Harley Owners Group Training - Day 5 & 6

We left Albuquerque at 6:15am headed for Abilene...a long day.  Due to the potential crosswinds, now coming from the west, we planned to stay on I-40 all the way to Amarillo to make good time and keep the wind at our backs.  The biggest problem was the temperature...41 degrees.

We drove down the highway to Tucumcari, NM where we pulled into a truck stop.  After getting gas, everyone went inside to grab something to eat and a warm drink.  One of the guys was so cold that he was literally shaking.  I headed to the glove rack and bought some fleece gloves to put on inside my other gloves.  My hope was that my fingertips might stay warmer...didn't really help.  For some reason, my handlebar grip heaters weren't working very well.  Of course, with two pairs of gloves on I wasn't going to feel much heat from the grips anyway.

We continued down the highway to Amarillo where we gassed up again and made a short stop at a popular attraction just west of town...the old Cadillacs stuck in the dirt.  This "art" project has been around for many years but in all the times I've either passed through or stayed in Amarillo I had never visited the site.  Apparently, the owner encourages people to paint the cars and sure enough there was a couple of people painting faces and other designs on one or two of the cars.  Of course, their art work wouldn't last long until the next artist showed up and covered the previous artwork with their own.

Back on the road, our next stop was for gas and lunch in Plainview.  As we turned south in Amarillo onto I-27, we discovered the crosswinds hadn't gone away.  Fortunately, they were not as strong as on the day we rode into Albuquerque but they were strong enough to require your full attention.  The good news was that the temperature had increased to 70 degrees so we weren't freezing anymore.

We made good time and arrived in Plainview without incident.  We gassed up, ate a good lunch and headed for Abilene.

By the time we arrived in Abilene, the temperature was up to 75 degrees and it was about 7:00pm...a 12-hour day, considering the hour of time change from Mountain time to Central time. We were bushed, so much so that everyone dragged themselves to their room without even discussing dinner plans.

A few minutes later, the text messaging began but a plan never developed.  I chose to go next door to get food and bring it back to my room to catch a little basketball on the TV.  Others chose pizza...which I had had the night before.  I don't know what everyone else did.  Our departure time the last day...6:00am, what else.  An early bedtime was in order.

Wake up came way too early...We actually hit the road about 6:20am...still dark...temperature 51 degrees...still chilly but not as bad as 41 degrees.  Our leader wasn't wasting time getting home.  We were on Hwy 36, which we followed through Hamilton, Gatesville and Cameron.  Just out side Cameron we turned off on a Farm to Market road and enjoyed the central Texas countryside over to Hearne where we got on Hwy 6...a straight shot home.

We arrived in College Station about 12:00pm...Our trip completed. 

We travelled about 1700 miles without incident, had some good food and fellowship and got trained on how to run a better H.O.G. Chapter.  All in all, a good trip.

Harley Owners Group Training - Day 4

Day 2 of the actual training started with breakfast at 8:00am and a short General Session.  Following that we split up and went to sessions we didn't go to the first day.  As with the first day, we enjoyed the sessions very much and I believe each of us learned a thing or two.

In each session, the instructors would try to prevent members from the same chapter from sitting together.  They wanted to encourage the sharing of ideas.  I think it went pretty well.

Being the last day of training, the last session of the day was extra special with the Vice President for the Harley Davidson Museum the special guest speaker.  As you can see from the picture, he's a Davidson, directly related to the founders of Harley Davidson. 

We finished the day about 4:00pm...too early for dinner...so we all retired to our rooms for a little rest.  We planned to walk a couple of blocks over from the hotel to the Brazilian Steak House .

At the appointed time, most of the group met in the lobby and headed to the restaurant.  When we arrived, we quickly learned that it would be at least an hour wait so we decided to try a pizza place we had seen on the way over.

The sign said New York style pizza...whatever that means.  We were seated in what reminded me of a college town hangout.  After deciding what looked good, I chose to order a special...two slices and a soda.  I chose one of their specialties for one slice and the other was simply Canadian bacon and pineapple.

As the picture below shows, the special slice of pizza, called "Upstate" had a lot of meat...meatballs, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon and Salami.  I thought I would probably have indigestion the rest of the night, but it didn't happen.  By the way, the pizza was delicious.

Following dinner, we went back to the hotel and most of us loaded some of our stuff into the motorcycles so that there wouldn't be any delay at 6:00am in the morning...our estimated time of departure from Albuquerque.

Harley Owners Training - Day 3

Day 3 of our trip was actually the first day of training...bright and early.  Breakfast was served between 7-8am so everyone wanted to be there at 7.  We agreed to meet in the lobby at 6:45...I set my alarm for 5:30 so I wouldn't be late.  Even before my alarm went off, my phone's text tone was going crazy...several of the group was already down in the lobby.  Of course, I once again thought I had overslept.  I got dressed as fast as I could and went to the lobby only to have to wait until 6:45 to walk over to the convention center.

Following breakfast at 8:15, the training kicked off with a general session and hyped up H.O.G. personnel getting the crowd jazzed up.  They began by driving two motorcycles onto the stage, to everyone's delight.  The short video they showed was very well done.  The theme of the training this near was "No Boundaries".  Every time we heard that phrase, we were supposed to respond with "Let's Ride".  Of course, the two speakers tested us several times over the first hour.

After the general session, everyone broke off to attend the breakout sessions.  These sessions ranged from risk management to designing rides to H.O.G. finances.  The same sessions were given twice each day so if you heard about one that was really good you could show up.

There were about 1100 attendees, ranging in age from 20-something to 70-something and experience levels from fairly new riders to riders with 30+ years riding.  The dress among the attendees ran from one end of the spectrum to the other, from shorts and t-shirts to leather jackets with patches all over to tie-died shirts.  However, no matter how a person dressed, they were all there for one thing...to learn about Harley Davidson, H.O.G. and chapter activities.

The conference was very well run with corporate trainers, a professional media staff and good food...although a little fancy for my taste.  However, for the most part it was tasty...and, it was free.  Friday night, the first night of the conference/training, H.O.G. put on a dinner and party afterward.  The food was good...and free...and anyone who wished to imbibe could get free drinks.

After dinner a band from Chicago began playing...really loud, but that didn't seem to deter folks from hanging out and dancing.  I didn't drink or dance and eventually left the party early so my ear drums could adjust back to normal.

Overall, the first day was pretty amazing.  Wonder what day 2 of training holds.

Harley Owners Group Training...Day 2

Day two was to begin at a more reasonable time...9:00am departure.  However, as with most thing, our ETD was subject to change.  Our plan was to meet for breakfast in the hotel lobby around 7:30-8:00 so I sent my alarm for 6:45am.  At 6:30, I received a text message saying that some of the group was in the lobby, ready to eat.  My first panicked thought was that I had overslept or maybe I had failed to adjust my alarm for the new time zone.

I hustled to the shower, threw my stuff in the bag and headed out the door only to meet the guy next door.  He said that a couple of our friends were early risers and were chomping at the bit to hit the road.  I figured since I was dressed and packed that I might as well adjust my thinking to the new departure time.  I load up the bike and headed for breakfast.

While we ate, I heard the latest on the weather in the Albuquerque area...very high winds in and around the area.  At that point we could only adjust our departure so much, so we left 30 min early...not early enough as it turned out.

We decided that the route suggested by the retired NM Highway Patrol Officer was the way to go...avoiding a lot of trucks on I-40 was a good idea.  The road out of Clovis was two-lane and not at all smooth...typical of New Mexico State roads I'm told.  After about 45 minutes heading due west we came to our first decision point...turn north and hit I-40 about 100 miles out or continue on the road we were on.  Several cars and motorcycles behind us turned...we opted to continue west.

The road was still a narrow two-lane and two large oversized trucks, with escort vehicles were in front of us...no passing for us.  The speed limit on this part of the road was 55...slow going for sure.  Luckily, the trucks turned off not too far up the road...headed down a dirt road that appeared to go nowhere.

Now I thought our problems we'd behind us and we'd have smooth sailing (riding) on into Albuquerque...boy, was I wrong.  The wind had been hitting us from the south but shortly after the trucks turned off, the winds started to get stronger.

The scenery along the route was pretty bad...rundown houses, crumbling barns and other structures and an occasional lone cow or two.  After riding through 3-4 1 house "villages", we came to Fort Sumner, the resting place of Billy the Kid.  Had the weather been better, we might have visited hie grave site or the museum.  As it was, we just wanted to get to our destination and get out of the 30-40 mph crosswinds.

We had been on the road for about 1 1/2 hours and coming up on our planned refueling stop pretty soon.  Almost immediately after leaving the city limits of Fort Sumner, the winds increased yet again...now they were 40G45.  We were really having to fight the wind to keep from getting blown off the road...and there was no shoulder.

We arrived in Vaughn, NM and pulled onto the first gas station we came to.  It was such a relief to be stopped.  We got our gas and something to drink and it was back on the road, still headed almost due west and the gale force winds accosting us from the south.

Another 50 miles or so, we came to our second decision point...turn north towards I-40 or keep going west, up into the mountains and hitting I-25 going north...the recommended route.  Our leader, who by the way had gotten us this far without the benefit of a GPS, turned right by accident.  Rather than u-turn, we decided to continue north.  The good news was that the high winds were at our backs...no more howling in your ears or sand hitting you in the face.

Our respite was short lived...30 or so miles north we came to I-40...only 30 miles from Albuquerque...piece of cake, right?  Well, wrong again.  We quickly discovered that the next 30 miles were going to be hazardous to say the least.  If we thought the crosswinds we had on the little two lane road to the south were bad, now the winds increased to 50 or more.  We slowed down to 55-60 to help with handling but this didn't help much.  Cars no trucks passed us in the left lane, the wind not affecting them quite as much.  When a big rig would pass, the wind would stop but when the truck was past, we sort of got sucked into its wake momentarily then we would get hit with the crosswinds again.  This happened over and over the entire 30 miles until we got into the city limits then the winds subsided somewhat, probably due to higher slightly higher terrain to the south.  Finally, we found the hotel and checked in very glad to be out of the wind.

Harley Owners Group Officer Training

After being a member of the local HOG (Harley Owners Group) for a few years, I finally got invited to go to the officer training...although the newsletter editor isn't technically an officer.  Nonetheless, I got invited to ride to the training in Albuquerque and I said, sure.

We left Bryan/College Station on Wednesday morning just after 6:00am, March 22...our destination, Clovis NM, about 550 miles away...probably a 12-hour day.  The weather was forecast to be a bit cool but sunny all the way.  For once, the weather man was correct...it was 67 and cloudy (and dark) when we pulled out.  Our plan was to travel north on Hwy 6 until we intercepted I-20 just east of Abilene.

Our volunteer Road Captain took off...without a GPS...and didn't stop for two hours in Meridian for gas.  By the time we stopped, the temp actually dropped two degrees, even though the sun had come out.  In fact, the temperature stayed around 65-68 until we almost reached our final stop.

Back on the road after a quick stop, we headed towards our second stop near Eastland on I-20.  This was another 15-20 minute fuel stop.  We got on the interstate and headed west towards Sweetwater where we were turning northwest on Hwy 84 towards Lubbock.  Being lunch time, we decided to eat before leaving the interstate.  We had a quick lunch and we're back on the highway in about 30 minutes.

Hwy 84 between Sweetwater and Lubbock isn't much to write about...stockyards, tumbleweeds, a few oil jack pumps and a bunch of wind generators.

About two hours later we entered the city limits of Lubbock.  We figured we were running ahead of schedule so we detoured to Wild West Harley Davidson to look around.  I didn't buy  anything...mostly because I had been there and done that.

Back on the road and headed to Clovis.  I forgot to mention we were traveling with one of the owners who had made reservations in Clovis, so Clovis was set in stone...barring any unforeseen event.  Well,the unforeseen event didn't occur and we coasted into Clovis about 4:30pm...11 1/2 hours of riding.  Even though the weather was good to us, we were still tired.  BUT, not too tired to go back up the road about a mile to the High Plains Harley Davidson.  I was a good boy once again and only bought a poker chip.

The best thing we got at the dealership was information.  One of the stall was a retired NM Highway Patrol Officer and he gave us a tip on how to bypass I-40 and all the trucks.  A little while after getting back to the hotel, we walked a couple blocks to a great Mexican food place.  Bellies full, I headed to the room and ended going to bed at 9:00pm...Mountain Time.  Still, I had had a long day.

Sturgis, 2015, The End!

I planned to be on the road by 7am on Tuesday…no need to refuel as I had done that the night before, as well as load the trailer and even pack a lot of my stuff.  The forecast for Tuesday was 50% rain so I didn’t want to take a chance of having to load the truck in the rain.  I even went out about 8pm the night before to move the truck closer to the hotel.  I parked behind another truck and trailer right out the back door so if I had to make a run for the truck, it wouldn’t be a long one.

Tuesday morning came and I was ready to go.  I finished packing up the last of my stuff and hauled it down the hall to the stairs.  I happened to glance out the window at my truck and almost had a heart attack…sorry, bad choice of words.   Anyway, I was appalled to see that I had left the lights on the night before…although I thought the lights went off after a few minutes if you left them on…apparently not.

I hustled down the stairs and out the door as fast as I could…as if a couple of extra minutes were going to help.  I dropped my bag on the ground, dug my key out of my pocket and stuck it in the ignition.  Before I turned the key I may have said a short, silent prayer, and then as I held my breath, I turned the key…the engine started right up…thank you Jesus.

I finished loading the car and then shut it down to go check out and grab some yogurt at the breakfast area…and yes, I turned the lights off.  All packed and belly full, I hit the road at 7am…as planned.

I chose to take a more northern route home so the first part of the trip was on I-90…80 miles per hour…I kept it at 75 in case you’re wondering.  The only thing worth mentioning for the Tuesday drive was the town of Wall.  For 30 miles approaching the town I saw billboards advertising the Wall Drug Store.  According to the billboards, the drug store had pretty much everything…including food.  Well, I needed to see such a drug store so when the exit arrived, I took it.

Wall Drug Store

For those who don’t know…and that includes me…the Wall Drug Store is a famous place among the biker community…at least those who have been to Sturgis before.  It was packed.  The streets were packed with cars and motorcycles.  The drug store took up an entire block.  Signs in the windows and on the building advertised souvenirs, food, drugs, ice cream and many other things.  Since I had just eaten breakfast an hour or so earlier, I opted to pass up the opportunity to see inside the store.  Next time I’ve got to check it out.

Wall, SD

I-90 goes on forever, it seems, without many large cities…at least in the section I drove on.  In fact, Wall was the largest city/town I passed and its population was around 870 folks, minus bikers of course.  Just like every other city/town within 30-40 miles of Sturgis, Wall was full of bikers.  It was hard to tell if they were coming from or going to Sturgis…perhaps both.  I just wanted to get down the road as far and as fast as I could go.  Actually, I had reservations in Grand Island.

One of many fields of sunflowers

I turned off the Interstate on a smaller 2 lane state highway headed due south.  For the most part, all I saw was fields of crops…the only one of which I could identify was Sunflowers, although I saw a sign advertising Alfalfa.  I think it looks a little like corn except without the corn.  The more agriculturally minded out there can probably tell me for sure.  I’m sure there was corn fields mixed in somewhere but I never actually saw corn on the stalks…perhaps it was too early in the growing season.  I was tempted to stop and investigate one field with short, dark green plants with large leaves but since there wasn’t much of a shoulder; I decided it might be a bit too dangerous.  Can anyone tell me what I was seeing?

To a make a long day shorter, I arrived at my hotel in Grand Island…an older Roadway Inn.  I’ll try not to judge all Roadway Inns by this one, but I have to say I may never stay in one again.  However, I have to admit that the room was fairly clean and I never saw a big roach run across the floor…you have to be thankful for the little things.  I was glad when morning came.  I had set the alarm for 6am but woke up earlier…I didn’t want to stay any longer so I got dressed and left.

Dallas, SD

The drive today, Wednesday, was better.  Perhaps that’s because I was getting closer to home or was it because there’s was more “civilization” to look at.  Either way, it was a more interesting day.  I started out the day on a small 2 lane highway…it might have been the same one I had driven on the day before…I just followed the GPS.  The time in Nebraska was limited…more farms, fields and farming communities.  One had a particularly interesting name…Bonesteel.  I wonder if there a story behind the name.  And we wouldn’t want to forget McCool Junction.  Oh, then there was Winner, SD, the Pheasant capital of the world…so they say.  I even passed by Dallas…not THE Dallas…Dallas, NE.

South Dakota Landscape

The last two days has been relatively cop free as well.  Once I made it to I-35 I saw 3-4 State Troopers in Kansas but other than that only one police car between Rapid City and Wichita…and that was a county Sheriff helping a couple of kids on 4-wheelers get a cow off the highway and back into the pasture…interesting.

Only a Few Still Exist

I saw 3-4 drive-in theaters, 2 of which were still active.  For the younger folks in the crowd, a drive-in was a place where you would drive your car in, find a place facing this large outdoor screen and then get a speaker off a pole next to the car and hang it on your window.  Kids and families loved drive-in movies…so did people dating as I remember.  One of the active drive-ins was showing Pixels.  There was probably only room for 45-50 cars at the most.  I was already past the theater before I knew it and didn’t want to turn around.  I managed to stop in time for the other.

I crossed over several rivers between Grand Island and OKC…the North Loup River and the Middle Loup River like I did going to Sturgis…still no South Loup River (these were actually north of Grand Island).  Then there was the Platte River, the Little Blue River, the Big Blue River, the Elkhorn, the Republican, the Chikaskia, the Ninnescah, the Smoky Hill, the Saline and the Salt Fork Arkansas River.   Almost all of the rivers were full of water.  The area has received a lot of rain this summer.

Pig In! Pig Out!

Going up I-35 last week I stopped in Salina at that cute little hamburger place but today it looked like Wichita was going to be lunch so I started looking on GPS for a place.  I ultimately chose a place called “Pig In! Pig Out!”…a BBQ joint.  When I arrived…only 3 blocks off the interstate near Wichita State University…I found a plain, low brick building.  I wasn’t too excited about it but I was here so I found a place to park and went inside…I was pleasantly surprised.  It turns out this place has won many awards for its BBQ…even national ones.  I ordered a brisket sandwich and chowed down…pretty good.  I highly recommend it if you’re ever in Wichita.

Pig In! Pig Out! Ribbons

Along the highway since leaving Rapid City…especially on I-90…there were groups of riders headed west.  Judging by the way they were packed, they were headed to Sturgis.  Seems a little late but what do I know.  There were an equal number of riders, RVs and trailers headed east as well.

Tomorrow is the last leg of my trip.  When I get back to College Station I will have driven over 2500 miles…and that doesn’t count the miles I put on the motorcycle while in and around Sturgis.  That was probably around 300-350 miles…I didn’t keep count.  There won’t be another entry to the blog…I’ve driven this leg many times and most of the folks I know reading have also made the trip a few times.

The trip to Sturgis has been an interesting one and one I am glad I did.  If I ever go again I might be inclined to go with one or two others.  A group any bigger than that would make decision making too difficult…Where shall we eat?  Where do you want to go now?  When do we stop?  Want to go to the Buffalo Chip or Devil’s Tower?  Shall we camp or get a hotel room?  Which hotel?

You can see why I wanted to go it alone the first time.  Now that I have an idea about what Sturgis is all about…a just a small one at that…I might entertain going again.  Maybe I should fly in and rent a bike there?  Sharon might think about going if I opted for that.  However, then you’d miss all the little things along the road going to and coming back.  If you're into motorcycle rallies, Sturgis is one of the biggest...this year's 75th anniversary rally was predicted to bring in about 1 million bikers.  Perhaps the ones after this will be a bit smaller...750,000-800,000!  Anyway, you need to do it, at least once.

I don’t know when I will take my next trip worthy of updating this blog but stay tuned…I’ll let you know.  Thanks for checking in once in a while.  I hoped you enjoyed reading my ramblings and seeing some of my pictures.  See you next time.

Sturgis, 2015, Day 6

Today was a day to catch up on things I had put off.  I started the day going to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum, just outside the gate at Ellsworth AFB, about 7 miles east of Rapid City.  It appears to be a work in process.  Just like many museums around the country, this one is supported by private funding.  However, there was a fairly good selection of aircraft, all examples of those flown by units at Ellsworth over the years.  A lack of funds shows in the dilapidated condition of most of the aircraft.  The most notable exceptions were the B-1 and B-29 at the entrance to the museum.

I walked through the various displays, checked out the gift store and static displays and headed off to the second event of the day…Black Hills Harley Davidson.

Black Hills Harley Davidson was on my list to check out the hundred or so vendors at that location.  Located on the western edge of Rapid City, the dealership is huge.  The showroom and merchandise are on the main level while the maintenance facility is on a lower level.    But I wasn’t to discover this until later in the day as the exit off the interstate was backed up with motorcycles and a lonely car or two almost onto the interstate.  I opted to make my visit later and kept heading west to Sturgis.

I went past the first exit to Sturgis and got off at the western-most exit which hopefully would give me a chance to miss some of the traffic.  As I headed west on the interstate, it appeared that there were more motorcycles headed east than west…I couldn’t figure out what was happening back towards Rapid City.  Judging by the traffic at the Harley dealership when I passed, I figured there must have been a special breakfast or something.  In addition, the highway to Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park and the Crazy Horse Memorial goes through Rapid City…I’m sure many of these riders were headed to the Black Hills.

I found Main Street in Sturgis about 10:30 and I was hoping I was early enough to avoid the wall-to-wall motorcycles I’d seen the first time…I was mistaken.  It took me about an hour to make it 5 blocks and another 30 minutes to get to the interstate to leave town.  I was going park and walk around a little but when I saw the crowd this morning I changed my mind.

Today was officially the first day of the Rally, although folks around here say they can’t see anything different today than the last week.  With a million…yes, I said a million…motorcycles expected in town, plus the passengers on a large percentage of those motorcycles, there are a lot of people here.

After escaping the mayhem they call Sturgis, I headed back towards Rapid City with a short stop at the Black Hills National Cemetery.  It is a fairly large cemetery but not the largest national cemetery I’ve seen.  I drove through the cemetery and then headed towards Black Hills Harley Davidson…thought I’d try it one more time and perhaps whatever was happening this morning was over.

As I approached the exit I didn’t see a huge line of motorcycles on the off ramp so I decided to give it a shot.  As soon as I got to the top of the rise I noticed there was still a large number of motorcycles but since I was already in line, I decided to wait it out.  Once I finally made it to the turn to the dealership, I saw guys marshalling traffic into the dealership.  I wasn’t aware how large this place was so I was concerned about the parking but as it turned out I shouldn’t have worried…this place is huge and there’s plenty of parking. 

Traffic was routed around the front of the dealership, two-by-two, down the side past all the vendor’s semi’s…parked so as to form a wall between the makeshift roadway and the vendor area…and then the line circled back around to a huge parking area behind the dealership.  There were marshallers all around the route and helped separate those bikers coming in from those exiting.  The parking lot was designed specifically for events such as Sturgis.  There are mini roads…complete with yellow line down the middle…painted on the pavement with solid white lines between the mini roads that allow for two lines of motorcycles to park between the mini roads…if that makes any sense.  If everyone does it correctly, all motorcycles are parked headed out so that when they get ready to leave, all they have to do is pull out and follow the mini roads.  There’s probably enough parking for well over 1,000 motorcycles.  Out front there is an overflow lot made of gravel.

The whole thing is super-organized, including the vendors.  Whoever did the planning is a logistics planning wonder.  Speaking of vendors, every major vendor…and dozens of lesser known ones…was present at the dealership, as well as Sturgis itself.  Judging by the activity at most of the tents, business was good.  If you need custom wheels, a new seat, a better exhaust system or a concert-loud sound system, you came to the right place.

Oh, and there’s plenty of food to choose from as well…fancy grilled cheese sandwiches with macaroni and cheese, chili dogs, corn dogs, pulled pork sandwiches and the list goes on.  I opted for the chili dog…big mistake.  Should have gone with the corn dog.

Anyway, I spent a couple of hours walking around, doing a little shopping in the dealership and then left.  The next activity of the day was getting my truck ready for the return trip. 

It’s been an interesting three days but I’m ready to get out of the area.  According to the news tonight, there have already been as many fatalities in the first day as the entire rally last year and it’s only going to get worse because there’s rain in the forecast over the next 2-3 days.  Wild riders and wet pavement do not mix well.

Thanks for following along these last few days.  I’ve got more pictures that I’ll be glad to show you if you ask.  I also have some video footage…assuming I operated the new GoPro correctly.  When I tried it out back home, I had it in the wrong mode and took over 3,000 pictures.  It took a long time to load them onto the computer as well as deleting them. 

I may have one more post after I get home so keep checking back.