ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…. IS AMERICAN MADE!

 

Recently, I was having lunch with my friend Il Plummer at the local “bicycle friendly” business Smoky Mountain Café when our conversation turned to ABC network’s ongoing reporting on “Made In America.” I haven’t seen those spots but Il Plummer is the inquisitive type and now that he is retired from his English teaching position, he has lots of time to ponder the situations of the world. He was educating me on the “Buy American” series and recalled that, in one of the earlier shows, ABC reported that if everyone would simply purchase $64.00 per person of products Made in America, we would create 300,000 new jobs….

We puzzled for a few moments on the mathematics of that statement. (Remember he was an ENGLISH teacher and me, well, I might have made it as a US Navy pilot if I could only figure out where two trains would meet when train #1 left the station three hours earlier than train #2 and travelled at a rate 25% slower) . Neither of us figured out the math this time but we did agree that it was our duty to buy at least $64.00 in “Made in America” materials/products/goods this shopping season. Of course, the more we bought American Made, the more American jobs we could contribute to making.

The whole conversation got me to thinking about riding vehicles on two wheels – both the self-powered kinds and the gas engine powered kinds. I still recall a moment of sadness when I found out that my beloved Harley Davidson was no longer made with 100% American parts. I mean heck, if a Harley ain’t American Made, what is?

(One happy dude on a 52nd birthday!)

This led to a brief consideration of my stable of bicycles and where they were made. I decided not to go look because I was concerned I might go into a deep dark depression if I discovered that my bikes were made in southeast Asia. Well, O.K., I suppose the fact that one of my bikes is a Fuji should be a pretty big hint and knowing that both bikes have Shimano pedals might lead me further down the path to depression.

But, then I thought of the headset on both my Salsa Fargo and my Fuji CCR3. They were made by Cane Creek, a nationally recognized company of excellence in building bike parts. Guess where they are located! Cane Creek is a Western North Carolina based manufacturer in nearby Fletcher, NC. This is a big win for our local community and a win for “Made in America.” Visit their website at www.canecreek.com.

So, here’s a suggestion: let’s all buy local and buy American this shopping season. Contribute at least $64.00 for each member of your family to the American pie and then we’ll watch those jobs come rolling in on that train that left 7 hours ago running at 45 mph for 2 hours and then 53 miles an hour for 5 hours. That should put it here just about the time that Santa arrives…

Until later,

- Zeke