"Motorcycles"

Growing up in my home was like being raised in a Motorcycle dealership. I was surrounded by motorcycles! My Dad was and still is a motorcycle fanatic! My Dad could do a wheelie on anything and I mean anything. He could do a wheelie on a Honda GoldWing 1000! Back in the day there were no helmet laws and he worked at different Motorcycle dealerships. He would ride different bikes home and sometimes he would take me for rides. One time I remember, is going down Beach Blvd. in Orange County Ca. at over 100mph with tears coming out the sides of my eyes from going so fast. Did I like it? Heck ya I loved it! The faster the better. More important I trusted my Dad's riding skills. I've seen more dirt than I think more little girls had when they were small. I did'nt play with dolls. I watched and sometimes helped my Dad work on his motorcycle. At our house it seemed any guy who rode or was interested in motorcycles hung out in our garage. There were always guys out hangin with my Dad. I used to sit on the steps in the garage that led to the kitchen and just listen to them talk. It was like watching a tennis match my head going back and forth watching them all b.s. about there motorcycle adventures. Myself, brother and sisters were taken all over to watch and support my Dad's racing. He raced the Barstow to Vegas race and I remember it was like out in the middle of no mans land and I got bored. So, I decided to go exploring now mind you I'm only five or six years old. I came across what seemed to be a friendly looking cactus I mean it looked like it had soft fuzzy hairs on it and it's shape looked like big mouse ears. Well, I decided not to touch it but to put both hands over it and then instantly thought, not so fuzzy and this hurts! I pulled my hands away from this not so friendly cactus and had hundreds of very fine cactus needles in my hands. I ran to my Mom not able to close my hands and showed her my curiosity "reward". It took what seemed to be hours for her and another woman to take each fine hair looking needle out. Do I touch cactuses anymore? Ah, not so much! My siblings did not show to much interest in motorcyles but I loved it. My first motorcycle was a Honda XR-75. I thought I was the coolest, riding my motorcycle. My Dad fixed it up to make it faster and we would go to different riding spots. Now you need to understand one thing about my Dad and that is he only knows one speed, FAST! When we would go to places like El Mirage (the dry lake bed) or escape country or saddleback and a place we called "Joe's place". We would unload the bikes and put all the gear on and head out for a ride. Of course the deserts have different terrain and some had more sandwashes than others or maybe that was just the route my Dad decided to take me on. If a sandwash was coming up he would look back and hold up two or one finger letting me know what gear to shift down to so I would'nt eat it in the sandwash. Squirrely comes to mind going through the sandwashes! Most of the time I made it through. After my Dad seen I was good to go, so would he and I would be following my Dad's dust trail praying I did'nt crash! His motto "when in doubt gas it"! and he did and still does. When my Dad and the guys were hanging out in the garage it seemed they had a whole different language. Some I understood and some I don't think I was suppose to understand. I still love riding but mostly on the back of my husbands Suzuki 750gsxr. Our trips to Glamis are amazing and it feels like home. There's nothing better, and for the most part people are one big family and happy to lend a hand when they see a rider down or out of gas or like me stranded and can't start the bike up cause I have nothing to lean on to get it started. Never ride alone!!! Trust me not good! Would I trade my childhood for dolls and not motorcycles No Way! Thanks Dad! (WFO)