We play host for Motorcycle Travel Network member travelers

It was with eager anticipation that my wife, Judy, and I awaited the arrival of our first overnight guest through the Motorcycle Travel Network (MTN). Chuck was coming from the Chicago area, on his way to Taos to attend a big annual get-together of the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association (MSTA). As a writer and the editor of the MSTA's member magazine, Chuck and I had even more in common than a love of motorcycles.

Let me recap briefly here. The MTN is an organization for traveling motorcyclists to arrange to stay with other motorcyclists in their homes while on their journeys. I joined and had my first experience as a guest while on my way to the Laughlin River Run in April. The other side to membership is playing the host for riders coming to your locale. Now it was June and our first guest was coming.

I had spoken on the phone with Chuck and we had exchanged a good many emails, so we were both feeling pretty well acquainted when he rolled up. There's no set practice in the MTN for dinner but we figured that of course we would invite Chuck to dine with us.

Over dinner we talked motorcycles as well as moto-journalism, with Chuck inquiring about the outfits I write for and me picking his brain on making contacts within the industry. Judy is a big-time people person so she was interested in this guy who was following some of the same paths as her husband and the different directions in which he had gone. Chuck was very nice, a perfect guest, and, with a long way to go the next day, slipped off in the morning without disturbing us and was gone before we got up.

Daily doubles

In August Ken and Janet, from Lethbridge, Alberta, contacted us. Could we put them up for two nights? Sure, you bet. Then Joe from Kansas City emailed. Could we accommodate him for two nights? One of his two nights overlapped with Ken and Janet. Not a problem for us, we've got room; the more the merrier.

And "merry" was certainly the operative word. Ken and Janet are a jovial couple and on the first night the four of us had a rollicking good time. We're all a bunch of cooks so we had a really good dinner and sat around the table for a couple more hours making sure none of the wine went to waste.

The next day they headed down to Colorado Springs to see a few sights they had in mind, plus a few we introduced them to. Meanwhile, Joe arrived and got settled in. When Ken and Janet got back the party really got started. Suffice it to say that nobody got to bed early that night. By the time Ken and Janet were heading out the next morning we were all old friends and they were promising to take us on some great rides if we come to Lethbridge. Judy, for one, was adamant that we will take them up on the offer.

Things were a bit more sedate that night with only Joe here, but he was no less an interesting person than the others. Among the various things he has done professionally, Joe was for a time an opera singer. He was out here on business and likes to mix his business with pleasure. That was why he came on his bike.

Joe joined the MTN when he was planning a trip but didn't tell his wife, Susan, anything about it until he received his first request to host someone.

"I figured at that point I'd better tell her."

He was a little apprehensive before their guest arrived but as it turned out, he was an oriental fellow who was very much into tai chi. Susan is very much into Zen and the two of them "couldn't have been a better match."

A 'no' and a 'yes'

Not much later we regretfully had to say no to Charlie who was coming to town for the Iron Butt Association's conference here, as we were going to be in Yellowstone on those dates. Then after we were back the phone rang and it was Faisal, who was hoping we could put him up that night on short notice. Not a problem.

Faisal was in the early stages of an extended trip that resulted in part from his sale of his restaurant. He had just discovered and joined the MTN the day before, and looking at how far he might get the next day and who might be there, he found us. As usual, we invited him for dinner, but I had just cooked up a pot of green chile and we were having burritos. With a name like Faisal I wondered if he might be Muslim and not eat pork.

"No. Christian. I eat anything!" he laughed.

After another evening of thoroughly enjoyable conversation, we all sacked out and Faisal, too, slipped out early in the morning without disturbing us. No one else has contacted us since then, but we never know what tomorrow will bring.

Thoughts on hosting

We didn't have the same apprehension about hosting that I had had when I was a guest for the first time. As I noted, that may have had to do with the extensive contact I had with Chuck before he ever got here. It was interesting talking with Ken and Janet, though, about their thoughts before they arrived, as this was their first time as guests. They were apprehensive and stopped to discuss it before they got here. They agreed to do what they always do in an uncomfortable situation.

Janet: “Ken talks for both of us."

Ken: “When I get nervous I talk.”

And about two minutes after they arrived, Ken was telling me that he was no longer talking a lot because he was nervous, but because he felt right at home. We felt right at home with them, too.

Security might be an issue for some potential hosts, and Ken and Janet had had that discussion. When they had hosted another couple Ken had told Janet they were going to need to give them a key. Janet was very uncertain.

"I don't know these people. I don't want them to have a key to our house."

But after 10 minutes with them she was perfectly fine with the idea.

"Until you actually sit down and talk with them you don't know. But by then I knew."

Joe had been on the other end of that kind of arrangement.

"One place I stayed my host had to leave and he told me to just lock up when I left."

For Judy and me the whole thing has been a delight. Every one of the folks who have stayed with us has been not only pleasant but downright interesting and fun to get to know. We've never had to search for things to talk about, and it's certainly not all just motorcycles.

We don't know if we'll have any more guests this year or whether it will be next year before the next ones show up, but we're ready. This is fun.

Related articles:
A more personal approach to motorcycle touring via the Motorcycle Travel Network
My first guest stay as a Motorcycle Travel Network member
We play host for Motorcycle Travel Network member travelers