Life in Motion with Rodney Myers and his motorcycle

Sunday, April 2, 2017 This is not the first time I have hopped on the bike and rode to an airport to have a meal. While airplanes and meals have mixed for a lot of years, the general opinion is they have not done well. Mostly when those meals are served in mid flight. Luckily for us, we were headed for the Pik & Pig in Carthage, North Carolina, a very grounded Bar-B-Que Joint. The day began with a quick fill up at our local Sunoco Gas Station. Then we headed south down Highway 200, also known as Central Avenue. Near the center of the town of Locust, we turn left onto Highways 24/27. We made our way east out of town. Pless Mill Road is just beyond the edge of town, and we take a right to wind our way south and to Hilltop Road. This spills us out to Highway 205, which we take south into Oakboro. We take another left in town onto Aquadale Road, headed for the town of the same name on a road also know as State Road 138. In the little berg of Aquadale, we make a jog ...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, April 2017 This is the second in a series of articles of my, and my favorite riding partner’s, trips to fill up our North Carolina State Park Passport. We started by cutting through the warm, August morning air, heading north out of Locust, North Carolina. Central Avenue, also known as 200, is a road we travel often to get to Concord, the nearest urban area with everything we need, and a lot more. Above us was a thin cloud cover, but the sun was already working on burning that thin layer off. We would be left with blue sky, the color Carolina is famous for having. The clearing would last for most of the day. Central Avenue ends by merging into 601, continuing us north, and into the Charlotte suburb. Next was the ramp to Highway 73, which began our trip west. We had to do this jockeying around, or go straight through the Queen’s City. Also known as Davidson Highway, 73 has spots where it feels like a highway, but most of ...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, March 2017 For an activity that is based in freedom, there seems to be one thing that we as motorcyclists can’t break free: debates. I’m not going to open the door to such things like which oil to use, what cleans what better and with less effort, or what brand is better.  While, I’m well aware there are lots of riders out there that just hop in the saddle, go, get lost, and finally make it back home; others of us like to have a destination, and planned a route to get there and back. I spent the bulk of five decades in Indiana, so I could just fire up the engine and run. The sun and moss growing on the trees were my compass. Most of the Hoosier cornfields are divided by numbered county roads that with a little logic, will get you where you need to be. I knew where I was about ninety percent of the time, if not from experience, then from the markers I just mentioned. I also had times that I had a specific destination, or a st...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, February 2017 This is the first in a series of articles of my, and my favorite riding partner’s, trips to fill up our North Carolina State Park Passport. Our Loop Ride from Locust to Hanging Rock State Park. Map complements of Microsoft's Streets & Trips. Shortly after moving into our new home in North Carolina, we made our way to a state park. We are lucky that Morrow Mountain State Park is less than thirty minutes away. We were impressed with the Stanly County Park, and soon found out that is a frequent destination for two wheel travelers. We also knew that it couldn’t be the only state park that is a great destination. So on a July day, with the skies full of Carolina Blue, we headed north. Our journey out of Locust started on Bethel Church Road, heading east to Coley Store Road. We had planned a two hundred mile route, and wanted to allow time for the park to make a good impression, so we had started early ...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, January 2017 First off, let me get one thing straight, I’m a big boy, so I don’t need anyone’s permission to hop in the saddle and go for ride. However, I should mention that I do invite my favorite riding partner just to keep calm in the house. It’s the sensible thing to do. I’m still in my honeymoon phase with North Carolina, we moved from Indiana in June of 2015. Even though I was a lifelong resident of the Hoosier State, and new plenty of great destinations to ride, finding ideas for new places was always on my radar. State Parks and Covered Bridges were always great place to ride and discover new strips of asphalt. With that in mind, I have ventured to the Pisgah Covered Bridge, so Kasey, the aforementioned riding partner, and I decided to head out and discover the area of North Carolina that had been decided were picturesque enough to be set aside as state parks. The 2017 North Carolina State Parks Passport. A revisio...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, December 2016 I have been around long enough, and done several different things long enough to know that if you something for a while great stories emerge. Like the time Kasey, my favorite riding partner, and I were riding in Illinois and came upon the town of Chittyville. Here are a few more of the strange sightings I have seen from the saddle. Let’s start with animals. I’m sure we have all had our own encounters with wildlife on the road. Here is my elephant on the road. On trip from Indianapolis to Fayetteville, Arkansas, the sightseeing got started early. Just off the road, perched up on the hill was an African Elephant. The gray beast stood tall. We were in no harm, as the Indianapolis Zoo had designed for this happen. Wasn’t my first time seeing an elephant up on that hill, but since I had a couple of guys from out of town riding along, I had to make sure to point it out. Considering that a squirrel got scalped, this...

Originally Published in Southeastern Rider Magazine, November 2016 Most of us that ride a motorcycle look at it as an activity done in solitude.   Even if you ride with someone else on their own bike, you couldn’t talk to them except when you stopped. Got a partner on the pillion? You would have to yell and fight the wind to hear the voice. Intercoms and Bluetooth has changed all that, so choosing a riding partner has become more important. Here is my history with riding partners. The first person I shared riding with was probably my father, while he was teaching me to ride. The practice I got after that came from making ruts in my parent’s yard with my brother.   He had a few years experience on me, five years my senior, and like a lot of things when you are young, you don’t get to pick who you do it with. Age brought the usual divides; he entered his teenage years, and I was just an anchor. Once he got his driver’s license, the law forbid me from following him. By th...