220929 A Trip to Palm Springs

As I remember the motorcycle looked like this:

I was watching a movie about an event in Palm Springs yesterday.

The movie brought back a memory about a trip to Palm Springs in 1967. My old navy buddy Roy bought a Harley Davidson. We set out on a trip to the springs and back. Another old navy buddy, Harry, had bought an old police model Harley that was a piece of worn out junk from a police auction and he went with us on the road trip. His cycle only had 3rd gear that worked so it was slow to get up to speed, but once it was rolling, it ran very fast.

Roy’s cycle was quick, but very uncomfortable so we had to stop every fifty miles or so to rest and get a cool drink. Each time we got back on the road we would be miles ahead of Harry before he could catch up to us. The 173 mile trip one way started on highway 395 back then and changed to another road I don’t remember its name anymore.

We looked around and then turned back and headed to San Diego. Roy got a kick out of jumping far ahead of Harry before he could catch up. When we got back to the turn off to highway 395 we were miles ahead of Harry so we pulled off the highway we were on and onto a dirt rise at the junction of the two highways to wait for Harry. After about 10 minutes, Harry came flying around a slow bend at the junction on the two highways. He was doing well over 100 mph when he saw us. He tried to slow down and pull off onto the rise, but his brakes failed and he shot past us and he did an Evil Knievel stunt, flying across the highway to the other side of the road. The frightened look on Harry’s face is still vivid in my mind today 55 years later. How he avoided not getting smashed by oncoming cars was a near miracle. I am still breaking a smile as I remember this today.