"Somewhere in the pits, a Great Dane is going wild!"; "You have an understanding wife, no kids at home, and two dogs that don't care"

With the cold weather over the weekend, I still did not get out to the shop to work on the race car. Due to training, I have not been home all week, but even if I had been, it would have been too cold to try to heat the garage. The weather in the next few days is starting to look a bit more promising.

Even though we’ve been in the deep freeze, I was able to get a racing fix over the weekend. The 2009 IMCA modified National Champion, Dylan Smith of Osceola, Nebraska, has been racing in the Winter Series at Canyon Speedway near Phoenix, Arizona. With today’s technology, I have been able to follow his progress and actually have listened to a couple of A Feature races. He won his first A Feature of the year on Sunday February 6th, leading the entire 25 lap race. For those who don’t know Dylan or his car owners, Mike & Lisa Gocke, their traveling companion and mascot is a Great Dane named Diesel. As the race was winding down Sunday afternoon, Dylan was in lap traffic and the 2nd place car was closing the gap. One of the announcers excitedly proclaimed “Somewhere in the pits a Great Dane is going wild!” I don’t think I’ve heard that sort of proclamation before.

Not long after the Arizona races were over, Dirt Knights came on Versus channel. This reality series chronicles the travels of several USMTS drivers at the end of the 2010 season and comes on at 5 PM Central time on Sundays. The episodes can also be viewed over the internet later in the week by going to dirt knights.com. There is some great race footage from in car cameras, as well as pit action. If you watch it over the internet, there are no commercials, either. I really enjoy watching the show, and have watched it a second time over the internet. I hope it continues to be aired.

There is now a new and, from the looks of it, greatly improved Beatrice Speedway website. It has been a long time in development and I’ve been told there will be a lot of information added to it. I’ve heard here may be some things on it later on that haven’t been tried before.

Just by the very nature of our chosen profession, law enforcement officers don’t always have the best hours, meet the nicest people, or have a stress free life. Some departments ask that their officers put in their vacation requests almost a year in advance. For many years, I have spent some of my vacation riding the Gold Wing to a Blue Knights function and this summer will be no different. My two main “stress relievers” are riding and racing. If I could somehow incorporate them, I would have the best of both worlds. Last summer I raced at Columbus, Nebraska a few times. However, with gas for the hauler currently 50 cents a gallon higher than it was last summer, I doubt that I will be making many of those 230 mile round trips at 8 miles to the gallon. Maybe I’ll be riding there to watch instead.

That’s not all bad. When I’m going to watch, our car isn’t on the track and we aren’t burning fuel to get to the track and we’re not burning fuel in the race car. When Jeremy was in High school, we rode to Eagle on Saturday night to watch the races, then rode to Columbus the next night. He thoroughly enjoyed doing that and at 30 years old, still talks about it. I hope that in a few years down the road there will still be races that he can take his son to. Maybe I’ll even be lucky enough to still be alive so I can go too.

It’s really a family effort to race in our case. One time in the pits after the races, somebody asked me how Jan puts up with my racing. I pointed out another place in the pits and told him, “That’s where we met.” That’s not to say she was a racer herself, but she was at least interested in racing. Our first date was going to watch the late models at Sunset Speedway. We would have ridden the motorcycle that night, but it was pretty windy and I didn’t want to scare her off on the first date. Now, she tells me that I do the things I do because “You have an understanding wife, no kids at home and two dogs that don’t care!” You can just bet that when we’re on a long trip on the Gold Wing, I’m looking for race tracks along the way that we may get to stop at and watch a race!

Last summer, we stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming on the way back from Blue Knights International in Billings, Montana. My then 13-yr old granddaughter was on her first motorcycle trip. We were at a downtown ice cream shop with some other Blue Knights when a couple of race cars went by on trailers. I told Kayla to hurry up and finish her ice cream because we were going to the races. She’s not as understanding as her grandmother……. That was a race we did not go to.

Once the weather warms up and we are able to take to the road on two wheels, I hope to be riding a bit more this summer. Unless you’ve taken a trip on a touring motorcycle, you don’t know what you’re missing. Late May and early June is great- the smell of spring is all around. Flowers, clover, feedlots….. well, there aren’t that many feedlots. We try to stop about every 100 miles to stretch, top off the fuel tank and grab a snack, then it’s back on the road. If we see something we want to stop and look at, we’ll stop.

We’ve never been to Nashville or Memphis. We want to spend a couple of nights in Nashville and hopefully take in the Grand Ole Opry. Another night in Memphis, then 2 days to get back home from there. Probably go across Arkansas and into Oklahoma to get back home. If there any Blue Knights from around Nashville or Memphis reading this, I would sure appreciate any information about the area I can get.

Three nights of New Years Eve; cold weather putting the brakes on working on the race car; still working on plans for Blue Knights International

Here we are 13 days into the new year and this is my first entry. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say, I just have to be careful of how I say it so I don’t get myself in trouble.

In some of the on-line Police publications, I see articles on law enforcement officers being reprimanded, suspended or even fired for making questionable posts on social sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Some of those postings are plain stupid and if the person stopped to think about what he/she was posting, maybe they would think better of it and not make the posting. A law enforcement officer could post a questionable picture or statement, and a defense attorney might find it and use it against the officer in court. If the item puts the officer or his/her department in a bad light, disciplinary action is very possible. For that reason, I try to shy away from making work related comments in my blog or on my Facebook page.

I must really be grabbing at straws if I’m reduced to talking about this stuff in my blog!! Enough said on that subject….

Our Christmas and New Years weekends were pretty uneventful. I was on days off the entire Christmas weekend, and Jan was off Christmas and the day after. We were fortunate that we were able to spend those two days with our families. We were even more blessed with decent weather. We had to work the three days of New Years’ Eve, and even though it was pretty cold, there was no white stuff and all in all it was a fairly quiet weekend. Our Police Department had a DWI arrest about 3:30 AM on New Years Day, and the Sheriff’s Department had two more right after that.

This last weekend brought a change in the weather and now we’re going into a “deep freeze” for a few days. I hope everybody uses good sense when they have to go outdoors or travel. We don’t see as many problems in the city, but the deputies and troopers seem to have to deal a lot with stranded motorists in cold, miserable weather. According to our local newspaper, city road crews will be out through Thursday trying to get the streets cleaned. At least we aren’t having weather patterns here like we did a year ago with a new snowstorm coming in every few days.

I had to get the snow blower out to clean the driveway yesterday. I found there was a bit of a gas leak from around the carburetor, but was able to get the snow moved. In looking for a gasket for the float bowl, the parts houses I went did not have anything. I found out that one of the local lumber yards carries parts for small engines, and as luck would have it, they had the right gasket. I should be set for the rest of the winter now.

I planned to work on the race car on my Friday-Saturday-Sunday off this last weekend. I got all my parts together so I can finish my brake lines to the rear brakes. When that’s done, I can start on making the rear deck. However, the weather started to turn a lot colder and I didn’t even attempt to start the wood burner as it looked like a fire would be futile. I’m on days off Wednesday and Thursday this week, and the last time I looked, Thursday may warm up close to 30. If there’s no wind, I should be able to heat the garage to a point where I can work out there.

I am pointing toward having the car on the track at McCool Junction on March 4th & 5th. There is a USMTS modified show that weekend and in the past the open stock cars have been the support class. It hasn’t been announced yet if that will be the case, but if it is, I hope to be able to race then. When I stand back and look at the car, it looks like there is a ton of stuff to do on it, but if I can keep the garage warm enough to work out there, there really isn’t that much to do. I plan to straighten and use the old doors. I need to straighten the left rear quarter panel. I’m afraid the front fenders can’t be re-used, so I will either have to use the new after market ones I have or find some used stock ones. I’m hoping to find some used fenders for a very reasonable price. The aftermarket ones look nice, but they are so thin they crinkle if you look hard at them.

I was able to pretty much finish my expense sheet for the racing operation for 2010 over the weekend. I have to have a copy of the bill on the engine that is at Hastings so I can itemize it on the expense sheet, and 1099 forms from Beatrice and Columbus and that task will be all done. I need to remember to keep myself caught up on this stuff so I don’t have to re-construct the entire year at the end of the year.

I’ve also spent a little more time planning our ride to Chesapeake, Virginia this summer. The Blue Knights International Convention is there the 3rd week of July. One way or another, we want to spend a couple of days in Nashville as Jan really wants to go to the Grand Ole Opry. I think a day or two in Memphis should also be in order. Right now, I kind of have a 3 day ride from here to Chesapeake planned. The return trip will be a bit more leisurely and routed through Nashville and Memphis. We’re just hoping the price of gas doesn’t go up too drastically that we can’t enjoy our time.

While we’re in the Chesapeake area there are a lot of things I want to see. I was stationed at Ft Lee for AIT in 1971 and made trips to Washington, D.C. and Williamsburg, Virginia. I hope to be able to go to both places while we are there. I also went to the Petersburg Battlefield just outside of Ft Lee and would like to go back there. There’s so much history in that area that it is impossible to see it all in an entire summer, let alone the few days we will be there.

We kind of kicked around the idea of maybe camping along the way to make the trip less expensive. However, I think I’d rather have a hot shower and a real bed after riding 450 miles each day. Irregardless of what our plans are, we will have to pack carefully and wisely in order to have everything we need for the entire trip,

I’ll have to have the Gold Wing checked over closely. We now have about 32,000 miles on it, and it should go to the dealer for a complete check-up according to the owners’ manual. The front tire has almost 20,000 miles on it, but still looks pretty good. The back tire has about 10,000 miles and still looks good. The original rear tire went about 22,000 miles and I expect this one to go that far, too. I will have to pack the wheel bearings on the trailer, but other than that, it should be ready to go.

Blue Knights just had their election for International President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. I want to pass on my congratulations to all of the new officers. I know you will do the job to the best of your abilities.

I subscribe to “Google Alerts.” This gives me an alert to other blogs about specific subjects. I came across one today by a crime analyst in Texas. He writes about a guy who, when stopped by law enforcement, gave them his cousin’s name. Turns out the cousin had a warrant for his arrest, so the guy went to jail. Now he’s suing the Sheriff’s Department for false arrest. In Nebraska, a guy like this is “Job Security.” Here’s the link to the newspaper story, in case anybody wants to read about it: 
 
 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/010811dnmetalias.a15fbd.html

Billings trip day 2- Greeley, CO to Billings, MT

Sunday started out about 74 degrees and sunny. We were out of the driveway right on time - 7 AM. It was a great ride to Cheyenne where we stopped at a new Denny’s at the Flying J for breakfast. That was a real busy place!

Back on the road and northbound around Cheyenne. I’d forgotten it was the beginning of Cheyenne Frontier Days. We crested a hill and saw a couple of patrol cars with their emergency lights on and hit the “slow down” button. Coming our way on the road along I-25 was a herd of longhorn cattle and cowboys following them. Kayla was able to get a couple of pictures of the longhorn cattle.

Farther north on I-25 we saw the first antelope on the east side of the interstate. There was a vehicle pulled off to the side and I slowed a bit to see it they were having mechanical problems. Then I noticed they were out taking pictures and I saw the antelope out a ways.

As we continued, I thought of the “Home on the Range” song. Remember the part about “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word?” That’s because there is nobody there to hear it!

Our next fuel stop was at Douglas. As we rode between Cheyenne and Douglas, I realized how big and wide open this country really is. We’d top a rise and see the highway go as far ahead of us as we could see. What looked like it might be a couple of miles turned out to be 10, 15 or even 20 miles! It was just an ideal day to be riding, with the temperature around 85 and only a light breeze most of the time.

As we got to the south end of Douglas, we encountered road construction which made traffic one lane in each direction. A mile into the construction area is where I pulled off for fuel. I filled up and remembered I wanted a Wyoming map that was bigger than the road atlas I had so I could show Kayla where we were easier. I’d wanted to get a map at Cheyenne and completely forgot about it while looking for something to put on a bee sting.

When we were getting ready to get back on the Gold Wing, a car pulled up on the other side of the pumps. As it was stopping, I could hear the brakes grinding. When the woman got out to get her gas, I told her what I heard. She said she would have the brakes looked at, and we took off. Our next stop would be at Casper to grab a quick sandwich and top off with fuel.

I don’t know if it’s just because it’s Wyoming, or what, but everywhere we stopped for fuel had lines. Maybe it was because it was Sunday and a travel day? Even McDonald’s had a line out the door when we stopped for a couple of sandwiches.

While we were eating, I looked up to see the same car with bad brakes pull in the parking lot!! I’d thought those were some local people before, but now I’m thinking they were not planning ahead on their car maintenance. Depending on what their destination was, driving that car was fast becoming dangerous!!

The weather out of Casper was still great. Checking fuel mileage, I was doing better than the day before, and was going about 7 MPH faster. Maybe the weather not being 106 has something to do with it?

What a great couple of days!! No phone calls, no nothing!! My only worries are where will my next fuel stop be, and what kind of place can I find to eat at tonight.

We took a break at Sheridan and topped off with fuel. Once again, there was a long line at the gas pumps. Had another bottle of water while we waited in line.

When I plotted out this trip, it figured out that I should be in Billings about 6:15 PM. We took more time when we stopped at Cheyenne than we expected; however, we were within 15 minutes of being where I thought we would be. However, as we approached the Montana state line, the skies were increasingly cloudy, with very dark clouds building to the west-northwest. It was really hard to tell if we’d get any of it or not because the highway isn’t straight anywhere. One mile it’s going north, the next it’s going west. We stopped at the state line and took a couple of pictures, then took off again. About 12 miles south of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, we rounded a curve and ran smack dab into the storm with no warning! I don’t believe I’ve ever ridden in a wind that strong! I’d just checked the temperature and it was 88. In less than 5 miles it dropped to 64. I slowed to about 25 MPH and hit the emergency flashers as there was absolutely no place to pull over at. I felt like a drowned rat, and just about as cold! Then, as fast as it started, it stopped and the wind calmed down. We pulled over at the Crow Agency exit for a break and to regain our composure. After a 15 minute break, we started the final 65 miles into Billings.

As we neared our destination, the skies once again started to darken. The host hotel was the Holiday Inn and Convention Center at exit 446. We no sooner got turned in and under the canopy than the wind and rain hit again. However, once again it didn’t last long. It was shortly after 6:30 PM and my trip meter showed 1,032 miles since we left home. Judging from the number of Blue Knights already there, this Convention will be a large successful one.

Final preparations for Billings

I finished my last work shift at 6 AM Wednesday and headed for home. It stayed warm and humid all night. When I put my helmet on as I got on the Gold Wing, the shield immediately fogged over. Just like my glasses did every time I got out of the car or came out of the office. Then again, after the winter we had, I will NEVER complain about warm weather again!


Of course, when planning a motorcycle trip in hot weather, I may need to alter my original plans a bit. I had planned to strap a small cooler with ice and water on the trailer. Plans have changed to putting a bigger cooler on the trailer. I usually drink a pot of coffee in the morning to get myself going; I’ll try to cut back on the caffeine for the trip, It is said that a person dehydrates more in hot weather when they drink a lot of caffeine.

The long range forecast shows the temps will probably be in the 90’s the next two weeks. Being on the road during that kind of weather means not only being mindful of heatstroke, but sunburn as well. I wear a long sleeved shirt in this kind of weather to keep from getting burned. Cool collars can be purchased at motorcycle shops and soaked in icy water. I’ve used them while racing stock cars in the heat of summer and they work great.

We need to remember to take a lot of breaks when riding in hot weather. When we rode to Spokane in 1998, we ended up stopping at almost every exit to drink more water and even wet our clothing down. In a few miles, we were completely dry.

I plan to take a lot of pictures. One good thing, in the age of digital photography, all I need is to be sure to have a good memory card and a way to download it to my laptop. No need to worry about film, but I will have to be sure I have batteries and/or have all my rechargeable batteries charged. When Jan & I got back from our honeymoon, we had 11 rolls of film to get developed. Now, I just download the card to the computer.

I’ve located the extended warranty for the Gold Wing and bought an extra oil filter. Maps and reservations are being packed. Suntan lotion and chap stick, meds, ect all being packed. Maps and atlas. Bike has been checked over and ready to go.

Hopefully the race car is ready for Friday night. I got everything I could think of done on Monday & Tuesday. I always have nightmares about what could go wrong.

Who are the Blue Knights?; motorcycle trips; local IMCA and NASCAR weekly racing series schedules

Some of you who have been following my blog know who and what the Blue Knights are, particularly those in Law Enforcement. Others may have some idea, and if you’ve been following me, you know that Blue Knights is a Law Enforcement Motorcycle club. What many may not know is how wide-spread we are or the history of the Blue Knights.

The following comes from the blue knights.org website: “The BLUE KNIGHTS® is a non-profit fraternal organization consisting of active and retired law enforcement men & women who enjoy riding motorcycles.





In the Spring of 1974, several law enforcement officers* from the Bangor, Maine (USA) area met and and formed a small, local motorcycle club. The rest, as they say, is history.

Soon, Blue Knight chapters were being formed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and beyond. With the addition of Canada, and later Australia, the Blue Knights became an international organization.

*Our Founding Fathers are: Joel Rudom, Bill Robinson, Doug Miner, Ed Gallant, Mike Hall, Chuck Gesner, Wayne Labree, Chuck Shuman

As of 1 June 2009, we have 599 chapters and almost 20,000 members in 29 countries.

According to the By-Laws, our purposes and goals are to:

1. Provide for the mutual assistance, enjoyment, entertainment, education, physical, mental and social benefit of its members and the general public.
2. To promote and advance the sport of motorcycling and the safety of motorcycling.
3. To serve the interests of motorcycle owners and users.
4. To promote by example and any other acceptable means, safe use, operation and enjoyment of motorcycles.
5. To develop a fraternal spirit between law enforcement personnel and the general public.





Many Blue Knights work long and hard to raise money for various charities. Especially near to our hearts is helping children. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Make-a-Wish Foundation, Toys for Tots, D.A.R.E., and Concerns of Police Survivors are some examples of our favorites.

As of 31 July 2009 Blue Knights have donated to numerous charities; contributing time in the amount of $4,092,292.00, goods with an estimated value of $631,217.24 and $6,921,532.87 in cash for a total of $11,645,042.11 (USD)

We're the good guys!

The Blue Knights is a family fraternity. Spouses and children often accompany our members to the various rides and functions. When travelling, local members can provide assistance, directions and sometimes a place to stay. We are truly a family.

Among the Blue Knight members, "There are no strangers, only friends you haven't met." “

My Chapter, Nebraska I, was chartered in 1985 at Grand Island and has about 45 members. Nebraska I is in the Midwest Regional Conference (MWRC) which is made up of 45 chapters from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada. The MWRC has about 920 members.

I joined Nebraska I in 1992. At the time, I was riding a 1980 Kawasaki 750 LTD. I mostly rode it around the Beatrice area. I made frequent trips to Lincoln and in the summer, to Sunset Speedway in Omaha. As I rode down the highway, I’d meet riders on Gold Wings and Ultra Classics and I would tell myself that some day I’d have a big bike.

In the late summer of 1992, I saw an advertisement for a farm sale north of Friend, Nebraska. One of the items on the auction was a 1981 Gold Wing Interstate with less than 19,000 miles. I ended up being high bidder on that Gold Wing and drove it home that evening.





I attended my first MWRC in June 1993 at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I had no idea of the makeup of the Blue Knights at the time. Except for a couple of hours layover in Wichita waiting out thunderstorms and then running through a real gully-washer prior to hitting the Cimarron Turnpike, the trip was a great one and I was hooked.

In the time since, I’ve had a 1984 Interstate that we put 73,000 miles on, a 1987 Kawasaki voyager that we put 15,000 miles on and our current ride, a 2006 GL1800 Gold Wing that we’ve put over 25,000 miles on since we picked it up from the showroom in July of 2006.

We’ve made trips to Spokane, Washington and Las Vegas Nevada for Blue Knights functions. We’ve been to Blue Knights functions in Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow, Tulsa and Bartlesville, Oklahoma; St Joe, Springfield and Branson, MO, Ft Scott, Kansas City and Hiawatha, KS; Des Moines, Spirit Lake and Davenport, IA; Egan and Shakopee, MN; Grand Forks and Minot, N.D.; and Sturgis, S.D. We also try to ride to Colorado in the summer to spend time with Heather & Dana and now Landon, and do some riding in the mountains. A great ride is taking Hwy 34 from Loveland to Estes Park. All the turns along the Big Thompson River are a blast! Leaving Estes Park to go back toward Loveland; Hwy 7 toward Lyons is 24 miles of breathtaking scenery with plenty of twists and turns.

Once the riding season gets under way, we just like to get on the Gold Wing and go. With work schedules being what they are, that is sometime hard to do. I try to schedule supper rides out of Beatrice on a weekly basis for riders in and close to Beatrice. One such ride was just a jaunt to Odell, 20 miles south of Beatrice. When we were done eating, we took a side trip and ended up at the Rock Creek Station for a little history lesson.

Just getting out and riding is an experience in itself. The trip to the Spring MWRC is usually the first long ride of the season. The smells of fresh cut alfalfa and clover as well as the wildflowers is in the air. You don’t usually notice that riding in a car. Of course, get too close to a feed yard or similar facility and you’ll get smells you’d rather not smell.





The feel of the warm sun is great and not the same as feeling it through the car windows.

How many of you have taken a 600 mile round trip to have a few burgers and a couple of beers? I’ve made a couple of trips from Beatrice to Burlington, Colorado to a barbecue with some Blue Knights from Colorado. Nebraska I makes an annual trip to western Nebraska just to meet up with other Blue Knights, share a couple of meals and have a few drinks. There are no strangers in Blue Knights, just friends you haven’t met yet.

On the area racing scene, Thunder Hill Raceway at Mayetta, KS has their website up and running. They have their 2010 weekly schedule and payouts posted. They will be racing IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, IMCA Sport Mods and IMCA Hobby Stocks on Saturday nights. They are also working on scheduling some late model and spring car shows. Their season will start - with the cooperation of Mother Nature - with practice sessions on March 20th and March 27th from 2 PM to 5 PM. The season opener is scheduled for Saturday, April 3rd and will run through September 25. The schedule also shows “Thunder on the Hill” on October 8th & 9th. Racing is to start at 7 PM. That’s 26 nights of racing (NO BAD WEATHER!!) plus the year end special! If you live in the area, you will be able to get your weekly fix at Thunder Hill.

Warm weather in the area had greatly diminished our snow banks and I can see you back yard in places! Maybe the snow will be gone in time for the USMTS show at McCool Junction. If all goes well, that will be my first race of the season. Two weeks later, on March 19th & 20th, Beatrice will host the Spring Nationals. Factory stocks will share the show on the 19th with Modifieds, Sport Mods and Hobby Stocks. The Saturday show will be Modifieds, Sport Mods, Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts.





The race car show at Beatrice, sponsored by Women for Racing, will be on Saturday, April 10th and will be followed by Test-N-Tune. The regular season will start the following week, Friday April 16th. Regular night shows will consist of IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods, IMCA Hobby Stocks, IMCA Sport Compacts and Factory Stocks.

On April 10th, Eagle Raceway will kick off their season with their annual Icebreaker Challenge hosting Sprint cars, IMCA Modifieds, hobby stocks and sport compacts.

I-80 Speedway at Greenwood, NE has their schedule up on their website. It shows opening night as Saturday March 27th with Late Models, Pro Ams, Compacts, Modifieds and sport mods. I-80 will also have NASCAR sanctioning.
 
The regular season for Junction Motor Speedway at McCool Junction will kick off the night after Beatrice’s opening night, April 18th. JMS will once again be NASCAR sanctioned. They are also scheduled to hold a World of Outlaws Sprint Car show on June 25th. The last weekly show of 2010 will be September 11th.

There you have it, “brief” rundown on my two biggest hobbies. Now if only Mother Nature will cooperate so I can participate in both.

www.jetracinginc.com

Trips to the doctor; Grand Island, NE bridal show; Blue Knights trip planning; Utah says goodbye to Deputy Josie Fox

 

I’ve always been a wimp when it comes to going to the doctor. I’ve never liked blood & guts, and have a dislike and fear of needles. I remember going to the doctor for a checkup when I was in grade school. The nurse stuck me in the finger for a drop of blood and I fainted. My phobia has never gotten any better.

I’m not sure how I made it through Army basic training. It seemed like about every week we lined up to get shots of some kind. I found out I was not the only person in the world that didn’t like needles. I remember a couple of guys passing out while waiting in line to get shots. The military, in it’s infinite wisdom, did not mess with needles when giving shots to hundreds of people at a time. They used an air gun of sorts, and I found if I held my arms tightly to my sides, the shots did not bother me a whole lot.

 

When I got into Law Enforcement, people who knew me asked what I would do when I had to respond to a dead body, a bad crash or a shooting. I didn’t know how I’d react but hoped I would be able to work my way through it. I was able to make it through several incidents early in my career without embarrassing myself.

One thing I learned about going for a physical - when there was a blood draw involved, I could generally get through it by lying down on the examining table. Most everybody who has drawn blood from me was very good at it, and if I felt anything, it wasn’t much. After a while, I could sit up, then stand up and walk and there were no problems. However, I always continued to remind them that I had to lie down.

As a result of a visit to the doctor during the summer of 2002, I learned that I was diabetic. All sorts of images ran through my mind. My grandmother was diabetic and I remember seeing her giving herself shots. Fortunately, I’ve been able to control the diabetes with oral meds and watching what I eat. Sometimes, like during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s particularly difficult as I LOVE chocolate!!

I’ve found that my regular check-ups cost less if I go to the V.A. for them. However, when I have a blood draw, there’s no place for me to lie down. I keep telling them I need to lie down, but I find myself sitting in a chair. On my last visit, I was all through with the blood draw and thought I was about ready to get out of the chair. The next thing I knew, I had 4 people standing around me and somebody holding a cold cloth to my forehead. I suddenly began to feel nauseous, something that had NEVER happened to me before! That subsided and I decided I could get up and go to the waiting room. As I stood up, a wave of nausea came over me and this time I did throw up.

Now, the same people that thought I did not have to lie down to have a blood draw decided I needed a wheelchair to move around. They wheeled me outside to get some fresh air. During conversation I told the nurse that I hadn’t had anything to eat (the blood draw was after fasting) and she decided to roll me to the canteen for something to eat. Part was down the hallway I started to get that feeling again. She turned me around and we ended up in a sort of emergency room. A cold cup of water, then they brought me a granola bar, which I nibbled on. I got most of it down, then the nausea came back and so did the granola bar.

The doctor stopped and checked on me a couple of times. He asked how I’d gotten to Lincoln and I told him I rode the Gold Wing. He asked how I was going to get home and I told him the same way. He shook his head and told me he didn’t think so. About noon, he came back in to check on me. I was feeling a bit better and he let me walk around a bit, then he walked outside with me. After a while we went back in and I headed for the canteen where I had a light lunch. It all stayed down this time.

When all was said and done, my blood work came back fine. My blood sugars were acceptable and I am still on my oral meds. I continue to try to watch my diet. The doctor has cautioned me against gaining very much weight, and so far that has not been a problem. If the time comes that I end up on insulin, I don’t know what will happen. Hopefully, there will be an oral insulin before that time comes.

My two older daughters, Heather and Hollie, started a venture together several years ago that they call “Nebraska Wedding Guide.” Hollie has a photo studio in Grand Island, Nebraska called “Hotshots by Hollie.” Hollie has developed a photography business doing senior pictures, babies, weddings, families, children, birthday packages, announcements, holiday cards, dance and sports. Their mother and stepfather own a flower shop in Grand Island and my youngest daughter, Abby, works at the flower shop. As part of the Nebraska Wedding Guide business, Heather and Hollie put on a bridal show twice a year in Grand Island. There are vendors at the show such as other photographers, clothing places, caterers, flower shops, etc. They just finished up doing a bridal show that looks like it was a great success. Jan and I went to Grand Island to help out where we could. Admission to the show was one can of food per person. The food went to one of the local food pantries in Grand Island. At the end of the show, they had collected almost 500 food items for the pantry.

On the drive to Grand Island, we saw snow drifts like we hadn’t seen for YEARS!! It’s no wonder roads were closed as long as they were! Some of the railroads in Nebraska were shut down, including AMTRACK between Hastings and Holdrege, Nebraska. The wind would blow the tracks closed as soon as they were open. However, it looks like there may be some relief in sight as this week promises that the weather is to warm up and there is no precipitation forecasted. We might even be able to get the 2’ berm of ice and snow out of the end of our driveway.

Looking outside right now, the days of getting on the motorcycle and taking a ride seem a long time away, but it’s never too soon to be doing some maintenance and safety checks now. While the motorcycle is in the garage up on the center stand, take a good look at the tires. How much tread is left? Check the tires over carefully for cuts or any other damage. How old are the trires? Are they weather-checked? When I bought my 1984 Gold Wing, the tire tread looked decent, but when I looked closer at the tires, they were badly weather-checked. The rear tire was weather-checked into the cords in the sidewalls. Needless to say, I changed them at the earliest opportunity.

When you need tires, research what tires will give you the best service. Everybody who rides has an opinion on the best tires for their motorcycles. When I got my GL1800, ’d heard horror stories about how poorly the tires wore. I asked the dealer I got it from about tire pressure, and was told to run 40 lbs in the front and 41 in the rear. My front tire lasted 13,000 miles and still had tread when I replaced it. I replaced the rear tire at the beginning of the season last summer at 23,000 miles and it still had fair tread on it.

When I had my ’84 Interstate, I took it to the Harley shop for tires. One of the mechanics there had worked for a Honda dealership for 12 years. I bought what he recommended and was very satisfied as I consistently got 23,500 miles out of the tires and they were still not unsafe to ride on.

While the motorcycle is garaged during the winter, it is a good idea to put a Battery Tender on the battery. This will give the battery a trickle charge when it’s needed, and when it’s fully charged, it will automatically shut off. It can most certainly extend your battery life.

If you’re planning a road trip of any great length, look at your riding gear. Boots, chaps, gloves, helmet. If any of these need to be replaced, do it now. If your trip includes a route through the mountains, consider that a change in elevation means a change in temperatures. We came back from Las Vegas in July 2001 through Colorado. The first day we rode from Las Vegas to Grand Junction, Colorado. The last 100 or so miles, the heat was pretty bad. Jan commented that she was starting to feel a bit light-headed and felt the heat was affecting her. The next day, we rode south to Montrose and then east along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The highway climbed to over 13,000 feet when we went through Monarch Pass. There was a light rain and it was very cold for that time of the year. Coming out of the pass and continuing east, the weather warmed up again. If we hadn’t been as well prepared as we were, it could have been a miserable ride over Monarch Pass. As it was, it was a bit uncomfortable but we came out of it no worse for wear.

I’ve been trying to decide what route to take coming home from the Blue Knights International Convention in Billings, Montana in July. When we were in Colorado in 2008, we rode to Ft Collins, then west on Hwy 14 along the Poudre River Valley. I’d have loved to have gone farther than Rustic, which was about 21 miles. However, one of the guys had to be back in Greeley early, so we didn’t go any further. I’d have liked to have gone to Steamboat Springs, but it looks like it would be almost a full day each way from Greeley. I’m now thinking of leaving Billings the same way we got there, then fron Casper going southwest on Hwy 220 to Muddy Gap, then 287 south to Rawlins. After an overnight stay at Rawlins, we’d go west on I-80 to Hwy 789, then south to Craig, Colorado. From Craig, we’d take Hwy 40 east to Steamboat Springs. East of Steamboat Springs, we’d take Hwy 14 to complete the ride we started in 2008. If anybody has taken this route please feel free to comment.

Delta, Utah paid its respects to fallen Millard County, Utah Joise Greathouse Fox on Monday January 11th, 2010. According to the Salt Lake City Tribunethe center where the funeral took place was designed to hold 1,500 people andit was overflowing. Police from across Utah, California, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Montana attended the service. When the services ended, the procession to the cemetery stretched the entire length of the town. Adulta and children lined the streets, creating a tunnel of American flags. There was a two hour delay between the end of the services and the beginning of the graveside services. We must remember that the services were a celebration of the way Deputy Fox lived, not how she died. Rest in Peace, Deputy Fox!

All photos by Salt Lake Trib

Halloween, winter driving, Blue Knights and getting ready for the 2010 racing season

Three more days until Halloween. For our area, it looks like we’ll still have mild, although windy, weather. In the 20 years I’ve been a Police Officer in Beatrice, I don’t recall anybody being hit by a car or any other major incident. Everybody seems to behave themselves pretty well - at least the younger ghosts and goblins do. Halloween this year also falls on the night that Daylight Savings Time ends, and that will give the older people another hour to live it up, it they so choose. For those of you who are partying that night, PLEASE find a sober designated driver!

For parents, please stay with your child while they are trick or treating. Be sure when they cross the street, they do it in a well-lit area. Dress them in costumes that are easy to see and don’t obstruct their vision. In our small town, I don’t believe we’ve ever had a problem with tainted treats, but it anything is suspected of being tampered with, throw it away. Our part of town doesn’t get many trick or treaters, but Jan usually makes pre-packaged items and puts our name in it so parents know where it came from.




It is still awfully early, but it looks like winter will be here before we want it to be. With the weather comes people driving in an environment that they need to take some time to get acclimated to.

The first thing we usually see is frosted over windshields in the morning. This brings out what I call the “peephole” drivers. You know what I’m talking about - you’ve all seen them and we’ve all been guilty of being one. Take a few extra minutes to scrape ALL the frost off your windshield, windows and rear glass before you move the car. If it’s still dark and you meet another vehicle with it’s headlights on, you won’t be able to see anything!

Be careful of “black ice,” which you won’t be able to see until it’s too late. If you should get into it, don’t panic and gently let off the gas. Don’t jump on the brakes - as you slow down, tap them gently. When there’s actually snow and ice on the streets and highways, be sure to give yourself plenty of extra stopping room between yourself and the vehicle ahead of you, as well as coming to a stop sign or stop light.




I once stopped a guy who was driving in a heavy snow. He had only a “peephole” cleared on his windshield and about 4” to 6” of snow on the rest of his car, including the side windows. He went through a stop sign about a half block ahead of me without even slowing down. When I stopped him, he protested the ticket for running the stop sign because “there wasn’t anything coming.” Never mind that he couldn’t SEE if there was anything coming. I guess he ended up paying his fine for the stop sign violation and obstructed vision because I didn’t have to testify against him in court. Whether he believed it or not, he was a hazard on the road. I made him clean all his windows before I let him go.

Be sure to stock your food pantry BEFORE a storm hits so you don’t have to go out in it to get groceries or other supplies. When the snow is blowing and you can’t see a block away, you should be staying safe and sound in your house.

Like I’ve mentioned in the past, with the weather getting cooler, most of my motorcycle riding will be restricted to short day rides, and planning for trips in 2010. We’re looking forward to making the Blue Knights International Convention in Billings, Montana in July 2010. I’m also looking into hosting the Spring 2011 Spring Conference in Beatrice. That will be taking up a good amount of my time. Hotel needs to be finalized as well as rates, banquet lined up and activities as well as food and drink for the hospitality room. I guess it’s time to get busy!




In addition to that, we’re trying to get one of our race cars as well as a trailer sold. I have some engines to freshen up. I did a quick check on the engine that Jeremy ran and maybe we didn’t hurt it too bad. Looks like a valve train problem. I won’t know until I start to get it apart. I hope to get the engine out and on the engine stand in the next week or so.

Thanks for checking me out, and be sure to leave comments.

weight loss products

2009 Cool McCool 100

We were able to get a decent weekend weather-wise after the snow storms the week before. Jeremy and I got the race cars loaded up early on Saturday and were on the road for McCool Junction and the Cool McCool 100 shortly before 10 AM. Pretty good considering I wanted to leave by 9:30.

The skies were cloudy when we left. I thought I even saw a couple of raindrops on the windshield as we traveled west out of Beatrice. However, there was virtually no wind and the farther west we went, the thinner the clouds were. About 15 miles from the track, the clouds started to break up and the sun was shining. We pulled up to the pit gate just before 11:30, with just 2 trailers in line ahead of us. As I got out of the truck, another Beatrice regular, Brenden Stigge, was also there.

Once the pit gates opened, we pulled in and parked on the north side of Brenden. Their enclosed trailer would serve as a good windbreak later on in the weekend. We got the cars unloaded and last minute checks done in preparation for hot laps.

Alex Humphrey pulled in with Al’s car and parked straight west of us. I talked to him a bit and learned that Al had planned to go to a race in Nevada, MO but found a potential problem with his engine, so stayed at home. Alex had some problems with his car at I-80’s Cornhusker Classic and didn’t have it ready to go, so he’d already planned to drive his dad’s car at JMS. Al came in a bit later and was around all weekend to get the car set up for Alex.

We got the call to draw our numbers for starting positions and transponders. Jeremy decided he wanted me to draw for him, too. I drew 23 for me and 36 for Jeremy. As it worked out, he would start out behind me in the same heat.

Jeremy had never even seen the track before, let alone raced on it. We looked over the track from the catwalk and I pointed out what I could to him, noting that he should be especially careful about coming out of turn 2. That corner has historically eaten up a lot of cars.

We finally got the call for hot laps. When we got on the track, it was already getting dry slick. I was still feeling my car out, and only got 1 ½ laps in when the engine quit and I dropped to the bottom of the track on the back chute. The way it sounded, I was sure I had a problem with the distributor. I had a spare on the trailer and knew it would be faster to just change it rather than try to trouble shoot it. Once back in the pits, we checked for spark and sure enough, there was none. We got the distributor changed and the timing set in a few minutes. Check tire pressures on both cars and top both fuel cells off and we’re ready for our heat race.








I lined up on the outside of the 2nd row, and Jeremy was no the inside of the 3rd row, At the drop of the green, the pack was off. Into 1 and the car on my inside didn’t turn, hitting me in the left front. Jeremy went by me on the bottom and that was pretty much the last I saw of him. My car felt OK as when I turned the wheel, the car turned and felt like I had all my tires under me. I kept it going and finished the heat race, passing Jeremy on the last lap when he spun out in front of me. That would be the only time all weekend I finished ahead of him.

When I slowed after taking the checkers, my front end felt funny. Once in the pits, I found that the contact on the first lap ruined my left front wheel and shredded the tire. Both were brand new when I got the car 6 weeks ago.

When the line-up came out for the B Feature, I found I was on the inside of the 5th row with Jeremy starting behind me because of his spin-out. Once again, we topped off the fuel and checked air pressures. Track was smooth so we dropped the air pressures by 2 lbs. There were 15 cars scheduled to start the B Feature; the top 10 would go to the night’s A Feature. The top 6 out of that would be locked in to Sunday’s A Feature. Everybody else would have to try to qualify all over again.

By the time we got back out, the track was pretty rubbered-down and it looked like the bottom was the fast way around. But, some cars were also working about half-way up the track in the corners. It had been pretty dusty earlier, but it looked like we would at least be able to see when we got onto the track.

Once again, when the green fell, Jeremy went by me almost immediately. A few laps later and the yellow came out for an incident on the back chute, just ahead of Jeremy. Under yellow, my car didn’t feel quite right. It took a lap to figure it out, but for some reason my brakes were dragging quite a bit. I managed to finish, however, neither of us were able to finish far enough forward to make the evening’s A Feature. When the checkers fell on the B Feature, racing was over for both of us.

Sunday morning dawned brisk and windy. We had a good spot in the motel lot where we could unload and work on the cars. I changed rear calipers as those were the ones that weren’t releasing. However, once everything was done, the brakes were still hanging up. Further checking found that a plastic brake line going to the rear brakes was pinched, making it act like a valve in the line and locking the rear brakes. Once that problem was taken care of, the brakes worked fine.

Once again, Jeremy had me draw for starting positions for both of. I didn’t do a very good job of things, drawing 83 for me and 86 for Jeremy. We were once again in the same heat and starting in the back. With the brakes working right, my car was better, but even though Jeremy started behind me, he took the bottom on the drop of the green and finished ahead of me. However, only the winner went to the A Feature and everybody else had to go to the B Feature. The top 12 from the B Feature would fall in at the back of the A Feature.

The weather had warmed up nicely; however, the wind picked up pretty good. Once again the track stayed smooth, but got dry slick in a hurry. It started out dusty, but by the time we hit the track for the B Feature, it wasn’t too bad. Even starting in the back, I could see fairly well.

At the drop of the green there was a mad scramble to get to the front. Jeremy started ahead of me and I was hoping to stay with him. However, he drove a great race and once again finished ahead of me, taking 7th. I got the final transfer spot - 12th. We were both in the A Feature!

We didn’t have a lot of time to get things ready. Set out a couple of tires in case of a flat. Jeremy said he’d had a miss in the engine the last few laps and we checked over all his spark plug wires, but didn’t find anything. We’d already changed a right rear on Jeremy’s car as that tire looked almost like a slick. The dry slick track was taking its toll on tires this weekend.

JMS tries to keep the show going and usually gets each race lined up in the staging area in plenty of time. They were already calling us to come to the staging area, so we got strapped in and waited for the other cars to start to line up. Sitting where we were, I didn’t know if there were a bunch of yellows, but it was a long wait. I’d decided to get out and go to the bathroom when cars finally started to go to the staging area. Once we were lined up, the official motioned us to go to the area where we would wait for the race ahead of us to get done.

Another long wait and I could see the lap counter on the infield at 20 laps. There was a lot of dust again so they watered the track and rolled it in. I couldn’t take it any longer - out of the car and made a dash for the restrooms about 200 yards away. I got back to my car in plenty of time, as the green was just coming out to start the hobby A Feature. NOTE: Petition the track for a port-a-pot on the northwest corner of the track.

Getting strapped back into the car, I still had plenty of time to relax and think about the upcoming race. I could see there was still some dust kicking up, but as the race went on it wasn’t as bad. As we pulled onto the track, it looked like a pretty good surface. In a couple of laps we’re lined up and the lights are flashing on the back chute. Out of 4 and we’re green. Let’s go racing!!

Jeremy started a couple of rows ahead of me and when the green flew, he went to the bottom of the track in 1. There was a big group of cars there but he got through the corner and onto the back chute, picking up a couple of spots in doing so. I’m still right on the back bumper of the 15s, who started on my inside.

A few laps in and there’s a big mix-up and spin on the back chute just ahead of Jeremy. We both miss it and when things are sorted out, a couple of the cars involved are out of the race. Another pits for a tire and is back on the track, picking up the back of the field.

I’d started 22nd and as I counted back while we were under yellow, I’m thinking I’m in 18th or 19th. Jeremy is about 5 or 6 spots ahead of me already. The green waves again and we’re back to racing. Once again there’s a bunch of cars just ahead of me all running fender to fender. A lot of rubbing going on. I pass a couple of cars and there are others dropping out. The 15s and another car rub pretty hard, and on the next lap, the 15s slows with a lot of smoke. He’s done for the night.

When the checkers fall, we’ve had a decent night. Jeremy took the white flag in 6th place, but the engine had developed a miss. On the last lap, the oil light started to flicker and he lost some spots, ending up in 9th place. Jeremy shut the engine down as he crossed the finish line. I finish 10th, but was so far behind Jeremy that I didn’t catch up to him until he rolled to a stop on the back chute.

Hopefully, the weekend helped work out some bugs in the new car. Once the cars got home and unloaded, we were able to better assess what direction we’ll be headed for 2010. We have the SCS car and our old trailer up for sale - I’m just too old to keep 2 cars going to race every week. I say this every year - and sometime I will actually follow up - I really want to spend more of 2010 taking some trips on the Gold Wing. The Blue Knights International Convention is at Billings, Montana in July and that is one trip we definitely want to make.

Racing season winds down

Where has the summer gone? The last points race of the season at Beatrice Speedway has been run. The points race came down to the last night as bad luck fell on Jeff Watts, who led the points battle since opening night. After being 30 points out front, going into the last night of the season he was tied with newcomer Jed Williams of Deshler.

In our own bid for a top 10 finish, we were in 7th place by 2 points. Jeremy drove as it was my week to work. I tried to work on the car as I worked around all the stuff piled up in the garage. We didn’t need any mechanical failures on the last night. Jeremy had to be aggressive, but still take care of the car and finish the race. With 20 cars going in circles for 20 laps, it takes a combination of skill and more than a little luck for things to come together.

I was able to stop in and watch the heat races and later on, the A Feature. John Meyer was behind us by 2 points, and we hoped to be able to either finish ahead of him or no more than 2 spots behind him. However, he made the invert and Jeremy didn’t. John started on the front row and Jeremy started deep in the pack.

At the drop of the green, Jeremy started moving up. Driving a steady race, he was soon within sight of the back bumper of the 29 of John Meyer. John had a lot of company up front with 3 and 4-wide racing at times. John had started to drop back a bit and at one time Jeremy was just 2 spots back. Tony Spunagle was about to make a pass on John, which would have put us one point into 7th, when a yellow came out, bunching up the field. Once the track was cleared and the field set, it was green flag again! This time, John pulled away from Tony, and it looked like the handle went away on our car as Jeremy struggled to make it turn the corner. At the end, John finished 8th and Jeremy finished 12th, giving us a final finish in season points at Beatrice Speedway of 8th place.

Nothing to be ashamed of considering we changed drivers every other week and Jeremy had two weeks in a row where he didn’t finish his heat race. His first week in the car, he had the clutch blow up and his second week in the car, he crashed out in the heat race.

I have two weeks left to race at McCool Junction hope to finish in the top 10 in points there. I’d planned to race on the 5th and attend a Blue Knights function on the weekend of the 12th. However, it’s Jan’s weekend to work, and she isn’t allowed to take time off on her weekend to work. Then, in looking at the points at McCool Junction, I found that if I don’t race the last two nights, I will be out of the top 10 in points. So, instead of riding the Gold Wing for the weekend, I will be racing on September 12th instead.

All about me

Let me introduce myself. My name is Ernie Reiss. I live in Beatrice, Nebraska where I’ve been a Police Officer since November of 1989. Before that, I was a Police Officer in Grand Island, Nebraska for almost 5 years.

I was born and raised in Crete, which is about 35 miles northwest of Beatrice. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. My brother Dave and his wife Anita live just a few blocks away from Dad & Mom. He has two sons; Charlie, who is a career Marine based out of Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; and Dean, who manages a retail store in Kansas City. My sister Ann and her husband Randy also live in Crete. She has two sons; Aaron and Dale, and a daughter, Emily. Dale will graduate from high school in 2010.

I graduated from Crete High in 1970 and attended Technical School in Milford, studying automotive mechanics. I graduated from Milford in October 1973.

I have spent all of my life since graduating from high school wearing some kind of uniform. In February 1970 I joined the Nebraska National Guard. When I moved to Grand Island, I transferred to the U.S. Army Reserves where I remained until September 1988. I started working for the Hall County Sheriff’s Department as a Corrections Officer in May 1983 and in November 1983 I was hired by the Grand Island Police Department.

I have three daughters. Heather and her husband Dana live in Greeley, Colorado and are proud parents of Landon, who was born February 28th this year. Hollie and her husband live in Grand Island and have a daughter, Tatyana, and two sons, Talon and Hayden, who was born on my birthday two years ago. That’s one birthday I should never forget; of course, sometimes I miss my own birthday. Abby and her husband, Joey, also live in Grand Island, where Abby works in her mom’s flower shop and Joey works at a local implement dealership.

I am a dirt track racing enthusiast. When I lived in Grand Island, we went to stock car races at Mid Continent Raceway located near Doniphan, Nebraska. I met a late model driver, Al Humphrey, and started working on his pit crew in 1975. Back then, we raced 3 nights a week and sometimes more. On a normal weekend, we would race at either Hastings or Red Cloud on Friday, Doniphan on Saturday, and either Lexington or Midwest Speedway in Lincoln on Sunday. In 1976, Al started racing at Sunset Speedway in Omaha on Sundays. That made for a long Sunday night and a real early Monday morning. We were all young and foolish then. I’m now almost 58 years old and I know I could not race three nights a week like we did then.

I met my wife, Jan, at the Beatrice Speedway. I was on Peanuts Volesky’s pit crew and we raced at Beatrice on Saturday nights. Jan is a LPN and worked with Peanuts’ wife at Beatrice Community Hospital. One night after the races she came into the pits. A few weeks later we had our first date - we went to the late model races at Sunset Speedway.

At the time we met, I was riding a 1981 Honda Gold Wing and was (and still am) a member of Blue Knights, which is an International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. My chapter, Nebraska I, is chartered in Grand Island, having come into being in 1986. The Midwest Regional Conference, which Nebraska I belongs to, Has a Spring Conference in June and a Fall Conference in September. There is also an International Conference in July of each year. The 2010 International is at Billings, Montana and we are looking forward to making that trip on our 2006 Gold Wing.

Jan’s two sons, Jason and Jeremy Rosenthal, live in Beatrice. Jason is married to Emily and they have a son, Evan and a daughter, Ava. Jason also has a daughter, Mikayla, from a previous relationship. Jeremy is married to Carin, and they have a son, Isaak, who was born July 27th. Their lives have suddenly changed with the addition to their family.
Jan and I got married in June of 1996. We planned our honeymoon for several months. No, it wasn’t a romantic cruise to a foreign destination. We spent over two weeks on the motorcycle, which by then was a 1984 Honda Gold Wing Interstate. We got married at the Gage County Courthouse on a Friday afternoon with Jan’s parents, Jason and Jeremy, Heather, Hollie and Abby, Dave and Anita, Peanuts and his wife Kathy and several Blue Knights from Grand Island in attendance. We had an informal reception with a DJ in the park and later in the evening we took off for a Blue Knights gathering at Hiawatha, Kansas.

We got back home Sunday afternoon and did some laundry and packing and we left on Monday morning, taking a general southwest direction. Somebody made a “Just Married” sign at the courthouse and we put it on the back of the trailer we pulled with the motorcycle. As we traveled, we had a lot of people pass us and honk, giving the thumbs up. We stayed at Dodge City, KS Monday night, Albuquerque Tuesday night, Flagstaff Wednesday night, rode up to the Grand Canyon early on Thursday morning, and stayed at Blythe, CA on Thursday night. Hollie was living at Irvine, CA at the time and we got to her house just after noon on Friday. We spent the weekend with her, going to Santa Monica Pier on Friday night for Jan’s first-ever visit to the ocean, Universal Studios on Saturday and Disneyland on Sunday. On Monday we rode the Pacific Coast Highway from Huntington Beach to Camarillo, where we stayed the night with my uncle and aunt. On Tuesday we rode to Las Vegas, staying there until Friday morning. On Friday we rode from Las Vegas to Richfield, Utah and on Saturday we rode to Rifle, Colorado where we visited Jan’s uncle and aunt. Sunday was a long day as we rode all the way to Republican City, where we stayed over night. We then rode back to Beatrice, getting home Monday evening.

We plan to someday ride east. We want to visit Nashville, and I think the best way to travel is by the motorcycle. We got the 2006 Gold Wing new in July of 2006 and currently have 24,000 miles on it. The big 1832 CC six cylinder engine has all the power we need to occasionally go fast, but the electronic cruise control never lets the speed vary on road trips. Sirius satellite radio makes the rides even more enjoyable.

Towards the end of 1997, Jason and I bought a race car together. During the winter, we rebuilt it and for the next three seasons, 1998, 1999, and 2000, Jason drove the car every Saturday night at Beatrice Speedway. We sat out the 2001 season and put up a garage. That being done, we got a car ready to race for 2002. A week before the season started, Jason broke his leg. I thought about driving the car myself, while Jan suggested we sit out another season while Jason healed. I finally made a deal with her - I would drive the car myself. If, after the first night, my underwear was still clean, I would keep driving.

I admit, as each Saturday arrived, I was scared to death. I hoped it would rain. I prayed for rain! As the season went on, something happened. I got a bit more confident and started to feel more comfortable in the car, even though I sucked as a driver. When I was able to drive the car onto the trailer at the end of the night, I felt like I’d had a good night. By the end of the season, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable in the car, even though I still sucked as a driver. I stayed with it because I mostly enjoy doing it, and this year there are two stock cars in the garage. We’ve been racing both at Beatrice Speedway on Friday nights, with Jason and Jeremy splitting time in a 2004 Jet Phantom while I’ve been piloting an SCS chassis we bought at the end of last season and put together over the winter. On my weekends to work, Jeremy has been driving that car for me. Other weekends have seen Bruce Lang, our Police Chief, and Jay Murphy, who is a Sergeant with the Police Department, driving the Phantom. At the Gage County Fair this year, I finally got to race against Jason. He finished 11th and I finished 12th. I was practically glued to his back bumper the entire A Feature, but just couldn’t make a pass on him. I hope we can do that again.

On my Saturdays off, I’ve been pulling to McCool Junction, Nebraska to race on the track there. It’s a big, wide track and I like racing there. The last time I looked at the track points standings, we’re in 8th place in points at Beatrice and 10th in points at McCool Junction.

The summer has been pretty busy what with trying to keep two race cars running and ready to race every weekend. We always try to get a couple of weekends away on the motorcycle during the summer, too. We’d planned to go to Des Moines in June for the Blue Knights gathering, but Landon was baptized that weekend, so we didn’t make the ride. We will be going to the Fall Conference, even though it’s only in Omaha. Since Jan & I both work nights and a lot of times we work opposite nights, we really look forward to having a day or two off together.

I was able to take off on the Gold Wing for a few days the end of July. I rode out to Greeley and spent two days there before coming back to Beatrice. Talon was staying with Heather and Dana and we took a motorcycle ride around Greeley on Tuesday afternoon. The skies were pretty dark and I was sure it would start raining at any time, so we didn’t go very far. I’d have just LOVED to go up to Estes Park as Hwy 34 from Loveland to Estes Park is one of my favorite rides. However, I also HATE getting wet on the motorcycle!!

Talon seemed to always want me to make a right hand turn when I was already in the left turn or straight ahead lane. I’m not sure he really knew where he wanted to go, just that he wanted to go. He really enjoys riding and made the comment he wanted me to take him back to Grand Island when I went home. However, I had no room for his bags as well as mine.
The second day, we all piled into the SUV and took a trip to the Royal Gorge. When you look on the map, it’s not too far; just about 3 inches or so. But when you start looking at the miles, it’s about 150 miles each way. Even though we left shortly after 8 AM, it was well after dark when we got back.

I’d spent some time at Ft Carson in the early ‘70’s and had the opportunity to get out and do some sightseeing then. In the 30-plus years since, things have changed so much. Colorado Springs has gotten so much bigger. Even Hwy 115, which runs along the edge of Ft Carson to Penrose, didn’t look the same with all the housing along the road. One thing hasn’t changed, though. We ran into a heavy thunderstorm along the way. When I was at Ft Carson in the summer, there was always at least one thunderstorm daily. This was a typical gully-washer that made me REALLY happy that we were in the SUV instead of being on the Gold Wing.

Having satellite radio on the Gold Wing makes the riding even more enjoyable. I change back and forth between the NASCAR station, 50’s on 6, and some of the country stations. If I wanted, I could ride from coast to coast without having to change stations. Before our first trip was over after we got the Gold Wing, we’d decided to invest in a satellite radio. We rode to Minot, North Dakota and about 40 miles out of Grand Island, I had to start searching for a new radio station about every 15 miles or so. I swear that we’ve ridden through areas where there should have been signs posted that said “You are in the middle of Nowhere!”

On my way home from Greeley I had the Nascar channel tuned in. There is a morning program called “Trading Paint” which is hosted by Danny “Chocolate” Myers and Rock Benjamin. This is a call-in program that covers a wide variety of topics and there’s usually a lot of good discussion. Chocolate started telling about how he got a phone call from his 20-yr old college student daughter. She had been pulled over by a police officer and she told her dad she didn’t know why she’d been stopped, but the officer was pretty upset with her. When the traffic stop drew to a conclusion, she received a stern lecture from the officer and a written warning for aggressive driving. She told Chocolate what happened to initiate the traffic contact and said she didn’t feel she’d done anything wrong.
This started a serious discussion about the youth of today learning to drive. Here in Nebraska, there are so many different classes of Operator’s Licenses that it is confusing at times to know if the driver is legal. However, the entire discussion centered not just on the driver’s license itself, rather the training our children and grandchildren today get prior to obtaining their driver’s licenses.

Driver’s Education classes are still being taught in most places. When I took Driver’s Ed, it was during the summer and, if I remember correctly, my parents paid $20 or $25 for me to attend. During the course of the summer, we had textbook training as well as actual driving time. It’s been so long ago, I don’t remember how long the classes were, or even how many hours of actual driving time we got. One thing I do remember is that the driving was under very controlled conditions. We drove around town at or under the speed limit. Same thing with when we left town. We had the big “Student Driver” sign on the roof of the car. I don’t think our Driver’s Ed car even had a radio in it. The teacher had a brake pedal on his side in case we didn’t slow down soon enough to his liking.

We did slow speed maneuvers. We practiced parking using traffic cones at first. When we mastered that, we got to park between real cars. I don’t know how much the training has changed these days, but what I don’t remember is learning to do maneuvers at a higher speed. There was a lot of discussion of what to do if you had a blow-out or if you dropped a wheel off the edge of the road, but I don’t remember ever having a blow-out or dropping a wheel off the edge of the road in Driver’s Ed. I know we didn’t drive on snow or ice since it was summer. I’m thinking we may have driven on some gravel roads.

I was talking to a friend about this the other day. He said he has had two of his kids through Drivers’ Ed classes in the last couple of years. The cost now is very high, so I’m sure there are fewer students. It’s too bad, because these kids NEED to take Drivers’ Ed. But, they also need some realistic training.

Myers and Benjamin talked of driving schools in their neck of the woods that actually teach the kids high speed maneuvers under more realistic driving conditions. Given the news reports in Nebraska the last couple of weeks of young people being killed on the highways, I think we need to change the ways our youth are being taught to drive.

We all have opinions of events that happen in life. Some people in certain professions are not allowed to voice their opinions publicly on certain issues. Police officers are in that category. We may have a strong opinion on something controversial, but if we voice our opinion, we may get in hot water. Sometimes, I look forward to no longer being a member of the Law Enforcement community.

Jan & I have talked about what we would do when we retire. Each of my paychecks has money withheld and that money is put in a retirement fund. The city also matches what is taken out of my pay and puts that into the retirement fund, too. In the past, there have been peaks and valleys in this fund, but over the first 18 years, it earned modestly. However, since January 2008, it has lost money consistently. I am now concerned whether I will actually be able to EVER retire!! We said in the past that in order for that to happen, our house would have to be paid for and we would have to have all our other bills paid. We are slowly reaching these goals. However, with my being diabetic, what will I do for insurance? I have insurance through the city, and also am eligible for care through the V.A. In reading through the pros and cons of the “ObamaCare” package, I do not think that is the way that America wants to go. I certainly don’t want to be a Police Officer until I’m 70 years old.