Riverside Rest.

Side Car Fun! June 19, 2011

Photos courtesy of Bill Frederick. Write up courtesy of Dick Pritchard.

Remember your first ride on a motorcycle? There you were, sitting behind your (dad, uncle, neighbor, family friend), hanging on for dear life. The engine comes alive, the vibrations rattle your already chattering teeth, and you tighten your grip on the pilot of this mechanical beast. The wind in your face is better than sticking your head out of the family sedan. On the road, though you can only see a black jacket in front of you, the scent in the air tells you the guy down the street just cut his lawn and that the stockyard was nearby, and all too soon you were back home, dreaming of the day when you would take your own motorcycle down the road to wherever you wanted to go. The sound and feel of the motorcycle, the wind in your face, the smell of orange blossoms in the spring, approaching rain in the summer and, yes, that stockyard or dairy farm over the next hill --these are the things that we who ride motorcycles take for granted. But for someone who has never been on a bike it’s just like your first ride. The opportunity to share that first ride experience doesn’t come around often, but it did on Father’s Day this year. On Tuesday of that week, Laura Fletcher told me that her mom, Lucille, asked if I could organize a few Chapter members to ride over to the Bellaire Towers, an independent senior living facility, and take a few of her neighbors for a Harley ride. You just don’t say “no” to Lucille. So on Father’s Day 2011, seven of us had the opportunity to share that first ride experience with 20 hardy and adventurous Bellaire Towers residents. The photos tell the story better than I ever could.