Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: News

When Terry Hammond was 8 years old, he met a long-distance motorcyclist who would influence the rest of his life.

Hammond and his father were at the gas station in Martinsville getting a tire changed when a long-distance rider pulled up.

"I'd never seen a guy like that in my life," Hammond said. "You always saw the Harley guy. You saw this guy; you saw that guy."

This guy was different.

Hammond started firing away question after question at the rider.

He said the motorcyclist acted like Hammond was the president of the United States. The rider would answer any question.

"And at the very end of the 20 minutes, he put his hand on my shoulder and he says, 'I'll tell you what, boy, you need to get a motorcycle, and I think you could be a long-distance rider.'"

From 8 years old on, all Hammond wanted to do was long-distance ride.

And so Hammond became precisely what he always dreamed of.

Hammond has traveled about 18,000 to 25,000 miles a year on long-distance trips on his motorcycle.

Then five years ago, Hammond, a farmer from Casey, started a motorcycle rally for long-distance riders.

"The long distance guys are kind of loners," Hammond said. "You don't ever see them. They're never together.

"I just thought wouldn't it be cool if we forget about being a Harley guy or a BMW guy or Kawasaki guy. If we all got together because we all like to ride. It doesn't matter what you ride, as long as you do ride."

Thus, the Moonshine Lunch Run was born.

The Moonshine Lunch Run is what is called a ride to eat.

Motorcyclists from all over the nation ride hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, pick a destination to go and eat, and then ride back home.

Moonshine, which has a population of two, is a small unincorporated community in Clark County.

The entire town consists of one building - the Moonshine Store.

The store, built in 1912, is now owned by husband and wife Roylee and Helen Tuttle.

The store is known for their "moonburgers" which the owner before the Tuttles started.

The former record of hamburgers sold in one day at Moonshine was 858 burgers.

That record was broken at the latest Moonshine Lunch Run on Saturday, which sold 1,118 hamburgers.

"Honestly, it has to be the Lord's work blessing us because there is nothing that we do, you know, to bring (customers) here," Helen Tuttle said. "It's people telling other people by word of mouth."

About six years ago, Hammond listed the idea to make Moonshine one of those destinations on a motorcycle forum.

"Well they couldn't even find it on the map," he said.

He said some said, "I think this guy's lying to us."

Finally, Jerry "Blue Moon" Wagner, retired from the Navy, and decided to take a chance on Hammond.

He said he would drive up from Kentucky and meet Hammond at Moonshine.

Hammond suggested that Wagner first meet him at Casey and then Hammond could escort him to Moonshine.

Wagner was insistent he could find it with his GPS and naval experience, he said.

"I have been to Panama Canal and all over the world … I think I can find a little store in the middle of nowhere," Hammond remembered Wagner saying.

Hammond told him if he got lost to stop the first lawn mower or pick-up he saw and ask where the Moonshine Store is.

Wagner said he would meet Hammond there at 11 a.m.

Hammond was sure Wagner would not find the store and got there early on the day in case he needed to go out and look for him.

When Hammond arrived, there Wagner sat with his blue motorcycle, in a blue jacket and holding a blue coffee cup.

"He took a sip of his coffee, and he went just like this, he goes, 'I've been sitting here for 10 minutes deciding whether I was going to lie to you or tell you the truth. I'm going to tell you the truth. I have been down every gravel road in Clark County looking for this place and I couldn't find it,'" Hammond said.

From that point on, they became good friends, and Wagner went home and told everyone about Moonshine.

The next year the lunch run officially began.

Thirty people showed up the first year, and of that 30, Hammond said Wagner probably brought 15 people.

The next year, 400 people showed up.

That number continued to rise, despite that the weather was getting worse and worse each year - until this year.

Saturday was the fifth Moonshine Lunch Run, and the skies were clear and sunny, with temperatures in the 70s.

"I knew when we'd have a day like this we would completely blow up," Hammond said.

This year, about 700 or more motorcyclists showed up for the annual event.

Line after line of motorcycles with their glowing headline and shining metal pulled up to Moonshine from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday for the infamous "moonburger."

A quarter mile down each ride next to Moonshine was lined with almost every size, color and type of motorcycle one could imagine.

Heat resonated off the bikes into the already sun-soaked atmosphere.

One of the 700 motorcyclists to show up was Carole "Womantriker" Helstrom, 64, of San Diego, Calif.

Helstrom drove the farthest distance about 2,200 miles one-way to get to Moonshine.

This was her first time to Moonshine but her fourth motorcycle rally.

"This is this the fourth one and … this is the best time I've had," Helstrom said.

Helstom started riding at 55 and many asked her if she was having a midlife crisis.

"But I thought about it, and after a long time thinking, I said, 'No. I'm now getting to do the things that I would have done were I not a single parent.' I stopped skiing because I almost had a fall, and I said, 'If I fall down, how's my son gonna get home.'"

Riding has since provided an escape from the everyday for Helstrom.

"I can't explain it, but to be in the wind and to hear the birds and to smell the grass," she said. "It's as close to like a bird as you can get."

Click to enlarge
Motorcyclists arrive early Saturday to Moonshine, Ill., a township less than 40 miles away from Charleston. More than 700 motorcyclists traveled from all over the nation to participate in the 5th annual Moonshine Lunch Run. Moonshine consists of two people and one restaurant that serves "moonburgers," which have been called the world's best hamburger by The Food Network. (Alycia Rockey/The Daily Eastern News)

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.

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