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.