Upcoming activity

On May 7th, I plan on taking off on a four week journey to California, then across country to Washington, DC and then returning to Texas. This is all in conjunction with the 'Run For The Wall', from May 14th through the 25th. Click on this link to read their Mission Statement.

The culmination of this epic journey will be 'Rolling Thunder' which takes place over Memorial Day weekend.

Run For The Wall is dedicated to Prisoners of War and those Missing In Action (POW & MIA's).

Motorcyclist from all over the country gather to make this run each year to the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. This will be the twentieth year it has been run, and I am planning on making it this year.

My desire to ride it started when my friend, 'Santa' Chuck Boyd, told me about wanting to ride 'all the way' this year. It seems he rode about half of the Southern Route last year, joining the ride in Weatherford, TX and riding to D.C.

I mentioned it to my wife, who knows that Chuck and I have become friends through our love of riding our bikes. We have made many rides together and participate in Patriot Guard Riders also.

She gave a tentative go-ahead by saying, 'If Chuck is going and you want to, go ahead and start planning it'. I think she has had many second thoughts about making that statement.

Starting to plan is one thing, trying to get everything ready ahead of time is another.

Motorcycle tires are very different from car tires. They cost twice as much, get much lower mileage and basically have no guarantees. Car tires can have up to 70,000 mile warrantees. Most motorcycle rear tires rarely see over 12,000 miles, front tires rarely over 15,000. As a result if you do much riding you are buying new tires at least once a year. A typical front tire for my bike costs about $200. A rear tire gets close to $250, then you have to pay $30-$50 to have a shop mount each tire.

So, basically, before starting on a 6-7,000 mile trip you must have good tires, or pay list price at a dealer along the way which is usually noticably more. So many things to consider before a long trip.