East Texas Biker: Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ride

Well, I had a plan but didn't 100% think it through. Being a mileage whore, saw an opportunity to get my LRRP Inter-State badge and saw this event. Over 1100 miles round trip seemed like a sure thing... well.. right up until I counted my mileage and realized two of the events/destinations I'd been tracking, might not count.. so .. I may be short the 1500 miles needed. Crap. That's three out of four years I was 'close'. Next year, I'll start early and knock this shit out before summer!

The good news is ... the ride was awesome. The weekend was awesome. The folks in 23-15 are awesome. So patch or no patch, was well worth it! I'd put this out to the chapter last month but only Rocky took me up on it. So, I grabbed a Marriott room with two beds with my points and we put it on the calendar and began waiting..... Road Trip!

R&R

It's December and things can get a lil' bit chilly but we totally lucked out. Come Friday (3 Dec) we woke up to a foggy, sort of misty morning. Our plan is to depart our homes around 0630 and meet up but at 0200 I'm awake; WTF? So I text Rocky "GM" and surprisingly he's up and jokingly tells me to go back to bed. Well, doesn't happen and four hours later I'm packing up the bike a lil sleepy but stoked. At 0630 I'm headed out and about 65 minutes later we connect up south of Dallas. We realize then we had both been up and should have left hours ago! Oh well, lesson learned on that one; better communication next time. So, we grab some java, top off the bikes and head south down I-35 to Waco. Once we hit Waco we divert off to the Southeast and grab Hwy 77 which will take us the entire way, with a lot less traffic and similar travel time. Hour or so later the fog is lifting .. the mist has gone away and we're cruising! The temps have risen into the mid 70s as well and for the rest of the trip they'll

BBQ

never drop below 76deg; bam! We grab some BBQ in Giddings at City Meat Market, where Rocky saw a show and they were highly promoted. Well, I'm going to say; over rated. I dug the whole place, old and decrepit with character , but .. .the brisket wasn't up to par. No biggee. Back on the bikes and were hauling ass again. We're making good time when a few hours later I notice a sign that says "Shiner" to the west of us. A quick discussion and we divert onto ALT 90 and

R&R in Shiner

roll into the Spoetzl Brewery. I'm a long time fan of Shiner beer and this won't disappoint. We take the tour, get educated on all the history and I learned a lot. Also, had no idea of all the various brews they put out. They gave us chips for 3 pints .. and some gals gave us theirs, with a 'thank you for your service.' Man, that makes my day sometimes. After 4-5 each we needed to get the hell out of there before we needed to put our feet up and take a nap. So, back to Hwy 77 and rolling South. This lil diversion cost us 4 hours, but worth every minute of it. Soon, we're finally nearing our destination pulling up to the Harlingen Marriott Courtyard around 2000 hrs. Downstairs to the bistro for some cervezas and burgers and ... we're done; beat.

23-15 sign up

Pre Ride Safety Brief

Rise and Shine! We just make the buffet before they closed it up and grabbed a few plates of grub. Then, mount up and 4 miles down the road we pull into Mad Boar Harley Davidson for the sign up. CVMA 23-15 has their 10x10 setup with the Auxiliary ladies doing an awesome job handling the registration and selling raffle tickets and 50/50 tickets. Registration cost is $20 and turned out to be a helluva deal! For that $20 you got a raffle ticket, lunch at Wing Champs and at the end of the ride they served up dinner to whomever had an appetite. How the hell can you beat that? To boot the ride was about 180 miles total and the two main stops rocked. With about 60 bikes, they managed this all like professionals and it was an excellent ride. Prior to the ride they gave one of the best safety briefs I have ever heard; should be SOP for all chapters with theirs as a template. They did several things that stood out. First, the Lead Road Guard had over a half dozen folks blocking traffic. ALL were on headsets with each other; I'm assuming this is chapter owned radios? Secondly and I've only see this in the Caribbean where I'd wrote about it back early last year, when we needed the blockers to get back to the front, we all went to single file on the shoulder side. As soon as they got to the front they gave a signal to go back to staggered. Perfect! Took a few times to get used to it for the group but eventually went smooth as butter. And finally, they put trikes to the rear as they should be. BUT.. a guy with a side car apparently didn't put 2 and 2 together so he was in the mix until the first major stop, where he got put to the rear. Perfect. And, didn't hurt that the sun was out and it was mid 80s near the coast? After the ride, we pulled into the Trails End Saloon which was a nice place off the beaten path. We're only 20 miles or so from the hotel so it's time to let down one's hair (wait.. what hair) and relax. JD is flowing, getting a chance to meet lots of folks and 23-15 has a lot of meat grilling, music in the background and eventually giving out some great raffle prizes. As always, I win nothing. **sniff** At our table we had some great conversation with Red Dog of 23-15 and Roy Boy whom had rode in from Arizona about 1500 miles doing two iron butts as icing on the cake. I believe this was his third piece of the LRRP Tri-State as well. At our table were some Canadian Snow Birds that rode with us that day ; got a kick out of them. Eventually, time to hit the road. It's actually kind of hard to leave; these guys are great. Back at the hotel, grab some cervezas and hit the balcony to bullshit.. then...zzzz

Sunday. Another beautiful day! No screwing around today and we're soon on the road. Pretty uneventful but still a great day in it's own right. Of all things one of our highlights is stopping in Cameron at a DQ for lunch. Couple of double Belt Busters and we're both grinning. They had a large sign pushing 20% off for military which is always nice. All the folks working there were nice. My kinda' place. Then .... off. Closer we get to home, faster were' rolling. Kept it under 90mph but... not by much. Soon Rocky splits off on I-45 and an hour later I'm rolling into the driveway. Another one in the books; 1500 miles

Now... we scheme for 2022. Chapter 23-15 has two events; one in MAR other in DEC. Hoping the MAR one fits into my schedule. If so, headed south!