Patches

Like a lot of Harley Riders, I have a leather vest. It is adorned with pins and patches that I have collected over the years. Most of them have a story of some sort, some are there just because I liked them. I have some custom made ones that are mostly "In Memory" patches of friends and relatives. I also have an amusing one.

I've also started this thing about making up silly nicknames for my friends and family that ride and if I like it, I get them a patch made for their vest with the nickname.

I'm just going to give you a quick picture and the story behind each patch that I have made. Starting with mine since I have pictures of them.

I've considered this as a topic before, but what brought out the stories is that I just ordered a new one looked for the guys Facebook page and there it was. Somebody posted a picture of some patches he had done, an he thanked the person because he likes to hear about what the patches he makes are for and what they do after he sends them out.

Of course I decided to make him happy so I posted a picture and told the story of two patches.

I'll start with that one since it's all copy & paste!

I just ordered another patch and decided to see if you were on Facebook and here you are! I also saw that you like to see what we do with them & why.

Well I have a bunch and they all have a story an I'm in fact starting a section of writing about my patches & things so I'll share this one with you: My dog Max was the son of a dog I had. I had him from cradle to grave. 

First time I ever experienced that. Great dog, great friend. So I got theses two
patches from you. I also found a heavy duty chrome document tube, had it engraved with the same info as the patch and it's attached to my bike so Max rides with me now since as a Doberman he was too big when he was alive :) Well, that and he was scared to death of the roar of a Harley :) Thanks for being a part of that and a bunch of other stories!

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This is the first nickname patch I ordered for some one and it's my favorite because it is my girlfriends. Although the one I ordered last night is a real close if it turns out the way I want!  

Kris had never experienced riding on a Harley until she met me. And she loves it! So for Christmas I got her a vest and got her an Associate Harley Owners Group Membership. And ordered this patch to put on it and stick her with my favorite nickname for her.

Of course I had it sewed on the vest before I wrapped it.

Well where that comes from is, Kris is something. She's a fireball. A million miles an hour doing a million things she wants to do. Sometimes in the process of all that activity, things get dropped, left in weird places. She can have the kitchen looking like, well, like a hurricane went through it. Or the bathroom. Or whatever area she happened to blow through.

It is the cutest thing in the world, and the fact that she's short and blonde just makes it fun.

So I started calling her Hurricane Krissy, and when it came time to get her patches for her vest, well, the choice was clear. It had to be there. And it is, and she even likes it!

So much so that a year ago she had never been on a Harley; It was only 9 months ago that she took her first ride with me, since then she felt her own dream of riding coming back and just a couple of days ago she found out that she owns her own Harley since I bought it for her, and she wants her license plate to be HRCNE which fits the 5 letter limit for motorcycles in Wisconsin.

Now I can just picture her riding so happy & proud of herself once she takes her riding class. Wearing her leather vest and her Hurricane Krissy patch.

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I can't believe I don't remember when it happened but it was May or June of 2005.

The patch is a pretty big understatement, but there wasn't enough space to write "I Cut Off My Thumb-Couldn't Ride". Because that is the real story behind  this patch.,

Long story short, I was helping a friend on his farm (insert your own "farming accident" joke here) and I was taking a big piece of cattle panel back down the road to the barn. For some dumb assed reason I will never understand, since it was too big for the truck bed, I decided to tie a piece of twine to it and hooked it over my thumb.

So the cattle panel drags, swings out into the road and a truck clips the panel, burning the twine instantly through my thumb. It was only attached by a piece of skin.

Then the story got long, so we'll skip ahead.

This also happened at the worst possible time. Lisa and I were just about to tackle two big events in our lives. We were about to move into a house that her parents were selling us on Land Contract as a wedding present, and about to have said wedding.

I learned how to do ALOT of things one handed being in a cast for a year. I re-injured that thumb awhile back and doing things one handed came back like riding a bike. And the female PA who stitched up my thumb came in and bought a bike from us! But that's another story too.

This particular group of patches represents my annual trek to the Wisconsin Biker Mecca known as the Tomahawk Fall Ride.

I've gone everyone of the last ten years without fail. It's the one thing I insist on doing every year and take off from work without a guilty conscience. It's my vacation and my mental health break before taking on the next year.

And I always get an "I Rode Mine" patch to differentiate between myself and those who trailer theirs. Well 2005 I couldn't ride, but I wasn't about to not go. So I got this patch made so there wouldn't be a skip between 2004 and 2006.

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