Some of us like to relax with family while on vacation, others, like Lenn Rainwater, prefer to head out on the highway on solo motorcycle trips across the country.

Rainwater, a Pell City High School graduate, began riding 12 years ago while living in Arizona. Since then she has taken over 100 trips, some long, some short, all with the idea of exploring some place or riding a good road.

Rainwater said the weather there allows people to ride almost every day of the year, “and the scenery is so beautiful. I’ve always wanted to ride since I was young but was not allowed to because I am a girl, which didn’t make sense to me.

“The first thing I did was take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course to learn how to operate and ride a motorcycle. But that was just the beginning of my learning. There is so much more to learn about riding a bike than driving a car because there is so much more to operating a motorcycle as well as more risk.

She has owned five bikes.

“I knew I wanted to ride sport bikes because they require the most skill, and I like riding curvy roads,” she said. Her first bike was a Kawasaki Ninja 500. “It is small enough to learn how to ride yet has enough horsepower to achieve the speed required for interstates.”

She started out riding around in her neighborhood, saying she was too scared to get too far from home in case something happened.

“The starting and stopping is the most challenging, especially for someone like me with short legs,” she explained

The first time she fell over was at the gas pump getting her first tank of gas. “I was looking at where I needed to stop and since the bike will go where your head goes, I fell against the pump and got stuck. I had to yell for someone to help me. Needless to say, it was very embarrassing.”

She said she finally learned to carefully plan where to stop. “I can only touch one toe on the ground when most people can put both feet flat. I can’t back up the bike so I just get off and walk it back. I have to do many things in a little different manner than people with longer legs.”

Her skills improved and she moved up to a Kawasaki Concours 1000, a sport touring bike.  She could ride further distances to explore Arizona and Utah on a bike that handled like a spor tbike.

She was then able to carry luggage for overnight trips.

Since she was travelling more, Rainwater wanted a better bike so she purchased her current bike, a BMW K1200 RS, which has cruise control, heated grips, more gauges, and the ability to plug in electrical accessories like a GPS and heated clothing.

The bike and has 85,000 miles on it now.

Her skills have improved through riding with better riders and reading lots of articles and books.  

“When I moved back to Pell City and found that Barber Motorsports Park was nearby, I was able to advance my skills even further when I got a bike that is set up especially for racing — a Kawasaki ZX6R — it’s just a bigger Ninja,” she said.

It has no mirrors or lights that might create debris on the track, so it is an actual street-legal bike with a title and registration.

She learned soon after about “wonderful forest service roads around Cheaha, so I got a small dual sport bike, which means that it is legal to ride on the street but is designed to ride on dirt roads and in the woods.”

Rainwater likes the freedom that riding offers. “You can see so much more — the sky and the landscape. You can smell so much more – the fresh cut grass and the flowers.  You can feel so much more — the wind and the temperature.”

The skill it takes her to ride and overcome some of the many challenges that come up when something goes wrong, is also part of what she enjoys, including when things break, roads close or bridges are out.

Her solo trips might seem risky to some, but she plans meticulously, even purchasing a MedJet Assist insurance, so she can be flown back home in case of a medical emergency.

She also has her bike manual on CD and her owner’s book in tow, for the repairs on the road.

 She travels solo is because she enjoys the challenge of coordinating time away from home.

Asked about how people might think about the dangers of a woman traveling solo across the country  on a bike and she responds, “It allows me to set my own schedule, determine my own route to see what I want to see, and change things as needed. I have never felt unsafe but I also take precautions to reduce the risks of riding alone. In fact, I have found just the opposite – most people are fascinated seeing a woman riding alone so far from home, and will want to talk with me. They are more curious and amazed than anything. And they are more likely to approach me riding alone than with a group. I have very interesting conversations with people as I travel, adding that much more to my experience. The few bike problems that I have had were quickly handled by very nice people eager to help out.”

Rainwater has had several close calls, but never crashed.  “I have had people crash in front of me that was frightening.  I know it will happen to me at some point so that is why I wear all the protective that I do.”

On the road she dons a full-face helmet, kevlar jacket and pants with protective padding, full gloves and earplugs.

 “I learned that people will tell you that you can’t do something when you really can.  It’s just that they don’t want you to for whatever reason.  So I found that I could overcome that by finding someone who thought that I could and would help me learn. I would have missed out doing many fun and wonderful things if I had not done that.”

Some of her more lengthy journeys include trips to Southern Utah to see Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and Capital Reef National Parks, up the east coast to Maine and all over the northeast and west to the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming.

She recently went to Pennsylvania to see the Amish Country and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.  On the way back, she rafted the New River in West Virginia.  

“Because they are always so different, they have all been great,” Rainwater said.

She stays with host families, part of a motorcycle traveling network of likeminded people.

“I have found that the host families are very kind, generous, loving families,” Rainwater said. “Staying with them allows me to get a closer glimpse of the culture of the area I am visiting — how they talk, what they like to do for fun, what they eat, and how they live.”

One of her favorites was a couple in Vermont who both ride. She enjoyed spending one day riding exploring Vermont with them seeing covered bridges, mountains, an apple festival and waterfalls.