I had a hard time deciding on the title for this blog. The other contender was “Thank you for your service.”
Sue and I traveled through Tennessee last week. It’s a glorious state with a lot to see. I expected that. What I didn’t expect was the way we were treated on Veteran’s Day. I couldn’t pay for anything. When Sue and I went to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, they asked if either of us were veterans. I guess I was surprised at the question and I didn’t answer immediately, but Sue did. “Yes, my husband was in the Army.”
“There’s no charge for you today, then, sir, and thank you for your service.”
Wow, I just saved $20. That was nice.
The Jack Daniel’s tour was fun, even though it was raining cats and dogs on that fine Tennessee Veteran’s Day. Our tour guide, Melissa, made it especially so, with one great story after another. I’ve known of Jack Daniel’s for a long time; what I didn’t know was that it was a sleepy backwater distillery for most of its life until a young crooner named Frank Sinatra made it known he wouldn’t drink anything else. Frank Sinatra was buried with a bottle of Jack, along with a dollar’s worth of dimes because he didn’t know where he was going, but he knew they might have pay phones there. Frank Sinatra’s favor put Jack Daniel’s on the map, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I found out that if you work at Jack Daniel’s, you get a free bottle of Jack every month (and they are always hiring). I learned that every bottle of Jack Daniel’s ever made has been made at that plant, which is fed by an underground spring with water that is perfect for producing Tennessee sipping whiskey. I learned that you can buy Jack Daniel’s by the barrel, and more than a few folks do (they have an entire wall lined with small plaques denoting those who did). Melissa walked us through the entire manufacturing process, and as a former manufacturing guy, I found it fascinating. They have a statue of Jack Daniel standing on several large boulders and, of course, they refer to it as “Jack on the Rocks.” We opted for the tasting tour at the end, and I learned that there are actually five variants of Old No. 7. All of them are really, really good. We had a blast.
After our amazing Jack Daniel’s tour, we stopped for lunch at the Southern Perks restaurant in Lynchburg. When we ordered our lunch, the young lady behind the counter popped the same question: Are either of you veterans? Again, Sue was quick to answer, and again, the response was the same: “Thank you for your service, sir. Your lunch is on us today.”
Wow. I was speechless. A little choked up, actually. I’ve never been treated like this, and I left the Army a cool 42 years ago. I didn’t know what to say, and like always, I thought of the right response too late. When I hear “Thanks for your service” the next time, I’ll have my answer ready.
I’ve blown by Chattanooga a bunch of times on Interstate 24 and I’ve seen the sign for the Chattanooga Choo Choo. I always wanted to stop to see it. But I never had. Until today, that is. Yep, there really is such a thing…
This is my first visit to this fine southern city, and folks, I’m here to tell you: Chattanooga is a fabulous town. I had no idea. This is a wonderful place, nestled along the Tennessee River close to the Georgia border. The Chattanooga Choo Choo. Lookout Mountain and Ruby Falls. Moon Pies (yep, for real). Great walking paths. Nearby Chickamauga Battlefield National Park. An incredible Civil War rifle collection. Dining that makes the word “fabulous” seem wholly inadequate. The verdict is in: I like this place!
So, what’s the deal with Moon Pies? Hey, if you’ve never heard of Moon Pies, you need to get out more often. And if you’ve never tasted one, well, trust me on this: You owe yourself this treat. It turns out that Chattanooga is where Moon Pies are made, you can get them in just about any local store, and there’s actually an official Moon Pie factory outlet in downtown Chattanooga. That fact, all by itself, makes Chattanooga a bucket list destination!
Lookout Mountain is another cool spot in Chattanooga, with an underground cave system that actually includes a 140-foot waterfall (all of which is underground). Think Jules Verne and a journey to the center of the earth. Yep, we hit it, too!
We had an incredible lunch at The 405, a place we just happened upon while walking around downtown. The 405 is a Middle Eastern restaurant (I love Middle Eastern food) and it’s another one of Chattanooga’s best kept secrets. I had a chicken shawerma sandwich and it was fabulous, with juicy roasted chicken, a perfect Tahini sauce, and pita bread made fresh on the premises. I told our waitress I write a blog for the most discerning riders on the planet (that would be you), and the owner was at my table in a heartbeat. It turns out that my new good buddy and restauranteur Rashad is one of us. He rides a BMW sport bike, and we had a conversation about the great roads in the Chattanooga area. Rashad told me you can ride 51 weeks out of the year in and around Chattanooga and the way he described the roads, this sounds like a place where I need to spend more time. From my explorations around this region, I believe him. I have to get back here. And when you get out here, you have to try The 405. Tell Rashad Joe sent you.
From downtown, it was a short ride to the Chickamauga and Chattahoochee National Military Park. We were lucky. It was Veteran’s Day, and the National Park Service was giving free guided tours. I think they do that every day, but seeing this sacred place on this grand holiday (on the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I) made it even more interesting. Our guide was another new good buddy, in this case Ranger Chris.
Chris led a motor tour to three stops on the Chickamauga battlefield, and he made it come alive for us. If you’ve never been to Chickamauga, my advice is to put it on your list. Chickamauga and Gettysburg (fought just a few days apart) marked the turning point of the Civil War. We thoroughly enjoyed Chris’ presentation and the tour.
One of the best parts of the Chickamauga stop was the visitor’s center. It has several cannon on display, and a large map showing the battlefield.
The Chickamauga visitor center also houses one of the best (probably the best) collection of Civil War rifles I’ve ever seen. It seems a local engineer and gun collector named Claud Fuller had built a collection of some 5,000 firearms and he donated a portion of his collection for permanent display here. They are magnificent. This collection, all by itself, justifies a trip to the area.
After spending the afternoon at Chickamauga, we had dinner at the 1885 restaurant in Chattanooga’s St. Elmo district. I saw something on the menu I had never seen before: Mushrooms and grits. Hmmm, I wondered. That sounded interesting. And wow, was it ever!
After dinner, our waitress recommended the cheese cake. Hey, everything else had been amazing, so why not?
My dinner tonight was one of the finest I’ve ever enjoyed. It was a great way to finish a Chattanooga visit. I’m up for a summer ride in this area, and I’ll be back. We’ll be home in California by the time you read this, and we’ll have a supply of Moon Pies for a short while. Like my good buddy Reuben always says: What a life!
Like everyone else who read the “Back in the Day” Bell Star piece, I greatly enjoyed Gresh’s blog. I never owned a Star, but I bought one of the modern Bell helmets Joe referenced about 10 years ago from my good buddy Mike over at NoHo Scooters in Hollywood. It was a lightweight, inexpensive full-face deal with artwork that made it an instant “I want” item. The Boss was with me and she gave the nod, and Mike gave me a good price, so I bought it.
The helmet had a World War II aviation motif. It’s not politically correct, so if you’re going to get your shorts in a knot over the artwork, my advice is this: You’re young. Go to your safe space and take a nap. You’ll probably get over it.
The military theme worked perfectly, I think, with a CSC motorcycle Steve Seidner (CSC’s CEO) built. He called it “The Sarge” and it was his personal bike. I liked both the motorcycle and the helmet so much that as soon as Steve’s bike came together (and he wasn’t around) I raced off to a spot I knew would make for a good photo…
I wore that helmet all the way down to Cabo and back on the CSC 150 Baja run. It was a nice hat. I really liked it. It made me taller, thinner, and faster. Better looking, too, if I kept the visor down.
They say you are supposed to replace a motorcycle helmet every three years (“they” are the guys who make helmets, of course). I don’t know if that’s really necessary, but it’s what I do. After three years the insides of my helmets get pretty funky, and in my case aromatic reasons drive the need for a new lid.
But the three-year rule wasn’t what ended my relationship with the Bell you see here. It was a different reason: The outside surface got tacky. Not in the good taste or politically correct sense (if that’s what you’re thinking), but tacky in an adhesive sense. It got sticky to the touch, like flypaper. I think it was because the adhesive bonding the wrap (the thin layer of artwork) to the helmet’s shell seeped through to the outside. Whatever. It would stick to my hands when I picked it up and I don’t like a clingy thingy. A Bell guy told me he knew of the problem and it had been fixed, but they no longer offered the helmet I had come to love.
I sure wish Bell still made that helmet. I would buy a new one and it’s what I’d be wearing today.
In the early 1970’s I worked at The Art Colony, an art supply and picture-framing store on Westward Drive. Back then I fancied myself a sort of artist and I got discounts on oil paints, brushes, and different sizes of the pre-stretched canvas we made on site. The place smelled great. They had clay and water color supplies but I never messed with that stuff because I felt those materials were inferior to oil painting. Oils were good enough for the Old Masters so they were good enough for me. Even at 15 years old I didn’t like anything new.
Motorcycle vandalism was a problem at our school. Any nice-looking bike would be attacked in the school’s parking area. You’d get your seat cut or a bunch of rocks in your gas tank if the vandals were in a good mood. If they were in a bad mood your chain might be welded solid (the motorcycle parking area was next to the metal shop, a tactical error on the school administration’s part) or sugar poured in your tank. At the time I was riding a sweet, red Honda SL70, fully street legal and had a learner’s permit to ride in the daylight hours. I never took the bike to school. I’d ride to Carlson’s house, leave the SL70 there and walk to school.
After school I’d ride to The Art Colony and work a few hours until they closed. I earned fifteen or eighteen dollars a week, which was plenty to keep the SL70 in gas and tires. At least until Wilson got a Bell Star helmet. Damn, that helmet was cool. The rest of us had open face, jet-style lids that either slid back on our head and tried to choke us or pushed down onto our nose blocking most of the road. It was probably a fitment issue but we used whatever helmet no one else wanted. Buying a helmet was an unknown concept.
Wilson’s Bell Star fit his head and had a flip down visor that was great for riding in the rain. It rained a lot in Florida. Naturally, everyone started getting Bell Star helmets and whoever bought one became instantly cool. I had to have one. Murray Auto, in Hialeah had the best price on Bell Helmets: Fifty-one dollars out the door. This was a huge sum of money back when you could buy a running Japanese motorcycle for thirty-five bucks. Regardless, I had to have one. I wanted to be cool, too.
I beavered away at The Art Colony making frames, stretching canvas and skimped on everything I could. It took about two months before I saved enough to buy a Bell. Since I was working and couldn’t get to Murray’s during business hours I handed the money to Wilson for the helmet (he had an XL70 which was nearly the same motorcycle as an SL70) and he went to Murray’s to get the lid.
He brought the helmet back to the Art shop and when we opened the box the thing positively glowed. The paint was flawless, the interior was made of an exotic brushed rayon material. It was so clean. It was like the Playboy Mansion inside. Sliding the Bell onto my head was like entering another world. The intimate view from the Star’s porthole framed a world that had changed. I felt invincible wearing that helmet. I could batter down doors, go into space or ride through the worst rainstorm safe and dry inside. If you didn’t count the rest of my body.
Bell Helmets as I knew them went out of business. I don’t know what happened. I heard lawsuits killed them off. Another company bought the name and started making all sorts of Bell-branded stuff. Mostly for bicycles. You can still buy Bell-branded helmets, they even have a cool Star Classic model.
As for me, I’m back to wearing hand me downs or freebie helmets. I got a good deal on a twenty-five dollar no-brand helmet at Pep Boys. I feel my head is worth less and less with each passing day. Back when I was 15 I had my whole life ahead of me, a quality helmet was a good investment. Now, even with inflation-adjusted money I’ll probably never spend what that old Bell Star cost on another helmet.