Day 149 : Sunday October 5, 2014 : Miles 12906
I am rider #250 in this years Tour of Honor. The ToH runs from April 1, to October 31 each year and it was time to get out and visit some ToH memorial sites before I ran out of time. I viewed this as an opportunity to work on rally skills so I planned a long, hard, complicated ride that was to cover about 1350 miles in 22 hours.
The weather was going to be cool so I bought some winter gloves from Klim and electrically heated gear from Warm and Safe. On Friday, after work, I prepped the bike for the ride and installed the pig tail for my new electric jacket and glove lines. After this, I packed my bike with supplies, tools, emergency fuel and such.
I woke Saturday morning at 3:18, just 2 minutes before my alarm was set to wake me. This happens a lot and I just turn off the alarm so that it does not wake Susi. It only took a few minutes to take care of a bio break and to get dressed as everything was ready to go. I was out the door and on the way. Once I got out of the Dallas area, the temperature dropped to a low of 48. This is not terrible cold, but it is the coldest temperature I have experienced on my motorcycle to date. I had ridden a bit in snow back in the early eighties, but I was a kid and it was not for an extended period of time at highway speeds. I was using the new gloves and the electric jacket, but not the electric glove liners. I was quite comfortable. The Klim gloves are quite worm, but I do not like how bulked they are and they are still stiff as they are new. The jacket was very effective and adjustable over a wide range of temperatures. Later in the day the temperature reach 93 and the warm gear went into my tail bag and out came the gloves I have been using since I bought the bike, but after the sun went down Saturday evening the temperature fell back into the sixties and I was glad to switch back.
My ride involved a large circular rout which I rode clockwise around Texas and I visited all 7 of the ToH memorial sights in Texas.
>>>> SpotWalla map of 2014 ToH ride
Link to interactive SpotWalla map
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id ... ed758eaedd
The rules require you to take a picture of the sight with your bike, rally flag, and the memorial to demonstrate that you visited each site. In some locations, it is not possible to get your bike in the picture so you are then required to take two pictures, one with your flag at the memorial, and then another sowing your bike, flag, and the location in the background. My first stop was the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial in Canton Texas and it was still pitch dark. The task for this site requires a picture a concrete object in the center of the site, and then a second picture of your motorcycle with the location in the background The memorial site has a lot of large objects such as aircraft and even a Coast Guard boat, but they where not well lit and I could not get anything recognizable to show up in the background. Finally, in desperation, I pointed the headlights of my bike at an ugly sign for the memorials gift shop, turned on the brights, and grabbed a picture that I pray will be acceptable.
>>>> Sign at the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial in Canton Texas
>>>> Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial in Canton Texas
>>>> Texas Ranger Hall of Fame - Waco Texas
>>>> Houston Police Officer's Memorial - Houston Texas
When I arrived at the Houston Police Officer's Memorial, the parking area was complexly blocked off for an ongoing construction projects with heavy equipment and police cars. I rode past and looked for another way to get to the site, but in the end I rode back to the same area, drove boldly past some construction cones, and took a photo as fast as I could. Note how part of my flag is not visible. I hope this will be accepted by the ToH verification teem, but if not then I have learned a valuable lesson the hard way. So far, I have had significant problems with two of the memorial sights.
>>>> Kerr County War Memorial - Kerrville Texas
>>>> Military Murals of San Angelo
>>>> Big Spring Texas Vietnam Memorial
>>>> Lubbock Area Veterans War Memorial
This photo of the of the Lubbock Area Veterans War Memorial was taken just after sundown and is my personal favorite. Even then, the image is not sharp, likely because of camera movement. I would like to get a better camera, a small tripod, and I need to learn how to take better pictures.
After this, I only had about 350 miles to ride home.
Safe Travels,
Richard