The Vision
It was 1994 and it began simply enough...three friends, all gassed up and ready to hit the road on the first leg of what was to become a 5000 mile adventure from Oregon to Sturgis, South Dakota by way of Montana and Wyoming, on up through the Dakota's into Canada, roads back west through Banff, and back home south down the Okanogan; a simple prayer...
’Lord, bless these Stallions of Steel and the men who ride them, that they might be free of misfortune and malfunction...’, that sort of thing.
The notion grew as the miles added up. ‘Ride Stallions, Ride like the Wind!!!’, we would call out as we headed off from one stop to the next.
The journey and the stories and the movie that went with it are now things of legend (at least in our own minds), and can and will be shared ‘round the bend.
For now, it’s about what happened towards the end of our road.
Maybe it was being really tired (you know, that moment where you‘re half convinced you could close your eyes for just a few seconds and be ok...), combined with a generous touch of dehydration...whatever it was, and while riding south down through the Okanogan Valley, it came as a Vision!
There it was, plain as day, the mythical beast, The Stallion of Steel, front half a galloping horse, back half engine, saddle, and rear tire of a motorcycle!
My fellow adventurers said I got all animated, waving them off the road, where I exclaimed, 'THIS IS IT!!! QUITE YOUR DAY JOBS, STALLIONS OF STEEL!!!', and proceeded to describe what I had seen...it was to be Stallions of Steel, Inc., a clothing line, a men's cologne, corporate jet...the possibilities were endless!
Then we proceeded to lay down in a shady spot and take a much needed nap.
We finally got home, friends went their separate ways, and the years passed by.
But the Vision never faded...
As it happened, I met Donavon ‘Screaming’ Leaming, inventor, guitar maker, and amazing air brush artist. When I learned of his talents I contracted him to bring my Vision to life as a custom paint job on my ‘91 Soft-tail Custom Harley Davidson. After supplying with some preliminary concept drawings and describing in-depth the image I had seen, Don went to work.
Through his remarkable skills, the resulting air brush art he created surpassed my wildest dreams! Seeing the pix, you can see why!
The rest of my thoughts and memories of that momentous day had to be realized, as was spreading the word!
‘We don’t ride horses of flesh and bone, we ride ‘Stallions of Steel’ and chrome!’
So now, we will have this page...it will grow as our community does, to include ways of sharing your own Stallion images and stories, as well as the opportunity to procure ‘Stallions of Steel’ merchandise to wear with pride.
‘Ride Stallions, Ride like the Wind'!
Dr. R .C. Rabe
