How Does a Cowboy End Up Motorcycle Touring?

Though it wasn't Motorcycle Touring, I got the first of my motorcycles when I was a young Cowboy, around 14, way back yonder in '67 or so.

The little thing was a 'gift' from a neighbor. I'm not sure that you can call one of those old, step through, Honda 90 rigs, a motorcycle... but I rode it through the desert like it was a dirt bike!

Dang thing didn't even have 'real' suspension on the front end... just a little swing arm set up... not a whole lot of travel; and, I expect, that jumping it, out in the desert outside of Tucson, was not the best thing for it! :-)

Some folks, seeing me jump that bike four or five feet off the ground, rippin' through the desert, commented that I wasn't the brightest bulb in the hardware store!

But... shortly, there got to be a bit of competition between Motorcycles, the U.S. Army, Rodeoin' etc. etc. Had trouble decidin' between Motorcycles and Bareback Broncs...

The Broncs seemed to attract more girls! :-)

Thrown in there were a couple Suzuki street bikes; A 250 I sent screaming down the highway, till the chain was floppin' and the spokes were rattlin'! me layin' down on the fuel tank... and a 450 I road past The Ninja Rabbit one winter!

I rode through that whole Northern Colorado winter... wrapped up thick... frozen to the core... looking a lot like a Carhart Covered Michelin man!

That 450 turned out to be my last Motorcycle for nearly 20 years. Marriage, family, and all those dealings, often get in the way of a man's 'druthers'.

That... and the wages of a Cowboy didn't offer much opportunity for 'luxuries'.

But, I always missed the motorcycles. Few things have made me as giggling, grinning, happy, as straddling the saddle of a fine motorcycle and rollin' down Freedom Road! Not even Rodeoin'.

A few years ago, a few years after leaving the ranch... and having our finances improve significantly... I decided I'd done without long enough, returning to the Motorcycle community riding a Yamaha V Star Motorcycle... with the intent of ridin' it motorcycle touring, all over the west.

His Name is Slick

In combination with our RVing... That bike makes for a pretty good life!

The only thing I like better than taking our RV outfit into a fine camp, in far country... is taking that Yamaha, Motorcycle Touring!

Fact is... I'll ride... with a grin on my face... pretty much ANY time... Weather don't bother me much. 'bout the only time I leave the bike parked is when there's snow and ice on the road... and when it's absolutely, bitter cold...

If it's hittin' 30 degrees... I'm saddlin' up... I used to be able to say 25 degrees... but I guess old age is makin' me soft!

Motorcycle Touring, 20 miles at a time... so you can stop and warm up with a cup of coffee, takes some time to get anywyere... but it still beats workin' for a living! :-)

Rain don't shut me down either. Truth is... it makes folks around me a little nervous I think... When I climb off that Yamaha at a stop along a Motorcycle Touring road somewhere... the rain drippin' off me... and pull my helmet off... giggling!... they look at me like I've not only got a loose screw... but maybe even a couple of parts totally missing!

Whatever! All I know is that when I'm rolling... hangin' it in the wind... Motorcycle Touring... out there on Freedom Road...

I... AM... ALIVE!

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