Hailing from Albany, Georgia, the lovely and tenacious Miss Vivian Bales onboard her beloved 1929 Harley-Davidson Model D, on which she traversed thousands of miles throughout North America at the end of the Prohibition Era and became known as The Enthusiast Girl.
The eternally lovely, fearless, and unwavering Miss Vivian B. Bales was a pioneer American adventurer who broke the mold of what it meant to be a woman and motorcyclist in the Roaring Twenties. Born in Wacissa, Florida, in 1908, Bales soon moved back to her parent’s original home in Albany, Georgia. Having a knack for her own creative side, the diminutive Bales was a free spirit from birth and determined to have her own adventures like those of Lindbergh and Earhart. However, being of little means in a small south Georgia town meant Bales would need to find her own route into a life of adventure. In 1926, Miss Bales graduated high school as one of 43 young girls in her class and worked as a ballet instructor, picking up extra money on the side as a seamstress. The money was good, even pulling in $300 after arranging and single-handedly producing a ballet recital, but it wasn't airplane money and the young Bales always kept an eye on the horizon.
Though history remembers America as a vibrant, urbane culture in the 1920s, many in the country, especially those in small rural towns, still commuted on foot or horseback. Such was the case for young Miss Bales, but with her influx of cash, she decided to look for more modern modes of transportation. The flood of lightweight, economical, single-cylinder motorcycles produced by American manufacturers in the mid-1920s provided an enticing opportunity. By then, women like Effie Hotchkiss, Della Crewe, and the Van Buren sisters had proven that motorcycling wasn't an interest limited to any gender. Still, dated norms perpetuated a stigma around female motorcyclists, and the culture remained overwhelmingly a boys club. In her own words, Bales recalled that it made her "blood boil" to be told women shouldn't ride alone and that she "always wanted to do something most girls wouldn't do." So, at only 18 years old in 1926, with a fist full of cash and an unbridled determination, Bales set off to the local Harley-Davidson dealership to buy her first motorcycle.
The machine that she chose was Harley's latest release, a 21 CI (346cc) side-valve single Model B, a lightweight and agile machine ideally suited for her 5' 2", 95-pound stature. Bales taught herself how to handle the little Model B, navigating the sandy south Georgian backroads, falling in love with her new machine and the sense of freedom it instilled. "The minute I got that single, I knew I had the keys to the whole United States." Bales soon set off on her first long trip to stretch her little single and test her skills. The destination was St. Petersburg, Florida, over 300 miles away along rough roads and sparse countryside, but she wouldn't be riding alone. Her best friend from high school, Josephine Johnson, had a sister in St. Petersburg, giving the duo a valid excuse for such an adventure. Though not an easy trip to make two-up on a single-cylinder, the trip went off without a hitch and when they arrived in St. Petersburg, the local Harley-Davidson dealer was so impressed that he arranged for a story to be printed in the local paper. Within a few weeks, the story was reprinted in the Atlanta Constitution, praising Bales for her accomplishment and stoking the fire in her for long-distance motorcycle trips.
Returning home to Albany, Bales beamed from her first motorcycle trip and the attention it garnered. She continued working as a dance instructor and seamstress, but the itch for adventure remained in the back of her mind. Her ambitions grew over the next two years as she plotted her next escapade, a grand, 5,00 mile cross-country tour to visit the home of Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee. The stakes for such a trek were higher, the conditions far more challenging, and she knew if she were to successfully complete such an excursion her machine would need an upgrade. It just so happened that in 1929, Harley-Davidson rolled out a brand new model ideally suited for the job.
Introduced in 1929, Harley's Model D was a new displacement for the Motor Company, a flathead 45 CI (750 cc) middleweight V-twin squeezed into the low, streamlined chassis of Bales' old Model B single. It was double the power in a familiar form factor, more capable than her little single but still manageable for her petite build. After clocking thousands of miles in the saddle she traded in her mighty little single in the spring of 1929 for the new Model D, a machine she later described as a "real honey." With her new Model D, Bales knew that the pilgrimage to Milwaukee was well within reach, but it wouldn't be without its expenses. To drum up some support, Bales penned a letter to Hap Jameson that May, the editor of Harley-Davidson's monthly trade magazine The Enthusiast.
Jameson was intrigued; Bales was quite different from the typical cross-country motorcyclist and represented a unique opportunity to advertise to an always under-captured demographic. Officially, Harley-Davidson didn’t sponsor her trip, but Jameson personally sent a letter to every dealership in the country encouraging them to support the demure Miss Bales along her journey. He instructed them to keep her new "45" running in tip-top shape, filling her tanks with oil and gas, and extending every hospitality with a promise of reimbursement if necessary. To Bales, he extended the title of "The Enthusiast Girl" and sent her a couple of sweaters with the moniker embroidered across the front. Jameson also recruited her to write an article to recount her trip once she returned safely back home and featured an image of her and her trusty Model D on the May cover of the magazine. The assistance drummed up by Mr. Jameson proved invaluable, but the trip itself would be completely funded by Bales herself.
On June 1, 1929, Miss Bales left Albany and headed north through Macon toward Atlanta. At each stop along the way, Bales was welcomed by local officials, motorcycle clubs, police departments, and, of course, the town's Harley-Davidson dealership. Local newspapers often ran a story announcing Bales before she arrived in town which stirred a tremendous amount of interest in sighting the young lady, clad in all white, on the journey of a lifetime. Often overwhelmed by the attention she received, Bales made an autograph book in which she began collecting the signatures of celebrities and officials along her route so as not to forget amid the whirlwind. Along with her autograph book, Bales recorded her travels in a journal, often recording the endless wonderful people she encountered along the way.
She meandered up the east coast, and though the journey wasn’t always easy, the fearless southern spitfire pushed on, making no exception for when it was time to ride off again to spend the day in the wind.
By the end of June, Bales had made her way to Washington, D.C., where Georgia Senator William Harris arranged for a personal meeting with President Herbert Hoover. Bales put on her finest gear, all white from head to toe, to meet the President, recalling that she couldn't quite believe that a young girl from Georgia was walking into the oval office. It was, without question, a highlight of her life. From D.C., she proceeded to New York, where people swarmed her at the red lights along 5th Avenue, wanting to meet the increasingly famous "Georgia Peach." From New York, she continued north to Rochester and Buffalo, then over to Detroit by way of the Canadian route. Just outside of Lansing, a bug cracked the glass in her riding goggles. A local doctor had to remove a shard of glass from her left eye which also required a couple of days off to recover, but after so many miles, it would mark the most significant incident on her entire trip.
Her final stop before Milwaukee was in South Haven towards the end of July. At the time, Michigan had no speed limits, and Miss Bales could open her little 45 up. On her approach to South Haven she was escorted by a friendly motorcycle officer who bated her to really wring out her throttle, the pair moving their needles to 85 MPH. In South Haven she stayed with a fellow female enthusiast Miss Val Galbreath whom she had first read about in the Enthusiast magazine before beginning a correspondence with. Galbreath was the only female rider Bales had actually met in her many years and thousands of miles covered in the saddle. From there, she was off to her final destination, the Harley-Davidson factory on Juneau Avenue.
In Milwaukee, Bales was met with grand fanfare and open arms, including those of co-founder Arthur Davidson who presented her with a silver cup to commemorate her epic adventure. Bales had defied the convention that women were not motorcyclists when she set out. Throughout her 78-day, 5,000 mile adventure which covered 14 states, D.C., Canada, Bales blazed a trail for all future female motorcyclists and became a goodwill ambassador for enthusiasts everywhere. Her picture again graced the cover of The Enthusiast magazine in November 1929, in which the story of her travels was first published. She returned home and continued riding, marrying a soldier named William Clarence Faison in April 1934 and settling down back home in Albany. At age 84, Bales once again donned her best white attire, grabbed her trophy, and posed for a photo onboard a fans Harley-Davidson.
Nearly ten years later, in December 2001, Vivian B. Bales was laid to rest in Albany's Floral Memorial Gardens alongside her late husband, William following a long motorcycle procession arranged by Flint River Harley-Davidson. Bales' story lives on, having inspired countless enthusiasts to follow their hearts into the winds of adventure, and she remains an icon for female motorcyclists the world over. Vivian Bales exemplified the spirit of feminine freedom and equality at a time of wonted subjugation in America, living her life on her own terms with grit and grace.
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