CVMA Nationals

I'd just finished over 2500 miles of riding a few weeks prior to/in/from Colorado ...  . what the hell am I thinking?  Good question .....

Just a few months ago, I was patched in to the Combat Vets. Now what to do.  Well, folks are talking about "Nationals".  Huh?  Seemed a lil' early for me to be even worrying about it. Nobody was pushing me. It's to be held out in El Paso for 2018, and I'll have just done a run to the Durango area with the IIRA, so I'm questioning my sanity.  Still, my schedule is open. A buddy of mine, Ray Ralph is out there, and we haven't been able to connect in years.  It's 700 miles and I know I can easily do that in one day...   so .. WTF I decide.. I'm in!  I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but I snag a room with Marriott (my go to hotel when doing business travel)  in El Paso, grease the trip with mama' and it's game on.   Looks like I'll be riding by myself so I'm prepared for a lonely, hot n' sunny ride out into West Texas....

The CVMA 23-11 chapter here locally does a great job communicating via email so when questions about who was traveling to Nationals' came up, I promptly answered with the dates I was traveling.  Crickets.  A week later it came up again so I put it out there, knowing most folks were traveling on different dates ..... but this time Dutch (Frank Prigmore) chimed in.  We took the conversation off thread, and quickly decided we were riding out together.  This would set the bar for Dutch (mileage distance) but I assured him it was a simple one. Dutch had done some mapping of the route and noted there were some 140 + possible distances on our route, between fueling.  So I grabbed some 1 gallon fuel can's for my bags.  Dutch packed some extra fuel away.  Ready!   A few days before we rolled, Maestro (David Thompson) chimed in...  he was debating on joining us.  In fact, he didn't' commit 100% until the night before.  Talk about short notice!  So, we have meet points established , KSU estimates, and it's game on!

I own an HD and a few Indian Motorcycles.  It seems the last few years, I've been neglecting the HD and putting all the miles on my Chieftain.  I've decided to change it up for this run.  Besides, most of the guys riding here will most likely be on HDs I'm thinking, and I'm a lil proud of this one (I'm guessing 95% of the bikes in El Paso were HDs.  Only saw 2 Indians out there).  I recently got the bike serviced and I'm ready to play on it.  It's got a JIMS 120R that has some nice HP and Tourque and well... I love to haul ass on it.  It puts an honest 132RWHP to the pavement.  It'll pull the front tires off the road surface in the first three gears. I've never figured out what top end is, but I'm coming out of third gear at 95mph and haven't hit the rev limiter.  Hell, It still has 3 more gears to go..  .. so .. who knows?   Still.. this is a touring bike.  I like to think of it more like a .. Muscle Tourer? It's proven reliable, only 21k miles,  and I'm riding it this trip.
 

'11 FLTRX ( customized)

I'm not exactly a fair weather rider, but I don't enjoy riding in the rain either.  No issues going through a mess, but when you leave in it .. well .. I've been know to turn into a pussy and load the bike trailer?  Well, it's not that bad out and I've got two compadres waiting for me.  Still, you know it's 'coming' .  I've got the rain gear packed, so I've done my part. Besides, we may miss it.. never know? 

About 30 miles down the road, I pull in at the first checkpoint and grab Maestro.  Then we roll out another 30 miles or so and grab Dutch.  Top off the tanks and we are headed west on 380, which sucks at this time in the morning!  We had to deal with morning work traffic until we got west of Denton then it was smooth sailing.  At the same time for the first 150 miles, we're getting a lil rain here and there.  Nothing you couldn't duck behind your windshield to stay protected from.   In fact we were about 2 hours in before and it looked like we were about to finally going to get slammed by the rain.  So, since I was the lead bike, I pulled over and started to don my rain gear. Off to my side, Maestro is calling me a

pussy; turns out ... he didn't' bring any rain gear.  Ha!  Well, we check the radar and sure enough , a red cell is dead ahead.  It's about to get fun, before the sun finally comes out.  Well, after a bladder check, bullshit session, we finally load up and roll.   I'm convinced had we not pulled over, we'd have gotten slammed.  Instead by the time we get to where that red cell 'was'.... it's gone south of us!   Score!   Now... just need to get this jacket off .. it's getting warm out!  If you've ever been in West Texas, it's not necessarily the most scenic.  I personally like it. I find myself mesmerized by how folks live out here, wondering where the nearest grocery store is ....   gas station is.  I find it serene, and it beautiful in it's own right.  Still, for most ...   it's brutally boring I suppose. I'm leading the ride today, so I have us up around 84 or so pushing west.  Half way out, drop down onto Hwy 62 and we're slowly moving south as we progress westerly.  This is important to note because at this latitude, Texas has a greener look than .. say .. North of the Lubbock area.  I wouldn't call it 'green' . .but it sure ain't the barren desert of Amarillo?  Soon we find ourselves in NM .... and the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We've got a nice terrain among us and long sweeping turns on the 2 lanes that make it enjoyable.  Then .. .you're back in Texas but now rolling through the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  We pushing through this at a higher rate of speed than probably everyone else would have liked, but damned I like twisties and I can't help myself!  Just as I'm thinking I probably should have pulled over at that last rest stop for a photo op ... we drop out of the mountain range and ahead of is flat lands ... and El Paso.


What is Nationals?  I honestly didn't know what to expect.  I mean I 'know' what it is .. but I'm used to my IIRA world.   Bike Rally's.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting what we got.  To me, the best summation is...  "Organized."   It's 100% run by military folks.  That's what we are... organized! It's almost over the top in that aspect.  Now that being said, I could easily throw in some " I would have done this different or that different" .. but .. my ass wasn't on the line for the last 2 years putting this together. And, I'm the new guy here.  And, I was impressed.  I was impressed from the Vendor area, to the National 'store', to the way diff' chapters stepped up , to the custom bike raffle. I was impressed how we got over 1,000 Full Members and probably about 100 to 200 Support and Auxiliary members there. I was impressed how there was a entire large room full of merchandise for folks to purchase every day of the event, manned by volunteers.  In the Vendor area, there must have been 3 or 4 different' tattoo shops in attendance.  Guessing over six tattoo artists doing their magic, and the were all busy!  There must have been six sewing machines going all the time getting patches on vests, at $5 a patch.  During all this meetings were held over several days. Delegates were brought in for voting on bylaws.  A national meeting was held on Saturday with voting taking place for National positions. Bike night at the local HD dealer ( place was HUGE!).  Concert Saturday night downtown.  And this .. is just what I participated in..   I can see how this can easily take up a week of someones time!

My lil world was mostly been occupied by hanging with my two ride in Chapter buddies and a few

nites with my local buddy Ray. Myself, Maestro and Dutch spent a lot of time in my hotel's pool... it was hot out! Ray and I kicked it up one night on the town, and once at his place.  Other than that , time flew by! Snuck in a single ride with Tex leading us to Las Cruces through Pecan groves, then back, we looped up to get a view of El Paso and Juarez from North Franklin Mountain. If it hadn't been so hot ( was in the 100s the entire time we were there), we could have rode through the Gila National Forest around the top then back through White Sands.  But....  that was the last thing on my mind this trip! Before you know it...  it's Saturday night and we're leaving first thing in the morning.  We want to get up early and be on the road by 0530 hrs, so we're rolling before the sun is in our eyes.  After returning from Ray's hitting some Makers Mark (whoops!) and a stogie, a quick stop at Mickie D's for some greasy food, I set the phones' alarm, plug the phone into the charger.. and .. its lights out. 

It's dark out.  One eye open.  I can tell I went out last night, but not too bad.  Need more sleep ... 

thinking .. 'what time is it?" ...  WTF!?!?  It's 0531!!!!  I'm supposed to be downstairs!  There is nothing worse than this feeling that you've overslept and folks are waiting on you.  It's a rare occurrence for me... but .. it's happened a few times in my lifetime and I hate it!  Quick bladder trip, now the lights are on .. and .. I see the problem.  My phone's charger is not plugged in.  Incredible.  I'm still attempting to clear the cobwebs when I hear a soft knock on my door.  Dutch is being cool about it, but I've fucked up.  Ten minutes later, bags are packed, I'm clothed up ( no shower.. oh well!), he's making me double check the room because I'm rushing...  we both grab a handful and we head downstairs.  Both Maestro and Dutch are being cool about this.  Me.. in their shoes.. I'd have been pissed.  My story sounds like BS to my own ears when I tell it.  Five minutes later, bikes are loaded ... and .. we're headed back towards the mountain range, first looking for a fuel station.  I travel with a Kuryakn cooler that will hold about 8 or 10 waters.  I'm grabbing two big bottles for $2.50 when I notice an entire case for $4.99.  Smartest thing I'll do all day is grab that case and stuff a third or so of them in the cooler; now what to do.  Walk over to an SUV and hand the guy the case; he'd seen me and was probably wondering how the hell I was going to carry all that.  He's soon filling his own cooler with them, thanking us for our service and we're off!  The sun is well over the Horizon and in our eyes.   Damned power cord.

The smart thing would have been to take I-20 to I-30 and we'd be home in 10 or 11 hours.  But we've

decided for a redo of the mountains/parks on the first portion.  Once we pop though Carlsbad Caverns, we then take a route that gets us to I-20.   This probably added on an hour or so total, but to me... worth it! I've cut the speed down a notch on this day due to requests not to haul ass like the last time.  It's killing me, but cruise is a beautiful thing.  Set it and enjoy the view.  Did I mention it's hot?  I've got a new CVMA stainless steel water bottle hung on my handlebars and I'm keeping this topped with ice cold water, thanks to that brilliant 'buy the case' move.  I'm convinced this was my secret to success on this given day.  The heat never got to me.  I've recently switched away from finger less gloves and wear a full glove that is leather on the palm and a cool stretch neoprene on the

top.  Unlike in the past, the heat cruising at 80+ isn't bothering my hands out in the air flow.  Point being, I'm comfortable. My air hawk pad ( that I um.... acquired.. from Jesse Davis a few years earlier) is set perfect with air pressure and my ass ain't hurting either this trip. I'm in the zone and want to roll!  But, I've had some rough trips in the past in the heat and over distances.  My travel mates were dealing with their own issues due to the heat so we stopped as necessary.  I've noticed Dutch drops back once in a while and deep down I'm concerned I'm more worried about the speed... getting home ... and not paying enough attention to my guys..  but I can see his lights back there.. sometimes way back there.  Next stop, I ask if all is okay.  Yes. So for the first time this trip I ask if someone else wants to take the lead and I'll move back in the pack.  When we roll out, Dutch has the lead, then myself and Maestro.

WTF?  Now I get to see the 'aggressive' Dutch!  Not sure why he was hanging back, but now .. we're rolling!   Low 80s... 85.. sometimes a notch more.  He's on an older softaiil, but he's got a cruise control setup on it so we're keeping steady speeds...   and we're cruising around 85; I'm smiling again.   We're making good time now, just stopping for fuel as necessary, pound a water, repeat.   Finally we're in Ft Worth and realize this is our final stop so it's time for goodbyes.  We've still got plenty of sunlight left, so we reshuffle the order in the pack and we're off down I-30 headed back to East Texas.  An hour and a half later....  I'm pulling up to Peanut barking at me on the front porch and mama' smiling that I'm home.

Home Sweet Home

Another road trip in the record books! Nationals in Idaho 2019 and Florida 2020 are on my radar.  ....