Linden resident Dick Harris bought is first Triumph motorcycle in 1955, and once he got that feeling of the open road and the wind in his hair, he hasn't spent a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror.
Harris, the son of a preacher, owns several versions of the legendary motorcycle now, including six that run and one he's restoring.
In the room of his home where he stores the bikes, are pictures of Triumphs and places he's been, a shelf full of trophies he's won and a map of the United States. It traces the route to and from California he took during one of his three cross-country trips on a Triumph.
Just yesterday, the 78-year-old Harris went for a 150-mile ride.
"Every day that's nice, I try to get out," said the Linden native.
He left home at 17 and set out for Arizona, where he lived for a year. When he was 21 and discovered he liked riding motorcycles, he didn't exactly consult his preacher father.
"I didn't get on a bike until I was older, so my father didn't have much to say about it," Harris said.
He did get his dad to take a ride on a Triumph much later, when he was 80 years old.
While Harris didn't follow his father into the ministry, three of his four sons inherited his love for motor bikes. The picture below is of his son Dan's house, also in Linden.
Asked why he's enjoyed riding his bikes all these years, Harris kind of shrugged and said, "I don't know. Freedom, I guess. I like to get out on the road."
