I was 19; had just earned my motorcycle license in Texas. My teenagers love this story, and emphasize that it could NEVER happen today. I had a boyfriend who drove a motorcycle, and I thought that was cool. I signed up to take a 2 day course so I could drive one too. This is how bad I was .. on the second day, when I walked in, one instructor said to the other, fine, she’s back, I owe you $10.

FURTHERMORE, when I had to ‘pass the test’ I was supposed to stop directly over a line — not past it, not before it, but over it. I had three chances, and this was the ‘final’ part of my test. I went past it, once, and stopped before it, once, so the pressure was on. I watched the ground and NOTHING else in this parking lot, I saw the line, and I squeezed the brakes so hard, so very hard, that I … laid the bike down (which is cool motorcycle talk for the bike and I fell over and slid sideways). I was … not supposed to do that. The entire class was horrified, and checked if I was okay (I was) before laughing uncontrollably. I begged for just ONE MORE chance.

As I recall it, one instructor looked to the other. And he said … “listen, as long as you SWEAR you will NEVER drive a motorcycle once, for any reason at all, I will give you your license.” And he did, and I did not! I broke up with that boyfriend (or he broke up with me!) soon thereafter, and I don’t think I’ve ever even ridden a motorcycle again, much less driven one. But oh I was proud of that license!

I was staying with my grandmother, because the class was in San Antonio which she lived 20 miles from, and I went home pleased as punch and told her my story. She was an insurance agent, and she loved me, two reasons she strongly agreed with the instructor that I should NEVER drive a motorcycle, but … we did laugh and laugh and laugh.

So I was visiting my friend in Pennsylvania a few months later, and we wandered by a Harley store, and I just sat on one to SHOW I could because I had a LICENSE. But when they asked if I wanted to go out on a test drive, I demurred. But I have the photo my friend took as proof that it happened — there I am, sitting on a Harley, safe inside a store … 🙂