We lived in Lakeland from 1979 to 2006. Couldn’t take the heat or the traffic any longer. It was nice at first, but the growth was too much for us. Neither one of us was from FL so we were ready to experience 4 seasons again.
My grandfather was a motorcycle cop in Paterson, NJ. He died of complications from a motorcycle accident when my dad was 12.
My uncle (Dad’s brother) crashed his motorcycle and slid in gravel for about 50 yards. It took the doctors about 6 hours to remove all the gravel from his skin.
When I was a wee lad we had a station wagon with a metal luggage rack on top. Some genius on a motorcycle rear ended the car while Dad sat at a stop light. The rider went over his handlebars and his head hit the metal bar of the luggage rack. He flipped over the car and landed on the hood, on his back, with his exposed brain on display towards the windshield.
Needless to say I was forbidden from riding motorcycles, ever. While away at college I got a moped to be able to get across campus in time for classes. Dad had a fit. My next birthday they bought me a car.