I’m sure many of you have seen the post going around that Mad Dog has been telling us for years “2020 was going to be a bad year”.  I know it only took one night of drinking it to know that for sure! I have to agree with it in many aspects, but not all.  Let me tell you about our journey here at Chariots of Fire Customs LLC.

There’s a PANDEMIC and no one has an option.  You MUST get on this roller coaster.  For us it started with canceling our customer appreciation day that we always had in March.  Next we canceled the first bike night in April.  Those decisions were not hard to make because of the statewide shutdown.  So the ride began.

Next was May’s bike night.  The state was just beginning to open up.  I personally had been doing distance learning with my occupational therapy students (ages 3-5 that in and of itself was a roller coaster) therefore I was really feeling the need to distance.  The media was hard to follow with so many different reports saying different things.  So many different camps from “hoax nothing out there” to “extremely serious we will all suffer greatly” and everything in between.  Lord knows how much I prayed for the correct decision.  I wanted to be a responsible shop owner, but also not to panic.  I’m sure I drove Jan nuts with this part of the roller coaster, so many ups and downs!  Lucky for Chariots they were smaller hills.  Jan made the call by looking to the community.  “If the churches open up, we will have bike night”.  So we went to the top of the next hill with a loop thrown in as May was by far our biggest Lincoln County Bike Night to date!  Everyone was soooo tired of being isolated.  No one wore masks and everyone was hugging and kissing one another.  I had fun wearing my bubble wrap making a public display of my unease!

Those of you that follow us closely know that we went on with all of our scheduled events after that with small changes.  We kept the number of people coming into the shop to 25 or less; wiped down all door knobs and tables and chairs after events; and dropped the chili competition at our fall festival.  We have been so very blessed as all of you continued to come and support us not only at events and fundraisers, but also bringing us work.  Chariots hired another mechanic this year and are looking for another as we continue to grow.  Thank you for that.  That part of the roller coaster ride has been a blast!

We have all made sacrifices this year.  Not all of you have been experiencing great fortune.  Many have lost jobs, income, beloved friends and family have died or gotten ill from this pandemic, mental health, stress, depression.  Our personal sacrifice is not being able to see our elderly parents.  Had I not had all the events this year I would have been able to see mom and dad as their health conditions made them hunker down to stay safe.  Jan’s mom is in a long term care facility so no one can visit. The sad, scary, low part of this roller coaster ride.  So, yes, Mad Dog 2020 has been a “bad” year in that sense.

As 2020 comes to a close it will certainly be one for the books I’m ready to get off this roller coaster. . . however, let the new ride begin!  What adventures await us?  What have we taken away from 2020?  A new appreciation of the little things in life?  Did you slow down a bit?  Spend more quality time with family?  Realize what is really important in life?  Were you one of the lucky ones and had time to clean out closets, add a deck to the house, paint rooms?  Did you come up with a new hobby?  With all the motorcycles coming in to our shop we know many of you were able to enjoy your current hobby and got out in the wind putting more miles on your ride.  SWEET!  Life is good.  So blessed are we!

CHEERS!  Bring on 2021!

Light, Love, Peace Out Reine