Those old pics from Mountainside bring back some memories! That's where I first met JohnG. I clearly remember always being amazed watching him walk everything there in that old single seater.
I know I've told this story a few times, but the first time I actually met him was one night at Mountainside after me Chad and no telling who else had been wheeling there all day. I know I was shooting the **** with Scott Lang and can't remember if Bob Youmans was there that night or not, but we were over around JohnG's RV and I pretty much introduced my extremely drunken self by catching one of his camp chairs with my fake leg that had a side table on it where 3 open jars of moonshine sat....knocked them all over into the dirt! What a party foul! I immediately apologized and the way I usually am I may have offered to pay for the spilled moonshine, I don't recall a whole lot that night. I do remember him never being a **** to me about it, heckled the **** out of me, but was forgiving. It became a funny inside joke mentioned several times over the next several times I would talk to him at various rides.
I loved wheeling with John in small groups of capable rigs. We would always move through obstacles swiftly and cover a lot of ground, which made for much more fun and satisfied my adhd with sitting still too long on the trail. The last ride I took the red baron to before I sold it was the Golden Ticket ride at Gray Rock. As soon as I got there, John saw me unloading and stopped by in solo buggy and said "hurry up, were about to go ride the backside (or whatever it's called) of the park." So I hurried and unloaded, and caught up with him, TK, Lucas (Gizmo), Ben Bone, and some others. Anyways, John showed me around like a tour guide. It was important to him that I see all the cool spots on that side of the park, as I had never been over there before. He was leading and would drop out of line to tell me to follow him over to this or that to show me stuff. I am kinda the same way when I take someone to some place new and want them to get the full experience and see all the cool spots, so these gestures meant a lot to me. Ha, just realized my first and last ride in the red baron was at Gray Rock.
I got tired of breaking Longfields in my front FJ80 axle and was about to drop the coin on some RCV's, so I listed an AR15 with a bunch of ammo, mags, and a case for sell on here and JohnG wanted to buy it. I made a special trip down one weekend to his house to deliver the firearm, as I was in a hurry to get those RCV's ordered and was using the gun money to do so. I arrived at his house and he text me and said he would be there in a minute, he was out in the woods riding on his sxs. He pulled up, we chatted, and shortly thereafter, TK and Rich Berry pulled up. We all sat there shooting the ****, heard a few one leg jokes (which I always appreciate Lol), then Rich and TK left. John then began to show me around his place. Showed me his shop and all his badass rides, the badass back deck built on his shop overlooking the wooded ridge behind it. Showed me the dock down by the creek below his house, then up by the pool/back patio and into the basement. He showed me his vintage Harley, little dirt track car (can't remember what they are called, etc.). Such a hospitable guy, proud of what he had, but not the least bit braggadocious. I really enjoyed the grand tour and the shop chat. I bet I was there for 3 hours or longer and on the way I figured it would be a simple drop gun off, get paid, and make the 1.5 hour drive back home.
I am actually thinking about contacting Nan to see if he still had that gun, as I would love to offer to buy it back as a piece of memorabilia to hang on to.
I rode (or tried to ride) with John a few different times since I sold the crawler and got the Ranger, but couldn't keep up with him for very long Lol (can't wait to get back into a capable crawl rig). One of the last times I rode with him was at Choccolocco for the MYM bash this year and when I approached him, I noticed he lost a good bit of weight, and looked healthy. I said "damn John, you are trimming up and making me look bad". Then we soon after found out about his health issues.
During this time of reflection, I really didn't realize I had rode with John so many times over the past 6 years. I am able to remember them all very clearly because he always made it an enjoyable experience. I am very thankful for his friendship, and he has impacted my life greatly. I was bitching on Facebook one time about how tough an Accounting class was that I was taking online, and he commented immediately on it and said "buckle down and learn it, you will use it the rest of your life"....so that's exactly what I did. I absolutely loved his "no room for bullshit excuses" attitude and I now try to approach things in my own life like that more.
I remember when I was first getting to know John, he or somebody posted in God knows which thread, a picture of him and Nan at a Halloween party and he had on a shirt with a huge "P" on the front of it and what I assume was a giant dildo hanging out of his zipper....he went as a Peacock or "P-cock"...clever. It was then I was like "Holy hell, I like this guy. Business when need be, and party when able. The baby shower invite mentioned above is some majorly classic ****, I will have to remember that one for one day.
I could go on typing forever about who is probably the most driven man I've ever met. I could live to be 150 and probably still not achieve and do half of the things he done in his life. Live every day like it's your last one and never pass on an opportunity to travel, see new things, do new things, and make memories. Hardline will never be the same without JohnG popping in and heckling us in random threads. Anyways, it's difficult to quit typing so I will just end this post here... RIP JohnG, you are missed by many.
