My Escape from Reality

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

The item that I was obsessively attached in my much younger years was my bicycle especially when I upgraded to a ten speed touring bike.

My bike gave me the ability to ride away from my problems at home and to have time to think. At that time, my family lived on an island south of Detroit on the American side of the Detroit River with our Canadian neighbors not far away. The island had narrow roads making it dangerous with vehicles but had lots of paths through vacant fields to avoid cars but getting the abundant poison ivy.

My touring bike enabled me to escape the yelling and screaming between my Dad and my oldest brother in high school after our move to northern Michigan. It also gave me freedom from the constant nagging of my Mom. Being a free spirit with the need of truth and honesty, my parents put tighter reigns on me than my siblings.

After I moved to west Michigan from up north, I believe that my parents sold my bike cheap in a garage sale. For about ten years, I didn’t ride until I got my Raleigh Technium 12 speed touring bike that I still have now.

My escape from reality has always been on wheels mainly being a road bike in my younger years to an auto later. Riding my bike allowed me to be in the fresh air along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Thankful,

Leslie Elizabeth David.