Headlines

Cheryl Meadows didn’t even bring a motorcycle to the annual Gold Wing Road Riders Association’s Spring Wing, held this year in Portland. She says it doesn’t matter.

“[I] come for the people. They’re family, they really are,” she said.

When Meadows’ husband died last year, she was thankful for the outpouring of support from the couple’s motorcycling friends. “They helped me get through it so much. They all showed up, on their bikes,” Meadows said.

Now, she said she doesn’t need to bring a motorcycle to be welcomed back. “It’s happy now, because all I get is hugs,” she said.

Most of the drivers expressed the same sentiment: that the event is more about seeing each other than it is about riding motorcycles. That’s why this year’s theme is ‘Family Reunion.” For Logansport rider Merle DeFord, it really is.

“I have my wife and my daughter all riding motorcycles. They follow behind me,” DeFord said.

He said he hopes his grandchildren will one day share his passion for Gold Wings. “Even if I won’t be here with them, I hope they keep up my tradition,” he said.

DeFord estimates he’s owned 10 to 12 bikes in the 56 years he’s been riding. In fact, he traveled to all 48 continental states in just six weeks.

Many younger Gold Wings rode bicycles around their parents’ motorcycles. Six-year-old Nicholas Reed said he loves riding on the back of his dad’s Gold Wing.

“I want to feel the air. It was so bumpy all the way there!” he said.

The GWRRA meets six times a year - twice in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. This year’s national convention is in Greenville, S.C. July 3 - 6.