Paul Sr.

Most of you know I'm a big fan of motorcycles and I am also a fan of the TLC television show American Chopper. I've been watching the show for years. Back in 2006 while on my way to NYC, my friend and I stopped by their retail store in Newburgh, NY. It's a little over 2 hours from here. We looked at the show bikes, took a few photos, and headed on our way.
A couple of weeks ago I found out that Orange County Choppers was going to be hosting a car show and gathering Paul Sr. was going to be at their shop in Newburgh. This is the new shop and retail store combination. Anyway, when I heard that Paul Sr was going to be signing autographs, I was stoked! If there was anyone from the show I wanted to meet it was him!
I figured that it would be crowded and most likely I wouldn't be able to meet him --after all, he was only signing for one hour! I was hesitant to make a decision about going down there.
The weather was lousy when we woke up and Paul and I procrastinated (as usual) about what to do. We decided we'd go for it and hit the road.
When we got there, the parking lot was crowded, but it wasn't as packed as I'd anticipated. The autograph session had already started (we did REALLY procrastinate that morning) so we headed inside to see what the line situation was. Believe it or not, the line was not that long. I was so excited because I knew I was going to get an autograph! I know this might seem silly to some people, but I'm a big Paul Sr. fan. I have a lot of respect for him. He may be cranky and argumentative on the show, but he has overcome a lot of adversity in his life and has become successful against the odds. He has built an empire out of very little. Maybe he argues too much, maybe this, maybe that, but he's still a cool dude to me.
The closer the line got, the more nervous I became. It was weird. He's just a normal guy. I bought a print for him to sign and when I walked up to him, I didn't know what to say! I said hello and he asked how I was and I said, "Good". LOL Wow, exciting! He signed my print and I thanked him. I asked to take a photo and Paulie took our photo. He told us to have a good time and that was it! I was excited to have met him, but I felt like an idiot for not at least saying something else. I didn't even shake his hand! Sheesh! Oh well. What can you do?! : )
We walked around the store, saw the shop through a viewing area, took photos of show bikes, and hit the road. It was a quick stop there, but well worth it. The photo of me & Paul Sr. takes the cake. : )
We stopped at Panera Bread for lunch and then headed into Jersey to visit a few stores that we don't have near us. We figured since we were that far, we may as well incorporate as much as possible into our day.
Our first stop was IKEA. The store was packed with people and we did our best to browse and dodge shopping carts. We wound up buying new dishes and new bedding, yay! It's always fun to make small changes around the house. The best part is that IKEA is very affordable so you can make the changes without breaking the bank.
From IKEA we went to Campmor, a camping gear store of course. Paul was looking for a fleece jacket for his upcoming trip (hopefully) to Argentina. We took some time browsing there as well and he decided to purchase a fleece pullover which is just slightly different from what he was originally looking for.
There were several other places I would have loved to stop in, but it was getting late and we had to get home to let Moab out. We began the drive home and stopped for dinner at Olive Garden. We had a gift certificate to use so we figured it was the perfect time to do so. After dinner it was back in the car for our drive home after an exciting day. : )


Orange County Choppers