6 minute read
Bullwinkle Chronicles
The Bullwinkle
By: Bob Seymour
Chronicles
“It’s hard to believe but summer is almost over already and fall is knocking at the door. The daylight hours are fading and cool evening and morning temperatures are a very welcome change from the sweltering heat of the dog days of August. Fall is one of my favorite times of year, the colors that the shortened daylight hours produce are breathtaking and the cooler temperatures make for some great riding that is easier on Bullwinkle and on me. There are still a lot of good riding days left before the season ends for much of the country and I hope to get many more miles under my belt in the more northern parts of the country before I’m forced to go somewhere south.
I spent a little over a month in Belle Fourche South Dakota this summer, it was a trip I will never forget. I had no idea why I was supposed to go up there so early but I felt it so strongly in my spirit that I had to go. I went up several weeks before the Sturgis Rally began to stay with a good friend I met in 2016 in Henderson Nevada when I was doing a 48 state ride. He came to meet me in a hotel I was staying at and we have stayed in contact for more than 5 years now.
While I was there I helped him build some fence in the early morning while it was cool enough for two old men to be out in the sun and then he and I would ride the Hills together or I would just relax in his camper. He and his sweetheart other half were amazing hosts to me, they fed me more home cooked meals than I’ve had in years and they provided me with my own camper/toy hauler so I could have all the privacy I wanted, they were and are a real blessing.
About 6 months ago I was praying for my friends in Belle Fourche and a very good friend from Indiana came to my mind and I knew that the two of them needed to meet so I contacted them both to see if I could arrange a meeting between them. When both brothers said they were very open to meeting it confirmed in my mind that the Spirit was behind their meeting and when my friend from Indiana arrived in Belle Fourche he and my friend there connected in a very powerful way, in fact the brother from Indiana said he arrived there as a total stranger but left with a new brother. Connecting these two brothers is only one of several people I have felt needed to meet and in each case the relationship has resulted in strong bonds of brotherhood.
I have been living on the road for 6+ years and during that time I have been blessed to have met thousands of people that I would not have met if not for a couple of things. The first and most important thing that led me to meet so many people is my faith in God to provide a way for me to get all over the country. The second and equally as important thing is my love for people and always being available for God to use to minister to them. My faith and willingness to go wherever the Spirit leads has led me to some incredible Divine encounters that changed my life and the lives of numerous people across the nation.
In 6 years as a homeless scooter tramp it has been Bullwinkle that attracted all the attention in the biker community and opened doors for me to build a network of like minded people all over the country. As of yesterday he and I have logged 151,000 miles together and just since I left Atlanta 4 months ago we have logged close to 12,000 miles and 1,500 of them were pulling a pop up camper. He has been the most powerful tool for sharing the gospel without religion being involved I’ve ever dreamed of having and I thank God for him every day.
I was riding the Black Hills in South Dakota with my friend from Indiana and one from Colorado when Bullwinkle’s odometer hit 150,000. We had just left Mt. Rushmore heading into Keystone when I saw it roll over from 149,999 to 150,000 so I pulled into the first parking lot I saw to get a picture of the milestone number on his odometer. When I put the kickstand down and grabbed
Livin ' The Life 26 BehindBarz.com
ullwinkle Chronicles
my phone to get the picture I had a momentary emotional breakdown. In my mind I saw the faces of thousands of people I have been blessed to meet and minister to. I saw grieving families and friends at some of the funerals I attended and performed and the pain and hopelessness in the faces of the parents and grandparents I met in children’s hospitals. I saw the joy of people I had the honor of performing weddings for and the thousands I’ve sat across a table in bars sharing the gospel with. It was like I saw my whole life pass in front of my eyes in about 5 seconds…
As I have been pondering what transpired during my time at my friends place in South Dakota and during the Sturgis rally I realized how easy it has been for me to do all the things I do when it’s God leading me. I don’t in any way mean it has been easy in the natural realm because I give everything I have every month and I sacrifice my time to stay on the road and connected to people, but in the spiritual realm I have done nothing but be available and willing for the Spirit of God to use. Every morning I make myself available for God to use and every night I thank Him for what He did through me or in me that day.
As I was writing this I remembered my friend Gail’s scooter shop’s motto “Feel The Power”, it has nothing to do with the horsepower of a scooter and everything to do with the power we all have to influence our little part of the world. All it takes to change our communities and our nation is a smile or a simple act of kindness to a stranger. I have no doubt that bikers have the biggest and most generous hearts in our society and I am praying that we will all step up and start a change in our respective communities. We all want to see our country change and it’s time for us to realize that the change needed must begin within ourselves first.
