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.