A Day of Motorcycle Legends

Corinth, MS

DAY: Zero.3
Miles: 1,100 (by truck)

What a day.

I had a livestream event last week for work Wednesday through Sunday. They were long 10-hour days which left me zero time to get organized for the trip. I’d piled everything I could think of by the door on Tuesday night and hoped I didn’t forget anything knowing that I did. I got home from work at 10 pm Sunday night, riffled through my pile of gear in a confused and rather useless attempt at making sure I was good to go, got a few hours of sleep, and woke up at 4 am and was on the road by 5 am.

The seven-hour trip to Corinth was uneventful except for one thing. Before I left for work on Sunday morning, I’d hooked the Mototote hitch to the truck and went to load the bike. It didn’t want to start. It sort of struggled, and finally sputtered to life. Like most people who are not mechanically inclined, I chalked it up to, “it’s just in a mood,” and decided that it would fix itself. I stopped for gas right before Corinth and filled up the bike while I was at it. I have no idea why, but I decided to try starting the bike for the heck of it. Nothing. A few electronic grunts, but nothing else. Jesus. I haven’t even started the ride yet, and already things are going wrong. Not good!

I walked into Lake Hill Motors and found Homer and we went to grab some food. It’s the first time we’ve met in person but he felt like he already knew me from watching the videos and I felt like I already knew him because he’s a great guy who’s easy to talk to. We talked about stuff old guys talk about, kids, family, getting old, and motorcycles.

When we returned to the shop the first thing we did was unload the bike, open up the battery cover to check the battery. Dwayne the owner (who is a motorcycle legend in his own right) and a couple of the other guys from the shop tested the battery and we decided the best thing would be to just replace it which we did. Fairly easy fix. They also told me to pick up a battery booster which I plan on doing.

Then Homer gave me a tour of the Lake Hill Motors Motorcycle Museum, which is amazing. They love CB 750s and have several of the sand-cast versions. I now realize that I need a Honda CB 750. I’d have to review the video to list all of the insane, rare, history-laden bikes that live in that place. It’s impressive as hell and Homer told me the interesting history behind many of them. If you’re anywhere near Corinth - go there. Full stop.

Then Sam showed up at the shop and we decided to load up and head to Homer’s place down the road. Homer has recently (maybe within the last year) completed his home shop/garage/bunkhouse. It a very large building with all of his motorcycles, tools for miles, a couple of cars, a kitchenette, and an enclosed air-conditioned gorgeous bunk house with four beds and a bathroom. When I say bunk-house, that may put a certain picture in your mind. That picture is wrong. Think luxury hotel and that’s more like it.

(Sam and Big Dog from ADVRider-Photo credit: Homer)

I setup my video gear and we got right to the interview with Sam. Sam is very humble and I could tell he wasn’t thrilled about being in front of the cameras. But once he started talking about his life’s passion project, he pretty much forgot about the cameras altogether. We talked for about 45 minutes and it was great. My hero worship dreams came true. Then Homer joined in and added some details about the roll charts and some other things about the TAT, and also talked about his bunkhouse. Once I get home I’ll add all of the details about how to contact him if you’d like to stay there. And you do want to stay there.

What a great great day. I completely interrupted Homer’s workday with all of my nonsense and it was great to hang out with him. Of course getting to hang out and talk to Sam was something I’ll never forget and I can’t wait to edit that video and put it out there. Homer and his wife Ang were so hospitable and let me grab a few hours of sleep at their place

I plan on hitting the road at 4am to tackle the 1,000 miles to Trinidad.

DAY ZERO.4
MILES. 1,100 (by truck)

I pulled out of Corinth at 4 am on the dot and drove for 16 hours straight. It was not fun. I pulled into Tower 64, the shitty motel where I met Johnny Pow on our TAT ride in 2021. It’s even more shitty than I remember. I’m exhausted, my eyes are bloodshot, and I never want to drive another vehicle as long as I live. Unless it’s a motorcycle. If it’s a motorcycle, I want to get on it first thing in the morning and head south into New Mexico. And that’s just what I’m going to do. Good freaking night.