When Robert LaFrance was 22, he got a hefty speeding ticket.
Rather than paying an exorbitant amount of money for his car insurance, the Starkville resident, who was attending Clemson University at the time, said it was cheaper to buy a motorcycle. That infraction created a love for both riding and repairing motorcycles.
“I don’t know how many accidents I’ve been in,” LaFrance said. “I’ve had road rash all the way across my side. But it’s the exhilarating fact that you’re in the open. That’s the key. You can actually enjoy a ride more, but you do have to be a lot more cautious.”
LaFrance, 49, is always looking for a project when he’s not working as the overnight operations manager at Paccar. Since October, he has worked with his 19-year-old son, Aaren, on a wrecked motorcycle Aaren found online.
“It’s a salvage bike, so we rebuilt it,” LaFrance said. “I told him I can’t guarantee it would run, because it was so messed up. But we got it started for the first time last weekend.”
LaFrance has been in Starkville for the past decade, longer than any other city he’s lived in. Though he said staying in one city so long has made him stir crazy, he just spends his vacation time traveling around the world. This summer, LaFrance plans to go to Colorado for a 2,000-mile motorcycle tour, traveling to Utah, the Grand Canyon and back to Colorado. Each year, LaFrance also picks one big hiking and camping trip. This summer, he will check one more state off his list, leaving only Vermont and Hawaii unvisited.
“America Hiking Association is doing trail maintenance,” LaFrance said. “I’m looking at Alaska. It’s going to be nine days and that’s going to be cool.
“I pick one big backpacking trip and off I go,” he added. “I’ll do trail-maintenance. You’re clearing stumps and repairing trails where they’ve been washed out and of course the scenery is going to be just awesome.”
Since LaFrance works the evening shift, he said he wakes up every morning looking for a project. A jack of trades, he spends his free time woodworking, brewing his own beer in his guest bathroom, tending to his dogs Thor and Loki or looking for another adventure to take. LaFrance said he was bit by the traveling bug when he was a child, and that passion has never ceased.
“My father was military, so I’ve always grown up all over the world.” LaFrance said. “I just enjoy seeing new things and doing different things. It’s the culture and the environment, it’s all just really cool.”
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