Journal Entry # 1 - July 14th, 2007

We were riding our bikes down the highway on the way to the Sturgis bike rally. I checked my speed gauge. We were going almost 90 miles per hour. That was insanely fast! I was running low on gas and I was guessing everyone else was too. We were probably going to stop for gas in about 25 miles.

I was super pumped to be going to Sturgis! I had never been before. There were 5 Sturgis rookies in our group of 150. They were me, Rocko, Nate (his real name is Nathaniel but he doesn't think it's cool enough), Chuck and Larry.

Rocko and I go way back to the sandbox. I remember driving our little bicycles out in the back fields. We would see who could go fastest down the hill and who could get the most air off of the jumps we would build. I always won!!

Nate is my second cousin twice removed or something like that. We have never really gotten along but at least we tolerate each other. In the Hell's Angels everyone looks out for each other and even though Nate and I don't get along we still look out for each other. I would never admit it but I know I would be devastated if anything bad ever happened to him.

Chuck. What a clown?! He is the funniest guy I have ever met. He can make any of us laugh. Darren MacDonald smiles at his jokes and he never smiles at anything. Chuck is the greatest. He really keeps us together!

Larry is the youngest in our biker club. He's only 15 years old. His old man got him into the club. But, unfortunately, his dad died a month later in a biking accident. I won't go into the gruesome details. He's a good kid and has a lot of potential. No one really respects him but I do. He's a big inspiration to me. He has to be awfully strong and brave to stay in the club after what happened to his pops.

We all changed lanes to take the next exit to a gas station. We came to an intersection just after the exit ramp. Just our luck; we caught a red light.

When the light turned green again we kicked off. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized we could see the Shell just down the hill. I was running on empty as it was. AS we passed the intersection my bike shuddered a little bit. I didn't pay it any mind. I figured it was just the fact that my bike had no more juice. I was probably nothing.

A couple of seconds later I hear metal crashing to the hard pavement beneath my bike. My bike began to lose speed. Why on earth would I be slowing down? I looked back and there was my chain, just lying in the middle of the street.

Crap! That really sucks.

I got off of my bike as it slowed to a stop. Now I have to push my bike the rest of the way to the Shell. Today really wasn't the day I would've picked to push my motorcycle (Although I wouldn't have picked any other day either but this had to be the worst possible day.). This was the hottest summer in a decade and today was the hottest day of summer so far. I was 102'F outside! Not particularly fun when you're wearing a black leather biking jacket.

I really hope that one of the guys has a spare chain with them. I will have to repay them later but I don't really care as long as I can get to Sturgis.

When I finally finished my trek to the gas station I was panting and sweating like a dog. It seemed like I had just walked 10 miles in this heat instead of the short 500 yards it actually was.

The moment the rest of the crew came into sight, Rocko ran up to me in a frenzy.

'Where were you man? What the heck happened to you?' Rocko asked me frantically.

'Calm down. I just lost the chain on my bike.' I explained. 'While we're on the topic, do you happen to have an extra chain with you that I could use?'

'Yeah, sure!' Rocko replied.

'Thanks! I owe you one,' I was so relieved that I was going to be able to get my bike fixed. Sturgis here I come!

'Let's go get that bike of yours bandaged up!' said Rocko.

Danny Samuel Bardger
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