Motor Mouths
Motor Mouths is the official podcast of Ride for Miracles. Each episode features real stories, memorable road experiences and conversations that highlight the impact of the ride and the people who make a difference in one child’s life.
Motor Mouths
🎙️ Motor Mouths Podcast —Episode 5: Brad Hansen
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🎙️ Motor Mouths Podcast —Episode 5: Brad Hansen
In this episode of the Motor Mouths Podcast, we sit down with Miracle Rider Brad Hanson for a conversation that goes far beyond motorcycles and the Ride for Miracles.
Brad takes us back to his early years—where he was born and raised, his upbringing, his career, and the journey that eventually brought him to Columbus and, ultimately, to the Ride for Miracles.
We also have a deeply personal conversation about the loss of Brad and Jan’s son, Jonathan, and the impact that loss had on their family and the ride. During Brad’s first year on the ride, a deviation from the planned route became a defining moment—one that changed the dynamic of the Ride for Miracles forever and helped transform a group of riders into something much more: a brotherhood.
This is a story about family, loss, friendship, perseverance, and the bonds created when people come together for a purpose greater than themselves.
Join us for another powerful story from the road.
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Stories from the Road. Making a Difference in One Child’s Life.
Welcome to Motormouths Podcast Season 1, Episode 5, featuring Brad Hansen. Unfortunately, due to some technical issues, we had some problems with the audio on this interview, but we did our best to make the corrections needed, and we just wanted to let you guys know that the audio may not be the best quality, but the content is great.
SPEAKER_00Enjoy the episode.
SPEAKER_06I noticed our brothers in Iowa have a YouTube channel now. God bless them. They're getting ready to take off Monday on their trip. Yeah, it does. Hot. It's going to be hotter than here. Remember, get over to our YouTube channel and hit subscribe and you're able to watch the videos. You're also able to speed them up if you're short on time. And all the podcast platforms. So everybody with an Apple iPhone, you got uh the Apple Podcast, so feel free to jump over there. You can listen there, you can speed that up as well. Um imagine if you hear us talking at double speed and then you put us down to slow speed, it sounds like we're wasted. So anyway, um I'm Brian. I'm Randy, and I'm really excited about today. Today's a good day. But before we get started, I got another Lorelei story here. This is this is the world of Lorelei and how she operates and thinks. So if you can imagine uh getting your uh four or five-year-old to bed, then you get him to stay in bed. That's hard. Well, now we're in school. School started. Yes, she's in pre-K. And so they get everybody settled down for bed, and Lorelite comes into Katie's bedroom and shakes her and wakes her up. Mama, can I sleep with you? No, Lorelai, school, you've got it, you've got to go sleep in your own bed. But mama, when I sleep in my own bed, I'm sad. Do you want me to be sad and lonely? Sad and lonely. So Katie said no. Good for her. And Lorelai got in bed with Josh and Katie, and everybody had a good night's sleep. So uh I think uh I'll ask Linda if uh she wants me to be sad and lonely. I'll let you know how many. For sure. For sure. I will. So again, um, real excited about this episode. This kind of is going to lay the foundation for all the others. Um, this is the first in a series of get to know the writers a lot better. And um, we we just want to take you a little bit behind the ride, behind the person, let you get to know them uh on a more personal level. So um today we have our buddy Brad. Thanks. We're sitting in his shop here with his uh house truck and all of the other stuff out here. It's it's not too bad in here. So um anyway, nice little man cave. Yes, little.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, definitely put an RV in it, it's not little.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but yeah, but the R V can't go out with the uh awning out, but anyway. That's a story for a later episode. Maybe maybe this motor mounts that would be motor homes in case we can have one of those too. Um that's funny. Yeah, I like it. Thanks for having us out and uh look forward to talking. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04All right, so Brad, tell us about growing up, where you're from, what what's where's Brad from?
SPEAKER_01Well, I was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. Um I guess I'm the oldest of four kids. Um my mom I had a brother that's passed, but then I still have a brother and sister that are still alive, and they're off over in Oklahoma. Um gosh growing up um busy, busy kid, mostly sports. Mostly sports. I mean if I could play if they had a ball, I was playing. Playing down at the ballpark and neighborhood kids and everybody get together. Um so I gosh graduated from high school and I was playing baseball, so I went off on a baseball scholarship down in Oklahoma for a couple years. I came back home, and uh then I went two more years at a college, Friends University at Wichita, and then after those four years, I was done with school. I was so close. I was gonna be a teacher, teach math, and coach baseball was mine. And I was so close. I only had a few hours left, but I did not want to do that. That is not what I wanted to do. Had a cousin that was doing it, had another friend, and it was just uh I didn't like the stories I heard. So uh during that time I got a job. Um, actually, my last year that I was playing baseball, it's a good one. I uh I I I needed a job. My stepfather worked at Cessna Aircraft there in Wichita, and uh he was able to get me in contact with people, and they give me a job in September of 72, is when it was. That was my last year of school. So I was going to school, I was working at Cessna from 3:30 at night to 12:30 uh in the in the morning. I'd go home, go to bed, and then I get and go to school, and then baseball practice came around in the spring, so then I had baseball practice, and I don't know how you can work for a company like that, and they let me go play baseball. Um you know, any of you that have been in manufacturing and they talk about productivity and all that kind of stuff. I mean, I was a missing person half the time, so I just amazing that that that was able to happen. So I finished my last year of baseball, and uh that was my fourth year of college, and I was done. I did not want to go teach. Um I met my wife Jan there.
SPEAKER_06So I want to interrupt there.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So you and I met for the first time in 2013, but there are so many parallels in our lives. I want to say I don't know the exact ages, like 74, 64, 54, 44. Yeah. You, me, Brad, and Cody. We all stair step like that. And and so I want you to dig a little into that story, how you met Jan. Not all the details, because I know those two, but dig into that one a little bit because it parallels my story.
SPEAKER_07Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01And I'll tell my story later, but well, I I when I was working uh at Sessna on Second Shift, and I met Jan's brother. Didn't know her at the time, but I met him there. And of course, we started palling around and going places, and he was three years older than I am. Found out we went to the same elementary school, um, didn't know each other, lived not more than 10 blocks away from each other, but didn't know each other. So we got to running around, and then I don't know, it was 73, 74, something like that, and Jan started working out their assessment and on second shift. So now it was three of us piling around. And God, we was on a bowling team that would start at 1, 1.30 in the morning, and and uh yeah, you know, they they had second shift bowling team, so we'd go do that, you're gonna get up and next well, then I'd sleep on all day long. But uh let's see. Actually, I take that back. We actually met before she started working at Cessna. There was a a a party they were having at Jan's aunt's house. And so Mike and I got off at 1215, 12:30. We ran to his house so he could get a uh an album. Uh God, I can't remember which one it was. James Something. You'll know, yeah, it's a famous guy. He wasn't my my kind of music, but we went over, we got that album, went to the party, and uh played cards and everything late that night. And I fell asleep at the card table, but when we got done, they all went. And Mike went and laid on the sofa and Jan headed to a bedroom. And next morning, of course I'm sitting at the kitchen table sleeping like this, and I wake up and there she was at the table reading a newspaper. And it was, and that's when we that was our first meeting. So I had we not ran around the three of us together, I think, as far as compadres after work. I don't know if we'd ever uh ran in, met and and got married or anything, but that's how that story went.
SPEAKER_06Wait till I tell mine. It is eerily similar. Yeah, eerily similar. So I'm from Indiana originally, you're from Kansas. We what do we have in common there other than basketball? Right? Tornadoes.
SPEAKER_01Tornadoes tornadoes.
SPEAKER_06So April 3rd, 1974, tornado came through, tore my hometown down. But I know you guys dealt with tornadoes, so I know, I know, but you got a bit of history with you and your dad. So tell us about that history with your dad.
SPEAKER_01Well tornadoes. Um I will. Um a little bit, I'm gonna finish. My parents divorced when I was 10. And like I said, I'm the oldest of four. So my mom raised four of us from the age when I was 10 to 17, high school, senior in high school, and then she got remarried. She's not living today, but man, I wish she was around so I could talk about those days because oh her so much. I cannot imagine raising four kids by myself. And she did it and then even had a job, you know, got a job. But but my dad, my dad was a policeman. Um he I think he started in the police force in Wichita, Kansas, in 1949, I think. Um they bought a house there, and uh and he was a policeman up until he got a divorce. Well, then he couldn't afford being a policeman, so he went off on other tangents. But uh you talk about tornadoes and my dad two, three years ago, and uh somewhere around January, February, maybe it was, could have been early December, we got a phone call from Wichita, Kansas, and they're telling us a story about the Thunderbolt um tornado sirens. And you need to go Google those. Uh but they were the first ones made out of Chicago, Thunderbolt, and of course, back in the 50s, what were they installed for? Air raids and bombs and stuff. You know, that was during uh all that Cold War stuff, and so that's what they were built for, and they had some installed in Wichita. Well, long story short, um Kansas City had a made a plan to start using those for severe weather. Wichita decided, hey, we're gonna copy that, we're gonna do that. So they excuse me, they tested, ran the tornadoes, did some tests, this and that. Well they had never been used for tornadoes before. And in June of um God, what year was that? 58. June of 58. My dad was working second shift as a dispatcher with a police department. Weather Bureau come on and they give them that there was a severe weather and possible tornado going to hit in East Wichita. So my dad was he makes the calls. He calls one up, um, couldn't reach the person. Called the next one up, couldn't reach the person, and five minutes later he went over and he hit the button and uh sent off tornado siren in the east part of Wichita. And if you go read, there's the stories about how that that actually gave some people a couple minutes, and a tornado did hit over there, and but they were able to save their lives. This information we got from the uh Sedgwick County uh disaster group is that's the first time that the tornado that the siren was used for severe weather for a tornado. First time in that that they can find in the world. And now we get a test every Saturday how and uh we didn't know anything about that. Dad never said a word about it. So uh it was pretty cool. So we were invited to Wichita, they had a uh a ribbon cutting. They had taken that, they have four of the original uh thunderbolts, had them restored, and then took that one, which is the oldest one, and moved it from where it was, it went off, and they have put it up, it's up in Park City at the uh fire station up there. So they did a ribbon cutting and they invited us to come. And uh he was honored at that, and we actually got to cut the ribbon. Neat story that goes along with that is when we were there, and we knew nothing of this. So um we meet family of a gentleman that was in Wichita that back in the 50s, he took it upon himself to go to Tulsa and learn how to maintenance these things. And uh so the both of these, my dad and this gentleman were honored and their families were there. And he, because he didn't get paid anything, he just went over Joplin, not Tulsa. Went over to Joplin, I believe it was, and got training on it. And uh, so then this uh Mr. Marr was the gentleman at the uh civil defense or what a disaster. He says, I got one more to tell you. He says, We found your dad's grave, and it's in Wichita Whitechapel. We found this other gentleman's grave, they are 50 yards apart from each other.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_01Had he not gone to that um effort to find we would go think to go look at that, yeah. And that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_07That's incredible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we've got a notebook, scrapbook, and stuff that they put together, and pretty neat story. That is a very never knew about it.
SPEAKER_04So let's let's kind of transition here. So tell us how you got from Wichita to Columbus.
SPEAKER_01Well, that was through Cessna. Um I had been working at Cessna. I hadn't planned when I got the job at Cessna, I just needed the job. I needed to make some money, finished college, and that all changed. But Cessna's like a little city, man. You can you can move here and there and go to lots of different uh types of jobs, which I was fortunate to be able to do. Um, I did finish my degree in business, which that got me into finance. And then I finally became in the materi got in the materials and uh became manager of materials production control uh in uh um Wichita. So in February 2005, Vice President hits up my boss, says, know anybody that wants to go to Columbus, Georgia? Columbus has a facility down, had a facility down here. They bought Cessna, I think, back in uh '96. And then in uh they had a facility, and what Cessna does is we make airplanes. And the facility here in Columbus made flight controls, flats, ailerons, rudders, stabilizers, and all that. We'd make some of our own parts, secure parts that came in, and then we'd put these together, put them on in transport and put them in trucks, and off they'd go to Wichita. And Independence. Independence, Kansas also made some single engine stuff. So uh, well, and uh at the same time, uh McAuley is here. And I'll talk about Macaulay in a little bit. But um, so there's two buildings, and we had aircraft and we had Macaulay in the two buildings. Um 2005 in February, but my boss comes to me and says, BP wants to know if you got anybody that wants to go to Columbus. That's to work as material requirements and plan parts and schedule. I said, No, I'll ask. I said, if nobody wants to go, I'll go. We were just walking down the hall, the aisle there at the plant. So it wasn't a few weeks later, and Roger, my boss, comes back and he says, BP, says you just want to go down there and ride your motorcycle. And I just grinned because I had just gotten a motorcycle in 2004. Um, and long story short, there was a lot of talk going back and forth before you know it, in July of 2005. I'm coming to Columbus and going to be the materials manager here in Columbus. And there's plans to expand another building and uh lots of different things. So uh I got on my motorcycle, put a big box, a moving box of clothes that hung up in my golf clubs in this box, took them over and put them on the uh dock at uh in Wichita for the truck to bring to Columbus because they bring transport dollies back and forth. And I rode my motorcycle down here, and then so that's how that's what got us down here. I had flown down here, not I'm not a pilot, but we uh would take the company jet and come down because these folks were they reported back to Wichita and they didn't report to me, they had their own bosses and stuff, but come down and take a look and give thoughts and ideas, and every time I come down here it was beautiful, you know. No wind, Kansas, they call Chicago the windy city. Kansas is blowing all the time, and uh just loved it here. So when they made the offer, talked to Jan and about it, and we kind of thought we had two kids that had gone off to college and one about leaving in August, and we just said, Well, some people make this move and some don't. Why can't we be the ones that do? If we don't work out, we'll come back home. And I've been here since then. We've been here since then.
SPEAKER_03You said you could go back home, so it's Columbus home now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is. Yeah, there isn't family, uh miss all my friends, obviously. Friends is what makes the your work and all that, but uh miss that. But no, this is home. We're not going anywhere. Like it here.
SPEAKER_06Again, again, so many parallels. So I got my bike in October of 2005, right here in Columbus. And I remember going back and forth to Indiana, uh being in Indiana saying, I gotta go back to Georgia, and being in Georgia saying, Oh, I'm going home next weekend. And I remember when that flipped, and I'm in Indiana, and I say, I'm going home. So this is home for me as well. So anyway, Mike's great segue. Um what got you into motorcycles? What did you start riding?
unknownUm
SPEAKER_06Um how long have you been riding and what are you riding now?
SPEAKER_01Um 73. I'd started work in 72, living at home, not paying rent. She had lots of money. Though there was a guy that uh helped assistant coach my last year at Friends University there in Wichita. He had a motorcycle, and I always thought it was pretty cool. It was. And uh I had well I'd ridden um dirt bikes a little bit. Some friends of mine had them, but uh I had never ridden one much. He had a Norton 750 commando, and I said, I gotta have one of those. So yeah, I think it was in September, and I bought a 70 of 73 and I bought a 74 uh Norton 750 Commando high rider. If you ever go look those up, they uh they're not a big bike, they're British made, they had high-rise handle bars, and then a little sissy seat, almost like the old Stingray bicycle that we used to uh, and that's what they had. Um so I I I had that bike sixteen days after I had that, because I'm still working second shift, right? And I had gone over some people's house and said, hey, what are you doing? I'm on my way home, and I'm coming along McLean Boulevard, it's right along the river. You'll see not a seasoned rider. And I see this car backing up. He had gone over, it's a four-lane street, and he had gone over, started over the bridge, but he had turned short, and he's on the wrong side, so he's backing out. I'm coming this way. I'm hitting brakes, and what I you don't hit the front brake and turn. Do not do that. And I did. Bike went down, I slid on my stomach, and that bike hit the back of that car, and you know, I scuffed up my belt and rubbed a few holes in my jacket, but I was fine. Coach driver, give me a ride home. Almost the only thing I got back out of that bike was the engine. So I had that, and I rode that. Our son Jeff was born in '79, and uh it was 79, and no, he was born in October, so it had to be in the spring. We had a friend worked out at Cessna, and he had gotten in a wreck, and you didn't have to wear a helmet and cancels, but I always wear it home. And uh, he had hit his head, and it really messed him up. Sold the bike. I had kids coming, and so we sold the bike, and then I didn't that was in uh, like I said, probably 80, spring of 80, and I didn't buy another one until um 2004, October 2004. Well, I had this thing, it was sort of an agreement, but when I turned 55, I'm gonna get me a motorcycle. All the kids be gone, I'm gonna get me another motorcycle. And uh well, I think it was actually when I was 54, and we ended up putting a swimming pool in at our house, and I don't know, we were talking to Jan and said, Well, if you get a swimming pool, I'm gonna get my motorcycle. So September I went out in October I dropped back me a uh heritage class. Heritage, love that motorcycle.
SPEAKER_06So stay with me. Yep, in 1980, I got my first motorcycle, rode that for a little while, 1980, and then I I got I let that go, got married, had kids. I was 43 in 2005 and bought me a what? Heritage. I still had did not know you from Adam yet, and look at all this stuff is just bouncing right. That's wild. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's one so I don't know how many years if you count the first five years maybe on that Norton. Never went much on the road with it. I rode to Oklahoma back one time. The uh mufflers had rusted out, so I took them off and put baffles in it. Talk about noisy. Kind of like my heritage so stupid. Yeah, I don't know if it was as loud as yours with long shots on there. That's funny. Yeah. And uh been riding since. So 2004 to now plus five years. What I've been riding. I've got about I added mine up, I'm at a quarter of a million miles, 225,000. And what I'm riding now, you guys? I've yeah, I've uh when I bought that heritage, I kept my brothers both had Honda Goldwings. No, one had a Valkyrie, one had a Goldwing. You you need you need to get a Honda. If you go getting you a Harley, you're gonna have bolts and nuts and bolts dropping off in the back and everything. And I finally decided if I didn't get my Harley Davidson, then I might never. So I bought the ultra, the uh classic. Traded that when I retired in 2012 for a ultra, traded that. Actually, I sold that one and bought Kevin Sims's bike, which was another ultra, but it was a low. And neat little, neat bike. When I say little, it's ultra lows or an inch and three-quarters, I think, shorter, a little rougher riding. Had to get a different seat than the stock seat on that thing. And I rode that. I rode it on one of the trips. Um, but it's so I just I had a wild hair this past winter. Um yeah. I said I you were involved in that wild hair, weren't you?
SPEAKER_03That was a cool trip.
SPEAKER_01That was a nice I bought me a gold wing and I sold and I traded that for that ultra low for the gold wing. I actually had to go to Wichtaw, Kansas to get it. They had a cool road trip. It was. That was. We were gonna ride our bikes. We were down up there.
SPEAKER_05It was like December though, right?
SPEAKER_01It was January. January. January 14th. No, wait a minute. I got the wrong date. January 12th, I believe. The 14th is another date that's his memory's a whole lot better than mine.
SPEAKER_03January, December, or whatever. But it was January.
SPEAKER_01It was and it got really cold that week and it was gonna rain, and we just and you called and said, Hey, I can get a trailer. Yeah, let's do that. So we left on Sunday morning. We left on Sunday morning. Is that right? Yeah, we left Saturday. Because we it was Monday when we went and got it, and we were back Tuesday.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_04So um, well, and and one of the reasons, and and a lot of people are gonna say, well, you know, some people may think, you know, oh, you guys ride all these miles and everything, why don't you just ride to go get it? Well, think about this. You've been on a heritage, I mean, uh on on an ultra limited for for all these years, you got all these miles on it, and now you're switching to a completely different bike, a Honda Goldwing, which they're great bikes. You're you've got a beautiful bike, and I've I've said this publicly, if I ever was gonna switch teams and go to a Honda, that would be the bike I would get. I mean, but you know, to ride fresh on a new bike like that, all the way from out there home, not knowing what the weather's gonna do, it's gonna be cold, raining, or whatever. It's just you you gotta think a little bit, and and it just it really wasn't wouldn't be safe. Not that you're not a capable rider, which you definitely are, it's just it's different. You know, to put all those miles on a brand new bike and you're not you're not familiar with the controls, how it handles, and all this stuff, you haven't fitted the handlebars to you and made the adjustments you need to make and everything. So that's kind of the reason why. Plus, it really gave us the time to to converse and talk and and got to learn some things about you that I didn't know. And uh, you know, we visited a few things while we were there, and you showed me around WitchCon and all that stuff, and and uh it was just a really cool trip, which and while we're talking about it, it really brought forth to my mind how we're a riding group that really we ride once a year. A lot of the guys, some guys ride all the time. Gary McDowell, he he rides and he does a lot of, he rides more than anybody in the group, probably off the miracle ride, more than all of us put together. But you made one comment during that trip that really stuck with me because I was talking about the new guys that we had, like Jason and Todd, and you know, just some new guys and and and some of the rookies that we had that year, and and and and I was talking about how good of guys they are and how they fit well with the group and how they're gonna bring a lot to the group. But you made the comment and said, Man, you know, I'll never get to ride with those guys. And kind of a light bulb went off in my head, and I said, you know, why is that? That shouldn't be that way, because we need to ride more regular, which is why we now we do a once-a-month ride, and we may go somewhere and ride to eat, but it gives you know, guys that either one can't do the the uh the long ride because of uh you know work or whatever reason they can you know they can't get off of work or whatever reason that that you know we don't have everybody do the full ride.
SPEAKER_01Well, I said I'm making everything drive.
SPEAKER_04Right. And and so I'm 99. Yeah. But we do these little rides and it's a day ride, and we ride over, you know, somewhere we might find a good spot. We've had a couple of cool places we've gone and had lunch. You've done a couple of them with us, you know, now, and and uh even Rick, Rick doesn't really ride two wheels anymore. Um, but he actually broke his old bike out on one of the rides that we did, and he rode to lunch with us and rode back home, you know, and it was cool to be back in the saddle again riding with Rick and having him on two wheels again. So it's just a way too for you know the guys that that can't that are either you know they they're they're like you said, too old, which I don't think you know, too old, but I mean you you get to a point where you know you're done, or you know you're done with the long, long rides. So anyway, it just gives a uh it's a time, and you can bond with people when you ride with them, when you sit down and eat with them and you converse with them, you know, you really get to bond with them and and all that. And so, speaking on that, how did you get connected with Scott and the Miracle Ride?
SPEAKER_01Well, that's an easy one. I mean, Scott is already linked on most of everybody, I think. Um, when I moved here in September 2005, um, in December, I joined the hog group. I didn't know anybody, and uh thought, well, I'll join a hog group and uh then do some rides. And I think at that time Scott might have been the uh chapter director, I think. Um if he wasn't then he was a few years after that. So just being in the Hulk group and going on a few rides and things with the Hulk group is how I met Scott. Um, of course, the first he went in 2009, the first ride was 2010, which he went on. He asked me, Brad, why don't you come on this ride? And uh now I'm back to Cessna. In 2009 of December, Cessna, the economy was bad, if you all remember, she lost all of her investments and all that, but or at least half of it. But um Cessna decided they're gonna close here and move everything to Mexico. So when 2010 rolled around and he's getting his ride together, I said, Scott, I can't really go now. Um, it's just too quick for me. I said, let me work on I will shoot for 2011, and that's how I got on 2011, which we were still working to get everything transitioned to Mexico, but uh went on the ride anyway, gone three weeks.
SPEAKER_06So for those people that don't know, Hog Group is Harley Owners Group, so it's Harley only. And when I bought my bike, believe it or not, nobody told me about Hog. I didn't know anything about it. Or I would have met you in 2005. Nobody told me anything. I bought it right here. I didn't know anything about the Harley Owners Group. I got national hog, but I didn't know anything about the local people. Nobody reached out to me, nobody said, hey, you know, come ride with us.
SPEAKER_04They just didn't want to ride with me.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, they were him.
SPEAKER_04He's from Indiana, we don't want to ride with him. No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_06So so how how many how many years have you been in the Miracle Ride? So you you almost could have been in that first rookie class.
SPEAKER_01Almost, but you and that would have been kind of neat just for to have that on to wear it right here. Yeah, but uh so this is my 15th, yeah, 2011. My first ride. And then I've and I want to think back, I haven't gone on as many rides as some of the folks that have come in longer. I rode 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 on the 48 states. I did go to Sioux City, I think, with 16, I think we went up there, but 17 was Alaska, and I did that. And then I miss all those little short guys. You did Columbus. And I did Columbus, which was after the 50. So you didn't do my good? I didn't do my good. And I can't tell you why now. Um that's Columbus was when I told when I told myself I'm done. I it was just my shoulders and my neck. I was miserable for the whole time. I think I was overdosing in in ibuprofen and a leave and all that. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So let's let's rewind just a little bit and and go back to when we were talking before. Tell us about Macaulay and Cuff. Go a little more in detail on that.
SPEAKER_01Well, Macaulay, and I and I mentioned that you had Cessna up here. They did aircraft parts. Macaulay is Macaulay Propeller Division. Macaulay actually uh originated in Dayton, Ohio, uh, back in the 30s, 38, 40 Cessna bottom. And this was our VP again, the the I had contact with, but he decided he's gonna move Macaulay to Columbus, Georgia to put him with the aircraft that we had. Sounded pretty cool, didn't it? So you have two different, I mean, they're not even close to what they do. I don't even think we've made a whole lot of our own parts at Macaulay. Um so that's the two divisions. So Cuff. Cuff is Cessna United Friendship Fund. And it was an employee participation fund where if you wanted to, you could donate certain percent, certain dollar amount, every one of your paychecks, to the to the Cuff. And then Cuff turned around and they donated to United Way, they did probably like the food bank. Um, if you had tornado um hurricane disaster or whatever, they might donate money. So it was uh it was a 501c3 that employees could donate their money to, and it went out to good causes. Um 2000, and this is kind of got my dates mixed up a little bit, but Cuff was Cessna, it wasn't Macaulay, it was Cessna. The group here, and of course we're shipping everything to Mexico, and we're closing up in 2012. Since I wrote in 2011, I think I went to them in 11. They were actually our sponsor, our uh what do we call that presenting sponsor for one year, and I don't know if it was 11 or 12 because they donated $10,000. They had a lot of money in Cuff still, and they were looking for a place they could help, and they liked our uh our what we do, and so they did that one year, and that kind of that dissolved Cuff. Then now you have Macaulay, and so every year Macaulay has what they call, and of course, Cessna is not Cessna anymore, and it's Textron. I should have mentioned that earlier, but Cessna was bought out by General Dynamics, then Textron bought them from General Dynamics. So it really, and the old Cessna folks, we could never get away from that. We were always Cessna. If we're sitting here talking, we were Cessna, even though we were Textron. But Textron had a Textron uplift. So if you see some old pictures, I had my black black um 2012 Ultra and I had Textron uplift. Same thing. They now they would donate whatever a wrap was, you know. And they've done that every year. Just as if they believe in what we do.
SPEAKER_06And even after you retired, with Ronnie Oaks coming on, works there, and so they have been a huge supporter of ride.
SPEAKER_01They have joined the pride. They sure have.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. Look what you brought. So Macaulay's still here, right?
SPEAKER_01Macaulay's still here.
SPEAKER_05Macaulay employees, we appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01Yes. The reason it didn't go to Mexico is because Macaulay makes government uh stuff. They actually make this big blade. I it's not as big as an RV, but it's for the predator. That big old predator is as big as this garage for the military. So they couldn't off couldn't send to the to Mexico?
SPEAKER_03America.
SPEAKER_01So it's still here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's down there by Mediacom on Cargo Drive. And they're still down there. Some some of the people that uh I worked with are still there.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. We won't get into the original Thirsty Thursday group, but Don, Russ, appreciate you.
SPEAKER_04I got in on the tail end of that a little bit.
SPEAKER_06I just horned my way in. But uh so anyway, let's let's let's go back to um the the ride. So you've you've you've done it now, you did it in 11, 12, I met you in 13, so you so you're doing it. When did you have that aha moment that this isn't about me? Or did you?
SPEAKER_01I I'm gonna say I actually did. I actually did have that moment. You remember when uh back in 11 and 12 when we were riding for Children Miracle Network, we'd go to the uh Neoneda um unit, we'd go to pediatrics, you know. This is what we're about, guys. You know, we're doing this, we're buying purchasing things for uh for kids. On those first few trips on the 48 states during that time, there were hospitals that we visited on the way. I think, and I'm thinking it's the first year. And one of the places we stopped was Amar um Amarillo. Well, in Albuquerque, it was Amarillo. We stayed the night there, got up next morning and went there. Did our visit, and we go in, you know, wearing our hats and dusters, walking through the hospital, man. Everybody's what these guys, you know. And you go into a room to see the kids that are in there, and they've got, you know, whatever they were in there for. And what happened is they just I I think it was myself and Pat Carpenter, I think. And we were taken around the corner and down this hallway and over to a room, and I'm getting chicken skin. They uh walked in, and there's this eight-year-old boy, eight, nine, and I remember his name was Daniel, in there by himself. Cold room. God, it was cold, bald, and he had cancer. And uh it just hit you. That's what it's all about. You know, those kids don't don't deserve that. And uh that's what we ride for. And I know that was it. I can still remember his name. And uh a lot of those we went into the rooms, the uh sometimes the parents were there, but God's parents had to work. Couldn't be there all the time. And this little fellow's in there all by himself. He talked to us. He was pretty cool. But uh I know that was it. And I'm pretty sure it was 2011. Which would have been my first year.
SPEAKER_04And we were did you know that? That that was his aha moment? I did not know that that was his moment.
SPEAKER_06You know, we all have a different way, how we got in. Yeah. And we all, if we got it, so I I will say maybe not everybody has it. You have that aha moment. And and then you're hooked. Yes. Then then you realize what this is all about.
SPEAKER_01And uh, you know, um get too far in, but you know how we the years those first few years we would ride and do our TV stuff on the road and then get in at seven o'clock at night. And how can we do this? Why can't we get in earlier and get and stop and say, look, these kids don't have easy. They they, you know, and why should we why should we look like we're out having a great time when we do this? And I always understood why do I like getting in at seven o'clock? No. But uh um I always understood it from that point on.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so on your rookie ride, you're a rookie and and you ask for a deviation that year. What what was in your mind? What were you thinking?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I think back to that because I've been asked that a number of times, and I I can't can't find it other than and again the early rides. I didn't have GPS, I didn't have I didn't have CB on that that all I have is radio. So we're just following. And we knew we were going to 48 states. Well, that morning we get up. I think we stayed all night in Fort Smith that night. We're heading up the highway to Joplin, and I thought, dang. We're gonna go through Joplin, and then we're gonna, and then they I found out we were going to Baxter Springs and then stay all night in Oklahoma City. Well, I'm riding and I'm in the middle. I I hadn't graduated up to the front yet. So I'm riding in the middle and I'm thinking I wonder if I can wonder if it'd be all right if we went by Joplin, go by the school and uh so that's and I don't know what possessed. I just it had been a year, I think, since I had been to Joplin to see the sign from Oriol for Jonathan. And uh we got we were only two or three miles outside of town, five, six miles. There's a gas station outside. I remember it was on the left hand side. There were guys I can remember stuff that's weird. There were guys that bought bottles of uh that bug stuff, you know, you spray on your bike. That was never heard of it before. I I remember stopping at that station and I went up to Scott. Hey Scott, I said, You think we'd be able to stop off at uh college down here? And uh I don't remember if I even told him he's got a good he's got a story he remembers and I remember stuff and some of it. But uh just asked. And he said, Yeah, yeah, we can do that. I mean, we're on a mission, uh we ain't got time to be stopping off at at um you know the school.
SPEAKER_02We get down there and a couple miles out, and he waves me up.
SPEAKER_01He didn't wave me up, he waved, somebody else waved, somebody pointed at me and waved, and it just kind of came back. And uh so I took the lead and took us over to the school, over to the soccer field.
SPEAKER_06So that's another unfortunate parallel that you and I share, and that we both lost a child. So you are a rookie on this ride, and you go up and ask Scott for a deviation, and nobody knows why, and Scott says yes, because Scott doesn't say no. You just ask him, he'll say yes. And and so now you've got all these guys that you probably barely know, you don't know all of them, and you take them to this soccer field and they're following Scott dutifully, wondering why are we here, and then you have to tell that story. So, so so tell what that experience was like, and then just tell me about Jonathan.
SPEAKER_01Um so yeah, we pull up, and I don't remember asking for hats and dusters, but we did it. And what we did was we walked over to the field, and and that sign up there that's on our uh that I've got up there, it was that was dedicated or memorialized by the girls' soccer team the year right after he died, and they put that on the fence. And we had got to go see it a time or so, and that's what I wanted to go see. And yeah, I didn't know I was gonna have the kind of trouble I did to tell that story, but uh, I told it, and I told it like in chronological order that we got the phone call, and he's up there. Jonathan was at school there, um and it's his almost his last year. He was uh basically a senior and gonna be a fifth year for one more semester, but um I'll get back to that. It was about talking to the guys, first of all. So I had to tell the story about how we got the phone call and that Jonathan was playing basketball and had passed on the court and being rushed to the hospital and they never did, wasn't ever able to resuscitate him. And it happened to be a heart issue. Um so just talking about that and and telling the guys, and I know it surprised them, and then there wasn't a dry eye on the field. Um I I don't know. I just didn't plan on all that. It was just, hey guys, you know, my son played here, and actually had two sons play here, and this one this Jonathan had passed, and just thought you'd be cool to see it. Um but yeah, Jonathan Jonathan was uh the youngest of our um three kids and he passed in 2009, he was 22. Um, like I said, he was a soccer player. Um he was a good kid. Jonathan was a good kid. A couple of things that are unique about him was you know, when you have kids when they do things maybe get a bad grade or doing something, and so you're gonna straighten that up, or you're not gonna get to play soccer, or you're not gonna you have to go go to your room. You're gonna be taken from the TV and go to your room for a while. Well, Jonathan was one of those kids that no big deal to me. It was like it was hurting us more than him. So we had a hard time trying to find that that key for him that uh, hey, listen, you know, this is important, and if you don't, here's a consequence. So that's a funny story about him. Um he grew to be 6'5. Don't know where they got that height. Uh, I had a tall grandmother, she was probably 6'2. Probably from Jan. Yeah. Um, that's where you got there you go. Um, he took up being he wasn't really fast um as a runner, so he kind of took up goalkeeping. Um here's another story about him. He was on this team, like a com a competitive team when he was 11, 12. They had three Johns. So they had little John, middle John, and Big John. And so he was always Big John or BJ. Big John. Um, but he took up goalkeeping. And and and at those early ages like that, God hated to be scored on. He just thought he'd let the team down. Um, and y'all, you know, we watched the World Cup this, it's not always a goalie's fault, but I don't know how he ever got that changed in him. Uh, he became a very good goalie. As a matter of fact, in uh the fall of 2008 before he passed, their team wasn't very good. I don't know what their record was, but they lost more than they won. But he made all conference goalie. And you know, uh when you go look at all conferences and first teams and all this, they're usually on the winning team. Or you know, or second place team or something. He they were way down there, but I swear his team had a lot of shots against them. So I think what what happened was his goals against all the shots he had to face got him got him that he he was pretty good, and he was so tall and lanky and and uh it was fun.
SPEAKER_06So my first year was 2013 and we went. Of course, I didn't know anybody, I didn't know you, I didn't know your story, so that's the first time I've heard that. Kept all that to myself, my story to myself. Um and and just because of the ride of where we go, there's not a Columbus near Joplin, so maybe that year we didn't go. I don't I don't recall. We don't get to go to Joplin every month, but we do make it a point anywhere we're anytime we're close, we try to go to Joplin. And I think if we didn't have an aha moment, then watch it. But anyway, another thing I wore the shirt on purple. So years a couple years ago, donors would pay to sponsor the sleeve, and sometimes they're a bit of a memorial, and somebody did this and didn't tell you, they did not and then you saw the shirt and you knew exactly what it was.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm gonna be really honest with you. Um there were pictures, I didn't get to go to that meeting when we were having the the meeting for uh I think the next ride or it had to be for that. But somebody was wearing that shirt, and I don't remember if it was Karen or who it was, and I was in these pictures and I'm looking, well, what is all that? And I could not figure it, figured out what it was. So I write on there, I says, What's this, what's on that sleeve? And she goes, You don't know. I said, No, and then I think she took a close picture of it, and I and then I found out who did it, and uh wow.
SPEAKER_06Well that started a trend, so ever since then the sleeves now and I like that I contribute memorial still paid for, still paid for, still sponsored, but um yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04We sure did so Bear, you you really didn't realize when you asked for that deviation, um what would what would the dynamic how the dynamic would change in the group, you know, because like you taught said earlier, um you know, not a dry there, and and and I remember it vividly, you know, we were we were standing there, and you know, it's hard to to share something like that with people you know and to open your heart up because that's really what you did. I mean, you really did. But you know, with guys that you've really had on and on for a few days to do that, um uh I don't think you had no idea, and no one else had any idea of how that deviation created the brotherhood. And and I don't know when it happened or when the realization was there that that it did happen, and I I don't know who realized it first, but it just kind of I don't I don't know, it just it's just one of those moments that forever changed the ride in in all of our opinions. You know, and just uh you know, and I don't and by doing it I don't think you had any idea that that that's what would happen. You know, you just wanted to go by and and see Jonathan's memorial there. We were gonna go right by then a few minutes so well it turned into a a a great tradition, and any of the guys who've never been by there to to hear the story, and then just this past year we were uh fortunate enough to be joined with Jan, you know, and she came out there and and shared that moment with us, which really made it even more special um to have her there. It was incredible.
SPEAKER_06So let me ask you a question then. So you were there that first year, you were there when this all broke, and and when did it hit you? When did when did you think, oh wow? I mean, I'm sure you had all kinds of thoughts about Brad and Jan and the family and all that, but when did it hit you like, oh my God?
SPEAKER_04You know, I I don't think there's really a definitive answer to that. I mean, it's just you know, when did you fall in love with Linda? When did you, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_06I sorry.
SPEAKER_04Well, I mean, I get that, but I'm saying it it's it's it's it's it's hard to put that into a time frame because you I don't think consciously you really know. It's something it's something you feel in your heart, you know. I mean it's it really is. It's just it's you know the moment was special. Um and and you know, men, and and I don't know, this is kind of a tangent here, but sometimes we get the question, why why are women not allowed to go on the ride with you guys? It's kind of that situation right there. You know, men typically tend to hold stuff in, and and for a man to open his heart up and open open himself up in front of the guys and people he barely knows, to tell the story. And and I didn't realize at the time either that it was as recent as it was. I thought it had happened, you know, had been years had gone by. I didn't realize that it was as as fresh for you guys as it was, um, which uh, you know which makes telling that story even harder. Absolutely makes it even harder. Not that it it you know, you don't you don't it doesn't get easier to tell the story, you just learn how to tell it and and it's not as you still feel it, you know, because but it you know, I I don't know, you can't really I can't I can't put an exact moment on it when I realized it was a brotherhood. Um but I just know that it drew me close to Brad for him opening up and telling that story. And it you know, it it forever changed me because you know it's like people always say this, you never know. You never know when something's gonna happen, you know, you never know, you never know when your time's up. So, you know, live your life and enjoy every moment and and um just I I I don't know, I can't put a time on it. So, but I it just happened. It was just something that happened and it's it's here and it'll all it'll forever be here.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_06Well, when we get to talking about me, I'll tell you mine. It was my turn, but you were there that day, I was not there that day.
SPEAKER_01So you know uh unlike what you said is I'm not sure when it actually happened or happened, but I can tell you when it does happen, and it man, it's and I'm not gonna name any names, but I have we have riders in our group that go on trips, on their own trips. They will all of a sudden my phone will go off and there's a picture of the school because they're there, and and I just not gonna put the single amount, but they have gone out on vacation or whatever, and they send back a picture, and I went, wow. We went to Wichita. He said we went to some places. Another Jonathan story. Jonathan loved Taco Pronto, it's a it's a taco taco. It was taco pronto, and uh he loved that. He'd go there and he had his meal, and it was three tacos, a sancho, and a and a taco burger. I tried eating that once. So we're uh I digress. We went to Wichita to get the Goldwing. Ronnie says, Hey, could we go? Oh, I we in our conversation. I said, Yeah, every year, Jan Jan and I went everywhere in Wichita. We go by the Taco Prano to have a John meal, and then we go next door to the church that we used to go to, and they have a memorial garden, and that's where Jonathan's ashes are. We're driving in town and we're headed. I think we were doing some market, some Facebook marketplace. But he says, Hey, could we do this? And he wanted to go talk O Prano and have a meal and go over to the memorial garden. That's a moment.
SPEAKER_04That is the brother Yeah, and he yes, yes, I wanted to be to be respectful too, because I did not want to intrude on their um their normal thing that they like to do when they're there, you know. And I was like, hey, if it's okay with you know, if it's okay with you and Jan, I would I would be honored to go by there, not you know, to to to share the meal, to to go see where Jonathan, where he liked to eat and what he liked to eat, but also to see where he's where his memorial is and all there at the memorial garden there. And we did, and it was a big meal. We actually split it. Yes, we actually split it. I never had a Sancho, never had a Sancho before, but it was real good food. I know why he liked it for sure.
SPEAKER_01But I was honored to be able to share that moment. Yep, it surely does.
SPEAKER_04So I know this is gonna be hard because it would definitely be hard for me to narrow this down. And and if you can't do one, more than one is definitely allowed. Give me one of your most favorite memories from the ride. Could be a place, could be a meal. I know me and you we're foodies, so we we we share a lot of good meals.
SPEAKER_01And then you could sit here, we could sit here and just say, You remember this, remember that. Um and then you'll see something that makes me think. Yeah, well, I know this is simple and maybe not silly, but one that I remember, and I just loved it. We're coming home from Alaska and we're going through Montana, I think, and Sheriff said, or Wyoming. And Sheriff says, Hey, you know, we're really close to uh Custer's last stand at the the memo in the monument or the national park. Let's go there. And of course, I don't listen to the CB, I don't listen to the phone. We're headed to Rapid City, and we're turning left. Well, what are we doing now? You know, it's like and we go in there, and I thought, good God, what are we doing? And we find a place to park, and it's hot that day, I remember, and what I remember the most was I found a place to sit in the shade that was not from here to just the doorway over there where they had the bench set up that the ranger park ranger tells the story. And I'm sitting there looking out this way, he's over here talking, and he's and I found it on YouTube. It's a great story to listen to Park Ranger talk about last stand, and he talks about this the hills and what Custer decided to do, and that was such a great stop with an arrow in his hand, and he points to the biggest. The wind breeze was blowing, and it was a great story. So that's cool.
SPEAKER_06This year we rode right past it again, on on purpose, rode right past it. I'm pointing, I'm on the phone with Jason going right there. It was closed that day though. But we I was saying right there, right there.
SPEAKER_01That's a place I want to go back just because uh because I remember it and liked it. There were there's so many of them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_06So so kind of on on that note, what's one area or road or Or place, what if what that that you've just enjoyed, just thoroughly enjoyed riding.
SPEAKER_01I think that one's pretty easy because I think about it all the time. It is Highway 12 between Lewiston, Utah, and Missoula. Idaho. I said Utah. Lewiston, Clarkston, Idaho. A hundred miles of two-lane road follows this river. I think it's a Clearwater River, follows it. 100 miles with no stop. You don't have to stop as long as you got gas. And you go up through Lolo Pass. But nice easy sweeping curves through the mountains and the trees and that river. And that to me is the best ride, the best road. I mean, we did Pacific One, the highway, and that was cool. But when I think about that one, I that's the one I really like.
SPEAKER_06I agree. We're gonna ask all the guys that, but I bet you for the ones that have been there, that's what we're doing. I'd be interested, I'd be interested.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know you're in for a good ride when you see that sign and it said uh curve gives you the curvy road symbol and it says next 99 miles, and you're like, let's go. But then you got all the beauty around there, like you said, the river's running along the side there, and yeah, it's definitely my and the you you guys got to stop at Cusquia there at the and stay.
SPEAKER_01That would have been that would have been cool. Something like that.
unknownRight there on the pump.
SPEAKER_06No cell service. None, it's great. You're unplugged, you have no choice.
SPEAKER_04And gosh, it was absolutely stunning for sure. So Brian said um he's gonna ask all the guys this and all, and and and wonder about the rookies and and and what they think about the ride coming up. What what's some advice that you would give a a a first year rider as we like to call him a rookie?
SPEAKER_01Well, I guess I'm gonna say uh I'm gonna be old school. Um I think a rookie I would my advice to a rookie is just watch. You know, be part of the group, but don't jump in there with both feet, don't be try to be a leader. We all are A plus. Um, you know, but uh you just just watch. I I I can just I'm going by what I felt comfortable as a rookie. You know, I'm watching Scott. He puts his helmet on, I'm gonna have my helmet on, I'm gonna be ready. We need to tell that advice to some of the senior sub rookie guys. Uh I did, I watched that and uh just stayed in my lane, you know. And and the next year or two after that, well then you start opening up and and ask for some deviations or just do it, you know. So but uh that first year I think you just want to feel the group. Feel them out and read the room.
SPEAKER_06Yes. So Brad, thank you so much for for taking the time and telling your story. I know that's always not easy, but um just to bring us home, what are you doing now? What do you do for fun? What do you like to do?
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't know. We try to travel a little bit, um, going to soccer games, stuff like that. I gave up golf, don't know why, just lazy. Um I like to get up in the morning and have my coffee and fix a breakfast, and I'm on the laptop till noon. I guess that's what I like to do.
