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 The best thing about the U.S. Postal Service is that, once in a while, something extraordinary arrives.
Today I received a package in the mail from long time enthusiasts, Carl and Macy Donaldson. The package was quite unexpected and when I opened it, to my surprise, I found a wonderful large format photo of a particularly fond memory at the museum. The photo was taken during the Drag Specialties mountain ride in 2007 during their stop at Wheels Through Time. Pictured from left to right are myself, Roland Sands of Roland Sands Design, Carl Donaldson, and Brian Klock of Klock Werks Kustom Cycle. The bike that Carl is sitting on is the legendary Leapin' Leena. The bike was built way back in 1950 by George Swim, a Harley-Davidson dealer from the little town of Energy, IL. George had been a dealer since the mid-1930s, and started the Star of Egypt Motorcycle Club back in the late 1940s. The club scene back then was a much different one than today, with social gatherings, road-runs, and field-games prevalent on any given weekend. Having fun was the goal and these guys were good at it. So, as you can guess, Leapin' Leena was built for one purpose and one purpose only -- FUN. Set up with offset hubs, when you ride Leapin' Leena it hops and jumps at even the lowest speeds, and must have been quite a spectacle in its day. The bike has seen many Sunday club gatherings and over its 70-plus year life-span, I imagine, has bucked off even the best of riders. As the Drag Specialties group and I toured the museum, we stumbled across Leapin' Leena sitting quitely near the back door of the museum. We began talking about the bike and within minutes, someone had asked if it ran. "Everything runs," I said. "Do you want to ride it?" Before long, we had out a few tools, tightened up a few nuts and bolts, slid in a battery, and were ready to crank her up. Just then, someone tapped on my shoulder, and when I turned around it was none other than Carl Donaldson, who had, just by coincidence, come to visit the museum on the same day. I hadn't seen Carl in at least 15 or 20 years. I set my wrench down and we began catching up a bit. Then I noticed that Carl seemed a bit distracted. He looked over my shoulder with a smile, hesitated, then said, "Why that looks like Leapin' Leena!" "It is!!!" I said. "I haven't ridden that bike in 50 years!" As it turns out Carl and George Swim were close friends and over the years, Carl had attended a few "Star Of Egypt" events, himself. "Do you want to ride it?" I asked. Carl politely declined, but we went ahead and rolled the bike out anyway. After a short roll to the grass (you don't want to ride this thing on pavement...trust me), we kicked it twice and cranked it up. "Who's first?" I asked. Carl was right there with a smile. He hopped on, shifted into first, disengaged the clutch, and he was off. If you didn't know, you'd have thought he rode it yesterday. --Dale
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