Ding's Custom Cycle Blog: Santa lives, Oklahoma cold, a brother returns

Another Santa - this one in Tecumseh, Oklahoma!

My brother Guy came down from Tulsa for a night - I think he had a really fun time!

THOROUGHFARE, HAWG LAKES 2012 FALL RALLY, TECUMSEH, OKLAHOMA --- Hawg Lakes was full of surprises, most notably that my brother Guy came down from Tulsa and spent the night. The four-day stretch here was cold, a bit wet and a little slow but we muscled through with a few good customers, a great visit with Guy, a lot of free firewood and some new interesting characters. Thursday and most of Friday were slow but once the hearty started rolling, we were able to pick up some biz with the burnout pit being nearby. One of our major customers was a young guy who hit the pit hard on Friday. He put on a great show and we got him a new tire but fiery pieces went flying and he scorched his leg pretty bad. Luckily, there were a lot of firefighters camping here and someone was able to patch him up. He will have a good scar and a great story to tell. We met a nice gal named PJ who made great food right next door - excellent B & Gs in the mornings and hot coffee. Another group of people included a funny guy who walked up to camp with an extra hand in his right sleeve (for a total of 3 hands). I thought it was real and acted PC and kind as everyone gathered near the fire had a good laugh. I cracked up when I realized my mistake. Visiting with the man was nice because he is suffering dementia and I believe he enjoyed talking with someone who wanted to hear his stories and was patient. Santa lives here, too. We found him the first day on his giant red trike. It was cold enough I had to dress the flamingos in company shirts and turn the heater on inside the BFT. Temps that dipped into the 30s and 40s stunted ridership but we covered rent and gas so that's OK. Guy had a good time - I think he's amazed his sister is out on the road doing this! I put him in company clothes and Don taught him a thing or two about mounting and balancing tires. He chopped a lot of wood; reveled at the burnpit and the various critters (human and not) roaming the thoroughfare; and hung out a lot with Don. The two of them sipped whiskey by the fire and listened to old Molly Hatchet performing live on the big stage while I lounged indoors and read (by day three, I was getting a little whimpy on the cold). We're off to Boo Benefit in Jefferson, Texas tomorrow or Tuesday and then possibly headed back to Oklahoma for another small rally in Sparks before hitting Galveston (also hoping to possibly visit Twisted Sister en route to one of these events). Dogs are exhausted - they stayed up and played non-stop and ate way too much at PJ's cafe. Thanks for the blessings from the Christian rider folks here and the two pounds of Oklahoma blue and gold sausage from BJ the emcee. Hugs from us. Ding, Hol, Thumper and Bob!