#66 In Roads-Rockers
We’re cruising the evening streets on an ice cream mission. I’m surprised at how crowded the sidewalks are since it looks like rain. I notice a couple loading up a cool old flat black ’64 GM pickup and I saunter over to ask if they’re moving.
Lisa is decked out in rockabilly duds with a bandana tied in her jet-black hair. Her colorful tattoos sort of glow in the sunset light and she grins as she tells me that she and her fiancé Jeremy are just loading up for a street fair.
“We’re going over to Mississippi Street, which is ironic because my shop used to actually be on Mississippi before I moved over here where the rent’s cheaper. There’s a street fair over there with vendors and music and it’s going to be a lot of fun. You should come on over, you’ll love it,” she tells me. The dynamic young businesswoman owns a children’s boutique that carries just about everything and even conducts kid’s sewing classes. The crafty lady has her own clothing line and makes the children’s items by hand at her kitschy little shop.
I comment on the cool truck and she shares that it’s Jeremy’s. Her car is a 1962 Comet. The couple belongs to a car club called the Deviants and besides Portland, there are chapters in Vancouver, Seaside, and Ventura, California. I ask if they have ever attended the David Mann Chopperfest in Ventura. They say no, but friends do. Lisa says she misses riding, but she’s just too busy these days. It makes me smile to know so many cultures embrace the two-wheel life. From the office worker who loves sport bikes to security guards, rocker mommies and all breeds in between, it seems that everyone spends at least part of their lives on two-wheels and we true-blood bikers embrace them all. This realization makes me smile.
