Female Trailblazers

I was thinking about the day that we were at the Harley Davidson shop in Toledo, Ohio.  That was on Saturday, August 7, 2010.  We were listening to their in-store broadcast program,  Female Trailblazers. They mentioned Avis & Effie Hotchkiss, a mother-daughter team and the first women to ride cross-country on a motor cycle.  They rode from Brooklyn, New York to San Francisco, California in 1915. They left their home in May, reached San Francisco in August and returned home in October.


The next woman named was Dorothy “Dot” Robinson born April 22, 1912. She was considered one of the most enthusiastic & active women in motorcycling. She was the daughter of a sidecar manufacturer and owner of a Harley-Davidson dealership. Dot worked with her father starting at age 16. She met her future husband at the dealership and married in 1931. They brought the franchise from her father and she became the co-owner. She competed in endurance races in the Great Lakes and worked as a motorcycle courier for a private defense contractor during War World II. Dot was the first president of the Motor Maids and held that position for 25 years; she logged in up to 50,000 miles a year to help increase the visibility of the club. In her lifetime, she estimated having logged over 1.5 million total miles. In 1998 she was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Bessie Stringfield was the third and last women discussed. She started riding when she was 16 years old.   At age 19 she became the first African–American woman to travel cross-country solo. This was in the 30’s & 40”s when it was rare to see a woman riding and even more rare to see an African American woman riding. When I looked her up on the internet, I learned that she was known as the Motorcycle Queen of Miami. She traveled in 48 states and later rode in Europe, Brazil and Haiti. She encountered racism, bigotry and sexism. At that time, due to racism and discrimination, African Americans had difficulties finding places (hotels, etc.) to stay. Bessie once told a reporter, “I knew the Lord would take care of me and he did. If I found black folks, I’d stay with them. If not I’d sleep at filling stations on my motorcycle.” During World War II, she joined a motorcycle dispatch unit of the army. For four years she was a courier. Bessie was honored in 1990 by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) “Heroes of Harley-Davidson.” Ten years later there was an award bearing her name to honor women regarding the sport of motorcycling. Bessie was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2002. She died in 1993 at age 82 after having owned 27 different Harley-Davidsons.



Weren’t they amazing?

Code of the Road

While traveling across the country again on the Harley, I paid more attention to what I call the “Code of the Road”. Motorcycle riders usually acknowledge each other. They put out their left arm. This is when they are traveling in the opposite direction. If riders pass each other while going the same direction they nod their heads. There are also times when a hand motion means to slow down. The rider extends the left arm and pats the palm several times down using a motion similar to the way a basketball player would bounce a basketball. One time, we pulled off to the side of the road and a rider gave us a thumbs up. I quickly learned that "thumbs up" means, "Are you OK?" At one point we actually needed help because our motorcycle wouldn't start. I thumbed down. Another rider, with one leg (yes, a one-legged rider! He had one prosethic leg), actually stopped for us to check on us. Riders do stop to help each other.

I especially like it when we would see one of those very long freight trains. Jim would wave at the engineer and he would blow his horn.

Family

“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
Desmond Tutu

The morning of August 2, 2010, I read, “Christ in our home.” The reading was from the Book of Ecclesiastes 2:1-17.

"So Much to Do”

The end of this reading said, “Thankfully God’s love for us is not based on what we do, but on what Jesus did for us.” So why are our lives so busy and why are our to-do lists so very long? What are our priorities?

This vacation was great. It gave us time to slow down a little and to relax some. It also gave us time to reflect on what is important.

~Family~

The beginning of August we were with Jim’s cousins Terry and Phil in Aurora, Colorado. This visit was about nine days after the last family visit so we truly welcomed the break. Being with family is one of the best things about the trip. I miss my children, grands and siblings but it is great to see family members who live in other states.


First, we were with Jim’s cousins, Buddy and Katie in Serra Vista, Arizona on July 17, 2010. It was a great break from hotels. I told Katie that we were eating real food (great home cooking) as you know; we stated our journey on July 11, 2010. Then we were with Jim’s brother and wife, Jonathan & Lynne on July 18th & 19th. We had a wonderful time when they took us out to dinner (Texan Road House) Jim’s niece and nephew were there along with the new wife who is expecting their first child. On July 21st & 22nd, we were in Las Vegas, Nevada with Jim’s aunt & uncle, Theresa and Woody.  Theresa had homemade ice cream. Woody grilled some food fo us and took us to see a beautiful garden that happened to be in a casino. We also saw the largest water show I've ever seen at the Bellagio. All I could say was, “WOW, that’s a lot of water."   On July 24th we were in Monterey Park California.  Jim has a cousin named Sarah there however, we were not able to see her but we did  get to talk to her. As mentioned above we were in Aurora, Colorado. While there, we saw Terry’s mom, Catherine in Denver and also Terry’s brother, Skipper and his two children. Skipper helped Jim get to the Harley shop for routine maintenance. Around August 7th, we were in Chicago, Illinois and visited more family. We saw Bobby, Russell and Joy. Joy is 95 years old! Bobby took us to pick-up some south side ribs and we enjoyed them at Joy’s.


"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."
George Santayana

Hotels

Our last night in the hotel was on Saturday, August 7, 2010. That was at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Monroeville, PA. It was the 21st night in a hotel out of the 28 nights away from our home. This last week, Jim started saying “I do not know if my bed misses me but I miss my bed. At this point, I also missed our bed. Seven of the nights were with family. Some of the hotels were excellent, some good and some could have been better. When we were at the Days Inn in Princeton, Illinois, Jim said this Days Inn had the best water pressure in the shower. On Saturday morning, August 7, 2010 still at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Rossford, Ohio, he said that this Hampton Inn had the DoubleTree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center in downtown Omaha beat because of the Great shower pressure. (I guess this shower was better than the Days Inn.) Hampton Inn & Suites also had a very good breakfast. Jim liked their bagel tops with the cheese eggs and bacon bits. I liked the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Omaha. We arrived about ten minutes before the end of their all you can eat Prime Rib Buffet. They held it open for us. We also had a voucher for breakfast the next day. They had a breakfast buffet but we could also order food from a menu. We also had leftover prime rib so we only needed eggs and OJ but got a full breakfast anyway. Most of the Best Western hotels were great. We stayed at eight of them. Jim is a Gold Elite Status member. His Hog membership collaborated with this hotel chain so we got discounts and free upgrades. The very first Best Western was a Jacuzzi Room. I believe we had four or five more Jacuzzi rooms. The Best Western –Pine Spring Inn in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico was lovely. They have a courtyard with rose gardens. Children were playing while parents were enjoying beverages. One hotel that could have been better was when we broke our rule of “NO NUMBERS” on 7/26/10. We stayed at Motor 6 in Reno, Nevada. It was getting late and dark. The room turned out to be OK.

Thank You

I still have several topics to post on this blog because I am still reminiscing about the trip. Jim & I really did something miraculous. Just the two of us travelling from coast to coast. YES there have been others to do this including Female Trailblazer, but can you imagine ~ It was really amazing. Now I am writing thank you cards to the family members that we stayed with on the trip. Pictures will also be placed in their cards. I also started putting pictures in our photo albums. I only have room for 1200 pictures. Yes we took a lot of pictures and we did 17 hours of video. Thank you to all of the family and friends that remained home and supported us in other ways.

Pins & Patches - Harley-Davidson

Last night,(Monday, August 22, 2010) Jim and I put pins and patches on our sleeveless denim Harley –Davidson vests. I now have twenty-five (25) pins on the front of my vest. Jim placed forty (40) patches on his vest and his dad will sew them on. He repositioned some, removed some and replaced some. He also has nineteen (19) pins. I guess you can tell we visited quite a few Harley-Davidson shops. I ordered a Harley-Davidson butterfly pin. Still waiting for it to arrive. That will be added to my collection.

List of Things

While traveling, we kept a list of mostly three things, Tolls, Gas and Hotels. We kept track of dates, places and amounts of tolls and for gas, dates, costs, miles, gallons and locations. For the hotels, we listed the dates, places, amounts and who paid. This way, we can total the cost of the trip. We never kept track of meals purchased or what we spent at the Harley-Davidson shops. Jim likes to purchase shirts, patches, shot glasses and sometimes pins from various locations. I usually get pins for my vest. We also brought Harley gifts for the grandchildren.