97 year-old woman gets ride of a lifetime

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Ezmah Portwood always thought she would love to ride a motorcycle.
"Whenever we would be on the road and we would see a motorcycle, I would tell my husband, 'oh, how I wish that was me."
Well, the Franklin County native and now Auburn resident, had her wish come true.
Portwood's daughter, Georgia Aycock, surprised her mother with a motorcycle ride on her 97th birthday earlier this month.
"She told me we were going out to eat for my birthday," said Portwood, who lived most of her life in the Saint's Crossroads community before moving to Auburn to live with her daughter a few years ago.
"We were on some road that I didn't know, but I didn't say anything. Then we pulled into this parking lot and there were five or six motorcycles there."
Just the mention of a motorcycle ride was enough to thrill Portwood.
"I said 'alright, let's go."
She held on tight as she left for a 20-mile ride.
Portwood said she felt a little uneasy for the first mile or so before settling in and feeling right at home on the back seat of the Harley-Davidson.
"Oh how I enjoyed it," she said. "After I rode it for about two miles, I could have rode all day long."
She said it was one birthday she could never forget.
"It was such a thrill. My daughter found the perfect gift for me."