Annoy Your Heroes

The Relentless Pursuit of Sam Correro

DAY ZERO.2
MILES 441 (by truck)

The neighborhood bears have taken to attacking the serviceberry trees in our driveway every morning and most evenings. I get multiple texts from the neighbors each time. It’s a fairly daily occurrence, but excitement still spreads through the neighborhood whenever they make an appearance. These bears are a cross between the Keystone Cops and the gang of droogs from A Clockwork Orange. They’re incredibly cute, very funny and playful, and a bit violent when it comes to our serviceberry trees. They either climb up or stretch tall to reach the branches and then yank down breaking them causing berries, thick plumes of pollen, and considerable bear slobber to fall on my 2008 black Prius. The Prius was already disgusting, but now it is well beyond that.

The point is that I stole my wife’s nice clean new to us white Tacoma pickup truck and left her with my disgusting Prius. She hates the Prius even when it’s not disgusting. I feel bad. But not bad enough to turn around. 

The Royal Enfield Himalayan motorbike is strapped to a hitch on the back and it’s nerve-wracking watching it in the rearview mirror. I feel sure I’m going to look into that mirror at some point and notice that it’s no longer there. I’m headed to Trinidad, Colorado via Corinth, Mississippi.

In the summer of 2021 I rode a tiny 125cc motorcycle named Little Ugly Homefry over 5,000 miles of dirt and back roads from Asheville to Port Orford, Oregon on the Trans America Trail. That trail was created by the legendary Sam Correro. Along the way I developed a serious and somewhat deep relationship with Sam. Well, not with Sam himself, but with my idea of Sam. I’d talk to him constantly about the trail. I’d ask him questions. I became quite close with Sam whether he knew it or not.  I felt like he’d written a story with roads and was trying to explain something important to me as I put in 9 to 12 hours of daily saddle time. It was almost like Sam was my guide on some sort of peyote trip that took me through a glorious external journey that was synchronized to a sometimes strange inner journey. I felt like he wanted me to realize something. I felt that there was a lesson to be learned. I think Sam would be embarrassed to hear someone talking like this. But as I made that trip and experienced the incredible thing that he’d created, I couldn’t help but come to think of him as somewhat of a higher being or celebrity. In my mind, he now occupies the same space as say, Neil Young, or Milan Kundera, and anyone else I’ve looked up to as a hero in my life. 

I stopped by Sam’s house when I rode by, but it was 7am on a Sunday morning and I just couldn’t screw up the courage to knock on his door. I left a note in his mailbox thanking him instead - and rode on. Several times during that ride I talked about wishing I could do an interview with Sam. Soon after one of those videos posted, I received a message from who I knew then as Brent (but who goes by Homer) who said that he was friends with Sam and might be able to help coordinate something like that. Turns out, Homer is the parts manager at Lake Hills Motors in Corinth, Mississippi where Sam lives. (More about Lake Hill Motors later…) We tried to set up a Zoom style interview. I did talk to Sam a few times on the phone and was able to express my gratitude, but he was a bit skittish about setting up a time to hope on a Zoom call. I think the impersonal nature and the technology of Zoom didn’t appeal to him. I didn’t give up, but I didn’t push it to hard either.

It’s years later now, and it occured to me that I’d be driving right by (more or less) Corinth on my way to Trinidad. I texted Homer and told him the day I’d be coming through and asked if he thought Sam would be into an in-person interview if I was able to stop by. He agreed to talk to him about it. A week later he let me know that Sam was down with the get down! Sam certainly had better things to do other than be bothered by a hero worshiper like me so I know that this doesn’t in any way mean this is happening. It just means that it might happen. And I’m super excited. I still have all of the questions I’d jotted down after my trip. I hope this works out. Homer also offered me a place to stay at his new bunkhouse. I don’t have a ton of information on that yet, but I’ll tell you all about it in an upcoming post. I’ve seen some photos and it looks like a great stop for TAT riders (or any other riders). 

When I first decided to attempt the Trans America Trail, one of the first things I did was try to find out about Sam. There’s not much out there. There’s an old Car & Diver article, there’s something in the New Yorker from 2019. And there’s one interview on YouTube that I can’t find anymore that was grainy and noisy and I wanted something more and something better. I’m bringing some good video gear and I’m hoping to do an interview worthy of the legend of Sam. People need to know more about this mystery man. 

I don’t think I’ll ever get to meet Neil Young or Milan Kundera. But it seems entirely likely that I might have the chance to hang out with Homer and another one of my heroes, Sam Corello. I can’t wait.