Going to get a T shirt that says....

[Stig / Major Tom]

"Riding like an old guy with nothing to prove."

from "Crossbolt Karl", 2017

Bought a T shirt for my daughter at our favorite  coffee shop today , "I love coffee - you, not so much."
(shop proprietor is a hilarious Italian/American)
I told him today that I love a guy who comes to work, on time , evey day at 6:45am - now that I don't. He laughed, fortunately.
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

I have to look into this shirt business.....good ideas, Tom!

Karl

[stuo]

I want one of those T shirts!

On my GV 250 yesterday I pulled up next to a typical tatted out Harley dude at a light. I gave him a big smile and a friendly hello: he returned a look of cold contempt, said nothing. I see we are the Rodney Dangerfields of the motorbike world...we get no respect.

[CROSSBOLT]

Works like this, Stuo: roll to a stop beside gorilla onna hog, look not quite half way in his direction, nod SLIGHTLY , then back to your scanning the area for hostiles. That implies you got his back if anything goes wobbly. "It's you an' me, Joe! " Chances are, he's a vet from some era, hates officers for good reason and is unsettled by what he relives every day. He regards you trying to be friendly as trying to kiss his a$$ which is just another thing he hates. Got it? Works every time!

Karl

[stuo]

Great advice, Karl! I gotta stop being a wuss. No more a-- kissing, fer sure.

[CROSSBOLT]

That's one of the things I love about this form! No one gets fuzzed and they all take things in the vein like intended!

Karl

[stuo]

"...take it in the vein"? I stopped doing that, Karl.

[GLV55]

I want one of those T shirts!

On my GV 250 yesterday I pulled up next to a typical tatted out Harley dude at a light. I gave him a big smile and a friendly hello: he returned a look of cold contempt, said nothing. I see we are the Rodney Dangerfields of the motorbike world...we get no respect.

I had a similar experience - pulled up beside the HD at a stoplight, nodded, got nothing in return. When the light turned green, I smoked him off the line (was about 100 ft. in front of him before he got out of first gear and across the intersection) and waited at the next red light. He pulled up beside me and then gave ME the nod. I politely nodded back, then took it easy when that light turned green. I didn't have anything to prove, but it still earned me some scooter respect from an HD rider, and I'll take that any way I can.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Works like this, Stuo: roll to a stop beside gorilla onna hog, look not quite half way in his direction, nod SLIGHTLY , then back to your scanning the area for hostiles. That implies you got his back if anything goes wobbly. "It's you an' me, Joe! " Chances are, he's a vet from some era, hates officers for good reason and is unsettled by what he relives every day. He regards you trying to be friendly as trying to kiss his a$$ which is just another thing he hates. Got it? Works every time!

Karl

Karl,
You could work as a VA counselor at an outreach. Remember all those storefront centers that opened after the Wall was dedicated?
VA wisely opened them as storefronts and staffed with combat vets - since no vet in his right mind would go anywhere near a VA facility.

They also offered evening coffee-talks for medics, nurses and corpsmen.....webgear, etc. hanging on the walls and CCR always playing in the background when you walked in, so you knew you'd come to the right place. :-)
 Mine was staffed by an x grunt Capt with one eye, and a one armed 1st Sgt. The Capt was a hard luck poster boy - lost his eye to ground fire while riding out of the bush on his DEROS huey.
Good guys.
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

You make me weep, Stig. HOO-rah, shipmate, Hoo-rah.

Karl

[ole two wheels]

I love the tee shirt that says. "If you can read this, my wife has done fell off again." IN 2004, While at the Sturgis, SD rally,I pulled up to a red light with three Hell's Angles. I was on my Heritage Springer and I was wearing my Christian Motorcyclist colors. What do you think I did and said?   If you said anything other than, Looked straight ahead and said Nothing, you are wrong.
I rode about 100 miles yesterday on my DT and all but one HD riders gave me the, Ride on Bro, sign.

[stuo]

According to the financial mags, Harley Davidson is steadily losing business. Apparently their traditional customer base is dying off and the millenniums aren't buying Hogs. Their new line of bikes is a radical change from the past: very little chrome. No longer can we call the stereotypical HD rider a chromo-sexual, heh heh. (Maybe I should delete my picture from my signature?)