The Marsh-Mellow Highway

August 26, 1996

Sonoma, CA

I'm back my friends...and it's time once again to go on automatic share.

The current passion of my life is motorcycling. Whoa...me a 'biker?"

I used to look at its enthusiasts as "those" people over there, a group I never really felt a part of nor... one I'd really ever care to join. You are either born one or you're not.

I have of late been way cerebral and my head's stuck too long inside phosphorus screens. I need to get physical...yes...more than joining a toe-knee fitness club but less than jumping off the Golden Gate and bungy my way back. Add this to the feat of parking your car in San Francisco which is truly the Special Olympics for the challenged these days.

The late Malcom Forbes was the inspiration. He became a motorcycle devotee in his fifties, got Liz Taylor to join his rolling band for a while. This guy cooked.

So... made the call and signed up for a class in Motorcycle Training and put myself through its four sessions, some of which were actually arduous. Really. One day we were in the 90 degree sun for the best part of six hours pushing around our bikes, turning here and there, stopping on a dime, etc., etc. I passed the first two tests with the school and then one final one with our DMV providing me with a bona fide M1 (motorcycle) driving license.

The real education would come later. More soon on all this but in the meantime here's some snaps from my weekend at the Russian River.

Oh yes... "Mad Max" is my moniker for new biker buddy Michele Luce, world renown jewelry designer who revealed the extraordinary California back roads. She also prodded me into shedding 200 pounds of leather jacket in the hot, hot sun.

These are some family snapshots of my favorite artist Michaela Jezkova (Misha) who is an astonishing talent from Prague.