Chapter 8

 

Kid of the 50ties

                                            Chapter # 8

   I found the address of Jimmy’s 1948 Harley motorcycle and looked it over. It was in good shape except that the battery was dead and the tag was expired. The guy that lived in the house where the bike was stored charged up the battery and gave me the registration paper. I was all set to go. I filled out the gas tank with about 4 gallons of the gas, checked the oil and left town about 2:00 PM in the afternoon. I took Hwy 93 to Boulder, which was the equivalent City, across Hoover dam and on down to Kingman Arizona and Hwy 66. About 30 miles east of Kingman I came across a big road construction project. I had met a biker in Las Vegas who told me that construction projects would usually give free gas to motorcycle guys. The gas tank only held four gallons which was about a dollar and 20¢ worth of gas. There was so much road construction going on at that time that I was able to get free gas east all away to the Mississippi River.  From there, I headed east toward Gallup N.Mex. Just east of Winslow I was able to get more gas from a road crew. I stayed clean shaven, clean clothes and my story was that I was low on money and trying to get back east to go to school. Being only 18 years old this seemed to work. While cruising down the main street of Winslow, Az. Someone hollered and when I stopped and looked it was the two friends I had pipelined with up in Oregon. We had breakfast together in a café and I learned that they had not gone to West Virginia, but had learned of a pipeline job in Az, and had come to Winslow instead. They wanted me to hire on with them, but I told them that I had to head East instead. From there I headed on to Gallup New Mex. On the way I hooked up with a couple of young guys and a girl headed east also.  When we got to Gallup New Mexico, they started looking around for some gas to steal.  Behind an apartment house they siphoned gasoline from a van and filled my tank with 3 gallons. After we left told them that I was gonna headed north to Farmington New Mex and they continued Hwy 66. I decided that that these guys would get me in trouble if I stayed with them on 66. I took Hwy 491 north,  and for the next 20 miles, I kept looking in my mirror expecting to see a cop behind me.  After another 30 miles I came to a café out in the middle of nowhere, and I was so glad. The sky had suddenly turned black and ugly. I went inside and orderd a cup of coffee and a sandwich.  This sky opened up and dropped buckets of water for about 20 minutes and I stayed dry thank goodness.  I continued up Hwy 491and turned off at Shiprock and headed east to Farmington.  It was about 7:00 PM and getting dark.  I then realized that my battery was going dead.  I pulled over to the side road and waited and a truck came bye.  I pulled out and got in front of him and used his headlights to see.  In about 10 miles we started up a grade and he slowed down so much that I could not keep going so I pulled over to the side and waited.  It was now dark and pitch black.  No cars came bye for about 30 minutes so I started out on my own.  Going just fast enough with my feet dragging on the ground so that I could tell when my feet hit the gravel.  I tried to do this for about 15 minutes to no avail.  It was just too dark so I pulled off the road at a flat spot and lay down under my blanket and went to sleep.  The next morning, I woke up rode into Farmington and by 8:00 I had located a Harley Davidson shop.  He sold me a good used battery and adjusted my chain for $12.00.  I was on my way again. I continued through Aztec New Mexico into Colorado and when I got to Hwy 160, I turned east. I’ll never forget the trip from Pagosa Springs to Alamosa Colo. I only had a light jacket and a was the coldest I ever remember being in my life.  I had to travel up over the Rockies 9000 feet up and down the other side.  I rode only 35 or 40 miles an hour because of the cold wind and every café I passed I stopped to drink coffee in warm up. I looked ragged and riding a Harley, people in the café’s shied away from me and gave me strange looks. I had to keep going because I was afraid, I would freeze to death if I stopped and tried to sleep by the side of the road. The sun came up and I found myself east of Walsenburg Colo. It was warm enough to sleep in my blanket next to my bike off the road. A Hwy Patrolman in Colo. woke me up around daybreak, checked my ID and sent me on my way. Said he was checking to see if I was ok. I was lucky he never saw my outdated license plate. I angled up into Kansas to Hwy 36 and headed east to Decatur Il again. I arrived in Decatur IL., spent three days visiting with Kathy and Patrick Doyle, borrowed $20 from Pat and headed on to Phila. Somewhere in Penna. near Harrisburg I stopped at a farm to beg a tank of gas. The woman wouldn’t give me any, but said that if I would clean out her barn, she would fill my gas tank and feed me a big breakfast. I sure took her up on that deal right away. I arrived at my Uncle Jack’s home late in the day. When I drove up the driveway. He was out in the garage. He was surprised to see me. I remember that he looked at me on that Harley in amazement and asked where I came from. When I told him Las Vegas Nevada. He looked at me again and said “ You rode that motorcycle all the way from Las Vegas Nevada”? He looked totally amazed that a teenager could do that. We talked about the trip for a while and then went inside. I had gotten there just in time for dinner.