Do you remember when, where or what you were doing when you just knew that motorcycles were going to have to be a part of your life???? I mean, that voice in your head screaming, "Yes, that's what I want to do!!!!!"

For me it was the summer of 1974. I was all of 12 years old (almost 13) and we had moved to the small, rural town of New Melle, MO the previous fall. (Pop. is still only about 600 I think.) New Melle is situated at the crossroads of state Hwys D & F, which turns into Mill Street in town. At the time, the town consisted of Schermeir's (sp) General Store, Blair's Feed & Grain, Dan's Meat Market , Fred's Texaco (a full-service gas station) and Ruth's, the one and only tavern in town. All the bases were covered!!!

Well, every July the town has the New Melle Festival which runs from a Friday night thru Sunday night. While it's gotten bigger over the years (carnival rides for the kids, etc...), at that time it wasn't much more than a 2-3 day beerfest (nothing wrong with that!!!) with live music all three nights and Sat. and Sunday afternoons. (All local bands, which btw, four years later I played in a not-so-good rock-n-roll band and we played the festival one Sat. afternoon....My claim to fame!!!) And the highlight of the festival was a parade on Sunday afternoon to honor the Festival Queen, aka the teenage girl that got the most votes.

So that's the set up......

It was Sunday afternoon and people were gathering in town to watch the parade and I ended up on the front porch of Ruth's. (Twelve years old and I was already hanging out in front of bars.... Scary!!) The parade started down the street (Hwy F) from Ruth's, going in front of the bar, thru the intersection of D & F, onto Mill Street, thru town, ending at the Community Club. Well, the parade was in full swing when all of a sudden we heard a faint rumbling sound. It was a clear, hot July day without a cloud in the sky so we didn't think it was thunder. Then, coming around a turn into town on Hwy D were motorcycles. Not just one or two, but dozens. Or so it seemed....... And they were headed straight for the parade.

I'll never forget the look and the sound of all those "choppers" as they rolled into town!!! What an awesome site for a 12 year old boy!!!!! While the grown ups were grumbling about those "damn bikers" and "hippies", I was in awe. This was the kind of stuff you saw in movies!!! Well, at some point one of the grown ups in the crowd decided to be cordial and stopped the parade and waved the bikers through. Again, the sound was unforgettable as all those bikes roared through town!!!! As they left it was obvious by their "colors" that this wasn't just a group of guys out for a ride, this was a "biker gang"; The Saddletramps.....

So it was on that hot July day in 1974 that I knew, someday, I was going to be a "biker".......


Sorry for the long post but I was out at Ruth's (now Liz's) the other night having a few beers and that memory played back like it was yesterday. So it made me wonder, am I the only one that remembers the moment in time they knew they wanted to ride motorcycles.

In The Wind,
Aaron