Indiana and Kentucky

From Dale we headed west into Indiana, and south towards Kentucky. It was some rain, but a nice ride along the Ohio River, with small old villages and country roads. That day we planned to ride only 100 miles or so down to Louisville.

We found the way quite easily to Jaqui Van Ham and Stephen Pate’s place where we should stay for the night. Unfortunately, they were so nice that we ended up with staying for three nights. It’s terrible with this terribly nice people.

Jaqui has been touring Europe with her BMW R75/5 and tries to make a living from freelance writing about motorcycles and wine (good combination), while Stephen is a professional restorer of high-end classic bikes as Brough Superiors and Vincents. The Danish riff-raff finally got the chance to hang out with the British aristocracy.

Big Sid, the legendary Vincent tuner and his son Matthew also stay in Louisville and is a friend of Stephen so we also got the honor to visit him, and later have dinner with him and his son. Quite amazing to hear his stories from about Phil Irving and Rollie Free, which he both knew back in the day.

After Louisville the next stop was Bowling Green. As far as I can see the town is not too much of an attraction, but in this case there were a particular reason why we dropped by. The reason was to visit another true legend, the magician John Calvert. John is now 98 years, but still in quite good health. He used to do 60 feet jumps with Indian motorcycles in the thirties, he was a Hollywood star and actor, and even more an adventurer.

John travelled the world with his show using private airplanes, which he of course he flew himself. He had three DC3’s himself, and loads of smaller planes. Needless to say, he was also a friend of Howard Hughes. John survived several crashes, but none of them was when he was flying blindfolded like he occasionally did for show.

He also travelled the world with several yachts, the first one was Edsel Ford’s old yacht. He toured the world for many years with different yachts, and on went down several times but survived it all. He took his magic show to the most awkward places of the world, and even entertained Idi Amin in Uganda. According to John, every time he asked from a volunteer from the audience Idi went up himself, no one else was allowed. John did his shows with the threat of getting killed if he made a fool of him on the stage.

It’s not even any use in trying to get into his stories, it’s too many besides people don’t believe it unless they see the pictures. If you come across his biography it’s well worth reading, he’s certainly the most extreme adventurer I met personally.

Fra Dale kørte vi vestpå til Indiana, og sydpå mod Kentucky. Der var lidt regn, men det var en fin tur langs Ohio River, med små landsbyer og småveje. Planen for den dag var at kun køre mokring 160 km ned til Louisville.

Vi fandt nemt frem til Jaqui Van Ham og Stephen Paté's hjem, hvor vi skulle overnatte. Uheldigvis var de så flinke mennesker, at vi endte med at bo der i tre døgn. Det er forfærdeligt med disse forfærdeligt flinke mennesker.

Jaqui har kørt rundt i Europa på sin BMW R75/5, og prøver at leve som freelance skribent om motorcykler og vin (en god kombination), mens Stephen's profession er at restaurere overklassemaskiner som Brough-Superior og Vincent. Så her fik den danske pøbel muligheden for at mænge sig med aristokraterne.

Big Sid, en legendarisk Vincent tuner, og hans søn Matthew bor også i Louisville, og er venner med Stephen; så vi fik også æren af at besøge ham og senere spise middag me ham og sønnen. Det var noget særligt at sidde og høre historier om Phil Irving og Rollie Free (hhv. Vincent konstroktør og Bonneville rekordkører), som han kendte fra gamle dage.

Efter Louisville var næste stop Bowling Green. Som jeg ser det har byen ikke meget at byde på, men her var der en særlig grund til at vi kom forbi: Nemlig at besøge en anden legende, magikeren John Calvert. John er 98 år gammel nu, men stadig ved godt helbred. I 1930'erne plejede han at fortage 20 meter hop på Indian motorcykler, han var stjerneskuespiller i Hollywood, og endnu mere en eventyrlysten type.

John rejste jorden rundt med sit show pr. privatfly, som han selvfølgelig selv fløj. Han havde tre DC-3'ere, og masser af mindre fly. Det er næsten overflødigt at nævne, at han også var ven med Howard Hughes. John overlevede adskillige styrt, men ingen af dem mens han fløj med bind for øjnene, som han nogen gange brillerede med.

Han rejste også jorden rundt med forskellige yachts, en af hvilke havde tilhørt Henry Ford's søn Edsel. Flere gange gik bådene ned, men han overlevede hver gang. Showet blev vist de mest umulige steder på kloden, selv hos Idi Amin i Uganda. Ifølge John kom Idi op hver gang han bad om en frivillig, for ingen andre måtte. De shows blev gjort under truslen om at miste livet hvis han gjorden manden til grin....

Det giver ingen mening at genfortælle flere af de ting han har oplevet, for dels er der for mange af dem, og dels vil folk ikke tro det medmindre de har fotografisk bevis. Hvis du finder hans autobiografi er den virkelig en gennemlæsning værd, for han er utvivlsomt den mest eventyrlystne mand jeg personligt har mødt.

The Danish riff-raff finally got the chance to swap paws with the British aristocracy. This Brough Superior SS100 is worth approximately worth 20 times as much as a Nimbus in similar condition. No wonder, the tank is chromeplated and it got dual exhausts.

Den danske pøbel får omsider chancen for at mænge sig med den britiske overklasse. Denne Brough-Superior koster ca. 20 gange mere end en Nimbus i tilsvarende stand. Ikke at det kan undre; tanken er forkromet og den har to udstødningsrør.

Stephen with his patient.

Stephen med sin patient.

Matthew and Sid with their wonderful Vincati, Vincent engine and Ducati frame. Also featured in Cycle World.

Matthew & Sid med deres pragtfulde Vincati, en Ducati ombygget med Vincent motor. Den har været vist i mc-bladet Cycle World.

With the signatures from different legends that box is soon more worth than the becoming-closer-and-closer-to-a-pile-of-shit-Nimbus.

Efterhånden som alle disse legendariske mennesker har sat deres autograf på sidevognskassen, er den snart mere værd en Nimbusvraget den er spændt fast på.

Facinating to hear all the stories, Sid was however more interested in hearing about the technical aspects of a Nimbus. Not unlikely for the motorcycle genii we've come across.

For os var det fascinerende at høre alle Sid's historier, men han var mere interesseret i at høre om Nimbussens teknik. Dette var typisk for de forskellige motorcykel-genier vi havde mødt undervejs.

Goodbye time with the Van Ham'ster and Stephen.

Afskedens stund med Van Ham'steren og Stephen.

John Calvert; aviator, sailor, adventurer, magician and Hollywood star.

John Calvert; pilot, sejler, eventyrer, magiker og Hollywoood stjerne.

Tammy, John's wife is Singaporean and left the island state in 1960 and has not been there since 1973. She's been traveling with John to most corners of the world as his side kick. She still got Singaporean accent though she escaped already back in the wild days in Singapore.

Tammy, John's kone, er fra Singapore, som hun forlod i 1960 og ikke har besøgt siden 1973. Hun har rejst næsten overalt på Jorden med John, men har beholdt sin Singapore accent.

Old picture of John with his lion. He had two of them.
Et gammelt billede af John med en af sine to løver.

No wonder, he got to fly fighter jets already around 1950. He used to be both trainer for pilots during the war, and entertainer for the soldiers on r & r.

John kom til at flyve jets allerede omkring 1950. Under (Korea)krigen var han både instruktør, og entertainer for piloter på r&r (rest and recreation).

Klaus inspects his elephant rifle, a .375 that he used in Africa and shot about ten elephants with during the making of a film.
Klaus inspicerer hans elefantbøsse, en .375'er som han brugte i Afrika. Han skød ti elefanter i forbindelse med en film der blev optaget.

Tammy and John out rowing with their leopards, they had 5 of them. Most of the stories about the man is hard to believe, good thing he's got pictures to back it all up.

Tammy & John på rotur med deres leoparder, som de havde fem af. De fleste af historierne om manden må være svære at tro, så det er godt at han har billeder til at bevise dem.