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I can remember a brief conversation I had at a café counter in a small town in Southwest GA, "johnny law don't like motorsickles in his town", that was my cue to leave, this was in the mid 70's.
Sounds a lot like back road traveling on about any kind of bike in the 60's. Sometime in the early 70's, seemed like it toned down a lot, maybe because the bikes were actually getting big and seemed threatening. My last trip on a small bike was on a Honda 305 in early 1970, and I got a lot of that kind of reaction, but sometimes I was in places with dirt roads and folks that rarely saw a motorcycle, not many places left like that.
Haven't gotten much attention since, and these days I get almost no reaction from my Harleys, figured people were just used to bikes now, but then I got a Ural sidecar rig, and have never had so much attention on anything, anywhere, before. Makes me want to put a sidecar on the Tour Glide...
There's plenty of conversation riding solo when you're female. "you ride that?" "how can you manage it, isn't it heavy?" "you rode all the way from Florida?" "does your husband let you?"
I pulled into a gas station in Dublin GA this summer to escape torrential rain and ask for directions for a hotel for the night. A guy came over to me and said 'get out of here quick this is not an area for a girl on a motorcycle'. So I left. He did give me good directions though.
You must be a friendly looking guy, OP. In all of my motorcycle travels starting back in the Seventies, nobody really paid much attention to me or my bike(s) but they didn't give me any trouble either.
I will enlarge the Utah MacDonald's story where I chatted with Grandpa, his daughter and husband and their kids.
So.... I was heading south into Moab and planned to go into Arches National park. But the line up at the entrance was all the way back to the highway, so I decided to leave it for another time in town. I will go back when I have more time, take a motel for a few days and do some touring.....Anyways, I head into town and look for the Golden Arches, which is always my coffee stop if there is one. It is on the south end of town and I pull in and park. I get inside and wait in line, get my coffee and head outside to sit. A woman comes over and says to me "We saw you up the road a bit. I recognize the bike and you and your scarf. My father (the grandpa) said to us ... Look at him, I bet he is a Vietnam Vet, sure looks the part.... are you?"
I said no, I am a Canadian, and actually, I was in the Anti War movement in Vancouver back in the late 60's and early 70'. She starts to laugh and and said "I will tell him to stop profiling people"
We all sat close and chatted, me asking them where they where going, them asking me. Grandpa was a Libertarian, she was a Democrat, her husband was a Republican, and the kids where Uninterested. Of course, as a Canadian, they wanted to know what we thought of Trump. I offered no opinion, and probably said something like "not my business".
I can understand the confusion on Grandpa's part.... this is how I would have looked riding down the road.
A couple from Asia somewhere asked if they could get a picture of me. I said sure, and then they took this one of me on my iPhone. This was shot close to the top of The Beartooth. I stayed in Cody for a few days and did the Beartooth/Chief Joseph pass route.
I know what your saying I've traveled a lot on the bike. But I've delivered new Ford trucks to the dealers all over the US the small towns on the back roads That was always my goal of the day to stop and eat where the locals did so I could chat with them
You certainly fit the profile of what John Q. Public expects a "biker" to look like - leather, denim, facial hair, no helmet (where permitted by law of course).
It would be an interesting social experiment for you to repeat your trip on the same motorcycle, but do it clean-shaven and wearing a full-face helmet, hi-viz textile jacket, and matching pants. I'd bet a paycheque you wouldn't get the same treatment from the people you meet.
Which means it's more about the man and the way he looks, than the machine.
I've ridden thousands and thousands of miles down in the USA, and have had many similar experiences. And that's with Reaper who is black and covered in skulls, heheh... I love riding down south.
You certainly fit the profile of what John Q. Public expects a "biker" to look like - leather, denim, facial hair, no helmet (where permitted by law of course).
It would be an interesting social experiment for you to repeat your trip on the same motorcycle, but do it clean-shaven and wearing a full-face helmet, hi-viz textile jacket, and matching pants. I'd bet a paycheque you wouldn't get the same treatment from the people you meet.
Which means it's more about the man and the way he looks, than the machine.
I did that type of thing last year. I had a BMW GS1100, Klim riding pants and jacket, Shoiei Neotech full coverage helmet, Sigi boots and rode much of the same roads.
I did not have any of the interaction I had this year.
I do agree with you that i had the Biker look, and that would have attracted some, but I also think it was the Harley Davidson badge and recognition it gave. Also, the Blue color had some effect.
Here is a shot of me and the Bimmer at Mt Rainier. It has a much more closed off look than the Harley Pict of me on The Beartooth.
Not for nothing, but there where a few days I wished I had all this riding gear this year, but never the bike. The ElectraGlide fits me much better and is much more comfortable than the GS.
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I love riding down south. 
