Hello my name is LaVita Wells, I am Rider # 1144 and I have been selected for the 2024 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. First of all, I want to let you know I am a proud mom of two daughters, 6 grown grandchildren, and 3 great grandbabies.
Initially, I was a passenger in 2005 on a 2003 Dyna SS Glide and that is how I got introduced to the bike world. By the end of 2005 I began riding that Dyna Glide myself. I rode on my own 300+ a day for a four-day Dakota Run by June of 2006. In fact, I was the first woman on that run. Eventually I rode that bike all through the summer of 2006, just getting experience from Minnesota to Sturgis Rally, Black Hills and the surrounding areas, Pigs Tail, Custer State Park. In 2007, I bought a 2007 HD Road Glide and that Spring and early summer I rode in some Twin Cities Fundraising Runs, Toys for Tots, Diabetes, etc. We had planned to make a trip to Yellowstone National Park (YNP), so we had the Road Glide rigged with a trailer hitch. I rode the Rode Glide the boyfriend rode the 2003 Dyne. After the Sturgis 2007 rally we left for YNP with all our camping gear. First, we rode through the Big Horn Mountains, then on to Chief Joseph highway and then drove Beartooth Mountain and then arrived in YNP camping spot. This was an amazing time, we camped for two nights and during the day we rode the park and then drove out of North gate to Red Lodge, Montana. There was four of us, and that was my first long trip riding my own bike and so we rode all the back through Montana and North Dakota, Minnesota.
In June 2008, we planned another camping trip this time to Laconia, NH and but this time only three of went on that trip, but I rode my bike all the way there, beautiful ride across New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. We arrived there and planned some rides with these other biker friends who had trailered there. It rained most days but we had a few days to ride. We rode to the Atlantic, then another day we rode up to the top of Mt. Washington one and unbeknownst to me it was partially graveled. I survived.
In 2009 I became a full-time grandma, and my riding was limited, but in 2010, I managed to get a sitter for my granddaughter who was eight for a trip to the Redwood Trees. So, I left on a Monday July 19th to Crow Creek, South Dakota to meet with friends and we took off the next day on a Tuesday. We had to get to Reno, Nevada by Thursday the 22nd, so our first night was in Rawlings, Wyoming and second night was in Salt Lake City, Utah. We hauled butt to get there because some biker’s wife and a sister were flying into Reno. We left from there to the Redwoods and afterwards to San Francisco and then all the down on Coastal Hwy 1 and across to Bakersfield, to Barstow, California (desert hot) then on to Laughlin, Nevada to Grand Canyon, Monunment Valley, to Million Dollar Highway, and made our way back to South Dakota and all this in 15 days. In 2011, I purchased my ‘07 HD Road King and I did the Sturgis, Dakota Run, Wounded Knee Memorial Run, maybe intermittently, to get some riding in.
In 2019, my granddaughter graduated, she left home and I was on my own. So, I decided to do a solo ride to Oregon July 31st. I have to miss Sturgis that year, but this was wonderful trip, however, not my solo ride really, I took my boy Cash (my Yorkie), he was four years old at the time. I’m really going to miss him when I leave on the HHMC ride.
In 2020, I still did the Dakota Run, the 300+ a day ride in four days. I didn’t do Sturgis that year. Again because of Covid, I just rode locally. I had met Henrietta Nelson on the Wounded Knee Run one of them years and I knew Detta and her husband at the time on the Dakota Runs. After a while I didn’t see Detta for a few years, but I have been riding with Henrietta since 2017, Henrietta and I have ridden in some storms. First, we rode to Globe, Arizona and on the way went ran into a storm, not realizing at the time, we were in the tip of that Hurricane Sergio, October 2018, then on the way back we thought we go back to Oklahoma through Flagstaff and ran into snow, and 40 degree weather. In 2022, we decided to ride to the All-Female Ride in Jacksonville, Florida and after that weekend we rode down to Key West, Florida, we were riding in rain to Florida City, so we stayed overnight there. The next day we took off and as were approaching the 7-mile Bridge we rod into more rain and hurricane type wind. HAHA, we were riding sideways across that bridge! Actually, on we had a few good sunny days but
Most of it was rain from the time we arrived in New Orleans, until the 7 mile bridge. We were in Key West one day and rode back to Port St. Lucie, Florida and stayed the night there. The next day we headed out to our destination to Cherokee, North Carolina. We made it there by 9pm that evening, I think it was about 1000 miles in a day, give or take a few miles. We stayed one night in Cherokee, NC and next day we rode the Dragon and into Knoxville, Tennessee and we rode into rain again. To make this short, we rode in rain all the way back to Oklahoma City.
Also, for the last three years I’ve been riding to my neighboring state of Wisconsin with the Wisconsin Indigenous Riders for their Opioid Awareness/MMIW Ride. We rode and made at all these stops from Black River Falls to Red Cliff, Wisconsin. At the end of our Run in June 2022, we decided to ride up to Upper Michigan Peninsula, Copper Harbor, another windy ride and on gravel road at the end.
Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about HHMC in the spring of 2022. I had a desire when Henrietta and Detta did the 2018 HHMC, but I couldn’t go at that time. By the end of 2022, I started asking Henrietta about it, the more I asked, the more I wanted to do it. I love to ride, now days I’m home a lot by myself, my girls and grandchildren are all living their lives. So I decided… I’m going to do it. I want to ride the winding roads, see the land, the new land in Alaska, but do it for a purpose…take Calais and Renee’ spirits with me on this ride. They were supposed to live! Never give up! So, in that aspect I decided to raise funds for American Indian Family Center (AIFC) in St. Paul, Minnesota, so they can help individuals with mental health issues.
I know HHMC will be brutal, but I am determined, and I will get rest when I’m tired, drink lots of water and I’m going to take it nice and easy.
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