From left: Buddy, Jack Fenten, Liz Fenten, Mayor Jim Waldorf, Bob. Plainfield Village Hall. Photo by Mike Schwarz.
This morning, during our one-course cornflake breakfast in DeKalb, Bob asked, "Who do you think was the first person to ride the Lincoln Highway coast to coast on a motorcycle?" I knew what he was hoping to hear, but I also knew he was tough enough to handle the truth.
In 1916, Adeline and Augusta Van Buren, two young New York socialite sisters, set out to prove women could ride motorcycles across a treacherous country during a time when women still didn’t have the right to vote. They were the first to solo a coast-to-coast trek, via the recently designated Lincoln Highway, on their Indian motorcycles. They contended with unpaved roads, an absence of Holiday Inns, and the extra burden of social prejudice; they were arrested several times for for wearing men’s clothing. I also suspect the Indians required a bit more maintenance than our MP3s. (One oil change in Orem, UT.) The year after Adeline and Augusta rode the Lincoln Highway, Illinois became the first state to ratify women’s suffrage. So while we just missed setting that particular record, Bob was cheered by knowing the glory that shall be ours when it comes to being the first chronologically —though not necessarily mentally — mature men to ride Piaggio’s MP3 500 across America’s historic highway.
Continue reading ‘Day 22 Road Report: DeKalb, IL to Merrillville, IN & Map Updates’
