Kenosha News

The freedom of the road

Motorcycle campers have it all

BY JON OLSON

jolson@kenoshanews.com

Talk to a committed motorcyclist and he or she will tell you they ride because they love the feeling of freedom. Talk to a camper, and they might tell you they camp for the same reason. Talk to a motorcyclist who camps, and, well, freedom abounds.

“Pretty much, you come and go, you do what you want,” said Tim Lynn, of Elkhorn.

But Lynn and other motorcycle campers know that freedom without comfort is hardly freedom at all. Lynn said, for example, he and his wife used to bring a tent.

“We were getting to where tenting was a little, well . . . ,” he said, hardly needing to finish the thought. At 54 years old, you want some of the comforts.

Lynn solved this dilemma with a trailer, and now he and wife Debbie pull their Kwik Kamp behind them and sleep in a queen-sized bed.

“It gets you up off the ground,” he said, noting that he bought the camper used about seven years ago. He and Debbie take it on at least four trips a year, hauling it behind their Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad. In addition to the queen-sized bed, the Kwik Kamp has plenty of storage space.

Without the camper, the Nomad gets about 40 miles per gallon. With it, mileage goes down to between 35 and 37 mpg. But it’s still better than finding and paying for stays at motels.

“We can set this up just about anywhere,” Tim Lynn said.

Motorcyclist Russell Bethe, of Oak Creek, is nearly scornful of “motelling it.”

“It can be tough to find motel rooms,” he said, and “the campers are really nice.”

Comforts of home ... away from home

It allows you to choose your environment, rather than limiting yourself to buildings on asphalt, and, Bethe said, “a lot of campgrounds will let us set up two or three campers on one site.”

Returning this summer from a 10-day, 2,900-mile excursion, he and his buddies like to pick a spot, set up camp and use it as a hub for day trips for three or four days at a time.

Bethe, who works in quality control, has a Bunkhouse trailer, made by B&F Specialties in Elk Grove Village, Ill. They come with queen- or king-sized foam mattresses, a stand-up changing area, and a slew of options, including an add-on screen porch big enough to store your bike or pull in a picnic table for meals.

“We’ve been building the product since 1975,” said owner Ken Zeuschner. He sells about 300 a year, all made by him and a handful of employees. He even sells a few to owners of small cars, but “they’re built for motorcycles,” he said.

It’s a growing field, he said.

“There are bikers who stay in motels, but more and more they’re camping, because it brings people together,” he said.

A regular Bunkhouse trailer costs about $3,795. It weighs in at roughly 340 pounds, making it heavier than a number of brands, but it’s no strain on a big bike.

“If you got a Honda, you get a bigger motor on the motorcycle than you do on a car,” said Zeuschner.

It doesn’t slow you down, Bethe said, but “you notice it’s there — you need to notice it’s there,” because it affects your turning radius.

Weighing the pros and cons

Bob Evens, a road captain with the Kenosha chapter of the Harley Owners Group — H.O.G. — used to camp from time to time, but now prefers indoor accommodations.

“Hotels kind of give you a break,” said Evens, who is 69. The H.O.G. group is aging, he said, and they appreciate a big bed on a solid floor.

“Most of the people in the H.O.G. group are not young people anymore ... and sleeping on the ground anymore — I don’t think I could do it,” he said.

Mike Bezotte, 66, takes a couple trips a year with 10 or 12 friends to a campground near Dodgville. They set up camp and ride the hills of western Wisconsin. In the evenings, “we all sit around and tell lies,” he said with a laugh.

He pulls a cargo trailer that carries a freestanding tent, a cot, and everything he needs. “We go for three or four days, as long as the wife will let us,” said Bezotte, of Kenosha.

Sometimes he rides with his wife, Kathy. “We’ve been ocean to ocean and border to border,” he said. But when she’s along, they stay in motels.

Wendy Lasko, a Lake Geneva biker and Realtor, mostly stays in motels, but she has liked the camping she’s done, especially for the self-sufficiency. It was neat, she said, to have everything she would need for a few days along with her. But then that is balanced by hauling more gear.

“For me, it’s just a matter of, I don’t want to carry all that stuff,” she said.

Pulling a trailer puts more rubber on the road, and so does riding a trike, some of which are nearly car-sized and have huge built-in storage compartments, making a trailer — a camper, or just one for cargo — unnecessary.

Erv Titzkowski, of Racine, has graduated from a scooter as a youth, to a two-wheel Honda Goldwing, to, nine years ago, a big trike, a safer vehicle. “You don’t lean on a trike,” he said. A recent ride took him to Colorado, New Mexico and Utah — 4,000 miles in 13 days. Titzkowski, a model-maker for personal care products, motels it, he said.

Bethe, the camping purist, has had his trailer for 15 years and even had it refloored. He’s about due for new one, he said, not least because “the new ones are air-conditioned.”

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