Okay, let’s see, where to start…I started riding when I was 27 when we bought a 90cc Honda bike. I really rode that up North on sandy fire roads to be away from traffic. Then we bought a 350 Honda and began doing day rides….When my brother-in-law decided to no longer ride, I bought his 350 and we became a 2-bike family. My first windshield was a Mother’s day gift! It was great to ride all day and not feel like a truck ran over me. J

My next ride was a Honda 650, the lower center of gravity was great; it made handling much easier than the 350. With fairing, saddlebags and trunk I began thinking about traveling across country. In planning our first trip to Maine, I calculated that we would have to travel 400 miles per day to make it there and back in the allotted 10 days. So we planned a day trip to cover 400 miles and sat down that evening to determine if we wanted to actually make the trip….I now know that one day is not a test for a 10 day trip. Also that was my first experience of riding in Canada, plus my first experience of riding in a large city….we past thru Montreal on a Sunday evening when all 300,000 residents were returning from their week-end at 65 mph (our speed limits were 55 at the time)!

I’ve ridden bike in all the lower 48 states since that first trip and have accumulated 205,000 miles on three bikes, the 650, a 1200 and now a 1500, all Honda’s. (I’m a bit stuck on Honda as I also drive a Honda car – I’m on my seventh Honda car and travel 2,000 miles per month commuting to work.)

I read about Women On Wheels® in a women’s magazine in 1985 and sent in my membership to find out more about other women riders. At the time I did not know any women who rode. With young kids, my schedule never worked to attend any of the Wisconsin meetings, which were in the Appleton, Neenah area. So when WOW planned the first Ride-In in 1987, I asked my husband and kids to attend with me in Marion, IL. I hadn’t met anyone in WOW before this, so didn’t want to arrive alone (and maybe have to leave alone if the group wasn’t what I was expecting it to be). We had a great time and I decided to become more involved.J When Kathy Heller worked to pull together a chapter in 88, I began to attend the meetings and rides. That year, five of us rode together to the 2^nd Ride-In in Topeka, KS. Then we really got involved and hosted the Ride-In at Devil’s head lodge in 1991. My involvement in WOW has included chapter director, State Ambassador and Board of Trustees throughout the years. I think the biggest benefit of WOW membership is the camaraderie and friendships I have enjoyed over the years.

I had been riding for 16 years when I heard about the MSF courses. So I took the experienced rider course because I had the prerequisite number of miles ridden….and learned that I did not have the correct fundamental riding skills….so the next year, I took the basic rider course with my daughter. I learned that I had some bad riding habits to break and that the skills taught in these courses make handling my bike so much easier!! I now take the experienced rider course nearly every other year to brush up my skills.

I am addicted to riding motorcycles and average about 10,000 miles per year and plan to do much more riding beginning in 2006 as I will be retired!!!