It’s pretty hard to deny that Tom Petty is one of America’s greatest songwriters. It’s also pretty hard to deny that motorcycle riding is one of the most mysterious, feared, and revered methods of transportation.
While Bear was finally getting what he wanted as a teenager – a motorcycle, Stephanie was getting “one last opportunity for freedom” before having kids.
Learning to ride motorcycle for these artists & musicians wasn’t that hard, they’re both very athletically adept. Bear was a trials biker and a BMX champ before he was a teenager, before he even picked up the guitar. Stephanie was a gymnast aspiring to be like Nadia Comenici when she found the physical challenge of snowboarding to be a lot more fun. They grew up in different parts of the country–Bear, a California native to artist parents, was discouraged from the two-wheeled daemon as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, Stephanie grew up fifteen minutes from the largest motorcycle rally in the country. She always wanted a Harley like her folks, she just never made it a priority.
So when this young married couple started to realize that their biggest adventure was ahead of them (one day becoming parents), they wanted to revel in their last days of freedom.
They would ride to Alaska.
It seemed the proper adventure to take–momentous and achievable at the same time. Something to make the grand kids proud. Something to write about. Something to get them from behind their desks in this computer-driven era of music and art. (That’s what inspired them most–the freedom, independence and adventure of the open road. Isn’t that what calls us all?)
Hearing the call, they started working even harder. Saving up for a down payment, their dream bikes would be the BMW F 650GS and the F 800GS. They would ride these dream machines all over California, and up to Alaska. And who knows, maybe even down South America!
However, an income from music and art doesn’t always provide the best lending platform. Thanks to the timely intervention of their friend Rory, who turned them on to the rare 1989 Honda Transalp, they were able to locate and purchase used bikes in prime condition. Good thing, too, since somehow having a new set of wheels will make one want to work less, not more, to go adventuring.
There you have it–the beginning of the story. At least the beginning of this story. Follow along as Bear and Stephanie take their new motorcycles on adventures. Or, should we say, let their adventures take them on these new motorcycles.
