F*** Al, I'm sorry. Terrible terrible news. Ever since my stop through Phoenix in 2003, I've been eagerly awaiting my next Nunnley experience. My journal entry the day I met Shannon reads:
"Meeting Shannon Nunley was an experience in itself. I should have expected it... another crazed BMW S rider. I saw him coming from what must have been a mile away. He screamed down the hill near the entrance to Lake Pleasant passing a row of cars and a couple Harleys, blinding oncoming traffic with the armada of lighting mounted on the front of his bike. After shaking hands and exchanging brief pleasantrys, "You want to get going? We should try and beat the rush hour traffic. Try to keep up, I'm running radar and I ride fast." Okay then... Blazing through thick traffic north of Phoenix I was glad that I had experience riding in Italy swarming around in a chaotic melee with scooters and cars. You definitely need a heightened level of awareness to comfortably slice through thick traffic at the speeds we were. Not for the weak of heart."
Those couple of days in the middle of my 2 month trip around the U.S. were a hilight to be sure. I don't know how many times I've talked about Shannon to friends. He always seems to come up in the midst of many a motorcycle related conversation, and definitely whenever Arizona comes up. I wish he was making the MotoGP races in July, though I know that he'll be there in spirit. We definitely need to hook up at the race for a bit.
Wish I could be down there to give a hand. Condolences, Al. We all have lost somebody special.
Yours truly, John Meloy.
Here's some pic hilights from '03.
Shannon blazing his favorite road:
In memorium:
Cooking up the best breakfast of my trip:
