Found this picture of my Granddad taken in 1911. The motorcycle bicycle such as it is was a 1909. My granddad was 17 when this picture was taken. Living at home with his mom and dad working as an apprentice to his dad who was a blacksmith. His dad had come over with the proverbial dollar in his pocket in 1885 from Denmark and migrated to western Kansas where he was given a section of land from the state for planting X amount of trees on the land. My granddad was born in a sod house which I have a picture of somewhere.
When this picture was taken he had just returned from spending several months in Omaha Nebraska shucking corn for 1 dollar a day as the smithing business was sparse in the winter months. He told me he probably pedaled more than motored the 400 or so miles back home because there just wasn't enough gas in the small towns on his route. In fact roads were pretty sparse too. He used a compass much of the way.
If any of you photo-shop guys would mind I'd like to see what this might have looked like in color.