Photo Provided Gary Bragg at Rumble for the Cure cancer ride.
Americans are a mobile sort. It’s how the country grew from the east coast to the West. Since then, we’ve yearned to explore that vast expanse and used all methods of transportation to do so.
For most boomers, working years are in their rearview mirror, so many are reliving what their generation is known for: heading out on the nation’s highways and back roads via motorcycle. Part of the motivation is the lure of the open road, a desire to experience history firsthand and engage locals in far-flung places in memorable conversations.
Retired from careers as a Columbus City Utilities surveyor and a cosmetologist respectively, Larry and Toni Smith heed the call of the road as often as they can on their 2011 Harley- Davidson Super Glide that they converted into a three-wheeler.
Larry acquired his first bike in 1971 but set his riding enthusiasm aside until recent years. He and Toni went through two bikes when they embarked on their current riding phase. However, Toni said, “We didn’t do any multistate riding. We did charity rides and rides with clubs and our kids.”
The first extended ride on the Super Glide was to Tennessee. “We’re Appalachian-hearted people,” said Toni. On one Tennessee trip, they went to Cherokee, North Carolina, and then rode up into Maryland. It was Larry’s opportunity to see Harper’s Ferry, where his Civil War rifle, a gift from his father, was forged.
Another trip took them to the Grand Canyon via the famed Route 66. One notable stop along the way was the Painted Desert, which is situated between the canyon and Petrified Forest National Park.
“You look down at the pebbles and they’re like aquarium rocks,” said Toni.
In the summer of 2022, they went to a Helping Heroes Festival in Daytona, Florida.
“To be standing with 20,000 Vietnam veterans was really special,” Toni said.
“The guy in front of me in the line had flown F-4 Phantoms, and I’d been a mechanic on them,” Larry recalled.
“The whole event was God-touched,” Toni added.
Next up are trips to the Ozarks and Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. Weather almost never deters the Smiths.
“We’ve ridden with temperatures in the teens and the triple digits,” said Toni. “As long as we can avoid snow and rain, we go every month of the year. We’ve put more miles on our bike than any of our other vehicles.”
Kevin Morgeson’s current bike is a cobalt blue Yamaha FJR 1300 ES model.
“Yamaha kind of limits your color choices,” he said. “They offer one per model year.”
He had many bikes before, starting with minibikes as a lad. “I got into anything with two wheels and an engine at age 11,” he said.
His first full-sized bike was a 1966 Honda S90, but he only had it for two weeks. “My uncle made me give it up once he saw how fast it went,” he said.
His first multistate trip was in 1980, on a Yamaha 850 Special. He lived in Michigan at the time and started traveling back and forth between there and Indiana. On one trip home to the Hoosier state, he met a friend in Indianapolis, and they went to West Virginia. The last leg of that jaunt was characterized by pouring rain.
“We put on trash bags with arm holes and kept riding,” he said.
A drunk driver T-boned his Yamaha. It went through several owners and restoration jobs of varying quality. He eventually bought it back. Then, he went 37 years without a motorcycle.
In 2017, he moved back to Indiana and reconnected with Ken Salter, an old riding buddy. They continue to take trips together.
He flew to Seattle to acquire his current bike. The seller met him at the airport. “He got on his new Honda Gold Wing, and I got on the FJR, and we went riding in the mountains.”
On the trip back to Indiana, he “kind of meandered” through Oregon, Utah, Nevada and South Dakota, where he checked out Sturgis, the site of an annual biker gathering. By the time he got to Iowa, he was “pretty much done with back roads” and took Interstate 74 the rest of the way.
In 2022, he took Route 66 “as much as possible” to the Grand Canyon. While there, he rode along the South Rim.
“It’s more impressive if you don’t go to the tourist center,” he said. “In Idaho, I stayed in a tiny town called Island Park. It had two hotels, two gas stations, a fish and tackle store and a restaurant.”
In the summer of 2023, he rode to Banff in Alberta.
“About 30 miles west of Calgary, you start seeing mountain formations that are dramatic in a different way from the US Rockies,” he said. On the way, he stopped at the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, knowing it would be his only chance to visit. (It closed in September.)
The trip back took him through Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. He dipped back into the U.S. at Michigan.
“I wanted to see Thunder Bay on Lake Superior,” he said. “It has its own weather, which changes every few miles.”
John and Kim Zaharako have his and hers Harleys, a Street Glide and a Road Glide Special, respectively. John began riding when his kids were in junior high, and Kim was a newbie when they got married. She took a training course in Bloomington.
One of their first trips was to Leavenworth, Indiana, on the Ohio River. They stayed at a bed and breakfast and dined at the Overlook Restaurant, which is situated on a bluff.
Now, they belong to Bunk-a-Biker, a no-charge lodging network. They’ve stayed in touch with some of their hosts.
A while back, they went to Texas for a Harley rally. “On the ride through west Texas, we’d go sixty miles without seeing another vehicle,” John said.
They like meeting locals.
“We love going through small communities and seeing town squares,” said John. “We’ll ask about good dives for eating.”
“Harley riders always know where to get good ice cream,” added Kim.
Gary Bragg bought a new Harley Road Glide in 2017. He’s been long-distance riding since the late 1970s when he had a 750 Honda.
In 1981, he and his wife, Joyce, went to Washington, D.C. and stayed with some missionary friends. He now tends to ride with Don Kelly, a friend from his Cummins years. They’ve been to Yellowstone National Park and West Virginia, among other destinations.
“About two years ago we started hitting coal-mining towns we’d seen on the Discovery Channel show Mysteries of the Abandoned,” said Bragg. “We’ve met the host. He took us to an old mine and told us its history.”
They’ve also visited a coal mine in Thurmond, West Virginia, and the Blue Heron mine in Kentucky, both now run by the National Park Service. Blue Heron features “pictures of the people who lived there and equipment displays.”
Toni Smith summed up the appeal of heading out on a bike to boomers: “There’s something about an unencumbered 360-degree view and just the wind, sun and God that is like no other experience.”
