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Who is Ray Hinman
I turned 55 years old in 2004. I have two
daughters Melissa (born 1977) and Christina (born 1984). I married
my high school sweetheart in 1975, the former Elaine Rabun, now
Elaine Hinman. We drifted apart after high school for few years
before getting back together again, but have now been married for 31
years.
I love to ride my bike. I bought my first bike in 1964, a Sears
scooter. That was before I even had a drivers license. I progressed
through the Honda line-up as Honda grew. My first Honda was a 305
Dream. It doesn't sound like much now, but that was one fast bike in
those days. From there I went to a CB350, CB500, CB750F, with many
dirt bikes in between. I once owned four bikes at one time (CB500,
Suzuki 400 dirt bike, 250 Honda Elsinore, and Honda CB 175
street/trail bike). Obviously this was before I got married.
I was riding a CB350 Honda when I walked into the local Honda
dealership and the owner (Dewayne Taylor) took me over to a brand
new (brown) CB 500 four cylinder bike. He took a nickel out of his
pocket and stood it up on its edge on the gas tank of that 500 and
brought the engine up to around 6000 or 7000 rpms. The nickel stood
right there. I immediately traded my 350 for a 500. I put around
70,000 miles on that bike.
I sold my 750 after I got married, and from the mid 70's until 1999,
when I turned fifty, I was bike less. I used to watch the Goldwings
as they went by, dreaming and hoping. I had my eye on the
new Honda 1000 when my bike days ended.
My wife and daughters knew how much I missed riding, so for my
fiftieth birthday, they allowed me to get a used 1994 Goldwing 1500
SE. My dream had finally come true. I did some riding on this bike,
putting about 8000 miles on it in two years. But then I saw the new
GL 1800 and the rest they say is history.
In June 2001 I bought a new Blue Goldwing 1800. This is one fine
bike. Now just five years later and I just hit 100,000 miles.
That is 100,000 miles of sheer pleasure. I don't have any intentions
of slowing down now.
I have been to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains
in 2004. I have just returned from Buffalo, New York in 2005, and have
seen some beautiful country.
After turning 56 in 2005, I began to realize that
I am probably well past halfway in my life. It got me
thinking and I wrote a story about time.
If you click on the word "time" it
will take you to that story.
Another change has occurred. I traded my
2001 Goldwing with 108,000 miles in on a 2007 Goldwing. My new
wing has a Navigation system, comfort package, ABS braking, and (are
you ready) an air bag. With only one month on the time clock,
I have 3200 miles on my new one.
Please come back for some new stories of future
rides.
Ray
Hinman
States I have visited on my motorcycle.
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