Lemonade From Lemons
I paid a visit to my old Concours, sadly not back on the road as I had thought.
I knew when I went to Steele’s on Tuesday that I had screwed up pretty badly, but it was not until Matthew laid out for Judy and me the impacts they had suffered from the post I had put up that I realized just how very badly I had screwed up. Trust me, that is not a good feeling.
In planning for this meeting I had thought hard about how, while the past cannot be undone, the future can be what you choose to make it. And this thought occurred to me: Big deal motorcycle salvage operations are not a dime a dozen. Steele’s, I figured, has got to have an interesting history. As a writer, that was something I would really like to sink my teeth into. I’d like to tell that story. And at least it would be some sort of compensation.
The meeting was tense. Matthew was angry and he had good reason to be. But finally the moment came when I offered my ideas on how to take some lemons and make lemonade, and the mood shifted. To my immense relief, Matthew was not only favorable toward my idea, he himself had had the same thought. And to top that off, it turns out that Steele’s is coming up on its 40-year anniversary of being in business early next year so the idea of telling the history becomes quite timely.
So now I’m downright excited. By the end of our discussion Matthew was proudly taking us on a tour of the whole operation. And I’ve got to say, if you think of an operation of this sort as just a junkyard with rusting vehicles sitting and waiting for random parts to be stripped off you are way, way off base.
I’m already brimming over with ideas for what in a magazine would be considered sidebars but on a blog simply become addition posts that are related to the main story. For instance, I want to be there one day when they break a bike down and observe the whole process. I want to explore how computers have changed this entire business. And a lot more.
I’m not sure just how quickly you’ll start seeing these pieces but they’re going to be coming. I promise you they are going to be interesting.
Biker Quote for Today
The open road is my therapy; the wind is my healer.
Tags: Steele's Cycle
