The American Dream is Alive & Well

Welcome back all my good friends. I'm so glad that you are here today. I have great news today. The American dream is alive and well. I know that so many of us are having a hard time right now with the current economy and there are many of us currently out of work. Living the dream has never been easy, it takes hard work, time, desire and determination. A lot of people are happy living the dream by having the career. Others want the house, family and a large line of credit.

The kind of dream I'm talking about is the one where people live by opening their own business. A good friend of ours, Chris Gibson, just opened his first motorcycle shop, Texican Cycles on Saturday in Jourdanton, TX. I'm really encouraged by this cause Ray & I try everyday to keep our dreams alive. We know what it takes and what it means to do this.

We met Chris & his crew over at Texas Pride bike night last year. Chris has a computerized Dyno Trailer. He can hook your bike up to it and test out the performance of your bike for a few dollars. Ray made a deal with Chris for Chris to do a dyno on Rays Honda and Ray cleaned Chris's Harley. They have been hanging out at the Pride ever since.

Well anyway, Chris completed his tech schooling, bought the trailer and began working on bikes out of the house. As his business grew, he bought some property and little by little he got the building built with a store inside it. Saturday was the day it all came together for him and his crew.

I tried to sleep in on Saturday but Ray on the other hand decided to roll out early and get some stuff done before we could head out. I caught up with Ray and inquired as to what time we would be heading out. Ray had a puzzled look on his face as I asked him. His reply caught me off guard.

“I don't know if I want to go Pig”.

“What!?!”

“It's so hot Pig, I don't know if I want to ride in this heat”

“Screw the heat you little pussy”, I pointed my fist at him, “Don't you do this to Chris and his guys. They are counting on us to be there”.

Ray kind of hung his head in shame and looked down at the floor. I handed him a bottle of cold water and whispered “Suck it up dude, we're going”. Ray sucked down the water and between gulps he slurred something about me getting the bike cleaned up. I obliged his wishes and quickly got the bike ready. A short time later we were headed down the road

Jourdanton, Texas is about 45 minutes south of San Antonio and there are two ways to get there. The long way via the back roads would take about an hour and is out of the way to make it a straight shot, but if you take I-37 south you can get right there. As we passed by the bank, I noticed that the time was 12:07 and that it was 92*. No wonder Ray didn't want to ride, it is damm hot. Well Ray took the shorter route and got us there in no time. Good thing too, I needed something drink BAD!

We pulled in and found the party. They had the BBQ going and a couple of those Port a Cool too. About 20 or so people were there mulling around having a few cold drinks with their BBQ. We dismounted and joined them. As we approached you could feel the dream around you. There was a sense of pride in the air. People were there to celebrate and for good reason. The American dream of opening your own business was alive and well.

There are so few people in our world who can understand the advantages and the disadvantages of owning your own business. Lets take a moment to see.

Advantages                                                Disadvantages

The chance to give someone a job.          Having to deal with employees

Working with your customers                  Having to deal with customers

Having the chance to give back               Having to give more than your fair to your country                                         to the government

The satisfaction of a successful              The stress of running a business

business

The list goes on & on but the excitement of trying will always out-weight the disadvantages. It's all part of the American dream.

Chris and his crew have a really nice place. Ray and I both hope and pray that they will succeed even in these times of economic difficulty. If you ever need something for your bike give Chris a call. Gods Speed to Texican Cycles, we wish them only the best.

Pig