GRANT JOHNSON, SUSAN JOHNSON

HU MEET AT RIPLEY
The Wehrmacht invaded Ripley last week. Old ladies and children trembled as BMWs thundered down the lanes. Serried ranks of khaki tents enveloped Lumb Farm pasture. Leather-uniformed storm troopers searched for prey. Wild men and women in war paint pranced before midnight flames. Beer got drunk in vast vatfulls.
Bedding in the rear of a Toyota Corolla is not for the faint-hearted - yet such was my fate.
No silver tepee this year and only one brief presentation before scurrying home to Herefordshire to watch our cricket club win the regional section of the Village Knockout competition.
However, and a big however, this post is a thank-you to the Wehrmacht's Generals, Susan and Grant Johnson, for having created the biker internet community, HORIZONS UNLIMITED.
We all, BMWs and otherwise, owe the Johnsons a debt of gratitude for bringing us together and enabling us to exchange information on every detail of motorcycle travel. Through Susan and Grant, I will have the support and friendship of fellow bikers world-wide as I set off round the world in celebration of my 80th year. Thank you indeed...
And thank you fellow bikers for a great weekend, especially Bill and wife for sharing lives with coffee and butties.
Cheers!

HELLS ANGELS FROM QUERETARO

SIERRA GORDA MISSIONS, MEXICO: MARCH 7
Jalpan is more a village than a town., The population slightly exceed five thousand. Of the Sierra Gorda missions, It was founded first and completed in 1774. I have a large room with an emperor size bed in the Maria del Carmen Hotel on the church square. Water is hot in a power shower. I should be happy. I am miserable. The hotel is vast. Its chill atmosphere is a reminder of pre-Glasnost Russia.
I leave to visit the missions at a reasonable hour. Landa de Matamoros is my first target, 18 Ks. I spot a line of BMW bikes outside a restaurant on the outskirts of town. The BMW Bike Club of Queretaro is breakfasting. I halt and present myself. The bikers seat me at the head of the table. They are of much the same background as my friend Don and his biker friends in Dallas, successful businessmen in their middle years. They are indulging an unfulfilled desire of their youth. They were too busy then, or short of funds. They are good companions, cheerful, funny, generous and intelligent.