A year later I bought my first motorcycle for $25. A sailor needed to get back to his ship and it wouldn't start so he sold it to me. That was a 1937 Harley Davidson 61 and I kept it behind the gas station where I worked hidden under a tarp. My parents didn't know about it, so I couldn't ride in my hometown of Woodbury-someone I knew might see me.

In 1949, the US Navy intervened and then the Korean War. After that, marriage (#1), children and responsibilities kept me away from motorcycles until 1963. This time it was a 1963 Honda 305 Dream and it cost $625 new! I was working in Mobile, Alabama and bought it from a Honda/Harley dealer. That was allowed back in those days. I kept it for the 10 months I worked there and sold it when I came back to New Jersey.

It wasn't until 1976 that the next motorcycle arrived. My son, Kevin, who was 11 at the time, wanted a dirt bike in the worst way. We found one at Stone's Yamaha in Berlin, NJ. It was a 1972 Yamaha YZ60; perfect for him to learn on. We played with that bike in the woods around Glassboro, NJ.

One motorcycle always seems to lead to another and I found a Yamaha 360 to play in the woods along with my son. It was December 1976 that I picked it up. There was snow on the ground, but I rode it home anyway. I took it into the basement and rebuilt it that winter.

Enter Ellen (marriage #2) into the riding story. Although she tried to ride Kevin's YZ60, she tore her knee up trying so she settled for a little while for the back of my new Yamaha 750 which I had just bought.

The Yamaha 750 took us lots of places we hadn't been before on a motorcycle. Lots of Poker Runs, in New Jersey and PA. Our favorite was The Garden Spot Motorcycle Club in Ephrata, PA. We'd drive 75 miles just to ride a Poker Run and then turn around and drive home.

The Skyline Drive was the longest trip we took on that bike. We left early one Saturday morning, made it to Front Royal, Virginia for an early lunch and the Drive. Ellen promptly fell asleep in the warm sun after lunch on the windy roads of the Skyline Drive. We turned around at Luray Virginia and headed home. We rode over 400 miles that day. The next morning we got the motorcycle out and it wouldn't start. The battery had boiled dry!

Shortly after that, we knew we wanted to ride longer distances and needed more luggage space.

About the same time, we finally caught up to the Retreads. It was 1977 and I had seen a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer about this club - and a Rally in Gettysburg. The story was all about older motorcyclists - over the age of 40 enjoying themselves. The article was called, "It's 1976, Do You Know Where Your Grandparents Are?" The article had a picture of Walt and Shirley Black, now the New England Regional Representatives. George Austin and George Hynds were also in the picture.

We finally caught up with them in 1977 and joined the New Jersey Retreads that year. We've been a part of the organization ever since. Back then, we didn't meet for breakfasts; we met at the Jamesway Shopping Center in Glassboro, NJ-eating wherever we liked before arriving.

Every Sunday was a new and different ride. One Sunday we even rode round trip to Harpers Ferry, WV-not leaving until after 10:30 a.m. The trip was the idea of Perry Gentile, a fellow Retread. He didn't know Harpers Ferry was in West Virginia. He had heard of the town and wanted to go. He even sent his wife a postcard from there to prove he had made it.

The next motorcycle was a 1981 Honda Goldwing. We kept that for three years and sold it to Bob Merriel, a fellow Retread, who still has it to this day.

By then, Ellen had learned to drive her own motorcycle and had graduated from her first bike, a 1979 Suzuki 400 on which she learned to ride. Thank God for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and Glassboro State College (now Rowan University). They had a beginner's course, which she took.

Her first real long ride was to the Retread Rally in Detroit, Michigan. She was nervous about such a long trip, so when we started out, I said, "Let's go to Lancaster, PA". When we arrived there, I said, "Let's try for Pittsburgh" and so on and so on.

We've both graduated through several motorcycles since then. After the 1981 Goldwing, there was a 1984 Harley Davidson Shovelhead - still the prettiest motorcycle I've ever owned. After that, a 1987 Harley Lowrider. After all, I didn't need a full dressed motorcycle when Ellen had her own; a 1987 Yamaha 1100 which she still has today.

In between the Harleys, the Goldwings, have come and gone and there's one in the garage today; a 1995 Goldwing.

The greatest pleasures our riding years have brought us are the people we've met. For over fifteen years we've gone to the Maine Retread Rally; almost the same number of Virginia rallies and Mid Atlantic Rallies. We have met so many people and made so many friends.

The best part of the Retreads-it's a no-pressure group. If you like to ride, it's the club to join. No one cares what type of motorcycle you ride. There are very few rules; just warm, friendly people always willing to befriend a new motorcyclist.