Day 7

Well, today was the day we came for...the big demonstration ride. We met two of the others at their hotel near the Pentagon at 6:30am and rode together to the Pentagon parking lot...the staging location for the ride. We arrived at 7am and there were already many riders there. They parked the Rolling Thunder Chapters near the front of the procession while leaving room for the groups being honored this year. The club that I noticed arriving...because there were so many of them and they came about 3 hours after we did...was called Nam Vets and another called Military Veterans. Each year Rolling Thunder gives a different club or two a position of honor near the front of the parade.

Even with these two groups...and of course the group from National...we were still in the first 1,000-2,000. There was probably another 300,000 bikes behind us. It's very difficult to determine that number...or even comprehend it...until you can get up high and get a better view. I took some pictures but since I can't download them to the computer it's difficult to tell much. I'll be interested to see the news tonight to see what they estimate the crowd was.

Like I said, we arrived at 7:00am, parked our motorcycles where told and then began to roam around. There were several vendors near us selling food...BBQ, sub sandwiches and chicken strips...now who eats that kind of food at 7am? Rolling Thunder National was selling event patches, pins and R/T hats to those who had not purchased them on Saturday. There was a few other vendors but they didn't have anything I couldn't live without...however, they did a great business with everyone else.

The most popular vendor at the event was the Christian Motorcycle Association. They gave away coffee and cold water, as well as cookies, crackers and other items like lotion and sunscreen...I should have gotten some of that. They even had bread and peanut butter and jelly for people to make sandwiches. Although this wasn't very appealing at 7am, by 10am the sandwich tasted pretty good. I also visited their tent...only a few yards away from my parking location...to fill up my bottle with cold water.

Finally, at 12:00pm, the flag was raised on a nearby fire truck's extended ladder and a B-52 made a low pass over the parking lot marking the beginning of the parade/demonstration. It was at least another 15-20 minutes until we left the parking lot...2 X 2. We drove across the Arlington Memorial Bridge into Washington, turned left behind the Lincoln Memorial and up Constitution Avenue past the Smithsonian Museums. We turned right on 3rd Street...I think...between the National Mall and the Reflecting pool over to Independence Avenue, down Independence back to the Lincoln Memorial. At this point, you had the option of parking to the left or going straight...which we did. The road was very familiar as we had been on it yesterday about four times. It took us under the back side of the Kennedy Center and we ended up in Georgetown again. At least this time we knew where M Street was and how to get on the Key Bridge to cross over to Virginia.

Along the route...except on the bridge itself...people lined the streets, waiving flags, saluting us, trying to give high fives and all manner of acknowledgement of the riders service...although many riders never served. However, it was quite a thrill to see such a reception. I think they wanted to honor veterans and the military on this Memorial Day weekend as well, perhaps, as seeing a lot of interesting motorcycles.

Speaking of motorcycles, I think I saw just about every possible mutation of the original motorcycle that anyone has ever thought of...there were Honda Goldwing trikes, Harley trikes, Boss Hogg trikes (they have a car engine in them), fancy customized motorcycles and un-customized motorcycles. There were side cars, trailers, dog trailers, and even a motorcycle that had a body on it that looked like a airplane or rocket. Speaking of dogs, one couple had a small Chihuahua dressed in what looked like a set of Army fatigues, complete with a pair of goggles, a little gun in a holster and a name tag that read "Patton". His disposition was much like that of his namesake. You couldn't get within a foot of him before he was growling and showing a lot of sharp teeth, so we gave him plenty of room and admired his outfit from a safe distance.

All in all, it was an interesting day and I think everyone was glad we made the trip. I guess we'll know for sure after the ride back home. We were finished with the ride after only an hour and were on our way back to the hotel in Alexandria. Of course, the 300,000 or so riders behind us were probably still making the loop. I told someone that it almost made being a member of Rolling Thunder worth it just to get a place up front.

When we arrived back in Alexandria, we decided to go downtown to King Street...apparently the center of activity in Old Town Alexandria...to find a place to eat and relax. There are many restaurants, bars, and shopping available but not parking places. As we drove slowly down the street, we kept an eye out for a parking place. We only had 4 bikes so one car place would be sufficient for all of us. Finally, we found one and as we were parking, a young man came by and invited us to his place. It turned out to be a bar and grill with a descent menu. We walked in and there wasn't another sole in the place...not for another hour. We sat near the bar and the kid...who happened to be the bar tender and waiter...took our order. The food was good as was the air conditioning.

We're resting at the hotel now and wondering if we should try to do one more thing before calling it a night. I might suggest heading back downtown for dinner, but we'll see. Tomorrow we start back...at 7:00am...so getting a good night's rest would be nice.

We're headed to North Carolina where I will break off from the group and go to Winston-Salem. Because the people I'm visiting don't have a computer, I may not be able to make a new post until Tuesday night. So until then, good-bye from Washington DC.

Day 6

Today was a free day for the most part. I got up early and worked out in a very nice fitness room. I needed to work out the kinks...I think I feel better. After showering and getting dressed, my roommate and I headed down to the restaurant to see about the breakfast buffet...probably the best breakfast I've had on the trip so far but it cost about $12! I guess you get what you pay for. I didn't mind paying that much for a good breakfast, besides I figured I wouldn't be hungry for lunch...which came true.

After breakfast we all decided to head over to one of the local Harley-Davidson dealerships in the area...they put on an all-day party with food and vendors of all sorts. My roommate had to return to the dealership we visited yesterday so they could work on his bike with spare parts one of the tech guys was bringing from home. Apparently it worked because it was fixed in a couple of hours. I haven't seen him since about 9:30am when he needed a push in the parking lot so he could pop the clutch and get it started.

Back to the HD dealership. With our Road Captain off getting his bike fixed, I inherited the leadership role...along with my GPS...and that started an interesting morning. As I began the ride to the dealership, one of the guys rode up beside me and said he needed gas so I immediately ignored my GPS and turned the opposite direction to find a gas station...bad idea. That turn turned into an hour long detour taking us through some beautiful neighborhoods along one of the rivers...pretty sure it was the Potomac. We drove north along the river for about 10 miles...past Regan National...into Washington. At one point...when I finally found a nice pullout...we stopped to compare GPS's and to find the closest gas station. Two or three of the GPS's...I think just about everyone has one now as they bought out the local Wal-Mart on a sale of Garmins...agreed that the closest station was .58 miles away. The only problem was that was a direct line due east across the river. Once we plugged the station into the GPS and got a route, it was more like 2.5 miles...once again through interesting neighborhoods on the outskirts of downtown DC.

The station we stopped at actually still had full service pumps and did car repairs. Now, when was the last time you saw that? The lady at the cash register said it was because there were so many elderly people living in the area that it was about the only way they could get gas.

We fueled up and headed to the dealership. After driving at least 20 miles...the original distance from the hotel was 7.7 miles...we arrived to find a real zoo. There were motorcycles parked everywhere...must have been 10,000...and that's not an exaggeration in the least. I suggested that we agree on a time to meet back at the motorcycles if we got separated...which we did almost immediately. We agreed on 1:00pm and that worked out pretty well.

I got a call from our friend who had to go to get repairs about 12:00. I gave him directions to the dealership but 30 minutes later I got another call. He had missed the turn somehow...it's hard to miss because it would have been the one where all the other motorcycles were turning. Anyway, I stopped a police officer and asked her if my directions to him had been accurate and she said they had been. I told my friend to turn around, go back towards the hotel for about 7 miles or so and then stop at a gas station to ask directions.

The husband and wife traveling with us wanted to go out to Dulles International and see the relatively new addition to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum...and so did I...and we didn't want to wait for the guy to show up. We finally got someone to wait for him so the couple and I took off...once again using my GPS.

Let me tell you something...GPS's do not like navigating in Washington DC...that's a fact. It appeared to be about 35 miles away...sort of back the way we had come in yesterday...but the actual route my GPS took us was in no way similar to the route we took coming in. However, it was a nice drive. We saw the Washington Monument and the Mall...again...Georgetown, the Kennedy Center...for about the 4th time...and several other interesting spots. At one point...following the GPS's instructions traveling parallel with the street we were actually supposed to be on...we needed to get on the Key Bridge to get over to the Interstate but we kept running into dead ends...literally. It was a bit humorous. Eventually, we got on the right highway and 30 minutes later we found the museum.

We're back in the hotel now, resting. We'll head out to dinner in a few minutes. Part of the group is downtown so the day has been a "do your own thing" type of day for everyone. I was supposed to go to a meeting tonight regarding our assigned task of parking on Sunday but I wasn't back from the museum yet and besides we decided that if we helped with parking we wouldn't get to have the experience of the ride, and since the majority of our group are first-timers, that just wouldn't do. The Chapter 2 President said he would get some extra parking stickers for us...very nice of him.

The plan is to meet Chapter 2...and 2 of our guys...at their hotel in Crystal City at 6:30am and then head down to the Pentagon together. It's going to be a long day since the actual ride doesn't start until 12:00.

If anything exciting happens tonight, I'll add a part 2 to Day 6. Otherwise, my next post will be after the ride. I'll try to take a lot of pictures. My guess is that the procession will be moving so slowly that I'll have plenty of opportunities to snap a picture.

Day 5

We made it! Arrived at our hotel in Old Town Alexandria about 12:00. The two rooms I had reserved were ready and four of us checked in and relaxed. The other guys who had a separate reservation found that there was one king size bed...for 3 of them! It took the hotel about an hour to get another room ready. Finally, we all got settled in and decided to go get some lunch.

We left Staunton, VA at 9:00am. We really enjoyed sleeping in. As I told you yesterday, we decided to take the faster route down the Interstate...about 155 miles. Almost immediately, the traffic on the Interstate got heavy and got worse the closer we got to DC. By the time we got to Fairfax, VA it was very heavy headed into the city...maybe tourists.

We only made one stop today...about half-way. We topped off our tanks, walked around a little and then got back on the road. Our leader drove faster today than any of the other days...guess he was ready to get there...I think most of us agreed...at least I heard no complaints.

For any Civil War buffs out there, this trip could have been very interesting...if we had the time to stop along the way. Of course, we traveled through Vicksburg, but we also saw several famous battle field sites in West Virginia and Virginia as well. Today I saw signs for Shenandoah, Charlottesville and Manassas. I think that I'd like to make the trip again but next time have time to do more sightseeing.

After lunch today, I and one of the guys made a trip to a motorcycle dealership nearby to see if I could find a more suitable helmet than the one I've been wearing...we didn't. Then we went to a Radio Shack to get a small adapter for my GPS so I could hear the directions...might be easier to navigate in the city...the screen is hard to read in the daylight.

When we came back out, my friend's motorcycle wouldn't start. I pushed him all over the parking lot, but popping the clutch wouldn't get it started. Then I remembered I had a set of jumper cables for just such an occasion. Unfortunately, my battery is under the seat so we had a little work to do to expose it. Once everything was disassembled, we jumped his bike and decided to head to a Wal-Mart, where he bought the battery. When we got to Wal-Mart we discovered that they didn't have an auto service.

We decided to head back to the same motorcycle dealer we had visited earlier. The guys in the service department checked the battery and determined that it had the capability to hold a full charge but it did not have a full charge...this was the second time that he had had this problem. The service guy agreed to take the battery and give it a full charge...thinking it would be good for the trip back because it seemed to be getting charged when he checked it. He told us to come back in 30 minutes.

We walked down the parking lot to a fast food place and drank a soda while we waited. When we went back the guy reinstalled the battery the bike turned over and started...barely. With a full charge, it should have started much more easily. The service tech figures it is either a starter or a voltage regulator...or something in the charging system. They said that if we come back tomorrow around 9:30am...they open at 10:00am...they'll make sure he's the first to be waited on. They aren't at all sure they can fix his problem though. His bike is a Honda and the dealership only sells Suzuki and Yamaha. I guess we'll see what happens.

There are not scheduled activities set for Saturday. Earlier in the trip, one of the guys went last year suggested we visit one of the local Harley dealerships as they sell all the event patches and t-shirts...and sew the patches on if you want them to. You can get both at the wall but the dealership will be less crowded. The remainder of the day...until 5:30pm when I'm supposed to go to a mandatory meeting about Sunday...we will do some sightseeing.

I was planning on visiting our friends the Esteps in Fairfax but I couldn't get hold of them today and they haven't returned my phone call. Perhaps I will have time to visit a few places...including the Viet Nam Wall and perhaps the Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles.

No pictures tonight...something wrong with my internet connection/computer. I'll try in morning. See you tomorrow.

Day 4

Up early and on the road again by 8:00am. We actually spent the night in Ashland, KY...just short of Huntington, WV...because the first two or three hotels we called had no rooms. We chose to stop short by about 15 miles. The hotel was nice enough and we found a good sports bar and grill to get some food. For a relatively small town, the place was pretty good.

Our route today took us through Huntington, then Charleston at which point we turned a bit south to follow the Kanawha River down to a little town called Rainelle. Every year the town folks shut down everything and spend the whole day cheering on the bikers rolling through town.

However, before we got to Rainelle, we drove along some very winding and beautiful roadway. Off to our right was the Kanawha River dotted with coal mines and power plants here and there. About half way through this twisting highway...Hwy 60 I believe...we stopped in Glenn Ferris where we saw the Kanawha Falls. This is where the Kanawha River goes over some short...perhaps 3-4 feet tall...water falls. It is quiet beautful and a very popular spot for bikers to take a break. We all took pictures of the falls as well as ourselves with the falls in the background.

Once leaving the falls, we once again got on the twisting road for a few miles until we came to a Harley Davidson dealership. Seems to be out in the middle of nowhere but I'm betting they do a great business with the bikers that travel the road there. While we were enjoying the shiny new motorcycles and buying shirts, the large contingent from California caught us and we had to wait in the parking lot for 15-20 minutes for them to pass.

After seeing what we thought was the end of their group, we entered the roadway...with the help of one of the HD employees who stopped traffic coming the other way...we jumped in. A few minutes later we realized that what we thought was the end of the line was only a break so here we were stuck in the middle of the California group.

Earlier in the day...just before getting to Charleston, our sister Chapter in Houston, Chapter 2, caught us so we stopped for fuel and joined up together. We thought it would be a nice showing to have 35 bikes from Texas versus only 6 but because we got caught in the middle of the California group, the whole thing went to pot. Later in Rainelle the California group's road guards chased us out of the line because "we had not register for the ride" as one of their group. This made a couple of the guys very angry as we thought the whole ride to the wall was about Rolling Thunder. Anyway, after talking to some of the road guards over lunch we understood why they were so aggressive. Apparently, all along the route from California they have riders try to sneak into the line and it's a big liability thing.

We finally pulled into Staunton, VA around 5:30pm and boy were ever so ready to be there. It was a long day, even though the miles driven was significantly shorter. We even had to drive through the rain along the way...for the first time.

Speaking of miles, if anyone is interested, I have driven a total of 1,612 miles so far. Tomorrow's 150 miles or so sounds pretty good. Due to the truck and trailer following us having a hard time with the mountains, we are going to skip the ride through the Virginia mountains and go directly into DC using the Interstate. We plan to leave around 9:00am, hopefully beating the 5,000 man California group...we'll see.

Tomorrow, we'll be in a nice hotel in downtown Alexandria. I'm hoping to find a whirlpool for my tired body and a washing machine. See you tomorrow night.

Day 3

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...that's the best word I can think of to describe the landscape I saw today. Driving along the interstate usually isn't very interesting but the lush green trees and grass along the highway between Chattanooga, TN and Knoxville and then on to Lexington, KY and east towards Huntington, WV made the trip most enjoyable. Of course, there were the obligatory rest and fuel stops.

I figured we were on the road a total of about 10 hours today and traveled about 400 miles, including side trips...that's an average of about 40 miles/hour. Of course, much of the 10 hours were used to sit around and talk while hydrating...most important.

To start the day, we decided that we should take in Lookout Mountain, just south of Chattanooga. The ride up the mountain, around the curvy road and through some beautiful neighborhoods was great. You wouldn't believe the view that some of these people have from their back porch...words don't even come close to describing it. Unfortunately, the sun was still too low in the sky to allow a very good picture from Lookout Mountain...however, the 30 minute side trip was well worth it in my opinion.

Another side trip worth the time was over to Corbin, KY to see the original home of KFC...very interesting...and of course we had to eat some chicken.

Once again, the day brought no mechanical or weather problems...although it did sprinkle on us once but just barely enough to get the windshield wet. Tomorrow may be another story as we're looking at a 30% chance. We'll be optimistic and say that there's a 70% chance of no rain. :)

So far the only problem anyone has had is a little sunburn...despite using sunscreen...sore rear ends and minor problems with accessories...nothing to stop the trip. We are hopeful that it stays that way.

Tomorrow we're off to Rainelle, VA...about 190 miles from Huntington, WV...where the entire city takes the day off to wave at all the bikers driving through around noon. It is supposed to be a real treat so we're not going to miss it. One of the guys heard that there was a group leaving the Chattanooga area this morning that had about 5,000 riders...yes, you heard me correctly. These guys started in California and have picked up riders all along the way. We thought we might catch up with them, but no such luck. Even with that many riders, they are still moving faster than us.

The closer we get to DC, the more riders we're apt to see. Our small group of 7 may multiply some, at least on the highway. Well, it's getting late and I need to get up early again tomorrow.

Day 2

Good thing we bypassed Vicksburg last night because we heard that they had a lot of flash flooding around the city. In addition, there were tornado warnings in Yazoo county...which we think is north of Vicksburg somewhere. Jackson was just fine. Actually, we found out that our hotel wasn't in Jackson but Pearl, MS. Oh well, a hotel is a hotel.

We were on the road at 8:00am this morning, stopping for gas and food in Silver City, MS. Good, cheap food. As I discovered the hard way, my 100-miles butt wasn't good for 100 miles today. Everyone was very eager to stop around 75-80 miles. We topped off our fuel each time we stopped so nobody would run out anywhere and cause an extra stop.

Lunch was late in the afternoon at a McDonalds in Fort Payne...an appropriate name for most of us as we were definitely in "pain" by that point. The stop was much appreciated. We traveled about 380 miles today compared with about 440 on Monday. Tomorrow brings another 380 mile day to Huntington, WV but after that the next two days are relatively short.

Except for some construction in the eastern part of Mississippi, the road conditions were pretty good...if you don't count all the trucks that either passed us or we passed...or both at times. Most drivers are pretty courteous to our group...even waiving at times.

Just west of Fort Payne we were passed by a large group of riders heading east to Washington. And, just as we got off the highway yet another group passed us. Shortly after we got back on the interstate after eating, we passed under an overpass where about 75 people stood waiving American flags and cheering us on. There was also a large firetruck with the ladder raised and a large American flag flying. I'm sure we weren't the intended audience for their celebration but it was cool nonetheless.

One bit of remembering for me was passing over the Tombigbee and Cahaba rivers. Anyone who has lived in the Selma, AL area will recognize those names. Sharon and I spent some 10 months there and have some fond memories.

Tonight, four of us rode downtown Chattanooga to see what we could see, then ate some Mongolian BBQ at Genghis Grill...it was very good.

Tomorrow, we off again at 8:00am headed to West Virginia...and area that I'm not at all familiar with.

Day 1

I survived! It was a long day...possibly the longest of the trip...at least the first half. I met up with everyone else in Nacogdoches and we headed east. destination today was Jackson, MS. It was a beautiful day in East Texas and not much traffic...until we hit I-20 just north of Carthage. We stopped for lunch and gas just east of Shreveport near Minden, LA. We stopped at a truck stop and decided to eat there as there were tons of truckers eating...always a good sign, right?

The food was good but it took forever to get to the table. Once fed, we hit the road once again headed towards Jackson...it was about 2:45pm. Before leaving Minden, I wanted to tell you about the most interesting person we met. One of the guys was outside making some phone calls while we waited for our food and this lady approached him and asked him where we were headed. He told her about Rolling Thunder and the Ride to the Wall. She was very impressed and wanted to meet the rest of us...including the Chapter President...me!

It turns out that she is the State Coordinator for the Patriot Guard Riders for the entire state of Louisiana. She coordinates about 130 missions per month...that's funeral escort duty. We talked a long time and she kept thanking us for what we do and I kept telling her it was us that should be thanking her for all she does. Very interesting.

We eventually made it to Jackson and found a hotel around 7:00pm...everyone was real ready to be off the motorcycles for a while. We discovered one thing we all have in common...a 100-mile butt. Please excuse the language but that's what everyone kept calling it. What that means that if we weren't close to stopping by the time we traveled 100 miles, we were all squirming in our seats trying to find a comfortable position...which was not to be found. By the last leg of the day, that 100-mile butt had shrunk down to about 70 miles. Perhaps a good night's sleep will help.

Today was a very good day...no injuries, no mechanical problems, no bad weather...although we thought we were going to get pounded by a thunderstorm going into Jackson, however by the time we got to the city it had all blown to the south and all we got was a few sprinkles...pretty lucky.

Tomorrow is the Day!

Shopping done, clothes washed, motorcycle packed and now I'm working on getting all the small items together like I-Pod, earphones, notes, snacks, maps, etc. I've got a checklist that I'll use as a final accounting...I'm sure there's something I've forgotten. I guess I'll just have to pick it up on the road if it's important.

Tomorrow will come too early, as I will most likely have trouble sleeping tonight thinking about all the things I've got to remember in the morning...that's pretty normal for me. Fortunately, I can sleep in until about 6:30am. To meet the others in Nacogdoches at 10:30am, I'll need to leave College Station around 8:15 or so.

I'm pretty excited about the trip, although it's hard to believe departure day is finally here. Stayed tuned for more.

Almost ready

Only 3 more days before I hit the road. The motorcycle is in the shop getting the once over...probably cost me $200-$300 at least. At least I'll be fairly certain I won't be the one having mechanical problems. Of course, I have had two incidents involving loose wires in the fuel control system...hard to find and even harder to get to.

I plan to use Saturday to get organized and do some minor modifications to the bike. I have a run-stop license plate holder installed but it was never hooked up. In addition, I'm going to try installing some running lights I purchased at Wal-Mart last night. I'm too cheap to purchase the PIAA lights that cost in the neighborhood of $300. If they don't work, I'm only out a few dollars...besides the running lights can be installed on another vehicle.

I've also provided Sharon with a summary of our finances...bank account numbers, passwords, insurance information and other benefit information...should anything happen. Not something you want to dwell upon, but something you should always prepare for. By the way, my will is current.

More later.

One week to go

Well, I think I've just about kicked my pneumonia...at least that's what the doctor said he thought I had...so I will concentrate on regaining my strength during the week to come. I'll also start working on my packing checklist...or should I say checklists. If you've never made a long motorcycle trip, you'll quickly find that there's no shortage of suggestions out there on the internet. Some lists are designed for camping, some are bare bones and some, I think, are made by people who plan to pull a trailer behind their bike.

My list will be a composite of all of these, minus the sleeping bags and camping gear...although I'm not convinced I shouldn't take those items just in case finding a hotel room at the last minute turns out to be impossible. However, I have been assured by those who made the trip last year that finding hotel rooms along the way is not an impossible task. Finding a hotel that meets everyone's idea of the right price and the right quality will definitely be a challenge. If the bed is clean and there's not big roaches...actually, I don't like little ones either...running across the floor, I'll probably be fine.

I made the reservations in the Washington D.C. area so I'm relatively sure that I'll at least have 2-3 nights of rest. Now if I can just get my motorcycle into the shop sometime this week to get the oil changed and have it checked out for a 3,000 mile trip, I'll be good to go by Monday morning.

Time's winding down

Here it is, the 12th of May, and the trip starts in a little less than 12 days on the 24th. I'm trying to get the bike and rider in shape for the long haul but and being hampered by what the doctors are calling pneumonia. I'm really hoping I don't have to start the trek being under the weather. I think I'm going to need all the energy I can muster.

Still working on plans for the ride back. I'm considering making a stop in Winston-Salem to visit the Benfields...missionaries to Greece when we were stationed there in the late '80's. Then I plan to head west over to Melbourne, Arkansas to visit Christopher and his family...and play with a couple of the grandkids. Then the last leg before heading home will take me to Arlington to see Courtney and her family...including our third grandchild. Ought to be interesting.

Short Trial Run

Last night I went on a relatively short dinner ride to sort of get my back end into riding shape. We only rode about 90 miles but I learned two valuable lessons. First, I don't like riding into the setting sun and second, I don't like riding in a group at night...especially on country roads.

However, we had a good dinner in a little town named New Baden and all returned home safe and sound. I will most likely spend the next two weekends getting everything gathered together and fix anything on the bike that needs fixing.

I attempted to have the local Kawasaki dealer install a set of risers but their parts guy apparently does not know how to surf the internet very well. After about 30 minutes of searching, I gave up and went home. There I pulled out my trusty J&P Metric catagog and within 5 minutes had found two different styles of risers that are made specifically for my motorcycle. I guess it's true what they say...it's hard to get good help.