< Previous20 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018Features‘YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING’Debbi Loya’s husband, Joe, bought her motorcycle for her, although he doesn’t ride. Loya, 60, has 11 grandchildren and got a chrome Honda Silver Wing “Angel” four years ago. She makes almost weekly trips from Houston to Galveston to see friends, she said.But high on her list is safety, she said. Loya wears a neon mohawk helmet because she wants passing cars to see her, she said.“It’s all about visibility,” she said, adding she has blue LED lights on the bike to draw more attention.Her colleagues at the University of Hous-ton, where she has worked for 28 years, call her the “Crazy Mom,” and she decided wearing a dress to work when she rode the motorcycle wasn’t a good idea.“No matter how much you sit on the skirt, it will fly up,” she said. “It is best to wear jeans and boots, which gives me a better grip on the ground when I stop.”The view from a motorcycle is so different than from inside a car,” she said.“When you are in a car, you focus on the road,” Loya said. “But on a bike, you can see everything. It is peaceful and freedom and I absolutely love to ride.”‘MY MIDLIFE CRISIS’After raising her children, Galveston dentist Michelle Pinder, 47, was looking for a hobby, she said.“My kids were grown, and I didn’t have much to do,” she said. “It’s my midlife crisis.”She and her aunt and cousins decided to take a motorcycle class, she said.Pinder, who two years ago moved to Gal-veston from the Bahamas, liked the class so much, she soon bought a Kawasaki 500.Now, she and family and friends spend a lot of time together on motorcycles, she said. She’s taken short trips — from Galveston to Houston — but plans to take longer ones when she builds up the nerve, she said.One trip she has in mind is Sturgis, South Dakota, home to a massive motorcycle rally, which is typically in August.And Pinder is looking forward to Lone Star Rally, which is Nov. 1-4 in Galveston, she said.“Of course, I’m not missing that,” she said. Galveston dentist Michelle Pinder was looking for a hobby and fell in love with riding motorcycles. She en-joys taking short trips from Galveston to Houston but wants to take longer trips after more experience.Photo by Kelsey WallingPointe West4127 King Rail CircleCarolyn Gaido | 713.851.3377Barton Square29 Clara Barton LaneAndrea Sunseri | 409.370.0088Dickinson Townhome2121 Casa Rio Circle, #B-13Michael Gaido | 409.457.4900Pirates Cove Townhome35 Dana DriveBecky McClain | 832.455.9454Barton Square11 Clara Barton LaneDakota Garcia | 832.876.9505Freeport 13230 Gulf Beach DriveCourtney Sapio | 409.599.7030Palm Beach4220 Las Palmas Street Cy Eilers | 409.789.2334Jamaica Bay Estates 16606 Bayfront DrivePeter Van Borssum | 409.771.0946SPECIALIZING LOCALLY SINCE 1974sandnsea.com | 409.797.5500Alison Christensen409.539.1794Kimberly Gaido713.498.2020Pamela Gabriel409.789.4990Patti Zajack409.789.3199Jana Turner713.819.9233Carol & Wendell Odorizzi 713.882.3934Amanda Ross 832.385.0431Barbara Zimmerman 409.599.4344Bay Harbor3915 1st StreetCourtney Sapio | 409.599.7030SOLD!Contact me with all your Real Estate needs.Jim RosenfeldBROKER ASSOCIATECircle of Excellence Award WinnerHall of Fame MemberTexas Monthly Magazine Five Star Realtor 2012-2018Trulia and Zillow Five Star RatingCertified SIRVA Relocation Specialist713.854.1303Jim.Rosenfeld@Sothebyshomes.com“My exceptional Galveston team is marketing premier properties from the beaches to the bay — from historic treasures to high-rise condos!”WE ARE YOUR REALTOR®!PIRATES BEACH | 13931 Pirates Beach Blvd.3 BEDROOMS | 2 BATH | ±1,717 SQ. 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FT.Offered at $624,800 MLS 53191882Proudly marketingfor over 10 years!REDUCED!REDUCED!SOLD!SOLD!SOLD!103 AVE C & 1ST STREET, SAN LEON, TX 77539OysterHarvestingDon’t forgetyours forthe dressing!SUNSET COVE20715 E SUNSET BAY | $1,299,900SUE JOHNSON | 409.682.9050TIKI ISLAND930 LONG REACH | $799,000SUE JOHNSON | 409.682.9050DIAMOND BEACH CONDOS 10327 SAN LUIS PASS | $389K - $625KMARTIE TERRY | 713.504.4202EMERALD BY THE SEA CONDO 500 SEAWALL BLVD #602 | $279,000FRANK PETRONELLA | 409.771.2435GALVESTON BAY CLUBROAD LESS TRAVELED | $425K (LOTS)/$795K (HOMES)VALERIE GIL | 713.373.7800LAFFITES COVE3416 BINNACLE | $325,000CIELO SALAS | 409.370.8900ISLA DEL SOL22614 BAY POINTE DR. | $535,000HOLLY WADE | 409.996.9126PIRATES BEACH13949 PIRATES BEACH | $334,900LINDA SIVY | 409.599.5847heritagetexas.comGALVESTON OFFICE13655 FM 3005 Galveston, Texas 77554 409.737.4000ON THE BEACH | SEA ISLEHERITAGECVR.COM | 844.777.3529RESERVE NOW26 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018FeaturesForever youngSan Leon biker gets his adrenaline rush on long road trips and hairpin turnsStory by Sue Mayfield Geiger Photo by Stuart VillanuevaSan Leon resident Jim Kramer got the itch to buy a motorcycle when he got out of the Navy in 1968.“The bug just bit me and I had a chance to pick up a used Honda 305,” Kramer said. “It was cheap transportation and everything just mushroomed from there.”Since then, Kramer has owned two Suzuki motorcycles — a 550 and 750 — and all the rest have been Hondas.“I was never into owning a Harley-Davidson,” Kramer said. “I saw a T-shirt once that said, ‘I ride too far, too fast and too hard to own a Harley.’”After owning a half dozen used Hondas over the years, he decided to buy one brand new, which is the one he rides now — a 2007 Honda Gold Wing GL1800, dark metallic orange. He has put about 140,000 miles on it and still is racking them up. Although the speedometer goes up to 150 mph, he got it up to 130 mph once, and will sometimes go 100 mph on back roads, he said.“It’s an adrenalin rush,” he said.When not taking a daily ride in and around Galveston County, Kramer and his wife, Jean, who are both retired, like to load the Gold Wing onto the toy hauler of their RV and take off traveling, he said. Although Jean doesn’t ride solo, she does hop on the back of the bike with Kramer during the long hauls. On short trips and those lasting up to three months, they’re in their element. In the past seven years, they’ve made about 15 trips, have seen most COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 27As for that adrenaline rush, Kramer had no problem finding it on the North Carolina-Tennes-see state line.“There’s a place called Tail of the Dragon, where there are 318 hairpin turns for 11 miles, and it’s pretty exciting to ride, but can also be rough on your bike,” Kramer said. “There’s an area called Tree of Shame, a makeshift shrine to those bitten by the Dragon — fenders, wheels, tires, handlebars. Inside a nearby restaurant is a Wall of Shame with photos of guys all bandaged up, but bikers come from all over to ride the Dragon.”There are many roller coaster roads that attract bikers, Kramer said.“That’s what you live for on a motorcycle,” he said.Although Kramer isn’t keen on motorcycle rallies, he does occasionally ride with a local group called Mid Life Cycles. Kramer, 72, has no intention of hanging up his helmet.“Riding a bike keeps me young,” Kramer said. “Other-wise, I’d just be sitting around the house munching potato chips.” BIKER BESTSBest place to have pie: Loveless Cafe, Nashville, TennesseeBest barbecue sand-wich: Jones bar-b-Q Diner, marianna, ArkansasBest scenery: Lake Cath-erine, Arkansas; Land be-tween the Lakes, in western Tennessee and Kentucky; Upstate New YorkBest hairpin turns: Tail of the Dragon, North Car-olina-Tennessee state line.of the eastern half of the United States and will be edging their way out West next year, Kramer said.Some of the highlights from a recent two-month jaunt in-cluded the scenic highways of Arkansas, the lakes of Tennes-see, the byways of Kentucky and the Amish country in Ohio and Pennsylvania; then onto New York to visit relatives.28 COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018Features‘And off we go’Texas City couple enjoys hitting the wide-open roadsStory by Sue Mayfield Geiger Photo by Jennifer ReynoldsA.J. and Lynn Amato graduated from Texas City High School at the same time, but it wasn’t until their 15-year class reunion that they became more than friends and eventually married.Now, the Texas City residents, with chil-dren and grandchildren living nearby, share more than just high school memories.“We started riding our motorcycles togeth-er in 2002 when I got my first Gold Wing,” A.J. Amato said. “I’d been riding for quite a while and previously owned a Honda 175 and a Yamaha 500. I got Lynn interested in riding with me, so I got her a 1993 Honda Helix. Today, she rides a Helix CN250 that she uses around town, but for long highway trips, she hops on the back of my current Gold Wing GL1800 that I bought in 2014.”The Amatos have taken nearly a dozen one-week runs over the years and have vis-ited 18 states, making it a point to attend the yearly Gold Wing rally whenever possible. As members of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, they have monthly meetings, and also meet weekly for breakfast at Kel-ley’s Country Cookin’ in League City.Their biggest adventure thus far was the six-week, round-trip marathon on the Gold Wing to Nova Scotia and surrounding Mari-time provinces two years ago.“We went with another couple, riding about 300 miles a day so we could stop and sightsee along the way,” said Lynn Amato, who managed to pack everything they’d need into the motorcycle’s side trunk. “We spent the nights in motels where there is always a laundry, so you don’t need as many COASTMONTHLY.COM / November 2018 29clothes as you might think.”After staying in Maine for a week, the Ama-tos took a ferry from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia and marveled at the scenery, they said.“We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast and took a sightseeing boat ride one morning and saw huge icebergs that were right up next to us — you could even see them cracking,” Lynn Amato said.Although the couple they were traveling with did most of the organizing and map-ping, the Amatos added their itineraries along the way, they said.“It was more of a freelance trip,” A.J. Amato said. “We were just sort of freelancing along the way.”They racked up about 8,500 miles on the Nova Scotia trip, but their yearly mileage for the Gold Wing is between 1,500 and 5,000 miles, they said.They’ve traveled throughout the Midwest and most eastern U.S. states and have gone as far west as Colorado Springs, Colorado. One particular highlight is the Cherohala Skyway in southeast Tennessee and south-west North Carolina.“It’s a beautiful 40-mile ride with eleva-tions ranging from 900 feet to 5,400 feet above sea level,” A.J. Amato said.But close to home, they’ve enjoyed some pretty darn good motorcycle rides, they said.“We watch the calendar and do a full moon ride with the Gold Wing club each month,” Lynn Amato said. “We pick a spot and meet up with riders, and off we go. The Bluewater Highway between Galveston and Surfside is a beautiful route to see the full moon, but going across the Bolivar ferry is just as magical.” A.J. Amato and his wife, Lynn, have traveled through-out the United States and even to Nova Scotia on their Honda Gold Wing.BIKER BESTSBest lobster roll: Sunday river brewing Company, bethel, maine.Best charity ride: Nun run in Houston for the Christus Foundation, which raises money for foster children.Best places yet to see: New mexico, Arizona and the Pacific Highway along the California coast.Best runabout bike: The Helix with Lynn driving and A.J. on the back. Next >