I live in a paradise at 7000 feet not too far from Los Angeles called Big Bear Lake. Today, we had a motorcycle run called "The Run for the Grizzlies". I was lucky enough to be chosen to be Master of Ceremonies... (The moral of THIS story is don't go drinking with Jack, the guy who brings it all together, but I was more than happy to grab the mike) A little background:
The Moonridge Animal Park in Big Bear Lake, CA is a not so much a zoo as an animal sanctuary. All the animals there are rescue animals; from Coyotes hit by cars to Bald Eagles fucked with by insensitive people to Mountain Lions found in the wild who were either sick or injured and deemed not able to survive on their own, and a FAMILY of relocated Grizzly Bears. It's a wonderful place, and most of the people who work there are volunteers. Whenever friends and family come to visit, we always take them there. There's something about standing on the other side of a chicken-wire fence from a Grizzly as big as a Volkswagen or a 125 lb Mountain Lion that must be experienced to understand. The biggest thing for
me, is that it's home to the only FAMILY of Grizzlies in California. There are none left in the wild. Read about our Grizzlies here:
http://moonridgezoo.org/map/grizzly.htmlToday started bad, with thunderstorms both visible and forecast. We were worried that no one would come, even though it's the 16th Annual. Well, in the end over 150 bikes showed up with their riders, and we made over $7300 for the zoo. You may have heard before the old cliche that "some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you..." well thanks to those good people who gambled on the weather and won... until the next time we do this next summer, the bears (and all of their friends) eat on US.
To top it all off, when I left the stage for the last time a pretty lady came to me and pressed a phone number into my hand. She said one of her friends was there and was wondering if I was looking for a "friend" to ride around the lake with after the festivities were over. The first thing that popped into my mind was
my wife's out of town
and, the first words out of my mouth were
(polite tilt of the head and warm smile) I'm married.
The pretty lady who pressed the number into my hand seemed embarrassed and I thought I'd tell her that hey, I'd put her friend on the list. Then I KNEW how tacky that sounded so I bit my tongue. I wouldn't have meant it, nor would it have been true.
In the end, I went to where they were sitting, and called her girlfriend out for a hug. I told her that I was beyond flattered and that she made my day, hell, my week and month. Then, before I rode away on my Road King, I called my wife and told her about the whole thing. SHE said "Hell, she didn't want YOU, she wanted a ride on The Road King silly."
Now, I'm not the world's WORST looking guy, but at no time in my life has any woman ever approached ME, or sent her friend to do the same.
I can't tell you how big I'm smiling right now, or how happy I am to be home and safe, waiting for my beautiful wife to come home from vacationing with her friends.
It's a fucking good day.
ETA: I was so fucking happy when I came home I thought I was posting this in the Lounge... sorry for that. Now that I'm home though... WE DRINK!