CHAPTER SIX: DAY 4 WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET

 DON’S MILES:  TODAY 22.4   TOTAL TRIP 886.1

BRETT’S MILES:   TODAY 22.4   TOTAL TRIP 673.7 

It is finally here.  This is the day of the Rolling To Remember parade of motorcycles to raise awareness of the mental heath crisis stealing thousands of veterans’ lives a year and demand a full accounting for America’s MIA’s and POW’s.  Those participating in the ride will start to stage in the Pentagon parking lot at 7:00 AM to ready themselves for a noon start time.

All the riders at the hotel were in the hotel’s breakfast area pretty early.  In fact, there was no food yet but only coffee and juice.  To be honest, that was about any of us needed.  Both Brett and I were there along with the Run To The Wall rider from Odessa, TX and the two Ohio riders who were going to participate in the Rolling To Remember.  The conversation of who had the best story (true or otherwise) that we had started yesterday continued.  Before long the two Ohio riders left for the Pentagon and the rider from Odessa started packing his bike so he could start his ride back home.  This is just a guestimate on my part but I am thinking that in a 2 week period he put around 10,000 miles on his motorcycle.

Brett and I readied ourselves to ride into DC where we would watch and support the parade.  We put the water that we had bought yesterday in our bags so we would have plenty of fluids to drink.  There are pluses and minuses to that.  On the plus side, we could stay hydrated and apparently that is a healthy thing to be.  On the minus side, we were going to be sitting where there were no Port-a-Potties.

We headed out of the hotel and whipped around the block to get onto I-66.  The first thing you notice is the crowd of people standing on the overpass waving hands and flags.  Not only on the overpass right by the hotel but on every single overpass all the way into Downtown. When we got on the ramp the police were temporarily blocking it to let a special motorcycle delegation by that was heading to the Pentagon.  When they had passed our ramp we headed out…….with everyone else that was stuck on the ramp……..for DC.

In previous years when the event was sponsored by Rolling Thunder the bikes poured into the Memorial area and FILLED all the open grass fields.  They would be told not to park there and they would get towed, however, after TENS OF THOUSANDS of bikes pulled in…..well, there just aren’t that many tow trucks on the whole East Coast.  One of the reasons Rolling Thunder stopped the sponsorship was that the city was no longer going to tolerate uncontrolled parking.  Amvets took over the sponsorship and agreed to the city’s demands.  Of course, this was all news to me and Brett and we just tooled on down to the district happy as clams………..UNTIL…………we got there.

The city had COMPLETELY closed off many, many, MANY blocks and all access to the Memorial area.  They had EVERY street blocked with police cares, snow plows, and even city utility cherry picker trucks.  There was absolutely no way to ride or drive in.  We actually got a pretty good place to park near the Washington Monument.  Heck, I’ll bet we didn’t have to walk more than 7 or 8 HUNDRED MILES.  Brett’s GPS said we only walked ¾ of a mile…….personally, I think he should send it back because it is obviously broken.

We got ourselves a good spot to watch the parade pass.  We made very, very sure that there were absolutely NO Port-a-Potties anywhere near us within walking distance.  We were set up by 10:30.   The ride would start from the Pentagon parking lot at noon meaning that they would start passing us around 12:10 or 12:15.  We entertained ourselves talking with those around us.  I had an extra “camp chair” that I didn’t like.  The chair itself was ok BUT when sitting in it I would be only 4 inches off the ground…….HA!  Watching me trying to get out of that thing would be…….well, if videoed it would win the $20,000 on America’s Funniest Videos.  I saw an old guy across the street standing so I took it over to him and told him he could have it.  I didn’t see what happened to him or the chair.  For all I know, he sat in it and couldn’t get out of it and is still there.

Right at 12:10 the parade started around the corner by the Lincoln Memorial.  On the media there were two individuals in full uniform.  One was Army and one was Marine.  Both stood at attention and held a salute for the ENTIRE TIME the parade passed.  This year that took about an hour and a half.  I have no idea how many bikes there were but……for an hour and a half they passed us 3 and 4 abreast and going about 30 MPH…….so, I would say there were a lot of them.  Brett and I waved, saluted, took pictures, took videos, and enjoyed watching the thousands of patriots.

After the last bike passed us by, we folded up our chairs and started the 7 or 8 hundred mile trek back to our bikes.  I suggested that the next time we come that we needed to reserved an uber to take us to and from where we park our bikes.  ALSO, I think that it would be a good idea to rent our own Port-a-Potty and have it set where we will be sitting (downwind of course).  After reaching our bikes, we were busying ourselves stowing chairs, water, cameras, and etc. back into the bikes when three people walked up.  There were two men and a woman with a slight Asian look.  In very broken English the woman asked if they could take their picture with the bikes AND with us.  Of course we agreed although I did jokingly tell them that there would be a $500 fee.  It turns out that they were from Tajikistan…….HUH?  Yeah, I had never heard of it either.  The woman, who was the only one that could speak English much at all, said that she lives here now and these were her brothers.  We could swear that she said that one was the President.  They were very enjoyable people and were very happy to be allowed to take the pictures.  We did look up the president and it definitely wasn’t the guy BUT we saw another dignitary that did look like him.  If we ever figure out where the heck Tajikistan is, who knows, maybe we will be on the front page of their newspapers.

After our hob-nobbing with the rich and famous, we jumped on the bikes and headed out.  Brett had dropped his laptop and busted the power switch so he wanted to go to a Best Buy to see what he could do to solve his problem.  We tracked down a Best Buy that was only about 5 miles from the hotel and he went in…..come to find out, the only way to solve his problem was to buy a new laptop.  Most people are very happy when they have a new computer but Brett was moaning, groaning, grumbling, and mumbling.  Then again, it may have been just because he was hungry.  As for me, I was a happy camper because while he was shelling out a bunch of money I found the Best Buy restroom and made up for the hours of abstinence.

To solve the hunger issue Brett saw a Moe’s in the same center the Best Buy was in.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Moe’s.  However, I didn’t feel like getting a counter order burrito.  I wanted to sit at a table and have someone SERVE ME.   I mean, we just met some guy from Tajikistan for crying out loud.  That should be worth some service………right?  While Brett continued to grumble packing the computer into his bike I hurriedly checked my phone and, voila, problem solved.  There was a Red Robin a couple blocks away……and a couple blocks closer to the hotel.  Yay, off to Red Robin we went for some burgers, steak fries, beer, root beer float, and a cinnamon roll tower (don’t ask).  Life was all good again.

It was an easy-peasy ride to the hotel.  We each went to our rooms for an hour of winding down, catching up on emails, texts, and Facebook, and then were to meet with our chairs to sit in the parking lot by the bikes.  We did and, once again, we seemed to be a magnet for passers-by.   One in particular was a Korean gentleman who was staying at the hotel.  His name was Jon……I am sure that was an Americanization of his Korean name.  He spoke very broken English but he was having so much fun listening to the stories Brett and I were telling.  Finally, after 3 hours we had to tell Jon that we had to go to bed.  Besides, it was starting to sprinkle.  He said he was leaving for Boston in the morning so we said goodbye to him.

We headed to our rooms.  It was a really great day…..exciting, humbling, rewarding.  We all need more days like that.  And, as you will see, tomorrow should be more of the same.  Talk to you after Day 5.

CHAPTER FIVE: DAY 3 REMEMBERING THE FALLEN IS HUMBLING

 

DON’S MILES:  TODAY 33.6   TOTAL TRIP 863.7

BRETT’S MILES:  TODAY 33.6   TOTAL TRIP 651.3

It is Saturday morning.  The “free” hotel breakfast is to start at 6:30.   Knowing that the coffee and juice machines would be up and running I went ahead and meandered down to the breakfast area.  When I got there, I met up with another fellow from West Texas near Odessa.  He had come in with the Run For The Wall ride.  It would take pages for me to totally explain it but, briefly, this is a group ride from the West Coast to Washington, DC.  There are 3 routes, a northern, a southern, and a middle.  All three have hundreds of bikes participating and they all arrive in D.C. at the same time.  We had a great talk about the ride, the upcoming Rolling To Remember event, and my ride.   About that time, Brett entered the room and the conversation continued.  This guy actually rode from Odessa, TX to California and did the entire ride rather than waiting for the same group to pass right through his town just a few days later.  If you want to read about some dedicated Americans Google “Run To The Wall”.

About that time Brett entered the room along with the two riders from Ohio that we talked to the previous day.  We had a light and hardy conversation with lots of laughter and a lot of trying to outdo each other with better stories.  Personally, I thought that mine were the best but I’ll give them credit that they gave it a good try.

It approached the time that Brett and I picked to head for DC so we gathered what we needed……or, at least, what we thought we would need…..and went out to the bikes.  It was a wee bit cool and we wore our jackets but it was nice.  The ride into town was good, ALTHOUGH, I believe that I-66 was the first expressway EVER built and it has not had ANY upkeep done to it since Lincoln’s inaugural parade.  Even Michigan roads are better than I-66 between Arlington and DC.

Of course, I pulled off an exit too early.  I did it on purpose because I was sure that it would take us right to where we wanted to go.  HA!  It took us to a U-turn and sent us into the bowels of Downtown DC.  We were pretty much right where I was yesterday, going around in the same circles, and me repeating the same profanity at each turn.  I did, however, have yesterday’s experience and, just like A.I., I learn (more or less) from experience.  I got us to the Washington Monument, got us on Constitution Ave. running along side the Reflection Pool (the Forrest Gump pond), wham-bam-thank you ma’am, we pulled up onto the grass and parked.   To be very honest with you, I am almost positive that we were NOT supposed to park there.  However, there were 40 or 50 other bikes there and I took it as a “Safety In Numbers” scenario.

We immediately went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  Brett had never seen it and wanted to go to it first.  He found, as I always do, that it was a very emotional and humbling experience.  Add to that, the “Run To The Wall” riders……hundreds of them…….had just finishing laying their wreath at the Wall.  They do that every year and it is what they call “Mission Complete”.  They set out, ride across the country, and they have a mission to lay a wreath at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  Each year, when they lay the wreath in a Saturday before Memorial Day ceremony, they proclaim that that year’s mission has been completed.  Because they had just finished doing that, there were hundreds and hundreds of Run To The Wall participants (many who have done the ride annually for years and know each other) who had tears stained faces, with lots of hugging and support.  That only added to the emotional experience and being humbled.

From the Wall we wandered over to the Lincoln Memorial.  Aside from the fact that it is…..well, it is the Lincoln Memorial, it is also a really, really great spot to watch people.  Touristy type of people are so much fun to watch.  They are kind of oblivious about all their surroundings except for what they are looking at and they are looking at it with amazement and astonishment.  At the steps of the Lincoln Memorial you have the Lincoln Memorial right in front of you and at the other end of the “Forrest Gump Pond” is the Washington Memorial and separating the two is the Reflecting Pool.  I’m not sure how many phone pictures are taken every hour on those steps but if I had a penny for each one I am sure that I could be living a lot higher retirement lifestyle.

I asked Brett where exactly the World War II Memorial was at, he checked his phone and said “at the other end of the Reflecting Pool”.  Now, based on what Google tells me it is 2,028 feet long or, roughly, a quarter mile.  Hogwash!  We walked from one end to the other and I can swear that it was about 250 miles from one end to the other.  And the worst part was that WE HAD TO WALK BACK!  That was a total, I am sure, of 500 miles.

After visiting the WWII Memorial and heading back, we viewed the Vietnam Memorial Wall again.  Then we skipped over to Constitution Ave. where the event vendor area was located.  It is called Thunder Alley.  They really didn’t much in the way of vendors, however, Icicle Sunglasses had a booth.  Just so happened that Brett owns a pair of Icicles and the lens would pop out on occasion.  He went to the booth and the gentleman there fixed Brett’s glasses, got them as good as new, and there was no charge.

We started back to the bikes and was again crossing Constitution Ave. when, just as we hit the center of the road, the police stopped us.  It was the Sandbox Ride.  That is the aforementioned Run To the Wall riders as they are heading out of DC.  Many of the participants of the run TO Washington, DC leave on their own and head home.  However, the actual run continues on from DC to Marseilles, IL and the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial.  It was a joy to watch these patriots ride by on start of this 3 day/750 mile ride.

As the last bike of the Sandbox Ride passed we continued on and got to our bikes.  We did a quick check of Brett’s GPS and headed to Fairfax and the Hooters there.  I had a burger, Brett had tacos and our waitress, Kira, took good care of us.  After eating we headed back about ½ mile to the Patriot Harley-Davidson Dealer.  We both bought official Rolling To Remember t-shirts.  Brett also bought a Patriot Harley-Davidson t-shirt and a Patriot hoodie to take home as a gift.  As we were leaving the building to check out the vendors in their lot Brett stopped at a table to see what she had.  Well, all she had was 50/50 raffle tickets for a buck a piece.  Brett said that he would buy some.  I figured that since he bought some I would match it……he certainly wouldn’t buy more than $5 worth…..would he???  So he says, “give me 20”.  WHAT??  Well, I wasn’t going to let me better me so I bought 21.  She said the drawing was at 4:00 and you had to be present.  Cool, we bought some Cokes and sat at a picnic table.  We killed the hour striking up conversations with everyone that passed us by.  4:00 rolled around and she called the number and, GUESS WHAT, I won.  Yep, she handed me $96.  Since I spent $21 on tickets I basically won 75 bucks…….not bad.  I took it and I did NOT share it just because the only reason I bought tickets was because Brett bought them.

We immediate mount the bikes and headed back to the hotel.  Along the way we stopped at a 7/11 and grabbed a 6 pack of beer and 12 waters.  Back at the hotel, we set up our chairs in the parking lot and, before we knew it, the gentleman we met earlier from the Run To The Wall ride (I’m sorry, but neither Brett nor I got his name) came by and a few minutes later the two riders from Ohio joined us.  We talked out there for about 3 hours……..with each other and with just about everyone that walked by on the bike path walking their dog.

Finally, we could hardly keep our eyes open and said goodnight.  We both did quick calls home and then…….BED!  Talk to you after Day Four.

CHAPTER FOUR: DAY 2 THE TWO WANDERERS JOIN UP

 

DON’S MILES:  TODAY 345.1   TOTAL TRIP 830.1

BRETT’S MILES:  TODAY 264.2   TOTAL TRIP 617.7 

I’m going start right off by saying…..what a day.  I hope that I can fit it all into one blog post.

For starters I got up and ran a couple of things out to my bike…..YIKES!!!  It was COLD.  The good, old weather person maintained their reputation of missing the mark.  Long story short…..it was not supposed to be real hot nor was it to be real cold.  Just a nice temp morning, noon, and night.  There was a whole group there from Florida on their way to DC.  Their jackets had the name Buffalo Soldiers.  They were a lot of husband/wife couples.  Unlike me, they were dressed for the cold.  Of course, they were ALL dragging little trailers behind their bikes so they had room for all kinds of extra stuff.  Me?  Well, if I didn’t think I would need it I didn’t pack it.  So, I was cold.

Got a message from Brett early telling me that he was hitting the road at 6:30.   Good for him.  I was not quite as ambitious and didn’t leave until 7:30.   I meandered around the other bikes and riders talking with them a bit.  Then I headed back inside to THAW OUT and to have breakfast.  After my “free” breakfast I finished up packing, made sure that the Day 1 blog was posted, and out I went.  I’m not sure but I think that out of my window I saw a mama polar bear and two cubs drinking Cokes.  I could have been mistaken but…………

I did a quick stop at the Mobil station at the corner to top off the tank.  I jumped onto I-95 and headed north.  The sky was a bright blue with only slight whispers of clouds to add to the visual beauty.  However, the beauty stopped with the visual because it was FREAKIN’ COLD.  Nevertheless, like a real trooper I motored on.  Traffic was light, which was good.  The wind that I experience on Day 1 was continuing to howl.  The wind stayed strong for most of the ride and finally let up as I rode north of Richmond.

I got to the North Carolina/Virginia state line and pulled into a One 9 truck stop.  You will be happy to note that I did a normal “on the road” meal.  I got a bag of mini glazed donuts, a small bottle of orange juice, and a HOT coffee.  I sat next to the bike and gave Lisa a call.  We chatted a bit until it was time for me to drag my leg over the seat and get going again.  I sent a message to a great friend who lives in Virginia.  We hoped that we could hook up.  He told me that he wasn’t too far from Virginia Exit 104 which is about 20 miles or so north of Richmond.  There is a McDonald’s at the exit and a Love’s Truck Stop and I told him that I would pull in, fill my tank, and head for Mickey D’s parking lot and that I should be there by noon.

Like clockwork, I pulled into the Love’s gas pump area just minutes before noon, did a gas ‘n go fill-up, and headed over to McDonald’s.  Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy……I had a bunch of coffee and orange juice to get rid of so I rushed into the restaurant to…….ARGH……..find and handwritten note on the door of the Men’s Room saying “restroom not working”.  Apparently, they thought it a good idea to have a new urinal installed during lunch.  So, there was a line of guys (3 of us) waiting to use the women’s room.  Of course, for some reason, they thought it necessary to insure that it was not in use.  I told them that, temporarily, we were identifying as women…….it wasn’t funny then and, as I read it, it isn’t too funny now either.  Naturally, they were done with the installation 15 minutes later.

I sat and waited, writing in my journal, and munching on a cheeseburger (that’s about all I can afford at McDonald’s anymore).  I figured that I would give my bud until 1:45.   I hadn’t heard from him so I really wasn’t sure.  When the time came, I hopped on the bike to leave.  I was sorry because I hadn’t seen him since he moved to Virginia several months ago.

While this was going on, Brett was tooling on U.S. highways through the mountains.  He had a chilly start but a really great ride.  He had his two action cameras going.  One is his helmet which basically is looking wherever he is looking (I hope that he isn’t wearing it if we go to Hooters).  The other is a “360 camera” that videos a front view and a rear view at the same time.  That way he will know where he’s heading and, at the same time, he will know where he’s been.

I started my last leg into D.C. by leaving McDonald’s and getting on I-95 again with only 75 or 80 miles to go.  The last 40 miles leading into Arlington was SLOW & GO!!  For probably 30 of those 40 miles I was not able to leave 2^nd gear.  It dragged on and on.  All of a sudden…..YIKES……I needed to exit and I had to cross 4 lanes to do it.  AND those 4 lanes were PACKED with bumper to bumper cars that were filled with people who were as tired of the SLOW & GO as I was.  The last they cared about was that OLD guy on the motorcycle trying to change lanes.  So, before I knew it I was being “welcomed” into Maryland.  I found an exit that I could do a turn around in.  Tried to determine where I was and………dag nab it…….I wound up in Downtown D.C.  I spotted the Washington Monument and thought “ah ha, now I got my bearings and I can get to the hotel”.  Not so fast, Grasshopper.  I was facing the back of the monument but I thought that I was on the side of it.  I followed that street and……bam…..I had to do it all over again.  With actually very little swearing, I got myself to the right spot, whipped onto I-66, and in 10 minutes I was pulling into the Arlington Econo Lodge.  The 75 or 80 miles had turned into 100 miles….le sigh!

I got off the bike and I had 10 text messages.  Several from Brett who was laying comfortably in his room.

We had some good conversation about our respective travels as I was checking in.  I proceeded to throw (literally) my stuff into my room and we walk a half block to a small Mediterranean café.  I couldn’t pronounce most of the stuff on the menu let alone know what it was.  I threw caution to the wind and got penne pasta shrimp thing with some salad type stuff in it.  I said that it looked a little too healthy and my body might reject it.  Nevertheless, I cleaned the dish and it was actually pretty tasty.  I would love to tell you what it was but, frankly, I haven’t a clue what it was.

As we walked back up the hotel parking lot we ran into a couple old guys from Ohio.  They weren’t as old as me (few are) but they still fit into the “old guy” category.  We stood out in the parking lot and chatted with them for over an hour.  It was fun and there was lots of laughter.  There were stories being told by them and stories being told by us.  Statistically, I would say that 40% was untrue, another 50% was embellished, 8% didn’t make any sense, and 2% MIGHT have been a socially acceptable truth.

Finally, we had to say that it was time to get to our rooms.  Brett’s room is next door to mine and when we got to our doors we squeaked something that sounded like a “good night, see you in the morning” and we were gone.

We both did quick phone calls home.  Lisa and I talked for a few minutes and I said that I was really tired and I had a lot of typing to do.  So we hung up.  I typed about a paragraph……..oops, sorry, the first paragraph of this page was all that was typed.  I finished it on Day 3.  But, I slept REALLY good, Brett said that he slept REALLY good.  I would say that getting this post out a few hours late was worth it.

That takes care of Day Two.  Now, stay tuned for Day Three.

CHAPTER THREE: DAY 1.....EVERY JOURNEY REQUIRES A FIRST STEP

I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day 

Don’s miles:  today 485.0   total trip 485.0

Brett’s miles:  today 353.5   total trip 353.5 

One thing is for certain, 4:00 AM comes awfully, stinkin’ early.  That is the time that I got out of bed.  By 4:30 I was on the bike and pulling out of the garage and heading for DC.  My goal for the day was to reach Fayetteville, NC.  Before I get into the ride and things that took place let me start with……..the ONLY rain I had was the ONE MILE from my neighborhood gate to the entrance ramp to I-95.  The rest of the day, for both me and Brett, was bright and sunny.  I will say this, however, I had VERY windy conditions from the Florida/Georgia line to Fayetteville.  There were times that I thought that the next thing I would see would be me landing in the middle of a bunch of little people with my bike sitting on top of an ugly, old witch.  Spoiler alert:  I made it to Fayetteville, NC and Brett made it to Butler, PA and we were never once warned to not pay attention to the guy behind the curtain.

As I mentioned above, my start time was 4:30 and it was dark.  You have to remember that I am OLD and I very, rarely am out and about after the street lights come on…..on a bike or in a cage….I mean, car.  Especially in the summer when the street lights are coming on until the middle of the night (read: 9:00 PM).  That being said, I’m out of practice riding in the dark…..for that matter, I’m out of practice doing anything in the dark (except finding my way to the bathroom).  Nevertheless, I muddled through the next hour and a half without any issues.  By that time, I had Jacksonville in my mirrors and I was bounding across the state line into Georgia.

The other thing that I noticed was that last night the weather guy said there would be a stalled “cold front” just to the north of Daytona Beach.  However, he added, it would be a “late season” front and there would be little difference in temperature.  HA!  About the time I passed by St. Augustine the temperature dropped at least 150 degrees…..give or take.  I was wearing my armored, MESH jacket which, by the way, does not stop the cold air ONE BIT.  At my first gas stop in Brunswick, GA, I put on my rain jacket (which I believe is made of five ply tire rubber) under my MESH jacket.  It stayed chilly

for the rest of the ride.  Please remember that I have more than 3 decades of Florida living so it doesn’t take a whole lot of chill to have me whining.  Brett, on the other hand, started out in 40 degrees and thought nothing of it.

As I said, I stopped in Brunswick, GA for my first gas stop.  Almost each time I have traveled north on a trip for the last 30+ years, I have stopped at the Love’s Travel Center in Brunswick.  There are a couple of things worth mentioning.  I have mentioned this before;  I am amazed at the people I see.  The place is buzzing with people on their way to work.  They do this every, single day.  I did it every, single day for 55 years.  Do they “want to” be up early and head off to somewhere to do something so they get paid….NO, they do not.  But they do it.  I really, really hope that America doesn’t lose that work ethic.

The other thing that I have mentioned before is that I ride my motorcycle a lot.  Most of my hundreds of thousands of miles don’t come from taking trips but they come from riding around town.  So, I am getting gas all the time and NO ONE ever says a word to me.  But when I am on a trip…..same me, same bike and yet, people come up and talk to me at almost every stop.  I was not disappointed this morning.  I had my little traveling, telescopic chair out and I was jotting down some notes and the guy on the next pump says, “I like your chair”.  That was just his opening line.  He went on to tell me he used to ride and he couldn’t believe I was going all the way to D.C. (he had asked and I told him) and for me to be safe and to have fun.  I think that it is really fantastic.  Most people want to be nice and enjoy talking to others but the rapid pace of life seems to take it away.  I have so much fun with people coming out of the blue to just chit-chat for a few seconds.

Lastly, I will preface by saying that Love’s is very, very good at keeping the store and, especially, the restroom nice and clean.  BUT that one this morning in Brunswick was one of the COLDEST restrooms I have ever been in.  As Mr. Gump would say, “that’s all I have to say about that”.

My next stop was at Yemassee, SC and again at a Love’s.  The ride was still chilly but because I had my quarter inch thick, five ply, rated to stop 50 cal machine gun fire……rain jacket on underneath my mesh jacket, I was nice and warm and was whine-free.  I almost thought that I was going to get away without anyone talking to me when a gal from a couple pumps from me, walked over with her dalmatian on a leash and did the normal “nice bike”, “where are you heading”, “my son has a bike”, etc.  It was very nice.  Then I saw something really weird.  Being from Florida I am used to a couple periods a year when the Love Bugs swarm.  It is something to behold.  I have never, ever seen just ONE SET of Love Bugs.  Now I can never say that again because, today, in Yemassee, NC I saw ONE “set” of Love Bugs.  There were no others.  I looked all around me and, nope, they were the only ones anywhere………..weird, eh?

As I continued through South Carolina, I did a quick stop at the exit for Manning.  The last couple times I made this trip I stopped there and met up with an old friend and shot the bull at the Waffle House.  We hadn’t done any communication as we had in the past so I didn’t think he would be there but, then again, MAYBE he knew I was on the road and MAYBE he took a chance that I would stop.  I did go ahead and top off my tank but he was nowhere to be seen so it was a very fast “gas & go”.  Maybe we can hook up on my way back home.

About this time traffic was picking up big time in I-95.  There are always lots of trucks and that is to be expected.  In addition to all the trucks were lots and lots and lots of RV’s.  From motor coaches to small campers……there were LOTS.  Those big RV’s kind of scare me.  Just about anyone that wants to is allowed to drive them.  Some of the same people that can’t drive a Kia Soul will be sitting behind the wheel of a ……for lack of another word, a bus.  Bus drivers have to be trained and get a special license.  Not so, for an RV driver.  Don’t get me wrong, most are pretty darn good at driving those big, old things.  But there are some that………well, you know.

The wind maintained its quest to blow me and the RV’s off the road.  You will be happy to know that we all fared pretty well.  Overall, the ride was a good one.  There was, for me, only one slow & go situation.  That was in South Carolina for about 5 miles.  I got to where it got back up to speed and I have no clue what the issue was.  When I crossed into North Carolina there was construction that went all the way from the SC/NC border to my exit to get to my hotel.  I don’t know how much further up the road it continues……..I’ll find out tomorrow.

While I was going through my day, Brett was also having a good ride.  He is much smarter than me and didn’t leave his house in Michigan until 7:30.  I might try that tomorrow.  He reported to have really, really good weather and, except for rush hour traffic around Detroit, he had few issues with other drivers.  It was only about 40 degrees when he left this morning but he was dressed for it and all was good.

He made a stop at Mad River Harley and got a shirt for his collection and then set his sights on Butler, PA where he had a room reserved.  The funny thing was that BOTH of us checked into our rooms shortly after 2:00 this afternoon.  We probably were both in our rooms within 5 minutes of each other.  Not bad for starting out 1,300 miles apart.

I got a message from my granddaughter that they were on their way.  I grabbed what I needed (actually nothing) and headed to the lobby.  We were originally going to Pizza Hut but the restaurant had changed and became “counter service” instead of waiting tables and only sold soda in 20 oz bottles.  Soooooo, after about 5 seconds of deliberating we decided to do Cracker Barrel.  It is located right next door to the hotel so it was an easy trip…….probably took longer to drive it than it would have taken to walk.  Needless to say, it was FANTASTIC.  I enjoyed being with my two granddaughters, their mom, and brother.  We had a good meal and great talk and it didn’t last long enough.  I said my goodbyes to them which is something I hate to do and off they went.

Back in the room I gave my wife, Lisa, a call.  We exchanged stories of the day……me traveling and her with the dog and the neighbor’s dog.  Then with a good night and an air kiss we hung up.  I did some last minute stuff and was snoozing by 9:00.  Talk to you at the end of Day Two.

CHAPTER TWO: FAILING TO PREPARE IS PREPARING TO FAIL

 

On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again 

Yay!  Road Trip!  We all know, of course, that Willie Nelson was talking about a music tour and I am talking about jumping on the motorcycle for a multi-state trip.  So, I know, in fact, that I am going to go on the road trip, I know that my destination is going to be Washington, DC., and I know that I will be gone for 7 days.  The job we (me and my nephew, Brett) are facing now is putting all the logistics together.  We will need a route, places to stay, and enough clothing to wear.  The issue of clothing is very important because the lack of it can get a person arrested.

I am aware that there are at least two or three of you who have faithfully followed me in the past (gotta love family) and both of you might find some of what I say a little redundant.  Maybe I should say, a LOT redundant.  I will do my best to spice it up but, then again, it isn’t all that easy to make packing for a trip spicy……unless we did the aforementioned “no clothing” method.

I suppose that I am getting ahead of myself a little bit.  We will actually do several things prior to the actual stuffing of our travel bags.  One of the first things that I like to do is check out the weather forecasts from leaving to returning.  Many, many, MANY years ago before I would hit the road on a trip, I would try my best to look at the weather for all my various stops.  This certainly became quite a bit easier with the advent of “Al Gore’s invention” of the World Wide Web.  I should say, it became easier for me to “look up” the weather, HOWEVER, the internet didn’t make the forecasts any more accurate.  I would start checking as far in advance (that was 10 days back then and it has grown to 15 days now) as I could and I would make a chart.  EVERY SINGLE DAY, the forecast would be different and sometimes not just a little bit.  Frankly, I think that I really missed my calling.  I worked hard for 55 years, starting at age 13, making sure (for the most part) that my job was done right.  Weather people might be right, they might be wrong, sometimes a combination of both, and they don’t seem to be apologetic one way or the other.  They just go right on doing their thing each day regardless of how accurate they were of the past.  I think that I could have been really good at doing that.  It is all kind of funny when you think about it because they predict the very next day incorrectly, and yet, they feel comfortable to give a 15-day forecast.

All that being said and regardless of my opinion of weather people, I still look to them for……some kind of an idea of what I MIGHT run into.  Assuming that I can trust them, the weather in the DC area during our Friday-Monday stay is looking pretty good…….so far.  Of course, it could all change tomorrow.

The basic plan we have put together is that on Thursday morning May 25th Brett will leave Ortonville, MI and I will leave Daytona Beach, FL.  On my first day I traditionally leave my garage between 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning.  For my first night I will be stopping at Fayetteville, NC where I have two granddaughters.  Spending the evening with them makes the whole trip worthwhile regardless of what weather people say (or don’t say).  Friday morning, both Brett and I will be setting out again.   The plan is for us to meet in Arlington, VA at the Econo Lodge that is located right on I-66.  My ride on that second day is planned out to be fast and direct.  Brett is hoping to stop at the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland about 70 miles from our hotel.

As for my packing, I am pretty much all set at this point and ready to load the bike.  As always, I have my used my “motorcycle packing list” and followed it faithfully.  Readers of my previous travel blogs know that I use what I call the “land fill” method of packing.  Over time, I save all my jeans, shirts,
underwear, and socks that, under normal circumstances, SHOULD BE thrown out.  Rather than putting them out to the street for trash pick-up I put them in my “trip boxes”.  As I prepare to pack, I determine what I will be needing and I pull “just enough” out of those “trip boxes”.  Then, at the end of each day I travel I will throw away the clothing that I wore that day.  In theory, my bags will get lighter and lighter as each day passes…………unless, of course, I buy a bunch of useless souvenirs.

I will be loading my bike before going to bed on Wednesday night, and in Michigan Brett will be doing likewise.  Basically, all will be set and we will be ready for our Thursday morning blast off.  I will also be wearing a backpack.  In the backpack will be my computer, toiletries, a couple miscellaneous things, and my Friday clothes.  Using that method, I will be able to leave my big travel bag on the bike when I park at the hotel in Fayetteville.   All I will need to take into the hotel for the night will be my backpack.  That makes the morning departure much, much easier.

While I have been preparing myself, Brett has also been a busy little beaver.  One of the first thing that he decided he would do was, after 20 years of motorcycling, to get a motorcycle endorsement on his driver’s license.  I’m not going to rub it in that I got mine 53 years ago.  Back then in 1970, the State of Michigan decided that they could make a few extra bucks if they charged ten bucks to have an “M” typed onto the cardboard driver’s license.  All I had to do was go in, slap the $10 on the counter, tell them I wanted the motorcycle endorsement, and Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma’am…..it was done.  So, if nothing else, we will both be legal……….more or less.  What Brett did was sign up for the Harley-Davidson Riding Academy.  That encompassed three days of taking experienced riders to a whole new level.

He also put a new Memphis Shade windshield on his bike.  In my very humble opinion, he will NEVER be sorry that he added that windshield to his bike.  I have had used Memphis Shade a few times over the years and they are a great windshield.  He also has self-designated himself as an “action camera expert”.  He has a helmet cam and a handlebar cam.  He intends to video as much as he can during the long weekend.  I give you my solemn promise that, during his videoing, we will never fail to have all/most of our clothes on……that being said, I can’t speak for the other 500,000 people that will be attending the rally.  I am very excited to see what he comes up with when he puts together all his videos.  Rolling To Remember provides a lot of video subject matter with hundreds of thousands of people, a couple hundred thousand motorcycles, and a 3 plus hour parade of bikes through the memorial district of Washington, DC.

As mentioned above I will, on my trip north from Daytona, have the great privilege to stop in Fayetteville, NC for my first night.  While there, I will spend a good portion of the evening with two of my granddaughters.  Those few hours will make the entire weekend a success regardless of the rest of the time.  On the other hand, Brett, has no granddaughters so, in substitute, he will make stop or two of his own.  He plans stops at a couple Harley dealers to grab a couple shirts……….I guess that almost as good as meeting granddaughters (not).  He will end his day in Butler, PA just north of Pittsburgh.

Well, folks…………we are ready.  As the John Denver song says, “All our bags are packed, we’re ready to go” (note: a little bit of creative license).  Look out D.C., there’s going to be a Bova/Jerdon invasion.  Side note; 20 years ago, in the summer of 2003, Brett’s mom (my sister) rode south from Michigan while I rode north from Daytona Beach and we met up at Snowshoe Mountain, WV.  We made that ride to attend the weekend long Freedom Fest Motorcycle Rally.  We were joined by my wife and a couple other friends and had an amazing time.  I hope to equal that fun this Memorial Day Weekend with Brett.  OK, I know, I know…..I am TWENTY FREAKIN’ YEARS older than I was back in 2003 and Brett isn’t a whole lot younger than his mom was back then.  Still, one can hope!

Rolling To Remember is a 3-day event to raise awareness of the mental health crisis stealing thousands of veterans' lives a year and demand full accounting for America's Missing in Action and Prisoners of War.  Yes, we plan to have fun and enjoy ourselves but there IS a bigger cause.  Whatever happens, I will do my best to share it all with you.  Talk to you at the end of Day 1.

CHAPTER ONE: ROLLING TO REMEMBER 2023 DON & BRETT ROAD TRIP

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

And whatever comes our way….fa la la la la 

Ahhh, when Mars Bonfire wrote those words WAY back in 1968, little did he know that it would become an anthem for the world of two wheels.  In 1970, when I first saw the move Easy and heard those words, little did I know that 53 years later I would have hundreds of thousands of motorcycle miles under my belt, that would be looking at mounting my motorized steed for another cross-country ride, and humming that tune.  Nevertheless, here I am, getting my nearly 75 year old body ready for another good ride.

To be honest, I really didn’t think that this trip was something that would actually happen.  My last big ride was from Daytona Beach to Wolverine, MI and that was way back in 2021, nearly two years ago.  All through 2022, I had pipe dreams of a 2023 ride (or two) but I wasn’t sure that anything would come from my dreams.  I don’t know about you but the pipes my pipe dreams are often corroded and  full of leaks.

A little backstory for you; I have made the ride from Daytona Beach to Washington, DC twice before to attend the Rolling Thunder rally that was, for years, held over the Memorial Day Weekend.  I motored to the nation’s capital once in 2017 and then again in 2019.  Both times was a solo ride.  Even though I was all by myself (sniff-sob),  I had a great time………AND with 2017 greeting me with LOTS of pouring rain.  I, emotionally, ventured through the various memorials, enjoyed sitting on the side of the road by the Lincoln Memorial watching the thousands of Rolling Thunder riders pass by, and spent part of Memorial Day at the Arlington National Cemetery.  The ride is to support the memory of wartime POWs and MIAs.  Thousands and thousands of motorcycles take part.  It took over 3 hours for the entire ride to pass by me and the tens of thousands of other biker and non-biker spectators lining the streets.

Even though I enjoyed it…..I was still (sniff-sob) alone.  I know that sounds weird considering there were a quarter million plus people attending the rally.  I met lots of people, had many good conversations, loved the events, and visited all the war memorials……fun and emotional but, still, I was (sniff-sob) alone.  After returning home from the 2019 event, I made the decision that I would not do the Washington, DC rally again if I couldn’t find a friend or relative to join with me in the Nation’s Capital.  I don’t mind riding by myself but I was…for lack of another word…..lonely (sniff-sob) at the event itself.  I know that you will probably find this hard to believe, but at 75 years of age I don’t have very many motorcycle riding friends or relatives that can spend the time and/or the money for a 7 day two-wheeled romp.

Fast forward to the fall of 2022.  It was then that I met up with my nephew, Brett, in St. Augustine, FL.  He was having a little R&R in the Sunshine state and he wanted my wife and I to meet him for a lunch.  Being a rider himself it was no surprise that the conversation found its way to motorcycling.  I talked about a couple of trips and told him that I felt bad that I probably would never do the Memorial Day Weekend in Washington again for lack of company.  He said that he would love to go to that event.  We ended the day saying that we would do it.  I’m pretty sure that both of us took that proclamation with a grain of salt.  BUT…..the proverbial seed was planted.  Post Script: there were months of silence on the subject by the both of us.

Out of nowhere in mid-April Brett sent me a message asking if I was still interested.  I have to admit that it caught me by surprise…..a pleasant surprise but a surprise nonetheless..  Over the next couple of days and a few message exchanges to insure that we were both serious about the venture……we started to set the wheels into motion.

As for me, the first thing that I did was to check out the hotel in Arlington, VA to see if we still secure a room during the event.  In fact, I went ahead and made reservations ( AND, just to be safe, I did make sure that all the reservations could be canceled…just in case…….I am, after all, a Social Security recipient Baby Boomer).

I also had to go over our calendar.  I know, you’re all thinking that I am Mr. Social, a man on the town, and that I have social commitments filling every waking hour.  I do have the occasional doctor appointment but that’s about it.  However, since I was thinking that I would have a bunch of free time I had set up some home improvement projects.  The “projects” are being performed by others who are FAR MORE talented than I am.  The effect on my calendar is if I am available to sit in a lawn chair, sipping ice tea, and keeping an eye on the “project progress”.  After a bit of a review and a little adjusting the Memorial Day Weekend was all freed up. 

The next element was getting the “wife affirmation”.  We guys like to think that we are the boss but between you, me, and the lamppost……I am pretty sure we know better.  After making a few faces, groaning a bit, and getting through the normal “wife questions” (i.e. what are you getting me) I got the spousal “okie dokie”.

Last thing was to get the scooter ready.  I gave it the once over and it all looked pretty good except for one thing……I realized that the bike needed to be more like me    …….RETIRED!  The tires on the bike were, uh, ok.  Under normal circumstances “ok” tires would have been good for another 2 to 3 months.  I would not, however, want to use “ok” tires a 2,000 mile road trip.  I made that mistake in 2017 and had to buy tires at a dealership in Savannah.  I ran over to the good old J&P Cycles superstore in Ormond Beach and they took care of me with tires and mounting.  I am happy to report that, as far as I can tell,  the old scoot is ready to go.  We are both happily RETIRED!

The basic plan is for both me and Brett to leave our respective homes on Thursday morning May 25^th.  Brett will leave from Ortonville, MI and I will leave from Daytona Beach, Fl. with the intention of returning to our homes on Wednesday May 31^st.  I will do my very best to chronicle the rides and our activities during the event for you.  What I need from each of you is to collectively butter up Ma Nature to give us bright, sunny, rain free days.  I’m sure that will work……….right?

Coming up in a few days I’ll go over all the various things we will do to prep and pack for the ride and for the event.  There WILL be more postings…………………………….So pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone reads ‘cause everyone needs Bova Don Bova’s traveling motorcycle show.

Talk to you again real soon.