Tim's blog

South Point Casino in Las Vegas is home to the annual MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction, the reason for my visit, mentioned in last week's blog. Every January all the old bike nuts come here to buy, to sell, and to tell a few lies.



I flew in on Monday, before the auction started, to work with Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle fame, on the 2011 Classic Triumph Calendar. We try to change-up the calendar every few years, so the backgrounds aren't all corn stalks from Iowa, or canal views and golf courses from Florida.

The MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction is the biggest auction of it's kind in the country.

One of the locals directed us to the little town of Nelson, south of 'Vegas and a little south of Hoover Dam. Nelson isn't much more than a collection of trailers and small houses. Just down the road though is a restored mine site, kind of a refurbished ghost town. There's the general store, the barn and a collection of buildings in various states of disrepair. Scattered between the buildings is an extensive collection of old Jeeps, school buses, Chevy pickup trucks and mining equipment.



To discover this little town, run by a husband and wife team who gave us carte blanche to use the buildings and backdrops, was like being turned loose in the proverbial candy store with a pocket full of quarters. If the mining site wasn't enough, the Colorado River is only a few miles away, and the views of the desert and the river are simply to die for.

Just down the road from Nelson is this eclectic collection of buildings, cars, trucks and stuff. Lots of stuff.

Needless to say, we spent most of our time in Nelson and along the river, rolling bikes into and out of Randy's pickup truck, and then moving them this way and that until we were sure the perfect photo of the T100 or TR6 was contained on the memory card in my digital camera.

We parked this 1963 T-bird in a wash with the Colorado River as a backdrop.

As shown nearby, we did spend one night downtown. Freemont Avenue, with its canopy of lights, seemed the ideal place to photograph old motorcycles. The street has turned into a walking mall of sorts, complete with street musicians, open-air bars and lots of cops. All of who said, "no, you can't roll a motorcycle out here without getting permission." Luckily the folks who run the Plaza, on the west end of Freemont, were a little more open minded. We parked the little 250 Triumph under the canopy of lights at the Plaza, and aimed the lens at the lights of Freemont.


The MidAmerican Auction is a win-win deal for me, partly because I don't gamble (being self-employed is gamble enough). It's hard to beat great weather and endless photo ops. I'm thinking this little jaunt to Nevada could easily become a yearly event for me.

The 1969 TR 25W shines bright with the lights of the Plaza reflected in the paint, and the lights of Freemont in the background.

And for anyone who wonders, we do have some 2010 Classic Triumph calendars left.

Early one morning we parked this 1964 TR6SR in front of anther old mine building.

Since returning from Ohio just before Christmas, the Minnesota weather has turned cold, cold, cold. It's been fifteen degrees below zero for three nights in a row here in Minnesota, forcing me to escape to warmer climes, all in the name of work.


Las Vegas is home to an antique motorcycle auction held in January of every year, and this year I’ve decided to attend. The idea is to take some of the bikes, slated for the auction, outside for photos. Photos that will likely find their way into the Classic Triumph calendar for 2011. The fact that it actually stays above freezing at night here is just a secondary benefit.


My plane hit the ground about 2:00 PM yesterday, and after the typical delays waiting for luggage, I grabbed a brand new Malibu from National and headed for Boulder City. The Rocky City is just a hop, skip and a jump from Hoover Dam. My idea was to ask the locals how I could park a Triumph motorcycle in such a way as to get the dam as the background.

Hoover Dam, built over 4 years starting in 1931, and a perfect backdrop for an old Triumph motorcycle.

But no one told me about the bridge. The new bridge they are building that sails right over the dam. As one of the locals explained, "there used to be some side roads that had good views of the dam, but now it's all fenced off for construction."

Probably costing ten times as much money as the dam itself, the new bridge will skate right over the dam and the river below.

I had to settle for a drive over the dam on the old highway, and a series of tourist photos. And though I'm sure the motorcycle photos I take this week will be dramatic and award winning, there won't be any with the famous Hoover Dam in the background.

Right where it says "Danger Keep Off Wall," that's where the motorcycle should have been placed for the perfect calendar picture.

No, I didn’t actually spend the holiday in Ohio, but it was close. On Sunday the 21st, I flew to Youngstown, Ohio to work with Steve Chaszeyka (aka, Wizard Paint) on some pinstriping sequences. And I have to say watching him stripe is like watching Brett Favre on a good day. The art appears effortless, like anyone and everyone should be able to do this.

From Rat-Fink style cartoons to pinstripes on choppers, Baggers, and F350 trucks, there isn’t a hell of a lot that Steve can’t do. We worked through Monday and Tuesday, and well into Wednesday morning.

The scary part came on Wednesday, as a big storm was forecast for Minnesota, predicted to start late in the afternoon. My plane touched down at 3:30 PM, and by the time I found my truck and scraped the crud off the windows, it was 4:00 PM and snowing steady.

The storm was just getting started however, so the traffic was slow and steady. Not only did I make it back to Stillwater in reasonably good time, I also I made it under the wire for happy hour at the local pub. The cut off is 5:30 so life was good.