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Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Cleveland father, daughter share 7,735-mile motorcycle trip across U.S.

photo John Smeltzer of Cleveland recently completed a 5,000-mile motorcycle trip with his daughter, Lauren Smeltzer, after her graduation from high school.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Lauren Smeltzer never had a chance to become a girlie girl.

She is the youngest of five children and the only girl. So, when her older brothers all got dirt bikes, so did she.

“Most [girls,]” Lauren said, “think they’ll be the ones on the back [of the motorcycle].”

But not her. Lauren has been riding four years and got her first new bike in 2009.

When her dad, John Smeltzer, suggested a motorcycle trip across the country after her graduation from Walker Valley High School in May, she was all in.