One of the motorcycle owners in my home town had a 45 cubic inch Harley-Davidson V-twin and a 500 cubic centimeter (cc) AJS single cylinder.  I began pestering him to give me rides and to teach me to drive.  He wouldn't let me drive the Harley because it was "too heavy" for me, but the AJS was OK.  That is, until my mother found out.  She threatened to have him arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor - I was 14 - and that was that.  No more lessons.  But it was too late; I was a quick learner.  I wouldn't say I had mastered it, but I had already learned enough to pass what Massachusetts called a test.

    Those hours on the AJS gave me my taste for big singles, generally agreed as a single cylinder motorcycle of 350 cc displacement or greater.

    There was another man in a neighboring city who had a BMW motorcycle and was also an amateur radio operator.  Amateur radio was another of my hobbies, so this gentleman became a good friend.  He had a "two-letter" amateur radio license, as in "W1--."  This placed him in a small and respected group of amateur radio operators.  I don't remember his name today, only where he lived.  In Massachusetts one had to be accompanied by a licensed motorcycle driver when taking the motorcycle test, so my father couldn't be the one.  When the time came, my friend was willing to do it.  He met me at my house and rode on the back of my first 125 cc motorcycle to the registry of motor vehicles.

    The test was almost comical.  After verifying my paperwork, my "instructor," and my motorcycle, the examiner directed me to follow him and another applicant who was taking a normal driving test in a car.  Two times during the test he looked around to see if I was still there.  He couldn't have seen enough to see whether I was steady or wobbly, or under control.  He signed the test when we arrived back at the registry of motor vehicles.

    That was 1956.  Since then I've had a motorcycle license in every state we've lived in that required one.
 

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