When twin brothers Roy and Robert Hayden were teenagers, they began noticing a strange burning sensation in the abdomen. The symptoms didn’t require a doctor to diagnose. The boys had a fire in the belly to ride motorcycles. But their dad threw cold water on the idea of them hitting the highway on two wheels.
“He told us that he’d allow dirt bikes,” Roy remembers. “But he said that street bikes were out of the question. He didn’t want us out on the blacktop with cars.”
The twins knew their dad was just looking out for them. They followed his rule throughout high school, riding various dirt bikes on the back acres of the family property. But their motorcycle fever never went away.
After high school graduation, Robert joined the Air Force and Roy went to college. And before long, they both bought their first street bikes. This year, 60 years after their dad outlawed bikes on the highway, the brothers rode motorcycles all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica on Route 66. Roy and Robert are 73 years old now, and they’re still pushing the envelope. Their dad, R.W. “Jim” Hayden, would’ve turned 100 this year — the same age as Route 66 itself.
“I thought it would be fun for us to celebrate Dad’s 100th birthday by riding the entire length of Route 66 this year, as the iconic highway was also turning 100,” Robert said. “Especially since we found out that Dad had been hiding a secret from us all those years ago.”
After their father passed away, Robert and Roy were going through his possessions when they discovered a photo of their dad sitting astride a 1927 Indian street bike. They’d never seen the photo before. It was proof that Dad had survived his own case of motorcycle fever.
“In the picture, he looks about the same age that we were, back when he told us motorcycles were too dangerous for the highway,” Roy laughed. “So we decided we’d bring Dad along on our big road trip by taking that photo with us.”
Robert has ridden motorcycles since he was 14 and still rides an Indian Roadmaster he calls Windy. Roy has also logged a lot of motorcycle miles. But he’d sold his old BMW bike a few years ago to make room in his garage for his woodworking shop. Before he could do a cross-country motorcycle trip, Roy had to get a bike. He finally found a good used BMW and spent the summer getting comfortable in the saddle again. He named his bike Bluebonnet.
By late August of this year, both brothers were ready to go. Roy lives in Andover, but Robert has been a Nebraska resident since his college days. The epic road trip began with Roy riding Bluebonnet to Lincoln, where Robert and Windy were ready to join the party. Then, they all headed for Chicago, with Dad’s photo in one of the saddlebags. “We brought Mom along, too,” Robert said. “I attached a piece of her mink shawl to the seat of my bike.”
The road trip officially started with breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago, the traditional “first stop on the Mother Road.” Then the brothers fired up their bikes and hit Route 66. Along the way, they paused for photos at iconic roadside attractions like the Blue Whale in Catoosa, Okla., and the World’s Second-Largest Rocking Chair in Fanning, Mo. And they stopped for the night at historic places like the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba, Mo., and the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, N.M.
“Dad and Mom would have loved the El Rancho,” Robert said. “Hollywood used to shoot movies outside of Gallup, and the hotel walls are lined with photos of movie stars who stayed there. John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Mae West. There was a hidden room on the second floor, too. Pull a book off the shelf, and the bookcase opens up into a little room.”
Roy and Robert started their road trip with a carefully planned itinerary. But as they got into the rhythm of the adventure, they began getting new ideas. They also picked up tips from other road-trippers, who came from all over the world. A couple from Spain had good suggestions for them. So did the big group from the Netherlands. And so did the guy from Tasmania and his companion. “That’s my girlfriend, not my wife,” the Tasmanian told them. “I’ve already had two wives.”
Somebody suggested that they stop at the Devil’s Rope Museum in McLean, Texas, housed in an old factory that once produced 5,000 Sears bras per day.
“The museum was fascinating,” Roy said. “They have the largest barbed-wire collection on earth, over two thousand kinds. And there was a 93-year-old expert who could identify every one of them.”
Another favorite stop was the detour they made up to the Grand Canyon. “The grandeur is just overwhelming,” Robert said. “And the skies in Arizona and New Mexico are absolutely incredible. We Americans, we’re spoiled. There’s so much beauty here in America, we can’t adequately explain it to somebody from another county. The views are just spectacular.”
The heat also got more spectacular as the brothers headed west. In Oatman, Ariz., the temperature gauge on Roy’s BMW read 114 degrees. That’s where it turned out that Robert had made a wise decision when he covered the seat of his bike with his mom’s mink stole.
“Contrary to what you might think, the fur kept my rear end cooler than without it,” Roy said.
The twins arrived in Santa Monica on Sept. 11, thirteen days after leaving Chicago. They admired the Pacific Ocean for a while, then turned around and headed back to the Midwest.
“By the time I got home, I’d put more than 5,000 miles on my bike,” Robert said. “Thirteen states, 20 days, 5,014 miles. Check that off the bucket list!” Roy’s mileage was even higher.
Robert said the pair feels grateful for “making it successful all the way there and back.” It’s a good bet their dad would have been grateful, too.
Robert shared advice for anybody contemplating a road trip.
“If you’re thinking that a road trip will be fun, it will. But only if you actually do it. There will be plenty of time later to look out the window and wish you’d done this or that. So don’t wait. Pick a destination, then get out there and do it now.”
Joe Norris wrote about Route 66’s short passage through Kansas in our June issue. Contact him at joe.norris47@gmail.com.
