Cruisin' at 77 -- neither age nor thousands of miles can slow down this motorcycling septuagenarian

The last thing you'd expect to see on the back of a motorcycle going down the Alcan Highway is a sign that reads, "I'm a little old lady." But then again, you probably wouldn't expect a 77-year-old woman to be making her 20th trip down the famous highway on a motorcycle, either.

That sign hung on the back of Barb Tillman's motorcycle during one of her many trips down the Alcan. Except for her silvery hair, she is anything but your average 77-year-old grandma -- she's been riding motorcycles for half a century, and she's not about to give it up anytime soon.

"I started on a scooter that had a Briggs and Stratton and I've been moving up ever since," Tillman said. "I've basically grown up on motorcycles. There have been a lot of changes."

Tillman and her husband, Leonard, are part of several motorcycle organizations, including Valley ABATE and Chugiak ABATE. Tillman is the national president for the Women on Wheels organization, as well. Together, they leave Alaska in the spring, ride down the Alcan and around the Lower 48 at various organized rides, and then return again in mid-summer. They haven't totaled their mileage, but over the last half century, it's safe to assume they have ridden several hundred thousand miles together.

"I won't drive in a car with him in it, but we'll ride thousands of miles together," Tillman said with a giant chuckle. "We've got CBs on our motorcycles and I just pull the plug out when I've had enough."

On a more serious note, Tillman said she wouldn't trade her riding partner for the world.

"My husband and I are good companions. We know what each other likes, when we want to stop for the day and everything else," Tillman said.

Along the way, more and more women are starting to pick up the activity of motorcycling, Tillman said.

"When I first started, there weren't any other women. For years, motorcycling had a bad reputation. Way back when, it was just the Hell's Angels, and they really were hell's angels," Tillman said. "But now, you've got more and more women riding, businesspeople riding and it's becoming a more friendly group. I would miss it if I wasn't riding."

Tillman encourages other women to get involved, and she said some of the stereotypes she has heard are just that -- stereotypes.

"I hear women say that a machine is too big for them, but I tell them it's all in the twist of the throttle -- that's it," Tillman said. "If you don't want to get going too fast, don't twist that throttle as much. It's that easy. Too many women buy a little machine at first and then wish they had bought the bigger machine later."

Marketing motorcycles to women is another new trend, one Tillman is glad is taking place.

"They must know that women have deeper pockets," she said. "There's a good market out there for women. They're making machines lower to the ground, they're making them lighter so women can maneuver them better. Once they get on a machine, they realize there's nothing like the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth. It's a feeling of independence."

While the rides in the states are plenty of fun, Tillman said there is a joy to be had in the beauty her home state has to offer, especially when riding a motorcycle.

"Most people are too busy to notice everything around them. They're oblivious, driving down the highway with a cell phone in their ear. The scenery here is amazing -- you have to take time to enjoy it."