Don Dickey was quite a guy. He made it a point to get to know everything about anyone he came in contact with. One of these people was Martin Luther King, who Don met while working for Time Magazine many years ago. He could walk into a room be on virtually a first name basis with the occupants there within minutes. He really liked people and everyone liked Don.
He was one of the very rare people who actually never said an unkind word about anyone
His first moto was a
Marman Twin in the late 1940s which he used to deliver newspapers in his hometown of Cicero, Illinois.
He paused his motorcycling riding after getting a car, but resumed riding dirt bikes (Bultaco’s and Ossa’s) with his sons here in Marin county in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He again paused his riding after his sons had grown only to resume it again on street bikes in the early 2000’s when he was in his early seventies.
He was truly unique. Before resuming his motorcycling , he could be seen daily rolling all around Marin County's streets on his high tech single track roller skates , which were over truly mind boggling in length, often exceeding twenty or thirty miles. He gave up roller skating, because of close calls only to take up motorcycling.
Until just recently he could also be seen taking his daily 12 mile hikes on some of the steeper trails on Mount Tamalpias whose paths he knew like the back of his hand. These weren't leisurely hikes either befitting someone his age. I took one once with him and it was truly exhausting because he hiked at something approaching running speeds.
Like I said, unique
John
