MIA's and Rolling Thunder in DC

Many bikers know about Rolling Thunder, the huge event in Washington, DC that takes place every Memorial Day. There are a lot of people from the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys that go every year to pay their respects to those who died during active military service. It's often confused as a general day for all veterans, but that's incorrect - it's a day to honor the dead.

Since this is a blog, I can express my opinion that there is nothing happy about it, and the phrase "Happy Memorial Day" is a bit irritating. Not that anyone has to be depressed about it either, but being a solemn day, a little peace, quiet, and remembrance of the individuals who left their loved ones too soon and at the behest of this great country, I can only hope that people will find a moment to be thoughtful of the losses.

You may have noticed in our store the photo of my grandfather, Walter E. Pittman. He was an Army pilot in WWII, and then by choice went to the war in Korea - that's where he went Missing In Action when his plane took a hit over North Korea in 1951. He was never seen again. He is one of those we'll honor on May 28th.

The Rolling Thunder people are vigilant in keeping track of those who never returned. Their vests are loaded with patches that question the pursuit of every service person alive or dead. I had the honor of sewing these patches onto a vest for Mr. Orr, and happened to notice that the patch for each annual ride says something different across the bottom that relates to the above mentioned pursuit. 

MAY THEY ALL COME HOME

~ Holly

Poker Runs and Benefits

Hi all! It's that time of year when lot of motorcycle clubs and associations are putting together their annual poker runs, benefit runs, and memorial runs. Many in our area start on May 19th, and if you need info, we post the flyers in two places: at our store with paper flyers in our popular flyer rack, and on our Facebook page. 

Who are they raising money for? It varies from veteran organizations, to volunteer fire departments, to political groups like A.B.A.T.E., to family missions that clothe and feed people, to helping out a person who needs help with medical bills. You name it, and there is always someone or some place that could use a boost to get through the day, provide services to the community, or put out a good heart via a helping hand.

So if you want to go on a ride and do something to help your local communities, go on a run!

Photos from the 2017 memorial run for Youngstown's fallen police officers,

hosted by LAMA (Latin American Motorcycle Association)

Let The Good Times Roll

If you're reading this, and you ride a motorcycle, then you are probably like us thinking "FINALLY, IT'S SPRING!". That was a long winter, and parts of the states are still getting snow. But I think we are done with it, and I've already mowed the lawn once while noticing it already needs it again. That's fine, you know why?

Because I got to go for a great ride with my friends Bones and Hammerhead today! We met shortly after 10am in Hermitage, PA at Dunkin Donuts, then Bones lead us out Rt. 62.

It didn't take too long before we were heading on Rt. 58, nor too long before the road turned to shit! If you ride staggered like we do, those in the right side of the lane get screwed, and that was me. I had to keep going to the center and even to the yellow lines to avoid the most holes and bumps this side of a riverbed!

But Bones got us stopped and we took a detour onto Rt. 208, going out past Foxburg. Our first big stop was at The Korner Restaurant in Sligo, PA. I had a yummy hamball (AKA, ham loaf in the shape of a ball), with slaw and corn, Bones had the reuben dog with fries, and Hammer had a double cheeseburger (duh!). They're desserts are all homemade, but we forgot to leave room in our bellies for any. Next time.

When Bones was younger, he spent a lot of time in East Brady, PA, and would often watch the people at the lookout set sail on gliders jumping from the top and flying like eagles over the Clarion River horseshoe. He has taken us there before, and again today, but today was different. He made it clear that after he dies, all any of us need to do is go to this place, walk out on the outlook deck, and there he will be - in the hills, the sky, the river, the trees, the hawks, the eagles, the sunshine, the air. All around, in everything. If that doesn't sound like the perfect eternal life, I don't know what does.

See the curve of the river? There is a road that is on the inside of the curve with houses and camps. I asked Bones how you get down there, and then he asked if we should go - uh, yes! So we left the lookout, drove down into town, and onto the hemispherical road. What a pretty river up close, with sweeping banks and budding trees. I don't know why I didn't stop to take pics from below. It's left to the imagination until you go there.

Not far from there, Bones showed us the place where he met the love of his life (and vice versa), Nancy. She had been a bartender, and apparently served up the ride "medicine" for old Bones. About 40 years now they've been sharing an abundant life of family and friends.

From there, we stopped for gas and drinks in Emlenton (Hammer loves to wave!).

And from THERE, we continued back westward watching the backed up traffic on I-80 Eastbound. We had seen fire and rescue heading there, not sure what was going on. The sun shown all the way home, on Rt. 208 to Rt. 18 back to West Middlesex, then we wiggled around the 318 detour until we crossed the line into Ohio and made it home to Hubbard. The guys followed me all the way, and then soon departed after greeting Bryon (who had to work all day, haha!). Don't cry for him, he has had four days off with these guys already, plus I'm a nice gal, and hope he get's another day to go riding in the sun. 

That's is all for today. Now, go do some riding if you can, when you can. 

Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride - Holly

Spring Tool Bag Sale, And How Not To Be A Tool

Good February day to all!

     As the sun is shining on me and our cats this morning, I'd like to let the cat out of the bag early by mentioning our first ever BIG TIME tool bag sale - February 13th through the 28th - 20% off the regular prices! We planned ahead for this event and have all styles and sizes and materials of tool bags. Some can go on the handlebars, some on the forks, some are designed for either location.

     Did you see an old post of ours on Facebook about putting large tool bags on the metal rails of your rear fender? We learned about this simple and great idea from a customer in New Jersey in 2017. He had bought one 12" vinyl tool bag from us, and his son suggested putting it on the the fender rail. Jai alai - a mini saddlebag/toolbag. He ended up buying a second one to have a pair on his bike, which is a Yamaha V-Star (like mine). It's a great idea and something to consider when you are looking for bike storage on a non-bagger.

        In other news, some dumbass rumor is out there suggesting that Bryon belongs to a 1% motorcycle club. That is a total non-truth, a lie, and whoever is spreading it is a tool, and should find a tool bag to hide in. Seriously, if you ever hear any rumor about us or our store, just come and ask. We've heard it from the beginning because we are Freedom Thirteen. Thirteen is for the original thirteen colonies that fought for freedom. We spell it out and don't use the number 13 specifically to avoid confusion with motorcycle club usage. But still, we had some total fucktard tell us back in 2014 that he knew all about it: "I get it, 13, one three, one, one percent". Uh, no, you dumb fucking asshole! Even after explaining it, he still had is own idiotic thoughts. Sometimes you just want to tell someone to fuck off. 

     We founded the store on our own, with my retirement money (and boy did those assholes in the state retirement system I had been in, D.C., and the IRS fuck me over good - may they burn in Hell). But whatever - we opened up with our own money to go for a dream, and we are as independent as anyone could ever be. We enjoy our freedom. We operate our store for people who ride any kind of motorcycle and from any club or not in a club. NEUTRAL - as we say, we have a store for bikers, by bikers - everyone is welcome. 

     Find some joy in these last weeks of winter. I like the birds, so I'm always watching for which ones come back, especially the geese (I like how they fly in an organized pack as when we ride with our friends!). This is going to be a GREAT YEAR!

~ Holly, a.k.a. Stitchblade

Ohio's Tail of the Dragon, Rt. 536

If you haven't already traveled Ohio's version of the Tail of the Dragon, you may just like it. We've been on vacation all week getting things done at home, putting inventory data into spreadsheets, paperwork, making patches, moving curios and motorcycle memorabilia into the bar room, and otherwise freezing our asses off in the cold (tonight is the coldest at -7 degrees!).

So, I got Bryon up and about and out the door at 11:45 AM. We headed south on Rt. 7 basically, skipping around Youngstown on I-680 (with a stop at Starbucks for road coffee). Rt. 7 south of Boardman is a great ride, nice road, probably even nicer in summer than this ruthless January day.

Bryon didn't know where we were going - I just said a road trip south. I had to get out of the house after 6 days of basically staying home. So, out we went and we got down to Route 30, the famed Lincoln Highway, and had to follow that east to stay on Rt. 7 until it dropped south again.

It has been a while since we'd been down that way, and I knew we were in for a 300 mile trip. Well, that's what happened. As we drove along the Ohio River and the power plants and the old coal and energy towns, the sun shone bright through the blank trees and enormous steel bridges. Then there it was, a billboard for Neidengard's Harley-Davidson, the oldest one in Ohio. Yes, we went, about 8 miles off route, but worth it. It's a nice store with nice people, lots of great shirts if you are inclined to collect them. They had the new 115th Anniversary blue denim Street Glide on the floor, and Bryon really liked the color, plus the eagle paint job on the fairing.

We bought a few cool shirts and poker chips, then took off to Rt. 7 again. About half way to Hannibal, I revealed to Bryon that we were going to the Dragon. He's not a big traveller like I am, so I like to have surprises so he sees the joy in going places like I do. Well, the Dragon is no joke!! You barely make it past the sign for Hannibal, and there's the Rt. 536 sign. You can only turn right (if headed south), so do it, then take care! LOL, seriously, the turns are immediate and they parallel huge drop offs into lovely ravine's that are best viewed from the top!

Left, and right, and left, and right, and up and down, and up and down - we were like, "are you kidding?" when we saw the sign that drivers beware of a school bus stop. I was a bus driver and there's no way I'd take a full size bus on that road - no way. Yet it was so beautiful!!! The vistas of distant hills and deep valleys were worth it. There were many houses along the road, farms, and cows.

Obviously we made it, and boy, Rt. 78 is beautiful too with longer curves and milder hills. But we headed back to Rt. 7, turned north to finish the trip, and crossed over the huge blue steel bridge into Moundsville, WV. From there, we followed Rt. 2 north; it wasn't as nice at Rt. 7. FYI: if you go this route and see places called cafes, they are gambling cafes, not restaurants, so we ended up at an Arby's on Rt. 30 when we got north off Rt. 2. It was about 7:30 PM, so we just said fuck it and got on Rt. 11 north instead of 7 again. We got home just after 8:30, and well, I went straight for my pajamas.

Now this night will end with prepping patches I embroidered all week (I know, I know, it was supposed to be a vacation, but I got to take care of my people!), and I guess I'll have some decaf and read for a while too, and forget that tomorrow is the last day of this staycation. It's been good, and much appreciated. We'll be back shortly to begin serving the bikers of our two valleys again, and enjoy this interesting life.

~ Holly, a.k.a. Stitchblade

A Little of This, and A Little of That

We haven't been riding much, actually not at all the last month really. Why? Well, the weather has sucked, but the bigger reason is a bike outage - Bryon's stator went out. Oh sure, we can push start the awesome carbureted Evo and get the potato potato sound going, but the battery won't charge, so it won't run for long. Anyway, we're fixing that (at least it went out during poor riding weather).

In other news, I took a few friends to the annual breakfast and fundraiser held by the Tri-County V-Twin Cruisers. That not only was a huge, delicious breakfast, but raised funds to help out one of their members who is dealing with a bad heart and out of work in the meantime. It was held at the American Legion Post in Sebring, Ohio. The event raised $2300, so a big success and a huge help for the Lease family. My friends and I walked away with Chinese auction prizes.

Bryon went to the Yankee Lake Swap Meet with some friends. He found original manuals for is 88 Harley-Davidson Springer Softail, and a cover plate for that thing on the side of the bike somewhere (Okay, I suck at part names, so here is a photo!).

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, so in the way of work, we will be working at the store 7 days a week with our expanded hours on Sundays from 11am to 4pm. We open like this every year for the holidays. Our last open Sunday will be December 24th. 

When the snow comes, don't be sad, for it's a time to stay merry and happy with family and friends. Spring will return!

~ Stitchblade 

Do Good For Others, It's The Right Thing

As a business, we don't have the opportunity to do the big events like other groups and dealerships (ha, not yet!), but we do the little things that make a big difference anyway.

So, we were notified of a post on Facebook where a woman was reaching out to the biker community to see if someone could help her: she wanted to inspire her husband's moral as he went through therapy at a nursing home to help with his Parkinson's Disease. He used to ride motorcycles, for a good thirty years at least, we learned. We contacted Pam and let her know we could help with her request for someone with a trike to take her husband for a ride!

Rallying our close group of riding friends, including John who has a Goldwing trike, we planned to surprise Ken on Sunday, October 1st, and boy did we! As he stood outside the nursing home entrance with his wife and boys, we pulled in with six bikes and the trike. He was so moved, and cried, and it was a moment that makes the Live To Ride, Ride To Live statement ever so true. And necessary.

After introductions, Chuck loaned his leather jacket to Ken as it was a sunny but chilly day. Pictures taken, we boarded the bikes and took off up Gypsy Lane to Belmont and headed north. As we left, Sandy told us Ken shot his fist into the air as in saying "yeah man"! He hadn't been in the wind for over five years due to the PD, balance and control too impaired.

But a trike, man, that is a literal life saver. For some, inspiration.

Bryon lead us up 193 to Rt. 88, and we turned west making our turnaround point at Mosquito Lake. A brief rest and some bullshitting on the causeway made for time to get to know each other.

We headed back east. And as usual on motorcycles, you say, oh, just an hour ride will be fine and three hours later you just accept that fact that time doesn't rule you on a motorcycle. Yet, we did make a pit stop at Truck World where Ken decided that he had a great ride but was done. We all went over to Waffle House for some lunch, and then parted ways.

Good days. Good times. Good friends. And good deeds. None of it goes unnoticed nor forgotten.