What's with the mailbox?

A common question when people stop by my shop and hang out...  It's Garage Art!  Sure I have a fair amount, and there’s plenty of things to see and checkout while visiting including one completely flat, beat to HELL, mailbox.  Why would that be on the wall?  Surly there’s a story?

Well there is...  

So what’s better than a good old fashion BBQ w/Beer on the 4th of July?  Nothing!!!!  Ya gotta do it!  Hell, even Timbuk 3 wrote a song about it! “Oh Boy, Hey Hey, it’s a national Holiday.....”  Right...  So it’s the summer of 1995 and the boys and I had just moved into a great 2 BDR Apartment in the awesome little College Town know as Isla Vista.  Yeah, I know, it’s a party town.... Blah Blah...   Well we decided that it would be fun to have our friends over to light the BBQ, Drink Beer, and Hang out with the girls!  Fun Stuff!  Well, as the evening proceeds on and the keg runs dry, one thing leads to another and the next thing we know the keg is airborne and headed directly for that poor old Mailbox...  A fit of rage?  Crazy Drunk Boys?  Nah...  Just having fun tossing an empty beer keg thru the air and seeing what we could hit.  After a few direct hits it was time to finish it off with a good old Monster Truck smash!!!  A few ceremonial Back-n-Forth’s and she was done!

Who had the truck?  Well that’s where we take a little little turn in the story...  You see I had become friends with a real cool dude that was living in and around the Goleta area, John Geyer.  John Geyer was just the nicest guy around and an absolute riot.  He was a Drag Racer to the core and campaigned several different cars over the years with his Dad Craig.  I was so stoked to have met him as we had so much in common.    In the time I knew John we did all kinds of things together!  Wrench’n on the Dragster, Driving to LA to pick up fresh Motors from the legendary Bill Maropulos, Dyno Testing at Lambeck’s!  Towing and racing to places like Pomona, and Bakersfield.  Odd Jobs like rebuilding hand rails and stair cases for an Isla Vista Apartment Complex.  And of course general debauchery like drink’n beer, hang’n out, and tearing around town in the ever so big Chevy Truck!  Radio blasting, engine screaming, on the hunt for fresh mud puddles after a nice spring rain! That was John!  Having a good time and smiling all the way!  As you can imagine, John was at our party that evening  and by the time the keg went dry we were ever so thankful that his truck was on hand to smash that Mailbox!  Hell, we even drove over the keg!  Still haven’t collected that deposit.....

So....  Yesterday I woke up and did my normal routine heading into the winery etc.  It’s Friday, no big deal right? For some reason John Geyer popped into my head!  I thought, well I need to seek him out and see what’s going on!  Man, I haven’t talked to him in years!  How cool would be to stop and see him on my way to LA this summer?  How cool would it be to tell him all about the Cackle Car project?  How cool would it be to swap stories about all that’s happened in life since we last saw each other well over 10 years ago?  

So the search began...  I went for the ever popular Facebook first! I figured he’s got to be on there?  Nope...  Then a simple search on Google turned my day inside out.  A memorial site remembering the life of John...  Shit....  Not cool....  What happened?  Where’s my old friend?  Why didn’t I get to say goodbye?  How am I going to tell him about all the crazy times?  How am I going to hear about his life events since we last spoke?

Not going to happen.....

So there you have it.....  A sad day for sure....  However, it was a day to think about life and how we must live it to the fullest.  It also was a day to rekindle memories of some great times and great people!  Times and events that will always be with me for the rest of my my life.  A complex twist if you will to the tale of that old smashed mailbox hang’n on the wall in my shop....

God Speed John Geyer.....