HEY CHARLIE BROWN - What is Thanksgiving???

So what is Thanksgiving anyways?.... Let's be honest, there is a ton of mystery surrounding the original Thanksgiving, and to me the most important aspects of the holiday are actually what it means and is to us today.

So lets break it down - Here are Matt's Top 10 Favorite Acts of Thanksgiving:


1.   Turkey Bowl - For this author, the most iconic symbol of Thanksgiving is the annual early morning game of Football - We roll out of bed on an inevitably cold morning, put on our stretchy pants and sweat shirts- and make our way down to the field. Whether young or old, the morning is celebrated by hot headed competition, pulled muscles and heavy breathing. It doesn't matter if you run the 40 in 4.3 seconds or 4.3 minutes, The Turkey Bowl is a time to laugh and play, to give thanks for the ability to move around and act like a brute. In my opinion its a spectacular event surrounded with happiness and comedy. Hell is there any other time you get to see your fattest friends celebrating life with a dance in the end zone? (Not always a pretty sight). 

2. Turkey Shoot - For my group of friends this has been an annual tradition the week before Thanksgiving.... We deep fry a turkey while blowing things up with guns... Simple, sweet entertainment. I could try to draw a parallel to the first Thanksgiving, but I'm sure it would go horribly wrong or end in a law suit so I will just say this... I love it!

3. Televised Football - After a morning of Blowing Things up - The average American watches a few games while falling asleep on the couch ( All the while someone else is working their butts off in the kitchen) If  we were smart we would spend this time stretching our stomachs for the feast!

4. Charlie Brown - TRADITION 

Mr. Brown has been a part of Thanksgiving prep for as long as I can remember - Here's a link to the whole thing, just so you have it at your disposal

5. Uncle Joe - and other Familiars - Lets face it, Thanksgiving also means having to spend some time with your family. Sometimes its a great thing, other times it will drive you nuts. Either way its a part of the holiday.

Here is a list of 8 Types of Annoying Family Members

6. Getting chased out of the kitchen - One of my favorite games to play on Thanksgiving is "Steal from the kitchen" - It makes me feel like a hyena trying to steal from a lion before the meal. 

7. Massive amounts of Food - Who needs 8 different types of potatoes? - THIS GUY!  It's the best of gluttony and it's only one day a year so bring it on!  Everybody has a favorite part - and for me it's the potatoes. More important to remember is the reason we are doing it... Because we can... Because there have been times when we have had to go without and on this one day we don't have to... It's a time to be thankful for the bounty bestowed upon us. Eat, drink and be merry, and remember how hard you have worked to get there and all the sacrifices and blessings that have been made and received.



8. Massive amounts of Food Comma -

Postprandial somnolence

Can you believe it? There is an actual scientific term for this... Check out this link



9. Shopping - The day began with physical contact and football. Why the hell should it not end that way too? - Although I'm not the type to wait outside the stores, I love the news stories about people getting trampled at Best Buy and Walmart. - Small Suggestion - SHOP ONLINE!



10. LEFTOVERS -

The best thing about Thanksgiving is that it just keeps on giving afterwards. For weeks after the event, my fridge is still stuffed with the trappings of extravagance. I hope yours is the same.

Brotherhood In Arms

Most Holidays have a meaning, but to us at LRS among the most honored holidays is Veterans day. A day sacred to us because of what it means to each red blooded American who has or is serving in the Armed forces and even more so for those who have lost a brother. The day is sacred because it stands for a brother who gave up his life on the field of battle or in the air over the heads of our enemies.

A WISE MAN ONCE SAID....

"Greater love hath no man than he that layeth down his life for his friends "

Even if you are not a religious person, those words have never struck a more true chord because they represent the quintessential meaning of Veterans Day. For those who have been down range they know the truth. Very few men fight for their country, many more fight for the brother beside them. The fact that their brother bears the same flag they do, or the fact that they have each others back means more than a land, more than a government, and even more than loved ones far away. In the moment that a man fights, he fights for his brothers.

This Veterans day we pay homage to all the brothers who have kept us safe and out of harms way, to those who came before us and paved the path upon which we walk our daily lives. Today is the day we dedicate to their remembrance. It is our hope that you will spend the day thinking of your brothers and what they have done for all of us.

Not many soldiers stay in the service because they like the job, They stay because they love their BROTHERS!

THANK YOU BROTHER

An LRS customer sent us this photo which we feel completely encapsulates the spirit of this day.
We were so struck by its meaning that we will share it here in hopes that it will help others understand what today is really all about.

IN NUMBERS HERE ARE THOSE THAT PAID THE PRICE FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE

From War Horse to Iron Horse

FROM WAR HORSE TO IRON HORSE: 

A History of the Horse in Battle and the Integration of the Motorcycle

by Joelle Fraser

Nearly 100 years ago, during the bitterly cold spring of 1916, the future of the American military would change forever.

Mexican Revolutionary General Poncho Villa

It was March, and for the past six years, since 1910, America and Mexico had been in a border war. Skirmishes and raids had turned the border into a battlefield. Finally, it seemed, America was winning.

But all that changed on March 9, when the revolutionary General Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, for supplies. The raid did not go as planned: Villa's 500 cavalrymen were defeated by over 300 United States infantry and cavalry who were stationed in a border fort outside of town.

Sixty to eighty Villistas were killed, along with over a dozen American troops and civilians.

General John Pershing

In response, President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John J. “Blackjack” Pershing to enter Mexico with over 5,000 men to hunt down Pancho Villa. Thus began the Pancho Villa Expedition. In the end, the pursuit of this Mexican revolutionary sparked the modernization of the United States military, transforming it from cavalry-based to a vehicle-based.

It happened quickly. Over the next eleven months, over treacherous mountains and barren landscapes, the campaign would be described by one historian as a “logistical nightmare—no roads, no maps, no water.”

The U.S. government was still a “horse army” at this time, using the animals to carry supplies and messages to the advancing troops, much as the animals had been used in warfare for over 5,000 years.

Horses have been used in warfare for 5000 years

But the army hadn’t prepared for an expedition that would involve more than 700 horses and nearly 150 mules requiring six tons of hay and 9000 pounds of grain as daily feed. Officers had to go out in a car every morning to find and purchase corn and hay from local farmers.

Meanwhile, the 1st Aero Squadron was facing daily disaster trying to cross Cumbre Pass carrying dispatches and mail to forward troops—troops that would eventually penetrate 350 miles into Mexico. Relentless winter weather through early April, particularly icy nights at high altitude, made both pursuit and logistics difficult. An additional regiment of cavalry and two of infantry were added to the expedition in late April.

Lt. Herbert Dargue stated, “It is nothing short of criminal to send the aviators up under such conditions as we are meeting here.” The airmen were “risking lives ten times a day, but are not given equipment needed.”

A postcard of General Pershing's camp at Fort Bliss "Camping on the Border,
near El Paso, Taxas" by Curt Teich & Co.

Pershing, although a fine horseman often pictured astride his steed, could see the value of a mechanized force and the need for “maneuver warfare,” which emphasized speed and mobility. The horse, used in war for 5,000 years, was on its way out.

Trucks were ordered from seventeen truck companies—with chauffeurs and mechanics, because it was still too early for the common foot soldier to know about vehicles.

Harley-Davidson's Model 16-GC featured a sidecar gun carriage
with a special platform for a Colt Machine Gun

The army also contacted Harley-Davidson, which provided 12 (and then 12 more) specially built bikes with sidecars mounted with machine guns. The Model 16-GC – a sidecar gun carriage for military use, featured a special platform for a Colt machine gun. Harley also offered the 16-AC ammunition car and 16-SC sidecar chassis with stretcher assembly.

The motorcycles could quickly reach downed aircraft in Mexico. Soon, motorcycles took over the routine message traffic, and the planes would be reserved for emergency use.

This Harley-Davidson Sidecar rig is preserved in original
condition, and features 61' IOE engine, and HD built side-hack.

But Mexico offered the perfect defensive positions for Pancho Villa, who knew the “country like the back of his hand,” according to one historian.

In 1917, American troops went to fight in WWI,
and Poncho Villa was never captured

Though a few of Villa’s top commanders were captured or killed, and his forces destabilized, Pancho Villas was still at large. However, in Europe, World War I was in full swing. In early 1917, as war loomed between the United States and Germany, President Wilson recalled the army.

General Pershing and his men left the dusty desolate landscape behind, saying, “Villa is everywhere and Villa is nowhere.”

The Poncho Villa Expedition had turned the tides of war, and the vehicle—including the quick and agile motorcycle—would be the go-to tool of the U.S. Army until today.

Motorcycles in Desert Storm

Some information collected from Harley-Davidson.com and WheelsThroughTime.com