And we collide...lol

Tuffy and Les Howard 2008

In my last blog, I spoke about how my husband and I met.  The pic posted on that blog is of our wedding in 1978 on the Carbon County Fairgrounds Motocross Track.  So I thought it appropriate to show you one of us now on this page and tell you a little about that wedding...

Now, I have to say, I NEVER in a million years would have dreamed that I would have gotten married on a motocross track...or ANY track of any kind, as I was growing up and dreaming of what my special day would be like.  I say, and always have said, that things happen for a reason and this was no exception.

We were engaged for two years prior to our wedding. During that time we must have tried to set a date at least six times. And with each hope for our day to be realized, it got shot down by a race date that we needed the points for.  You see, we BOTH raced motorcycles back then and we were both going for state titles at the time.  We participated in all three required events for state points qualifying back then.  Desert, Motocross and Flat Track racing.  As you can imagine, this ate up alot of our weekends and we practiced each night after we got off work.  So trying to squeeze in a wedding was quite the feat.

One day my hubby called me at my apartment and said, "Hey, do you have a calendar handy?" I told him I did. He said, "Good, I am coming over and we are picking a date. I don't care if there is a race or not".  So I rushed to wash my face, get dressed and be ready for this all important meeting.

He knocked on the door, came in and we went month by month and looked at the race schedule with each hopeful date, thinking it might be "the one".  Every time there was a race we HAD to be at.  Out of frustration my husband says, "Ok, this is not working. I want you to just close your eyes, flip through all the pages, land on one and put your finger on a date."  I looked at him like he was nuts and said, "Oohh k".  Flip I did, put my finger on it I did...the date?...July 8th...significance?...my sisters birthday (her 16th no less!)...and races?...NOT ONE!!!  What are the odds of that happening? See what I mean about everything happens for a reason?  So the date was set...finally!!!

Ok, so I have never seen how a wedding goes off. I had no idea about what to do, how many of what to get or anything. My Mom came up from New Mexico to help but she had never had a "proper" wedding so even she had no idea what to do. There wasn't alot of "wedding planner" types back then.  We were both from different religious backgrounds so that became an issue as well.  We decided since we were both Christian, might as well pick a Christian preacher to marry us. Done.

Now, where to get married?  I always wanted the little church, the white dress and the "you are so beautiful" look I would get from my husband as I walked down the aisle.  My father-in-laws idea?  Getting married on the motocross track in our racing gear since that is what we both loved to do.  We thought he was joking....but NO...he was not.  We thought it would be fun but I really couldn't see me wearing a beautiful white gown on the track either.  I didn't want to give that up (more on that later).

So the site was picked, the preacher was set up, the date was solid...now, about how to walk down the aisle at the track...

My hubby and I chatted it over and decided I could only go down the aisle one way...on a motorcycle.  But dirtbikes would really be messy. We agreed we should start our married life on the starting line of the track. But how would I get there.  It hit us!!!  My Dad!!!

In May of 1978 I had finally ordered my first real car that was all mine and no one else's.  The day I got it and went to show my Dad, he had a surprise for me, as well.  A brand new Harley Davidson street bike!  It was awesome!  That was it!! I would ask him to drive me down the aisle on his Harley. But would he do it?

As you can see in the wedding pics on my other post, my dad is driving me down the aisle on his Harley. When we asked him he thought we were joking. But when I told him I was serious and I truly wanted him to do that, he got a tear in his eyes, said he would love to do it and gave me a huge hug!.  So we were set.

The wedding went off without a hitch. Many of our friends and family continued to roll into the reception at my in-laws home until 3am. My hubby and I gave out around midnight. lol...

Oh, did I mention that the catch to our doing the wedding on the track was that we would renew our vows later (in 5 years) and I would get the chapel and the dress?  But one thing would be missing when we did renew our vows....my Dad.  He was killed Labor Day weekend two months after he gave me away at my wedding. ©Leslie Howard 2010

Racing...a way of life!

From L to R: My Dad driving me down the "aisle", Brother Patton performing our ceremony, and my hubby and I taking our first sip of non-alcoholic (lol) champagne together.

My husband and I met on a motocross race track in 1976. It was a dreary, rainy, wet day and I had only been in town for 3 days, when my Dad urged me to go watch a dirtbike race. Turns out his girlfriend's son was going to make his first attempt at it. I had no desire whatsoever to go to this race!

I guess I should add that I had taken a bus from Liberal, KS three days before, my boxes which held almost everything I owned had gotten lost (interesting since I was on the same bus the whole trip!) and did I mention that I had to wear my Dad's clothes (yes, you heard me right) and I was 17 at the time.

Long story short, my Dad's girlfriend just happened to be my mother--in-law's cousin. They were both at the race and my mother-in-law was insistant that I meet her son and take a ride on his bike after the race. I had no idea why she wanted me to do this so bad so I made it conditional that I would but only if she asked him FIRST!!

Race ends, I walk over to the finish line and I see this amazing smile and gorgeous, warm brown eyes looking at me. I found out later he had no shirt on and only race pants and boots...hey, I was falling in love and that didn't seem important at the time. Oh, but those eyes....

I was instructed to go to a specific part of the course and he (oh, yeah..his name is Tuffy, by the way) would give me the ride of my life.

He approached in a tee shirt, race pants and that smile! I have to admit, I was excited...it didn't matter that I found out just prior to my ride that my mother-in-law had NOT asked him first. I hopped on the bike, put my arms around him and my Dad stood nearby yelled, "You better bring her back after one lap around the track". We both shook our heads in agreement.

As my husband to be began taking off, I naturally put my arms around him and I have never let go. I just got the feeling at that moment that he was "the one". I couldn't explain it, heck, we still can't explain it. But 34 years after we met and after 32 years of marriage, we are still together and our kids and grandkids share our love of racing.

This, folks, is just the beginning. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to many more posts, comments, etc. in the future.

PS-My Dad's girfriend's son never showed up. lol..and as you can see in the pic at top of page, we were married on the motocross track we both raced on and he helped design back then. ©Leslie Howard 2010