Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126455
o 00 0') Bobby Gambill, motorcyclist By Bob Britton OK, you've got 6,000, 7,000 or maybe even 10,000 miles on your motorcycle odometer. You think you're a motorcycle touring veteran? Well, move over. Make room for Bobby Gambill. Bobby is a touring veteran. In May, Bobby received a gold medal from BMW for 100,000 miles of safe riding. But that's not even half of it. 14 "All BMW cares about is the miles I rode on their machines; I figure I'm close now to !lOO,OOO miles." Bobby has toured 41 of the 48 continental states on two wheels, and has even toured Canada and Mexico. And all of those miles are accident-free. Bobby says he rides at least 20,000 miles a year, and some years he covers as many as 25,000. His longest single trip was a 6,000 mile jaunt frotn his home in Fon Smith, Arkansas, to the east coast, nonh through the New England states, into Canada, back to the U.S. at Detroit, east and then south to Washington, D.C., then bad home. The trip took 11 days, "And it rained nine of those days," he adds. Bobby always travels with friends, and they set a goal for the first day's ride, decide before they leave what day they'll return, but they don't plan an itinerary. "We always know where we want to go, or what we want to see, but we don't plan a route, or set times to be at any panicular place." Bobby advises to travel secondary highways, and avoid the interstate highways. Bobby says the best pan of motorcycle touring is seeing the things that people in cars miss. He says some of the most memorable sights in that nearly 500,000 miles have been off the main roads where people in cars just don't take the time to go. "The best way to see the really interesting parts of the country is to Stop and ask. We'll stop for gas and ask the man at the service station what interesting things there are in the area, or we'll be riding through a small town and see somebody sitting outside and SlOp and ask them." He likes the friendships he develops, too. When you see other people touring on motorcycles, "You're just automatically friends'_ That's one of the rules of the road." Bobby has noticed one change in two-wheel touring in the past few years, and that's the increasing number of women on the road. In fact, Bobby has a lady friend he helped get interested in motorcycle touring, and she'll be a Veteran before long. A few years ago Bobby started taking pictures of his touring buddies at all state line markers they crossed. "Now I'll have to make another Southeastern tour, because I don't have any pictures at the Florida line." His picture collection fills a good-sized box, and you can sense the man's pride in his independence and in his accom· plishments as he shows off his pictures. "I can carry everything I need right with me. A tent, sleeping bag, ice box with groceries, extra clothes, and a tool kit." He prefers camping and cooking out over motels, meeting other motorcycle people, and ta1lting about touring adventures with others like himself. The best places for motorcycle touring? "Colorado, Wyoming, any place along the Roclty Mountains." Why? "Good camping, clean air, no crowds, and there are a lot of motorcycle people discovering the area." The worst places? "Any big city'" Bobby has a trip planned for this summer, and it is an Imponant one to him. There are seven states he has not toured on a motorcycle, and he will visit five of them. "We'll be gone two We'll catch Idaho, weeks. Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada." That will leave just two, Minnesota and Wisconsin. "I don't know how I've been missing them, but I'll get around to them, too." Interesting adventures? Plenty of them. How about a real hair-raiser? No hesitation, "Riding a motorcycle in Caracas, Venezuela." Bobby was transferred there by his employer last summer and he spent three months in that South American country. He borrowed a motorcycle to go back to his hotel during lunch one afte.moon, an eight-mile round trip. "I made it but I was a nervous wreclt!" He never got back on a motorcycle the rest of the three months. "They are good people, but put them in control of something, like a car, and they go crazy." There are also problems with the police, but not the kind you might think of. Bobby is forever being stopped by some policeman who is also a motorcycle nut. "They want to talk about their two-wheel adventures, and I'll tallt about mine, too. I lose a lot of time that way." Of course, you don't roll up !lOO,OOO miles just by tourin,. Bobby's BMW is as much a part of him as his right ann is. He rides his motorcycle to work, for example, and with the rising cost of gasoline he expects more people to stan doing the same. He gets about 55 miles a gallon on his BMW Spon. He won't ride to work in the rain, though.. "There's no covered parking ·at work, and I don't let my cycle sit out in the rain." One Saturday, Bobby and some others were hanging out at the motorcycle shop and decided they wanted a barbecue sandwich. The only good barbecue near Fon Smith is in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, 25 miles west. And after a god barbecue sandwich there's only one reasonable way to ~d the rest of the afternoon nding. Bobby and his friends ended up in Noel, Missouri. After they gassed up they rode back home, and that's a 556 mile round trip. Bobby never did say whether the sandwich lived up to his expectations. The sandwich probably wasn't the main attraction anyway. What Bobby Gambill is really interested in is the good times he has with his friends when they hit the road together. And there have been a lot of those good times since Bobby sat on his first Harley in 1947. Three week tours of Mexico, the beautiful scenery of the Rockies, New England, Florida, Canada; all without the constraints and restrictions of a roof over your head. Bobby says, "There's nothing like it." Bobby was asked what he would say to the would-be motorcycle tourist, the man or woman with plenty of riding experience around town or in the area close to home, who is considering taking off for the wide open spaces on his first motorcycle tur. "What's keeping you from it? You've got to let loose sometime. What should the novice expect on his first crOll country cycle tour? "The best time of his life'" • tt