Clyde is Ready to Roll, now that summer is over

Clyde to Bounce,
Get him Better he rides me better than you do.



Oil changed valves adjusted ready to ride, and now summer is over, but I will be ready for May, question is will bounce be ready

Clyde

Update on the Old Marine

Today my Dad was moved out of intensive care and into a regular room. He is still receiving great care, and visits from the Marines, The VFW, the Moose Lodge, and several others. This makes it a lot easier on him since he is over 100 miles from home. He has also been walking around which is great cause Saturday he could not get his left leg to move at all.

Thanks to everyone that has prayed for his speedy recovery. Please do not stop, he lived a rock star lifestyle for years, and it is catching up with him. But he is doing better.

Bounce

Not as Lean, Not as Mean but Still a Marine

This post has been rattling around in my head since last Thursday morning. I just have not had the time, or even the desire to put the words out there. I received a voice mail from my younger Brother, that my Dad (Step Father, but he is my Dad) was in the hospital in Madison Wisconsin. I was of course on the road and about 600 miles away from him. I waited until a reasonable hour and started calling to find out what was up. Turns out my Dad, the Old Marine, who is not as lean, nor as mean but still a Marine, has landed in the Madison VA hospital. He was pretty sick, but it seems that he is still a fighting machine because he is getting better. He spent about seven days in intensive care, but should be moving to a regular room today. He is recovering, and I pray that I am half as tough as he is when I am 60. I will be updating how the Old Marine ( a nickname given to him while participating three times on Run For The Wall) is doing here as he progresses. Thanks to all his friends and mine for all the good words, and prayers.
Note to self do not fall asleep on any more hospital waiting room floors, they are hard and cold. Do get a blanket from the nice intensive care nurse (They keep them in a heater and they are soooooooo warm)
You may notice by the above note that I had a long weekend, but I am back on the road now, will be trying to get back and see my Dad and Mom and the rest of my Family a little more. After all I discovered that a person cannot work all the time no matter what the situation is, things can be replaced, family cannot.

Bounce

Another friend gone

I have a friend that passed away on Tuesday. His name was Tom Locket. I knew him as Tracker a road guard for Run For The Wall. He was a quiet guy and quite a guy at the same time. The only time I had more than a passing hello from him was a few years ago when I screwed up on the run. The pack was heading into Jefferson Barracks, and it was taking longer than normal to get turned around. We had well over 400 bikes to park and those of us that had been there before knew to be patient and be ready to move into the parking area. There were about twenty new folks in the pack ahead of me and they thought were were done. None of them had radios on their bikes, and they were shutting down and getting off their bikes. We still had almost 100 bikes on the freeway at this point. I had room and I was going to pull out of line and go up and inform them to be ready to move fast cause we still had a way to go before we got off the bikes. Just as I was thinking of doing this bone head move, Tom and Walrus came along, and if I had moved out they would have crashed into me. Later Tom told me to be patient and not make one bone head move worse by doing something that was not my job. He was right, he and Walrus were and are road guards and moving the pack is their job. Thanks Tom, you will be missed. Tom's Funeral is today, in Arkansas. I am in Tennessee so I won't be there, but I will say a prayer for Tom's family and all my friends that remain. I am better for having known Tom.

Bounce

Biker Buds? Or just standing up for what is right?

Last week I had the chance to visit with my Son in Colorado Springs. He took me to his favorite restaurant (more on that in a later post) and we had a great meal. Just as we were finishing breakfast the young lady that runs the restaurant realized she was out of cooking oil. It was a rush time, so since my Son and I were just killing time we offered to go get some more oil for her. She offered to buy our breakfast, but we told her no, we were heading over to the store anyway. When we parked our car and were walking up to the store entrance we witnessed what could have been a bad accident. A car that looked like it was waiting for the cross walk to clear suddenly backed up just as a motorcycle was pulling out behind the car. Needless to say the bike got smacked and went down. The rider was fortunate in that he did not appear hurt. The lady driving the car was indignant that the motorcycle got in her way. Her statement "I did not back into the motorcycle, I put my car in reverse to turn left and he hit me" was not as bad as her crack "You and your biker buddies can say anything you want, but I am in the right here". My son and I gave our names and phone numbers to the biker, after we helped him pick his bike up. When we came out of the store the lady announced that the police were not interested and were not coming out. The sad part is that she could have just as easily run down a pedestrian, or a child and she really did not care, it was not her fault that the bike got in her way. I think she was really more upset that she had to stay and give the biker her insurance information, this was delaying her important life. After hearing her two comments, I had to stop and tell her that I was sorry that I had witnessed her stupid act, but that backing up against the flow of traffic is illegal. She then told me that she would see me in court. I doubt that this will ever get that far, but if it does I will gladly appear. I just pray that this woman does not get so busy that she forgets she is driving and kills a pedestrian.

Bounce

Another Year of RFTW in the books

Well Run for the Wall is over again this year. Sadly I could not participate this year, but hope that all who did had a safe run. I also hope that all of them get home safely. There is a parade tomorrow to honor fallen heroes, and to remind a Government, that is mostly out of town, and out of touch, that we will never forget those that gave their all for our freedom. Next year All the Way? I do not know but I hope so. I do know that Dwayne has blogged the entire trip. Any that wish to see what the Run is like should follow the link below to the Motorcycle Muse. He writes better than I do, and he was there too.

More fun stuff to come. I am trying to write a book, and thanks to the efforts of Shoreparty, I have recovered all the data I have been collecting and typing over the years to that end. I reread Garrison Keillor, aka draft dodger, from two years ago, and my comments to that article. I hope those that participate in Rolling Thunder are allowed to parade and for those that think it is about noise pollution, I hope the make as much noise as they can. Being an American, and a Veteran, and a Patriot in this country is right, but being wrong is also allowed.

Bounce

No Run for Bounce this year

Due to circumstances way beyond my control I will not be participating in Run For the Wall this year. They left California today, and I am in Wisconsin. I intended to ride out to Wentzville, MO this coming Sunday and meet up with the Run on Monday there. But because of things that I cannot control I will not be there. I have posted all the information I can, my friend, Krazy Karl is running the truck communication team, and I think all will be well.

Clyde let me down sort of, he cost a little over $400.00 for maintenance this year, and that plus other problems eliminated any and all funds that I had available for the Run. I will miss my family and friends, but the mission will go on with or without Bounce and Clyde.

I will continue with my daily check calls, and will keep everyone posted on the status of both routes, but my information will be limited to what is available on the internet. I want to be there, but if I do not get back to work things will get really crazy. So I will be back at work when the Run hits Angel fire.

Bounce

Bounce do not worry I will get you to LA next year, honest
I mean I am a great motorcycle, just a little expensive to repair.
Clyde

A wake up and the Run Starts

Tomorrow Run For The Wall 2010 starts. Central Route will be on I-15 and I-40 and Southern Route will be on I-15 and I-10. There will be about 300 bikes on each route. There will be a lot of cages riding along ahead and behind this year too. We are getting older. We cannot forget the reason for this run. It is for all the troops that did not come home from all wars, and those that need to heal after being placed in harms way. Thanks to all of you who will be standing out in all sorts of weather to cheer the packs on. Every one of you is part of the reason that we do what we do.
23 years ago there were not very many participants, and there are new folks every year. Thanks to all the FNG's that join in this year. Thanks to all the towns that will host and feed the riders on the run. Thanks to all the truckers that will patiently and professionally deal with the packs. For the 1% that won't, well thanks to you to. Thanks to Glen Jones of Sirius Radio for all of his support too.

Bounce

Not all truck drivers just drive

About a month ago I met a driver that works for the same company I do. He is a truck driver, but he is also a videographer. He made videos for a living before he decided to drive truck. His name is Marcell, and he has some very High Tech equipment. He told me that he has about 75 hours worth of video from on the road and that he wanted to interview some drivers to go with the video that he has filmed. I was not surprised when he told me that he was having trouble getting folks to talk to him, especially if he had his camera with him. I think I surprised him when I told him I would not mind talking to him. Well anyway we arranged a time for an interview, over the phone. I did this last night, and we talked for over an hour and half. He asked some great questions, and I gave him the answers that I had. It was interesting. He is trying to bring out a part of trucking that most people do not ever see. I wish him luck in his endeavor.

Bounce

Runs to the Run have started

Well it has started again. Actually it started last week. Some of my Run Family have already arrived in CA. Others will get there today. Bones and his wife almost got snowed in in CO, but luckily Bones has a friend with a tow truck that has helped him out. I hope he is out of the snow. Of course I wish I could have caught him on Friday, cause two cents is a great price for a Gold Wing. The amazing part is that Bones mentioned that his wife has not complained. I told him she is just tougher than he is.

Krazy Karl, and Black Hat should be in CA today or early tomorrow. Shutterbug has been there for a week, Trunks lives there, so he just has a day trip to LA.

At any rate I hope the truckers are reading all the signs, and paying attention to the fact that a lot of motorcycles are on the road, heading west in small groups, and larger groups. I also hope that the bikers pay attention and stay upright and visible. As for the four wheelers, or cages, I hope both truckers and bikers stay out of their way and avoid any confrontation with them. A confrontation between a cage and a bike always ends badly, as does a confrontation between a truck and a 4 wheeler.

Be safe everyone. I will be posting what I can about the run here. Also the Motorcycle muse has a blog this year, I will link that here as soon as I can get the address.

Bounce