I think his first motorcycle was a 125cc that he had when I first came to school in Marble Falls. That was starting in 8th grade. I don’t think he ran all over on it, but rode it over on his side of town.

Then he jumped up to a 350cc. It was metallic blue. That’s the one he wrecked on. (More on that below) During the repairing of it, he switched the color to a metal flake orange.

A few years later he went up to a 450cc, then eventually a 750cc.

Buy the time he and I became reconnected in the 1990s he was riding a 1500cc Gold Wing.

In the spring of 2006 I bought a new 1832cc Gold Wing. It was a platinum color, I think they called it. Was more brown to me. Houy said it was turd muckley dun colored.

I had carried a motorcycle endorsement for 40 years (more on that below) without ever riding more than down the block a few times on a motorcycle.

I went to the Honda Dealership in North Austin and bought that bike. The next day when it was serviced and ready I had one of my sons drop me off there and I rode it home to Bertram. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I hit I-35 and headed north up to Georgetown and hit Texas 29 and came on west.

When I think back on things, I’m not sure that starting my riding career off on a 1832cc motorcycle, and immediately mixing in with an Interstate Highway full of cars and trucks was the best idea. But I survived it. I made my way to Marble Falls to meet up with Houy.

He and I rode lots of miles together. We would switch off and he’d ride mine and me his. He sure did like mine. It wasn’t long until he traded for one of the new style 1832cc bikes. It was a beautiful blue color. Actually much prettier than mine. He wasn’t too willing to let me ride it. I guess he thought I would start liking it and not give it back.

After a few years, each of our health caused us not to feel safe riding any longer. He always talked about converting his into a trike, but never got around to it.

Tommy was always very safe while riding. He knew his limits. I’m not sure that I was nearly as safe, but I made it out alive. I finally sold mine, after seeing it sit in garage for several years. I really don’t miss it all that much. It was mostly about the friendship between Tommy and me that made it worthwhile.

We always talked about taking long trips and seeing the country, but that just wasn’t in the cards. He often talked about how he would love to go Pennsylvania to watch the Little League World Series. He enjoyed talking about his days playing Little League.

It was possible that we could have ridden there and stayed as long as we wanted. Another dream that slipped away.

Houy and I were just a little over a month difference in age, with him being born in July and me in August.

That made important happenings in our early lives coincide. While I can’t remember whether we went together to get our drivers license. But we did go get our motorcycle endorsement together. He had a new 350 Honda that we took it took on. We were 14 years old.

Tommy had been riding for awhile, so it was easy for him to ride along doing as the officer instructed while following behind.

I will never understand how I passed the test. I had never ridden anything but a Cushman Scooter. I think Tommy gave me a quick once over on the way up to Burnet that morning. But I passed and we headed to Marble Falls, with both of us licensed to operate a motorcycle. Wonder what we would have told the officer if he had asked who brought the motorcycle up for us to use?

It wasn’t too many months afterwards when he had a serious wreck right in the middle of town. A lady pulled out in front of him right by the Ranch House BBQ. He ran into her broadside. His injuries knocked him out of a few months of school that year. That caused him to graduate a year later, in 1971.

Then as soon as we turned 16, we headed off to Burnet to get our CDL’s. There was a lot of talk between us as to what we drove to test for that. Whatever it was, we both passed and became legal to drive any truck we desired.

All great memories.