On November 4th, someone mistakenly took my "Pearls of Honor" SAMPLE book...(as seen in this photo above)... from a table at the Harley Davidson Museum.

PLEASE... I'll be more than happy to pay for the postage... PLEASE return it to me... it has important notes and information that is vital to this book project.

Last week, we attended the annual Toys for Tots Charity Golf Classic at Nellis Air Force Base. As it was the weekend before Aviation Nation, we were treated to quite the airshow. Some of our pics are below.



B-25 Mitchells used to great effect by flyers off the USS Hornet in the Doolittle Raid to bomb Tokyo, Japan and 4 other cities 4 months after the Pearl Harbor attack.



During the practice flying for the Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis Airforce Base we got buzzed by history. Wish we could have gotten a closer in shot, but it's not wasy to catch planes flying over 200 mph!

From top left, an F-4 Phantom which flew during Vietnam, a P-38 Lightning from World War II which was fast enough to outrun the German Messerschmitts, an F-86 Sabre from the Korean War which fought Russian-made MIGs, and an A-10 Warthog which is flying right now over Afghanistan and Iraq.



A C-17 Globemaster III (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-17_Globemaster_III) shows off her surprising agility over the golf course at Nellis Air Force Base during the Toys for Tots Golf Tournament.



Perfect blue sky shot of two Navy planes with a little Photoshop

Metal of Honor and the work I do with the Las Vegas Pearl Harbor Survivors will be in the December issue of The Answer. We met the editor Toni Terrell while having lunch with the Survivors just before Veteran's Day. She was intrigued by seeing us with this group, as we are obviously not Survivors ourselves. After explaining our drive to help the Survivors' legacy live on, she decided to do a story on our work.

We had a great time out at the Vegas Valley Book Festival this weekend. Our friend Richard had a nice tent set up for us in the Local Authors Fair area in the historic Frank Lloyd Wright courtyard of the 5th Street School.

The bike got a lot of attention, but it was eclipsed by our special guests — local Survivor Clif Dohrmann and his wife Ginnie.



Las Vegas Pearl Harbor Survivor Clif Dohrmann (Navy Aircrew, Kanehoe Bay) tells a young man about his experiences on the morning of December 7, 1941 at the Pearls Of Honor booth during the local Authors Fair at the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival.

Clif spoke to several people about his experiences on December 7th and even took to the podium to educate the audience on the importance of supporting today's military personnel.


Two sisters listen intently to living history as local Pearl Harbor Survivor Clif Dohrmann recounts his experiences on the morning of December 7, 1941 during the Local Author's Fair at the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival. Mr. Dohrmann was the guest of author Dana Harbaugh. Mr. Harbaugh's book Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember will profile the current activities of the Survivors to keep the memory of World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor alive for today's generation.

Dana visits with Clif and Ginnie.

Ginnie showing some children a picture of the PBY aircraft that Clif flew aboard throughout World War II. Clif related that of the 36 PBYs stationed at Kanehoe Bay on December 7th, only 3 were intact after the Japanese attacks because they had been out on patrol.

When the Zeros arrived, the aircraft were parked wing to wing, fully fueled with 1,700 tons of high octane gas for Monday morning maneuvers. When the bombs and gun fire hit them, they went up like bombs themselves. There was little the Navy sailors could do. Clif and other sailors pulled machine guns from the burning planes and ran to the ammo lockers as fast as they could in an attempt to meet the threat from the air.

Dana yielded his time on the microphone over to Clif in order for the audience to get a taste of "living history" right from the mouth of a Survivor.

We hope to see our Las Vegas residents come out for tomorrow's Veteran's Day Parade. As I mentioned earlier, this will be the chapter's last parade. Join us at 4th Street and Gass Ave. at 10am to show your support for all of our troops and veterans.

We just got word that Metal of Honor will be prominently featured in an upcoming issue of HOT BIKE Magazine. They will be doing a story on the creation of this exquisite work of art created by our team of Las Vegas-based artisans. More details as they come in.

Nearing 90 years old, Las Vegas Survivor Clifton Dohrmann climbed right up on Metal of Honor for a picture during our visit to Nellis AFB in July of 2009. He was just delighted to see the bike and his picture on the front of the trailer. Once up on the bike, he gave Metal a good look over. He seemed very touched by the tribute to him and those he served with at Pearl Harbor.

While you're enjoying the Target Children's Book Festival during the Vegas Valley Book Festival, stop by to see Metal of Honor in the Plaza. You'll have the rare chance to meet living history in the person of our good friend Clif Dohrmann, Pearl Harbor Survivor. He'll be on hand to meet the kids and tell them a bit about life in the Service during World War II and elaborate on some of the images on our bike.Clif was in the Navy stationed at NAS Kanehoe Bay as part of a PBY Catalina aircraft crew on the day of the attack. He served a full 8 years and was in most of the major battles of the War. This is a great chance to introduce your kids to the War that shaped the world as we know it and get them excited about history.

Metal of Honor should be out of the shop tomorrow. She is having her exhaust pipes powder coated over at Chrome Fusion. Just in time, too, we have a busy week planned to kick off November.

Our first appearance with Metal of Honor is Saturday, November 7th from 10AM to 3PM during the 2009 Vegas Valley Book Festival. We'll be in the plaza at the 5th Street School (with the Target Children's Festival.)

The Vegas Valley Book Festival, the largest literature event in Las Vegas, will be held November 4 – 8, 2009, with most events taking place at the historic Fifth Street School downtown. Now in its eighth year, this annual community festival was founded on the simple premise of bringing together those who write books and those who love to read them. The five-day festival is presented by the City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Nevada Humanities and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

If all goes well, we'll have one or two of the local Pearl Harbor Survivors on hand to answer questions and meet the public. (It depends on their health, as they are all over 85.) We'll also have plenty of free Metal of Honor bookmarks and posters. This is a wonderful activity for families and anyone who loves a good story!

Then, on Wednesday, November 11th, I'll be riding Metal of Honor to escort the Las Vegas Pearl Harbor Survivors in the Veteran's Day parade in downtown Las Vegas. The parade starts at 10AM from 4th and Gass Avenue and continues to Stewart Avenue.

This is likely to be the LAST parade the Survivors appear in, as many are over 85 years old. Bring the whole family out to wish the Survivors well and show support for all of those who have served our great nation. You don't have any excuses - it's a CCSD school holiday and kids LOVE parades!



Then on Friday, Novemeber 13th, by special invitation from the Tournament organizers, we'll have Metal of Honor on display as part of the 8th Annual Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Golf Classic held at Nellis Air Force Base. If you wanna hit the links and get a sneak peek at the some of the crack flyers practicing for Aviation Nation over the weekend, this is your place to play! Not to mention it's a great opportunity to help the Marines make a great Christmas for some of the valley's needy kids. Of course, we'll have posters and bookmarks available.

The USMC Toys For Tots Golf Tournament (the Golf Tournament with “Air Cover”) held each year on the Friday preceding Aviation Nation weekend at the Sunrise Vista Golf Course at Nellis AFB, is now in its 8th year. This year’s Scramble tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8AM on Friday, November 13.

Each year the participants enjoy a day of fun and socializing on the links – and - have the unique opportunity to watch the “Air Cover” as world class Aviators go through their the final “dress rehearsals” directly overhead on the last day before Aviation Nation begins. Thomas McGrath, Chairman of the Tournament Planning Committee and a founding member of the tournament said “If you plan to concentrate on your golf game, this is not the tournament for you. However, if you want to have a memorable day, have a chance at winning some tremendous prizes and, at the same time, provide children with Christmas toys...this is your tournament”.

Over the past 7 years, more than $90,000.00 has been raised by the tournaments to help provide Marines much needed support for our community’s children, who otherwise, might have no Christmas at all. Since 1947 Marines have been distributing shiny new toys to needy children and last year alone, the tournament contributed $25,000 in proceeds to benefit the Southern Nevada Toys for Tots program.

McGrath added, “in spite of the current economic environment, we are very encouraged by the early and strong interest from companies, individual players and other organizations in providing support for and participation in this most important fund-raiser”.

Whew! We hope to see you at one of these events! Have a great week!

When you have a bike like ours, you have to be very careful what products you use to clean and maintain the finish. Anything has any harsh abrasives could scratch Metal's chrome or paint. Worse, any residue left by the cleaner would leave gunk in the engravings, dulling their exquisite details. When Metal of Honor first came out of Chrome Fusion's shop, Jason recommended Wizard's Mist n' Shine as the only cleaner we needed.

So that's what we've been using, liberally applied to a multi-fiber polishing cloth. You just wipe the bike down with gentle strokes and the bike just GLOWS. The cleaner contains no wax, solvents or silicone. It doesn't have any petroleum in it to possibly damage the leather seat or discolor other parts of the bike if you did happen to over spray.

We've been really happy with it so far and gladly recommend it for any show bike. You can try it in a small size with this handy saddle pack containing a cloth, Mist n' Shine and two other detailing products.

Wizard's is also made in the USA, another plus in our book! You'll be hearing a bit more about Wizard's from us in the future, as we've struck up a relationship with them to do some promotional marketing with Metal of Honor.

Our friends in the band CTS made it possible for us to have Metal of Honor on display this weekend at the Fremont Street Experience. Catherine and her staff at Vegas Experience were so friendly and helpful, not to mention the nice folks at the Golden Nugget.

We were overwhelmed by the response from the public. The minute Dana pulled the bike in, the crowds started. We had anywhere from 2 to 20 people around all the time. We must have talked to two thousand people over the two days. Since this was Bike Fest weekend, of course a lot of fellow motorcycle riders - many of them veterans - saw the bike. Fremont Street is also very popular with tourists, so we also saw a lot of kids and families. I enjoyed watching people do that double take as they were walking and get drawn into looking at all the engravings. The many emotions passing over the faces of the vets and the public were truly awe inspiring.

It was a great venue for us and I hope they invite us back.

We'll be out on Fremont Street with Metal of Honor 2-11pm on Friday and Saturday night (10-2 & 3) while our friends from CTS take the main stage. Come down at say hello! We'll be set up just east of the outdoor seating at the Satrbucks (Golden Nugget).

We're updating our flickr stream with pics of the hundreds of gorgeous cars and bikes out here at Super Run 2009 in Henderson, NV.

We're out with Metal of Honor today and tomorrow for the 2009 SuperRun Car and Bike show in Henderson, NV. The event is free and families are encouraged to attend. Water Street (henderson's main drag) and many of the side streets are shut down for the next few days while classic, custom and show cars and bikes take over the city's downtown Business District.

When we came in at 7:30 this morning, it was already packed. One of the fellows at the gate found us a place for the trailer - even though we had to squeeze in. His dad is a Pearl Harbor Survivor and the pictures of the many Survivors on the trailer swayed him right to our side. So we got all set up on Panama and Pacific street next to a sweet blue Mustang.

Then I went wandering and met the VFW guys in the parking lot at The Rainbow Club. The GM and the Assistant GM immediately invited us to move the bike and trailer over here once I showed them a picture. Someone hadn't shown up and they had THE PERFECT SPOT open for both the bike and the trailer. I guess it was fate. Metal of Honor is parked in front of the trailer and getting all kinds of "stop in their tracks" looks. The staff and security here at The Rainbow are the friendliest and most professional of folks. Next time you're in Henderson, you should stop in for some of this old-fashioned hospitality!


We put out last week's four 1st Place plaques from the Cub Scouts Car and Bike Show at Red Rock Harley. It was a small show, but you can tell the boys worked so hard on the plaques. We wanted them to be on display in case any of the boys and their family come down. Plus, I'm very proud of my first sweep of trophies for Metal of Honor. It's like seeing your kid get an "A" on her first spelling bee. Baby steps to greatness ;)

Please come out and see us at Red Rock Harley Davidson on Saturday, Sept. 19th for the Cub Scouts 1st Annual Car, Bike and Truck show. They are collecting food for area food banks. With the current conditions in Las Vegas, every food bank is being over run with requests for aid. Let's see if we can surround Metal of Honor with canned goods!


Then next weekend, September 26th we'll be down on Water Street in Henderson for the 2009 Super Run Car Show. They close off the whole street and line it with hotrods, bikes and other special interest cars. Bands and food, too!

Both events are free to attend and make a great day out for the family. Don't forget your sunscreen!

On Saturday, September 12th, AIGA held its Tenth Anniversary Las Vegas Work Show to showcase the best graphic design artists in Nevada.