Thunder Roads Magazine of Iowa October 2023

O n t h e C o v e r On the Cover

Sammi adorns this killer cycle owned by professional motorcycle racer Cody Gilmore. Cody has had motorcycles in his blood since birth, and is continuing on the legendary Gilmore name. This cycle was put together for Cody by his father Tator Gilmore with parts and pieces laying around his shop. The mill is a 1981 Shovelhead with a 1957 Pan Frame, a 1931 VL Springer, and a badass paint job. Thanks Cody and Sammi for prettying up the mag, and to Mark Fountain from Fountain Photography for the wonderful shots!

We have been facing attacks on our freedom for years. Attacks on our way of life. Attacks on our wallets. We are restricted in about everything we do by some government entity that has a hand out for a fee for a license, a permit, a certification, or an authorization. Think about what you are allowed to do without some sort of paid permission. Can you ride a motorcycle legally without a license and motorcycle endorsement? Nope. Drive a car? Nope. Build an addition onto your house or build a garage? Nope. Can you work as a plumber without paperwork? Nope. Can you go hunting? Nope. Can you buy a gun even if not banned from owning them? Nope. Can you work or volunteer with a Fire Department or EMS agency? Nope. Can you open your own business without some sort of permit or license? Nope. At every turn in life, there are requirements for living in our “FREE” society. About the only thing that Americans don’t need permission or pay a fee to do is to breed. That happens all the time unencumbered. No fee, no license, no educational requirement, no common sense, and no restrictions on having procreating, which happens to be one of the most important things any human can do, on top of raising the little tykes, but that last item is a topic for another day. The main point is that at every level of our lives, someone has their hand out to ensure compliance, to ensure we pay for the education they require, we pay for the license/permit/certification that they require to do what we want to do. We have to pay to be “FREE”. Doesn’t seem so “FREE” does it?

How did we get to this point? Well, to tell you the truth, we did it to ourselves. We have allowed this and it has been happening for decades. Our parents and grandparents and great grandparents started the ball rolling years ago. We voted for the current situation, again, and again, and again. We have allowed this to happen. We have allowed lawmakers to make careers out of being in Congress, and gleaning the profits of such for decades. Lawmakers were supposed to be ordinary people, doing their part and stepping up to serve, and then run a term or two and return to their work or business. Our system has been overly bastardized by profiteers. Our lives have been overtaken by

politics. I don’t know the way out of this, but I know there are things that we can do to try to make things better. Also, I am not saying that all regulation is bad. We have to have some rules, but we have been going overboard as a country on over-regulation for quite some time.

In this day and age, we cannot simply sit back and do nothing. We all need to do something, or risk losing everything. We have to be good citizens, and stay apprised of what is going on in our county. We need to stand up for our rights that we have left, and keep fighting to regain some we have lost. We need to be the voices that are heard, and no longer be a silent majority. Now is not the time to sit down and shut up. Now is the time to voice our thoughts and opinions, and do so with our lawmakers, and at the ballot box. If you don’t have the time or inclination to be active and make your voice heard, as least support the organizations that are fighting for your freedoms. There are many different organizations out there that are fighting day in and day out to stop the government overreach.

Included in the people and entities that I follow and support is the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. The MRF is THE organization that fights for the rights of street riders across the nation. As many are, they are a membershipbased organization that can always use people to step up to help, as well as memberships to help fund the cause. The National Coalition of Independent Riders is a re-established entity that looks out for the indy riders. NCOIR wants to help bridge the communication gap between riders and other organizations and supports the MRF, COCs, and State Motorcycle Rights Organizations such as ABATE of Iowa. NCOIR is a no fee organization, and you can sign up so that you can be made aware of things going on politically that we need to take action on. Coalition of Clubs is another entity that I support and work with to help keep the lines of communication open. Membership at this is obviously tied to Motorcycle Clubs, but is yet another aspect of fighting for freedom that I assist with whenever possible. On the state level, there are State Motorcycle Rights Organizations. In Iowa we have one, ABATE of Iowa. This is another wonderful organization to support to protect your rights right here in Iowa.

There are certainly other federal and state organizations, but I wanted to at least mention those in my message this month. I beg of you, stand up and let your voice be heard. Support these and other organizations that are watching out for your rights every day. Be a part of keeping us “FREE

Vernon Schwarte

Proud Editor/Owner Thunder Roads Magazine of Iowa Owner Thunder Gun and Thunder Guns West IMDA Board Member MRF Assistant State Rep COC Liaison

If you have a full-time job that offers bennies, you’re familiar with the one-time-per-year benefits signup ritual, a/k/a “Open Enrollment”. Every year you look over your options, make your choices and sign on the dotted line. I still remember the first year at my new place of employment when I discovered we were offered an Accidental Death & Dismemberment option. It was phenomenally cheap – something like $2.29 per month for me and $2.89 for Mark for $120,000 coverage. Each. I also remembered that other places had had similar offerings, but with restrictions if you engaged in “dangerous” past times. I went to my sign-up meeting and when we got to that question, I decided to play it cool.

I cleared my throat. “So, I see that you offer AD&D. What restrictions do you have on it as far as activities that aren’t covered?”

“None,” the agent said cheerfully.

“What do you mean by ‘none’?” I asked.

“Umm, none,” she replied, looking puzzled.

“No restrictions on skydiving? Downhill skiing? Motorcycling?” I asked in disbelief.

“Nope. None.”

Well. I know a good deal when I see one, so I signed us both up. Not to be morbid, but this is the best shot at an inheritance our kids are going to have! All I have to do is pay the minimal premium and note them as our beneficiaries to the policy. All they have to do is . . . nothing. (I told our kids about the insurance, but I also told them that if they got REALLY lucky, their dad and I would get wiped out by a Wal-Mart truck running a red light and they would be millionaires instead of just $240,000-aires. For some reason, they didn’t think that was very funny.)

The only other thing of value we own to leave them is our house and land. Did you know that in Iowa, if you do nothing as far as making a will that your spouse or kids will still inherit your real estate holdings? There’s actually a little chart that shows what relatives are legally in line to inherit and in what order. Mind you, the heirs will only get what’s left after any debts owed through the courts have been paid - but still!

Just like there’s a chance there may be some kind of payoff for doing nothing, there’s always a chance that through no action of our own we’ll inherit things we don’t want – a predisposition to diabetes, a quick temper, Mark’s grandfather’s accordion. (It would be different if Mark was an impresario, like Slider!) One thing we all inherit by doing nothing is a sinful nature. Thanks to Adam and Eve’s choice to rebel against God and do their own thing, all humans since then have been born rebellious. You don’t have to look any further than the nearest two-year old who says “You no boss-a me!” to know I’m telling the truth. This inheritance comes with a debt – and it’s more than we could ever pay on our own. John 3:18 & 19 explains the situation like this: “But anyone who does not believe in him (Jesus) has already been judged of not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgement is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world but people loved the darkness more than the light . . . ”

Because God is merciful, he sent his son Jesus Christ to pay our debt so that we would still have something left to inherit. John 3:17 says “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.” If you’ve watched any court cases on TV or read any news reports, you know that the term “no judgement against” means no debt is owed and no punishment will be meted out. It means you walk scot free. In this case, it means that when we acknowledge that we are sinners who inherited a debt we cannot pay and we accept Jesus Christ’s payment on our behalf, we get the full GOOD inheritance of eternal life with no outstanding debt. I don’t know about you, but I think that beats the Wal-Mart truck deal, hands down.

At some point, our “Open Enrollment” period of life here on earth is going to end. Every one of us is going to die. Every one of us will be called to stand before God to pay for our sins. Either Jesus will be able to hand his Father the receipt showing that you accepted Jesus’s payment for your debt, or he won’t. The end result is up to you. Choose wisely.

Blessings – Karla

Mark & Karla Cornick are with the Christian Motorcyclists Association. Find out more about CMA and God’s plan for you at www.cmausa.org

The Biker Friendly Business Directory is a list of establishments throughout Iowa that sponsor the magazine. You can pick up your copy here every month. Let them know that you saw them in TRMI. If your business would like to advertise in Thunder Roads Iowa Biker Friendly Business Listing and become a part of the network, please email vernon@thunderroadsiowa.com

Biker Accessories

Crispy’s Biker Apparel

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Find Us On Facebook

Dirty Biker Design

122 S. John Wayne Drive Winterset, Iowa 50273

www.DirtyBikerDesign.com

515-444-9050

Dealers

Baxter Cycle 311 4th Street

Marne, Iowa 51552

712-781-2351

www.baxtercycle.com

Big Barn Harley-Davidson

81 NW 49th Place Des Moines, Iowa 50313

515-265-4444

www.bigbarnhd.net

Edwards Motorsports and RV’s 1010 34th Avenue

Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501

712-366-8400

fullthrottleia.com

Harley-Davidson of Carroll 1327 Plaza Dr Carroll, Iowa 712-792-1610

www.carrollcycle.com

Heartland Harley-Davidson

117 S Roosevelt Ave

Burlington, IA 52601

319-754-1100

www.heartlandhd.com

Indian Motorcycle of Mason City

Mason City Powersports

12499 265th Street Mason City 641-423-3181

Masoncitypowersportsinc.com

Metro Harley-Davidson

2415 Westdale Drive SW

Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404 319-362-9496

www.metro-motorsports.com

Route 65 Harley-Davidson

1300 S Jefferson Way Indianola, Iowa 50125

515.962.2160

www.route65hd.net

Storm Lake Honda

3040 Expansion Blvd

Storm Lake, Iowa 50588

StormLakeHonda.com

712-732-2460

Entertainment

Book Em Dano’s

33 S Main Street

Denison, Iowa 51442

712-263-9818 Mon-Sat 4-2

Dancers Nightly 5-1:30

Okoboji Classic Cars

Museum and Restoration Shop

810 Jeppeson Road

West Okoboji, Iowa 51351

712-332-8029

Food and Drink (Popular Poker & Fun Run Locations)

Ambro’s Roadhouse

917 Guthrie St De Soto, Iowa 50069

515-468-2236

Great Food!

Ambro’s Roadhouse on Facebook

American Legion Post 111

1101 W 4th Street S Newton

641-792-3353

Open to the Public 7 Days a Week Newtonamericanlegion111.org

Barrel Smoke BBQ & Catering 109 N Main Street

Templeton, Iowa 51463

Tues – Sat Open at 4 PM

Barrel Smoke BBQ on Facebook

Bloodline Irish Pub 214 Public Square

Greenfield, Iowa 50849

Bloodline Irish Pub on Facebook

Catfish Charlie’s On the Mississippi River

1630 E. 16th Street Dubuque, IA 52001

(563)582-8600

www.CatfishCharliesDubuque.com

Desperados

105 E 5th Street Atlantic

712-243-7087

Home of Cold Beer, Good Times, Pizza & Wings

Firehouse Bar

1211 5th Street

Downtown Sioux City, IA

712-224-1020

Open Daily at 12:00

Flaming Office 201 W High Street Toledo 641-484-2255

Outdoor Patio, Happy Hour 5-7

Flaming Office on Facebook & Google

Goozman’s Westside Bar & Grill 1019 7th St

Harlan, Iowa

712-755-2259

Goozman’s Westside on Facebook

Haverhill Social Club

202 1st Street

Haverhill, Iowa 50120

641-475-3321

Closed Mon-Tues, 4-Midnite Wed-Thur-Fri, 10-Midnight Sat, 11-Midnight Sunday

Iowa Legendary Rye 707 N Main Street Carroll, Iowa 51401 Iowalegendaryrye.com

Jake’s Station 107 West HWY 59 Hancock, Iowa 51536 712-741-BEER

Like Our Page Jakes Station on Facebook

J.R. Willie’s Gateway to the Beautiful Hill Country Colesburg, IA 563-856-5095

Open Tuesday - Sunday 11AM

Home of the Willie Whopper

Johnie’s Tap 112 NE 2nd Street Stuart, Iowa 50250

515-523-1146

Find Us on Facebook

Just 1 More 515-570-4206

641-757-0159 309 Railway Jamaica, Iowa 50128

Level B – Bar & Grill 805 6th Street

Manning, Iowa 51455 712-655-9200

Level B on Facebook

McCanns Tap NE 14th & 54th

Des Moines, Iowa 50313

Bike Parking

M-F 2:00-2 S-S 11:00-Close

Mi Casa Family Restaurant 512 Market Street Harlan, Iowa 51537

712-755-2258

Enjoy Drinks at the Full Bar!

Midway Tavern 206 1st Street Soldier, Iowa 712-884-2230

www.midwaytavernsoldier.com

Montgomery Street Pub 207 East Montgomery Street Creston, Iowa 50801 641-782-2165

Papa Joe’s 117 South 6th Street Missouri Valley, Iowa 51555 712-642-9015

Pearl Street Social Club 110 Pearl Street SW Shellsburg, Iowa 52332 319-436-7100

Find Us On Facebook!

Riverside Tavern 450 E Main St Lehigh, Iowa 50557 515-359-9998

Email:riversidetap@gmail.com

Shootout Saloon

3571 310th St Dexter

1 Mile West of Bonnie & Clyde Shootout 712-249-0041

Secluded Bar in the Woods

Sidetracked 206 West Union Street Creston, Iowa 50801 641-782-8534

Stumpy’s Bar & Grill

423 Main Street

Duncombe, Iowa 50532

515-543-4222

Stumpy’s Bar & Grill on Facebook

The Exchange

171 S Elm Street

Avoca, Iowa 51521

712-343-2609

Lang’s Pizza, Cold Beer, Sports

The Yankee Clipper

312 SW Maple St

Ankeny, Ia 50023 515-964-9484 yankeeclipperbar.com

VFW Post 9662 Bar and Grill

1309 NE 66th Ave Des Moines

515 - 289 - 9914 and Facebook

Vic’s Main Tap

304 Broadway

Audubon, Iowa 50025

712-563-2122

Opens M-F 2-Close, Sat 9-Close, Sun 2-Close

Wilson’s Tap and Recreation

1008 Story Street Boone, Iowa 50036/ 515-433-1395

Guns and Ammo

Thunder Guns West 1101 Chatburn Ave STE 103

Harlan, Iowa 51537

712-235-2632

Find us on Facebook

Hobbies & Collectibles

Shops & Fabricators

Treasure Island Diecast/Facebook

Hot Wheels, M2, Matchbox, Jada Ertl, Lightning, Harley, Maisto Buy-Sell-Trade

641-521-8036 rayaustinhd@gmail.com

www.treasureislanddiecast.com

Insurance & Financial

O’Malley Wealth Mgmt. 5623 NW 86th Street Suite 400

Johnston, Iowa 50131 515-490-0930

State Farm

Clark Ahrenholtz, Agent 2114 12th Street Harlan, Iowa 712-755-5724

Clark.ahrenholtz.jb69@statefarm.com

Legal

Hupy and Abraham sc, pc Lawyers for Bikers 800.800.5678

Hupy.com

TheBikerLawyers.com

The Biker Lawyers, P.C. Riding & Defending Your Rights for Over 30 Years 877-209-9452

Photo and Art

Ullrich Photography PO Box 1842

Clinton, Iowa 52733 563-243-8715

www.natanic.com

BS & Bikes

300 E 17th St S Suite 700 Newton, IA 50208 641-521-8448

Find us on Facebook

Butterfield’s M.C. Parts 8025 Blondo Street Omaha, NE 68134 402-391-3768

Chuck’s Cycle Service and Repair S&S and Drag Specialties Dealer 307 E 5th StreetWashington, Iowa52353 319-461-5278

Cycle Clinic 2209 ML King Pkwy Des Moines, Iowa 50314 cycleclinicdm.com 515-288-6954

F & J Racing 701 N 3rd Ave Marshalltown, Iowa 50158 641-752-8651

www.fandjracing.com

Mean Machine Cycles Elkhart, Iowa 50073

Custom & Full-Service HD Repair Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat by appt only 515-367-7336

Motorcycle Medic 3176 Highway 30 Woodbine, Iowa 51579 712-647-2818

Open Tues-Fri 9-6, Sat 8-12

Nelson Machine & Forge General Machining, Ornamental Iron, Weld/Fab 70 Washington Street Marne, Iowa 51552 712-781-2220

steffenscycle@gmail.com

Thunder

Thunder

Tires

Sandbothe

If you happen to be a loyal reader of the Letter from the Editor page in the magazine each month, you will probably recall my other half referring to a long overdue adventure we took this summer. Now, if you know Vernon at all, you are most likely aware of the fact that he is what some people might call a bit of a “workaholic”. Trying to get Vernon to take a little time for himself is not an easy task to accomplish, as there is ALWAYS something that needs to be done for one or more of the businesses, work that needs done at home with the construction project, a class that he needs to teach…very rarely does Vernon put the things he WANTS to do in front of the things that NEED to be done. Now, we had talked back and forth for months about taking a few days to get away. Where would we go? How far can we travel and still get back within 5 or less days? How much money can we throw at a vacation when the stack of bills for construction materials and labor keeps growing? By the time we were at the proverbial shit or get off the pot stage of planning this trip, Vernon had more or less talked himself out of going based on the aforementioned questions. I kept on pushing for the vacation to happen (nagging if you ask Vernon) as I knew he seriously needed a break from everything.

Since Vernon had signed off on dealing with trip planning, I decided to map out a timeline and surprise him with something I knew he would love. Not having input on the trip surprisingly didn’t really seem to bother him too much. I told him we needed to pack for a few days, shouldn’t need

anything too serious for warmth, but we needed to be able to get it all on the bike. Once it came down to packing, his curiosity finally kicked in. Questions like “Are you sure we don’t need leathers?” and “Is it going to be warm enough for just sweatshirts?” started playing on repeat. A day before the trip I finally told him my plan…we were going to Maggie Valley North Carolina.

I am not sure I have ever seen him look so excited. Why you may ask? There is one place in Maggie Valley that has been on Vernon’s bucket list for years… Wheels Through Time Motorcycle Museum. If you haven’t heard of wheels through time, here is a little history courtesy of the website, “The collection was started by Museum Founder Dale Walksler in 1969 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. In 1977 the collection moved to Mt. Vernon Illinois where it was housed at the Harley-Davidson dealership founded by Dale. As the collection matured it became obvious the potential for a truly incredible museum was at hand. Wheels Through Time was on its way to preserving forever a most unique aspect of our American history. On July 4th, 2002 Wheels Through Time Museum became a reality when it opened its 38,000 square foot facility in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The Museum features one of the world’s premier collections of Vintage American Transportation, guiding visitors through the evolution of American motorcycling and automotive history. “ Now, I suppose this is a fair description of the museum, as the information provided in the description is indeed true…but the description leaves out sooo much about the experience as a whole.

Before I tell you about all the cool shit we saw and experienced at the museum, let me backtrack a smidge and get us from 201 4th Avenue Portsmouth, Iowa to 62 Vintage Lane Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Because quite honestly, it was a trip we will never forget.

We started out from home and headed in a southerly direction. The weather was great; warm, sunny, and not too windy. A perfect day to put on some miles and make our way towards North Carolina. Vernon weaved through traffic like a pro while I sat back and did my usual passenger crap like wave at cows and point out random shit I found amusing (Vernon is so lucky to have me). We made excellent time, and Vernon was a good sport and took some 2 lane roads for me since he knows that the big road is my least favorite way to get anywhere. The first night, we rolled into Mountain Grove, Missouri in the dark, it is a small town, but had a couple of motel options, so we decided to hit the sack and get a decent

start in the morning. After 446 miles we were both tired, so the mediocre room that had several rather large eight legged friends already occupying the space was going to have to be our home for the night. I took off my boot and made quick work of a couple of the freeloaders, then decided the one that got away was surely too terrified to show himself again. After a pizza delivery we settled into bed and were asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

After our night at the Cactus Inn, we got up bright eyed and bushy tailed, hopped back on the bike and began our 631 mile day towards North Carolina. About Knoxville, Tennessee a Fed Ex lady tried to steal my husband on the interstate, and when we hit Nashville I discovered how much I really hate big city traffic. But just before dark we rolled into Maggie Valley and found ourselves a better room for the night and grabbed some legit hushpuppies from a local bar and grill. I slept much better knowing my room was spider free, but I am not sure I can say the same for Vernon. He was more like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for morning to come. Well, morning came, and we rolled down the street to the museum.

The museum is open Thursday through Monday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and the entry fee is only $15 for adults, $12 for senior citizens, and $7 for kids. Truth be told, I’d have paid twice that for the experience. Once inside the museum there are rows upon rows of motorcycle history. So of which you will never see anywhere else. Museum staff are walking around, and will stop and explain each and every item that you want to ask about, including the one of a kind 1916 Traub that you may have read about on the internet. If you haven’t, you should…it is a cool part of motorcycle history and the museum is the only place you will EVER see the bike in person. The museum is also a working museum, as we walked around, staff members were starting bikes for visitors, and Dale’s son, Matt who is now the curator even came by to start up an old knucklehead and do some pretty sweet burnouts up the aisle. I don’t know about you, but I had never been to a museum that allows burnouts in a visitor filled building before…pretty badass.

We got a chance to talk with Matt after the burnouts, and he even offered some pointers to Vernon on the knucklehead project he and my dad were working on together. Seemed like a good dude, and I hope he keeps his dad’s museum dream alive for many years to come. We only spent one day at the museum, and truth be told, if you go you should plan for at least two days. We have already said we plan to go back when we can spend more time…

there is just so much cool stuff under that roof to look at and learn about…if you have ever thought that old bikes were cool, then you need to see this museum. After what seemed like too short of a visit, we decided to point ourselves towards home and try to get a few miles back in the right direction.

We took a couple of days following 2 lane and county roads to get back. We spent many miles winding through the Mark Twain National Forest, which is really beautiful and had plenty of twisty-turnies for Vernon to enjoy. We saw the original Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. We stopped for a break at Cumberland Falls before leaving Kentucky as well. We got chased by an angry German Shepard on a strange little road clear back where the hoot owls f&*k chickens. One last night in Kentucky, Paducah to be exact, as we made our way towards home. The next day was mostly heading North through Missouri, which offered me several hundred miles of rural roads to wave at all the cows I could handle. We also stopped for food at Lambert’s Café, home of throwed rolls…what a cool place to eat! The rolls were definitely delicious, but we also discovered that we both like black eyed peas (not the musical group). A Holiday Inn in Columbia was our home for the night, and then on our last leg home we worked in a WRTE, and even stopped to drop off souvenirs to some friends.

Our trip to Maggie Valley, North Carolina was more than just checking an item off the bucket list for Vernon. It was a chance to see a huge part of motorcycle history all under one roof, a chance to visit places we have never been, and a chance to push reset on life for a little bit. Vernon is already talking about going back, and I’m 100% on board.

Melanie Schwarte

not so USELESS RAMBLINGS not so USELESS RAMBLINGS DEFUNCT

I think it was around 2010 or so that I first visited the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa. I remember thinking how that one building holds decades of history. How many stories could all of those machines tell? What an amazing collection from all over the world. How many people does it take to keep something like that alive? How many hours of work are required to keep the doors open? Well, here we are in 2023 and it would seem that there just wasn’t enough interest in history to keep it alive. The official website for the museum states low visitation as one of the reasons for the closure.

When I was in my late 20’s and early 30’s, I got into snowmobiling. I found that there was a local club and I started attending regular meetings. After a couple years I was nominated and elected as the Vice President. I spent countless hours helping with the local trail system. Many weekends were spent clearing existing trails of debris, meeting with land owners to get permission to run a new section of trail across their property, installing and removing trail markers, or sitting in the groomer laying a smooth path for riders. I spent five years as the VP, but ultimately left the club and snowmobiling altogether.

When I got really into motorcycles, I ended up getting involved in a small local group of riders that wanted to raise awareness about the sport. We organized group rides, charity drives, bike nights, and even weekend carnival style events centered around motorcycle riding. Things were going pretty good for several years, but eventually the regular meetings drew fewer and fewer attendees. Then the meetings and the group just ceased to exist.

I am seeing a pattern here. Every one of the above examples ended due to lack of participation. Low public participation at the museum created financial strains that made it impossible to keep the place open. The snowmobile club had over one hundred members in the county that would show up each year for the Christmas party, some would show up to the monthly meetings, some would complain about the trails being in poor condition, but most of them were only seen once a year. The motorcycle awareness group suffered the same fate as the snowmobile club.

I have attended the ABATE Freedom Rally for several years, sadly not recently as life has gotten in the way the past couple years. It’s great to see the same faces each year; seeing friends that I only get a chance to see at the rally. Every year I see those faces getting a little older, but every year I see them spending countless hours before and after the rally cleaning up the park to make sure it’s in prime condition for the weekend of festivities. They’ll spend most of their time at the rally keeping things going, then they’ll spend the next week or so cleaning up after the last rally-goer has rolled out the gate. One of my first times at the rally was spent doing that same thing; emptying trash barrels, collecting the empty recyclables, picking up loose trash, and whatever else needed doing. I spent the better part of a week at the park cleaning up after the rally that year. Who knew there were so many little corners that needed cleaning?

Unlike the previous examples, I don’t think the ABATE Freedom Rally is in jeopardy of going anywhere anytime soon, but I do know that a large portion of the volunteers that are there each year aren’t getting any younger. Every year, without fail, you’ll find them in the park putting in work. As the years pass, some of them aren’t able to do as

much as they did last year. This requires someone else to step up and fill those shoes. Without volunteers all of the work would never get accomplished. Thankfully, new and returning volunteers continue to show up each year.

Lack of active participation will be the death of any organization or event. If the people that enjoy the events, organizations, and businesses aren’t willing to take an active role in keeping them going, they will disappear forever.

That sentiment holds true for these United States.

With every day that passes I witness the chipping away of the world I grew up in. Today it’s almost unrecognizable. I know that things change with time; a tree is different every year, but the trunk stands strong. Sadly, I feel like our trunk is decaying.

Our young people are seriously lacking in education; rather than pushing them to learn, the standards are lowered to make sure more students move on to the next year. Our family ties seem to be coming loose; the large, regular gatherings have turned to two or three times a year at major holidays. States are taking children away from their parents if the parents won’t “affirm their gender” or support them in a medical transition. Lawlessness has become the new normal in more and more areas across the country. Our police departments and military branches are seeing record low participation. Drug abuse is being glorified rather than treated; there are free methadone clinics, safe injection sites staffed with medical professionals and free needles, and Iowa is now seeing free naloxone boxes just in case you’re having an opioid overdose.

All of this is topped off by politicians selling out the American people. Our tax dollars continually get sent to foreign lands for aid while American citizens go hungry and homeless. I just read that Ukraine was sent another $60 billion while the victims of the Lahaina, Maui wildfires will only receive a one-time payment of $700. The US taxpayers are funding massive hotels being turned into shelters for illegal immigrants all across the country, while we have veterans going hungry and sleeping on the streets.

How have we let this happen? Complacency. Lack of participation. We have all gotten so wrapped up in our daily lives, concentrating just on our immediate surroundings, that we’ve neglected the bigger picture. I know I’m guilty of this. How many hours a day do I waste watching stupid videos online when I could be doing something productive? How much time do we all spend disengaged?

I get it. I think I understand why we do it. There is just so much to keep track of these days. All day long we’re bombarded with news and crap on social media. We’ve all been forced into a new way of living with the advancements in our various technologies. All these things that have been created to make our lives “easier” have also made us more complacent. Rather than spending time engaged, technology has given us more time to disengage with menial, mind numbing tasks.

We have let our focus slip off of health. Not just our health, physical and mental, but the health of our country. We’ve let our participation dwindle because we’ve allowed

ourselves to be disengaged in menial tasks and our country is suffering.

We are all guaranteed certain inalienable rights. We have freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, the right to vote. Thankfully there have been some out there that are exercising those rights; standing up to those that wish to “fundamentally change” this nation. They have become engaged and are participating. They attend school board meetings and city council meetings. They contact mayors, governors, senators, and members of congress. But it would seem that there aren’t enough of us participating. The few voices aren’t being taken seriously. If we aren’t willing to stand up and exercise those freedoms, making our voices heard, we will soon lose those freedoms.

In just over a year, we’ll be in the midst of another election cycle. The fate of the nation will again be on the ballot. Today would be a great time to start being engaged. Today would be a great day to start participating. If we continue with our complacency and lack of participation, this country will end up just like the motorcycle museum, the motorcycle awareness group, and the snowmobile club… closed, defunct, and forgotten.

David McCoy

- david@thunderroadsiowa.com

- facebook.com/TRMIDave

- facebook.com/TRMINSUR

Sally’s on Broadway

263 Broadway St

Springville, IA, (319) 854-9982

Mon - Sat 11am to 9 pm

Sun 9 am to 1 pm

Heather and I took off early Saturday morning to visit the National Motorcycle Museum before it’s gone forever. We had a very nice time wandering around all the classic iron and the various displays. There is a ton of history in that building and I can only hope that everything finds a proper home so that it is not lost.

We left the motorcycle museum, made a visit to the penitentiary museum, and then headed for home. We were both pretty hungry since we’d only had a couple donuts for breakfast. A quick look at Google Maps gave us several options to choose from and we settled on Sally’s on Broadway in Springville, just 12 short miles away.

Sally’s sits in the middle of the block and sports a large HD bar and shield to the left of the entrance; obviously a sign that they are motorcycle friendly. That sentiment is carried throughout the establishment. Once inside it is a short walk down a hallway to the main dining area and a long bar stocked with all your favorite libations.

We were seated in no time at

all. Tami, our server, took our drink orders and left us with menus. The appetizer section gave us a host of deep fat fried delights from corn nuggets to pickles, even wings in various flavors. We are both suckers from deep fat fried cheeses so it’s always great to find mozzarella sticks and cheddar cheese balls in the appetizers list. Not wanting to fill up on the apps, we ordered half orders of each, which Tami was happy to suggest. Our cheeses arrived quite quickly, piping hot and absolutely delicious. Perfectly crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

While we enjoyed the cheesy goodness, we continued to peruse the menu. Sally’s offers an assortment of different burgers, tenderloins, and other sandwiches. Other dinners include BBQ ribs, seafood, chicken, and some good oldfashioned steaks. They even have a pretty decent kid’s menu. Heather decided on the chicken alfredo with steamed broccoli. I argued with myself about a couple different options but finally landed on the seven-piece cod nugget dinner with mashed potatoes. Our dinners included the salad bar, so we finished the appetizers and made our way to the table of garden goodies. It wasn’t long after and Tami was back with our meals.

I haven’t ever been fond of alfredo, but I’m guessing the few places I’ve tried it in the past must have wildly different recipes than Sally’s does. Heather convinced me to sample her entree and I was almost wanting to change my order. She was thoroughly impressed with the large portion of pasta smothered in a smooth, flavorful alfredo sauce. I’m told that the broccoli was very good, but I’ll have to take her word for it because I can’t stand the stuff

The cod nuggets were nothing less than spectacular. They were evenly breaded and cooked to a crunchy, golden shell. Inside was a perfect white fish with a clean taste; nothing gamey like I’ve found in other establishments. The nuggets ranged between ping pong balls to golf balls in size. The mashed potatoes were the best consistency; just thick enough to stick to your ribs.

A quick note I found on their website states… “A FamilyFriendly Restaurant That Offers More.

Bring your whole family to Sally’s on Broadway in Springville, IA, where everything is delicious. All the dishes are made from scratch! We’re open seven days a week for your convenience.”

Well Sally, Heather and I agree… everything was delicious! We can’t wait to get back to sample more of that made from scratch goodness.

Sitting in this month for Mama Thunder, David McCoy

If you have a WRTE location for us to visit, please let me know at Melanie@ thunderroadsiowa.com

I was digging in our garden when I found a chest full of gold coins. I was about to run straight home to tell my wife about it, but then I remembered why I was digging in our garden.

A little seven-year-old boy goes to his father. He sits on his lap, looks at him and asks him: Dad, what is gay? The father is in big trouble, he doesn’t know how to explain it to his seven-year-old son. You can almost hear the gears turning in his head; he is in a panic. Finally, after a few minutes, his face takes on a more serene expression and he begins to speak: - My son, do you remember when some months ago Joe, Richard and I ended up in jail for that little fight in the bar? Dad, I remember that very well. Everyone at school made fun of me for this. - Son, spending 3 weeks in jail is not easy. You know the three of us are still young and we have certain needs, you know, I mean women. But there are no women in prison for males. So, we have agreed that each of us will be the woman for a week. And so I was the woman for the first week. The second week, Joe did the woman. The third week arrives and Richard doesn’t want to be the woman. That is gay!

My girlfriend’s dog died, so I tried to cheer her up by getting her an identical one. It just made her more upset. She screamed at me and said, “What am I supposed to do with two dead dogs?”

You don’t need a parachute to go skydiving. You need a parachute to go skydiving twice.

A mother is in the kitchen making dinner for her family when her daughter walks in. “Mother, where do babies come from?” The mother thinks for a few seconds and says, “Well dear, Mommy and Daddy fall in love and get married. One night they go into their bedroom, they kiss and hug, and have sex.” The daughter looks puzzled so the mother continues, “That means the daddy puts his penis in the mommy’s vagina. That’s how you get a baby, honey.” The child seems to comprehend. “Oh, I see, but the other night when I came into your room you had daddy’s penis in your mouth. What do you get when you do that?” “Jewelry, my dear. Jewelry.”

A guy walks with a young boy into the woods. The boy turns to him and says, “Hey mister, it’s getting really dark and I’m scared.” The man replies, “How do you think I feel? I have to walk back alone.”

A family is at the dinner table. The son asks the father, “Dad, how many kinds of boobs are there?” The father, surprised, answers, “Well, son, a woman goes through three phases. In her 20s, a woman’s breasts are like melons, round and firm. In her 30s and 40s, they are like pears, still nice, hanging a bit. After 50, they are like onions.” “Onions?” the son asks. “Yes. You see them and they make you cry.” This infuriated his wife and daughter. The daughter asks, “Mom, how many different kinds of willies are there?” The mother smiles and says, “Well, dear, a man goes through three phases also. In his 20s, his willy is like an oak tree, mighty and hard. In his 30s and 40s, it’s like a birch, fl exible but reliable. After his 50s, it’s like a Christmas tree.” “A Christmas tree?” the daughter asks. “Yes, dead from the root up and the balls are just for decoration.”

One day, there were two boys playing by a stream. One of the young boys saw a bush and went over to it. The other boy couldn’t figure out why his friend was at the bush for so long. The other boy went over to the bush and looked. The two boys were looking at a woman bathing naked in the stream. All of a sudden, the second boy took off running. The first boy couldn’t understand why he ran away, so he took off after his friend. Finally, he caught up to him and asked why he ran away. The boy said to his friend, “My mom told me if I ever saw a naked lady, I would turn to stone, and I felt something getting hard, so I ran.”

Q: What does the receptionist at the sperm clinic say when clients are leaving?

A: “Thanks for coming!”

Three brothers are traveling along a road, and their car dies. They all get out of the car, and start walking to a barn that’s a little ways away. When they get there, the farmer comes out of the barn, and offers them a room for one night. He says to the first one, “You can sleep with the pigs,” the second guy,” you can sleep with the cows”, and the third guy, “I like the cut of your jib. You can sleep with my 18 daughters.” The next morning, he asks everyone how they slept. The first man said, “I slept like a pig.” The second man said, “I slept like a cow.” The third guy said, “I slept like a rabbit. I jumped from hole, to hole, to hole.”

A man boards a plane with six kids. After they get settled in their seats, a woman sitting across the aisle leans over to him and asks, “Are all of those kids yours?” He replies, “No. I work for a condom company. These are customer complaints.”

I’m not calling you a slut, I’m calling you a penny: two faced, worthless, and in everyone’s pants.

On hearing that her elderly grandfather has just passed away, Katie goes straight to her grandparents’ house to visit her 95-year-old grandmother and comfort her. When she asks how her grandfather has died, her grandmother replies, “He had a heart attack while we were making love on Sunday morning.” Horrified, Katie tells her grandmother that two people nearly 100 years old having sex will surely be asking for trouble. “Oh no, my dear. Many years ago, realizing our advanced age, we figured out the best time to do it was when the church bells would start to ring. It was just the right rhythm. It was nice, slow, and even. Nothing too strenuous, simply in on the ding and out on the dong.” She pauses, wipes away a tear and then continues, “And if that damned ice cream truck hadn’t come along, he’d still be alive today!”

A little boy with diarrhea tells his mom that he needs Viagra. The mom asks, “Why on Earth do you need that?!” The little boy says, “Isn’t that what you give daddy when his shit doesn’t get hard?”

Q: What kind of bees make milk instead of honey? A: Boo-bees

Dylan was practicing his golf swing in his front yard when he swung a little too hard and sent the ball through his neighbor’s window. Dylan ran over and rang the doorbell three times. After no one answered for a few minutes, he opened the door to see broken glass everywhere, a lamp lying on the ground, and a huge fat Arabian man wearing a turban sitting on the couch. Dylan asked, “Who are you?” The fat man replied, “I am a genie you have freed from that lamp.”

Dylan questioned, “Oh man, do I get three wishes?” The genie replied, “Since you freed me by accident you only get two and I get one.”

Dylan thought about it and realized what he wanted, “I want to be the best golfer ever.” The surprised genie said, “You sure? Most people wish for money, but okay. Now your wife gets one wish.” Dylan brought over his wife who wished right away, “I want a million dollars every week of my life.” The genie said, “Granted. And now for my wish, I have been cramped up in that lamp for many years so its been a while since I’ve been with a woman. I want one day of wild, crazy sex with your wife, Dylan.” Dylan said, “No way!” The genie replied, “Not even for a million dollars a week?” Dylan turned to his wife, who said, “I guess for all that, I should. Well, not until Dylan leaves.” Dylan said, “Okay, have fun, I guess,” and left. Dylan’s wife then proceeded to have wild sex for the rest of the day with the genie. When they were finished, the genie asked how old her husband was. She said, “Forty-five.” The Genie laughed and said, “Isn’t he a little old to be believing in genies?”

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today, than on Alzheimer’s research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs, huge erections, and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

You know you’re getting old when your wife says, “Honey, lets run upstairs and make love,” and you answer, “I can’t do both.”

A husband suspected his wife was cheating on him. He explained his situation to a pet shop owner who replied, “I have a parrot that will let you know daily what goes on in your house. The bird has no legs, so he holds onto his perch with his penis.” Reluctantly, the husband brought the bird home. At the end of the first day, the man asked the bird, “Did anything happen today?” The parrot said, “Yes, the milk man came over.” The man asked, “What did he do with my wife?” The bird said, “I don’t know; I got hard and fell.”

Monica Lewinsky walks into the dry cleaners. The old man behind the counter is hard of hearing and doesn’t understand her request, so he says, “Come again.” Monica responds, “No, this time it’s mustard.” Why do women have two sets of lips? One set to tell you off with, and the other to make you forget you’re mad! A man comes home early from work and tells his wife he

just got fired. He tells her, “I got caught with my penis in the pickle slicer.” His wife asks him if his penis is okay and he assures her it is fine. “Well,” she asks, “What happened to the pickle slicer?” “Oh,” he says, “She got fired too.”

A hippie backpacker from the Swiss Alps was tramping across a farmer’s field when it got dark. He asked the farmer if he could spend the night. The farmer agreed but said he would have to sleep in bed with his 18-year-old daughter. The farmer told him, “If I catch you molesting my daughter, I’ll shoot you!” That night the hippie and the farmer’s daughter got it on and had a great time. The farmer could hear the goings on from the next room. In the morning he opened the door and asked the hippie, “Did you have sex with my daughter?” The hippie was a Jesus freak so he decided to be honest: “Yes, I did. Please forgive me.” The farmer took the hippie out back of the house and pointed a shotgun at him. “Ya got any last words, bub?” he asked. The Swiss hippie said, “Yodelayheehoo!” Then the farmer shot him. When the Sheriff arrived, he asked the farmer why he shot the man just for having sex with his daughter. The farmer replied, “Well, I didn’t really have a problem with him screwing Bonnie. I was just gonna scare him a little, but when he said, ‘Yer ‘ol lady too!’ that’s when I blew his head off.”

One day a man came home from work to find his wife crying hysterically in the kitchen. “What’s wrong, dearest?” asked the confused husband. “Oh darling,” sobbed the wife, “I was cleaning little Suzie’s room when I found whips, handcuffs and chains under her bed, along with a very erotic porn magazine! Whatever are we going to do?” “Well,” replied the man, “I guess a spanking is out of the question?”

Three babies are in their mother’s womb. One of them says, “I want to be an artist so everyone knows what it looks like in here.” The next one says, “I want to be a swimmer because I get so much practice in here.” The last baby says, “I’m going to be a hunter because if that snake comes in here and pokes me again, I’m going to chop that thing in half!”

Q: Why can’t blondes tie shoes?

A: They just can’t grasp the concept that the long thing goes around the hole, not into it.

Q: Why did cavemen drag their women by the hair? A: Because they found out by dragging them by their legs that their hole would fi ll up with mud.

How do you make five pounds of fat look good? Put a nipple on it!

A woman seated herself in the psychiatrist’s office. “What seems to be the problem?” the doctor asked. “Well, I, uh,” she stammered. “I think I, uh, might be a nymphomaniac.” “I see,” he said. “I can help you, but I must advise you that my fee is $80 an hour.” “That’s not bad,” she replied. “How much for all night?”

A man is like a snowstorm. You never know when he’s coming, how many inches you’ll get, or how long it will last.

This is always a weird time of the year for me. I just have the strangest mixed feelings in my gut, a sense of sadness, but also a sense of excitement, regret, hope, fear, slight panic, and a pile of nonchalant waves that take me to several places, sometimes at the same time. It seems like it is pretty much weather related, or at least I like to tell myself that. If forced, I bet I couldn’t really put a finger on it, but it’s there…those feelings, and like birds migrating in the autumn they return.

For those of us that are riders, and I am going out on a limb here of course, but most of the people that are regular readers of my words, riders are the majority of eyeballs that are reading this, should that make any sense. That said, for us riders, this is a true crossroads of our season, at least in the Midwest, we are not at the end of the riding season but dammit it’s close and you can feel it. With that first blast of crispness in the morning, the ever-fleeting amount of sunshine we chase to those first fall nights riding home when that biting cold hits you at the bottom of a hill or valley and you gasp, gasp knowing that perhaps this could be your last ride of the season. Even on those warm days be more so on the night rides this time of year there is another major danger that keeps Midwest riders on edge, of course, whitetail deer.

Like just about every rider that has put some road miles under your wheels, I have had my share of deer scares and concerns (blessed I have not hit one) but close enough to stop and check my pants for stains at the next available location. On the other side of this is that I am a hunter. I love hunting many things, I love feeding my family the ultimate in organic food, you might even say “fast food” because what is faster than a goose, a pheasant, a teal, a deer, or a quail coming out of the brush? Not much. Fast, natural, and delicious…all reasons to love this time of year, but every single year it keeps getting harder and harder to chance the things this time of year that make me happy. I simply love being outdoors, love all aspects of it. From riding though the amazing scenic countryside, its golden hues exploding as far as the eye can see, the fields preparing for harvest, the golden stalks of prairie and ditch grasses, the boom of leaves changing to hints of red and orange while summers last hope of green colors hold on. There is a pure two week or so peak of amazing color pallets across the state that just perfectly describe what autumn looks like it should. Heck, even the blue hue of the October sky is the best and there is a great degree of science as to why it looks as pure as it does this time of the year, that I do love. And I do love it but it’s paired with a sense of sadness and doom.

The sadness is because it’s not a secret I am a chaser of summer and all that it brings. The end of it always provides

a dash of melancholy when it really should not because I don’t leave much on the table of things left to do. Like everyone and everything I just don’t have enough time to do all of the things I want to do, I get it, it’s a normal thing but dammit, I do love summer and it takes a bit for me to transition to the point that I know it’s gone and I am onto autumn.

Usually it takes that first campfire, flock of geese or pelicans near my house and I change internally, knowing I have to get shit done ahead of the upcoming winter. I need to stock a freezer, cut some wood, get it split, stacked, and ready. Side note, not sure why I worry about filling a freezer still. My kids are in college, I have the means to never be hungry and it’s not like I can’t go get more food when I need it, yet there is this strange underlying feeling that I need to be stocked up because you just never know. I mean, we could get snowed in for a few days. Sure, the part of Iowa I live in hasn’t seen a bad winter for well over a few decades and I don’t recall a time when I was actually snowed in. We haven’t had an old-fashioned blizzard, the legendary storms we had, well, I had in my youth, or the storms you read about in the decades past. Just doesn’t seem to happen and yet I am still always making sure we are stocked up like it’s the 1940’s and we can’t leave our homestead for a month.

I don’t know what this winter will actually bring, I have researched and studied “old wives’ tales” concerning weather for years for my outdoor pursuits, both in print and on my outdoor radio program, long enough to know, they are really not accurate. Just not connection and before you say “grandpa use to say for every foggy day in August, it means snow 100 days later” Sorry, Gramps was a great dude but it’s just not true. The planet has way too many changing variables to predict too far into the future when it comes to weather. That being said, several weather insiders are saying we could to return to and oldfashioned winter with a lot of snow this year, like northern climates (and Iowa) got last year, while many of us dealt with stupid cold weather and not enough snow. Not matter what is going to happen this is the time of year I can’t stop thinking about getting ready for the next seasons, rather than actually embracing the weather this time of year and even *gasp* getting some pumpkin spice shit. Nope, I miss summer while girding my loins for the upcoming winter.

I don’t hate winter, so don’t get me wrong, I can find a lot to do outdoors in that time of the year. I dig playing on the ice, I dig snow fun and when the weather is hovering around zero it’s not unusual to see me around a winter campfire, mostly just see what I can do but damn it’s just a pain to put all those damn clothes on!

The window for maximum color this time of year is small, but embrace it. Get some end of the year miles in, plan an overnight and ride to somewhere cool mostly because it’s breathtaking, and also take the time to create some last-

minute bike memories that will get you through the winter when bikes are parked and nestled away until the thaw and clean roads greet us again.

One last weather “nugget” to share. When my old man was alive he loved being in the woods this time of year, he would spend hours and hours in his ground blind or a tree stand. His snacks and sandwiches packed, thermos of coffee and he was set to sit for hours to bow hunt. But also just to sit and watch the woods and surroundings. It made him feel alive and it was his favorite things to do. He was always watching the squirrels, convinced they held the secrets to what the future of the winter was really going to be like. His own personal “crystal” ball into what lay ahead. He would say if the squirrels were just out playing, running around in the sun, just chasing eat other, nothing to worry about, winter was going to be mild.

However, if the rodents with tails were dedicated to packing away food, even on a perfect sunny day, the squirrels just ran back and forth to their nest with food and appeared to be prepping, watch out the winter was about to be brutal and we could talk lessons from the squirrels.

Not sure if that holds water, but I will pay attention just to honor my dad and hope for the best, whatever that may be.

In the meantime, I have some weekend adventures to plan and even fire wood to cut .

Todd “Crash” Davis

Back to School!

“Royal Enfield: The Oldest Motorcycle Company in The World...That You’ve Never

Heard Of”

Chances are when you think of a legacy brand of motorcycle, you think of Harley-Davidson, or maybe Indian or Triumph. And it’s true, these companies have all existed since the early 20th century in various forms of success and bankruptcy, most don’t realize that there is a company that has been in business since the 19th century and continuously manufacturing motorcycles since 1901.

Royal Enfield was formed in Redditch, England in 1893, produced their first vehicle (a 4-wheeled “quadricycle”) in 1898, and rolled out their first motorcycle in 1901, a 1.5 HP, single cylinder motorcycle with its engine mounted above the front wheel. Usually at the cutting edge of motorcycle design (Royal Enfield patented enclosed valve trains, rubber rear cush drives, and swinging arm rear suspension, all innovations still employed by manufacturers today), they were always a small, family-run business who dabbled in many forms of manufacturing, but it is their motorcycles which helped forge their legacy and for which they are most remembered.

Long before “outsourcing” was used by companies to squeeze every penny of profit from their products, Royal Enfield was asked to help supply motorcycles to the Indian Motorcycle company of Springfield, MA and the Indian Army to help patrol the border between northern India and Pakistan. When Indian Motorcycles folded in 1953, Royal Enfield was tasked with rebadging many of their motorcycles with war paint and feathers to fill in for a lack of products in U.S. dealers’ inventories. American names were given to the bikes such as Trailblazer, Apache,

Fire Arrow, Chief, and Tomahawk to win the affections of the buying public. The ruse didn’t last and Enfield ceased the charade in 1960 as Indian (once more) ceased operations.

Things didn’t go so poorly in India, however. Despite the difficulties involved, Royal Enfield had found a clever way to deal with the nightmare of logistics and tax laws. Supplying more than 800 motorcycles would have been catastrophically expensive for a country who, at the time, imposed extremely high tariffs on imports. Royal Enfield cleverly skirted this issue, by helping to establish Madras Motors (eventually Royal Enfield India) and setting up a factory to produce Royal Enfield’s venerable Bullet model, a single-cylinder 350cc motorcycle that was fullydeveloped and proven through the rigors of competition such as the International Six Day Trials, of which Enfield developed a huge reputation and garnered many awards.

By the time the Japanese onslaught began in the mid 1960’s, the English bike market was in dire straits. Cheaper cars, more modern motorcycles, and a shift in the buying public’s interest, was driving great companies both in the U.S. and U.K. out of business. When Royal Enfield finally succumbed and closed their UK office in 1970, Royal Enfield India was fully self-sufficient and cranking out 20,000 units for domestic sale every year. In a country that favored rugged reliability and ownerserviceability, the Bullet flourished. It was also an incredibly handsome and macho bike in a country overrun with 125cc two-strokes. The Bullet was a REAL motorcycle.

Many attempts were made by individuals to help export Indian-made Bullets throughout the ‘70s and 80s, but most were hampered by tightening emissions and noise

regulations. It wasn’t until the mid-to-late ‘90s that a trickle of bikes began making their way to our shores. A loyal fanbase was created in the fringes of motorcycling, consisting of riders who appreciated quirky and vintage-feeling (and performing) bikes.

Monumental growth back home in India resulted in a complete rejuvenation of the brand, whose goal was never

to create the fastest or most technological motorcycles, instead focusing on what made them so successful in the first place: inexpensive, reliable, easily-serviced, and fun motorcycles.

Royal Enfield is now a fully-established international brand, having opened up factories around the world with a dealer network across North and South America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Producing upwards of 900,000 motorcycles a year, they are recognized as the world leader in middle-weight, premium motorcycles and they still maintain at their core the desire to provide fun and accessible motorcycles.

To celebrate their 120-year history, Royal Enfield’s design team (still stationed in the UK at a fully modern facility restored from a WWII airbase) set out to recreate their first ever motorcycle, that humble single cylinder “motorized bicycle” that launched the brand’s two-wheeled endeavors back in 1901. Incredibly, no known example was found to still exist, but parts of several machines were sourced throughout England and remaining pieces (frame, cylinder, forks) were faithfully reproduced using the only 2 existing photos of the original machine. The project took a total of 18 months to complete, and now represents the history and longevity of the brand and the dedication of its workers and riders. A remarkable achievement for a motorcycle that was thought to be extinct not too long ago!

Even more remarkable, despite the enormous growth and constant change in motorcycling through the years, Royal Enfield has just launched their newest model, the fully redesigned and redeveloped Bullet 350, 91 years after making its debut in the UK and 68 years since manufacturing began in India, making the Bullet the longest-continually produced motorcycle in the world.

Now that is an achievement and definitely a testament to the foresight of a company whose motto has remained consistent throughout its 122-year existence: To Always Ride Pure.

Jeremy Pendergast -Baxter Cycle

2023

Sep 21-24 MRF Meeting of the Minds Harrisburg, PA

Sep 21-24 46th Annual Iowa BMW Motorcycle Rally Elkader

Sep 23 22 Veteran Suicide Awareness Association Poker

Run Pacific Junction

Sep 23 D18 Toys for Tots Ride Burlington

Sep 23 Bike Night & BBQ Cook Off Stuart

Sep 23 Bikes for Tykes Benefit Poker Run Muscatine

Sep 30 AppleFest Car and Bike Show Woodbine

Oct 1 Toy Run HD of Carroll

Oct 6-7 NE Iowa Harley Garage Sale Swap Meet

Grundy Center

Oct 8 D4 40th Annual Toy Run Des Moines

Oct 14 Fall Fun Run for St Florian Burn Foundation

Fort Dodge

Oct 15 National Ride Day Everywhere

Oct 15 39th Annual Fall Auto & Motorcycle Swap

Meet Monticello

Oct 28 Screamin Saturday Chili Cookoff and Halloween

Event Zylstra HD Ames

Nov 4 Pancakes for Patriots Zylstra HD Ames

Nov 4 Solid Ones MC Clubhouse Day of The Dead Party

Carlisle

Nov 10-12 Iowa Steam Waterloo

Nov 11 Veterans Day Pancake Breakfast Metro HD

Cedar Rapids

Dec 9 Santa at Metro HD Cedar Rapids

Dec 9

Brrrrunch Party and Santa Stop Zylstra HD Ames

Dec 9 Holiday Open House Big Barn HD Des Moines

Jan 13 Winter Sucks Party Metro HD Cedar Rapids

Mar 3 Parts Girl Promotions Swap Meet

Mar 22-24

Cedar Rapids

Omaha Chapter AMCA National Swap Meet

Fremont NE

Mar 23-24 35th Annual Donnie Smith Show and Swap

Saint Paul, MN

Apr 7 Parts Girl Promotions Swap Meet

Rock Island, IL

May 3-4 Vintage Torque Fest Dubuque

May 4 13th Annual Sleeping Angels Fun Run Boone

May 23-26

Redneck Revival Conesville

Jul 3-6 ABATE of Iowa Freedom Rally Algona

Aug 2-11

Aug 29-Sep 1

Black Hills Motorcycle Rally South Dakota

Redneck Revival Conesville

Sep 28 Apple Fest Car and Bike Show Woodbine