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A little family history explains a lot about my Dualsport riding... (cool old pics)

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Very cool Scott!!!

If you miss the funeral, you miss the history. It seems to be the only place that family consistently speaks of ancestors and "the good ole' days". It is also the time old photos emerge.

Congratulations on the "find".
 
Wow warrior, that's a huge milestone, 100! Maybe a Bike trip is in order, and maybe some of your online friends would tag along...and maybe it can be a local news event??? Anyway that's pretty neat, and I hope you get to see her again.
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Not to Hi-Jack, but a trip is planned. I had not thought about making it a bike thing, but the highway 1 up the coast would be a awsome ride. We drove when I was a kid with my Family.
 
Scott, I'm sorry to hear about the death in your family.

The photos you posted remind me of a childhood memory. In 1960 my dad took me to a motorcycle race on the edge of Amarillo near what is now Bell and the Canyon highway.

All of the bikes were bobbed Harley's on a motocross type track with a couple of jumps. The flying dirt and guys rolling around was common during the race because the hard tail bikes were a handful to ride. As a young kid I was scared to death of the loud bikes roaring by.
 
Tourmeister said:
Grandad-3.JPG
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Mail that one in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
 
WOW! I have never posted here or even heard of this site or Steve until a couple hours ago. Jack Vernon Welborn was my grandfather, as well, which is where I get my middle name. Steve and I are first cousins. I don't know a lot about my grandfather, and even my mom didn't know he was a motocrosser, although she says he liked fast cars. I have been riding dirtbikes for about 31 years, and currently have a KTM 450 EXC dual sport that I love to use to explore the forest roads up here in Northern California.

Those pictures are priceless to me. Wow. Thanks
 
Paul Vernon Williamson said:
WOW! I have never posted here or even heard of this site or Steve until a couple hours ago. Jack Vernon Welborn was my grandfather, as well, which is where I get my middle name. Steve and I are first cousins. I don't know a lot about my grandfather, and even my mom didn't know he was a motocrosser, although she says he liked fast cars. I have been riding dirtbikes for about 31 years, and currently have a KTM 450 EXC dual sport that I love to use to explore the forest roads up here in Northern California.

Those pictures are priceless to me. Wow. Thanks
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Oh, this is totally freakin' awesome! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Welcome to TWT, Paul. :mrgreen:
 
Thanks, Keith. I'm digging listening to your music, and am listening to Sold My Fortune right now! I don't know who wrote it, but I have the version by Sugertooth... I have been playing guitar for a few decades myself...
 
That picture of him airborne is just incredible. Amazing being done on that old(now) iron.
 
Paul Vernon Williamson said:
WOW! I have never posted here or even heard of this site or Steve until a couple hours ago. Jack Vernon Welborn was my grandfather, as well, which is where I get my middle name. Steve and I are first cousins. I don't know a lot about my grandfather, and even my mom didn't know he was a motocrosser, although she says he liked fast cars. I have been riding dirtbikes for about 31 years, and currently have a KTM 450 EXC dual sport that I love to use to explore the forest roads up here in Northern California.

Those pictures are priceless to me. Wow. Thanks
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Welcome to the site Paul :wave:

Steve = Scott Vernon Friday = "Tourmeister" ;-)

:tab It's funny though. All my life, whenever someone has mistakenly called me by another name, it has ALWAYS been Steve! Now here is someone that has never seen, talked to, or met me in any manner, and he uses the same name :lol2: No biggie, just one of those things that make you go hmmm... :ponder:

:tab A little background for the rest of you folks. Paul's sister recently did a Google search on their grandfather's name. She said it was just on a whim and for no particular reason. The first thing that turned up was this thread. So after reading it, she emailed me. Can't say I was expecting something like that to happen, especially so soon after I posted the thread! She even had a copy of the portrait shot in the original post, but they had never seen the riding images.

:tab I forwarded the email to my Dad. There were comments in there about his real dad regarding his life. I thought he might find it interesting. He read it this afternoon at work and we talked a bit about it. Since he never knew his real Dad and knew nothing about him other than his name, he has essentially been a non person for Dad's whole life. So there are no lingering anger or resentment issues. As far as Dad is concerned, his stepdad (the one that recently passed away) was his real dad. Still, there is that curiosity... Besides, how bad can new family be if they ride KTM? :trust: :rider:
 
OK!! Scott and Tim! How did I manage that??!! I have to admit that I was a bit out of sorts and very surprised yesterday, so I probably called myself Fred...

Yep, I made the jump to KTM in the beginning of 07 and am in love! I have done all the necessary stuff to it, although there are more goodies I want. Particularly, some 17 inch rims and some slicks for some SuperMoto action!

However, my money is going to kart racing. If any of you have never tried a kart, I highly recommend it. I road raced a 125 shifter for a couple years, and now I am in a single speed 4 stroke clutch kart, and am racing several sprint tracks in the Northern California area.

On the family stuff, I was raised by a stepfather from birth, so he is Dad. What is really cool is that my wife posted on Ancestry.com and I ultimately found a half brother in Canada and two half sisters in New York. None of us siblings knew anything about our father, Arlo, until my brother, Grant, started digging up info. So, in 03 I flew to Canada, and my (newly found) brother and I drove to New York, met our sisters for our first time, went to our natural father's high school reunion and got the red carpet treatment from the whole community, as we found out he died in the early 70's and nobody knew what happened. This was a small town in upstate New York, and every single other member of his high school graduating class was still alive and at that reunion. The weird thing is about different 20 people (all about 70 years old) approached me and said I reminded them of Arlo. I am known to be a clown, I guess, and am not shy in public. Neither was he! After all that, I met my first cousin on his side, and our sisters' families. Prior to 03, the only Williamson I ever met was the guy in the mirror looking at me when I brush my teeth!

So, I have never had any contact with any cousins or aunts and uncles on my maternal grandfather's side until yesterday. I decided to post all this stuff here instead of privately to Scott, as he had shared his story here. Also, we all have our family histories, and we all have some family wounds, at least I sure have, so I think the more open we can be about our crazy lives and families, the more we heal and remove ourselves from past pain.

Thanks for reading!
 
One more quick reply... When I was a kid, my idol was Evil Knievel, and I would set up launch and landing ramps to jump my Schwinn Stingray at 8 years old. I used to set it up and make my parents watch, and I crashed a lot! Seeing those shots of my grandfather launching himself on that two wheeled tank really puts things in perspective! :eek2: I won't jump more than a 20 foot tabletop or shallow double, but I am still riding! In fact, I still can drop into a halfpipe on my skateboard... I guess I know where I get it...
 
Cool story and fun to be included in it.
And the pix are outstanding.
Thanks for sharing with us.
 
:tab Paul, was Jack your Maternal Grandfather? My understanding is that your Mom and my Dad are half brother/sister to each other. So you and I would be half first cousins. Any idea if there are other kids of Jack's besides your Mom and my Dad? Also, is there just you and Anna?

:tab I did the ramp/schwinn thing too. Lost a lot of skin that way :lol2: We were big into skateboarding too, long before all the half pipes and safety gear showed up on the scene. Our thing was to find the steepest and highest road, then see who could stay on until the bottom... Bigger diameter wheels would have been nice. All it took was one little pebble to bring the board to a halt while we kept going :eek2: Those experiences had a lot to do with me deciding from the start to wear good gear when riding :trust:
 
You got it, Scott! We are first cousins, and my mom and your dad are indeed half siblings! Anna and I have the same blood mom. Anna's natural father (Dad) is who raised me from birth. Our family tree is more like a tumbleweed! You are the first Welborn blood other than my sister, mom and our grandfather that I have ever been in contact with, and I barely remember him.

We are a family of half siblings, but we are a family! The only cousins I have ever known are my two on my maternal grandmother's side. So, for me to finally make contact with my Williamson side in 03, and now the Welborn side is really cool.

I really hope we can meet someday. Maybe if fuel costs stay down, I'll come out to Texas some day and race my kart (and bring the KTM, of course :rider: ). Karting is big in Texas! Otherwise, I will at least send some pics of me and my family, and you can see if we have any resemblance.

According to my mom, my looks come more from my natural father, and my build from my maternal grandmother's side. Apparently, what I got most from Grandpa was his engineering and building and scheming mind! I, like him, found it hard in life to settle down, and have always been easily bored and was pretty wild when I was younger. Thus, I had a great time in college, did all the things you shouldn't do, and eventually dropped out... So, I became an electrical and general building contractor. Only this last year have I been able to quit the construction industry and become a pencil pusher! Fortunately, I am still self-employed. It is not in my nature to have a boss!

Anyways, feel free to email any time, or just keep posting in this thread and it can be like a soap opera for the readers! I have saved this link in my favorites, if nothing else, and I am happy to be an open book.

Paul
 
Rman of 237 said:
Way weird but very, very cool!!:clap: :clap: What a small world! So may we assume a family reunion is in order?:rider:!! .... no, wait, how about...:flip:?:sun:
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Given where Paul lives and the riding available, I'd certainly like to get out there for some riding! I never got to explore Northern California while I lived out there. It would be cool to do so with someone familiar with the area :rider:
 
I sure would like one of those... but not in the dirt! They list the weight at 430 pounds, and you know the suspension wasn't going to soak up a jump! I'll stick with my KaTooM at 270 pounds and 13 inches of travel! Even comes with a license plate...
 
genjac said:
Very interesting story Scott / Paul.
Small world- almost frighteningly small.

The 1932 Indian Sport chief
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2952698650033933758kDzYMi

and the 1932 Indian Scout
http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/classics/bike.asp?id=26

All look pretty much the same.
The hi-tech sport/touring bike of the day.
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+1 looks like 1932 or later Scout

http://www.asl-testsite.co.uk/motors/normal/Indian-Scout-1932.jpg


Nice pictures amazing what they did with so heavy bikes with just a couple inches of front suspension travel....:eek2:
 
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