From:Gene Harper e-mail:gharperxman@gmail.com
Subject:The 2022 Lindbergh Ride Date:Wed Aug 3 22:11:16 2022
Not Henderson related, but perhaps you may be interested:

The 2022 Lindbergh Ride

On June 19, 1921 an unknown 18-year-old farm kid from Minnesota departed Madison Wisconsin for the first leg of a 3000-mile, 7-week long motorcycle trip. He was riding a 1920 Excelsior “Series 20 R” motorcycle. He had just completed his first year of college at the University of Wisconsin studying mechanical engineering. That young man was Charles A. Lindbergh who in 1927 would become famous for successfully making the first solo, nonstop flight from New York to Paris.
The next day in Chicago Lindbergh met up with 2 college buddies from Wisconsin named O’Connor and Drewery who would accompany him, driving a model T Ford speedster. From there they traveled to Camp Knox Kentucky for 6 weeks of Army ROTC training in a field artillery unit. While stationed there, they made numerous side trips in the area exploring various caves and other interesting sites. After completion of their military training the three men continued traveling south through Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Lindbergh later wrote, “After missing connections with my father in Jacksonville FL I returned home to Little Falls MN via a more westerly route”. This return trip took them through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Lindbergh went on to write “I arrived in Little Falls on August 6, 1921 with a motorcycle badly in need of an overhaul.” Excluding the many short side trips made during his stay at Camp Knox, this trip was completed in just 19 days of actual riding, an amazing accomplishment considering the poor condition of most of the roads in those days. There were of course a few delays along the way due to various mechanical issues, numerous flat tires, detours and lots of mud!


In September of 2022, 4 members of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America will be retracing Lindbergh’s historic 1921 motorcycle trip. All four riders will be riding 1920-24 Excelsior Series 20 S motorcycles, virtually the same model motorcycle that Lindbergh was riding, the only difference being that Lindbergh did not have lights or electric horn. These motorcycles have been painstakingly restored to be as period correct as possible. Some modifications have been made for reliability and safety reasons, while still maintaining the look and feel of the original motorcycles. The original plan was to complete this ride in 2021, marking the 100th anniversary of Lindbergh’s ride. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to COVID restrictions and numerous delays in the restoration process of all four machines.
These four intrepid souls are all long-time members of the AMCA and hail from different parts of the world. The four riders have become well acquainted due to the common desire to complete their restorations and share this historic ride together. They have been working together for a few years now on their restorations and are all very close to being finished. There has been a friendly competition to see who can get their bike running and sorted out first. One very helpful tool was the use of the WhatsApp program. A private group was created on WhatsApp and has allowed them to share unlimited restoration details with text, pictures, videos and drawings as well as easily call and talk in person, all for free!
Alex Bernhardt from Chicago, Illinois will be riding a 1920 Excelsior. Stewart Maclellan from Belleville Ontario, Canada will be riding his grandfather’s 1921 Excelsior. Hans Coertse from Pietermaritzburg So Africa will be riding a 1923 Excelsior. Gene Harper, from Denver Colorado will be riding a 1924 Excelsior and is the organizer of this ride, sometimes being referred to as the instigator by other members of the group. In addition, Bill Maron from Evergreen Colorado will be our support crew, driving the truck and trailer with all our gear, parts and tools and bringing up the rear for us. John Olsen from Madison WI will be along to photograph our journey.

The four riders will come together in late August, meeting up in Chicago to load and organize our gear and finalize plans for the trip. From there we trailer to Iowa and make a quick stop at the Davenport swap meet, then on to Madison WI on Friday Sept 2 to pick up our support driver.
The official start of the ride will be Saturday morning, September 3rd 2022 in Madison WI in front of the Engineering Building at the University of Wisconsin. From there we will retrace Lindbergh’s original trip as best we can. Many of the small towns Lindbergh rode through are now major cities and many of the dirt roads he rode on are now major interstate highways, all being laden with heavy traffic. Because of this, the group will bypass many of these obstacles and attempt to stay on 2 lane back roads as much as possible but still follow the general route. In addition, a few detours will be made along the way in order to take in a few large antique motorcycle museums and some of Americas best motorcycling roads along the way. The official end point will be The Charles A Lindbergh Home and Museum in Little Falls MN, arriving mid-day on Saturday September 24th, 2022. Our route will cover approximately 3400 miles and involve 19 days of riding, including retracing most of the side trips he made while at Camp Knox KY.
You may follow our progress on the Antique Motorcycle Club of America Forum by clicking on the link or the QR code below. We plan to post trip updates and pictures from the ride as time allows. We will also share more details from time to time about Lindbergh’s original ride as well as the riders and their machines.
2022 Lindbergh Ride

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