Another mission complete.

Now the mission is complete, and those that have gone all the way simply have to return home.  Be safe and remember you are headed home alone and unprotected.... Be Careful as you do it.  I do not want to lose anyone on the way home.   Take care and plan for next year, I am.

Bounce

Note To Clyde, The Creative one

Note to Clyde,
Quit playing with the format already, it looks cool right now, but maybe folks won't like it.   Comments please.

For those that do not know Clyde is the name given to one tough Yamaha motorcycle, I mean he took a hit from a big truck in 2007 and kept on running (note I never went down, just got stuck in the dirt alongside the road we were on when I tried to get out of the way of over 500 other bikes.) all the way to DC from New Mexico where the hit happened.  He is also part of the creative side of me I guess, so he is the changer of formats here.  Let him know if you like it or not.  I myself am not sure.

Bounce

Well RFTW 24 is over, and even as this being written plans for 25 are being made.

There are so many things I could write here, and most of them would not be understood.  I could not do any part of the Run this year, but in a way I did my part.  My job had me driving the route of both Runs days before the bikes did it.  Southern Route was not under much construction (at least the parts I drove on weren't), but the Central Route had a lot.  I let  folks know what they were riding into.  I tried to get home to ride to Goodland KS and do two days, but it did not happen.  I tried to get at least to Mt Vernon, IL and salute the pack in, but I got there a day late.  I met a few folks that were headed the same way, and stated that they were going to go next year.  I made sure they had the web page information and told them that if they had any questions they could post them on the forum. 

For me not doing the Run actually hurts.  I do not know why but it does.  Then today I got (well it could have been here a while because I have intentionally not been here to write cause it really does hurt) a comment from the very nice lady that rides a Vespa Scooter, she made me realize why it hurts so not to do the Run.  The people that do it, and support it, and the real reason it is done is why it hurts not to do it.

In the Past I have ridden for Matt Maupen, Wizard's Brother, Chuck Huskey a friend of mine from Basic Training who died during the cold war while supporting a weapons movement in South Dakota, and many many others.  I wrote a little while ago about driving from Ludlow, CA to Needles, CA and how special that route is to me.  But in truth the Run has changed my outlook on life, caused me to write here (some say that is not good because I tend to rant and ramble) and I have one of the largest extended families ever.  That family is sometimes dysfunctional, but it is still family, and I would pity anyone who decided to pick on any member of that family. 
I have ridden all the way or participated in 6 runs, and supported the last 8.  I once told Bones that I would do this until I could not climb onto a bike anymore, and if at that point there were still folks that had not been brought home I would ride in a cage, or a bus or whatever it took to get there and remind the people in power that at least I still care.
Some times I wonder if they even notice us, but then again I remember that even 15 years ago   POW MIA flags were not up on state capitals, or rest areas, or any where else, they are now.  So people notice.
I want to thank each and every rider this year and tell them they did a good job. I pray that the few that got hurt in KS heal fast.  I also want to thank every trucker that encountered the Run on either route this year, and thank them for allowing us to use roads that they pay for, and for having the patience to let them do what has to be done.  This mission will end someday, but it might take a line of bikes that starts in LA and ends in DC to do it. But then that would really be cool, 3200 miles of bikes,  that would mean that every bike that ends up in DC would have to get to LA and that it would take a lot more than ten days to get it done, but it would be noticed.
To those that complain about the traffic tie ups, and slow downs that the Run causes, keep complaining, but when you do tell your politician that if he or she did their job those bikes would not have to do what they do.
OK that is enough for one post.  Thanks all, especially Karen the scooter lady.  Clyde still thinks that little red Vespa is cute, and he has not gotten over being passed uphill in Arizona by it either.

Bounce

XXIV starts Wednesday

The twenty fourth annual Run for the Wall starts Wednesday.  I actually saw several folks headed to California.  They did not notice me I was just driving a truck.  Almost everyone of them passed me well, the few that didn't were moving so fast it didn't matter much.  Bones left me a voice mail the other day and said something that struck me pretty hard.  I won't be on the Run this year, and he said something like, that must be hard to do. I can't imagine how bad you feel.  He is right it actually hurts not to be there.  But there is always next year.  Family comes first, then extended family.  For my truck driving friends take a good look at this picture.  These folks are riding side by side, and are riding pretty tight, and they are a little over four miles long from end to end.  So if you come up on this group think about how hard it is to pass a truck that is governed about 3 mph less than you are, it takes about two miles to get past 70 foot of truck, passing this group will take at least ten miles to get done.  I would just slow down and let them go.  That would be the smart thing to do, but if you have to pass them remember they know you are there, they get reminded every day to give you all the room you need.  They get reminded every day that if a truck (or other vehicle passing) puts a blinker on give them room so they can get off the road or onto the shoulder.  When passing them if you see brake lights (if they are doing things right you won't) just remember they are adjusting speed to the bikes in the pack, they are not stopping.  If you see folks with signs and flags on the over passes, let off some steam they are there to support you too.
That's it for today.   I have to start writing emails to trucking companies to advise them on route of travel for both routes, and approximate numbers.  This is something I started seven years ago, and will keep doing every year.  If it helps one driver to be kept from being held up then it is worth it.

Bounce

Lots of bikes on the road

In the last two weeks I have been in nine different states, and have seen lots of bikes on the road, some in groups of more than five, and some twos and threes.  In Texas I saw a group riding north on I-35 that looked very tight, and riding in a formation. I could not tell if it was a club, or a Patriot Guard mission, or just some folks practicing for the Run, but they looked good.  Very good.  There are a lot of billboards out there reminding folks to look twice for bikes and bikers cause we are everywhere.   Just a reminder to my friends that ride, keep your eyes open, and concentrate on what you are doing, because you are almost guaranteed that the big trucks and four wheelers (aka cages) are not paying attention to you.  A biker that is aware of what is going on around him will make it where he is going a lot safer, than one that is not aware.   Remember those cages will not see you until after they hit you, then they will try to blame you for being in their way, so please stay aware, stay upright and visible.  Slowing down a little will help too.

Thanks everyone for reading these words, I will be updating the Runs progress, even though I won't be able to go all the way this year.  I have hopes of joining my Brother and his Wife at Goodland, KS and then going at least as far as Saint Louis, but I still do not know, an probably won't know till the kickstand is up.

Bounce

Time to Start writing again....or Ludlow to Needles...98 miles that gets to me

On Sunday I drove I-40 east out of Bartstow, CA.  and like always, at least since 2007, I tuned my radio to Sirius 60's on 6, for this stretch of road.  It can be pretty boring, nothing to look at but scrub bushes, cacti, and rocks.  As usual there was not much traffic so I sort of let my mind wander with the songs.  I was remembering the toughest motorcycle ride I ever did.  In May of 2007 I rode this section as escort to the RFTW missing man. This is a formation at the front of the pack, and a lot of folks think it is the easiest place to ride in a pack of 600+ motorcycles.  Those folks have never done it, or they would not think like that.  2007 was my fourth Run, and my third All the Way trip.  I requested to ride the missing man formation early, and really did not know if I was even going to be able to do it until that day.  The coordinator had told me that he wanted to have me do it from Ludlow to Needles, but that he would confirm it the leg before so that I could get out of the pack and get into position at the Ludlow fuel stop.   Normally I ride in the fourth platoon, no matter which platoon is in that slot, so that I can communicate with trucks, and relay communication from the front of the pack to the back.  Krazy Karl was doing this job during this leg (he does it way better than I do anyway, his radio is better, and folks listen when he talks.  He says I only have two moving parts and the same stuff comes out of both of them.  I will let the reader fill in the blanks here, one part is a three letter word, and the other is a five letter word.  He is probably right by the way.)
So I got into position right behind the Route Coordinator, and in front of the main chaplain, and Honey Buns, the Missing Man Coordinator, gave me a rundown on what was expected of me.  He then said that he would be watching me and would give me hand signals in my mirror, to watch for them.  Then he told me something that I will never forget "This is a tough spot to ride in, things happen in this formation , sometimes they are good sometimes they are bad, but do not worry I will take care of you, you will do fine."
I sat there on my bike waiting for the "Five Minutes" call ( this usually means the pack is rolling in two or three minutes by the way) and I remember thinking, what the heck is he talking about?   Things happen?  What could that mean?
Well the first thing I did was turn my CB radio off, did not need the distraction especially since I had just been told "things happen in this spot".  I thought I I had turned my satellite radio off too, but I had not, it just did not have any signal where we were sitting.   Then "Five Minutes" came and went and we were rolling.  About ten minutes late my satellite radio started receiving, and it was tuned to 60's on 6.   I was not really listening, I was concentrating on holding my interval and speed with Hammer (Ron Young), and in that concentration I started to feel like there was a bike next to me doing the same.  It was the strangest feeling I have ever had.  There was no bike there, but there was a well the only word I can use to describe it is a presence next to me.  It felt good, and I have never felt safer at anytime on my motorcycle.  The only riding I do is Run For The Wall, and that equates to a little over 6800 miles a year.  I get my practice riding out to LA, and I am pretty good at riding in the pack, but I also enjoy the job I have (more on that in a later post).  But this stretch, it was about 90 miles, maybe a little more, or a little less, was the most intense riding I have ever done.  Not because of the road, but because of the feeling that I could not make any mistakes, and that I had to be perfect because all the folks behind me were riding because of that one missing motorcycle, that for some reason seemed to be there, a little out of phase with us, but there never the less.
Some folks say FNG's should be the ones doing this, others say it should be Nam Vets, and still others think it should be only experienced riders. As for me it does not matter, some one is going to do it.  All I can say is that they better be ready for the toughest ride in their life, because that missing man is watching too, and thanking each and every one of us for not forgetting.

Bounce

Run for the Wall

First heard this song in 2005, and I for one will never forget. Thanks Joey, and may God Bless all of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, and Coast Guardsmen. They fight so that we can be free.