Seeking The Maltese Cross

I'm not a big fan of Jesse James (the infamous owner and bike designer/manufacturer of the renown West Coast Choppers and host of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage") nor his TV show, but my brother certainly is and since we were staying in Long Beach a mere half mile from West Coast Choppers headquarters I couldn't pass up an opportunity to bring back some photos from the home of this cult favorite bike shop.

I'm not into motorcycles - at least not as a means of transportation - but I do appreciate the engineering and artistry of the modern chopper. West Coast's showroom provided plenty of both. Only about 15' wide and 40' long, this tiny window on West Coast provides an up close look at a fair array of beautiful bikes. Second only to the great choppers were the entertaining signs that were scattered around the store some whimsical, some brutally ominous and foreboding. My favorite was a piece of cardboard propped on the seat of a bike with the words "Don't sit on me As***le." At first it was such a shock it was very funny, but as I pictured a steel frame lifting, tattoo laden bike fabricator etching his last words of warning on a hastily appropriated piece of cardboard, I became somewhat cautious of my proximity to that motorcycle.
© Douglas Ingram

An aviation vacation?

This trip to Long Beach has been a bit of an aviation vacation. We ended up flying to Burbank (BUR) instead of LAX and thus got to see a uniqe little airport in the San Fernando Valley (top photos). Then, being in Long Beach, we checked out LGB and were suprised to find this retro jewel of Aviaiton. The terminal at LGB really hasn't changed since Donald Douglas started building planes here some 70 years ago. Today, jetBlue serves LGB as a focus city and we saw a couple of thier A310's. In fact, business and traffic is integrated so close to the airport here that we got a great view of one of the jetBlue planes taking off from the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel.

This contraption was parked out side Rulon Gardner's (2000 olympic gold medal wrestler) convenience store while we we're filling up with gas. The side of the van stated they were an automated road survey company. What that means exactly I don't know. But that thing has at least 6 cameras on it, four of which were pointing at the ground. I'd like to see just what this thing is doing.

and I love it.

and humid

It's hot

The Walker Chronicles

I have a friend in Iraq, in fact, he's my best friend - a lifelong friend. We're friends becasue he befriended me when I moved into the house across his backyard in the 8th grade. We no longer live next door, but we try to stay close. Exhibit A: My friends blog. In an effort to keep family and friends up to date Sgt. Walker has opened a blog. I think it's pretty neat. Lot's of pictures and interesting stories. I recommend checking it out.

The Walker Chronicles

SGT Scown in Iraq: This Mission is Important

I have a friend in Iraq, and he has friends there. He intorduced me to a blog kept by one of those friends who wrote a particularly interesting article about the US's involvement in Iraq. Here's an excerpt, check the link above to read his blog post.

"America has made a sacrafice of blood in this land. Iraqi's have made the same sacrifice. It would not be responsible for us to not 'stay the course' and finish what we have started."