"Why, you young whippersnappers don't know
touring. We did REAL touring back before WW II!"
How many times have you been fortunate enough to run into someone who
can tell you about motorcycling before Honda and Evos and KOA?
Sometimes the American Motorcyclist Association magazine or another
fine publication will open archives and show stories about it.
Here is one man's experiences in the 20s and 30s in the Texas Panhandle
- that big chunk in the northwest corner of the state that fries in the
summer and freezes in the winter.
H.A. Hawkins was born in San Saba in central Texas in worked almost
every job there was in the oil 'bidness' - from tool dresser to
wildcatter (the guy who bets it all on finding the next gusher).
He made his way up to the Panhandle in 1926. Several months
later, he helped found the town of Borger, which at first was just a
support base for oilmen. He formed the Weeks Oil Company and
skimmed waste oil out of creeks for resale and began his efforts to
build Borger.
In the late '20s, he picked up an old Harley, fixed
a leather fairing for it (the Panhandle gets a little windy at times)
and began riding county mostly flat and windswept, and dotted with oil
rigs. Eventually he founded the Hawkins Independent Service
Station at 100 N. Main Street in Borger and ran that business from 1929
to 1946.
Around this time, the American Motorcyclist
Association conducted Gypsy Tours - basically meetings out in the
country for a weekend or so where motorcycle riders could meet, race
their bikes, run hill climbs, and party hearty. Roads were scare
in this part of the country back then, so riding in the dirt wasn't all
that unusual, especially for H.A. He promoted the first Gypsy
rally at the old Watkins ranch in 1936 (probably to show off his new
Harley). Anyway, H.A. remembers riding at the rally, then waking
up in Hutchinson County Hospital. H.A. was the first patient in
the hospital, which wasn't even finished!
H.A. was also an early and active member of both the A.M.A. and the
Amarillo (Texas) Motorcycle Club. Here are his ID cards from
long ago.
H.A. had company when riding the flat prairies of the Texas Panhandle - his wife Jewell. She proudly drove her own bike and joined H.A. at rallies and Gypsy Tours. Some time after the war, H.A. left Borger and moved back to central
Texas, settling in Mexia (that's pronounced Mah-hey-ah fer you
non-Texians). His daughter, Kay Phillips, and his granddaughter, Lisa Brenek, helped provide this material and currently BOTH WOMEN head a local chapter of Women in the Wind m/c club. Kay runs the Lone Star Ladies in the Temple, Texas area, and Lisa runs the Khrome Cowgirls chapter in OlathKansas City, KS.
Click on a photo to see a larger
image.
Rally scenes: Here are
some photos
showing Gypsy Tours in the Texas Panhandle in the 30s..
