Lessons from Len

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Here I go again. Actively pursuing people I don’t know to pick their brain, find out more about them, hear their human interest stories and above all-teach me something. I needed a ride to clear my head yesterday so I hopped on the GoldWing and headed for the park. I have been toying with the idea of trike-ing out my bike. As I entered the gate, before me I see a rider on his Harley. It appeared he was on a Trike pulling a trailer of which I’m sure contained some sort of sleeping facility. I had now taken the hook. I had to catch up to this fellow and introduce myself. Its a five mile ride from the park entrance to the Cottonwood campground. I followed him as I wondered and at the entrance to the campground he signaled and pulled in. Oh, yea, I was going to get my chance. As he pulled over at the ranger station I pulled up behind him, got off and that was the start of a new friendship.

Meet Len who hails from Florida and is in his third month of tavelling around the country for the next year on his Harley, sleeping in his towable Bunkhouse. After introductions, Len showed me that his Harley is not triked out at all. Actually its a device called the Voyager. Two wheels ride side by side adjacent to the rear wheel of the motorcycle. The whole thing then attaches to the underbelly with one large and long bolt. It acts on the principle of training wheels on your first bicycle. When removed, the bike just drives away on its on two wheels. Thereby giving on the opportunity to ride as the bike originally was intended or with the stability and security of a Trike. It’s really a neat principal. What intrigued me almost as much was his trailer. After accompanying Len to his site he told me how to pull up the aluminum bar, fold it down and in less than 30 seconds you have a tented sleeping facility. Check out the photo and you can see that all you have to do is remove the cover, push up the bar, pull it toward you and there you have it. Inside there’s room for two to sleep, a dressing area and then underneath the entire setup is room in the trailer for hauling “stuff”.Len is a member of IBMC, The International Brotherhood of Motorcycle Campers

. He would be on his way next to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, known by most travelers as the U-P. You might ask why I would be interested in the Bunkhouse, after all, I travel in a forty foot motorhome and this folds up into a five foot trailer. Well, I have often thought of how interesting it would be to take mini two day trips to remote area where its just not feasible to motor 15 tons. Definitely something to research and spend the next several days contemplating as I play the brain game with myself.  So here it is in a nutshell. I chose to pursue another biker until he stopped.  I met a total sranger that has become a new acquaintance.  I learned of an alternative to trike-ing a bike, a mobile pop up tent, and about a brotherhood of camping riders. A total stranger taught me more today than I had experienced in a week. All because I went out of my way to pursue a stranger.