My motorcycle story begins one Monday night, late in the Summer of '69 at a campsite near Turner Falls on my way back from Wichita. I had just pulled over on my '67 TR6C that my late father had bequeathed to me, looking for a place to spread my sleepin' bag when I spotted a very cute young girl sitting alone, looking confused near a pile of wood with two fifths of Jack. I started in with my best Steve McQueen & just about had her gigglin' when a bunch of Harley dudes came stumblin' back from pissin' in the grass, each holdin' a bottle 'cept for one tall ugly one & he was cussin' his bike for breakin' down & eyeballin' me for talkin' to his girl Tuesday. About that time they all noticed my Triumph & the edge was softened and we all built a fire, ate jerky, told Indian stories & drank whiskey until everyone fell asleep except for little Tuesday & me. I was just appreciating how the fire had become a cozy bed of smoldering embers when she reaches over & starts twistin' my throttle. Well, one thing leads to another and before you know it, we're both in my sleeping bag where I whispered endless lies about the prince of darkness.

The next morning when the Harley dudes found us, they dragged me naked to that nearby pile of wood, sat me on it & nailed my left testicle to a big stump. I'm thinkin' this is a fine mess I've gotten myself into when I hear the motorcycles startin' up & Tuesday comes running back in my direction hollerin' he's takin' your bike! Without thinking long at all, I just grabbed her Bottle of Jack, sprang from that log, leavin' her & my testicle right where they were and sprinted bleeding to where ugly dude was tryin' to figure out where the British shifter was.

I smashed him upside the head with that bottle and he went down hard. I jumped on, fired that mother up & scrambled back around to where little Tuesday was smilin' & holdin' my pants & my left nut, which apparently I was only minutes ago prepared to give for a '67 Triumph. She quickly hopped on back & lucky for us, the dudes were on Harleys, thereby making them very easy to outrun as we made our getaway.

We high tailed it South to TWU where her sorority was mostly med students. We drank lots of Jack, ate jerky & all those girls managed to sew me back together while Tuesday insisted it would be helpful if she gently twisted my throttle. We all laughed & told lies the rest of the day & half the night.

I kinda lost touch with those girls over the years, but I still have that Triumph.

But before that......
There was the scary Mother.
The day we fled for our lives.
Her Mustang through the wall.
His Comet, his Mustang & this brand spankin' new Triumph 650.
The five way corner of Peachtree @ Bruton &@ some other road that ends there & only complicates the matter.
Junior High on a 650.
On the back with my Dad to see Don Meredith in the Cotton Bowl and things like that.
Well, 'cause it's a scrambler, things like that.
Driver's license test on a large scrambler.
Fatal Cancer at 39.
A 16 yr old crying in the rain on a motorcycle the day I inherit the TR6C so you can't see the tears.
Going to live with my Dad's best friend Larry who rides several motorcycles and worked at Evert's with my Dad and Johnny Allen who briefly owned a Triumph dealership and sold my Dad a bike so new it saw it's early days in the living room.
All those times I never should have said "watch this".
Competition of speed.
The first wreck that broke out the front teeth.
The second wreck that broke the false teeth.
Interstate Lies from Galveston to Turner Falls.
Two Senior Years and cars from Corvair to 66 GTO to 65 Bug (one on the dash & two on the floor).
Skunk.
Draft Day, 101st Airborne, VA Loan, marriage, kids, baseball, kids college, breast cancer, Harleys.
Larry kept my Triumph safe from me & some of the elements for 30 years.
Miss April meet Tuesday.
Tuesday meet Miss April.
NTNOA
Keith RPM-Big D.
Larry & the steel & wood trailer he also kept, the one my Dad his dad built for the triumph.
My son & I restoring that trailer to it's glory including a couple things donated by Ed Mabry.
Full face helmets.
My knee.