Palm trees and a moto lady. Hannah Johnson riding a Ducati Hypermotard in Miami, Florida. Watch the “Lean In” video from Puma.
Hannah Johnson: Lean In (video)
Biker Wedding & Mötormoon
What’s a Mötormoon, you ask? Why, it’s the honeymoon motorheads go on- usually involving a road trip, winding roads, beautiful sights, good food, and good times.
The term was coined by the lovely Greg and Katie Sue Weissel, recently married in Mammoth Lakes, California. They got engaged a year ago on a motorcycle trip to Yosemite, so when deciding what they wanted to do for their honeymoon they knew- “let’s ride.”
Katie Sue is the founder of Hot Rides SF, an all-girl motorcycle collective. Greg works at the very awesome American-made bag company Chrome Industries– they specialize in weatherproof and hevy-duty bags for outdoorsy folks, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.
Their wedding was cute in all the right ways, with their matching ‘Just Married’ biker vests, and Katie’s decorated Sportster as the wedding getaway vehicle… complete with beer can empties! They rode two-up to the reception, but they each had their own bike’s for their mötormoon adventuring after they got hitched. Katie on her Sporty, and Greg on his Triumph.
Greg filled me in on their trip itinerary and how the Mötormoon came to be- the story is filled with moto romance. Swoon!
“Katie Sue and I live San Francisco and while we love our city, one of our favorite things to do is to go explore this great state and our wide wonderful country.
We left SF and headed out to Sonora. One of our favorite roads is the 108- the Sonora Pass – heading up into the Sierra Nevadas, and the best time to ride it is in the post-dawn emptiness of the early morning. We headed out from Sonora at first light, took in all the amazing views, and then took off down a dirt road outside Bridgeport to find Buckeye Hot Springs. After some creekside bathing, we headed into Mammoth Lakes.
Part of the plan for the wedding was always that after we got married and took photos, we could roar up to the reception riding two deep on Katie’s sportster. What we weren’t expecting was for her brother and his wife to surprise us the night before with custom made denim vests with rockers reading JUST on mine and MARRIED on hers. As we pulled up in those jackets in front of all our friends and family, we knew it was all going according to plan.”
“After the reception we took a day to sit by the pool and let the hangover subside and then we were back on the pavement.
Day one took us from Mammoth’s 8500 foot elevation down to Death Valley’s 200 feet below sea level. The day started at 6am and 40 degrees and by noon in Furnace Creek it was 120 degrees. We ended the day in Las Vegas, where our jackets earned us a free upgrade to the Four Seasons from a very nice clerk at Mandalay Bay.”
Katie Sue in Death Valley
“Day two saw us leave Nevada, enter Arizona, then park the bikes and walk back into Nevada, then walk back into Arizona again before riding out of Arizona, back into Nevada, and then back into Arizona. We were, of course, at the Hoover Dam.
Riding into Arizona was an eye opening experience. Neither of us expected the beautiful tree covered mountains, nor the monsoon that kept us drenched all day and necessitated a pit stop on historic Route 66. We let the storm pass and then accidentally caught back up to it, and got soaked again. It was all worth it to end up in Oak Creek Canyon, the beautiful forested area right outside Sedona.
Sedona is magical. On day three we doubled up on Katie’s Sportster and went hunting for vortexes. Riding amongst the red rocks and their incredible formations rising out of the Ponderosa pines, I’m not sure if we entered any parallel planes of existence, but we did experience the best of our world.”
“Day four started off incredible and ended brutal. We took the 89A out through Sedona, up through the windy switchbacks of Jerome, out and around the gentle curves through Prescott National Forest, through the epically named Skull Valley, and down to meet the freeway. That’s where things got hot. As we blew by the Saguaro cacti on the long flat hot road, we found the arid unforgiving Arizona we had expected. Never have we been more excited to see a pool then when we checked into the Ace Hotel that night in Palm Springs.”
“Day five brought our journey to a close. A ‘quick’ three hour ride past Lake Elsinore and up and over the 74 put us at our final destination of Dana Point. The first faint whiff of salt breeze was bittersweet, soon we’d be in the Pacific but our Mötormoon was coming to an end.”
You can follow Katie on instagram @totalrecall and Greg @spaceboy27.
related: Alex & Jen’s Chuckwalla Racetrack Wedding | more motorcycle romance ▲
Posted on September 3, 2014 in MotoLadies, News & Features by Alicia Mariah Elfving
Such a great wedding! Love the motormoon pics!