The Importance Of Pappy's Shack.

Article By: Chris Callen

As I was growing up in stump pull Pennsylvania, there were many people influential in my development as a journeyman philosopher; biker. Most of these people I met one after another while trying to learn how to keep my old Shovelhead on the road. The place where all this activity was fostered was a little 20x20 garage built out of leftover lumber and had a concrete floor, poured three or four feet at a time. It sat at the top of a hill I’m sure used to be the site of championship hill climbs and was the family garage of my brother Scotty. Recently, Scotty and I were working on a tech article in that garage and all those memories came back to me. You see, we never left that little building and it stands in much the same condition today that it always has. I started to realize that the community garage had been an integral part of the motorcycle culture and just like Scott and I, there are stories all over the country about people who get together at a common meeting site to wrench on bikes, bust balls and in general, share the camaraderie for this thing. So this editorial, unlike most that I write, is just a way for me to look back on those days and pay tribute to the men I met, the skills I learned and the moral value of a place we call "Pappy’s Shack."

I still remember the first time I rolled up the driveway to the Sowanick house. Like I said, it would have been a formidable hill climb venue, and like many things the old guys did, if you wanted access you had to earn it in part by making it up that hill. Although that was by no means the last payment that would be made for admission. From there it was trips to cut fire wood for winter, out to the spot on the old back road where the hill side was sliding in to shovel shale that was used to patch the hill climb, I mean driveway, and if someone had something to be fixed, you had better have your ass there to help out if you’d like the same privileges in return. I had no background in fixing a motorcycle at this point and spent a lot of my time getting yelled at for doing stupid things. Again, it was what the old guys did; they yelled a lot and made sure you were listening. I guess the thinking was if they scared the hell out of us, the information had more chance of making it into our over sensitized young brains.

All along the walls of Pappy’s Shack are traces of its history. New motor in the red truck at 153,908 miles. New comers to the garage might not understand this line, but for the rest of us it brings back memories of the old red Ford that Pappy used to deliver papers in. That was how the family money was made and if one of the trucks went down, everyone else’s shit went to the back burner; your life was over until it was fixed! But see, this was a different time in the world, too. We were all poor as hell and once you had the money to buy a bike, more than likely a used one, you needed the support of everyone around you to keep it on the road without spending the rent money every month to do it. I learned a lot of things in that little place, helped on many projects and even built a few of my own bikes. When it came to learning a new skill, we just went at it, and maybe we weren’t right all the time, but we were doing it and that’s where it’s at! Everything from paint to frame raking, collision repair to engine rebuilds, it all happened in the shack. If you were ever in the middle of making your bike pretty when a workin’ stiff rolled up with a cracked frame or broken starter, then you got pushed outside and then pitched in to help get this point "a to b" machine ready for the work week. Recently, one Friday night at Pappy’s shack, just for a moment, it was like we never left. We had a few cocktails while we read the instructions for our latest attempt at a tech tip. Before we knew it, a few friends dropped by, the conversation livened up and the fire was stoked in the old shack once more. Scotty looked at me and said, “This is the good part, man.” and I agreed. This was the part that made me proud to be called a biker and to stand next to these men of good values and character. We laughed into the night as we tinkered around the shop, the walls of which just seemed to resonate with the great past they had been part of. I walked around back, to do what men do behind the garage, and as I looked up at the star filled sky I thanked God for making me just the way he had.

It’s almost hard for me to believe that not that long ago, places like Pappy’s shack were not only an important part of the culture but were essential to the basic survival of motorcycling itself. The men in this sport, and maybe the time I’m waxing nostalgic of, had more concerns about keeping food on the table and gas in the car than how many inches a motor had, or whose forward controls were on a bike. It was a great time to be alive and has made me grateful for the good things today. So if you just got into this a few years ago, or even more recently and happen to pass a little shack like this on your way home everyday, stop in and talk to the people there. The worst thing that could happen is that you might have to cut some firewood, but the lessons you could learn will last a lifetime.

So, the reason for this personal reflection is to set the tone for this month's magazine. This will be our annual year in review issue and it's something we're trying for the first time. With so much going on in motorcycling this year, and as fast as life seemed to move, we figured it would be good to take a part of this magazine and just reflect a minute on things that stuck out from 2006. For us here at the Cycle Source, this has been the best year of our lives. Don't get me wrong, it was a damn hard year and shows little sign of letting up any time soon, but it was the best ever. This was the year we made it to the national news stand and we want to thank all of our new readers and subscribers for giving us a shot. If this happens to be your first issue, please go tell someone about our magazine. Your word of mouth is the most important thing for us right now. Like we've said before, there is no corporation behind us and we're not independently wealthy people so all we have to rely on is that the magazine we are putting out is something that the general riding public wants to read. As it stands, we have just been accepted for additional distribution in Australia and have received overwhelming response in the US to our simple approach to this culture.

For now, we want to wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday season in the hopes that the new year will find us all healthy and prosperous. Wild Man

Wild Man