RIP me ole soft and comfy vest. You mentioned Americade. What a great adventure that has always been. Used to go every year until I moved out here to Phoenix. I love the Lake George area spent most of my summers growing up on the lake with my grand parents. Now my cousin has their house and I get to visit it every couple of years. Good luck finding a new vest. You will be able to make lots of memories with that. Sorry about your brother in law. Cancer is a terrible thing. I know first hand lost my wife to ovarian cancer when she was only 48.

 

I feel your pain SC.... I parted ways with my all time favorite leather jacket about 8 months ago. I still have remorse over it, and just keep hoping my new leather will break in even better than my old one.

And yes...I too thought this thread was a bit more serious due to the title, and am very glad it ended up being about a peace of leather. Dangit, off to ebay to hopefully find the exact jacket I used to have!

 

I'm right there with ya! Holy cow I thought this was gonna be a bad one. Sorry to hear about your vest.

 

Note to self - be careful how you word titles of threads in the future.

My jacket is also showing signs of replacement. Over the last yr or so, it's gotten quite stiff. I was going to try some leather conditioner hoping to bring it back but haven't found any in my travels as of yet.

Yeah, I grew up in Northern NJ. I went to Americade 97-99. Lake George is a gorgeous part of the country. I always had a blast up there, although that usually meant I drank too much. lol I always made it a point to venture out to Oscar's Smokehouse about an hour outside the village. Broke my heart when I heard it burned down. I remember riding there, and when you get to within a mile or two, you start smelling the smoke. Mmmm... It does suck about my Bro-in-law. He was a very awesome guy. Didn't ride but I respected him immensely nonetheless. He didn't smoke or drink (other than a very occasional beer or glass of wine with dinner). The only saving grace was that he went quick.

Yeah, not looking forward to breaking in a new vest/jacket either.

 

I feel your pain, Vic ... I laid some 12 yo Scotch to rest last evening ... RIP ...



R/
'Chop

 

Lol Todd. Hope you enjoyed it.

 

I out grow my stuff every two years. I'm half way to being the circus bear on the bike.

 

I own two leather vests - one was a gift from a friend - but I hardly ever wear them. When and where I started riding - the cool thing to do was to cut the sleeves off an old Levis jacket and wear that. To this day, that's what I do.

I cycle through these in the general range of every 3 to 5 years or so.

I have the old lady sew patches on them here and there from time to time. Most have symbolic meaning to me - skulls and X bones for fallen friends, that sort of thing. Sometimes I've been given patches by friends too.

The thing is that I believe in not hanging on to things - even memories. I've had friends die tragically - and I carry their memory on my vest in the form of a patch. But when that vest is worn out, I let them go.

 

Sorry for your loss Vic, hope you find a suitable replacement! I'll tip a glass of Wild Turkey in its honor tonight.

 

You inspired me to throw out the old toilet seat upstairs tonight and replace it with a new wooden one from Walmart.