Olivia

Olivia
1937 Buick Special

Me and Olivia

Me and Olivia
Click On The Picture For MOTAA Web Site

Me and "The Hell Bitch"

Me and "The Hell Bitch"
My 50th birthday gift to myself a 2004 Harley she is named after Captain Call's horse on Lonesome Dove.

I Want This Bike!

I Want This Bike!
Me On A 1942 Harley

My Favorite TV Show

The Location Of My Visitors!

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Monday, May 13, 2013

The Day The Music Died In Minden, Louisiana



Loyd Thomas Brown, 68, was born on August 4, 1944
 in Minden to
 L.T. "Buddy" and Perrie Dean "Patsy" Brown
 and died on April 9, 2013 at his home in Minden.
Memories Of Loyd Thomas Brown
April 9th, 2013 is the day the music died in Minden, Louisiana.
From the time I was 14 years old I would go to the Sound Company out on the Shreveport Road and buy music.  Later when they moved to the Homer Road it became the local spot to sit and hear the best music on the BEST stereo equipment.

I would sit with Loyd Brown, and Sammy Shepard for hours and listen to music....In fact the only thing I ever bought that went up in value was my Phase Linear Equipment and my Weber Towers...they came with an agreement that anytime I ever moved Loyd would come set them up for me.  He kept his word on that and set all of that equipment up 5 times for me over about a 30 year time-frame (Until I sold them to Danny Francis)  (And I had to marry him to get them back… we still have them today and they are worth three times what I paid for them)....It took me three years to pay for them back then...I would take a little money in every week and we kept up with it on a little piece of paper that I carried with me.

Like most of you…Most of my clothing and my car… had Sound Company on the back of it...I had a Blue Waylon shirt and a Black Fleetwood Mac T-shirt that was my standard dress. When I was 16 Loyd had been telling me about a band (The Side Of The Road Gang) that was coming to Shreveport so we loaded up to head to the old Tenn. Opry House...when we got to the door he said something about getting my ID out to show them...I think that is when I said well I am only 16! What a look of shock on his face and I think I heard him mutter OH SHIT! (He was 32)

Well I got in anyway and didn't get my ID checked again until I was 22. We became close friends and I saw him go through many happy and wonderful times, a lot of tragic times and later a lot of sad times...but through it all he was always the same old Loyd T....slow and steady...

Loyd was the original Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives guy.  He would say you want a burger and we might end up somewhere between here and New Orleans eating at some little place… he said had the best burgers.  I think I even cried when they tore the old Studio Steak House down on HWY 80.  I know that Loyd is where I get my love of what I call adventure eating and traveling.  I always look for the hole-in-wall unusual places everywhere I go.

I saw Loyd for the last time a week or so before he died. He was at the post office and I knew it would not be long before he left this world (he was mailing a pkg and the I overheard the postal worker ask him if he need confirmation….he sorta replied with a laugh…I don’t think I’m going to need that...I stepped out of line to hug and talk to him...he said as always "Schelley Girl you are looking good...married life is agreeing with you!...(I think that was his way of saying you are getting FAT) 

I asked how he was feeling and he told me “just hanging on by my toenails...but I have some strong toenails" we hugged again and I knew I wouldn't see him again.  I walked out of the post office and text Greg Daily to tell him if he wanted to see him he better hurry.  A week later he was gone.  

I could tell 100s of stories today.  A lot of you are a part of those stories!  We were all a part of a unique era of time and place.  Loyd is a big part of what made it unique….he made a big impact to a lot of people in Minden...he gave us music that we never would have heard if it hadn't been for him...I know we all still have CDs that he made for us.  I think that is why so many of our generation from Minden have a deep and varied appreciation for so many different kinds of music.

The one thing I do regret… is that I was not as good a friend to Loyd as he probably would have been to me had I been sick.  I have a feeling of not having done enough.  I think there are a lot of those feelings in this room today.  We all have a deep sense of lose of someone that was a constant in our lives for many years….even if he was just in the background for the last few years.  None of us knows what life will be tomorrow…we try to live the best we can in the here and now….  RIP Loyd Thomas Brown...you made a big impact on a lot of people even if you didn't know it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Why I Am Now A Part Of The Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi Motor Maids

As a new District Director for the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi District of the Motor Maids, one of my questions to other Motor Maids is why did you join? This is a post I dedicate to those answers that I have received from the women in my district of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Schelley Brown Francis Ark/La/Miss DD

To learn more about Motor Maids, Inc visit the national website at www.motormaids.org

From Schelley Brown Francis: Louisiana
My love of history goes so far back with me, I can't even remember when I first became fascinated with the love of what has been before. That love carried me into first preservation of old houses then cemeteries, and historic districts in my small town of Minden, Louisiana. My love of old cars and motorcycles was started early in my life before I could even drive. I seemed to be attracted to old, rusty, things that would not start and the paint was peeling off. My first car was a 1951 Pontiac and that was in 1974. My first ride on the back of a Harley was in high school. That ride made such a connection with me that for several years I used that as a way to pick who I dated. (Maybe not the best method to find the perfect man)

April 23, 2011 I did find the perfect man...we got to use both of our motorcycles in our wedding!

My brother always loved motorcycles and let me ride his mini-bike when he got it one year for Christmas which I promptly ran into the chain link fence. After that I just figured I would always ride on the back with someone else. Well I was about to turn 50 and I guess I wanted to begin a new stage in my life. I sold my 1937 Buick named Olivia and promptly bought a 2004 Harley Heritage Softail Classic. I didn't even know how to ride the bike when I bought it! I promptly signed up for the Rider's Edge Class and to my amazement passed. For a year I rode in parking lots and many back roads before I became brave enough to venture out. I LOVED IT! I felt so free and the thrill was overwhelming. It brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. My brother passed away in 1996 and I like to think he smiles down and protects me everytime I get on my bike. I still love to ride on the back with my husband when I am not in the mood to think and just want to take lots of pictures; and he is ok with that most of the time.
Sporting my Life Starts At The Edge Shirt After I Passed!
I am such a nostalgic person that when I decided I wanted my own motorcycle which to me could only be a Harley I started doing research on which groups I wanted to be a part of. I had seen Cris Sommer Simmons on CBS Sunday Morning Show talking about her new book "The American Motorcycle Girls", it sparked a fire! I later saw where Chris would be in the Cannonball Run and it would be coming close to my area of the country. I took off to Danville, Arkansas. I had ordered books by Cris and wanted to get her to autograph them for my girlfriends that also rode their own! I met Cris and saw that she was a Motor Maid.
Cris autographing my copies of "THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE GIRLS" at Cannonball 2010
A girl and her motorcycle...What more could a girl ask for on a nice sunny day!
I had read a lot already about this group. I didn't know that the District Director lived only 20 miles from my house (plus she was married to an childhood friends brother), until I got on the Motor Maid Website. That is where I found a link that would lead me to where I am today...
Me with Ronnie and Miram Hennigan at Run With The Nuns Event
Hot Springs, Arkansas 2012
Ronnie Hennigan happen to come in the Museum where I serve as the Director one day and I couldn't believe it. He was just who I wanted to talk to and asked him to please tell his wife I wanted to talk to her and join. A few weeks later in walks Miram Hennigan into my life. In life they say there are no strangers only people we haven't met yet and so it was with Miram. She is fearless for sure. I am more a fair weather rider so far but my love of what being a Motor Maid is strong and I think that is what counts with me for now.
Riding Into A Life Of Women In Motorcycle History!

The fact that this organization is the history of Women In Motorcycling is very important to me!