The Harley Guys

The Harley guys rolled in last night and they were a laugh. Jim and Jim, or, Jim and Jimmy, to differentiate. They were decked out in all harley gear, probably right down to their skivvies by the looks of it. They were older guys, possibly old enough to be my grandparent. They were incredibly laid back guys, one of them almost to the point of being incoherent. They just liked to hang out, ride their bikes, drink canadian club whiskey and chat. Before they came, Kevin told me to make sure I had ice ready. When I showed the Harley guys around the cabin and we got to the kitchen, the first question was whether or not we had ice. They cooked some catfish for dinner and made me eat some even though I'd already had dinner. I glad I did try it because it was really good.

Later on one of them told me if I'd start a fire for them he'd sing kumbaya. Obviously I jumped at the chance, but when I went off to do some stuff while they finished eating he started a fire himself. Damn! He even started it boyscout style with no matches. It takes me a bit to start one with matches, so kudos to him. Sitting around the fire with them was fun because they had some good stories from their military days and more. They wouldn't tell me the years that anything happened, though, because they didn't want to date themselves. At one point one of them said, "'74 was a good year," and the other agreed that is was a "great year," to which I replied, "I wouldn't know!" It was also fun to sit around the fire with them because I brought stuff for s'mores. Seeing guys roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores while they're in full Harley gear (I'm talking leather chaps and all that good stuff) is just one of those things that somehow defies logic, which is why I brought out the s'mores stuff in the first place. It's funny how easy it is to judge tough looking guys on Harleys. They're generalized like crazy, which is silly. Maybe it's the leather, but, when you think about it, leather is the best thing you can wear if you're going to be out in the elements zipping down the road at 70mph. The leather isn't to assert toughness or to be intimidating looking, it's practical. They're marshmallows under all that gear.

One funny story they told me was about Frenchy. They stayed at the B&B in Anchorage for a night. While one was going to bed, the other said he was going to go out for a ride because he wasn't ready for bed yet. Frenchy jumped at the chance and asked if she could go and he welcomed her. A bit later he felt bad and decided to tell her where he was really going. A strip club! Actually, he corrected me every time I called it a strip club because it was a 'high class establishment, not a strip club.' I was surprised to hear that she didn't go because she isn't easily phased. Turns out she opted not to go because her cousins' last night in town so she didn't want to be out at a strip club all night. Reasonable.

Watching them interact was also pretty hysterical. They seem to have been friends for some time and knew each other well. Jim was making fun of Jimmy for getting ice cream at a place they stopped at down the road, commenting that he'd never seen him eat ice cream in his life. I didn't catch on to the significance of their banter until Jimmy finally said, "yeah, she was a looker," meaning the girl scooping the ice cream. He still wouldn't admit she was the only reason he got ice cream, though, and kept insisting that he likes ice cream and Jim must just never see him eat it, etc. So, of course, I asked him what flavor ice cream he got. He had NO CLUE. Haha! Men!

They rode up here through Canada from Illinois, except they took the other road in Canada. What a ride it must have been on motorcycles. It was their last night before heading back down, so hopefully it was a good one. They certainly entertained me. Oh yeah, and Jim fixed the washing machine this morning before he left. I came around the corner in the house to find him balancing the washer as he tipped it forward and tried to look around at the back, so I ended up holding it while he fixed it. Guests do the darndest things.