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Former Albuquerquean Tim Lampe and his local brother-in-laws Michael Allison and Odes Armijo-Caster gathered recently for a "Wild Hogs" movie-style motorcycle reunion tour.

Lampe, Allison, and Armijo-Caster are all married to the lively Armijo sisters from the South Valley.

Lampe is the director of athletic and entertainment facilities at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. His innovative and engaged management style has accomplished great things for the school. He ran UNM's The Pit and other athletic facilities for a number of years before he left nine years ago.

Lampe came to New Mexico as a graduate assistant to Gary Colson, former UNM basketball coach. He had played college basketball at the University of Miami (Ohio) and wanted to get into coaching.

Ironically, the Atlanta Falcons had drafted him out of college for his size and speed. Lampe might have had a go at pro football if a devastating hit during training camp had not ended his career early.

Allison has a corporate law practice in town. Armijo-Caster is an executive with Sacred Power, one of New Mexico's leading photovoltaic energy system companies.

I met Lampe for breakfast at The Range Cafe the morning after he arrived. I was able to catch up with Lampe, one of my best friends, before the crew hit the road later that day.

Our opportunities for face time are greatly reduced since he left New Mexico, a fact we appreciate each time we get together once or twice a year, if lucky.

This was Lampe's first time on the annual hog ride. He swears the others have been doing the trip long before the movie came out. For this trip, they rode north to Taos and into Colorado on a five-day circuit.

The movie "Wild Hogs," starring John Travolta, depicts middle-aged men finding second winds in life by breezing through adventures and slapstick mishaps on a similar cycle tour.

Much of the movie was filmed in Albuquerque, Madrid, and other rest stops and corrals around the state. Life turned cinemascope.

Kidded about the parallels, Lampe thought the movie had humor. He said Allison, a hog purist, thinks the movie is stupid.

Either way, the "authenticity" of many middle-aged riders will be forever assessed through the popular influence of "Wild Hogs."

After all, mechanical bulls demarcated the bona fide manhood of the real cowboy from the newbie "Urban Cowboy" following an earlier Travolta movie by that name.

Perhaps one of the reasons for "Wild Hogs" success at the box office was its portrayal of four friends getting together again.

Thinking about such reunions led me to consider the business of getting together or staying in touch with friends and family.

I do not have facts and figures to share, but a notable percentage of the airline and related travel business consist of people on the move to stay in physical touch with loved ones or close friends.

In the case of "Wild Hogs," I imagine the movie has helped boost the Harley rental market significantly, as the newest urban cowboys find new mechanical beasts to ride.

As we push ourselves into our careers in modern America, we become transient, or upwardly mobile, as opportunities evolve in our lives.

The consequence of this fate is that friendships are often defined by and seldom outlast the times of our lives in which they are formed.

In my experience, male friends tend to bond among themselves differently than do women with other women.

Perhaps, the deep "thug, thug, thug" of a Harley replaces the calling of the ancient drums men once gathered around before their big adventures.

We only have so much time and attention to give others before turning in each night. Even family connections shift around, out of sight, out of mind. Years go by, but the yearning for connecting does not. If ever in doubt of this, just look at your cell phone bill.