MOTORCYCLE RIDE TO THE BOYHOOD HOME OF ALEX HALEY

It was a peaceful motorcycle ride on the backroads of Henning, Tennessee to pay respect to Alexander Murray Palmer Haley aka Alex Haley, the African American author of Pulitzer Prize winning novel Roots translated into 37 languages, the Autobiography of Malcom X translated into eight (8) languages, Palmer Town, Madam Walker, A Different Kind of Christmas, Queen, Henning and Fred Montgomery. Most people do not know Alex Haley’s first screenplay was Super Fly.

Alex Haley’s boyhood home is the first state-owned historic site devoted to African-Americans in Tennessee.
The home is in a quiet neighborhood and it was owned by his grandparents Will and Cynthia Palmer.

Alex Haley lived with his grandparents from 1921 through 1929. It was on the front porch where young Alex Haley would listen to the accounts about his family history to include the stories of his West African roots and the famous Mandingo Kunta Kinte.

Alex Haley is buried in the front yard of his boyhood home.

I enjoyed walking around the outside of the home with beautiful black and white picture monuments and brief descriptions about his family.

While admiring Alex Haley’s home Porsche Taylor, Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Black Girls Ride Magazine http://blackgirlsride.com/ and I had the opportunity to meet the former Mayor of Henning Mary Ann Jarrett. Ms. Jarrett served as mayor from 2001 through 2005.

Alex Haley contribution to the African American community is invaluable. His legacy reminds us of the importance to uplift and honor our roots with dignity.

BICYCLE RIDE ON THE BALLONA CREEK BIKE TRAIL

The Ballona Creek Bike Trail is a great place to ride if you are trying to build up your endurance to ride up hills since there are some steep hills and ramps to enter and exit.

My 17 mile bicycle ride on my Giant Cypress DX started on the Metro train located at the Western/Exposition station to downtown Santa Monica.

It’s a beautiful feeling to exit the train, walk down a ramp straight to the bicycle trail with a clear view of the Santa Monica Pier entrance.

Every Sunday volunteers with Veterans for Peace set out hundreds of crosses on the beach in Santa Monica to honor the cost of war and to remind beach goers about the sacrifices veterans made for independence. The memorial is also referred to as Arlington West, a nod to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Veterans for Peace was founded in 1985 to bring together veterans interested in working toward alternatives to war.

In the 1930s the Ballona Creek flood control was channelized in concrete to reduce the inflow of salt water to what is now one of the last significant wetlands areas in the Los Angeles basin. The entrances to the bike trail are locked when there is a possibility of substantial rain because the creek waters rise quickly and may submerge on portions of the trail.

The Ballona Creek Bike Trail starts in Marina Del Rey and ends in Culver City.

The Ballona Creek Bike Trail is open year-round to walkers, joggers and skaters. I recommend riding the trail during day light hours as there are limited lights on the trail for night riding and it’s a safe place to ride a bicycle without the presence of eScooters!

SAGUARO CACTUS HUG ON THE OPEN ROAD IN ARIZONA

I feel like I’m receiving hugs from the beautiful Saguaro cacti every time I ride my motorcycle through the Arizona desert.

The Saguaro Cactus is the largest cactus in the United States of America. In Arizona, the Saguaro Cactus is protected by the Native Plant Protection Act . If you are smart, do not touch cactus in Arizona to avoid a class four (4) felony.  You could pay a fine, go to jail or serve time in prison for cutting, vandalizing, shooting, digging up, ramming with vehicle, illegally purchasing or poaching the protected Arizona symbol.

The Saguaro Cactus develops slowly. It takes 3 to 10 days for Saguaro Cactus seeds to germinate. It can take approximately 10 years to grow 1.5 inches before it reaches its full height of 50 feet and weigh more than 4,000 lbs. It usually takes 75 years for a Saguaro Cactus to grow a branch often referred to as an arm. The Saguaro Cactus can live for up to 200 years.

Do your research before you purchase a Saguaro Cactus because it may have microchip to identify a stolen plant.  Make sure you purchase a Saguaro Cactus from an approved supplier. The cost of a Saguaro Cactus depends on the size. Some saguaro cactus can be sold for $100.00 per foot. The Saguaro Cactus are usually sold by approved garden centers or online distributors from $5.00 to $2,500.00.

ARIZONA REVISED STATUTE 3-932

A.   A person commits theft of protected native plants if, without the express consent of the landowner, the person knowingly removes or destroys any protected native plants from private or state land. Theft of protected native plants with a value of:

       1. One thousand five hundred dollars or more is a class 4 felony.

      2. At least seven hundred fifty dollars but less than one thousand five                         hundred dollars is a class 5 felony.

      3. At least five hundred dollars but less than seven hundred fifty dollars is a           class 6 felony.

      4.  Less than five hundred dollars is a class 1 misdemeanor.

B.   A knowing violation of this chapter involving either the misuse of permits, tags, seals, or receipts, or the collection, salvage, harvest, transportation or possession of protected plants without any required permits, tags, seals or receipts is a class 1 misdemeanor. A subsequent conviction for a violation of this subsection is a class 6 felony.

C.  All other violations of this chapter are class 3 misdemeanors except that if a prior conviction is a class 3 misdemeanor, a subsequent conviction is a class 2 misdemeanor, and if a prior conviction is a class 2 misdemeanor, a subsequent conviction is a class 1 misdemeanor.

D.  From and after June 30, 1990, on conviction of any violation of this chapter the director may request of the court that the convicted person, or a responsible person from a convicted entity, be ordered to attend educational classes or programs pursuant to section 3-911, subsection C.

E.  On conviction of a violation of this chapter, the director may also request of the court as a provision of the sentence, the revocation of all permits issued to the person convicted and the permittee shall be required to surrender any unused tags or seals or receipts to the division, and the division shall not issue new or additional permits to the permittee for a period of one year from the date of conviction. The director may further request of the court that the sentence include a provision prohibiting a person convicted of a violation of this chapter from engaging in the salvage of protected native plants or acting as agent for any other permittee for a period of up to one year. In considering any such request to revoke or deny permits or prohibit work in salvage or with another permittee the court shall consider:

1.   The nature of the offense.

2.  The nature of any prior convictions

3. The overall performance record by the convicted party in terms of its                      violations of this chapter compared to its efforts to salvage native plants            as intended by this chapter.

LABOR DAY INCLUDES BLACK HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Motorcycle ride to Memphis, Tennessee where two black sanitation workers  – Echol Cole age 36 and Robert Walker age 30 were crushed to death in a garbage truck compactor on Thursday, February 1, 1968 about 4:30pm.

April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched in Memphis, Tennessee to support the strike of black sanitation workers for equal pay and better working conditions. Some black sanitation workers were not allowed to catch the bus, so they had to walk because their employer would not allow them to wash off the stench of trash in a sink like their white co-workers after working 9 hours per day for $1.25 per day.

April 4, 1968 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

BRIEF BLACK HISTORY LABOR MOVEMENT TIMELINE

1844 – It is worth noting the state of Oregon ordered all black people to get out since it was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in 1887.  Slave holders in Oregon could keep their slaves for up to three years. All free blacks including slaves had to leave Oregon. Those who refused to leave could be severely whipped not less than 20 or more 29 stripes to be repeated every six (6) months until they left.  Black women were given three (3) years to leave and black men were given two (2) years to leave under a law called the Peter Burnett’s Lash Law . When Peter Burnett became the first Governor of California, his push for the exclusion of black people in California was defeated https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/07/when-portland-banned-blacks-oregons-shameful-history-as-an-all-white-state/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.83c5932648f2.

1850 – Samuel Ringgold Ward organized the first black American labor union in New York, New York called the American League of Colored Laborers (ALCL) http://www.blackpast.org/aah/american-league-colored-laborers-1850 for skilled free craftsmen and to encourage African American business to develop agricultural and industrial skills.

1850 – White ship caulkers went on strike and started a riot against the well unionized black ship caulkers because they were sometimes paid more than them due to collective bargaining with Baltimore shipyard owners. The shipyard owners fired approximately 1,000 black workers including Isaac Myers http://www.blackpast.org/aah/myers-isaac-1835-1891 who was born a free black in Baltimore, Maryland in 1835. At the age of 16, he started working as a Ship Caulker. After Myers was fired in 1850 along with other black ship caulkers, he and other black laborers established the Chesapeake Marine Railway and the Dry Dock Company to employ themselves.

1865 – Blacks legally freed as slaves had a difficult time finding paid employment and joining unions including blacks in white-collar professions such as the first black lawyer Macon Bolling Allen http://www.blackpast.org/aah/allen-macon-bolling-1816-1894 and the first black doctor James McCune Smith http://www.blackpast.org/aah/smith-james-mccune-1813-1865. Some free blacks worked in blue-collar jobs such as servants, laborers, farm workers, artisans and caulkers.

1869 – African Americans established the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU) to improve working conditions and quality of life for its members collectively on a national level and public education with equal opportunities for blacks. Isaac Meyers became the first president of the CNLU. The CNLU included all races, genders, or occupations.

1872 – Fredrick Douglas http://www.blackpast.org/aah/douglass-frederick-1817-1895 became the second president of the Colored National Labor Union

1887 – Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday.

1894 – Labor Day became a Federal Holiday after a strike led by the American Railway Union also referred to as the Pullman Strike. Black Pullmans had to continue working because they were not allowed to join the union.

1925 – the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters  was established, and the first president of the union was Asa Philip Randolph http://www.blackpast.org/aah/randolph-asa-philip-1889-1979. This was the first union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor  known today as the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

1940 – the International Association of Machinist union known to today as the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (IAM) banned segregation.

1942 – Executive Order 8802 https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/eo-8802.html was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to address pay inequality based on gender and race.

1943 – the National War Labor Board issued an order to abolish pay differentials based on race because America thought it was necessary for the Negro to work so America can win World War II.

 

EUROPE IS THE RECORD HOLDER FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST ALL FEMALE BIKER MEET

The World’s Largest All Female Motorcycle Meet was organized by Sherrie Woolf and Nimi Patel.

In 2017, the world record was set with 1,132 female motorcycle riders.  Female motorcycle riders in Australia and the United States of America (USA) did attempt to break the record. The total count for Australia was 1,002 and 808 for the USA. On July 29, 2018, the goal was to reach more than 1,200 female motorcycle riders to set a new world record.

In February 2018, Porsche Taylor, Founder and Editor In Chief, Black Girls Ride Magazine http://blackgirlsride.com sent me a Facebook invitation to the World’s Largest All Female Motorcycle Meet. I’m so glad I accepted the invitation.  Porsche and I traveled from Los Angeles, California to London, England. It took us 3 ½ hours to get to Lynn’s Raven Café in Whitchurch, England for the count.

It was an honor to finally meet Sherrie in person after following her journey on Facebook.
Sherrie kept individuals engaged on Facebook throughout the year with sponsor, vendor and charity information and introduced the group to international adventure motorcycle riders Zoe Cano https://www.zoecano.com/ and Steph Jeavons https://stephjeavons.com/.

Steph is the first person from Britain to ride on all seven continents and through 53 countries on a Honda CRF250L. Steph’s motorcycle ride started in March 2014 from London. She returned home in 2018.

Zoe rode her classic Triumph Bonneville T100 solo across the American Continent after receiving her motorcycle endorsement with less than 100 riding miles under her belt in 2012.

Sherry wants to keep raising the number of female motorcycle riders and to raise the profile of female bikers to let manufactures know we are out here. Sherry notices the improvement in gear available for female motorcycle riders over the last few years. One of Sherry’s favorite motorcycle gear providers is MotoGirl https://motogirl.co.uk/.  A lot of the female motorcycle riders at the event were wearing MotoGirl leggings.

Sherrie let Porsche and I borrow a couple of her motorcycles to participate in the ride for the count. Porsche was number 433 and I was number 434. The official count for 2019 was 443. The low turnout was due to rain storms across Europe. The rainy weather did not prevent the event from raising £2,458 (3,182.00 United States Dollar) for charity to split among Shropshire, Staffordshire Blood Bikers and British Bikers Relief Fund.

The participants welcomed Porsche and I with open arms and jokingly referred to us as the “Crazy Americans” for traveling across the pond commonly known as the Atlantic Ocean just to participate.

I hope to return to Europe in 2019 to support the World’s Largest All Female Motorcycle Meet record at Lynn’s Raven Café.

 

Motorcycle Ride to Frederick Douglass Home in Baltimore, Marlyand

Motorcycle Ride to Baltimore, Maryland to celebrate the 200th year anniversary of one of my favorite African American Abolitionist Frederick Douglass made me feel proud.

Frederick Douglass was also a champion for women to vote during a time when black men were murdered for exercising their right to vote. He was one of the few men present at the pioneer woman’s rights convention held at Seneca Falls, New York in July 1948.

In 1818, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland. In 1838, he escaped slavery in Maryland only to return to Baltimore to create a prosperous African American community.

In 1890, Frederick Douglass bought his home at 524 S. Dallas Street in Baltimore, Maryland for $1,800.00. The five brick homes known as “Douglass Place” once served as rental properties for African Americans.

I was lucky to find a place to park my motorcycle in the alley directly in front of the house and take a walk in his footsteps.

Motorcycle Mechanics to Motorcycle Riders Ratio

There are more dealerships to sale motorcycles than schools to train individuals to become motorcycle mechanics.

Motorcycle riders purchase a motorcycle only to have a difficult time to schedule maintenance service due to higher rider to mechanic ratio especially during fair-weather rider season.

There is nothing more frustrating to a motorcycle rider than waiting days, weeks or months for a motorcycle mechanic to service their motorcycle to include waiting for parts or waiting for a warranty inspection.

In 2017, the number of motorcycles registered in the United States was around 9 million according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2145. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes493052.htm, the median hourly wage for motorcycle mechanics was $17.15 and the median annual salary was $35,680. The top paying states for motorcycle mechanics were California, New Jersey, Washington, New Hampshire and Nevada. The states with the highest employment number of motorcycle mechanics were California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York.

It’s not too much to ask the motorcycle industry to start a motorcycle mechanic recruitment campaign starting at high schools in states with the highest number of registered motorcycles.

Motorcycle riders want qualified motorcycle mechanics to repair their motorcycle, so they can ride.

 

MOTORCYCLE HELMET WITH PINLOCK VISOR FOR CLEAR VISION IN THE RAIN

MOTORCYCLE RIDERS it is worth it to INVEST IN A PINLOCK VISOR FOR YOUR HELMET TO SEE CLEARLY WHILE RIDING IN THE RAIN.  It is dangerous to ride a motorcycle when your helmet shield fogs.

In 1994, Derek Arnold created the Pinlock system for motorcycle riders to see clearly. The Pinlock system uses a silicon bead sealant when the Pinlock visor is attached to the helmet visor to absorb moisture on the inside to allow clear visibility.  The Pinlock inserts integrate with different helmet brand visors.

There are three different types of Pinlocks:

1. Push Pin – used with Pinlock ready helmets by inserting lens into the face shield
2. Three Component Pin – provides extra grip to a helmet that has an expanded version of the Push Pin system with integrated screws
3. Tear Off Pin – uses Pinlock insert lenses and tear-off strips for motorcycle racers. The Pinlock Tear Off Pins are only compatible with 2D visors.

There are three Pinlock levels for fog protection:

1. Pinlock 30 – universal fit for Pinlock ready helmet brands
2. Pinlock 70 – custom fit for specific helmet brands
3. Pinlock 120 – specific helmet brands for motorcycle racing or adventure riding

Visit https://pinlock.com to see if there is a Pinlock visor available for your helmet.

CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE YOUR MOTORCYCLE RIDE

It’s highly suggested to check the weather along the route you plan to take on your journey to your destination outside your local riding area.

My go to website to obtain weather forecast on Interstates are https://www.theweathernetwork.com/us/maps/us-highway-forecast/ and https://www.accuweather.com/en/driving-directions-weather.  My favorite app to monitor weather conditions is MyRadar http://myradar.com.

The more you ride your motorcycle across state lines, you will LEARN HOW TO READ THE SKY. Is the sky clear? Are the clouds white or dark ready to release rain?

PAY ATTENTION TO THE ANIMALS. I’ve witness for myself during my cross country motorcycle rides the old wives’ tale is true if COWS ARE LYING DOWN IN A PASTURE A RAINSTORM IS COMING…lol

ALWAYS PACK YOUR RAIN GEAR!!! It rains winter, spring, summer and fall.

ONLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOU DRINK PLENTY OF WATER AND LIQUIDS WITH ELECTROLYTES TO HYDRATE to prevent dehydration and heat exhaustion, which can lead to more serious health conditions, such as heat stroke.
Ride Safe and Ride Smart,

SeCCRet the Cross Country Rider

MOTORCYCLE RIDE TO THE FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT IN THE USA

It’s a great feeling to visit four different states at the same time without figuring out how to clone yourself.

I rode my motorcycle on gravel with a beautiful view of seven (7) flags representing three nations Navajo, Ute and United States of America and four states Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The Navajo Nation owns these remote areas of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Ute Nation owns the southwest corner of Colorado.

On February 2, 1848, the United States acquired the remote area currently known as the four corners from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo for $15 million. The people living in the area had the choice to relocate within the new borders of Mexico or receive full civil rights as an American citizen. It is worth noting the land was initially owned by Native Americans before it was claimed by Spain and before Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821.

In 1912, the cement pad was built on site to officially mark the only place in the Unites States of America where four states meet at one point Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. In 1931, the cement pad was replaced with a brass disc marker. In 1962, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management poured an elevated cement pad around the 1931 brass marker. The monument was rebuilt in 1992 replacing the 1931 brass marker with a disc shaped plate.  In 2010, the monument was rebuilt again with the same 1992 disc shaped plate.

The monument is located miles away from gas, food, and lodging. There are several campgrounds nearby the monument. Visitors are encouraged to bring water and hand sanitizer since there is no running water. There are booths surrounding the four corners monument to purchase jewelry, crafts and food directly from the Navajo and Ute.

You will have to wait patiently in line for your turn to stand or lay down in the middle of the four states or figure out creative ways to touch all four states with your arms and legs. Don’t forget to get a picture!

If you plan to ride your motorcycle to the Four Corners Monument, bring your kickstand pad.