Summer Ride

Me and DC are going to see some parts of the contry on our bikes this summer. We're meeting in Kansas City and will leave there Sunday afternoon. the goal is to be back in Indy by the following Saturday. Of course we'll start here in Indy. This round trip route is 3,929 miles. The B to C leg is just under 1,000 miles. With exits and what not it should exceed 1k. That will earn us the Iron Ass award.

The fun starts July 20. this is just a proposed route... things could change.



View Larger Map


It's gonna be a blast!!

Wish you could join us.

I So Miss The Mountains

Born in south-western PA and lived my later teen years in east TN taught me to love the mountains. I've traveled through them before, taking pictures to show friends and to help me re-live the awe I feel every time I pass through, but the film never seems to be wide enough, or real enough. These days I just drive (or ride) through and look around in wonder. It is amazing I don't crash and burn.

I took these pictures coming through Bean Station, TN. One is looking down about 1,300 feet to Cherokee Lake. The gas station pic is hard to realize what you are looking at. On one side of the road is a gas station. The other is a rock wall about 75 feet high. Then of course there is the ever present kudzu. So pretty and green but it will over take everything. And a tunnel. That was cool on the bike. The rumble was awesome.

I wish I cold down load the experiences, the fall colors starting to over take the green, the smells of home heating fires from the night before. You really should ride the roads less traveled. It is good for the soul.

Asphalt Alligators, Wheel Ruts and Self Racking

I went for a ride this weekend. Went to see my brother, in east Tennessee. Odometer puts me at 895 miles. Not bad for leaving at about 1400 Saturday afternoon and getting back about 2100 Sunday evening.

On the way down, somewhere around Lexington, cruising along at about 80, in heavy traffic, I catch a van out of the corner of my eye, he swerves suddenly. Before you get all panicky, he was two lanes away, but still, swerving your car near a motorcycle rider will get you 'looked' at... I realize he was dodging a piece of truck tire and not on a mission to freak out the motor cycle guy two lanes over.. *deep breath*. He missed it, well most of it. Clipped a little piece and sent it flying up in the air behind him. Keep in mind all of this happened in a second, maybe less. When I refocused my attention back to the task at hand and my lane... there, right in front of me was the rest of the tire. OH SHIT!!! Do my own version of the swerve manuver and thankfully missed the tire. PHEWWW!!! That was close. Bad enough hitting one of those alligator bastards while driving a car, but on a bike... at 80 mph... I don't even want to think about it.

You know how wheel ruts can pull you along some times... kinda like keeping you in your lane or pushing you out... Some where else on this ride, I found some nice big ruts. You know the kind, left by the double wide tires of 10,000 semis. Again, I'm just cruising along, minding my own business, probably 80 again... maybe a little more... turn signal, check mirror, look past shoulder, move to the left to pass. OH HOLY SHIT!!! HANG ON!!! This crazy wheel rut throws me into the next lane like I was on a sport bike. Sling, zip!! now I correct the sudden movement and ofcourse come back the other way... Got way to damn close to the car I was passing. Like "reach out and touch the fender" close. Nothing like wheels going sideways and a rapidly approaching car fender to wake your shit up.

And lastly, I hit a hole. Good gawd it was a hole. Some times they are bone chairing and can make that cracking sound in your neck. But this one, this hole in the road was an over achiever. Front wheel hits "slam"! Head snaps forward, shoulders are stressed. The sudden impact has started a momentum change, I'm kinda slouching down, head and body leaning forward from the drop in the front wheel... then the rear wheel hits "crash"!! The bike falls out from under me and as I fall trying to keep my seat on the seat, the rear wheel hits the other side of the hole and comes up to meet me, smacks me in the ass and launches me into the air. I have no idea how far or how long I was hovering above the seat, but it was long enough in the zero gravity area of a free fall that the 'boys' moved... no longer in a nice tucked in spot on the seat sublimely enjoying the rumble that IS Harley Davidson... NOooo!!! They decided to go on a "walk about". Crush!! *sound of glass breaking* (at least that is what it felt like...) Oh God, I'm gonna throw up! (the guys can relate, I'm sure. ladies, ask your fav man about being hit so hard you feel like up-chucking...) I came down HARD on my own shit... That was like 6 hours ago... they're still sore. And I think the left one is swollen...

If this was my last ride for the season (yeah right!!) it was a good one. Got to visit with the lil'bro, had some Jack, had some wings, some Jack, a hot dog... more Jack. Watched The 300 and..... ummmm more Jack (he says I drank half a bottle. I think he poured it down the drain...) Ran over to the parents house, said hi. Visited for an hour or two. (the next morning... wonder if they could tell I was still... toasted) Made it home in time to watch the Steelers loose, bastards!

So, how was your weekend?

Last Saturday

Saturday... nothing went as planned. Had to stop by the shop and get some pics of the old bike. Still trying to get it re-built with out taking out a 2nd on the house. Should have been there 30 min max. We were there 90min... Frank, the owner is 60+ and can talk bikes all day. He knows so much and has such great stories. I just can't tell him 'I have to go'. Had to meet a co-worker in about 60 miles west of the bike shop. On the way we swung by my office and I showed Don around, again, should have been 20 min but we were there almost an hour. From the town out west, we had to be at Cam Atterbury at by 1 (about 110 miles south). We left Lebanon at 12:30... we didn't make it by 1. They (the SAR team we were to meet) were running late too, so this was ok. We were there to hide for some search dogs and had to leave at 4 to be about 75 miles north at 5. We left Atterbury at 5:45... Made it to Fishers by 6:30. Yep, 75 miles in 45 min.

250-300 miles, nothing goes as planned... It was a good day!

2%

Jeese!! I don't travel abroad much. My trip to Scotland was 30 years ago.

How about you? Travle much?

WOW!! What a Ride!!

Life's is not a journey to the grave; to arrive safely in a well preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, totally worn out, penniless, and severely scarred shouting "HOLY FUCK.....WHAT A RIDE!!!"

The past week was... stressful. I decided to ‘ride’ Friday after work to clear my mind. It works, it’s great. I had to run home first and check on a couple things... so I didn’t get out on the road until 7.

“A Ride” – I have recently come to find out that what I call a ride and what others call a ride seem to be very different. Most people go 10-15 miles. Cruise around their neighborhoods, explore some other neighborhoods. With the speed limits, they are gone 20-40 min. I ‘ride’ (especially if it is a clear my head ride) with two basic philosophies. 1 – It’s not the destination, it’s the ride. Basically just go. No plans, no place I ‘have’ to be, just riding to ride. 2 – Sometimes it takes a full tank of gas to clear your head.

Number 2 is a big one for me, I left at 7, got home about 11:30. Rode 135 miles. Not quite a tank of gas but 90% of it anyway. Cleared my head well. On the last 40-50 miles I caught up with a Porsche. We ‘raced’ along at 80-90 miles per hour down I-69. Me leading, him leading. Running in and out of traffic. It WAS A BLAST!!

I am aware that this ‘pushing the edge’ stuff is part of who I am (lots of reflecting this weekend). The adrenalin is... cool. I enjoy it.

Sooo... If I have another close call, I’ll try to post it here, not looking for sympathy. Just to give you all the opportunity to say ‘told you so’. And to give me an outlet for some of this adrenalin.

EDIT - fixed typos...

It Was a Good Day

Saturday started at 0300. It should have started at 0900 but the missus wanted to have breakfast Saturday morning before I went on a PGR mission, with some PGR folks she hasn’t seen in a while. Well, then she proceeds to say out till 0100 and informs me as she crawls into bed, that she is gong to sleep in... Jeese. Those people she hasn’t seen in a while are going to be there so I CAN’T sleep in.

So, I’m up at 0330 (read O-Butt thirty), dragging my tired ass around (I was up till 2300 hours Friday night trying to sew... (that’s another blog post at another time, promise) trying not to wake anyone.

It was 38 degrees here Saturday morning and predicted to be 68 for a high. Leather was the uniform for the day but I had to be sure there was room in the saddle bags to put things as I warmed up.

0400 - I head out. After a summer of 33 90+ degree days my blood has thinned, bad. My coat wasn’t zipped completely, no gloves and no head covering except for a very thin skull cap. And for those that don’t know, no windshield (a.k.a. - wuss shield) I love the cold, I am almost never cold. Last year I rode in 20 degree weather.

It is 8 miles from my house to the first meeting place. How do I say this... FUCK me it was cold!!! By the time I got to the first McDs (and there was no interstate riding) I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. My gawd I was cold. On go the gloves, skull mask, zip the coat up to my neck and zip the sleeves closed. I was better, and we were on to the second stop for breakfast and hot coffee. I was much better.

Enough about me. The real reason for Saturdays trip. The 1744th was coming home!! 150 members of The 1744th Transportation Company were coming home after 17 months in the sand box, all of them!!

We, about 20 of us, met with them at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, IN. We rode up I-65, around Indy on I-465 then west on I-74 to the Indiana Illinois line. At the IL line about 50 Illinois riders joined us and we went on to I-39 and up to Streater, IL.

The IL State police escorted us the whole way. About 10 miles into IL the bridges were full of people waiving flags and waiving at their Illinois sons and daughters coming home. At the Streater city limits we were picked up by two fire trucks and a Streater city police officer. Sirens screaming, lights flashing, we entered the town. The streets were lined with flags and well wishers. Children, grand parents, parents, brothers and sisters lined the streets with signs ‘welcome home’, ‘we are proud of you’, welcome home John, your family missed you’.

In the central park are of the town several hundred (maybe a thousand, I can’t estimate crowds) people were waiting. As the heroes got off the buses you could hear the families call out ‘Johnny, we missed you’. The solders, not yet relieved from duty, had to off load and form ranks one more time.

As they walked by, many... most were mugged by family. Long hugs from tearful family. A husband smelling his now year old son for the first time. A mother holding her now walking and nearly talking 3 year old.

As the solders were being dismissed we crossed the street and had some late lunch at the local VFW. Shortly after that we left.

Here are a couple videos and pics. They’re from my phone, so give me a break on the quality, but I think you’ll get an idea of the festivities.







Now for the mission of missions and to date, the greatest honor I have had with the PGR.

While we were in Camp Atterbury some of us decided to ride on to Illinois. The reason, the Sr. Ride Captain from IL, Greg Bowman died last weekend in a motorcycle accident. He had just logged 20K miles in 20 weeks, on PGR missions. Because our first mission is funerals of KIA and in effect Greg was in action, in our minds. We reasoned that many of the IL riders would be there and not able to meet the 1744.

News of Greg’s death had reached these troops. In a brief but very honorable ceremony Caption Jennings presented us, the riders going all the way to Streater, IL, with a flag. Not just A flag, THEIR flag. Yeah, the flag they had flown in Iraq for 16 months at their duty station. It was their request, that we present this flag, as a token of their appreciation for his service to Americas Military, to Mrs. Bowman.

During our quick dinner, it was decided that I *gulp* should present the flag to Mrs. Bowman... wow, this is more of an honor than I can describe. I’m glad it was about an hour to Princeton, IL because I spent the time composing my self and trying to find some words that might express what I was feeling and what needed to be said.

When we got there, the official service was over so we went to the Bowman’s house. About 25 members of the family were there and gathered around and I presented THE flag. It has never been harder for me to speak. I think I did ok.

20 hours after leaving home, 675 miles passed. 150 Heroes are home. THE flag has been presented. A widow knows her husband will not be forgotten. Tears were shed. Hugs were exchanged. New friendships have been formed.

And I am humbled.

It was a good day.

Rally 2 - We Support Our Troops

I woke up at 7ish Sunday morning and still couldn’t stand real straight. After some breakfast; grits, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy and 2 or 3 bottles of water, I felt a little better. I was real glad I had not set up the tent, rolling the sleeping bag was challenging enough.We left about 8:30 for downtown Indy. It was a bout a 2-2.5 hour ride. I was SOOoooo glad we stopped about half way. I bought a 32 oz Gator Aid and chugged it down. I was finally beginning to feel ‘human’.

We were scheduled to meet with ALR (American Legion Riders) and MCR (Marine Corps Riders) in an old mall parking lot on Indy’s east side and ride west into down town. Lloyd was there with water (good thing, it was HOT!!). And Terry was there with about 175 3x5 flags.



This was our second year to do this rally. It is cool, the group www.USMCFamilies.com puts the whole thing on. All we really have to do is line the steps with flags.

This year, they decided we ‘needed some honor’ and had us head up the steps while a band played a biker/patriotic song. The singer had been there last year and was inspired to write and perform for us this year.






So, we took our place along the stairs of the War Memorial in Indy. We had about 100 people holding about 100 flags. It was a sight to see. (l got pictures, oooo, aaaahh).

From somewhere (about half way through) a group of political supporters that we don’t care for decided to walk by yelling some crap... heh!! you should have seen 100 leather clad biker types head down the stairs with flags in hand. A rough line was formed and they passed on by. Apparently headed down to a rally of their own. The neatest part was the folks standing around watching asked if they could have a flag and join us. Before they could get by, almost all of Terry’s 175 flags had been grabbed up and were flying!!! It was FANTASTIC!!!

One of the speakers L/CPL Klay South (fonder of Veterans of Valor http://www.veteransofvalor.org/ ) just had to thank us. Said something about there still being fighters in America and we will win this with people like this supporting us. He made us blush. LOL!!!

One of the highlights of the rally was John Kiger (country singer). He preformed his newest single “Ooh Rah Up” (he spells it oorah up). WOW!! What a powerful song and so true to the Marine spirit. You can find the song at www.oorahup.com. It is a 99 cent download and all of the proceeds go to USMC Families for the month of September. How cool is that!!! This is a video from the rally, but PLEASE, go down load the song... it's only 99 cents!!





The rally finished with the members of USMC Families reading the names of all Indiana’s fallen heroes.

It is my honor to list their names here.




Allen Jr. Ronald D. - Specialist
Amos II John D. - Private 1st Class
Babb Brock A. - Sergeant
Balmer Ryan A. - Technical Sergeant
Baughman Nathaniel S. - Corporal
Beadles Jason J. - Corporal
Bechert Michael A. -
Black Jarrod W. - Sergeant
Blair Jonathan F. - Corporal
Blakley Richard A. - Staff Sergeant
Blodgett Clinton C. - Specialist
Blue Shaun M. - 1st Lieutenant
Boling Craig A. - Sergeant 1st Class
Brown James - Lance Corporal
Buckley Roy R - Specialist
Carter Curtiss A. -
Childress Kyle William - Sergeant
Clemens Brian -
Colburn Gavin J. - Private 1st Class
Colvill Jr. Robert E. - Sergeant
Corban Jeffrey W. - Specialist
Davenport James R. - Lance Corporal
Deblanc Darren A. - Private 1st Class
Depew Cory R. - Private
Faulkenburg Steven W. - Command Sergeant Major
Faulkner James Daniel - Sergeant
Fiscus Michael -
Flanigan William T. -
Frantz Matthew C. - Specialist
Frickey Armand L. -
Frigo Nathan J. - Petty Officer 1st Class
Frist Luke P. - Specialist
Fritsche William R. -
Gamble Jr. Carter A. - Specialist
Gonzalez Zachariah -
GramesSanchez David J. - Lance Corporal
Hallal Deryk L. - Private 1st Class
Halling Jesse M. - Private
Hartge Nicholas S. - Private 1st Class
Harting Adam J. - Specialist
Heath David M. - Sergeant
Hensel Shawn D. - Private 1st Class
Hester Charles B. - Private 1st Class
Hill Joshua -
Hillenburg Eric - Lance Corporal
Hudson Christopher E. - Private 1st Class
Idalski Nicholas R. - Specialist
Jack Edward E. -
Jeffries William Andrew - Specialist
Johns Jason D. -
Jones Rickey E. - Sergeant
Keith Chad L. - Sergeant
Kimmell Matthew A. - Staff Sergeant
King Bradley D. - Staff Sergeant
Kirkpatrick David Austin - Private 1st Class
Langenbrunner Richard P. - Private 1st Class
Lee James -
Lewsader Jr. Roy P. -
Lueken Eric R. - Corporal
McKinley Robert L. - Private
McKinzie Antoine J. - Corporal
McLochlin Jeffrey -
Miller Jr. Frederick L. - Staff Sergeant
Monroe Christopher T. - Specialist
Montgomery Jr. Robert J. - Sergeant
Muralles Marcus -
Murray Jr. Robert W. - Private 1st Class
Pabla Paul - Staff Sergeant
Pahnke Shawn D. - Private
Penisten Brian H. - Specialist
Pfender Jonathan R. - Private
Powell Willard M. - Corporal
Proctor Joseph E. - Sergeant
Profitt Jason -
Putnam Cody A. - Corporal
Rios Duane Roy - Sergeant
Rojas Jonathan - Staff Sergeant
Sanders Gregory Paul - Specialist
Seal Aaron L. - Corporal
Seig Anthony P. - Private 1st Class
Shank Neale M. - 1st Lieutenant
Simmons David N. - Private 1st Class
Sirko Steven F. - Private 1st Class
Smith Darrell L. - Corporal
Snyder Norman -
Stahl Nathan E. - Private 1st Class
Strong Joseph A. - Specialist
Swain James E. - Lance Corporal
Thompson Lance M. - Corporal
Trost III Marvin Lee - Staff Sergeant
Weiss Andrew R. - Specialist
White Raymond L. - Specialist
Wiesemann Michael J. - Specialist
Wilkey Jr. David A. - Private 1st Class
Wilson Bryan S. - Corporal
Wright Jeremy -
Zubowski Scott A. - Lance Corporal

Rally 1 - 2nd Annual Indiana Patriot Guard Rally

Link1 Link2 are to pictures some of the attendees have posted. I’ll bet after reading this and looking at the pics any of you can figure out who Chief, Russ, Curley and John and Carrie are. Enjoy!! I sure did!! Can’t wait for the 3rd Annual IPGR Rally!! Oh yeah, before I forget, for another take on the festivities, check this out.

************************************

After the funeral for Cpl. Shawn D. Hensel, about 20 of us headed for Silver Lake for the 2nd Annual Indiana Patriot Guard Rally at Russ’ Barn and Grill.

It was kinda late in the afternoon when we got there and our host had burgers hotdogs and chips galore. It is amazing how good some things taste after an hour or so on the road.

Curly promised some home made apple pie and broke it out right after the late lunch. I’d guess it was about 4 pm. Just to set the record straight, Curly’s ‘apple pie’ is a drink, served in a Mason jar. Home made ingredients mixed with apple juice and cinnamon sticks. Smoooooth. I had 4 or 5 glasses all night. He brought 2.5 gallons, it was gone before dark.

There was a small program on a stage Russ had built out back of the barn. We heard Tim talk about the good he has seen in Iraq and how they would try to follow insurgents to their hide outs to catch the whole group but before the insurgent could get back to his hide out, the local farmers would catch them and bring them in. In his words, half a dozen guys with shovels would go after one guy with an AK. And they would win. Without fail, the captured men always had Syrian money in their pockets.

One of the absolutely most memorable parts was when a man named Rick Fields got up and thanked us for everything we do. He went on about how much he appreciated us and how we had helped him and that he was, as soon as he could get on a computer, going to join the PGR. He is Ricky Jones’ father. He said because of the divorce he had not seen Ricky for 16 years and the best day of his life was when Ricky came home from boot camp and walked into this back yard and re-introduced himself. After that they talked every day, through his special training, to his first tour in Iraq. Then the worst day of his life was about 2 years later when the Army came to his house to tell him Ricky had died. In a crowd of 60 biker types there wasn’t a dry eye to be found.

At some point in the activities, Curly ended up on stage. He was making some reference to that curly teddy bear tongue twister (fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair...) and flipped his hat off. That must have been a que to John that it was his turn to come up on stage. He goes up and grabs a teddy bear off of a stool in the back and starts in with ‘dating for 6 months’, ‘they say I’m too old and she’s too young’ followed by ‘Carrie will you come up here’. By now Carrie is covering her face with her hands and headed for the stage. When she gets up on stage John says he loves her and drops to one knee and some how the teddy bear has a ring in it’s paws, she’s crying, they’re trying to get the ring off the bear (it didn’t want to let go), Curly is still holding the mic and asking her repeatedly ‘Is that a yes, you have to say something girl’. Finally she says ‘YES’, they hug and everyone cheered. Heh, I got the whole moment on video on my phone... just can’t find the mini-micro adapter to let me download it off the chip...

Russ announced that the hog was done about 8 and we dug in to slow roasted pork BBQ, baked beans, coleslaw... all the fix’ens. At some point Russ announced that this was his 17th hog this season!!! That’s a lot of pork! After sufficiently stuffing our selves a karaoke band took the stage and entertained everyone... not my cup of tea, but some really seamed to like it.

Chief, DC and myself had our way with a 1.75 liter bottle of Jack. Between the 3 of us we drank it all. Chief is the party animal in the shots.

Some time around 3 am Russ and the last of us late nighters decided to call it quits. The Jack was gone, the Crown had a big dent in it and the aluminum can recycle tub was full. I knew we were heading out at about 8 am in the morning for the Support The Troops Rally in Indy so I had skipped setting up my tent so I wouldn’t have to take it down and could sleep as long as possible... but where to sleep. I staggered around the barn and saw that big empty stage. It has some carpet on it so it wouldn’t be too bad, besides, I thought, I should be able to fall right to sleep considering all of the alcohol. Crash, I’m sound asleep, then I wake up after what seems like seconds. Did you know a flock of mosquitoes could wake you out of a drunken slumber? Me neither, but they sure did. I still have a dozen or so welts on my arms. I had to unroll the sleeping bag and cover up with it, completely. Little BASTARDS!!

I want to end this with a quote. Russ sat on the stage during the program part and read this. I want to re-state it here because;
1 - it’s true,
2 - maybe there are some of you reading this that have not heard it yet.
Russ believes (as do I and many, if not everyone there Saturday) very strongly in what the PGR does. Russ is a Vietnam Vet and can read this with more feeling and sincerity than you can imagine.

I wish you all the best and remember, our freedoms have been bought with a price.

We are...

...the grandparents, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, aunts, uncles, boy/girlfriends, nieces, nephews, friends and total strangers of our Fallen Hero's.
... the workers that in the first week of May have used all our vacation time for the year and have yet to have a vacation.
... the men and women whose paycheck is a little short this week because a priority caused us to take a day off unpaid.
... the active duty, reserve, retired, discharged, disabled vets and their friends, family and relatives.
... the neighbor who wakes you up at 5AM on a freezing morning as we depart for yet another mission, hours away, we would wish we were not making.
... your CEO and your janitor, your police, firefighter, grocer, mechanic, secretary and everyone in between.
... the people that drive minutes to hundreds of miles to ensure that no Hero is forgotten nor family disturbed in their time of grief.
... the men and women that give up time with our own families to show respect, love and support to families who are still grieving at their loss and wondering WHY??
... the men and women of the Patriot Guard Riders.
And why do we do all this...because it's the Right Thing To Do
Love and Respect, Your Indiana Brothers and Sisters of the Patriot Guard Riders