pictures of the third leg of my Run to the Run

here are pics of my junk that I loaded into Clyde, and before and after loading pictures of Clyde, and me ready to roll.  I also got a really nice picture of the sunset at York, Nebraska too.

Goofy I know but hey it is my blog.  It is not dedicated to Run For the Wall, but I am.

Safe and Sound in Coloraodo Springs, and except for Vail Pass, it is an all downhill trip from here.

I am safe and sound at my Brother Bob Shore Party's house. He and his wife Penny aka Sage Owl, allow me to visit here every year on my Run to the Run.  Bob and I leave for California on Sunday, which is Mothers Day.  I left early from Wisconsin to avoid rain, and except for a few sprinkles in Denver I did it.  First time in 10 trips that I didn't get wet.

The pictures above deserve some explanation. The first is the center of Clyde's fairing, it is a decal that Shore Party put on him in 2005.  Gives him character, and reminds me of why I ride.
The Second is Krazy Karl Hartz, in DC with a T-shirt some cool school kids gave him at the wall.  Karl doesn't ride with us anymore, and I miss him and his guidance and support on the Run.  Well I miss it in person.   He follows with this blog and my emails that I send to Stevens Transport folks, and he reminds me of things, and chews on me for others.  Which is good keeps me honest, but I still miss his Yankee Voice on the CB.

The last picture is of a Security Police Badge with a black ribbon on it.  That is for all the guys and gals that have lost their lives in the line of duty, protecting and serving.  I dedicated my ride one year to a friend from Technical School and Air Base Ground Defense School, he died in a chopper crash a long time ago.  I have ridden for him pretty much every time I have done the Run.  Chuck I miss you too.

We had a discussion way back in 1977 about what we would do after we got out of the Air Force (we called it the "war" back then but as a joke).  We decided that we would grow pony tails and beards and ride motorcycles from coast to coast (Like Bronson  a 70's Television show) and that too became a joke.  We needed it cause Tech school was tough, and the Air Base Ground Defense school was tougher.  But we got through it.
So Chuck, I now have a pony tail (will get pictures and maybe a video of it getting cut off this year.  I plan to donate it to Locks of Love in Chuck's name) that will be cut off on the Run this year.  

OK that is it for today, have a check call to type.

Thanks everyone for reading this blog.  If you enjoy it leave a comment, if you want to know something leave a comment, if you don't like something leave a comment.
I moderate the comments, but I do not edit them. Unmoderated comments open the door for spammers and kids at Rainelle sometimes read this thing.

Thanks again,
and Clyde you did great getting me here old horse, keep up the good work

Bounce
The Truck Whisperer

Thoughts from Clyde

Bounce changed my oil, kept my battery warm and charged all winter, had that wonderful Troy Donahue @ Donahue Super Sports check me and my tires over.  He has not overloaded me this year, so I guess I will heed Marmoset's advice and keep the rubber on the road and the shiny side up.

Day 1 of my Run to the Run

Not real exciting stuff.   I was pretty happy though, got everything on the bike in about 5 minutes.  It all fits, and I have room for a passenger too.  I am camping so I have a tent, a sleeping bag, and a pillow.  I also packed enough clothes that I won't have to do wash but once or twice on the Run.  Add to that my laptop, the Camera that Stevens gave me so I could take pictures, tools, and leathers.  Everything fit nicely and is balanced well.  \ I even have room for some souvenirs, now if I just had the cash for them.  Planning checklist

1) laptop packed, check

2) tent packed, check

3) sleeping bag (I actually have two just in case it gets warm) check

4) Air Mattress and inflater packed, check

5) home made trail mix  packed, check

6) camera packed, check

7) Sirius Radio system rewired and installed, check

8) Garmin GPS mounted, check

9) Daily check call for today sent check

All I have left to do is finish this blog entry eat dinner, get some sleep (yeah right like most of us on the Run I feel like a kid at Christmas probably not much sleep tonight.  If I wake up early then breakfast early and leave early.  Weather looks good all the way across to Colorado.  A little cool in the morning, but no rain called for.  It actually snowed last night abot 100 miles north of here.  Wheres Homer mentioned snow on Face Book, and look what happens.

That is it for today.

Bounce

News flash... There is an Vietnam Vet riding a three wheeled scooter from Utah to Florida If you see him thank him for his service and welcome him home.

I copied the following from a post on Face book from a friend to the Mayor of Gallup, NM, another friend"

Mayor its close to time for the run lil and I are excited I would like you to know that you will be having a Viet Nam vet coming through Gallup soon. Ray Black is his name and he is on a 3 wheel scooter with a trailer on his way from Utah to Florida. At this time Ray is In Ship Rock till at least Tuesday, Our chapter of V V A 961 is sponsoring his journey. You can't miss his rig or him very colorful. Please tell people you know to watch for him and check on him for us. many of the R F T W may see him so they should know to watch for him. It is going to take him about 83 days to finish his trip tell all your biker buddies. It would be a good news scoop.

thanks Jackie see you soon

Doug & Lillian Hunt
central route merchandise

If you see this guy and you are driving your truck let off a little steam to show you appreciate him.  If you get the chance thank him for his service and welcome him home.  He is not doing Run for the wall, he is just making his way to Florida.

They call it house keeping, I call it things I forgot

Just a short post today,
I forgot to mention a few things about my Run to the Run and what I do on Run for the Wall.


First, Stevens Transport is a great company to work for, and they support all their employees, and they have a lot of Veterans working for them.  So if you know anyone looking for a good paying job that is just getting out of the military, tell them to look up a Stevens Recruiter.  Truck driving is not for everyone, there is so much more to it than just the driving, but until the Government regulates it to the point that no one will do it, it is a pretty rewarding way to work.l

Stevens paid for my airfare home and back to work, not because they have too, but because I asked for the support, Stevens gave me a great camera so there will be pictures, and now that I have the right video card videos too.

Stevens is giving me the time to do the run, they allow me the extended leave of absence needed to participate.   I had to earn the money to cover my bills for May and part of June, and of course the cost of the run, but that was easy since they dispatched me 141000+ miles in 10 months.

My Wife lets me work harder than I have too, so that I can do the Run, but even with all the miles I get home when I want to, and when she needs me to be there.

The only requirement I received from Stevens Management was to update them with a email on my progress, when they said that I said "Sure what is the email address, I will add you to my list"  they gave it.

So now it is May, I will be posting here pretty much every day.

Here is what I sent to the 38 folks on my email list today

Hi all,

If you are getting this it is because you are on my list to receive information about my Ride to California and more importantly Run For The Wall.  For the folks in safety the web page is rftw.org.  There are three routes and they are listed there.  Please try to let our drivers know that while the Run is moving traffic will be disrupted.  Departure and arrival times are listed for each route.  I will try to give numbers of bikes on all three, but Central route, the one I am on is the only one I can promise accurate numbers for.   

These emails will have pictures, and this is not the complete list, and it is not a closed list.

Please share these emails as you see fit, and if there is anyone who wants to be added let me know.  Now that I have figured out the new yahoo, it is pretty easy to add to it.

Thanks again to those who made this possible, list is almost as long as the list for this email, but you folks know who you are.

Dave Talley

Aka  Bounce the Truck Whisperer  (Cause someone has to calm them down)

Aka  Dances with Semi's

Aka  Semi Slayer   (Clyde the motorcycle has promised not to damage any Semi's on the road to Angel Fire this year. But that won't be a problem since the State of New Mexico is shutting the road down completely once we are on it.)

The story of why I call my motorcycle Clyde is in this blog, and the story of how I became Bounce on RFTW is also in this blog.

Thanks for reading....I am stoked and ready to roll.

At home packing to start 3rd leg of my Run to the Run

I made it home yesterday evening.  The flight was good, but going from +70 to +49 was to say the least a  little uncomfortable.  But I made it.

Today I spent the day with my step grandson.  Mostly goofing off. This is a picture of Jake and his buddy the Michelin Man at Wausaau Sam's Club.


We had lunch there.  Fresh fruit, steak, BBQ pork, chips and dip, lemonade, tea, hot dogs, cheese cake, pop corn, and a black bean burger.(Jake didn't even try that)  Great way to kill the hour we had to wait for tires on my jeep to get rotated.  We walked around and checked all the sample booths.  We found 12 of them.  When Jake tried to sample the Mike's hard Lemonade, the lady asked for his ID and he told her he left his wallet at home.  She told him no ID no sample.  Since I was driving I didn't sample that either, but the Italian Ice Lemonade was pretty good.
Then I went home changed Clyde's oil, set up my tent then repacked it.  It is new, I am going to donate my old one toe Goodwill.  The tent is still in great shape, but the new one fits exactly into the side bag on Clyde, and is a little bigger than the old one, but packs up smaller, go figure.

I bought some nuts, chocolate covered raisins, generic M&M's and some mini pretzels.  Mixed them all in a big bowl, and no I have three large bags of trail mix for the trip.  After much debate I think I am going to take fleece sleeping bag, instead of my heavier mummy bag.  All I have left to do is pack clothes.  Trying to decide if I am going with vacuum bags, or a waterproof duffel bag.  I will make that call tomorrow.

Thanks Stevens Transport, Angela Horowitz, Cat Ambrose, Bonnie Dorsey, Don V, John Norris.  Without you folks I wouldn't be able to do this trip.  J=R Express was also pretty good at getting me to the airport on time.  If I forgot anyone I am sorry.  a lot of folks have helped way more than I could list here.

Thanks again everyone.

Weather outlook till Thursday, warm and sunny from here to Colorado Springs.  Provided I can get there by Thursday.

To those on the list, daily check calls start Monday evening.  If you want to be on that list comment here with your email. I will post the comment, not the email.

Thanks for reading

IT IS MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yeah

Just a quick word on comments here and why I moderate them

All comments added here will be posted in their entirety no matter what.  Bad language will be redacted (nice way of saying I will delete bad words).  During the run kids read this thing, so I moderate, it might delay your comment till I get online and post it, but that is all.  Do not hesitate to let me know if you disagree with my thoughts. 
Thanks to all who have read these musings, and thanks again to Stevens for letting me do the Run again this year.

First Leg of my Run to the Run complete....Great Day

Ask me where I work, and I will tell you, I drive truck for Stevens Transport, Dallas, TX.  Ask what I think about the Company, and the folks that run it, and 100% of the time you will get a positive response.  Even when I am having a really bad day I think I work for some pretty good folks.  I have been a Company driver, a Lease driver, a true Owner Operator (Well I was buying my own truck until someone offered me a lot of money for it) and am back to being a Lease driver again. 

The work is good, the miles are good, and the pay is great.  Do I complain, well yes sometimes I do.  I know that there are places that I might go and might make more money, but Stevens has been good to me.  Their checks always clear the bank, they always get me home when I want too be there, and they have bent over backwards to help me support my Dad when he needs me.

Last year I went to the Company, specifically Angela Horowitz, and requested help in doing Run for the Wall.  She asked what it was, and when I explained that it was a mission of POW/MIA awareness, and of healing for Veterans of all wars she said two things, and the second one floored me.  I was almost ready to call 911 and have paramedics make sure I had not died and gone to heaven.

After a quick explanation of the Run, what we do, what we stand for, and who we do it for, she said the following, and this is a direct quote  "I think that is wonderful.  What can we do to help you do this?"  Now do not take this wrong, Stevens has been supporting me for years in doing this Run.  The Alliance Fleet Management Supervisor has always supported me, but Angela is VP of Contractor Operations (May have the title wrong, but you get the drift) and she is also Steve Aarons' daughter so she has some pull at this company.
I am very grateful for all the support, and without it I would have had to pull out of the Run for the Wall last year, simply because I had not saved enough to get all the bills covered and take the time it takes to do it.

So today I completed my 4th or 5th lease, depending on how you count and whether or not you count the years that I owned my own truck as 2 or 1 lease.   I will sign another one in a heartbeat, and fair warning to the folks at Run for the Wall, I will do it till I have to ride a cage, and then if everyone is not home, I will keep doing it, because if we do not do this Congress will forget everyone the have ever sent in harms way and left behind.  That is unacceptable.

What is very acceptable is working with a Company like Stevens, that treats its drivers as members of the overall team.  Turnover when I started there was pretty high, but there are about 300 to 600 drivers that have been here for over 5 years, which in this industry is pretty good. Do people quit, all the time, but they also get rehired all the time.

Tomorrow I get my picture taken with Angela, my Driver Manager, and Don V, my financial adviser and a big honking $2661.00 lease completion check.  I worked for it, but they could hold it till I come back.  Please feel free to share this story, because it is great, and if you know some one thinking of being a truck driver, if they are good folks, send them here.  About 1 in a hundred finishes the first year, but that is higher than the industry standard.  Trucking is not easy, if it were there would be no need for trainers or recruiters, no one would ever quit.

OK enough truck stuff.  All Bike stuff for the rest of the Month.  Well there will be some truck stuff, as I am a truck whisperer on the Run, and as I talk about my tasks there I will naturally relay some of what truckers say to us and about us.

Thanks you in a Big way to the Alliance team that makes my annual participation possible.

Dave Talley
aka Bounce

Almost ready....when did I get so old?

Well I am almost through with the packing checklist.

Tent unpacked, all poles work and it has no rips or tears (I did have to cut off about 8 inches of rip chord on one pole because it had stretched {may need new tent next year}) tent repacked and back in bag and on bike. CHECK
Replacement GPS bought on EBAY installed and updated with route (Well almost updated with route that will be an ongoing project while I am on the road for the next three weeks)  Check

New weather protection case for Sirius XM Radio installed.  Check
Sleeping bag found opened aired repacked and on bike.  Check
New Helmet Visor ordered (it is in and I pick it up today) Check
Rain Gear checked and repacked and on bike.  Check
Money for run saved and in bank.  Check  (This was a lot easier this year than last thanks to Stevens Transport.  The VP of Contractor Relations is a fan of the Run  BIG TIME and I actually had enough cash left over from last year to pay for this year.  
Change Jug for run money put back in closet to save for next year (Because of Stevens Transport I did not need this money this year, so there will be that much more next year) Check
Now all I have to do is figure out how I got so old, because everything hurts.  I did get to ride about 200 miles this week, then of course temps went from +60 to +30 and it snowed 6 inches the other day.

So I am ready to go.  Will change Clyde's oil tonight  (Sorry Clyde I referred to you as bike several times above)  Then everything is ready to go, just counting days.

I really hope I find someone on the Central Route that wants to help with the Truck communication thing. I can do it alone, but it is much easier with a radio in front to relay info, that way I know it gets relayed.

Well that is it for now, have to get ready to go back to work.  Thanks to my wife Judy for letting me do this every year.  She had surgery last week and is doing well, a little weak, and sore but doing fine.

Bounce