Steve was a cool guy who I worked with on IBM typewriters 'back in the day'. We were working for the same company and soon became friends. We both loved motorcycles and Steve's was the beast, a Moto-Guzzi. The bike was tough as nails and as I recall, was never broke down. Steve and I had a grand plan to take the Trans Alaska highway trip on our bikes but the trip never happened. The hours we spent talking and dreaming of the trip was worth every minute. Steve was my friend who lived in a converted school bus, complete with a pot-bellied wood stove. I miss Steve and every time that I'm back in Abq. I run up and down Central ave. looking for his van parked at a coffee shop. The Frontier was our late night hangout for coffee. I hope Steve is still out there somewhere riding his Guzzi. Peace bro.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI remember going to visit Steve at his bus at one point -- not sure the time frame on that, but it seems like it was 83-84-ish?
ReplyDeleteThat bottom photo of Vance was about how he appeared the last time I saw him before we separated for about seven or eight years.
We had run into each other around Pennsylvania Blvd. and Candelaria, as I recall. He was on his motorcycle and I may have been driving a cab. He had on the dark glasses and the look we both - no doubt - shared, that reflected the inner demons we were fighting to keep inner. Those hellish bastards escaped one too many times for the comfort of those who knew and loved us and it seemed we were on our own for a long while.
We exchanged brief words that day -- possibly to the effect of "know where I can score?" and we were off.
Seven or so years later, there was a phone call, and the voice on the other end said "Hey." It was like no time had passed.
You can tell when that bottom photo was taken because of two things. One is the macrame pot hanger in the background. The other is the plant growing out of Steve's head.
ReplyDeleteSomeday Rick and I will have to tell the 'story' of "Demons in New Mexico, fact or fiction?" We normally take Moonpie to the lighter side of life with alot of humor and jokes and funny pictures probably because we have been to the other side and it is not a pretty place. These photos were taken around the time that Rick went his way and I slinked into the night, just wanting to be alone.
ReplyDelete