Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Rides, Rallies, & Events Confessions of a Cruiser

It came to me today that I “am a cruiser” and looking down at my chromed out machine, I thought “It’s not you, it’s me.” It’s as much a personality trait as a choice in bikes, I am laid back, so I ride laid back.

I am just not in any kind of hurry. I am not opposed to going fast, but usually only so I can get to somewhere new to take my time. I love to tool around old town squares and county court houses and spend entire afternoons trying to get lost on little roads with names like “something Church” Road or “someone’s Farm” Road. My favorite roads tend to be “Town”-“Town” roads that lead, as promised, from one interesting little place to another.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like the twisty roads and can spend a day in the North Georgia mountains; I am not opposed to scraping a peg on occasion, but not so much on purpose and even then I am likely then to change my line or my speed in that corner next time to avoid doing so again.

But what I really love are the in-between roads that wind and roll me between the little towns and where massive oak trees that sprouted before “when in the course of human events” still stand alongside the fence and shade cows, horses, and little white farm houses with tin roofs. Americana towns with tall, white columned homes on streets where the trees arch to touch in the middle and places where Magnolias that trembled as General Sherman passed reach for the sky and are thick with thick, green leaves and huge white flowers.

I love pre-interstate numbered routes where the ruins of infrastructure can still be seen by someone who knows what life was before pay-at-the-pump. I bypass nothing; but take the business route and see where the road really goes, by storefronts and parking meters and old folks still sitting on the porch swing and wave as I cruise by, not in a hurry at all.

Americana. I hear you Tom. Since figuring out the whole gpx import route thing for my zumo, I have seen more of what you describe in the past 2 years than I have my entire life. Nothing beats seeing the folks sitting on the porch. The VW Bug with its front end showing only attached to a wall. The relics of old highways given up for interstate slabs. Roads that have no names. Hotels and motels that look like something from a post nuclear era. Wayside statuary. Witches slamming telephones. Jettson styled architecture. Dang it. Ya got me going now. Having just got off a ride to NY via MT. 7500 miles. of which say 2000 was slabs, 1000 US hwys, and the rest nirvana americana. Rode past a field in ND and observed a bunch of what looked like dog houses. Pushing the limits of daily travel on rural roads, photos were rare at times. This was not a rare time. Yet I did mark it on the gps. Anyway, filling up with gas at the 56 mile mark (out West ya get gas when ya can) I had the counter girl ask, "So how do you know about Triumphs?" Huh? I glanced at her 'boyfriends' you know those that hang thinking they'll get some, and they gave her sheet in a polite way. We kind of all spoke at once when we said "Because I'm/He's riding one"! We all about rolled on the floor. Turns out she had bonifide boyfriends that flat track trumpets. Yup, that broke the ice as for sure I was sight to behold. I took the opening to ask about those 'shelters'. "Oh, those? Those are pig houses." Says I, "Are the pigs tied off to the houses like prize roosters and or dogs?" "Na, they are allowed to roam. me, "so they must have all been in their houses" "No, they were up and over the hill"

Then i asked one of her entourage about the circular ring of concrete with a cone popping out of the middle. "Abandoned Minute man silos" Dang. Double dang it. As the last one was 30 miles back, and not another one was seen the rest of the trip...I was gonna do the fence thing and take some photos of govm'nt taking photos of me.

Thanks for reminding me of past rides. And for the promise of future rides. Is a Cruiser the one word description for "It is not the destination, It is the ride"? Being down here in FL, any ride to a rally is over 500 miles. Even then the itch to ride at the Rally is overwhelming. However, When this old soul set the side-stand down in Stony Brook Park, NY; for the first time, the camp and those there were paramount. Dang fine camp the bestest folks. Rain was a wonderful thing that got us all huddled under the beer tent talking trash, shooting bulls and just carring on about nothing. Hum, just like those folks on the porches of americana!


We need to figure out a way to ride forever.

i dig, winding roads that lead to towns named like, Magnolia, cold springs, or have ville on the end. they look like a western movie with paved roads. problem with these towns usually no beer. Great little dinners ran by old ladies, not an ice house. mostly they lay inbetween on that lone some stretch of highway called farm to market road.

Dang it, Moe. That sure was a sweetazzed dissertation on the fineries of the open road. I always enjoy it when you get to ramblin' them stories.

Hey Tom and Moe too for that matter... nice writing making for good reading which really stirred the ol' imagination by way of painted words. Keep riding (and writing)! Thanks!!

I love stories well told like yours, Tom. I rode those same roads with different names and in different places and times. And Moe! I loves your stories. I sat in that beer tent with you in thunder and lightning with a river of water running through it with our feet on the table to keep em dry and listened to a few. Nothing like it. Sitting with friends old and new and swapping stories. Weather doesn’t matter. We didn’t have to ride in it.

Our front porches have two wheels...we sit for hours and hours on them, just watching and smiling...the machine rocking gently, reminiscent of that old family Bentwood. We pass through the world instead of waiting for it to pass us.

We're different that way.

There sure are a selection of words put very nicely together in this thread, alright!

I have TWO dreams! (Just being original here ).

With the exception of perhaps 3 or 4 isolated years since 1981, I have been taking long rides (over a month or two) every year.

My ultimate objective has always been to get my affairs in order and to then ... disappear for a couple of years (or 5, who knows?) or so.

I have done the length and breadth of Europe and the Middle East so many times it has become a joke in my local circles.
I have also ridden down the length of Africa (Morocco to Cape Town) and although it is an adventure I would very much like to revisit, it is not an immediate priority.

Now for the dreams I mentioned ...

One is to ride from Athens to Vladivostok in southeastern Russia (detouring somewhat via a chunk of China) and to cross over to Japan on a ferry (I already know what time they leave ).

The other is to just "get lost" for a year or so, just roaming around the US, you know ... "drifter" style (although I have been to many cities in the States I have not as yet ridden there).

So Tom, thank you for so vividly planting a picture of one of my dreams in front of my eyes.

nice write up

Thanks for the post

By far the best "Americana" experience I've participated in, was the "BritBike.com" 3 state ride that takes place in Blowing Rock, North Carolina in May. 214 miles of a mixture of small towns of all types, breathtaking scenery, and a wonderful group of people. It's even better if you take your "garage project" that your not even sure will make it to the gas station!!!