NATCHEZ — When the Dart landed near Bernard Whatley’s John Glenn Avenue residence, he was putting his hobby on idle.

An avid Harley-Davidson rider, Whatley had to sideline one of his two hawgs until he could get a new wheel.

But doing minor — and major — repair and other modifications is one of the parts of being a motorcycle aficionado that Whatley enjoys.

On one of the bikes, as soon as he got it he added new pipes and intake, and on the other he added new pipes and replaced the front end.

“You just can’t leave them alone,” he said.

Whatley’s fascination with the motorbikes goes back 40 years to the days when he used to do motocross racing with four other friends.

“All of my buddies were racing, and we just decided to get started,” he said.

From there, he owned a few more road bikes before taking that next step in motorcycle ownership.

“I just always wanted a Harley, and I sort of eased into it,” he said.

And now Whatley’s love of the open road has passed on to his two sons, who spent their formative years riding bikes with him.

“They grew up on dirt bikes and they graduated to (road motorcycles),” he said.

What has kept him riding all these years, through a number of scrapes and near-accidents due to drivers of larger vehicles not being aware of motorcyclists, is the way that riding a motorcycle gives him a chance to get out and find some time for himself.

“It just makes you feel good,” he said.

But after 40 years of riding, Whatley does still have one motorcycle dream.

“Before I get too old to do it, I want to make it to Sturgis (Motorcycle Rally) in South Dakota,” he said.