Born to Be Wild: Motorcycle club is all about adventure, companionship, and good food

Meet the Little Traverse Touring Club

Okay, so they’re not that wild, but this family-friendly motorcycle club has been sharing rides, friendship, great meals, and more since 1973, when it was originally called the Little Traverse 750 Club, a nod to the Suzuki water-cooled, two cycle (a gas and oil mix) motorcycles that they rode at the time.

The Little Traverse 750 Club was formed by Bill Cole, owner of Petosky’s Road & Trail, a motorcycle and snowmobile shop. Cole’s move was a pragmatic one: He wanted someone to ride with. Eventually, when larger engines and different models and makes became popular, the club changed its name to the Little Traverse Touring Club to accommodate all styles of bikes.

The 10-12 charter members were all ready for a good time and good food. Among the ranks were business people, retirees, state troopers, a professor, nurses, and cops. (One female Detroit cop worked undercover at the Masonic Temple during the annual appearance of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. She was tapped because she owned an evening gown, and her snub nose revolver fit nicely in her evening bag. So, no doubt, she can handle a bike.)

Spouses and children were welcome, and at its height, the club had 27 members. Today, active membership stands at 15-20 members, with ages ranging from 48 to 87, and they continue to rack up the miles—and the memories—via the U.S.’s open roads, trails, and destinations.

Looking for Adventure (and Pie)

The club, then and now, is a laid-back, no-pressure arrangement, in which all members are welcome to join a planned ride, but it’s fine if they don’t. Day trips, weather dependent, are really lunch destinations within a 100- to 125-mile radius. (During COVID, the group brown-bagged it in parks.)

Current club president, Aaron Garms, has a day job, but he still gets out. “We try to throw in a few rides every month,” he explains, “[and] we stagger occasional trips to the U.P. with two-hour rides closer to home. We’ll ride to Mackinac City, Torch Lake, Onaway, Tower, and Posen.”

Longer trips have included Wawa, Ontario, along Lake Superior’s stunning coastline; Daytona Bike Week, the internationally known celebration of all things cycle; and the annual BMW Motorcycle Owners of America rally (taking place, this year, in Great Falls, Montana); and the Tail of the Dragon, an 11-mile ride with 318 turns along the North Carolina and Tennessee border.

There are trips to the Upper Peninsula, aka Ride for Pasties, and new in 2026 is the Wednesday night Ride for Pie. Summer rides might feature the Bug Run, during which riders put targets on the front of their bikes and the winner is the one who collects the most bugs. Or maybe a member will volunteer to map out a Mystery Ride and the group follows.

Aaron Garms says that the membership “changes with the seasons, [as] people come and go,” but there is an effort to recruit younger members through social media.

In the meantime, let’s get to know two of the club’s founders.

Founding Member Ken Robinson, 87 

Ken Robinson has been to all 50 states, he’s still enjoying the open road, and he figures he’s ridden over a million miles, some at the mercy of Mother Nature. (“Sandstorms can be miserable,” he says.)

As for how it all started? “A few of us at [Road & Trail] started the club. We all drove 2-stroke Suzukis.” Robinson was employed there, and he was 53 when the club was formed. The club had monthly meetings, and they would get together for rides, “some planned, some random.”

At the time of this interview, his Honda Valkyrie had over 297,000 miles. Motorcyclist magazine once labeled the Valkyrie the “hooligan Gold Wing,” but in a good way, proving that there is, indeed, a bit of mischief in the LTTC. And, it’s plenty fast. “Well, the speedometer goes to 150,” he explains. And, he admits, at 780 pounds, “it’s big.” Robinson jokes that when he hits 300,000 miles, he’s going to get a smaller bike.

On various bikes, Robinson made two memorable rides to Alaska, there and back, once in 1998 and again in 2001, with each trip taking about five weeks. Record temperatures in 1998 softened the permafrost to the point that it swallowed a Caterpillar on a nearby construction site, making the trip a bit dicey. On the last one, in 2001, while the Yukon Highway—the middle portion of the Alcan highway—was “mostly paved,” there were still “16 miles of pure hell.”

In 1974, Robinson rode to Twin Falls, Idaho, to watch Evel Kneivel’s unsuccessful attempt to cross the Snake River Canyon on a steam powered rocket. (Evel didn’t make it, but his parachute made it a reasonably soft landing.)

Other notable trips include Beartooth Pass from Red Lodge, Montana, to the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park; Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah; Glacier National Park in Montana’s Rocky Mountains; and Daytona Bike Week.

“I used to ride every day. Now, I’m slowing down,” says the 87-year-old, but age doesn’t stop him from pursuing the rush. “It’s so free…[to] smell the air, feel the breeze, and run.”

Founding Member Howard Garms, 77

Howard Garms rides a BMW but has a “couple of other bikes,” including a 1966 BMW with sidecar, in which his wife or sometimes his two boys—or even their yellow lab—would hitch a ride. For instance, it was a family affair when the Garms crew attended a Vermont rally in 1975. His wife, six months pregnant with current LTTC president Aaron at the time, was riding in the sidecar.

On another trip through the Vermont mountains, Garms and a riding partner had to wait for a herd of cows to cross in front of them. They got back up to speed only to round a curve and see that the herd had done its business right in the road, “I really couldn’t stop because we were going too fast,” Garms explains. “So I just put my feet up and went through it, making a small wake, like a boat,” while clearing a trail for the rider behind him. (It was time to head down the mountain in search of a car wash.)

“[And] we spent a lot of time in the Smokies to make rallies,” he adds. Plus there was a glorious ride across the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys. And in 2024, they made the BMW rally in Montana.

Garms’ philosophy about riding is easy to understand: “It’s special; [there’s] adventure and time to be by yourself.”

As for the club, “It’s been a good ride…with a lot of good people,” he adds.

Follow the club Facebook page (facebook.com/groups/littletraversetouringclub) for more information. Monthly meetings are held throughout the year on the second Monday of each month at 6pm. Winter meetings are held at various local restaurants.

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