Gruene trails. Chapter newsletter. Chapter march 2013 from the editor

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1 Gruene trails Chapter newsletter Chapter 2062 march 2013 from the editor at the march meeting we discussed new rides, events and members. I have to say how impressed I am at how close this group is. you care about when someone has an accident or family member is ill. When someone is in the hospital or just going out of town. You reach out to people from out of town who then become part of us. We are happy for someone when they get a new bike or find out they just had a great ride. We may not be a club in the sense the motorcycle world, but we are a family. we have goals, expectations and disagreements. You pitch in when others need help and go out of your way to do it. You tease someone when they do something dumb, while picking them up at the same time. hog s motto is ride and have fun. all i can say is you guys took it way past the next level. Keep it up! tracy and walter keep warm befor the meeting.

2 More about our officers Jon Magill safety officer Jon has had a love affair of 2 wheeled machines since boyhood, and has been riding street bikes since the age of 16.He was an AMA expert class road racer in the 600 Supersport, 750 Supersport, Unlimited Supersport, and Heavy Weight Super Twins classes. He has attended the California Superbike school, the Penguin Roadracing School,various MSF as well as the Beginner and Advanced Rider's Edge courses. Published moto/photojournalist Starting in February member of the Gruene Harley Davidson Staff. Welcome our new members for march Yahnathan Gonzales art goble brooke Tompkins

3 don t miss the easter sunrise service on march 31st. You can meet up a GHD at 7:15 am and ride up to canyon lake dam park, we should be starting about 8:00 am. also if you ever see anything that says blacksheep on the schedule, everyone is invited, it Will be a non hog event open to everyone. Roadside America, Photo Tour San Antonio Texas Saturday, February 16 th, 2013 By, Joe Costello While I was putting the details together for this ride together I was asked what are Roadside Attractions? Well, as they (sort of) say, Roadside Attractions are in the eye of the beholder (but ugly is to the bone and that s another whole story all together). So my qualifications for Roadside Attractions are these: 1. It s odd and you think others might agree - the key here being that others might agree, If not then you just run the risk of being considered odd yourself - and I was pushing that envelope a bit too tight already, just ask my wife. 2. It s on or near the side of the road (clever I know) with only slight challenge to getting our Harleys in front of the object for a photo, without hurting any animals, children or baby pygmies. 3. For a split second you become Arsenio Hall in that it s one of those things that make you say hmmm moments. If all of these 3 criteria are true then, as I see it, it qualifies as a Roadside Attraction. It was a great ride; we were blessed with great weather and a strong group of riders who made the event very enjoyable! Gruene HOG Riders who showed up included Neil & Michelle Scirone (each on their own bikes), Jay (Bird) Johnson, Terry Buck, Matt & Delisa Gardner. I knew that this was going to be a nontypical ride, in that our mission to get as many photo-ops as possible. Since we had 7 stops in mind (including lunch) the key was going to manage the time at each stop so that the day wouldn t stretch out too long, that worked well for the 1st stop. Stop #1 The Giant Justins!

4 World's Largest Cowboy Boots, We wheeled into the North Star Mall in San Antonio, cruised around the back of the mall in order to safely come up to a pair of cowboy boots 40 tall and 35 wide that tower next to the parking garage. Their official name is "Giant Justins," They were built in the late 1970s by Bob "Daddy-O" Wade after he had built a giant iguana for New York City's Hard Rock Cafe. They were moved to Texas in 1980, where their innards quickly became hangouts for homeless people and stoners (but not necessarily in that order, that also explains all the empty Doritos bags laying around). The boots have since been reinforced to protect unlawful entry. These boots are classic Texan, because everyone knows that you don t get into a butt-kicking contest with folks that know how to use 40 tall cowboy boots! This was a quick and easy stop and we were even able to convince Michelle that the mall was closed for the day, you re welcome Neil. Off to stop #2. Stop #2 - Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum, This is where our time table all went out the tail pipes, but that s ok since Barney Smith is an amazing person and his stories are so compelling that you just can t stop listening! Barney started to modify toilet seats about 30 years ago. It all started when he needed a place to mount a set of small deer antlers. Apparently the toilet seat lid was just about the right shape, and he stuck the antlers on the lid (we are assuming that he took the seat off the toilet first but you know what assuming does ). And so it began. Today Barney has 1,034 toilet seats hanging in his garage/museum. These are true works of art. As we walked around his garage alleyways snaked through the small building giving us reason to pause at every step. Barney is nearly 90 years old now and has the wit and sas of a teenager, he is a true joy to visit with! I m certain that Barney could tell you a story about every one of those 1,034 seats (as he nearly did this day). The seats all had a reason but not a particular theme. The seats were commemorative, funny, inspirational, cartoonish, odd, really odd (did I mention odd?), etc. If you ever need a reason to get a really great boost of energy then stop by and spend some time with Barney, he ll make you feel welcome and a bit self-conscience about the energy he has and all the additions he is planning to his museum. He asked us to send him some of our HOG Group patches and he promised that we would have a special toilet seat made just for us! We ll take votes for who should be pictured in this commodel plaque. Barney has been interviewed on countless TV shows and magazines ranging from Montel Williams, The Today Show, Texas Country Reporter to The View. A toilet seat covered with pictures of the various

5 hostesses from The View that seems about right! Just last week Barney was featured in the Wall Street Journal! This guy is a real American treasure. Terry Jay, Michelle, Barney, Neil, Matt, Delisa and Stop #3, World's Largest Virgin Mary Mosaic, Some say that this is really the world's largest mosaic of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's 40 ft. tall, covering the side of a 4-story building, and is a replica of the Virgin of Guadalupe candle, in the form of a half-candle relief, complete with eternal flame on top. (and if she ever needs some cowboy boots I know just the pair) It was designed and built by artist Jesse Trevino, who lost an arm in Vietnam. The unveiling ceremony in December 2004 included an outdoor concert by singer Lourdes Perez with the Dama de Noche Orchestra. There are hundreds of thousands of bits of tile that create this amazing structure. This is a great site and one that is easy to get to but also easy to miss, located at 1301 Guadalupe Street in San Antonio. One of the areas that bikers often forget about are the sites that are available in the city areas around us. Here s just one example of a very beautiful object that doesn t require a long road trip to see. As we know the challenges of city riding can be daunting but they can also be very rewarding. Your riding skills will be honed in additional ways as we navigate the city streets. It s all part of being a very good, well-rounded rider. There are a lot of sites in and around San Antonio that are much more easily accessible during Saturday or Sunday morning rides, this is just one.

6 Stop #4 - The World s Largest Motorcycle Made of Scrap Iron (at least that we know of) I spotted this weldment on a cruise through San Antonio previously. I knew I wanted this to be one of the stops on our ride but could not find any reference to it on the internet. My wife and I decided to take a drive through San Antonio to hunt it down. A few dozen miles and a conversation with a local police officer (voluntary conversation I ve heard about those but didn t know they were real until recently) and we found the hulk. Pretty cool! This is a piece of art fabricated by a guy who owns a welding shop (handy) and decided that he wanted some unique attraction that would set his shop apart, something that people would remember I think he succeeded (and I m pretty sure he s not married). This art work was later sold to a local art museum located at 2000 S. Flores St. in San Antonio. There are enough pieces of odd scrap iron welded together here to keep you interested for hours. Then there s Terry Buck, who s standing up for bikers everywhere, trick riding his way to fame and fortune! Even if it s at 0 miles per hour get s great gas milage huh Terry? (Terry spent the next 14 hrs. cleaning this bike while we went to lunch). Stop #5 (Lunch Stop, sort of) Frank s Hog Stand, Giant Pig Here at Frank's Hog Stand is what may be the last surviving programmatic pig building in the entire country. The giant pink pig was believed to have been used to offer shelter for the car hops during its many years of service. It disappeared without a trace some years ago only to reappear in the early 1990s outside of town abandoned in an empty lot where it was being lived in. The owner managed to get the pig back to this location and it was lovingly restored by artist Carlos Cortés whose family has been creating faux cement decorative sculpture in San Antonio for the past 60 years. In fact Cortés open air studio is located directly across the street from the giant pig and a visit there to see his work should not be missed.

7 We thought this would be a great place to have lunch but soon determined that this business was no longer open (at least at this spot). There is another Pig Stand in San Antonio, presumably the same owners, that is open on Broadway St. The fact that our next stop was going to take us in the opposite direction we chose to have lunch at Bill Miller s always a good option. Stop #6 - Giant Stag Made of Junk, "King of the Parc" was built of rusted fenders, license plates, typewriters, bicycle seats, engine parts, etc., by Mexico City sculptor Florentino Narcis, then disassembled and shipped to Texas as the community centerpiece of a housing development named "The Parc at Escondido." The stag, 40 feet tall, is heroically posed atop a small mound of sodded earth. This stop was one of the odder ones in that this statue is located in an every-day sort of subdivision. I know that all the riders following me thought I was a bit crazy to be leading them into this area and, since you can t see the statue from the entrance, it was just blind faith as we crested the first hill to see this 40 tall mammoth of a sculpture. It seems oddly placed in the traditional middle-class neighborhood but on a day of oddities hey, it was appropriate. Plenty of scrap iron parts, some recognizable and some not (notice the back of a bicycle frame just in forward of the front legs), have been welded together to create a piece of art that seems to be strolling through the surrounding hills without a bother of any distractions around it. The statue is amazingly life like and, according to one of our riders anatomically correct Things that make you go hmmm. Stop #7 The Giant Armadillo Nothing says Texas like a giant Armadillo! Gruene Harley Davidson, our sponsor Harley Dealer. Located at Bussey s Flea Market in Schertz TX this 8 foot tall armadillo is a real eye-catcher. A standard at the local flea market, it seems to be keeping a safe eye on all the guests and vendors. The first time I saw this roadside attraction I was taken back, wondering why such a creature would be created but now, as a veteran of the flea market, it would seem odd if it wasn t there. This fits all the criteria for our ride and it s an easy stop so of course we included it in the route before we returned to

8 For more information on these and other Roadside Attractions you can visit There are literally hundreds of sites that you may want to see, and I m sure a few that you don t. Some of my riding buddies and I are thinking about our next vacation being a trip to see some of the more distant attractions and building a riding trip around these locations, we clearly have the best wives ever! (if we can pull this off). Ride on! Joe At gruene hd

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11 Be sure to come and be part of these great events.