Not only did I make it to Kentucky since my last post, but I then went north to Milwaukee, for the Harley Homecoming event, where I met up with the people at Motorcycle Missions. While I had met the founder, Krystal Hess, at Sturgis while volunteering for Veterans Charity Ride, this was my first chance to volunteer and see what the programs and people were all about.
The ride up was a straight interstate run, about 450-mi and not much fun. It was hot and also required me to pass through Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Chicago, with Chicago being a traffic nightmare full of closed lanes and afternoon commuter traffic. Still, the bike ran without a hitch and I made decent time, arriving in the late afternoon at the Harley-Davidson Museum, where the Homecoming is centered.
As I’ve often mentioned, the V-twin world is not my world, with things being for too one-dimensional and “‘Murica, rah-rah” for me. However, Motorcycle Missions (MM) is sponsored by Harley and they were able to go on-stage and promote their mission. I met up with them afterward and we went out to dinner. It was a chance to learn some names and get an idea of what was going to be happening over the weekend.
I stayed with them at a cool AirBnB – an apartment complex built out of the old Pabst brewery. It was hipster overload, with old equipment left as quasi-art installations, but the couch was comfortable and welcoming after a long day on the road.
Man All Stations
I failed to get the word on my first day. It turns out the MM booth was at House of Harley, the local dealership. However, I went to the museum, but that also gave me an excuse to actually see inside the museum instead of just being on the grounds. As you can imagine, it was all things Harley, from Serial no.1 — the first production Harley ever made — to a display of their 2025 offerings.
I am more of a go-fast guy, but fortunately Harley has not forgotten its racing heritage, and their were competition machines from the board trackers of the nineteen-teens to the modern Hooligan and Bagger racers they run, along with plenty of flat track and hill climb machines.
After that I shot down to House of Harley and started learning enough about MM to actually interact with people approaching the booth. The main displays are the main program of MM: custom built motorcycles. With this program, veterans and first responders form a team, overseen by a mentor who makes sure the build goes to plan.
The finished product is either auctioned off or donated to a veteran in need, allowing the build team to see the result of their effort first-hand. Auctioned bikes of course fund the next build along with their other programs. They do track days and off-road rides, help vets and first responders get their motorcycle license, learn metal working and welding, as well as benefit rides.
We had three mini-bikes — old Honda CT70’s — that were customized by local fire departments. Those got a lot of attention, but so did the full-size build: a Harley Street Glide with a Trask turbocharger and buckets of custom parts to increase performance and styling. It was a lot of work for me, being anti-social in general, but I mustered the necessary smile and helped explain things to people as well as sell merchandise.
A City With A Story
Milwaukee was a surprise to me. It has a skyline filled with old church spires and brick factories, along with more modern buildings and tree-lined suburbs. I’d love to go back and explore it even more; the raised freeways in the center of town really make you feel like you’re flying over the city. I could spend an hour just going up and down each freeway, interchange, and on-ramp. The view is very different between day and night, so I could probably spend a day just riding around.
They also have a cool scene downtown, with local bars and a restaurant themed like a Cold-War spy movie. History abounds in the old buildings and the old brewery district is mostly convereted into hotels, apartments, bars, and a very walkable area. I never did make it to their coastline with the Great Lakes though, and I know they have a massive Veterans Park there along with ports and industrial coastline.
Krystal was very accommodating and passionate even though she has been doing MM for a decade now. She is in the process of trying to step back more and let others do the grunt work, which is always hard with a passion project. There were plenty of long-time volunteers too, as well as some first-timers like me, so I was in good company.
Hopefully it’s the beginning of something bigger, as volunteering is probably my number one ambition in my short-term plans. I’ve written a lot about meaning and purpose, which usually manifests in me trying to know when I’m traveling and when I’m wandering (the only difference is the internal feeling, the amount of intention).
Volunteering is about being of service to something bigger than the self. If done with intention, volunteering returns at least as much as you put forth. For me it helps create community as well, among people who share a need to serve, a background in the military, and a love of motorcycles. It allows me to share my own story in the hopes it inspires others to look outside themselves and to push themselves to discover the deeper connections of life.
In serving in this type of charity, you meet fellow veterans, fellow motorcyclists, and people from all walks of life. Some are the veterans you are benefiting, while others are fellow volunteers, as well as people more deeply embedded in the motorcycle industry. So yes, there’s a lot to gain even though — on the outside — you are donating your time. You get what you give.
And now, this…
I was also invited to attend the Sturgis Rally in August, where MM will have some promotional events and also some time to explore. I’m not a fan of being in Sturgis during the Rally; it’s crowds and lowered speed limits everywhere. It’s better to go to the Black Hills when the rally isn’t happening if you want to enjoy the roads and the sights.
However, there are flat track races and hill climbs, I have friends who live in the area, and there’s also a chance for me to race, possibly. There are “boonie bike” races, for the little pull-start motorcycles that were popular decades ago, but are still available. MM has a pair, so we might be able to enter them for a chance to do some promotion and a good excuse for me to race something.
Looking Forward
And that’s it for now, but I am also looking forward to the entire season. I’m settled in Kentucky with my sister, giving me a chance to reconnect with family and also meet some local riders. I’m not too far from the Blue Ridge Mountains either, so I can plan some short trips. Not sure where I’ll hole up for winter, but back to Bisbee makes the most sense because my Baja Bug project is still there and it needs some love.
For now though I’ll be working on the book, planning my trips for the hot season, and working with the writer’s critique group I joined (I can still attend meetings via Zoom even though I’m 1,800 miles away). I also hope to write some more informative articles here. Even though I’m not selling my writing, I’d like to make more than just personal updates here, making the blog something useful for more than just friends and fans.
My Biker B-Movie series will continue, along with pieces on moto-camping and route planning. So while most of my work will be on the book, I hope to add material here that appeals to a broader audience. And that’s it for now. I’m still looking for a permanent place on Zillow, and still use my travels as a way to decide where I may settle down eventually, but my main goal of exploring with intention hasn’t changed.
Johnny Killmore 