Thanks, everyone who replied to my comment about learning to ride a
motorbike!

Following Jeff's suggestion (below), I googled Northern Virginia Community
College, found the info about motorcycle safety education, and - yipes! -
took the first step!  Which was applying to NOVA (as it's called around
here).  Felt like a very strange thing to do, at age 50, after completing
ten years of post-high school education already, having completed an array
of advanced degrees, and even having paid off all my student loans more than
a decade ago.  But of course this is completely different!

Classes don't start till March, and registration doesn't start till
mid-January, and price has risen by 50% since Jeff had the price, but hey,
I'm on my way!  At least if I don't chicken out by then...

Joy

****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
now living in a real house in northern Virginia
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
now living in the driveway and resting after two and a half years
lugging Joy and her stuff around...

For musings about life traveling in the van or living in one place:
http://www.joyhecht.net

****************************************************************
� 

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Jeff Stewart [mailto:fonman4277@earthlink.net]
:::Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 9:42 AM
:::To: Joy Hecht
:::Subject: Re: Come out of the closet, all
:::
:::Is this what happens after one passes the big five-oh? How hard is it to
:::learn to ride one, at my age?
:::
:::
:::Joy,
:::   Not hard at all. Take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class,
:::available
:::at NOVA, costs $90.00, and they supply the motorcycle. Even though I have
:::ridden for over 30 years, I took the class 2 years ago. I was so proud of
:::the fact that at age 46, I scored the top in the class ( a perfect "0" on
:::the riding skills, you get assessed points for each mistake you make). I
:::beat out two young guys in their 20's who were both Fairfax county cops.
:::The looks on their faces was priceless!      Jeff