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By JB “Papa” Brostrom, MWAi – Moonshine!? Maybe we are baaaad men! Our days begin with sort of a ritual. Papa cleans bugs from the windshield of the bikes. While we sip coffee and wait for the less early risers. GQ? Well his machine looks showroom clean every morning. No bugs and a GQ-ish spray foam to give it that showroom shine. That’s why he is GQ.

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Bert needed a clarification on timing rituals. A paraphrase of his question: Why, when we said wheels rolling at 7:45, did he receive a death stare and hazing when he was out and packed in time for departure? The answer: Your last. It doesn’t matter the time if you’re the last one out. The real clarification: How could anyone be later than Precious Gordito? More later on Precious.


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Before leaving a lovely young lady dragged he suitcase out of the hotel and stopped to wonder at the matching vested men primping their Harleys. Papa gave her a brief explanation of our mission. She requested a photo of the group. Paco suggested another guest take the photo and the lovely young lady get into the frame. We invited her to ride with us but she declined… we get that a lot.

Official Sponsor of The Ride for Jillian

Off we went to our first visit of the day. Milner Document was waiting for us as we rolled in shortly after 8:00. Apparently getting there, in one piece, during Atlanta morning rush-hour, wasn’t good enough for Precious. He would have taken us on a different route. Perhaps we could have saved 5 minutes!

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The Milner team was wonderful. They presented us with a great Southern style breakfast spread. The team was adorned in Jillian Fund T-Shirts. We were properly “meeted and greeted”. We heard stories from Charlie Gibson and Robbie Haverstick about recent and past company trips. Seems they’re a bit accident-prone. It is safer to be on two wheels for 6,000 miles than it is to travel with them! We were pleased to hear the Milner team is healing well from the last journey. Milner also graciously presented us with a generous donation to the Jillian Fund. We continue to be impressed and humbled by the support we are receiving.

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During a great presentation on the operations at Milner Gordito and Slaw became scarce. Papa received a txt they were leaving early and heading to the Buford Harley Davidson. We planned on making the pilgrimage after our next, sort of impromptu, visit. Their leaving is code for “Oh crap!” Slaw had a stripped shifter doohickey and Precious still needed his concert sound system repaired. On our way out of Milner we i-spied Mr. Dusty Milner himself. It was great to see him and catch up. He joined is in the parking lot for a send off, photos, and to-fast-car-stories from his youth.

Official Sponsor of The Ride for Jillian

Our next visit was an unplanned quick stop at Standard Office Systems to see another industry icon, Bryan Ammons. Bryan had made a generous donation so we decided to stop and personally thank him. We received a wonderful tour and warm reception as well. This was old-home week for GQ. We literally had to drag him away from SOS kicking and screaming. SOS is his account and there are just too many “FOG” (Friends of GQ) to simply walk out the door.

Off we went on the 20-ish mile ride to Buford Harley Davidson. It was a quiet ride as Precious was already there thusly not in formation harping navigation and other comments through our communications system. Not to fear… He called me from the dealership. I think he misses us when we’re away. Soon we roared into Fraiser Harley Davidson in Buford, GA. Neither Slaw’s or Gordito’s bikes were visible which means there were both in the shop.

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Precious Gordito informed us that while is bike was on the hoist he had been on the phone working. The result of this efficiency was a new FORZA client being signed. Well-done Gordito!!

Soon Slaw’s fully repaired bike was brought out. His new un-stripped shifter doohickey was impressive. Gordito’s speaker was replaced under warranty but… his transmission seemed to have other issues. It would be another hour… after the first hour. GQ decided to visit the local Apple Store to get his new phone’s Bluetooth working. Does this sound like normal problems for bikers!? We are baaaad men. While out he would grab us some lunch. Since we were in an extended repair delay Papa asked the service guys about the warning light on his Screaming Sparrow. Given the indicator and some operating symptoms it was determined the biked needed one of the O2 sensors replaced.

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A $55.00 part and 4 hours of service time would be needed. Not going to happen! Gordito asked which sensor it was? Apparently there is a front and rear. It would require further diagnostics to determine which one. Gordito McGyver looked at me and said… Spend $110.00, purchase both front and rear and he would replace them in the shaded parking structure himself. Papa bought the parts and returned to his bike to find Lone Star and Gordito shaking their heads. Turns out our Milwaukee Muscle needed a metric wrench. We asked the service counter for a 14 wrench. “We don’t loan tools.” A 14 wrench for 20 minutes?

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No! Loan Star mounted up and left to Auto Zone. The time it took him to go and return was a longer period of time than needed to replace both O2 sensors. Funny coincidence… Mr. Frasier of our dealership was the customer in line just before Lone Star. Papa’s bike immediately began running like new. Slaw’s bike was shiny and ready to go. Precious Gordito’s… Well the dealershiup put it back together in it’s current state and told him to limp it home. It would take a couple of days to repair, as they didn’t have the parts anyway. Time to go!

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We roared north to the dragon. I 985 quickly turned into scenic route 23 as we made our way to Tennessee and the Great Smokey Mountains. Paco brings up the rear and continues to marvel at the intricate dance 7 bikers in formation make as they weave their way through traffic, route changes and fuel stops. It truly becomes a thing of beauty. Seven distinctly different personalities as well as riding styles and yet it all works. One last fuel stop for the day and we begin to wind (really wind) through the mountains. We make a rest and preparatory and hydration stop at the base. The two rookies thought they had just run the dragon… same mistake we dragon rookies made last year. No… this was a warm up.

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You will know the dragon when you see it. Off we roared. Soon we headed up the mountain to arrive at the “base camp” of the dragon. This is a mountain motel-style establishment with souvenir shops and a restaurant. T-shirts were purchased. The highlight of the stop is a large old tree. The tree of shame.

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On it hangs a collection of motorcycle parts donated by the riders who pushed the dragon beyond their own limits. Hysterically we noticed, and photographed, a piece from a motorcycle adorned with the Konica Minolta logo. Mr. Rick Taylor (the generous $27k man) received a txt soon thereafter. It is time! Only 11 miles, down hill and over 300 turns… tight turns… banked turns. GQ left first quickly followed by Gordito, Papa, and the rest.

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GQ was not to be seen again until the bottom once he made the first turn. We heard word earlier that about half the way down a couple on a big Harley had a mishap on the low side cusing a broken ankle for the Misses and much bruising to the bike. A mishap on the high side is worse as this is a mountain road the beyond the 18 inch shoulder is a long way down! We twisted and turned for the first 6 miles. Papa keeping Gordito in his sights. We came around a corner to find a flag man waving every one to a stop. There were a couple of Gordito stopped and pulled to the shoulder… low side. Papa did the same. Soon a group of 4 crotch-rockets came screaming to a to a halt behind and around us… we thought Paco, Slaw, Lone Star, and Bert were behind us? Soon they too came around the corner to stop.

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The non-Harley riders had passed them rather aggressively. Soon one of the young riders tried to do a u-turn and dropped his bike… albeit gently. He very expertly grabbed it with his left hand and quickly righted it before needing help. He started it and hopped on to ride back up around the corner to assist in flagging other riders. The significance of this observation is that he was adorned in a very flashy white leather one piece-riding suit.

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The empty right sleeve of this suit was pinned to his chest as he is a cone armed,.. left arm… rider… ON THE DRAGON riding, as I said earlier, riding rather aggressively. I guess my tender throttle hand doesn’t hurt that much anymore. The reason for the stop was the wrecker had arrived to collect the bruised Harley from the earlier mishap. Soon it was cleared. GQ had made it through before the wrecker had blocked the road. Literally he made it with seconds to spare. That is why he is GQ. The younger group took off first followed by Gordito, Papa, Paco and the rest. Gordito and Papa tried to match the speed of our one armed rider but is just wasn’t worth the danger. I can’t tell you if that was impressive or stupid but the kid could ride! We made it to the bottom and joined GQ who had made a couple of friends and even collected a cash donation to our cause. He is GQ. Turns our the male of this wonderful biker couple is stationed at the base in Louisiana.

Here Paco had been stationed in the early 70s. Navy guys! GQ had also befriended a little young gal driving a seafoam green painted VW micro bus with a matching trailer. She is an espresso concessionaire. She had packed up but wanted a photo of the Patriots Pack before leaving. Two photo ops in one day! We are becoming legendary… in our own minds.

It was time to finish the day, get to the hotel, shower and walk to the steakhouse. Papa had invited a Knoxville local to join us for dinner. Katie had used to live in Scottsdale but has since returned to her hometown. Papa thought it would help the table if a pretty woman who smelled nice would join us. She said yes! We think we have found “the one” for Junior. Paco had photos… well photo. Paco has photos of his daughter but photo of his son. Imagine that. The table graciously confirmed the wonders of Junior for Katie while Paco showed photo of him. Katie truly raised the level of humanity at the table as well as the level of scent. Katie noticed the vests and asked about the nicknames.

Papa (granddaughters), Paco (nickname for early in life), GQ (no explanation necessary), Lone Star (he is from Texas), Bert (last name Albert), Slaw (Slawesky), Gordito. Katie asked about Gordito. It is Spanish and loosely translates to “cute little fat kid”. Katie responded: “Well that’s precious.” Those from the south may know the double entendre in that comment. Our first reactions were hilarity. Precious Gordito. To his credit Gordito just smiled and took it all in. Perhaps he feels precious and this was simply confirmation from a beautiful southern belle. All I know is that later that evening Bert exclaimed that he too was precious.

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To the reader’s surprise the table conversation did turn a bit political. Even though we added a beautiful southern belle to the mix Slaw is still the lone left-ish politico in the group. The topic of firearms came up. Katie gleefully exclaimed she “packs” and very expertly described her small arms weapon of choice. A girl can never bee too careful. I thought perhaps Paco would propose for Junior right then and there.

The party had to end because the restaurant needed to close. We only had to walk across the parking lot so we asked for to-go cups. We were turned down. We asked about coffee to go. That they could do. Ok then, we want 5 coffees to go and hold the coffee. Our poor server (she too was a Katie) didn’t want to get fired. Paco asked for the manager. This time we asked for water to go… hold the water. After artful negotiation we left with our “water” and left. Every one had to hug our belle, Katie so we could one last time smell something other than 7 road dogs and Harleys.

Katie you were a delight and made our day!

The group gathered in the hotel courtyard… well 5 of us did as Gordito and Paco comingled their undergarments in the washing and dryer machines. Soon they too joined us. We finished our water, enjoyed a Muratec private label cigar and swapped dragon stories of the day. GQ still had some Tennessee Shine to finish. Slaw, Lone Star and Bert gave it another shot. Time for sleep!