BROTHERS AND THEIR INDIAN
THE ABERNATHY BROTHERS BY : T . R .
You may have never heard of them or their story , but the Abernathy brothers will surely go down in history with owners of Indian motorcycles as a favorite . They started adventure touring at a very young age . Bud and his brother Temple at the ages of 10 and 14 bought their Indian Motorcycle with money they earned from horseback riding across the USA .
Their father , a US Marshall and good friend of president Roosevelt , decided he wanted his boys to be tough as nails and plotted their first adventure for them on horseback when they were only ages 5 and 9 . He sent them on a ride from Oklahoma to New Mexico on July 10 , 1909 , eight years after Indian Motorcycle was founded .
One year later , leaving from Oklahoma again , they headed for New York where they met Roosevelt as he returned from a hunting trip . It was then that the boys started receiving a lot of attention from the media and the rest of the country .
They arrived in New York on June 11 th 1910 and were greeted by a cheering crowd of thousands of people , along with their father . Their trip home ( alone ), was in a Brush Motor car that they had purchased in New York City . In 1911 , the boys accepted a challenge with other riders , to ride horses from New York City to San Francisco in under 60 days . They were not allowed to sleep or eat indoors and the winner of the challenge would get $ 10,000 .
They arrived in San Francisco two days late , but they earned enough cash for their unique journey and story , so they bought their first motorcycle , an Indian as you see pictured here . Their last documented adventure was in 1913 where they rode from Oklahoma to New York . Bud grew up and graduated from law school , and his brother Temple flourished in the oil field .
I don ’ t know about what your kids are doing right now , but I can bet he or she is probably playing X box and texting on his cell …. Wow , has time
changed .
6 Thunder Roads Magazine Louisiana | April 2017 | www . thunderroadslouisiana . org