A former motorcycle messenger rides down memory lane
A former motorcycle messenger rides down memory lane
In the 10 months he worked as a motorcycle messenger in Los Angeles, Ray Charlton logged 40,000 miles. “The first motorcycle I had was one one-cylinder Yamaha SR500… and it just beat me to death,” he said. “To this day, my hands are sensitive to shaking.”
In 1983, Charlton worked for a company called Royal Messengers, which employed about a half dozen motorcyclists to transport documents around the LA basin. Often, he delivered legal documents requiring a physical signature.
“I’d just knock on the door, hand ’em the paper, tell them I’d wait, then a few minutes later, [they] hand it back and zoom, off I went,” he said.
Because it’s legal for motorcyclists to split lanes of traffic in California, Charlton could zip through LA congestion at speed. “I used eight of my nine lives in that job,” he said.
Click the audio player above to hear Charlton’s story.
Write to us using the form below and your story may be featured in a future edition of “My Analog Life.”
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
