hog Stand is what may be the last
surviving programmatic pig building in the entire
country. The giant pink pig was believed to have
been used to offer shelter for the car hops during its
many years of service. It disappeared without a
trace some years ago only to reappear in the early
1990s outside of town abandoned in an empty lot
where it was being lived in. The owner managed to
get the pig back to this location and it was lovingly
restored by artist Carlos Cortés whose family has
been creating faux cement decorative sculpture in
San Antonio for the past 60 years. In fact Cortés
open air studio is located directly across the street
from the giant pig and a visit there to see his work
should not be missed.
We thought this would be a great place to have lunch but soon determined that this business was no
longer open (at least at this spot). There is another Pig Stand in San Antonio, presumably the same
owners, that is open on Broadway St. The fact that our next stop was going to take us in the opposite
direction we chose to have lunch at Bill Miller’s – always a good option.
Stop #6 - Giant Stag Made of Junk,
"King of the Parc" was built of rusted fenders, license plates, typewriters, bicycle seats, engine parts,
etc., by Mexico City sculptor Florentino Narcis, then
disassembled and shipped to Texas as the
community centerpiece of a housing development
named "The Parc at Escondido." The stag, 40 feet
tall, is heroically posed atop a small mound of
sodded earth.
This stop was one of the odder ones in that this
statue is located in an every-day sort of subdivision.
I know that all the riders following me thought I
was a bit crazy to be leading them into this area
and, since you can’t see the statue from the
entrance, it was just blind faith as we crested the
first hill to see this 40’ tall mammoth of a sculpture.
It seems oddly placed in the traditional middle-class
neighborhood but on a day of oddities – hey, it was
appropriate. Plenty of scrap iron parts, some
recognizable and some not (notice the back of a
bicycle frame just in forward of the front legs), have
been welded together to create a piece of art that
seems to be strolling through the surrounding hills
without a bother of any distractions around it. The
statue is amazingly life like and, according to one of
our riders – anatomically correct… Things that make you go …hmmm.
Stop #7 – The Giant Armadillo
Nothing says Texas like a giant Armadillo!
Located at Bussey’s Flea Market in
Schertz TX this 8 foot tall armadillo is
a real eye-catcher. A standard at the
local flea market, it seems to be
keeping a safe eye on all the guests
and vendors. The first time I saw
this roadside attraction I was taken
back, wondering why such a creature
would be created but now, as a
veteran of the flea market, it would
seem odd if it wasn’t there. This fits
all the criteria for our ride and it’s an
easy stop so of course we included it
in the route before we returned to
Gruene Harley Davidson, our sponsor Harley Dealer.
For more information on these and other Roadside Attractions you can visit www.roasideamerica.com.
There are literally hundreds of sites that you may want to see, and I’m sure a few that you don’t.
Some of my riding buddies and I are thinking about our next vacation being a trip to see some of the
more distant attractions and building a riding trip around these locations, we clearly have the best
wives ever! (if we can pull this off).
Ride on!
Joe
At gruene hd
Be sure to come and be part of
these great events.