Memoirs of a Biker: Traveling the Long Road

Joseph McCloskey was born in 1918 in Paterson, New Jersey, then still known as the Silk City. He was raised in a large Catholic family and spent his teen years during the Depression. Almost hidden among Paterson's textile mills was Gasoline Alley, where a young man could pick up a taste for motorcycles, races, the open road, and the great wide world. Deeply rooted in one place, time and faith, the author would go farther than most in exploring what lay out there. The author married, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and graduated from St. Louis Dental School in 1953. He opened a dental practice in the Paterson suburb of North Haledon. In 1969, with his youngest son in high school, the author returned to his earlier interest in motorcycles, taking up distance biking. He retired in 1986 and moved with his second wife to Palm City, Florida. There he wrote his memoirs describing the journey from the suburbs of Paterson to Panama, and points between and beyond. The author passed away in summer 2007.