Richard Montague

Lee,

I quit riding back in 1980, too much traffic and too many distracted drivers. After moving out to the boon docks  four years ago I bought another motorcycle. I now have three. I would be interested to know how many other classmates ride, what do they ride and what other do fo fun at 71.

Jeff Daum

Good question Richard .  I haven't had a motorcycle since undergraduate (still can remember riding from Oxford Ohio down to Cincy and picking the bugs out of my teeth ).  I stopped riding cycles when I realized it would probably end badly, sliding out from some unexpected gravel on a turn at speed.  The only two wheeler I still have is my 1964 Schwinn Varsity Racer.  I moved into cars of every sort, size and speed from antiques to modern. Here is a picture from last night in my Stingray 

In adddition to 'enthusiastic' driving with friends, re what we do for fun at 71 (though Susan is several years younger) is that we love to travel world-wide, golf, cook and be with friends.  

Richard Montague

Jeff,

I thought you would chime in. My first car was a 59 Porsche 356 conv. Had several other Porsches over the years. I restored a 1966 Corvett that I brought to Florida when I moved here in 82. Didn't have a place to keep it when I lived on Treasure Island so traded it for a Supra. Nearing retirement my better half wanted to know if I wasn't going to get a new car.so I bought a Boxster S which i still have and love to drive.

There is just something about the wind in your face and the sound of a big twin that you can't get from a sports car .You are right it is not if you will wreck but when ! Maybe better to burn out than rust out ?

Lee Max

Richard,

Seven years ago, after a 30 year, responsible parenting hiatus from motorcycling, a friend talked me into buying a motorcycle. Exuberance and bad judgement led me into buying a second motorcycle to ride dirt roads and trails in Arizona. I had the opportunity to explore places that I would never been able to reach without the dirt bike. Lacking both experience and skill, I would come home from every dirt ride exuding the smell of fear. After the first set of broken ribs, my wife was very supportive. After the second set of broken ribs she was a bit less supportive. “Any more broken bones and that bike is history”. I was given the old “3 strikes and you’re out” rule. A little over a year ago, on a beautiful day in March, I was riding the dirt trails up the back side of Mt. Lemmon. My bike handling skills were at an all-time peak. I was just floating thru those curves like a butterfly - up until the one moment I wasn’t - BOOM; more broken ribs. Sadly, by April Fool’s Day, my trusty little Kawasaki 250 was history. Now, the BMW F800GS and I stick to paved roads only.

Philip Spiess

Richard:  For fun at 71, I write items to amuse myself (if not others) on the Walnut Hills High School Forum.  (Did you see the recent entry where I referred Paul Simons to you for information on the Cincinnati waterworks?)  As to what I ride, two summers ago I went on a week-long, 64-odd-mile-long canoe trip on the James and Maury Rivers here in Virginia with our Scout troop (I nearly drowned when our canoe upset and I was sucked under it and caught by the current).  But I'm giving that sort of thing up:  I simply can't maneuver in a 1 1/2-man tent the way I used to when I was younger (just trying to get your boots on in a hurry and then getting yourself out the door when you've just awakened at dawn and realize you suddenly have to pee like crazy is a horror old men like me don't really care to experience any more).

For serious exercise, I thunderously play the piano on occasion -- usually the dulcet melodies of Richard Wagner.

Lee Max:  Good to hear from you.

Dave Buchholz:  Incredible photos as usual.

Laura Reid (Pease)

So here we are full circle...class of '64 Coach Larry Klein instructing Walnut Hills 7th grade golf team hopeful Reid Pease, my grandson, on his grip...isn't that just the best???

Paul Simons

About motorcycles- thanks for the topic Richard - one of those kept me out of Vietnam. I got into riding scrambles races, a precursor of motocross, at places like  the Beechmont track. They'd use part of the 1/2 mile oval and also the infield which would have turns and a jump. One time at Miamisburg I came down off the jump wrong - on my front wheel instead of the right way, on my back wheel- and slid forward and the fuel valve under the gas tank went deep into my right knee. Not long after that was my draft physical and that knee was bad enough to give me a 1-Y.  FYI - at the time the hot bikes were Bultaco, Montessa, Husqvarna 2-strokes. I had a comparatively slow, heavy Ducati 4-stroke. 250cc class. I never won anything and usually finished close to last or in fact last.

After that I did keep riding including one time in winter back and forth between Cincinnati and Columbus where my girlfriend at the time went to OSU. I got caught on I-71 in a freezing rain and have never been that cold before, after, ever. Bikes can be fun but also have their down side.

Lee Max - I lived in Tucson as well, about 1971-1975, and your entry here reminded me of taking the 200cc Suzuki I had up Mt. Lemon on the paved automobile road and then down the unpaved back road. What an impossibly beautiful place!! There was mica in the rocks along the trails at the top near the store up there so everything was sparkling at you walking along. I went back maybe 10 years ago but Mt. Lemon was on fire. We couldn't get near it. If I remember right we couldn't even get into Sabino Canyon.

Jerry Ochs

Phil et al. may be interested to learn that by the UK's official definition of a binge drinker, Queen Elizabeth 2.0 is one.

"According to Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's cousin, HM's alcohol intake never varies. She takes a gin and Dubonnet before lunch, with a slice of lemon and a lot of ice. She will take wine with lunch and a dry Martini and a glass of champagne in the evening."

By the way, has anybody ever tasted a gin and Dubonnet?

Margery Erhardt (Schrader)

Jerry – I saw this the other day from Vanity Fair. I follow the Royals since living in England so I found this message most interesting. My glass or two of wine at dinner then doesn’t seem too bad. I can no longer feel guilty! Women are only supposed to have no more than a glass of wine per day. So if the Queen can have 4 drinks or more per day and live into her 90’s then that is good news! And then, she is a chocolate lover also and doesn’t miss a day without her chocolate and favorite cake. That is the medicine I take every day – dark chocolate. And I too wondered what gin and Dubonnet taste like – guess if she likes the combo it must be good!

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/08/queen-elizabeth-four-cocktails-a-day

Bruce Fette

To Lee and Paul and the rest of the Motorcycle enjoyers:

I had a honda 250 in Dallas, and upgraded to a 350 on graduation. When it was stolen, I got a Kawasaki 350 which was a great bike at least until it spit out a spark plug. So then I got a Honda 500 dirt bike. I needed a little more oomph for my excess mass.  I really enjoyed the rides all around the Mogollon Rim in the summer and the San Tan Valley in the winter.  Riding the rim is what I look forward to whenver I get a chance to go back again! Maybe we can all take a ride?

Paul Simons

Bruce - sounds good. I don't own a bike now but maybe next reunion I can rent one although to be honest there has been a change in the way people drive cars so maybe better not. They're crazy. It seems like at least half of the country believes that the rules of the road are for other people and that common courtesy is a sign of weakness which add up to a dangerous situation for the lone biker. And I have to admit that the crotchrocket gang aren't making it any easier to get a favorable rating.

Lee Max

Paul – I had no idea that in addition to being an incredibly talented rock & roll musician, you were also a skilled dirt bike competitor. Glad you got to enjoy the dirt descent down from Summerhaven to Oracle. Sorry you weren’t able to enjoy the Mountain during you’re last Tucson visit. It’s finally recovering from the fire, but in our lifetime, it will never be the same.

Bruce – In 7^th grade, when you were eating lunches consisting of only peas and corn, I never imagined you riding a monster, 500cc dirt bike. On the 105 degree days in Tucson, the Mogollon Rim is still a great place for a day ride.

Paul/Bruce - Please let me know if you’re planning to come to the Tucson area. It would be fun to reconnect – with or without motorcycles.

Bruce Fette

Lee,

I didnt realize you were in Tucson until now. But will look you up next time I get back to Az.

Paul Simons

Thanks Lee. I didn't know the damage to Mt Lemon was that bad. I should have figured it out. About the scrambles racing - I never won anything, was nowhere near the serious riders. But it was a lot of fun and the starting line was exciting just from the sound of 15 bikes with exhaust systems tuned for power, not for peace and quiet. Just thinking about it I missed the brass ring, and the aluminum ring, and all the rings with the music stuff too but it's still fun, again, with the rig tuned for overdrive, controlled feedback, not for peace and quiet. Guess where we'll find a more than sufficient amount of peace and quiet? Right. No hurry to get there.

David Buchholz

What we do for fun...what I did for work I now do for fun.  One of my Facebook friends uses the word "capture" when describing a good photograph, and I suppose that the word is appropriate.  When I am able to capture something in an image that somehow transcends just the recording of what the thing is, then I feel a sense of satisfaction that means more than words can describe.  I "captured" this Indian girl in Delhi a year ago. Whenever I look at this image I am transfixed by her expression.  There is so much there there.

Last month my daughter-in-law asked me to photograph my sixth grandchild.  Here's Hazel at three months.

When I posted this on Facebook someone mentioned that the little drop of baby drool on her lower lip was just "perfect."  I thanked her for noticing it.  It isn't just the expression; it's the whole package.  And it's not just granddad talking now; it's seeing that there is a there there, too.

So now what am I doing?  Those first two images were just good fortune.  Some of what I like to do is really time consuming and requires a lot of patience.  I have a hummingbird feeder on the back deck.  We only have a couple of hummingbirds that visit on occasion, but today, after shooting several hundred unsatisfactory images, things (please excuse the expression) clicked.  

Oh yes, I like to hike.  I still love playing the guitar.  It's in the doing that I find satisfaction and joy. And of course, I love my family and enjoy spending time with them...but photography is really a solitary activity, private, and until last year I never even had a website, as I was content with the satisfaction I received from simply doing something well...I just do this because it's pretty much all I know, and our lifetimes are far too short for us to fully understand what it is that we're doing...thank you for the many compliments I've received for my images.  I'm glad that you enjoy them, too.

And at the risk of overdoing this...those who would like can see a lot more (and even read a blog) at...

http://www.davidkbuchholz.com/

Jean Snapp (Miller)

Outstanding pictures, Dave.  Breathless.

Lee Max

Paul - Glad to hear that you're still plucking away. Your group was always the band in demand.

Lee

Jerry Ochs

A trivia question: When we were old enough to fool a shopkeeper into believing we were old enough to purchase 3.2 beer, what colors were the bottle caps on 3.2 and 6 percent beer?
 

Kevan Langner

Paul Simons

Does anyone remember going on class trips to a brewery and tap room? Cincinnati had - maybe still has - local breweries - Schoenling, Burger, Weidemann, Hudepohl - I have this memory of being in one of them with a class and afterwards being given a glass of something - could it have been beer? - at an age way before whatever was legal for 3.2 beer. Phil - any recollection of this? Maybe it was from before WHHS - anyone from Bond Hill school remember anything like this?

Jerry Ochs

Not a political statement; just humor.

Dale Gieringer

   I don't remember any school trips to a brewery, and if they ever happened I certainly would (I do recall a trip to the Sealtest dairy, but that was in elementary school).

     It was shortly after getting my drivers license that I learned about obtaining 3.2 beer.   A couple of parents we knew used to serve kegs at HS parties for their kids.  Then we found out that the pony keg at Mitchell and Reading would sell 3.2 quarts to us without an ID.  

    In those days, every guy wanted a draft card to prove he was 18.     To this end, Dennis Montgomery actually succeeded in obtaining one when he was only 17.   (He also briefly served as bartender at Dilly's Pub before turning 21;  it ticked us off that he wouldn't serve to us although he was more underage than we were.)  Then Vietnam came along and Dennis got a draft notice.  His grandmother, a WWI conscientious objector, promptly marched him down to the Selective Service office to correct their mistake about his age.  They sheepishly retracted his draft card, though they went on to draft him later out of college.

   After turning 18, the trick was to get 6% beer and liquor.  The pony keg by the Twin Drive-In let us buy low-proof vodka  for Orange Day.   Senior year I visited Washington DC and was delighted to find that they allowed beer and wine sales to anyone over 18, but restricted hard liquor to age 21 and up.   This always seemed to me to be an enlightened policy.  Then I went off to college in Massachusetts, where the age for everything was 21, but our grad school house tutors would serve sherry and buy beer kegs for dorm parties.  On long weekends, I used to drive down to New York on liquor runs, since the age for everything was 18 there.  There was this English pub at Harvard Square called the Yard of Ale, which served ale in tall, half-yard and yard-long glasses held up by wooden stands. I counted down the days to my 21st birthday so I could be served there.  Finally the big day arrived, and to my immense disappointment they served me without asking for my ID.

  After we graduated from college, states moved to lower their drinking age to 18.  This was halted by Ronald Reagan, who signed a bill mandating that all states make the age 21 or else lose their federal highway funding (so much for small federal government and respecting state's rights).  This forced NY and DC to raise the age, and also put an end to the 3.2 beer market.   I've never favored the 21 age limit. It's a law meant to be broken.  Europe has more civilized rules.   In Germany, the age is 16 for beer, 18 for everything else. In Italy, the waiters poured child portions of wine to our 7-year old daughter;  in China, they actually refilled her beer glass twice at about the same age.   As long as parents are at the table,  it should be legal to serve them beer and wine. And when you're old enough to fight wars and drop bombs, you should be permitted to drink.

Jerry Ochs

Speaking of liquor laws, according to Wikipedia the only countries in which public intoxication is a crime are the UK, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  The moral of this story is: don't drink in public where the people speak English.

By the way, I think there are still a few states where 3.2 beer is sold.

Chuck Cole

Of course, those countries in which it is illegal to drink at all also look down on public drinking.  

Chuck Cole

Following Dale's comments, my memory is that quarts of local beer cost either 3/$1, or 4/$1.   It varried each week with which brand was 4/$1k.  I remember a group of us would each buy 3 or 4 quarts, we'd go to a city park like Ault Park and get crazy drunk.  One time I lost my retainer and my mother was furious and took me back to look for it the next day--and we found it.