East Texas Biker: Texas State Meeting 2023

Been planning this since it was initially announced ... ... hell, already looking forward to '24 in Austin and '25 in Granbury area! I'd told a few about it, but was fairly quiet overall. Chief couldn't make it due to other plans. Dutch locked in towards the end. Goose had mentioned a week or so out, and we had similar routes so we locked in together. Smitty would join us. Boudreaux was in from the get-go. Boot's was quiet about it all, but showed. So, Thursday morning at 0900 most of us met in Cash TX and rolled South. We took the 'long' way on 2 lanes and hit some construction towards Ennis that cost us a half hour...but... overall ... stayed dry, temps rocked in the low 80s, and had a great ride with zero incidents .. well, if you don't count a brutal pothole or two, and our airborne pack flying over a railroad track worthy of Dukes of Hazzard footage? All arrived in one piece. Split off to 3 different hotels and cleaned it up.

Sipped on a cold one at the hotel, then over to Jokers Bar/Grill for our meet and greet. Several miles down the road, we're rolling into an evening worthy of mention. Outside area was packed, saw a lot of familiar faces, beers were flowing, appetizers were good and .... we're decompressing and starting this weekend off right. Wine Joe has joined us coming in earlier that day. Never ceases to amaze me all the familiar faces from other chapters you see at these. Before we get lit up, we're rolling back to our respective hotels.... where...we head downstairs for some nightcaps. Our hotel (Marriott Courtyard) is having a reunion for the First Cav so we get to meet a lot of good folks and share a few stories. Few of them rode with the Vietnam Vets MC over the years and shared of few of their stories and pics. Closed down the bistro in the lobby ... and pulled the plug.

Lucy is rolling in today caging it, so our morning is calm and relaxed. Around 1145 she rolls in, unpack the Jeep, get her leathered up and we're headed out for grub. We decided an a hole in the wall called Tank's Pub a few miles down the road. Their cook never showed, but we had some cold ones, started the day off right with good stories, shared a few with the waitress (stories) .. .and .. we're off to find some real food; Tilted Kilt it is. Five of us park it (Smitty has joined us), about another various dozen CVMA members behind it.. and soon eating some great food. Waitress is a rock star, and she's a hit with our group. But, we've got bike night still so take a break at the hotel a mile away, then head out a few miles to the VFW which is .. packed! They get us parked in the mix of the party, vendors everywhere, colds ones served inside and we find the rest of 23-11 and have our own lil party in the mix. Hollywood, Mario and Wingnut are now in the mix coming in earlier that day. Music is jamming around us, Pizzas from one of the vendor trucks is truly awesome, buckets of beer that Mario provided.... what more could you ask for? Towards the end, Matt/Roadrunner is cranking tunes via his FLTR Roadglide ... and ... I'm friggin drooling. This is borderline concert shit... sounded awesome. I'm soon asking questions, figure out who did his work ( they had their SxS next to us also cranked) .. and .. I'm scheming. I really need to take my FLTRX down there and have it done right......soon. I'm starting to get a lil fired up so it's time to head back, while we still can! LOL. Fifteen minutes later, hotel, cleaned up, back to the lobby. Really liking this place.

23-11 Audie Murphy Chapter
(post mtg pic)

Well, it's day of the meeting. Moving a lil' slow, start time of 0900 so we get there with time to spare, locate everyone, Mario has the guidon and parks us up near the front, we've got plenty of space (gotta' stretch out!) and by 0900 we've got the meeting started. We've got a lot of folks here, but the extra seating makes it look ... 'underpopulated'. We normally have 400+ at these, so should be interesting to hear what the final attendance numbers are. A lot of things are going on this morning. Dutch will brief the 23-11 SCOM for next year. We get a teaser for the '24 State in Austin. CONT will be elected our new Texas SAA (we have two in TX due to our size; approximately 10% of the total CVMA!), with KELLOSO stepping down after seven nears (!) Damned that was a close election with Ocho and Cout having to do a runoff. For '25, Kerrville and Granbury were options with the Granbury chapter getting the vote. Gotta' admit, I'd hoped for Kerrville for it's awesome riding (3 sisters, etc), but Granbury should be a friggn' blast with some of what they have proposed ( Rodeo, allowed to walk the streets with open containers, etc). We patched in over a half dozen new members, folks were awarded the Texas Honor Roll patch (which is a big deal!), few were awarded the S&B Patch via Region Rep (again .. a big deal!) ... and several that earned the 23 RIDE TEXAS patch (have to visit ALL 30 chapters). Dutch asked me about that one .. and ... you know.. I may go for it. I'm already at the 25% mark.. maybe... 2024 is the year to do another 10 or 20 chapters? Damned it.. got me thinking! Outside saw Larissa ("Slurpee") from 23-15 and she and Lucy finally got to meet. She and her hubby have been all over the map and we'll probably see them at a 44-1 event towards the end of the month. After the meeting, do a group pic and our chapter decided to head back to the Tilted Kilt (most hadn't been there) and we're greeted by our fav' waitress (who'd also showed up at the VFW the night before) and there are two other huge groups of CVMA in there. Bam! There is an after party which ... I'd planned/assumed we'd hit, but the 4 of us never leave our hotel. It's a beautiful day, so we hang out around the pool, then back to the lobby / bistro, grab chinese from next door ... and as always... damned .. time to pull the plug. Tomorrow we head home.

Lucy is packed up in the Jeep around 0800 and headed out. Hollywood and Wingnut left the day before. Rest of us are mounted up and headed out by 1000 hrs. We've opted to head straight up I-35 since it's a Sunday and make some good time. I really prefer 2 laners, but this will play out nicely. In Terrel we decided to detour for a few cold ones at SWG and some grub. Turns out to be the perfect finale to a great weekend.

Barely made it through a movie last night. Didn't realize how exhausted I was. After nine hours of coma time in that bed.... here I am typing. And, planning my next ride. Can't help myself....