We All Played Together

He really put me on the spot, right in the middle of us making our points, we’re old time, long time friends, he asked if I believe, global warming is being caused by humanity, as he put it, had I succumbed to the myth. This shut me up, him, asking me to take a stand, to commit to a belief, the only way I know, to answer these kinds of questions safely, is to answer with another question. I know, not very functional, but let’s face it, all he was doing, boxing me in, trying to have me take a position, on the cause and effect, was setting up the coke bottles, so he could shoot them all down! So I asked him, how bout this? Good question huh! No really, I said let’s first agree on that we, humanity, pollute the earth a lot, so much so, that we begin to see a need to clean some of it up. You know, I said that we can even agree, that all this polluting, went on in a time, when we didn’t know any better, days we didn’t know, there was a better way of doing it. Then I asked him, what was the relevance of global warming, in this debate anyhow, that if you see that its there, if you agree that its better if it weren’t there, that its ugly to look at, and there’s evidence, locally of harm that its causing, why wouldn’t you want to just clean it up! We, my friend Tony Bell, and I don’t agree on most things, we are the best of friends, I guess I enjoy hanging out with the storytellers, he’s got some great ones too. I’ve been a little wrapped up in the cycle of life lately, the question I posed to him, certainly killed our conversation quickly, we moved to other topics, who was living, who had died, when your the last one standing, do you lose or do you win! So Tony said, he felt that he was losing, about a week before, we had talked, I asked him what was up with Phil, flatly, I remember him saying, PHILS DEAD, I sensed it then, in the sound of his voice, that he felt abandoned. We talked some about Phil Ross, I had met him once, Tony began to sound a little more happy, remembering his missing friend with me. We had all been up camping, on the Kern River, over a Memorial Day Holiday, my Wife and me, Tony, and his girl Sue, Jim Wanamaker, and his girl too. Set up, at the prime spot on the river, Tony and I, both got our cars stuck in the sand, wanting to have our cars a little closer to our site. Tony, Jim, and I, were discussing the situation, that we had everything we needed with us, that we still had one car to use if we needed more beer. About the time we figured to deal with the mess on Sunday, Jim’s girl, comes running down the hill, calling us up to help, she’d wanted to get all our cars together, she’d hopped into the Firebird, and tried driving down, only to end up, about three foot shy, of sending it down into a ravine. Needless to say, a bit of friction surfaced, but you know, nothing much had changed, we were just a bit more careful, not to run out of beer, we knew it would add a little more adventure to the story later. Tony’s buddy Phil, was up on the river that long weekend, hanging out with some of his Bros, on Saturday, I guess he was out putting around, he saw Tony’s Vette, bogged down in the sand, while riding up the river road, he knew Tony, was camping that weekend, with friends, on the river, he rolled a couple miles up the road, crossed the bridge, then came down the dirt road, just checking, seeing if everything was cool. It gets hot up there on the Kern, we were set up, at the only safe swimming hole, on the river. So, let me tell you about Phil Ross, he was a real trail blazer, Tony and him went back years, back into their 20’s, we hear a rumbling, on the hill behind the river, then from no where, a Big Old Harley, comes over the top, rolling down the path. I’ll never forget this bike, built for long distance runs, on the back bar, an extra 5 gallon tank was lashed. I remember being a little concerned, whether he’d get back up and out, a steep ride up the path, I asked, he laughed, said he’d been worse places than this, he was showing relief, hearing we were good, he understood our choice, to deal with our car situations Sunday. Anyone who knows motorcycles, rides motorcycles, knows this guys work, Phase 3 Beltdrives!!! I recall, being told once, belts, were for holding up your pants, that chains were meant, to drive your machine, Phil Ross, was always thinking out side the box!!!!!
Phillip Wayne Ross
April 19, 1938— December 4 2009
The Man Behind The Modern Belt Drive.
Another Great Man I Feel Honored to Have Known. Ya know, you never know who the great ones are when your meeting them!!!

AND THEN TONY BELL SAID:
  Yea, Phil was a thinker. He did belt drives before the bike manufacturers got into it….and when they did, they had trouble with them. Harley came to Phil for advice. Phil’s hold up longer than any on the market today….not cheap, but the best. He told me stories of customers that bought them 30 years ago…and they haven’t replaced them yet. Pollution is a fact of life, if you want to produce things. It can be reduced AT A COST. Is the public willing to pay more for the SAME item, in order to help the environment. Usually not. That’s the problem. Pollution restrictions (laws) have helped. Cap and Trade, would raise the cost of energy and products so much, that it would cripple the economy, and cost too many jobs. (Obama himself said “Energy prices would necessarily skyrocket). Maybe phasing it in on a smaller scale, or slower…..would work.There is no easy solution. On global warming…..the jury is still out….(not what they try to make you believe). Do we want to destroy out fragile economy, based on fuzzy logic. Let’s be positive before we make that commitment.  We can’t believe the people that stand to make fortunes, pushing their agenda. Gore’s net worth has grown from three million, to a hundred million, since leaving office, and pushing global warming. I would lie my ass off, for that kind of money…in fact, I could be bought for much less!