But motorcycling and portrait photography would soon be competing with another passion -- massage therapy. I had my first massage in May of 1998 and that's all it took to convince me this was going to be an ongoing part of my weekly routine. Then a couple of years ago I was introduced to a particularly exotic modality called ashiatsu -- barefoot massage in its simplest terms -- and I was instantly hooked. More about this in the page about the trip.
As for my background, some of the visitors to this page have already seen my bio on the web site I created for my motorcycle odyssey in 2000. So rather than repeat it all over again, I'll direct you to that site. Here's the link and after you check it out you can click another link to bring you back to this page:
Bear in mind that four years have passed since that was written, and changes have taken place. As for kids and grandkids, Scott has remarried to Tatiana, a lovely gal from St. Petersburg, Russia, and they had a baby girl, Stefania, in April 2001. We had a great visit with them in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago and are looking forward to a visit with them here in Maine this August. Sue, in September 2000, delivered her little Anna. Rachel and Sasha, Scott's two oldest girls who are still living in Washington, DC, with their mother, round out the core group. So the girls remain comfortably ahead in the grandchild department, 4-0 so far (this statistic excludes past, present or future step- or near-stepgrandchildren, the names and numbers of whom I have a hard time keeping track of). Sue and her husband parted company a year ago and she and Anna moved to Plymouth, NH. They're renting a condo at a ski resort, she's only a five minute drive from her work, and there's a new male friend in her life. Things are looking brighter for her. Our youngest, Bob, and his flatmate, Natalia, a real sweetheart, got engaged last Thanksgiving and then came out to Hawaii in April, while we were vacationing there, to get married. Cool! And Bob is feeling especially good right now -- he's just been hired as a staff attorney at the prestigious Washington law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering. We're delighted for him!
In 1997, when I turned 60, I left the corporate life behind. My wife and I moved to Maine, and I started doing some things in life that I had never really had a chance to do. In the process, I developed some new passions. Motorcycling became one of them. I had only started riding "real" bikes in 1995 (I don't count the years in Tokyo where I commuted to my office on a 50cc Honda). Another passion was portrait photography and custom color darkroom work -- not totally new in theory, since I had had a love affair with the camera and darkroom since I was a kid, but the ability to practice this craft or art on my terms was a new and unaccustomed luxury.
Self Portrait of the Rider/Artist/Massagee
Taken July 26, 2004 in Greensboro, North Carolina
