Paul and Clara Mehne
The Sheet Slitter's
Daughter & PeeWee
Clara and I met in October 1978, the first day I began work as a salesman at Carrier-Bock, an employee owned HVAC Wholesale Company. Clara had already been there about five years and headed up the customer sales order department. When I arrived the first morning Clara was at the receptionist's desk, having just brought her a cup of coffee. I was instantly smitten with her and, after she left, inquired as to the status of this gorgeous creature. I found out that she was single and particular. I liked the single part but the particular part was a question (if not a challenge).
It took about three months to get a date and seven years of courting before we finally tied the knot. (Whewwww!)
We both had been married before from which Clara has a son and a daughter and I have three daughters. Currently we have nine grandchildren, all but two in the Dallas area.
Clara is a native Texan, having been raised in Lewisville (a real-live mean Fighting Farmer!) Prior to Carrier-Bock, Clara had worked for the Southland Life Insurance Company for some 5 years.
I was raised in southern Indiana and attended Evansville College and Purdue University. I got to Texas just as soon as I could. I first worked for the Whirlpool Corporation. Fifteen jobs in sixteen years in five states in manufacturing, inventory, warehousing, scheduling, engineering, parts, complaint department and in field sales & service. I then worked for the Rheem Manufacturing Company for three and one half years in service, parts, & warranty management.
I had ridden on, but never driven a motorcycle until the great gas crunch of the early seventies. If you remember the gas lines you'll appreciate the desire for relief. So, my best friend bought a Honda 125 which he said would give him over 60 mpg. That sounded great but the bike was really small and had a kick start. I ended up getting the smallest bike they had with an electric start, a Honda 175 CL. It got over 55 mpg but was really small and underpowered for the highway. I did use it for local commuting until the gasoline crunch was over.
The day after I bought the bike I told my best customer what I had done. Surprisingly, he said that his Shrine Motor Patrol unit rode the same bike and that I should come watch them practice and join them. A week later I did ride out to watch them. I was shocked to see how they rode. There were 16 motorcycles in a 120 foot square riding at speeds up to 30 MPH trying to miss each other. I said thanks but no thanks. I wanted to live a little while longer. I did manage to see them at their state competition in Austin in May.
In July my customer again invited me to come watch them practice for their Obstacle Course Competition in August in El Paso. This is an individual rider on a laid out course for the best time. When the group got to a break, they told me to go ahead and try the course. The course is 3 feet wide bordered with small pylons. If you hit one, an extra second is added to your time. I don't think I missed hitting ANY of the pylons. My attempt was a disaster-period. However, the unit's colonel told me to try it again and this time crank up the throttle to get RPM torque and ride the brake for speed control. You could not believe the difference in control. By the end of the practice, I had the third lowest time of the entire group! (If any of you have problems with slow riding, try utilizing the technique mentioned above.)
Well, that did it. I joined the group and rode with them in all of their competitions for almost 20 years. We won a lot of drill team competitions and when we bought new Honda Night Hawk 650's, I won both the state and national obstacle course competitions.
In 1981 I bought a Yamaha XS1100, still the best bike I've ever owned. It was, however, hard to find someone to ride with. When I did, they would either get transferred, have a wreck or come up short on funds and sell the bike. Clara and I only managed to take our Honeymoon and a few Shriner rides on the Yamaha.
That changed in August of 1993. I was coming home from work and saw a flock of Gold Wings gathered at the corner of IH 30 and Beltline in Garland. I raced to the next exit and returned to the flock. I asked who and what they were. They told me they were a new grua chapter (I later found that to be a GWRRA Chapter.) and that they all had Gold Wings and did a lot of things together. I lamented the fact that I didn't have a Gold Wing, only a Yamaha. They invited me to come ride with them any way and gave me a newsletter. I watched them ride off and was impressed by their friendliness and professional riding style, not to mention the DARN GOOD LOOKIN' BIKES!!!!
Later, I checked the newsletter and found that there was to be a rally at Mountain Creek Lake the next weekend. Clara agreed to go so we went. We had a blast. We won a ribbon for off bike games and a third place in the bike show's "Other" classification (There were only three bike entered in this classification). We didn't understand the organizational structure of GWRRA initially, but found out that this rally was put on by Chapter R, the "Rally Cats". The chapter I had encountered in Garland was Chapter I. We went back home, joined Chapter I, found a used Gold Wing 1200 and the rest is history. We have been blessed with the best bunch of friends anyone could ever hope for!
We got into the bike shows and won in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and even the Can-Am in British Columbia, Canada. Most of the trophies were 1st Place. We were fortunate enough to be Texas II District Couple Of the Year in 95/96 and runner up for Region H COY in 96. We've ridden in all 48 contiguous states and several Canadian Provinces. We've made Wing Dings, Region H Rallies, all of the Region H District Rallies and others including, Mississippi, Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina's Wings Over the Smokies and the Americade Rally in Lake George, New York, in addition to numerous Chapter Rallies. We've also competed and won in the dressing competitions, individually and as a chapter. We are both Level IV, Masters #1074 & 1103 and strongly recommend this program to everyone. We currently have a 1996 green GL1500 SE, matching Colorado cargo trailer and a black Kwik Kamp.
In closing (finally) we would like to say that we dearly love each and every one of you and thank you with all of our heart for the love friendship and fellowship you all have afforded us during the last decade or so.
Remember your T-Clock and go for your Masters.
Wishing you good friends and safe riding
Paul & Clara Mehne