2:45 pm October 9th. Williams, Arizona.
I am in the parking lot of the Canyon Country Inn holding a brake knob in one hand and supporting my scooter against 30 mile per hour winds with the other. I was able to get the bike secured and began struggling with the remaining formed sheet metal in an attempt to release the brake. As if to mock me, it only got tighter.
Having exhausted the fight, my flee instinct took over and I went to my room to try to find help. After multiple search attempts (seriously Shayne, we are going to fix your Google maps meta data) I found Grand Canyon Motorsports. I called and the phone was answered by Shayne Newbold. It was less than ten minutes before he pulled into the parking lot.
What followed was the most astounding three hours of my journey. Shayne spent about 30 minutes, most of it on his back, trying to fix the problem. Ultimately, he resorted to releasing the cable at the wheel and told me to follow him back to his shop. There, for the next hour and a half, Shayne, his best friend Dan Coman and their friend Wayne Jordan demonstrated some of the best engineering and problem solving that I have seen in years.
Wayne, Dan, and Shayne
Some background. Shayne and Dan have been lifelong friends. They have worked and built businesses together. They are neighbors and live off the grid. Together they designed and built their homes from scratch and engineered their power systems. Wayne is the Operations Manager at the Elk Ridge Ski resort. His background in mechanics is astounding. They are, in every sense, self-reliant and resourceful in a way you rarely see. These three extraordinary mechanics not only fixed my scooter, but left me with a more robust solution than Honda’s.
Through it all, we talked, laughed and shared our stories. I got to see the softness in Shayne’s eyes whenever he spoke about his wife of 19 years, Rose. How these three men worked together in a way that most of us only aspire to. And here, I made three friends.
Politically, we could not be further apart. But as you are about to hear, many of our hopes could not be more alike.
(Shayne is the first to speak)
Finally, let me add that Shayne and his team refused any payment for the work that they did for me.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Sweeeeeeet. Life is good, and full of good people.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Julie, this was your best interview yet, as you know. I’m a person not given to making my self clear but I’ll just say that you hit it … these men all want the same thing … that which is loving, true, fair, and noble. Thank you for taking this trip. This restored my hope that you will find more of this!
Love, Linda
October 11th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Sorry I didn’t post for two days. Exhausted from first week back at work! Interesting interview. It’s a topsy turvy world and not a lot of stuff going on in it makes sense - except that people are basically good and if we could wrestle our government away from special interests we might have a chance!
So glad these guys were around to fix your bike!!
d
October 11th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
What a GREAT interview! It seems like you all had a lot of fun together, and they seem like really cool guys. What they did for you was awesome (both fixing your bike AND giving you this gem of an interview). Love!!
October 14th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
that was a fascinating interview. His story of why he was forced to leave California in particular is the sort of event that very few people would ever experience, but it creates a view of the way that government works that is so different from the typical view of law enforcement. It is interesting to think about ways in which our government isn’t so different from the more oppressive governments of the world where it’s almost an expectation that you have to bribe officials a couple times a week simply to make it through with your freedom. Governmental police power is something that is quite insidious.