Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas TRMOKAR July 2017_FINAL | Page 10

FEATURES
THE INDIAN TRIBUTE RIDE
PHOTOS BY FOX RUN PHOTOGRAPHY AND “T” COLLIER
It’s July now and we are going to take you back to Memorial Day Weekend. If you will recall, we
did a great story in the May issue (www.trmok.com past issues) about the Indian Tribute Ride in which
Guy Cooper built 2 vintage Indian Motorcycles to retrace the tire tracks of his parents who took their
honeymoon trip on 2 Indian Motorcycles (New at the time). They rode from Stillwater OK through
Arkansas, Talimena Scenic Drive and back home. Guy wanted to celebrate his parents’ 65th wedding
anniversary in a way they wanted to celebrate themselves. It had been their wish to retrace the trip
themselves with their family. Although they have passed, Guy was determined to make this trip a reality
with his own wife, child, family and friends.
Guy was able to dig around in the parts at his father’s former Indian Motorcycle Dealership in
Stillwater, OK long enough that he found enough parts to put together an Indian Motorcycle for each he
and his wife Wanda. His nephew, also built an Indian TT Warrior so that he too could ride alongside his
family in vintage style. Low and behold….they did it! The rode 1,074 miles round trip over the Memorial
Day Weekend commemorating the 65th anniversary of his parents.
Fortunately, many of us were able to join up along the way and travel alongside the group of Coopers
on this epic journey. Thunder Roads was not able to ride the entire way, but we did get to ride the
first 50 miles from Indian of Oklahoma City to Seaba Station. It was a beautiful day and the merriment
was high as the group roared along at a surprisingly fast pace along old Rt. 66 Highway East towards
Arkansas. The bikes held up very well the entire journey. A few very minor maintenance issues occurred
along the way, but nothing a newer bike wouldn’t have had under the same strain. I knew I could not
do this story due justice so I asked Guy and Wanda to write a bit about the experience. I wanted them
to put the perspective of this trip in their own words. Following are the words of each of them as they
experienced the rush of this nostalgic and epic ride. Thank you to all who made this great trip a reality
for the Cooper Family and Friends! A special thank you to J-Rob, Justin Raub for following in his era
proper truck as a chase vehicle.
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Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR