78,000 miles, 48 states, 1 motorcycle

ZANESVILLE - Traveling is on many people's bucket lists, but not many have checked it off their the way Don Clark has. 

Throughout the last three years, Clark has seen donkeys taking over a town, ate the best chicken he's ever tasted and created enough memories to last a lifetime while riding his 2010 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic motorcycle across the contiguous United States.

Clark's love for riding motorcycles began about 40 years ago as a student at Zanesville High School. He would come home from school and his dog would be waiting on him. However, the dog wouldn't leave his bike until he took it for a ride. At that time, he knew he wanted to ride a motorcycle across the country.

Clark's quest to see the contiguous United States ended in September, after riding to Vermont. He didn't accomplish the feat on his own: His wife, Cindy, rode with him to 36 of the 48 states. He also was accompanied by his friends Mike Griffin, Pete Sims and Larry Grear. All three rode to at least 30 states with Clark.

Clark traveled more than 78,000 miles on his motorcycle while seeing the 48 states. He didn't use GPS, but would just start driving in whatever direction he wanted to go.

"If we saw a road, we would turn on it," Clark said. "We never had a destination. We'd try to get lost on purpose."

To prove that he had traveled to all 48 states, Clark went to a Harley-Davidson dealership in each state and bought a poker chip. However, he started collecting the chips after he had visited some states and had to make trips back to get them.

Clark said he preferred to travel west because of the scenery and because there was less traffic. His favorite states were Utah and Wyoming, and his least favorite state was Kansas because of how flat it is.

Of all his memories from his travels, riding on Hell's Backbone Road in Utah is one he will never forget. The 38-mile road runs through the pinyon-juniper woodland and up Boulder Mountain to provide views into canyons while riding across the Hell's Backbone Bridge.

Clark also listed Oatman, Arizona, as one of his favorite places. There, he saw donkeys walking throughout the small town and even into the shops. According to the Oatman Chamber of Commerce's website, Oatman was an old gold mining town, and when the mines closed, the miners left the donkeys, whose descendants now and walk throughout the town.

"Driving out west is great, but when you see a gas station you better stop," Clark said. "If you've never been out west, go out west."

Clark has no plans to ride his motorcycle to Alaska, but he wouldn't be opposed to going one day.

In the meantime, his wife said Clark is going to have to repeat the 12 states she didn't get to ride with him to. She wants to go to Louisiana the most. Louisiana was one of his favorite states because of the old gas stations, and he said he had the best chicken he's ever tasted there.

Now that Clark accomplished his lifelong goal, the couple would like to travel to New Zealand, rent a motorcycle and ride across another country.

hkull@gannett.com

740-450-6772

Twitter: @haydenkull5