on the back of a Triumph motorcycle with my one-day-to-become husband, who is now my ex-husband.
But back in my early twenties, I was like a lot of women, a bit of a fool for those rumbling machines...and the men who rode them.
A friend of his lived in the middle of the country near St. Louis, MO, and he stopped to visit Dave. And I happened to be boarding in that house, since it was on a college campus, so I met Doug. Our entire relationship then moved into the status of writing letters (remember them?)
He sent me this photo, with a lovely innocent inscription on the reverse...and of course I carried it in my wallet.
To Barbara the "Laughing Girl"
from the dancing prep school hood
with memories of Pepsi on the
cellar stairs.
With love and such,
Doug
Yes that was 1961. The cellar stairs were where we had a lot of our "date" while he may have been working on the Triumph. I know he did give me a ride at some time. And either that trip, or the next, he took me out for pizza as well. The motorcycle was no longer part of the equation by the time we seriously got engaged.
But that's another story. I share this with my Sepia Saturday friends, and hope you'll click HERE and come over to see what they've come up with as well.
Oh yes, In about 1971 I was half owner of a Honda motorcycle with my then boyfriend. We split up and sold the motorcycle. By then I had my first 2 sons, and decided they needed me alive and healthy and that motorcycles were pretty risky to drive around.
Several years later, Doug, by then my ex hubby, again drove a motorcycle and had a bad accident with broken bones...and I don't think he had any more motorcycles. My oldest son, however, did own one when he was in the Navy.
I never rode on a motorcycle. Even if I had been asked, I would have considered it too dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI also spent my late teens on the back of the boyfriend's Scooter. Wouldn't stand beside him though at the tram stop when he wore a leather jacket with a skull and crossbones on the back!
ReplyDeleteThe scooter was more comfortable than sitting crossways on the bar of a push bike.
Wow that was a road trip for him. My hubby # 1 had a motorcycle too, and so did hubby # 2. But once the children arrived, no more, scooter yes, four wheelers and now a golf cart! I always fought to get a ride on one when I was younger too, but my mother was totally against them!
ReplyDeleteI, too, had a boyfriend who was bike-crazy; I have a scar on the inside of my thigh to prove it; bike burns were painful!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your memories; the message on the photo is so sweet. My 40-year-old son is riding a motorbike again. It frightens the life out of me, but then I also loved them once.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he does have that James Dean or Rebel Without a Cause look about him. Who wouldn't want to share a Pepsi on the cellar stairs??
ReplyDeleteMotorbikes were never an attraction for me not that I could have afforded one at any time.
ReplyDeleteI road on the back of a boyfriend's motorcycle once & I was scared to death. I wouldn't ever get on the back of it again & that was the end of that relationship. Ah well . . .
ReplyDeleteMany ages ago I had a motorcycle phase and my first riding experience was on a Triumph too. With the possible exception of flying airplanes, I don't think anything else compares to the thrilling freedom of being on a motorcycle. With regret I gave it up too, though thankfully not the result of injuries.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to be described as the laughing girl. Personally I never felt safe on a motorcycle; my brother had one for a while when i was quite young and that was the last time I rode pillion.
ReplyDeleteAn entertaining psot. I was the unadventurous type and you would never have got me on the back of a motor bike.
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