Question

Jim Taylor
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 06:30 (2025 days ago)

Alcorn and others talking about racing got me to thinking. There are a lot of experiences among The Misfits. What is something that you've done that was exciting ... fufilling ... fun ... and that most of us don't know about you?

For me, I spent several years with my Dad prospecting and exploring in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. We found some, lost some and had some wonderful times in the wild country.

Of course, there were the years in Africa ....

Anytime Jim asks a question I brace myself, but

WB
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 06:52 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

this seems pretty benign. I really enjoy teaching kids about water science. My moniker "Waterboy" was long before that goofy movie but I guess the parallels are not an accident. I am active locally, in the state, regionally, and actually some nationally with the American Water Works Association in promoting the advancement of water resource preservation and efficiency. It's not as glamorous as giving a Musk Ox an enema at the arctic circle but I've not lived a very exciting life. Over the last 34 yrs. I have had the opportunity to address and or give tours to thousands of young people. Occasionally a young 30 something will recognize me and ask if I'm "that water guy", remembering when their school toured the water plant.

Oct. 2 (just before HHC 2018)I am slated to be the "star" at the local middle school "Science Fair". Big screen Power point, interjected with visual aids, (3) 20min. spots, for the 4th,5th, 6th grades. I have the opportunity to teach 900 kids where their water comes from and what it takes to make it safe to drink, how important it is. I pray they leave that day smarter than most people, including their parents whom I hope they tell all about it. It's no glory for myself, just a humbling chance I have to instill a memory in these little kids who will be tomorrow's citizens. While I cannot preach Christ to these children I can reinforce the fact water was made just once. It's the same water our ancestors drank. Where it's tied up in the water cycle is what we are allowed to manage as a life-giving resource. I sure don't want to screw it up.

[image]

Bravo Scotty.

SPB
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 09:51 (2025 days ago) @ WB

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my earlier life was pretty dull compared to these guys

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 16:01 (2024 days ago) @ SPB

I got into radio when I was 17, right out of high school. I stayed in radio as a rock DJ for 22 years before retiring in '85. Along the way, I played drums for a bit. I did a little stock car racing on a dirt track in Paducah Ky. In '78 while still in radio in Nashville, I started a gun shop with a partner. I was Ops manager of the station and the owner bought a new station on an island off Sarasota Florida, and wanted me to go down there and run it for him, so I left the gun shop and moved to Florida. While working at the radio station off Sarasota, I started a little shop in my garage in '81 and started building custom XP-100s and Contender barrels and a few 1911s. In '85 after a lot of partying and rock concerts and after concert parties, I retired from radio and moved to Santa Fe and opened a new shop building guns full time. Both my parents lived in Florida and were in ill health so in '87 I moved the shop back to Florida to be with them. Both of them passed away and I wanted to be back in the mountains so in '94 I moved my shop to Flagstaff and have been here for 24 years.

In my younger years I was an Army brat and lived for many years in Italy, Austria and Germany so moving a lot came second nature to me.

Talking to a guy about U'r tower climbing the other day!

WB
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 18:47 (2024 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

Not me, no way.

I forgot about that. Working at the radio station I

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 20:52 (2024 days ago) @ WB

decided to keep my job (I was always getting in trouble for stunts on the air) I needed to make myself a bit more desirable. At that time every radio station had to have a 1st Class licensed man (chief engineer) on duty or on call. So I made a deal with the owner. He paid for me my normal salary and to take the CIE course in Dallas (8 weeks) to get my chief engineer's license and I would sign a 3 year contract with him. It was good for us both.

But, part of the agreement was when the radio tower got hit by lightning, which happened a lot in Tennessee, some dumb ass had to climb it and repair it or hopefully just change the lightbulbs. The tower at our station was fairly short, only 360 feet tall, so I did that 3 or 4 times each summer. Then word got out that there was this dumb ass that would climb towers for a fee. So I ended up climbing towers 7 or 8 times each summer. Our competitor station's tower was a bit over 1000 feet tall, actually about 1200 feet tall if I remember right. There are no(or weren't back then) ladder type rungs to climb. One has to reach up and grab the 4" diameter strut and pull himself up to the next one.


I had a belt to keep me from falling but I couldn't hook on until I got all the way to the top as the belt would loop in and out of the top bars and back onto the D ring in my belt. The tower was probably 12 foot square at the bottom and maybe 18" square at the top. The worst thing and really the only time I was really scared shitless was when I would hook on at the top. The belt was about 4 feet long so after hooking on I had to lean back into the belt and let go. It was only about a 1 foot drop back but that feeling of not knowing and not having control always puckered me up big time.

I carried a burlap sack behind me with the bulbs, each of which were about 2 feet long, plus the small bulbs for every 100 feet. The top of the tower was like a capsule that opened in the middle by a couple of wing nuts. Then the top half folded back over the bottom half and in most cases the 2 bulbs inside, each facing each other, were shattered and burnt from the lightning, which meant I had to dig the base of the bulb out with long needle nose pliers and heavy rubber gloves. Normally when I got to the top of the tower and opened the capsule, there would be a big wasp nest in there or it would be filled with spiders. Why they felt they had to build a nest 1200 feet in the air I never figured out but after the first time I carried a can of compressed air that when shaken turned ice cold and I froze the little bastards out.

I was doing a lot of groundhog hunting with Larry Farley back then and he would give me hell about the tower climbing all the time. But it was good money, usually $400 to $600 according to which tower and how tall. It took me about 3 hours to get to the top of the tall tower and maybe 2 hours to get to the top of our station's tower. Then usually an hour to fix the problem and about half the time getting back down.

Summer time wasn't so bad. With rubber soled shoes and gloves it was no big deal. But every once in a while, maybe twice a year I had to climb in the winter and usually after an ice storm. That was hard as I never really felt I had a good hold on the slippery steel bars. My wife at the time always knew when I had been up on one of the towers as when I got home she would look at me and ask if I climbed that damn tower again. Being the straight arrow that I am I told her no, why. She said I was white as a sheet when I got home. I would tell that it was from the gravity and being so high up. She would counter that with "bull, you were just scared shitless". No comment there.

I don't think I could have done that. No. I know I couldn't.

Jim Taylor
[subject]
Thursday, September 13, 2018, 17:00 (2023 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

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I was much younger and dumber then. In my mid 20s.

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Thursday, September 13, 2018, 17:06 (2023 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

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It's amazing as I get older

Jim Taylor
[subject]
Thursday, September 13, 2018, 17:18 (2023 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

I realize how many times I could have died from the stupid stuff I did when I was younger.

I'm sure i ain't the only one

steve todd
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 19:27 (2024 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

Who appreciates that you somehow ended up doing what you're doing. I'm also glad you are within less than a days drive from Lordsburg.
And the rabbits are pissed that you fixed the trigger on that Magnum Research 475 Linebaugh.


P.S. don't let it go to your head!

Did a LOT of motorcycle road racing back in the 90s.

Amede
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 07:12 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

Spent almost 10 years on a Kawasaki ZX7R 750 Superbike. Have lots of stories and scars, some good, some bad, but all unforgettable. Enduros and some SuperMoto too. Lots of friends made and some lost over that time. I don't ride like that much any more, no time. but every now and then the adrenalin starts to flow and I break a traffic law or two. Funny simce I moved to Portland I have never been to the track, whereas when I was racing I would make the trip from Montana 4 to 6 times a year, along with Seattle, Calgary, and the occasional National event in Cali.

Never did any racing, it still do track days

Blake
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 13:18 (2025 days ago) @ Amede

Mostly at Barber Motorsports Park. Still ride my 2006 Trimph Daytona 955. Still ride in advance group witch is not bad for an old fart on a 12 year old 950 cc super sport. Lap Barber in the mid 1.40s, it’s 2.38 miles and 15 turns! Paved heaven for motorcycles.

Never got the chance to ride there. Alcorn

Amede
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 13:22 (2025 days ago) @ Blake

keeps telling me I should go. Those lap times sound pretty good there.

Great track layout. Three blind corners if

Blake
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 17:50 (2024 days ago) @ Amede

You are on line, because of the wonderful elevation change. Some of the corners are wide enough for 3 cars. Lots of run off room. Track is used for all types of road racing but was designed for motorcycles. One of the best motorcycle museums in the world is there too.

If my math is right that's about a 98-99 mph average!

WB
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 13:59 (2024 days ago) @ Blake

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I was a White Water river guide and trainer

Blake
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 09:58 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

For 10 years on the Ocoee river in Tennessee, and the Nantahala river in North Caroline. Hold sever records on the Nantahala for Weser Falls. Some probably broken now. Worked for High Country outfitters. Was the first and I thing still only company to commercial run it. At the time was a class 6 rapid. It was later down graded to a class 5 after we ran it for two years. I have the most runs over it, guided the most people over it. Have the most runs over it in a kayak (C1). And was credited with the success in it being down graded from a class 6 to a class 5. I also helped pioneer the routes on the upper Ocoee for commercial rafting witch opened after the park service developed it for the summer Olympics. Have run that river at flood stage at 9000 cfs. The river is closed at 10000 cfs because it covers the hwy in places along side of it. Have so many stories about could bore folks silly for a month. So I will stop now LOL

I think my wife and I rode through there in 94?

WB
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 10:27 (2025 days ago) @ Blake

on the way back from Charleston. We were on my old BMW R80RT and the Summer Olympics were on. Is that where they "turn the river off" in the evenings? It was crazy what we saw. Wild white water, then later just a trickle!

Yep that’s how it works. TVA dam controlled water flow

Blake
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 12:55 (2025 days ago) @ WB

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Wuzza

Da Duke
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 10:11 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

Used to race cars and build them.
Louisiana State bass fishing champ in the mid 80's.

Although not considered a Misfit

steve todd
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 11:26 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

Rock climbing at the “Lovers Leap” area between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Free camping and you were all alone Monday through Friday. Getting to the top of that wall was the most encredible feeling. The motorcycle racing and sliding through the tight canyons in the hills east of Oakland,CA were fun too. My oldest son says that’s when he remembers me being happiest.

And why wouldn't you be a Misfit?...

Huey
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 13:55 (2025 days ago) @ steve todd

We don't have a secret password or anything. You're one of the few (and I admire it) that uses your name.

If you can tolerate us, we'll tolerate you. Welcome Aboard...

Thank you

steve todd
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 15:22 (2024 days ago) @ Huey

I'm honored.
Hope everyone eats fried chicken and gets lucky tonight.

Falconry for 8 years, Red-tailed Hawk on cottontails, possum

Rsim
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 13:30 (2025 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

And other edible critters. Had Federal & State permits. Enjoyed it immensely in my teens, then life feared it's head...

Humnae Wildlife Eviction and Exclusion

R.J. Fitzgerald
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 14:42 (2024 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

I also worked with wildlife and avian rehabilitators.

In the Late 70s I was a 3 time

Brant
[subject]
Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 17:01 (2024 days ago) @ Jim Taylor

Horse turd fight champion in Desoto Parish. The fourth year was stolen from me by the referee. I was given a war sing for using green turd. It was not so I beamed her noggin with it to prove it. She cried to momma, who then shut us down!

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