In 1956, at the tender age of 7, Tim lived next door to a San Francisco motorcycle police officer. One day the officer put him on the seat, cradled by the experienced arms of the expert rider, and rode around the block. Tim thought he died and went to heaven; he was hooked on two wheels for the rest of his life. Unfortunately all he could ride for the next few years he had to peddle himself. In 1965 he learned to ride a Honda 55 and eventually graduated to a 1967 Triumph 650, at that time a serious bike. Safety equipment was pretty much unheard of then and riding was considered dangerous, so it was back to cars until 1999 when the kids were on their own and he took a ride on a friends motorcycle. The next day he bought his own motorcycle and began his new journey on two wheels.
Tim worked his way through college employed for five summers with the US Forest Service on the Sierra and Angeles National Forests in California. His main duties were the installation and maintenance of the communications systems used by the fire fighting and forest management teams. A typical day was 8 hours of driving on dirt roads to and from the peak of the highest mountain in the area to service the communications equipment for the fire lookout towers. This was truly a great and memorable outdoor job for a 20 year old.
Tim graduated from the California Polytechnic University in 1973 with a BS in Electronic Engineering and began employment in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1969, while skiing in Yosemite National Park, Tim met a young lady and was married five years later. He obtained his MBA from the University of Santa Clara. After a three-year stint as a safety engineer for Underwriter’s Laboratory he joined Hewlett Packard as a production engineer. Within a couple of years he moved into marketing and gravitated to opportunities in new start-up ventures within HP. He welcomed the challenges of starting something new, and the opportunities to travel around the world visiting Europe and Asia while launching new business ventures and learning about the many different cultures throughout the world. Tim’s need for starting up new ventures led to his departure a couple of times from HP during the peak of the computer revolution in the 1980’s. HP valued his external experience and he was hired back, moved to Colorado in 1988 and continued to rise through the management ranks eventually moving to Germany in 1994. Upon his repatriation to the USA he served as the General Manager of a printer division in HP’s largest and most profitable business unit. His last departure led to his early retirement in 2001.
Tim’s love of motorcycle touring has led to his latest venture as a partner in Sawtooth Motorcycle Tours, LLC. He has traveled extensively throughout the USA, in 2001 the first of four trips to Sturgis, South Dakota, Australia in 2002, Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Harley’s 100 year celebration in 2003 returning via the Famous Route 66, Alaska in 2004, Testy-Festy in Montana, Ruidoso in New Mexico, and lots of other biker events in 2005, coast-to-coast for the Ride to the Wall in 2006, and many of the other 48 contiguous states, and of course numerous National Parks throughout the western states. He even rented a scooter on the Big Island of Hawaii to explore it on 2-wheels.
It is our desire to share this experience, the love of motorcycle touring, and the great outdoors with you. Come ride with us!!!