Gloria didn ’ t discover Sturgis until 2004 , but she ’ s been going ever since . One year , photographer Lichter got her to climb on the back for a burnout photo . “ I looked up and said a prayer ,” she says , “ hoping I ’ d survive !”
fident attitude can have positive results . Any woman rider – in fact , any rider at all – can learn from Gloria ’ s rich experience and welllived years . – Marilyn Stemp traffic and adding grey to her mother ’ s hair .
When her mother retired in ’ 47 , Bub took over the business , which now carried Harley-Davidson motorcycles . Gloria had her first bad accident around that time on a ’ 46 Indian Chief , hitting a car that made a U-turn directly in front of her . She cut her face badly ( no helmet ) and totaled the bike , but wasn ’ t hurt seriously . Still , Mom got another dose of grey .
I remember asking Gloria what it was like in the early days as a women rider on her own . Did she worry ? Was she ever scared ? “ I never worried ,” she told me . “ I always acted like a lady and I was always treated like one .” There ’ s wisdom in that statement , and Gloria is living proof that a con-
Gloria ’ s first real motorcycle trip happened in 1950 , an 1800- mile trek to Canada and back ( via Pennsylvania , Ohio , West Virginia , Canada and upstate New York ) to meet fellow Motor Maid member Marion Oler , and was a revelation . The sights and sounds , the trials and tribulations , the new friends met along the way and all the things motorcycle road trips are known for … Gloria experienced it all , and even wrote about
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