Well I made it back to Rancho Cucamonga from a ride that I would compare as something between "Shermans March to the Sea" (no not Mr Peabody) and the "Bataan Death March".
This was the most grueling, frustrating and depressing ride I've ever done. Anyone that would consider "Run For The Wall" should come see me personally and then find a qualified Shrink.... Day one: A nice cool bright sunny day. We left Victoria Gardens at 7:45 after a short program. It was nice seeing DollarByhl there with the American Legion as flag carriers. Leaving with about 450 motorcycles with various Brands, Makes and Models there were 12 platoons the first 9 being Single bike and Platoon 10 (mine) bikes with trailers and 11 trikes with Trailers and 12 Trikes. We pulled onto the 15 freeway and proceeded towards the first fuel stop at Barstow. The first leg was pretty good, something that was soon to change. At the first fuel stop we were getting ready to pull out, makeing a left turn I was minding the bike/trailer next to me and the flag man in front as I moved into the turn I felt the trailer jerk. Looking into my mirror I say a HD/w trailer down. The guy behind me misjudged the distance between us and clipped my trailer breaking the right tail light reflector. This was only the 1st of several issues I had on this trip. Rolling into needles (minus about 10 HD's that didn't like the 105 degree temps we had lunch then headed out towards kingman.. Oh yeah. there was one pretty significant crash that put the riders in the hospital. Let me explain the riding style of this RUN... Single Bikes riding side by side at between 65-80 mph, with riders of various degress of riding profencey Well I made it back to Rancho Cucamonga from a ride that I would compare as something between "Shermans March to the Sea" (no not Mr Peabody) and the "Batan Death March". This was the most grueling, frustrating and depressing ride I've ever done. Anyone that would consider "Run For The Wall" should come see me personally and then find a qualified Shrink.... Day 1 A nice cool bright sunny day. We left Victoria Gardens at 7:45 after a short program. It was nice seeing DollarByhl there with the American Legion as flag carriers. Leaving with about 450 motorcycles with various Brands, Makes and Models there were 12 platoons the first 9 being Single bike and Platoon 10 (mine) bikes with trailers and 11 trikes with Trailers and 12 Trikes. We pulled onto the 15 freeway and proceeded towards the first fuel stop at Barstow. The first leg was pretty good, something that was soon to change. At the first fuel stop we were getting ready to pull out, makeing a left turn I was minding the bike/trailer next to me and the flag man in front as I moved into the turn I felt the trailer jerk. Looking into my mirror I say a HD/w trailer down. The guy behind me misjudged the distance between us and clipped my trailer breaking the left tail light reflector. This was only the 1st of several issues I had on this trip. Rolling into needles (minus about 10 HD's that didn't like the 105 degree temps we had lunch then headed out towards kingman.. Oh yeah. there was one pretty significant crash that put the riders in the hospital. Let me explain the riding style of this RUN... Single Bikes, riding side by side at between 65-80 mph, with riders of various degrees of riding skills. 2 second intervals between bikes. Bikes with trailers were staggered 2 seconds between bikes (some with 350 pound trailers) running again 65-85 mph. There was no time to look at scenery, no time to do much of anything except clutch/up-downshift and pray. We finally pulled into Willams AZ about 6pm with a parade through town ending up at the local VFW for a nice dinner. After dinner those that were camping went to the local middle school where some camped and others were allowed to sleep in the gym. I chose the gym and it was ok except for the guy that cut a chord of wood snoring. It was my first experience with someone snoring breathing both in and out. Getting up at 5am I walked outside to find that the tent campers had the sprinklers come on at 9pm followed by 12 midnight then 3am.. Nice… Day 2: Heading out the next day from Williams to Gallup NM the day was pretty uneventful with the exception of 8-9 bikes going down in breakdowns or crashes. We ended day 2 in Gallup with a 13 mile parade down Route 66 with hundreds of people mostly native Americans waving flags and cheering us on. We ended at a state park and were treated to a great meal and native American dancers doing a Gourd Dance. I met one of the last remaining Code Talkers form World II. So day 2 ended with us camping out. Maybe the bad stuff had taken its course. Day 3 Woke up at 5am, Packed up and headed out to the staging area about 3 miles away. From the staging area we there were 2 right turns to get on to I40. As I made the first right I noticed I had pushed out a little to wide and pushed the bike next to me out. So, conscious of that, I didn’t want to go wide on the next right turn. Here is where I clipped the curb with the trailer and looking into my mirror I see it up on one wheel at about a 45 degree angle. I pulled it like that for about 40 feet and just as it looked like it would come back down, the bike in front of me stopped, making me stop and the trailer fell on its side. I quickly jumped off and righted the trailer with the help of a spectator, jumped back on the bike and pulled out, I was still inside the platoon so I was ok. The next fuel stop, Albuquerque. I’m sitting in the fuel line and I feel the trailer move and a rider had clipped my right tail light and bent it. WONDERFUL… We finished the day in Angle Fire/Eagles Nest which is just north of Taos NM. Oh yeah, another 4-5 bikes went down with riders. After a nice dinner provided by the local citizens, we found a camp ground and spend a nice, cold night (33 degrees at 5am). Day 4. We had breakfast then headed out again toward Raton. Fueling in Raton, we then had a Armed Forces parade through town heading out the other side toward La Junta Colorado for fuel and lunch then north to Limon Colorado connecting with I70 and headed east towards Goodland Kansas. Arriving in Goodland we did a short parade through town to the National Guard Armory where we had dinner. The skies were looking pretty dark so they opened up the Armory for the campers to sleep in. Making sure I wasn’t in the same room as the snoring machine, we spent a dry night only to be awoken at 5am by a huge clap of thunder and rain blowing sideways Day 5 After breakfast and a Church Service, we headed east towards our next end stop, Junction City Kansas. By now the weather had really turned sour and the last 20 miles we were riding in Hail, Rain, Lightening Strikes on either side of the interstate. Cars were pulling over for shelter as we PRESSED ON. We ended at the JC Nazarene Church where they opened up the church for us to sleep in. (is this starting to sound like a re-occuring theme?) Oh yeah.. by the time breakfast had finished in Goodland, I was not feeling so well, having a mild case of Diarrhea. So at midnight in Junction City I wake up to a serious case of the same. I’m not going to be delicate here when I say I was pee’ing out my butthole but it’s the most apt description of what happened. Day 6 By 5am I was pretty much empty and as we staged, I asked a few people if they were suffering from the same malady that was plaguing me. Almost everyone was. OK.. So its not likely we all got exposed to the flu and now were sick..so the only other conclusion was Food Poisoning. GREAT!!!! The night before one of the riders told me my tail lights were not working so I started looking for a problem and found a blown fuse. Replacing the fuse I again had lights and we pushed on. By the time we had gotten to our lunch stop, the lights were out again. Replacing the fuse again, we pressed on and at the next fuel stop, Columbia Missouri, dropped out of the pack and went to the local HD dealer and had them look at it. They did some rerouting of wires and everything looked like it was fixed. A quarter mile into the catch up phase of my ride, the lights went out again. Not only that but the weather had gone from Ok, to Crappy. When it started raining and hailing, I found refuge under a overpass and waited it out. Now it’s getting dark and and I have no lights and it’s raining. A guy pulled up on a Harley and told me he had flashers and would follow me into Wentzville so I would be safe, to which I thanked him profusely. Getting to Wentzville Mo. In the dark, we separated and trying to find the VFW hall where the group was meeting, I got turned around and ended up on a dead end street. I made an attempt to turn the bike around and was rewarded with getting stuck axle deep in the Mud. So here we are 9pm, lost, bike stuck in the mud, rain coming down sideways in buckets, lightening popping every 15 seconds which caused the street lights to go out. I looked up in the sky and said “REALLY????”. About that time the guy living at the end of the street where I was stuck came out and said “can I give you a hand”.. Words I have cherished since. We unhooked the trailer and he got his pickup and we tied a rope to the bikes trailer hitch and pulled it out butt first. I then started up the bike and found I had NO CLUTCH. Perfect. I looked at the guy and asked him if I could sleep in his garage till morning. He said no but I could sleep in his camper. He brought out a extension chord so I could charge my now DEAD PHONE. After I dried off I laid down and had an exhausted sleep till morning. Day 7 I woke up in the morning, the rain had stopped, and called AAA to come get me. They towed the bike and trailer to the local St Charles MO. Yamaha dealer (largest in the state). Fortunately for me, we have friends in St Charles and I was able to stay there till the bike was fixed. The dealer called about 10am and told me the clutch was toast, probably because I was trying to rock myself out of the mud the night before. They could have it fixed the next day, as long as I paid the overnight shipping, which I agreed to. That morning I found out about the Tornado in Storm Oklahoma and my little experience in Wentzville paled to what those people had gone through. Day 8 My stomach was still pretty sensitive and I had to go really easy on any kind of spice in my food. By 5pm the bike was finished. I had also had them look at the bike to see if the wiring was ok. When I got on the bike the lights were working fine and I drove the bike around the block and they seemed to be good to go. Loading up, I decided that I was too far behind to catch the group and decided to head northeast on I70. I got about 150 miles in before I settled down for the night in Montrose Illinois. Oh yeah, 20 miles into my ride, the lights went out again…. Day 8 Getting up early I got knowing I had no tailer lights and decided to press on, figuring that during the daylight hours I’d be ok. I put in about 450 miles and ended up in St Clairsville Oh having gone through Indianapolis, Columbus Oh and stopping just short of Wheeling WV. There was a great BBQ place next to my hotel and I took advantage of that for a good meal. Day 9 Waking up bright and early and with a 300 mile ride from St Clairsville to Manassas Va I started out. 30 degrees met me and I pulled off the next off ramp and put my jacket liner and heated gloves on. There was a light rain and it was cold, but it was bearable and I got down to Manassas before Noon actually beating the group into DC. Greg Ponton (sparky) who had been in Platoon 6 and was going to share the hotel room with me showed up about an hour later and I spend about an hour telling him of my feelings about RFTW, that were much less kind that what your reading here. Day 10 Greg left early to go with the group to Arlington National Cemetery and see the laying of the wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. They only let 200 of the FNG (fine new guys). I knew that expression from Vietnam and it wasn’t FINE and much more debasing to post here. At Noon I rode down to Washington DC to the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Wall for our group picture and to place some patches at a couple of names of people that had died in Vietnam. After that Sparky and I headed over to Herndon VA to attend a SCRC event that I had been invited to by a Delphi Forum member. This was probably the best time we’d had up to this point and it was nice to be among friends enjoying good conversation and food. Day 11 ROLLING THUNDER. Sparking and I decided to ride to Rolling thunder with the SCRC group, they had a police escort right to the pentagon. When we got there, we got into the first parking lot and were about 1/3 of the way from the starting bikes. We sat there for 6 hours in the parking lot. Talking and being asked if we had found Jesus. I finally told one person..”I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him”. Finally at noon the ride proceeded. Oh yeah.. 500,000 bikes and about 900,000 people were in the 3 full parking lots. To get a prospective on how big this thing was. We were in the first third of the 1st parking lot. The first bikes pulled out at noon.. our bikes didn ‘t move till 1:30pm… Being really excited about this ride, we got going. Well it was more sprinting through the streets of DC. For the first 4 miles then catching up with the groups we slowed down. The parade/demonstration was all of 15 minutes and completely anti-climatic for the length of time we sat in the parking lot. I was pretty disgusted by then and instead of parking and walking about, I headed back to the hotel in Manassas, Va Day 12 Monday, I had already decided to stay and extra day in Manassas. I felt like I had gone through 15-20 washing/drying cycles and was exhausted. I did get over to the local pepboy’s and got a new set of LED trailer lights and changed them out, replaced the fuse and the lights were good to go. Day 13 I headed out Tuesday riding 30 miles to Front Royal Va, to pick up Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Lights on the trailer working nicely. I started to enjoy the views and road. 15 minutes after I got onto Skyline Drive I looked down to see the trailer light were OFF Again. I spent the rest of the day riding skyline and Blue Ridge Parkway, and stopped at Fancy Gap Va for the night. Day 14. I got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed south towards North and South Carolina. The road was beautiful and very enjoyable. Pulling into Greenville SC about 2pm to my friend Bob Kendal’s. I could finally relax. Day 15 I completely unloaded the trailer and starting going over it with a fine tooth comb. Finally finding the problem near one of the running lights inside of the frame was a connection that had lost its connector and was shorting out to the frame. Taking a 10 cent connector, we had fixed a problem that had plagued me for many days. Day 16 I rode the bike without the trailer to Brevard NC about 50 miles to visit my cousin Dave Wilson. It was a very enjoyable day and that afternoon I rode back to Greenville. Day 17 Bob Kendal had gotten passed to go to the Muddy Creek Raceway to watch the Tennessee National Motocross. It was HOT but it was a very enjoyable day and we had a great vantage point to see all the top riders compete. Day 18 Sunday it rained and we spend most of the day sitting around, finally going to see the latest Star Trek Movie. By then I had decided that this wasn’t going to be a trip that would allow me to sight see. So I decided that Monday morning I’d start putting in some serious miles to get back home. Day 19 Saying my farewells to Bob and his wife Kathy, I headed out at 4:30 am and road Southwest to Atlanta then turning west I rode through Birmingham and Jackson MS ending up in Vicksburg MS. Getting a hotel at the same place Bob and I had stayed at last year on my 4 corner ride. About 546 miles from Greenville to Vicksburg. I only got into some light sprinkles that day and was glad for it. Day 20 Again getting up early 4am, I walk to the ice machine, nary a soul was up. As I was walking back to my room, a door opened and out came a guy that Bob and I had met and chatted with last year. I went “HEY I KNOW YOU” and explained who I was and he remembered us. What a small strange world. I headed out from Vicksburg hoping to get to Dallas or further. Riding all day only stopping for Fuel/Food I made 569 miles to Abilene Tx. That night there was a severe thunder/lightening storm just north of Abilene and the light show was awe inspiring. Day 21 Getting up and out of Abilene. There was a pretty stiff south to north wind and I rode in that for about 50 miles till I turned Northwest headed toward Lubbock TX then Albuquerque. After fueling in Lubbock, was heading northwest and right into a Texas sized dust storm. Fighting the wind and dust the visibility was down to about 100 yards. It was a tough, hard ride for 100 miles and when I came out of it at Santa Rosa NM, the bike and I were covered with dust. It was 11:30am in Santa Rosa and I decided to make time westward to see how far I could get. I ended up in Gallup NM, 626 miles from Abilene. Had dinner and crashed (in the bed) at 7pm. Day 22 Getting up at 4 heading to Laughlin. This was because the temps in Needles and the Mojave Desert was between 109-115. I got to Laughlin at noon and check into the Colorado Belle hotel and casino. Spend a cool air conditioned day at the hotel and getting to sleep early.. the plan up at 3am and arcoss the desert before the heat hit. Day 23 3:30am the bike was loaded and I was on the road. Temps in Laughlin 86 degrees. Pretty dang warm considering this was the coolest part of the day. By 8:30 I was home, temps 61 in Rancho. I didn’t even stop to put on my jacket. I fueled in Ludlow and was there for all of 7 minutes. I walked into the house and gave a sigh of relief. The Run For The Wall does some wonderful things. They support MIA/POW’s and it’s a worthy cause to support. That being said, the ride days are more like a cattle drive than anything else. Road Guards constantly herding the riders to get closer and closer. There isn’t much safe about any facet of the ride day. It is impressive to watch the bikes at a fueling stop. 530+ motorcycles fueled in 20 minutes. You really don’t get an idea of how many bikes there are till they all descend like locust on a large truck stop, completely filling every pump and pretty much putting the adjacent road into gridlock. I’m not a rider that is inexperienced in group riding or safely riding a motorcycle and frankly the ride days up to Wentzville I was scared most of the day. I would not recommend to anyone to join the ride itself. I would make strong recommendation that you ride in front of the group or behind the group, but defiantly NOT IN THE GROUP. I think that the mentality of the leadership of RFTW have lost sight of safety and taken on a military attitude of “Acceptable Causalities”. There are still people in the hospital that went down on the ride. Some with serious injuries including broken bones, punchered lungs and the like. There are still people in nursing facilities from last years ride. That is a sorry statement for something that could be fixed with some serious riding style changes. So there you have it. This was not an enjoyable trip. It was Hard and Frustrating and Stressfull. I made it through it, mostly by luck and fortune. I am stronger for it and for that I'm glad.
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AuthorTim Stubbe AKA Archives
June 2013
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