Suzuki RM 250
On one of my trips back to Martin, there was a RM 250 for sale at a service station in Huntington. I stopped and talked to the guy, and he was open to trading. A week or so later, I rode the RM250 down the main street of Huntington, to make sure it ran good. Then he rode my Kawasaki 900. It was almost dark. There was a police officer in a car parked across the street at a car wash watching us. He didn't do anything and left us alone. Small towns are great. We traded.
This is the RM 250. It was a 1983 model. This picture of Terri and the bike is from 1987, by Normandy Lake.
Most of my buddies at UTM were now into dirt bikes. There was a good reason. Governor Ned Ray McWherter, from Dresden, helped push through a highway project in West Tennessee that made Hwy 22 a divided four lane. The bypass around Martin starts just east of Martin, and goes thirteen miles to the north and west all the way to the Obion River, at Union City. It was dirt, rocks, mud, and fun. This was our playground.
Charles Parish had a Honda 350, Clark and Chris Elliott had a Kawasaki KX 420, Jeff Long had a Honda, and Steve Jolley, my future brother in law had a Big Red, Honda three wheeler. At ten or eleven years old, Steve may have been the craziest rider of the bunch, but Clark and Chris were a close second on the KX 420. Did you know a pony keg makes a perfect dirt bike stand?
Clark and Chris are identical twins. For the longest time, I could not tell them apart. They are happy, smiling guys with the best sense of humor. After being around them for awhile, it seemed like Chris was pure reckless abandon, and Clark was more calculated reckless abandon. And when necessary, Clark could be a little more serious. I recall a tense nose to nose stare down at Cadillac's once with a big Phi Sig guy. Clark never blinked or backed off. Clark and Chris were both a lot of fun and always up for a road trip, an adventure, or just going to Cadillac's to shoot pool and pass some time.
Charles got a new Honda XL350, and asked me to take it to Martin for him. I was happy to help him out. He didn't ask much, and was, and still is a tough, independent guy.
We were riding out on the bypass one day and Jeff Long crashed in a big mud hole under a bridge. We stopped to make sure he was ok. When we shut all the bikes off, and it got quiet, we heard a guy laughing. He was over in the shadows by a big pan excavator under the same bridge, changing the oil. Jeff wrecked right in front of him. Jeff was soaking wet and muddy, but smiling and fine. I can still remember that guy laughing at all of us. Jeff is in the mortgage business in Nashville, and still has the same big smile and easy going personality.
The store on old Hwy. 22 just west of Martin in the Gardner community was a great place for a break and a snack. They had delicious fried chicken livers, and all kinds of good deli food. We would sit in the shade and cool off and talk till we went back to riding.
Clark, Chris, Jeff, and I lived in the Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity house on Oakland Street.
We parked the dirt bikes on the dance floor. It seemed like a good idea to prop open the back and the front door. Then I'd kick start the RM 250, ride out the back door, around the house. Then up the front steps, through the front door, down the hallway and back out the back door. The two stroke engine was loud, and the exhaust had a unique sweet smell. It was an awesome time.
We also rode around the big pond at Terri's house. The dam was about 20 feet high, so we had the down hill and the up hill and the loop. Clark on the RM 250, and Chris on the KX 420.
Honda 125
Brian Evans is another fraternity brother, and a great friend. He and Curtis Mansfield are from Medina. Curtis had an old Honda 125. He said the motor was wore out, but it still ran. I bought it for $100.
A couple of years later, that old 125 was stolen from my parents shed, and I never saw it again.
Curtis went on to become a Tennessee State Trooper in Jackson. He recently retired after a lifetime of service. Brian worked for General Motors after college, then held several manufacturing and Human Resources positions before retiring as Director of HR at the Tractor Supply Company.
Clark and Chris grew up in their father's crane shop. They are still in the crane business, and have both been very successful. Clark stayed close to Nashville, while Chris has moved around.
Steve Jolley has been in sales with Thompson Equipment out of Lavergne, since 2006. He works with construction companies to make sure they have dozers, pans, back-hoes, and what ever else they need. You could say Steve is still playing in the dirt.
When school was over, I brought the RM 250 home with me. It was perfect for riding around the roads and fields in Mt. Vernon. For pure power and fun it was hard to beat. Terri and I doubled on it to Normandy lake several times down the steep black shale roads where the Pross family lives. Look back to the photo at the top of this article of Terri and the RM by the lake.
Terri and I were getting serious. Not long after graduation, I sold the RM 250, and bought Terri an engagement ring.
That is the best decisions I ever made! ...but I still miss that dirt bike!