In the very early twentieth century, the vast majority of Americans lived and worked on family farms. And this was no easy life -- it was an existence marked by extremely hard work and limited geography. Most Americans lived and died in a few square miles, and many never left their own county or township. But the early Americans had also been travelers -- the Oregon and Sante Fe Trails, the sea circuit around Cape Horn, the cattle drover trails, the gold rushes, the voyage to America itself -- testified to the spirit of adventure that lurked just under the surface for most of them, and the confined life of a farmer must of rankled.....

But the development of the early twentieth century motorcycle offered almost instant salvation from the "prison" of farm work. For just a few dollars, the young farm worker could obtain the means of temporary escape.... Indian and Harley offered nearly everyone the chance of freedom, at least for a Sunday afternoon. Given the cost of feed and pasture, early motorcycles and gasoline were cheaper than horses, and much more capable of expanding a farmer's horizons. Almost every farm town across the country had a motorbike club, and pictures of them hang on the walls of many old restaurants. There was no utility to the motorcycle: you couldn't haul hay on it, you couldn't herd sheep with it (although some tried), you couldn't harvest vegetables with it.... but what you could do was change your horizons, what you could do was to "go and see," what you could do was to regain your freedom and sense of adventure. And it's interesting to me that, one hundred years or so later, motorcycles are still being used for the very same purpose.