Texas State Meeting 2021

 Hard to believe it's come and gone...    went too quickly.   I joined in '18.  Since then State has been held in Galveston, Temple, South Padre Island and now Denison.....   bam!  Next year is New Braunfels, but.. getting ahead of myself.

Soon as this popped up last year, I jumped on the reservation search and as always... nada .. zilch.  Guessing, the hosting chapter gets their fill all before they publicize it and all their closest buddies... then.. it goes public for their rest of us to squirm?  Happens just about every time... js. Hell, I'd do the same. Good news is, found a non participating hotel few miles away, got a military rate locked in for ourselves and the Kennedys' before they figured out an event was in the works.  So for less than $100 a night, all good. Others trying to get rooms late in the game, north of $200.  Was looking at AirBnB options but finding the hotel just simplified things.  Had we had a bigger group (6-8), that AirBnb would have been the way to go.

Later in '20 they  opened up the ordering for the shirts.  Lucy didn't realize I'd ordered hers along with mine so she ended up doubling up but ... always room in the closet for these.  Kicker is, with all the "R" trademark stuff going on as late, the vendor fucked up on our logo and late in the game ( month ago?) all hell broke loose and they had to REPRINT all new shirts for us.  The original one's are relegated to wearing during yard work or rags?  Anyways ... after receiving the shirts in the mail, we got new ones when we checked in.  Problem is the "State Store' wasn't set up anywhere officially so if you didn't get them on day 1 well...  who knows where they were. And if you didn't order them by early Aug '21 .. you were shit out of luck.

Well, Thursday finally got here and it was time to head out.  Beaudreaux's bikes were down so they were caging it and Lucy opted to jump in with them on Friday. So headed out after lunch and a quick 1.5 hours later I was at the Hilton on-site and sipping a cold beer. Grab my goodie bag, my shirts from the pile, and few vendors are setup.  Koozies .. check. More Tee Shirts... check.  Challenge coins .. check.  Then one of the chapter's asks me if I like whiskey .. duh.   Pulls out a decanter; last one left.  They can't sell them anymore due to some BS that went on, so I offer up a donation and ...  score.  They have Beer mugs as well .. .. donation .. score!  Hell, been here an hour and I've filled up a saddle bag. Well, the 'party' is next door at HeyDays so I eventually meander over that way where the Kenndys' have setup camp and we're soon sipping.  Dutch rolls in quietly and we're slowly growing. These drinks are flowing a lil too easy so before I'm past the point of no return I sneak out the door and head to the Best Western.  But.... almost to my destination I see the North Rig Grill, sneak in, park it at the bar, and a JD/Coke and Chicken Friend Steak Sandwich later... I'm happy.  Now... back to the hotel.  Before I get into the elevator I run into a guy that seems a lil' off to me; guessing he's sipped more than I have at this point.  He's authored a book called Drawing Fire about a WWII vet whom is of the Pawnee tribe out of Oklahoma, Brummet Echohawk.  We chat for awhile (he's seen my vest/patches) and he's soon off to get me his last copy, signs it for me and I hand him a CVMA Challenge coin in exchange.  He's as psyched as I am; score!  Okay .. .now ... call it a night.

Up early, and headed over to IHOP for some grub with Dutch. Then, to the meeting site to connect up for a ride.  They have 4 or 5 separate rides and I pick the one to Whitewright they called the Texas Tail of the Dragon, which got my attention.  We've got about 50 bikes and head out through Denison and Sherman. Eventually we pop out on a country road with the twisties but we're running about 10 under the speed limit.  Have to admit, I was a little disappointed.  Had I been leading that ride, I'd found a better path to get us to the beginning of it all away from lights and traffic, then get it at least up to the speed limit.  Then .. maybe.. just maybe.. it'd been okay.  At Whitewright we've invaded "The Loft Pizza Pub."  They were given a heads up but were unprepared for 50-60 people walking in at once. Luckily I quickly found a place at the bar followed by Ratt and Dutch.  We're first up for drinks and food... score!  Boots and HoneyBadger showed up late but are ready to go after we've had a few and some grub... so ... we decided to head back separate from the group.  I had zero desire to crawl along at a snails pace; we rolled at 80mph back to home base.  Hmmm.. "tail of the dragon?" .. I want some of whom called it that, is smoking? Good news is Lucy has caged in with the Kennedy's so back over to HeyDay!  Few drinks there, over to the convention center for a few hours.. then ...  we decide to pull the plug and head back to the hotel.  We've got drinks iced down waiting for us, and Pizza and Wings is a phone call away.   Few hours later.....zzzzzz

Picture Time

502 TX Members in attendance

 The big day is here.  We finally connect up with the Dittels since they didn't come up until now, living just down the road towards McKinney.  Saturday is the official meeting but first we've got to jump into the fray with 500 others for a quaint group pic!  Drone is buzzing above, they herd the cats and our webmaster is pulling the trigger on his SLR.   We're released from our cage and we head to the meeting.  Few hours of good info, Dudeman is running a great meeting, we've got the National Commander on hand with some good words, and then we're voting for a new State Secretary and SAA which takes longer than expected, followed by a swipe for attendance.  Eventually, we're out of there grab a few drinks, head back to the hotel for a quick power nap .. and .. bam .. .lets do it again!   Around 1800 hours folks are streaming back into the convention center (converted to Skully's Lounge) for
music, karaoke, drinks and .. well .. more drinks! We've got a Bull Ride in the corner and damned I want to give it a shot, but I always suck at it and Lucy keeps pointing out my back issue; grrrrrrr.  Anyways.. .few hours go by ... and .. time to pull the plug.  I get us back to the North Rig Grill, we grab a spot on the side patio and enjoy a really nice evening with friends and snacks and ...  maybe.. a JD or two. Then ... yep ... zzzzzzzzzzzz

 Sunday morning is here and a few clouds are in the air.  Looks like possible rain with the wind.  The weather up to now has been PERFECT.  Now, I'm on my bike with zero rain gear with about seventy miles to go so I kick it up about ten over and rolling down 69.  Halfway home the drizzle starts but as luck would have it, never got wet.  Soon I've got KRUSH in the garage, bags emptied and .... found my recliner.

TX State 2021 is in the books!