steveb leatherworks: the blather

15 years ago doesn’t seem all that long from a numerical standpoint. But the truth is that 15yrs is a helluva long time, in a lot of other ways….  looking at these old shots from a memorable road trip of long ago reminds me of that.

Pupkin, Gonzo and me headed up to the wild Northern Kingdom during Laconia Bike Week that week in 1993, one of the hottest weekends on record in that area. The three of us grew up in the same neighborhood in Queens, mere city blocks apart and so, know each other very well. Gonzo is indeed my very oldest friend, us having met in Kindergarten. Gonz and I had some weird falling out years ago over something stupid and inconsequential…him being a hair trigger, touchy kind of guy, and me having little tolerance for that kind of behavior from someone I’ve known since the age of 5…oh well, hopefully we will connect again as life is too short and our connection is too deep and meaningful.

Anyway, the three of us FXR pilots headed out from the big shitty for a week of riding and carousing. It was a great trip that had one memorable (well one of a few) events. We, being younger, stupider and poorer wanted to go up to Bike Week but none of us really had the scratch to do it in style. Gonzo, thinking on it realized his niece was living in a town up that way with some girlfriends and asked if the three of us could crash there for a day or two…they said yes, no prob..it could be fun to have us as guests…ha.

So, we sauntered up (rode like devils is more like it) to the Northern Kingdom in the goddamn most awful stifling heat and humidity I can remember…the shit was nasty, sweltering and downright uncomfy. So we get to Gonz’s nieces place and lo and behold it is not air conditioned and they’ve prepped a “nice spot” for us on the wooden living room floor. huh?

We go out, have (quite) a few tall toads, eat a nice meal and get back to the crash spot. The three of us lay on the goddamn wood floor till we cant stand it anymore: heat, a back that is stiff from a day on the bikes, heat, no bed, more heat topped by humidity keep us from getting a single wink of sleep. we are freaking delirious, giggling…insanity… no way Jose

3AM – I am freaking out, out of my damn mind from the heat, suffering dehydration, exhausted and “not in the mood” to stay in this spot one more minute, I convince Gonz and Pupkin that we need to find another spot to crash NOW – cuz I just cant stand sweating one more minute….huh? ok…so we head out at 3am to seek out some cool…something we’ve not gotten a taste of in 2 days. We head to town and find a nice air conditioned ATM vestibule. We park the bikes in front  of it, go around to a dumpster, take a bunch of corrugated boxes and use them as a mat for the floor and crash out “homeless NYC” style. This is the first time I can honestly say I slept in an ATM, and it was great….friggin lifesaver. Out like lights we go beddy bye.

Sunrise comes and we hear a “tap tap” on the totally fogged, misted and steamed (from us sleeping in it) windows of the ATM booth…sure enough, its the cops telling us to move along…..lol..well at least we got some sleep. we had many other adventures on this trip. Someday, If I remember I will regale you with more of them.

Ahh, the good old days..didnt need much, didnt have much and didnt want much. No comfort, no baggers, no music, no worries, no gray hair. I guess 15yrs is a long time after all…

g’night