Baja John – The ExhaustNotes Blog

By Joe Berk

Don’t get excited; I don’t have that many friends. But lately two of them (Baja John and Uncle Joe Gresh) both bought Harleys. I guess I started thinking about it when I went to the gym yesterday morning. There was an early Harley V-Rod parked in front. It looked brand new. It’s too bad that bike didn’t make it with the beer bellies and tattoos bunch. Harley is on the skids now, struggling through a huge sales downturn and significant layoffs. I guess they don’t know what to do. I do (small bikes and even smaller prices; it ain’t rocket science, Milwaukee). Eh, what do I know?

The V-Rod had me thinking about Baja John. He bought a V-Rod last year. I haven’t seen it yet, so I called John and asked him to send a photo. It’s the one you see at the top of this blog. I need to get out there to Arizona and visit with John again. Maybe on the next pig hunt. Maybe sooner.

And then there’s Gresh and his Buell. I knew more about that motorcycle, as Sue and I hosted Gresh out here in La La Land when he came out to pick it up. It’s a beautiful motorcycle, and it’s been fun watching Joe resurrect it. He’s having fun. It’s too bad Buell didn’t work out for Harley, either. I thought those bikes might have been the answer. Joe’s adventures have had me thinking maybe I need to find an older Buell to play with. It would be fun. But there aren’t too many Harley dealers around here anymore; they’ve been dropping like left wing loonies (sorry for the redundancy) at a MAGA rally. Seriously. Harley dealers are falling fast. It’s a shame, really.

The upshot of the above, of course, is that if you are in the market for a Harley, this is probably a good time to buy. I’ve owned two Harleys; one was a turd and the other was awesome. They sure were beautiful, though. Even the ’79 Electra-Glide (the turd) that treated me worse than Kamala Harris at a Toastmasters meeting was drop dead gorgeous.

I think if I was going to buy another motorcycle, it would be a Moto Guzzi. The work I’ve been doing for Motorcycle Classics magazine with Cycle Garden in Indio cemented what I already felt: Guzzis are the world’s most beautiful motorcycles. I like the Ambassadors and El Dorados from the 1970s, and I also like the Griso. I’m keeping my eyes peeled. And there’s another plus on the Guzzis: They sure are easy to maintain.

How easy? Hey, buy a recent issue of Motorcycle Classics, turn to the “How To” section, and you’ll see. The upcoming issue has a feature on how to de-rust a gas tank, and it’s pretty interesting. I think you’ll like it.

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Some folks called it the Christmas Star, but it’s actually Jupiter and Saturn, two planets that came into alignment earlier this week. It won’t happen again for another 800 years, they tell us. I don’t really have the right lens for this sort of thing and I was fumbling around in the dark trying to find the right shutter speed and aperture. Yeah, I could have done better, I suppose…I would have liked to get the two planets a lot sharper. The one on the left is Jupiter, and it’s a cool 500 million miles out there (you can see all four of Jupiter’s moons). The planet on the right is Saturn; its oblong shape is due to the rings around Saturn. Saturn is 750 million miles away.

So here we are: Christmas 2020. Our best wishes to you and your families for the holidays. Christmas is different this year, and it has been a different year in many ways. The Covid 19 pandemic has dominated nearly everything in 2020, and like everyone else, we sure will be glad when this curse is in the rear view mirror. One of my daughters works in the healthcare field and she was one of the first to receive the vaccine earlier this week. We’re hoping to all get vaccinated in the next few months. Sue and I will get prioritized because we’re geezers (some of you are, too). 2021 will be a better year.

We’ve been staying home, which is what most folks here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia are doing these days. It’s tough being on lockdown, but there are still things worth doing. A couple of nights ago we watched a live Blind Boys of Alabama concert (that’s them above) on the computer and it was awesome. We’ve seen the Blind Boys in person a couple of times. If you ever have a chance to listen to this gospel group, don’t let it get away. Trust me on this; these guys are amazing.

I’ve been catching up with a lot of my friends the last few days…some on Facebook, some on Facetime, some on the phone, and one or two in person at the rifle range.

Baja John and I caught up via Facetime yesterday (that’s him above with his family at home in Mexico). I miss riding Baja with John; we’ve done some great rides down there.

Other than that, we’ve been homebodies for the last several weeks. I’ve been doing a little writing, a little blogging, a little reloading, and a little shooting. The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site story just published in Motorcycle Classics (I was there in 2019); you can read it here but you would do better to subscribe to the magazine…it really is a first class publication with awesome stories and photography.

So that’s it for today. Here’s hoping Santa was good to you, and here’s another wish for a happy and healthy 2021. Merry Christmas, folks!

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