Meet The New Rider # 1139 Frank Orlando

My name is Frank Orlando. I am 59 years old and live in Yakima, Washington with my wife
Martha and three sons. I rode motorcycles in my teens and then again when I was in my
twenties but then with family obligations, the motorcycling just kind of took a place on the back
burner of my life for about 24 years when in 2017 I decided that I wanted to start riding again.

My brother was the Managing Partner at Smokin’ Harley-Davidson in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. The day I was going to buy my plane ticket to fly there and choose a bike from his
store, the transmission went out in my car so I had to use my motorcycle money to buy a new
one. Three months later my two brothers had pity on me and pitched in together to get me a
2009 Harley Sportster 883 that was shipped to me from Smokin’.

 

 

 In March of 2018 I bought a 2012 Road King. A month later I made my first “long distance” trip from Yakima to Street Vibrations in Reno, Nevada. It was only a little over 800 miles each way. I handled it well enough that when a buddy of mine said that he was going to Sturgis and that I should meet him
there, I started to consider the Iron Butt idea. I only had 1 spare day of vacation so I decided to
do a SS 1000 from Yakima to Gillette, WY on a Friday. I met my friend in Sturgis on Saturday and
rode all over with him and then went back to my hotel in Gillette Saturday night and returned
home on Sunday. All-in-all I was gone 67 hours and I rode 2600 miles and earned my first Iron
Butt Certificate. My love for LD riding began.

Over the next few years I followed people like Ken Andrews, Chris Hopper and Riot Wyatt on
social media and read how they talked about the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. I was impressed by the sense of family that seemed to be prevalent between participants of the Challenge. I could tell there was
a deep camaraderie there. The concept of man and machine versus the elements and 10,000
miles of open road really appeals to me. At first, I thought it was a crazy idea that I could
participate as well. It became a real idea for me in January this year when I met a guy at a
Harley Owner’s Group Officer Training in Portland, Oregon named Greg Laird. Greg rode in 2010
and 2011. My biggest obstacle, I thought, was the financial commitment that would be required
to make this possible. I asked Greg how he dealt with that. He told me that he was able to
secure corporate sponsorship from his employer, as well as others. I also spoke to other past
riders that gave me other encouraging suggestions. So, the week after that Harley training, I
spoke to my employers. After explaining the Challenge as best as I could, they were very
supportive and told me that they would pay my entrance fee and give me all the time off that I
would need to complete the Challenge. I have since secured some other funding and in-kind
donations such as KLIM gear and Denali lights from remarkable sponsors!

The non-profit I have chosen is Mile Monsters Inc. I joined MM in the summer of 2022when I
did Monsters over Mountains with 8 other guys. We rode a little over 1500 miles in 36 hours
and traversed 9 Cascade Mountain passes. We even slept for a couple of hours, Hoka Hey style,
next to our bikes in a parking lot in Arlington, OR. We raised around $7500 for the organization
during that event. Mile Monsters uses the funds to help kids with Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy “live their best life”. Riot has started something truly great, in my opinion. I have
done many rides for Mile Monsters now. One that changed my life was to Turbo’s home town,
Irvine, CA. I got to meet and hang out with him and his family and arrange something truly
special for him that really made a difference in his life. It was actually the most worthwhile
thing I have done in an awfully long time. We try to help the kids live their best lives.
Sometimes that means doing something big but other times it can be as small as buying them
battery powered heated socks because their feet are cold all the time.
They have become part of my family. That is why I will continue to ride for Mile Monsters. It is
almost as much for me as it is for the heroes we help.
Frank Orlando Rider #1139
Mega Monster #51