color
color









By Judy Wyckoff • GWRRA #157191 • Hamilton, Ohio
Photos by Don Dakin

If you live in Southwest Ohio, keep an eye out for a flash of Candy Red, Bright White, and Pearl Blue. It just might be three girls on those flashy GL1800s. The red one belongs to Karen Tomlin, GWRRA #118306-01, of Ohio’s Chapter E2. Debbie Winkler, GWRRA #156364, of Chapter OH-A2 is the proud owner of the white Wing. And the blue is the prized possession of Judy Wyckoff, GWRRA #157191, of OH-L.

Karen Tomlin was introduced to motorcycling right after her high school graduation. Her parents sent her to Florida to spend some time with Karen’s cousin and her husband who just happened to ride a motorcycle. She spent the summer riding with him and learning to ride herself–and loved it! When she returned to Ohio, her parents had a fit and put an end to “that foolishness.”
That is, until 1993 when she met Ron Cawein. She fell in love, and Ron says he’s not sure if it was with him or his motorcycle. In 1995, at the age of 53, Karen took the Beginning Rider Course (BRC), passed it, and was on her way. She rode a Harley 1350 touring bike for awhile, but decided she needed something smaller. They acquired a Suzuki 650 Magna and Karen loved riding it until she saw a Honda Pacific Coast while out on a ride. Karen just had to have a PC, and the hunt began. They found a white one in Kentucky, bought it, and she rode it for a couple of years until she graduated to a 1986 Gold Wing GL1200. She kept the PC and continued to ride it until the summer of 2003. Karen & Ron, at that time, owned four motorcycles. They sold all four and purchased two 2003 Candy Red GL1800s.
Karen still rides two-up with Ron and enjoys that a great deal, but she is proud to say that she has around 100,000 safe miles under her belt as a rider.
Ron & Karen joined GWRRA in 1994, participating with OH-E2, a Chapter on the eastern side of Cincinnati. They were Assistant Chapter Directors of A-2 for a short while. Since that time, they have remained active members of E2.
At Wing Ding in 2002 Karen became the Ohio representative for Lady Riders, a special interest group of GWRRA. She led a Lady Riders ride at the Ohio District Rally and is planning more rides and meetings for the Ohio Lady Riders.

Debbie Winkler’s first nine months of 2004 turned out to be a quite a GWRRA story. Debbie and her boyfriend of five years, Wayne Marks, were extremely proud to be Members of GWRRA and active with Chapter A2 of Hamilton. They attended many rallies and Chapter events in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. It was Wayne’s dream to be a Chapter Director, and he worked very hard to make that dream come true.
In 2002 Wayne & Debbie bought a 250 Rebel, and Debbie began to learn to ride. She took the BRC, but was devastated when she failed the riding test. With Wayne’s encouragement and prodding, she went back, re-took the test and passed it with flying colors her second time. Wayne was very proud of her and loved to see her ride.
Early in January of 2004, Wayne & Debbie were informed that Wayne’s dream of becoming a Chapter Director would indeed come true. They would soon have their Chapter Director rockers.
Cabin Fever, Ohio’s winter event, was held in February and Wayne & Debbie were having the time of their lives, being the District’s newest Chapter Directors. And Debbie’s line dancing lessons were a huge hit, as they always are at GWRRA functions.
The Tuesday after Cabin Fever, Wayne had a successful surgery to remove his gall bladder and was doing very well. They attended Chapter L’s monthly gathering on Wednesday, and Wayne was feeling good. But the very next day, Wayne suffered a massive heart attack and, at the young age of 56, was taken from Debbie and the rest of his GWRRA family. We all suffered a great loss that day, and he is greatly missed by all of us.
Needless to say, Debbie’s life was turned upside down. With Wayne’s passing, she not only lost the love of her life, but many material items, including Wayne’s prized possession—his Wing. Debbie wanted to remain Chapter Director, but no longer owned a Gold Wing, and in order to be a C/D, you must own a Wing.
Things were indeed looking black. But, readers, you can start smiling again. Debbie’s friends from the local Chapters, Ohio A2, E2, L, X2, S2, and F, as well as Kentucky Chapters P and G made donations, held raffles and in other ways raised enough money to buy Debbie a 1987 Gold Wing GL1200.
Aren’t Gold Wingers the best folks you ever hope to meet? Greg Hayden, Whitey Bell, and Joe Lupo, all of Chapter X2 in Middletown, headed up this project. Thanks to them, Debbie has been able to remain Chapter Director of OH-A2. She also is proud to say that she has been able to retain Wayne’s GWRRA number.
Next came the challenge of Debbie learning to ride a Wing. She is just 5 foot 4 inches tall, but filled with determination. With a few stumbles along the way, and the help of her friends Karen & Ron, Debbie was beginning to feel comfortable on that GL1200. She was able to remain Chapter Director and things were starting to look up.
In August 2004, Michigan District held its rally and, as always, raffled off a new Gold Wing—for 2004, a white one! (Are you smiling yet?) It seems that a few weeks earlier, at Spring Fling, Tennessee’s District Rally, Debbie had purchased a single raffle ticket on that new Gold Wing to be given away at the Michigan Rally. One ticket—that’s all she could afford at the time. Many of us feel that it was Wayne’s hand that reached into the barrel at the Michigan event and pulled out that winning ticket.
Yours truly had the privilege, along with our friend Bob Strout, of taking Debbie for her first riding lessons on that “white wonder.” We took her to the site where the local MSF riding courses are given. I was a little concerned about the increase in power from a 1200 to an 1800, but it took a mere five minutes for all my fears to fade. Debbie is a natural and looked like she had been riding that machine for years. Actually, watching her, I had a few feelings of insecurity of my own. With my 30 years of riding experience, I wasn’t sure I looked as comfortable and at ease on my Wing as she did on her first ride!

Now for the BLUE—that’s me, Judy Wyckoff, aka “Little Sis.” Many of you have seen my Pearl Blue GL1800 riding along behind two other Pearl Blues ridden by Tom & Kathy Peck, our 2003-04 International Couple of the Year. Kathy is my sister.
As I mentioned before, I have been riding for 30+ years. My first bike was a 90cc Harley. I made the progression up via 400 Kawasaki, 440 Kawasaki, 1000 Kawasaki, Gold Wing GL1200, and 1986 Kawasaki Voyager XII. I put around 120,000 miles on that Voyager and loved every minute of it.
Over Memorial Day in 2001, I rode to Florida with Tom & Kathy on their new blue Wings. After following those two gorgeous machines on my fifteen-year-old bike, and knowing that I would be riding the 275-mile stretch of interstate between Tom & Kathy’s home in LaFollette, Tennessee, and my home in Hamilton quite often by myself, I made my decision. On June 8, I rode my very own Pearl Blue GL1800 out of my local dealership.
On all my motorcycles combined, I have ridden over 200,000 miles, visiting all 48 contiguous states except Oregon and Washington, seven Mexican states, and four Canadian provinces. I hope to enjoy riding through those other states and provinces very soon.
Around 20 years ago I became a Booster Supporter (now called an Associate Member) of GWRRA, riding with Chapter L in Indiana. I finally made it to full Member status when I purchased my GL1800. I am also very proud to say that I have just recently received my Master Tour Rider status in the Rider Education Program! In a little over three years I have put over 52,000 miles on my Pearl Blue Wing. I am able to do that because I’m retired, you know, and I love to ride.
I ride with Kathy & Tom so much that Tennessee has become a second home to me. As a result of all the time I have spent with the Tennessee folks, I have also designated TN-B my home Chapter. And, I have proudly had the privilege of serving on the Tennessee District Staff for a year as a Membership Enhancement Coordinator. Kathy, Tom and I attended ten GWRRA rallies together last year. Some of those include Oklahoma, Florida, Region K in Ontario, Canada, and, of course, Wing Ding. I just have to ride 275 miles to start the ride.
I have recently become quite active in my local Chapters and have acquired an entirely new family. And, some of the best riding last summer was riding with Jim Pennington’s OH -L “Retired and Riding” group that rides every Tuesday. These R & R rides have from six to twenty-six bikes, and we ride some great back roads and love to ride those curvies. This group is almost exclusively men, but they have adjusted to having a woman in their midst, and don’t seem to mind me tagging along.

So that is my story of the Red, White, and Blue Wings streaking through southwestern Ohio. Keep your eye out for us. If you do see us, you will find us grinning from ear to ear, because we all three love riding those awesome Gold Wings.