Motorcycling Around Pheonix - South Mountain Park

At the risk of offending some of my new friends and nieghbors I have found during our first six months here in the Phoenix, Metro area that is is not a great place for motorcycling. Even compared to LA, which boasts of the Angeles Crest Highway, PCH, and the great canyons. Or compared to the stark, but vibrant beauty of New Mexico, southern Arizona is a dump. Once you start getting north of Phoenix toward Flagstaff, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon it is a different story.

However having said all that, there are a few places of interest in and around the Phoenix Metro Area

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The red Marker on the above google map marks the location of South Mountain Park, which as it turns out it the largest recreational park within a metro area in the U.S

It's quite a ride to get there from where we live in northweawt. One has to go to the end of I-17 which is not so bad, but then their is a fair distance one must drive on surface streets through the ghetto to get to the park entrance.



Beginning the ascent into South Mountain Park



A wide view of Phoenix metro looking north



And a slightly tighter view


Following are some random shots in basically sequential order, ascending.

15,000 Miles with John Silkosky

In April of 2008 John Silkosky a native of Fairbanks, Alaska who is also stricken with Cerebral Palsy set out from his hometown on a custom built tryke with a Voyager kit on it for what turned out to be a 15,000 mile trip around the U.S. Along the way he totaled his bike hitting a deer, spent time working at the Quantum Learning Center and overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to eventually arrive in Scottsdale, AZ in November. I recently sat down with Silkosky at a Scottsdale Starbucks where he outlined his journey. Part one of which is presented in the latest Road Show Podcast.

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John Silkosky poses in front of his custom Honda Shadow



Silkosky was kind enough to fully load his bike for the Road Show photo shoot



Check out the powerful electrical solenoid attached to a switch on the handlebars that allows Silkosky to shift normally



Bottom Center is the custom crutch box built by Silkosly's father

The Abuse of Power By Doctors and a Desperate Gamble

This blog post does not have a clear beginning or a foreseeable clear end.  It does, however, have a clear now.  

For those readers who do not know that story, on May 14th 2007 I was horribly injured in a freak motorcycle accident on a desert road on the Arizona/New Mexico border.  I was miraculously rescued and, in fairness, have to thank the doctors who saved my life and put me back together.  
However, since that time, doctors with their over-medication, career and life-damaging reports which they refuse to take responsibility for, and mercenary financial tactics have brought me to a desperate place.

That desperate place is right, here, right now.

There is a specialist at UCLA who several months ago wrote a report, based on hearsay, that prevented me from returning to work and is about to make me lose my drivers license.  In this report she brought into question my my cognitive functioning.    Since that time I have been to another specialist at great expense to myself personally to have my cognitive functioning tested.  (Oh, by the way, no thanks to my psychiatrist, who has consistently over-medicated me and then refused to take any kind of responsibility for the implications of that.)
The cognitive testing shows me all normal.

IN SHORT, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME THAT WOULD PREVENT ME FROM DRIVING OR PERFORMING ANY OTHER TASK AND I CAN PROVE IT.  HOWEVER, NEITHER THE SPECIALIST AT UCLA OR THE PSYCHIATRIST WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THIS!!!!!!!!

Worse still, their foot-dragging and buck-passing cost me a months work and a months disability which cost me my truck.  We are now down to just motorcycles and on March the 2nd I lose my drivers license unless a doctor will sign off on my medical

MY PSYCHIATRIST REFUSES TO SEE ME AND THE SPECIALIST SPECIALIST AT UCLA WILL NOT RETURN MY URGENT PHONE CALLS.  HOWEVER, IN THE BACKGROUND, THEY CONTINUE TO PASS THE BUCK AND DESTROY MY LAST OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A LIVING AND DIG MYSELF OUT OF THE HOLE THAT HAS BEEN CREATED.

So, here is my desperate gamble-when I finish writing this and posting all over the internet, I am going to get on a motorcycle which needs a new clutch and new rear-end bearings and driving to UCLA. This is a distance of about 120 miles over some difficult and dangerous mountain terrain.  I am going to do whatever it takes to confront this doctor and/or one of her superiors and get them to take action.

At this point I am not naming names and I am keeping this report in the domain of blogs and private e-mails.  If I survive the day and do not get some satisfaction I will start naming names and start using my position as a member of the press to spread the story far and wide.  

I have nothing more to lose at this point.

Wish me luck.

J. Cameron Weckerley  Aka  BMWeerman  ....out 

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