On the Tail of the Comets Comes a Girlie Motorcycle Rider

bill haley and the comets music notes chester paMy travels during the Void Rally 8 brought me to Chester, Pennsylvania. The bonus site was a tribute to Bill Haley and the Comets who recorded at a local radio station. Though the building and its musical history were torn down and lost to time, there are 2 black rubber musical notes embedded in the sidewalk.

…All that remains now are the anonymous inlays in the sidewalk on Crosby Street, cracked with age. Take a picture of a note inlaid in the sidewalk.

When I pulled up to 5th & Crosby I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I pulled into a parking lot and opened my topbox to read my rally book. As I stood looking at the pages, I caught a glimpse of a grandfatherly man walking with a little girl of about 4 or 5. I could feel their gaze fixed on me from about 50 yards.

After reading the rally book entry for the bonus, I closed up my topbox and set off walking across the street looking for the music notes.

By the time I photographed the music notes and walked back to my motorcycle, the man and the little girl were standing in front of my bike. I smiled and gave a nod, getting myself ready to shove off again.

As I stood there momentarily, the man walked towards me and said something. I still had my helmet on with my earplugs in so I let him know and asked him to speak up.

“How you doin’ t’day?”

“Doing great! You?”

“My little friend over here wanted to come get a look at you. I told her that you were a girl but she wasn’t so sure.”

I looked toward the little girl who had her face cradled between the bars of the parking lot fence . She was holding on with both hands and swinging one leg. She stared at me curiously.

I waved to her and laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely a girl, alright.”

“Oh, I know. I told her. But she had to see for herself.”

And with that, he put his hand on my shoulder as if to say take care and walked back to the little girl smiling.

He once again took the little girl’s hand and they walked back the way that they came. She kept looking back, stealing glances at me. As I exited the lot, I honked and waved to her once more.

It has been over a week now since I saw that little girl and I haven’t forgotten about the inquisitive twinkle in her eye. I hope that she doesn’t forget the lady on the motorcycle or at least the idea that if they want to… girls can ride motorcycles, too.

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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7 Responses

  1. bob b says:

    I am the middle of 3 sons, raised by a Mom who did not want girls; “Girls are too much trouble”, she said. Of course, my only child was a daughter! I was determined to make sure she had every opportunity to participate in all the actiivities that interested her. Fortunately, we lived in a town that had a very strong and active girls sports program. Bev, now 25, was on her first dirtbike at age 3 1/2, and was a competitive snowboarder and instructor in her teens. Her motto growing up was “I can’t do it… but I will”. Bob B

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      I’ve always been daddy’s girl, too. I think in many ways – having him behind me prepared me to approach the world like anything was possible. Any opportunity that I want is there for the taking. Approaching life with my own innate female nature and then being nurtured by a man gave me an interesting mixture of tools to tackle the world around me.

      My gender will never be a handicap.

  2. Liz Jansen says:

    Love that story! It’s an important reminder that we’re often touching lives as we go about our business. It’s just not brought home in the same way you conveyed nor are we aware of it. We never know how far reaching one seemingly small act of courage or kindness can reach. Thank you!

  3. Kathy says:

    I’ve had moments similar to that. Priceless. You inspire lots of folks.

  4. Shybiker says:

    You are an ambassador. You influence others. You’ve inspired many, myself included. Keep up the good work, Fuzzy.

  5. Trobairitz says:

    Great story. You are like a little girl magnet. They all want to be like you Fuzzy!!

  6. GLantern says:

    The chances are good you just inspired that girl more then you can imagine. Things like that will stick in a kid’s mind and one day that kid will grow up and buy their own motorcycle and ride the US all because of you. That is a great moment on the road Fuzz.

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