Back to considering motorcycles for Sepia Saturday!
A couple of posts from my past blogging...
Friday, September 26, 2014
Before I was a Motorcycle Mama...
First I was just a date...
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.
Doug rode this bike across country from Hartford, CT to San Diego, CA where he was about to have "Basic Training" for the Coast Guard.
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.
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 come over to see what they've come up with as well.
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.
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 come over to see what they've come up with as well.
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.
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Another SS post
Saturday, August 19, 2017 Motorcycles in my life
Sepia Saturday sharing from the past...
Motorcyclists love to cruise on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is about 5 miles from my home.
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| Not my ex-husband's first motorcycle, but similar! |
I rode more than this first motorcycle, a Triton, which belonged to my boyfriend
at the time, who I later married.
We didn't stay married all that long, and the best part was having two
sons together. (He had sold the motorcycle when he entered the Coast Guard and before we got married.) After the divorce I found my new-found freedom in the 70s and maybe went a bit overboard. I had a boyfriend who I got engaged to, and we bought a motorcycle together...a little Honda.
Here I am (hands on hips) having a yard sale in 1973. I think it was mainly things my sister was selling as she moved from an apartment in FL to living in a cabin in TN. But there are the Honda's handlebars in the foreground, which I felt pretty comfortable riding on my own.
In a few more years, the next motorcycle in my life was a BMW, which another boyfriend owned. I actually never drove another one myself. (Don't ask how many boyfriends I had, but I'll gladly tell you I only was married once!)
However just last week I heard a motorcycle behind me, and knew it was a BMW by the sound. They are the earliest (that I know of) to have a drive shaft rather than a chain. It makes a world of difference, I think!
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| Not me, nor the exact model we rode in the 70s, obviously! |
And between my home and the Parkway is a huge Harley Davidson store. So most of the "bikes" on the parkway are Harleys.
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This week's Sepia Saturday prompt shows this:
Travel has always been a central theme in photography. Ever since the days of the first Box Brownies, we have got our cameras out at weddings and when we go on holiday. Our theme image this week features a couple of motorcyclists from 90 years ago, with their motorbikes and set against a faded seaside scene. The lady is my mother, the gentleman was a family friend - and the chap with the camera would have been my father. They were travelling - in this case to the village of Blue Anchor in Somerset. You can go where you like for Sepia Saturday 790 - the destination is yours to choose. All you need to do is to post us a link to your old photographs on or around Saturday the 30th August 2025 HERE.
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Today's quote:
No one who has ever touched liberation could possibly want anything other than liberation for everyone. |
REV. ANGEL KYODO WILLIAMS |
Great memories and photos. I have never ridden on a motorcycle. Take care, Happy Friday! Have a great day and a happy weekend.
ReplyDeleteRiding on a motorcycle does put you in touch with the environment around you.
Delete...if I wanted a motorcycle, I'd have to find a new sweetie!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a done deal. I'm pretty sure what your choice would be.
DeleteIve been on a scooter — once. It just turned out that way for no particular reason.
ReplyDeleteI’d assumed that you’d had multiple marriages.
Just married the once. Then shall we say I had boy friends who might have been husbands, they lasted around a year each...several were engagements, but then for some reason or another (and I don't remember a one of them) we broke up. Well I do remember my last boyfriend didn't want to be a father, so he went his way and I had my third son. That was more than 44 years ago. Whew. I did all that before I turned 40!
DeleteDon't laugh but long ago we had a friend who was handicapped. He bought a trike and used to lend it to us. Oh my gosh. It was the most fun! My husband had owned and rode motorcycles on and off but the trike was the thing we enjoyed most, I believe. Every where we went, people would wave. I think they could feel our glee.
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly right about the plethora of motorcycles on those twisty NC mountain roads.
I will point out, in case you didn't know- you were a wild woman. I bet you still are.
One of my recent birthday cards calls me a wild woman. But as I mentioned on my last comment, most everything wild that I did was before I was 40.
DeleteI was engaged a few times, dodged a couple of bullets, two had motorbikes we went all over England and Scotland and Wales on. I learned to ride one, but I was usually the pillion passenger. I have no idea what kind of bikes, but I vaguely remember Triumph (?) Fun days! Misspent youth. I married one of the bikers and used to get rides into work. It amused my colleagues to see me arrive, sober office suit and giant helmet!
ReplyDeleteAh, I'm not the only wild woman who survived to write blogs! There is a difference being the passenger on a motorcycle, isn't there? But it sure was an experience I'm glad I had!
DeleteWhat a history I never read about! My husband had a motorcycle. I think he probably sold it before we were married. I don't recall. It was difficult to carry a tuba on his back to a gig while riding a motorcycle. He did try a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteNow that would have been quite a sight, not to mention a balancing act for him to do so!
DeleteWe see a lot of motorcycles around Sonora & many are Harley Davidsons as there's a H-D dealership in Jamestown three miles down the highway. I know motorcycles are a lot of fun for a lot of people, but the one ride I had on the back of one was not to my liking at all. Now maybe if I'd been driving it? I just don't like not being in control. I didn't like riding behind someone on a horse, nor someone driving/operating a ski-doo, but I loved being up front on the ski-doo. Not so much on a horse, though. :)
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of being in a small airplane, being the rider behind the motorcycle driver. You just bend with the flow kind of, but definitely aren't in control.
DeleteWhat an exciting period in your life. I've ridden as a passenger on a motorcycle a few times in the early 80s but never had the urge to have one. Haven't been on one since my previous experience.
ReplyDeleteGlad to share my adventures. That's what these times are for, to sit around the campfire and share. And as far as I know, all this really happened!
DeleteOne of the best summers of my life was when my husband and I rode a BSA 650 Thunderbolt all over Europe, camping and sightseeing. When we came back to the States, riding seemed more dangerous and we sold it.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so glad you had motor power on those mountains! I bet that was a fantastic trip, and I have major envy!
DeleteBoyfriends and motorcycles, there must be a connection somewhere...
ReplyDeleteAlthough my father drove a prewar Czech CZ 125 t, I did not inherit his love for those machines. Too dangerous on the crowded roads here. And cardrivers tend to overlook their two-wheeled colleagues.
They are noisy things. I'll be happier when they are put away for winter here!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your biker history. My first ride was also on a Triumph, a Bonneville, sitting behind my cousin's husband who was also a sailor in the US Navy. Withing seconds of being in the open on a fast machine I was hooked on the exhilarating thrill of motorcycles. I had just graduated from college and a month later I bought my first one, a Kawasaki 400cc. Three years later I moved up 100cc to a Yamaha 500. Eventually after marriage I was persuaded that I should stick to 4 wheel vehicles. But several years ago my wife surprised me on my birthday with a day rental of two(!) 50cc scooters and the two of us rode up to the parkway. It was my most favorite birthday treat. So far, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think I’ve ridden on a motorcycle one time. They are pretty scary because other motorists often don’t see them, or perhaps they think they can bully them. And some motorcyclists get carried away and do things like running red lights.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing memories of your life with motorbikes. I have never even sat on one and wasn’t that adventurous to want to!
ReplyDelete