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Places You've Visited and How You Were Treated.

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I've visited quite a few cool towns on some of my travels and have received treatment from welcoming to downright hostile. This thread is to discuss places we've visited and how we were treated, both good and bad. So let's get things rolling.
 
Let's start this off with the town of Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Yes this was on a Mextrek and the hospitality was great even though I speak very little Espanol. If you haven't done the Mextrek, I recommend doing it at least once. I'm not sure I would do it again because of all the moving parts and too many people on the trip but the town of Santiago and the surrounding area was awesome. The food was great and the locals were very accommodating and genuine.
 
TruCountry Inn, Brady, TX. 2021. Probably the friendliest craziest small town hotel experience I have ever had. Would definitely stay there again.

Spencer, TN. 2001. Motorcycle crash. Old couple provided aid, a phone, and their church came to feed us and clean us up and make sure we were ok. Good people.

Pea Ridge, AR. 2001. It was like the townspeople had an emergency meeting overnight the day we rolled into town. They wouldn’t speak to us, serve us, or acknowledge us. Couldn’t get anything to eat or even anyone to acknowledge us for a receipt at checkout at the motel. Very weird.

Honobia, OK. 2017-2019. Super friendly folks. All 5 of them, lol. Little campground and grille we stay at up there. They offered to let us sleep in a converted school bus so we didn’t have to set up our tent in the rain.

Somewhere in the Smokies. 2003. My girlfriend, now wife, and I stayed at a small cabin and campground place. We wanted to get beer but it was a dry county. The restaurant was going to close soon, as was the only small store across the state line. Beer or dinner. We had to choose. We decided to make a beer run through the mountains and hope they had enough gas station snacks to get us to morning. The owner of the cabins laughed and wished us luck. We made our run, and came back to the cabin to find that they had made us a meal anyway. I wish I could remember exactly where this was because I would make it a point to stay there again and again. The only clue I have is that the beer store had a sign outside that said “last beer for 24 miles”.
 
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Junction, TX was by far the worst I've ever been treated while on a motorcycle.

Wow - that's surprising. I haven't stayed there is a few years, but did a couple times a year before that. Never had anything but a standard Texas welcome...
 
Wow - that's surprising. I haven't stayed there is a few years, but did a couple times a year before that. Never had anything but a standard Texas welcome...
My Wife and I were pulled over by the police (two squad cars mind you, as we are that tough looking) on the main drag strictly for the purpose of getting the warning that if we were caught on any private roads or private land that we would be arrested, and this served as our "warning". We had been there for 1 day and rode around on main county roads, didn't go through any gates whatsoever, and didn't have any run in's with local land owners at all.

We checked out of our hotel early, and left since we didn't feel like spending any more money in a town that obviously didn't want us to be there. The day we were there, the hotel staff and the one restaurant we ate at were okay. Nothing special in either direction. But the LEO interaction... sorry, I'm not coming back to your little town after that. Which is I guess exactly what they wanted. :shrug:
 
Winnfield, LA podunk town in middle of no-where Louisiana. Pulled over for 10 over. Ok, fine. Asked for license, insurance and registration. Said I had license and insurance and pointed to my current Texas tag sticker for registration. Said he needed the registration paper but I didn't have it and mentioned that it wasn't necessary to carry it in Texas. He says "does it look like your in Texas?"

So the *** comes back and gives me the expected speeding ticket AND ticket for failure to present registration. That just triggered me to no end and told him verbatim "you're just being chicken-s**t aren't you". That pissed him off to no end which was exactly what I wanted. Why should I be the only mad one.
 
Which is I guess exactly what they wanted.
Sadly you're correct and really not a lot we can do about it. I've only been through there but have read other stories, I think the d/s, adv crowd had left a bad taste in their mouths. No idea if that is deserved or not, my guess to some extent, some riders can sure act entitled.
 
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I really like the environment of Crested Butte, Co, but for the most part the folks leave a lot to be desired.
 
Several years back actually a bunch of years went to a rally in Hico. While riding the country side I thought I would get a six pack to take back to the rally. The store was in a dry area no alcohol. Upon leaving a young couple insisted I take a few of their beers no charge. The other thing I remember being nice was in Fredericksburg (once again a long time ago) at a BMW rally. Across the main street they had a banner welcoming the riders. The last thing I really appreciated was the group of young Hispanic men who jumped out their car and helped me get my dropped bike back up (just outside La Grange). Never said a word. We got the bike up. They ran back to their car and left.
 
My Wife and I were pulled over by the police (two squad cars mind you, as we are that tough looking) on the main drag strictly for the purpose of getting the warning that if we were caught on any private roads or private land that we would be arrested, and this served as our "warning". We had been there for 1 day and rode around on main county roads, didn't go through any gates whatsoever, and didn't have any run in's with local land owners at all.

We checked out of our hotel early, and left since we didn't feel like spending any more money in a town that obviously didn't want us to be there. The day we were there, the hotel staff and the one restaurant we ate at were okay. Nothing special in either direction. But the LEO interaction... sorry, I'm not coming back to your little town after that. Which is I guess exactly what they wanted. :shrug:

This must be standard procedure in Junction. Years ago I was in a group of riders during a TWT dual sport event there and we were harassed by a cop in a similar manner. He didn't have a reason to pull us over, so he kept intimidating us like he was hoping that someone would talk back to him so he could get madder and escalate his stop. I will NEVER even stop in Junction again.
 
I had a blowout on my toy hauler on the interstate just outside of Portageville, MO. A local in a really nice looking truck, wearing really nice clothes stopped and asked me if I had a spare and the tools to change the tire on the side of the road. I told him yes and he headed off. A few minutes later and he’s back in a work truck, wearing work clothes. He has an air compressor in his truck and pneumatic tools and says “We’re gonna get you back on the road NASCAR style.” He had made it back to me before I even had my jack out and used his pneumatic jack to lift the trailer and pull the wheel off by the time I had the spare out. Then we found out that my brand new toy hauler had a spare with a completely different bolt pattern than the wheel hub. So he took me, my spare, and my bad tire into town, having called up a friend to meet us at a tire shop, which was closed because it was a Sunday, Father’s Day to be exact. Anyway, his buddy meets us at the tire shop where he pulls the spare tire off the useless rim and puts it on the rim which had the blowout. He then finds a rim with the correct bolt pattern and a used trailer tire to fit, not wanting to send me on my way without a usable spare. The total cost to me? Twenty bucks. The fellow who stopped to help me drove me back to the trailer and used his tools to get us back on the road really quick. He was a local rice farmer. When he first saw us, he was on his way home from a funeral for a friend. I asked him what I could give him for his troubles and he said he was just happy he came along and was able to help me when he did and told me to pay it forward. That both of these guys would do all that, especially the tire guy changing into work clothes and going to his shop on Father’s Day afternoon. I don’t know if that’s typical of the folks in Portageville, MO, but that was super hospitality that I’ll never forget.
 
When we drove to Anchorage, the folks in Tacoma WA and Prince George BC were not too welcoming. Of course that was a decade ago? Going overseas, the UK folks were kinda meh while those in Ireland were very welcoming. Israel was kinda a mixed bag as well as Jordan. I don't recall going somewhere in TX and getting the silent treatment. OKC and Tulsa were pretty nice folks too.
 
It’s not an excuse, but the Junction area sees a lot of hooligan riding from people coming in to ride the three sisters. The loud minority of jackanapes is what they deal with, so they likely have a sour view of motorcycles. Again, not an excuse, but I would pin their behavior on that view/outlook developed from their calls about motorcycles.
 
Little Elm, Texas - I saw the cop pull onto the road behind me & made sure I was below the 45mph speed limit. He pulls me over not 100 yards later and with great ceremony, writes a ticket for doing 43 in a 35. I let him finish his little rant then asked him if the 43 was accurate. He told me in no uncertain terms that it was. Good, I replied, because the 35mph limit sign is still down the road about 1/4 mile from here!

I heard a lot more colorful language and he tore up the ticket.

But, on the positive side, as a 20 year old I once delivered a car from New Jersey to Los Angeles and experienced more kindness & generosity along the way than I can retell in one sitting.
 
This is an interesting topic. For years now I have not worried about how I was treated because I made a great deal of effort not to have to deal with people, stores, motels, campgrounds, etc. From my pickup camper shell days, to my van days, and now to my 26' toy hauler days, I try to deal with civilization as little as possible. I stock up on as many supplies and fuel as possible and stay out somewhere where I won't be dealing with the local civilization to any notable degree. I'm not a hater. In fact I'm fairly sociable. Running into other campers in BLM or forest dispersed camping areas or in forest/BLM campgrounds that aren't crowed, I often have really fun and interesting encounters with strangers. So what it comes down to is that a given town, store, gas station, etc. only has a very small window of opportunity to hate on me or love me...LOL!
 
You know, I've just never had much problem. Years ago I encountered a grumpy gas station attendant on the Navajo reservation, north of Flagstaff. It wasn't personal, though; he apparently hated everybody who stopped there. When I was stationed in Germany in the 70s, I occasionally ran across a German who hated American GIs just on general principle. Again, this was not the rule; I generally found Germans to be quite friendly, especially if I made an attempt to speak to them in German instead of expecting them to speak English.

Aside from the odd hotel clerk or convenience store owner, I find that most people are pretty friendly when I'm traveling. Here in Colorado, there used to be a certain amount of prejudice against Texans; nowadays, they're just relieved that I'm not from California.
 
Over the past decade or so I have traveled a lot. My wife is a travel agent. I haven't ever had any bad treatment by locals anywhere. I have had frustrating travel issues, mostly due to delays or other issues at airports or hotels because of mismanagement or logistical problems. But it's not like the people are not friendly or happy to have us. On the contrary, we always seem to get the royal treatment everywhere we've been.

Funny thing, one of the first business trips I took out of the country was to France, and everyone tried to tell me how rude French people are towards Americans. I found this to be totally false. I think it's hard to get along with people who blame everyone else for mistreating them.
 
Funny thing, one of the first business trips I took out of the country was to France, and everyone tried to tell me how rude French people are towards Americans. I found this to be totally false. I think it's hard to get along with people who blame everyone else for mistreating them.
It's a trope that confuses the French with Parisians. Outside of the capital they are delightful, add a little French into your conversation, compliment the wine & you'll have a lifelong amie.
 
Thompson Falls, MT - ran into a local pastor on the road. Put us up in his church for the night on a cold, rainy mid-30's June night doing a cross-country bicycle ride. WA highway patrolman invited us to camp on his land for the night.
Don't ever recall any motorcycle issues, good or bad and have moto-camped through NM, CO, and parts of north TX.
Java, Indonesia - hospitable, small people. Spent the night visiting with a man and his family. Built his own cinder blocs for room additions. Rooms had a single naked light bulb. Kitchen was open fire over a grate at the back alcove of the house. Chicken coop attached. Squatty potty out back. Warm and hospitable. Like all of us, trying to do the best and improve the life for his kids.
 
Parisians are extremely rude to Americans and they will con you if they get the chance. I've been there many times and it you aren't paying attention you will get overcharged or get the incorrect change. Take someone who speaks French and have them pretend like they don't and you'll see what they are saying about you right in front of you. You've been lucky!
 
For the most part my travels on two wheels within the state of Texas have always been hospitable but I have started to notice less of an interest from bystanders. By far the rudest interaction I had with a local on a motorcycle trip was in Portland, OR, I've done my best to avoid that $hithole long before it was a well known $hithole lol.
 
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