If testing personal resolve were an Olympic event, yesterday I was Michael Phelps. 

It started simply enough.  They were predicting high winds, so I set out of Needles by 7:00 am to ensure that I would be off the road before 11:00.  See, where I come from, wind is a pretty logical and predictable friend.  It works like this.  The sun comes up.  It heats the land.  Between 1:00 and 2:00, the cool air moves from over the water and onto the land.  Viola.  Sailors and windsurfers can practically set their clocks by the wind.

Apparently it does not work this way everywhere.  No, out in these parts they have (visual cue - I am using modified jazz hands here) new-fangled wind rules.  At exactly 9:50 am, a strong southwest wind began to blow.  Now, whatever Irishman wrote that ‘wind at your back’ stuff, never rode a scooter.  While they are fairly controllable in a head wind, a gust from any other angle and it morphs from a scooter into a sail.  I made it to Williams feeling a little closer to God.

Checking the conditions for the next day, I learned that there would be more of the same.  If I was to make it out in the morning, I would need to be on the road even earlier with the added benefit of riding in 41 degree weather.   Wanting to save time in the morning, I went to gas up and check my tires.  Returning back, the winds were a good 30 mph and I, wisely I thought, went to set my manual parking brake.  Upon engagement, the brake handle came off in my hand.  Seriously.  Four years of engineering school and a career as a product designer, and I could not get that brake to release.

What happened next is the subject of the following post.  For the purposes of this one we will fast forward 4 hours.  I am back in my room with some of the best interviews to date on my recorder.  It is late, but I was so excited to write that I fired up the laptop and started in.

But it was not to be.  Vista and my security software decided they were no longer compatible.  A break up, if you will.  Again, over 25 years in the PC industry and I am useless.  See a theme? 

Enter Derrick Kikuchi.  In keeping with our Olympic metaphor, Derrick is the Jesse Owens of friends.  There is not a single significant event of my adult life that has not felt his love and impact.  Three hours on the phone debugging and managing a woman-on-the-verge, Derrick had identified the problem and fixed it from 800 miles away.  Words fail.

So this was my day.  Facing a precipice and finding miracles.  Oh my.

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)

Williams Angels

Finally, let me add that Shayne and his team refused any payment for the work that they did for me.

Hi Folks,
Julie is alive and well in Williams, AZ but is fighting technological problems with her laptop. She’ll be writing again soon, but wanted folks to know she’s OK.