Stories

I met Jessi Combs a couple years ago at the Southern California Born Free Motorcycle Show.

My friend Sofi Tsingos (GT-Moto) was working at the Real Deal booth with Jessi and her business partner Theresa Contreras (LGE-CTS Motorsports). She was buzzing and busy, running around talking to fans and blue-collar curious folks who might want to sign up for clinics.

A while later, we made plans to hang out and get into some shenanigans. After getting to know each other for some time, we became buddies.

When I was looking for a new place to live in SoCal, I was having troubles finding somewhere I could have both some workbench garage space and my dog. Jessi, an absolute dream, came to my rescue and offered to let me work out of her shop for a while. I moved in and set up a workspace, staying there for about 8 months.

I gave Jessi my notice right after I decided I was taking off on the Horizon Tour road trip. Shoved what stuff I couldn’t fit in my truck into a storage unit and headed back to Portland to build out the Tacoma.

My initial route brought me south down the west coast, ended up in Los Angeles and Southern California right when Jessi was preparing her beastly Toyota Tundra for a Baja 1000 trip. When she asked me if I wanted to help, of course I jumped at the chance.

I spent maybe 45 minutes lovingly removing rust from her tube bumper with some magic substance I have long since forgotten the name of.