Motorcycle Views

Wild Motorcycle Tales

By Walter F. Kern

Here's a great story from Proud Biker. Got your own story? Send it to me.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

My fiancée and I ride every day that we can and we have had some pretty interesting experiences to add to our book of journeys.

Last summer, we decided to go for a ride with no destination in mind—which is not unusual for us. What is usual though is that we always have to stop at the local coffee shop so my fiancée can get a drink for the road.

As we were pulling up to the curb of the shop, we noticed there was an old gentleman looking distressed. As Kym got off the bike, she walked up to him and asked if something was wrong.

Here we are dressed in leathers, me with a long goatee, long hair and tattoos, and Kym with her long hair, wrapped in a black bandana, black leather coat and boots, and the old guy acts like we are his best friends.

Well, it turned out that he had locked his keys in his car and had been trying for awhile to get them out. We walked around the car looking to see if there was a window a little bit down so we could get a coathanger down it, but it was a no go. He had locked it up tight.

He had already called his daughter, but it would be some time before she could get to him. He looked at us, put his eyes to the ground, looked at us again and then very quietly, asked if we could go to his house and get his spare keys.

"Well sure," I said. "Is there anyone home?"

"No," he said.

So I was thinking, "Damn, I don't think this old guy will want to get on the back of my Ultra Classic LTD, let alone ride behind me, which I could have done with no problem."

He looked at us, held out his house keys, and said, "Could you ride to my house, go in, and get the keys that are hidden behind a picture frame on the desk in my kitchen?"

When we said we would be glad to go to his house and get his keys, his eyes got all watery, and he couldn't thank us enough.

Well, we went to his house, got his car keys, and as we handed them to him, he just couldn't take the smile off his face. As Kym handed him his keys, she just had to tell him, "You know, you shouldn't ever give the keys to your castle with everything you own in it to strangers. You didn't know if we would even come back or might steal everything from you."

To that he replied, "You might be bikers with all your leathers, but it's your eyes. I knew by looking at you that you were good people."

He tried to give us money for helping him, but we told him no. Pay it forward.

With a smile in his eyes he said, "You see, with all my years here on earth, I like to think that I'm a good judge of people and character, and I was right about you two."

As we were on our ride that day, with the wind, the freedom and the love we share, we both also had a smile that wouldn't fade. It was a good day! -- Proud Biker

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