With my Dad's great encouragement, I submitted this story to the Ladies of
HOG contest in Hog Tales Magazine. While I won 1st place in the Most
Memorable category for 2006, the magazine only printed the Grand Prize
wining story. (Which dealt with a woman's embarrassing & somewhat
humorous efforts to remove her g-string after having peed in it while
wearing several layers of clothes which she did not remove.)
This was the first writing contest I had ever
entered. And this is one of the moments when I truly cried, to know that
my Dad would not be present when I showed my Mom the certificate. While I
had begun writing the story almost before we were home from our trip, &
finalized it long before I got up the nerve to send it in,
I only submitted the story two weeks before Dad died. It was
Dad's influence that was my catalyst to finally submit it. Winners were
announced in May.
Dad had several articles printed in Hog Tales, as
well as other magazines over the years. He won writing contests, as did a
story or two from Mom's point of view. I always wanted to write about how
I came to be a biker, because I think it is an interesting tale. But this
was the first experience that brought me to the point of submitting
it.
Story-telling is a skill placed in my hands by my
Dad. He is the reason I wrote about this trip. He is the reason I
won 1st place. I waited on pins & needles, because even though he
would never see it, I wanted to share what he had given to me. Since it
was never printed, I just forgot about it, feeling like it would somehow be
wrong to share it.
Today, I went to Mad Cyclez, & I will leave my
bike with Marcus once more on Monday before my trip to Sturgis. I don't
trust many people with my bike! But it was while standing in his shop last
year, talking to his wife Tammy when I made my decision to write about the trip
(moments later, Morgan took my bike for the last time on that trip.) I
pictured myself taking a copy of the magazine to Tammy, & hoped she might
ride with us on the Chick's Run one day. I envisioned a large group of
women riding from the southeast corner of Wyoming!
Even though I couldn't show Tammy a printed a copy
of my story in the magazine , today I realized I did want to share it. I
came home & printed a copy for her. And I remembered I am proud of the
skill my Dad gave me, & wanted to share it with you. This is my
awkward attempt at doing so.
These memories are even more poignant than I had
anticipated they would be, for as you know, life has changed so much in such a
short time. ~ Val