Posted by Mark Davis on Thursday, February 21, 2002 at 4:11AM :
In Reply to: ......What makes us do this???....... posted by BrittnCool on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 at 4:01PM :
There are things in life that you want and it does not matter what it takes to get it-one day you will have it.
That's how it was with my Harley.
Since grade school, I often walked passed a neighbors house and saw 2 identical choppers,(only difference-one was white and the other black), I knew I would have one. I studied them many times.
I did not care that most of society looked down on bikers. I got one when I did not even have a car. All year round for 3 years that bike took me where I needed to go and where I wanted to go. Then I got a 4 wheel vehicle and since then my Harley takes me where I want to go.
Since grade school, I have always worked with my hands. Toys that flexed my imagination fascinated me. I worked with clay, then plaster, wood, learned welding before I was a teen and went on to study woodworking the old school way-with hand tools.
Tools fascinate me. Especially old tools. They don't sit on a shelf, I use them. I am always looking for a good tool and enjoy using the ones that I have. I wonder who used them and what was made with them before I became their gaurdian.
While looking for a cheap plow truck, I was tooling around N.Y. state and saw my first Power Wagon. A commercial plated, Flat fendered, plow, winch, dump body, year unknown(I figured a forties truck). I left a note on his windshield.
No, he did not sell it to me. He knows how valuable that truck is to his way of life.
Two years later, I found one, via the forum, in Minnesota. I purchased it from a 73 year old man who used it to plow his place and to pull stumps when necessary. You can tell he worked with his hands and was stronger than most men half his age.
As I look back on things, being a PW gaurdian is a natural progression for me and no different than using any other tools that I have.
I hope that I am at least 73 year old when I pass it on to its next caretaker.
Joe, thanks for the space to share my thoughts.
Mark, a utilitarian person
This was written while listining to my new/old 60's record player which is playing The American Graffitti Soundtrack-The first album I ever bought back in 1974.
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