Road Time

This is an article written for Striving for Success magazine in our November 2015 issue. 

One of the areas we enjoy producing in Striving for Success is a feature on a Daviess Countian. This issue I’m bending the rules to introduce you to a couple of people I met who were just passing through. – Ed.

GLENDALE, Indiana -- On a splendid October afternoon I pulled off the road near Glendale taking pictures and I heard the distinctive throb, growl and percussive exhaust note of two Harley Davidson motorcycles. They turned onto the same road and I waved as they passed. The riders were in full road gear and wore leather vests emblazoned with their club colors. One was wearing a camouflage cap with furry ear flaps. The other was suspended from a tall set of “ape hanger” handlebars.  Their bikes were gorgeous.

When I pulled into the parking lot at the Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area campground, they were there. I saw them taking pictures of one another and realized it was my civic duty to get them into the same shot. So we met, I photographed, and we talked.

Bobby “Flying Boy” McClish and Jason McClish are father and son. Friday night they rode from Peru, Indiana to McCormick’s Creek State Park with several other bikers and overnighted. Saturday, their friends wanted to go one way but Bobby and Jason wanted to revisit some good memories made here in Daviess County.

Bobby started working for Chrysler in 1976. He weathered the layoffs in the late 1970s, doing whatever came to hand to keep his family together. In the early 1980s he was called back. He continued with Chrysler until his retirement—with a pension, as Jason pointed out. Along the way he created a legacy, putting in a good word for his two sons, who now work there too.

There are other legacies. For instance, the club colors both men were wearing were for ARM, the Association of Recovering Motorcyclists. The business card Bobby handed me reads, “At ARM International we are continually asked, what is ARM about? This is simple. Before the motorcycles come out of the garage, before the bikes are fired up, we are here to support one another in our programs of recovery and abstinence. Simple, ain’t it?”

Some of the things we pass on to our kids are things we wish they’d never learned. Fortunately, Bobby has humbly been clean and sober for 24 years and Jason for 3 years. And now they enjoy time on the road together, here and at Sturgis, South Dakota. At Bike Week and Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach, and at so many points in between. Jason doesn’t get as many opportunities to ride, but they had this one. And it was to enjoy another legacy.

Glendale Fish and Wildlife Area is where Bobby’s dad came when he retired. They told me about spending time with him fishing here in the summers, talked about where he had his tree stand, and shared how much they enjoyed being outdoors with him. Just looking around while I was with them, I can imagine what a powerful impression that made. Glendale is a gorgeous gem tucked away in Daviess County and it continues to draw and shape people who spend time there.

I found wonderful hope in this meeting. If you’ve given your kids something that’s not good for them, you can still give them something better. Bobby and Jason are good, strong men. I’m thankful too for their family connection to Glendale that brought us together to see sparkling water, turning leaves, and each other. Of course, now I think I want a Harley.