Hi everyone, my name is Scott Brown and I feel honored to have been selected to ride one of the most grueling motorcycle challenges on the planet. To tell you a little bit about myself I have been riding motorcycles since I was a small child. I took my first ride when i was around 8 or 9 years old. Every day after school I would go to my Aunt and Uncles to wait till my dad or mom picked me up. My Aunt and Uncle had a mini-bike that their sons had outgrown. Not sure what the cc was, but my Aunt and Uncle told me if I could start it I could ride it. As soon a I heard that I spent the next few visits kicking that baby over and over till it started. Every afternoon you could find me on that bike wearing a runt in the yard. I think I road 10K miles in a circle those first few years.
After that first experience on a motorcycle I was off and on again with different bikes while growing up in Louisiana. My first job out of college allowed me to enjoy riding again as I was a field entomologist for the TX Prison system and I was able to ride a dirt bike all over TX on each of the prisons checking all the crops for insects and diseases. After leaving the TX prison system I had about a 15 year dry spell with no motorcycles in my life, but around 2009 I went through a divorce that allowed me to return to my first love. On the day I signed my divorce papers I immediately headed to the closest Harley Davidson dealership and bought a 2002 Road King and hit the road. During this time I was working in Iraq as a contractor for the US Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
While working overseas I spent a great deal of time on the internet and ran across the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. From the first day I discovered the challenge I knew I wanted to participate in it but life kept getting in the way. I guess the reason I want to participate in this challenge is to discover my limitations and whether or not I'm good enough to meet the challenge. Working in Iraq during a war as a non-combatant was a challenge in itself as I was embedded with preventative medicine units and traveled the country from base to base performing vector control duties. I've been shot at by snipers, almost blown up during rocket attacks and once came very close to having the Humvee I was in blown up by an IED, so the HH Challenge should be a piece of cake….. NOT! I came out of Iraq a changed person in more ways than one and realized that I can do many things out of the ordinary and live to tell the tale. I met many great people and made great lifelong friends I will never forget and I hope to do the same during the Hoka Hey.
After coming home in 2011 I moved to the Kansas City area and started a new job which didn’t lend itself to taking off enough time to participate in the challenge. However I did ride every chance I got. I found myself riding alone most of the time exploring KS, AR, MO, OK and TX. I finally decided to join a local Harley Owners Group (HOG) and started riding with the group every weekend. After a year or so I became the Head Road Captain for my chapter and started planning and leading many of the rides for the group. I remained the Head Road Captain for the next 5 years and was averaging around 25K miles per year. When others would put their bikes away for the winter I would keep riding in all weather conditions. Around 2018 I decided I had enough of the HOG chapter and broke from the group to start riding with a couple of great friends that like the longer rides that I enjoyed. Since then I have completed a couple of Iron Butt rides and plan to complete more rides of this type this year while I prepare my body and mind for the 2022 Challenge.
Presently, when I'm not riding I'm usually working or spending time with my wife, daughters and grand kids since I moved down to Houston, TX. I currently work for a national pest control company as a Board Certified Entomologist and Field Trainer. I thoroughly enjoy my job as it allows me to teach the new technicians what I have learned over the years and best of all it will allow me to participate in the Hoka Hey! I just hope my bike, Black Betty, can as well. BB has been a great Harley. She has seen a lot of the country and hopefully she will continue to see more. Getting her ready in itself will be a challenge. Just took her in to get the 150K service done with a few additional repairs thrown in, new clutch assembly, new compensator, new brakes, new tires, rebuilt shocks and new exhaust system. But she will make the grade, she hasn't let me down yet. Some of my personal challenges that I have dealt with are how to maintain a letter size piece of paper on my bike to follow the written directions. After several trial runs I believe I have this worked out using a plexiglass clipboard, a waterproof map holder and a ram mount to hold it on my bike. Biggest challenge so far has been keeping my place with the written directions while riding and making sure I don't pass up the last gas station for 190 miles and having to double back. Dealing with sleeping outside by my bike shouldn't pose too much of an issue as I had to sleep outside in Iraq many times and this time I wont have people trying to shoot me or blow me up.
I plan to ride the challenge to raise money and awareness for the terrible disease Alzheimer which is afflicting approximately 50 million people worldwide and 5 million here at home. This dreaded disease hits home with me as my late Dad and Aunt both were diagnosed with this disease before they passed. I have set up a donation page with the Alzheimer’s association to accept donations. I would appreciate it very much if you would access the link below or use the QR code and donate generously. Thanks for your time and support in fighting this dreaded disease.
http://act.alz.org/goto/DocBrownHHMC
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