Why Did I Pick a URAL ?

Let me preface this by telling you that I’ve always been a motorcycle kind of guy. When I was growing up in western NC, my dad was a Honda mechanic, and motorcycles were a way of life for my family. I got started out at age 5 or 6 on a little Honda QA 50 mini bike. Me, my sister, and my brother grew up with motorcycles and we all had one. Hondas, Suzukis, Yamahas, etc.

In my later years in the Marine Corps I went to Okinawa Japan for the first time in 1987. I became enamored of the Harley Davidson Heritage Springer that was on display in the base PX at Camp Butler. As soon as the unit came back to the US — I bought my first Harley, and I’ve been a Harley guy ever since. There’s nothing wrong at all with any other brand of bikes, but I really like my Harleys.

After I got out of the Marines, I continued the pursuit of my other serious passion — hiking and backpacking. I used to spend my weekends in the backwoods playing “pack mule”. The outdoors calms my nerves and I get great exercise. It’s a holdover from my days in the Marines. I didn’t mind the long ruck marches in the military. A lot of guys blew out their knees and feet from these long trips with heavy packs, but they didn’t bother me. The reason is because I have always walked on the balls of my feet instead of slamming my weight down on my heels. The shock of carrying that much weight was transferred into my legs differently, so I didn’t suffer from the pain and discomfort most guys do.

Fast forward to early 2025. I had contracted osteomyelitis in a small injury to the bottom of my right foot. The infection had rapidly started to eat away my bones in my foot. They were literally dissolving due to the bacteria. The VA tried just giving me antibiotics to clear things up but it didn’t work. I spent weeks in the hospital getting things cleared up when the VA a doctors told me the only choice I had was amputation. Nope. I wasn’t having that mess. The VA doctors decided to take off part of my foot. Instead of a new prosthetic, they were simply going to add a foam rubber block in my boot so I could learn to walk again.

I opted instead to see a civilian podiatrist. Once the bacteria was beaten back enough for surgery, it was “go time”. Rather than chop off my foot, there were several civilian doctors who went in and removed the infected bones. Then they rebuilt the bones that were left by filling them with a type of bone cement. Then I had a Frankenstein contraption bolted on to hold everything in place.

Pretty looking ain’t it ?

For several months I had to wear a stabilizer boot until my foot healed properly. It was a long time process, but eventually everything did close up like it was supposed to.

My foot today compared to my normal hoof. Now I can walk normally within reason without a cane. The problem is that it does bother me some if I’m on it for too long. But I’m stubborn and I wasn’t about to give up my hiking in the backwoods and just sit on the couch. I’m always more comfortable in the backwoods. It’s a chance to get away from other people and temporarily get away from the problems I have to deal with in civilization. I’ve never left to come home thinking “Those trees were assholes”. But sometimes the briars sure were some little pricks.

My solution was to find a reliable way to still get out in the backwoods with my service dog, but not have to carry my once massive loads in my backpack. This is where my URAL comes in. It’s small, lightweight compared to my Harleys, and I can freight it down with my camping gear. What I do these days is cruise to a nice spot in the woods and set up a base camp. From there I can go on hikes to see remote places that are nice to visit, then return to my base camp to stay the night. To my way of thinking, this is a winning scenario for me.

So that’s how I came to get myself a URAL motorcycle and sidecar. Is it the perfect solution ? No, but then again there’s nothing better available on the market. I chose this over getting a 4 wheeler to run in the woods, because the URAL

is an off-road machine that I can also run legally on the pavement when I need to. Top speed on the highway is maybe 50 - 55 mph, so I’m never going to get anywhere in a hurry. But getting there is half the fun.