Rench's Epic Ride Out West

[renchinrider]

I'm posting this as a preview of a ride I'll be doing later this month (June).  An Army buddy is coming up from Orlando to tour the Jack Daniels distillery, and then he'll overnight in Huntsville.  A small group of his friends will join him here.  The next morning (June 17th), I'll join them at their hotel, and we're off to ride thru Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and then down to El Paso.  As we travel, different friends will join the group, while others will peel off to head to other destinations.  I am one of three riders currently slated to travel the entire route.

When we reach El Paso, we'll hang out for a day, while some of the riders attend a special event at Fort Bliss.  The next morning, we'll head out for the return trip, and will complete an Iron Butt 1,000 mile ride back to Enterprise, AL.  The total trip length is just over 3,500 miles.

I'll be aboard my trusty Road King, which is just turning over 76,000 miles.  I've replaced tires, all fluids and brake pads in preparation for the trip, and have done a ~300 mile shakedown to be sure everything's in order. I also fabbed a mounting bracket for my new GoPro camera my wife gave me for Christmas, and it works good too.   Right now, I'm just waiting for the 17th to dawn so we can be on our way.  It's been two years since I got to do a ride like this, so I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll post a full ride report after we get back...

Jake's June Ride

[catang5oh]

Nice, enjoy it. Can't wait for the ride report.


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[merc16]

Godspeed !

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[klaviator]

Enjoy your ride and take a lot of pics!

[TC]

Looks like a fun trip. I have spent a lot of time riding in SW CO and it is beautiful country. Y'all will have a great time. Looking forward to seeing some of your pics.  My wife and I are planning to get back out there the third week of Sept when the Aspen leaves are in color. 

[renchinrider]

The ride starts tomorrow morning, and I'm really looking forward to it.  The bike is probably more prepared than I am, and my bags are packed!

For simplicity (and because I'm smart-phone impaired), I'll be posting periodic photos and tweets from the following two handles:

Twitter:  globalrider1966

Instagram:  renchinrider

I'll put together a ride report when I get back, but will post snippets onto those two social media platforms while underway.

All will be public, so no accounts or logins required:  just open the website and search for my handle.  When you find me, everything should be publicly viewable.

More from the road!   ;D

[Nice Goat]

Subscribed!

[renchinrider]

Hi, Everyone!  Yes, it's really me!

(It seems that when one takes a week away ;D, it takes the next two weeks to get everything back in order and reestablish some sense of routine :'()  But, at last, I'm getting there!

So, the story begins, and will likely take several days to complete:

I joined up with my buddies in Madison, AL on the morning of June 17th.  Ride leader Jake (Jake's wearing the bright green shirt) gathered us up for introductions all around, gave us a riders brief, and got us saddled up.

[renchinrider]

I know it's come up in conversation before, about how to pack for a trip.  I actually stumbled onto an article that gets into the science of bike packing, but--as the above, and this, photo show, my packing method is pretty simple and cheap.  Jake had sent us a VERY detailed packing list about a week before departure, which made it easy to gather what I would need.  I deliberately deleted some of the items, but brought the rest.  In my left saddlebag, I had my took kit, a can of fix a flat, a first aid kit and all my rain gear.  In my right saddlebag, I had water, camera/phone charger and little else.  (I knew I would fill it with souvenirs along the way :D).  All my clothes and toiletries were packed in ziploc bags inside the Wal Mart suitcase I've been using for years.  The bike had all new fluids, new tires and brake pads, and a fresh application of wax.  The odometer read 74,991 miles, and the bike and I were ready to hit the highway and GO!

[renchinrider]

We left Huntsville 3 minutes ahead of schedule, and headed west.  We took 20 through Decatur, then merged into 72 west.  At Cherokee, we stopped for gas.  While there, I met a guy headed the opposite direction on a Honda Shadow 750 exactly like I used to own.  Of course, it started conversation and I learned that he was headed for Chattanooga and some riding with friends out that way.  After reminiscing about my old Shadow for a while, I wished him well and saw him off.  We mounted up and rode on into Collierville for a stop at Bumpus Harley-Davidson.



I was amazed to see the collection of antique bikes and memorabilia that Bumpus has on display on their second level.  On top of that, the service manager invited me into the shop to see a couple of mid-40s bikes that they're restoring...What a treat!





And then:  Off to lunch at The Trophy Room, a few blocks from Bumpus

[renchinrider]

The photo above lends itself well to introductions.  Aside from me, each of the other men in the photo is a bona-fide 1%er.  That is, each has served in the U.S. Army as a Command Sergeant Major (E9).  Of all the soldiers that enlist in the Army, only 1% ever earn promotion to its highest enlisted rank.  Each of these men has successfully done so.  Starting from the left:

Shawn:  Currently an Army Sergeant Major who was able to take leave and join us for the trip.  He rode a 2004 Fat Boy.

Buddy:  Retired Army Command Sergeant Major, and veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.  He rode a 2013 Harley Road Glide.

Yours truly:  Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, riding my trusty 2002 Road King.

Jake:  Retired Army Command Sergeant Major, and Veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan).  Jake was our trip planner, ride leader, lodging coordinator, butcher, baker and candlestick maker.  He led us aboard his 2013 Harley Street Glide.

[renchinrider]

Now, back to the story:  At Bumpus, Jake had a repair performed on his bike, and as soon as it was finished, we got back on the road.  We breezed through Memphis, crossed the Mississippi...
Day 1 GoPro Mississippi River

...and gassed up in West Memphis.  From there, we rode to Little Rock, and then turned north on I-49.  At day's end, we rolled into Clarkesville, AR.  Jake travels extensively with his work, and he has accumulated a lot of customer benefits with Holiday Inn.  He shared those benefits with us, ensuring that we could look forward to a comfortable night's stay every night of the trip, at a discounted rate...Lucky us! ;D



We were joined at the Holiday Inn by a number of riders who had traveled down from Kentucky to tour around Arkansas.  We chatted with them the next morning before heading out our separate ways.

[renchinrider]

Though it's hard to see in this photo, I noted something interesting while loading my luggage the next morning:  The Holiday Inn in Clarkesville is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 64 and I-49.  Our westernmost destination on this trip was Four Corners, which happens to be about 5 miles from the terminus of U.S. Highway 64, at Teec Nos Pos, Arizona.  I'm a big fan of U.S. Highway 64, having ridden inland from its easternmost point at Cape Hatteras, NC, and would like to see it recognized as Route 66's "Daughter Road."

Aside from the fact that a stretch of U.S. Highway 64 near Taos, NM is closed for the summer for repairs, we could have simply left the hotel parking lot, turned left, and ridden all the way to Four Corners ;)!  (OK, that's probably too much information ::)--I'll get back on track with the story now!)

[renchinrider]

From Clarkesville, it was just a short ride to the point where we exited I-49...



...Filled our tanks, and took off to enjoy Arkansas' Highway 23--The "Pig Trail!"

[renchinrider]

This past Christmas, my wife gave me a GoPro Hero 6.  I have tinkered with it over the past few months, and made a bracket on which to mount it on my Road King.  But in spite of repetitious study of the instruction manual, I still managed to screw up the commands to videotape our ride through the Pig Trail's Twisties! :-[  Thus, the next time I got a picture of anything was when we stopped at the end of the Pig Trail at...You guessed it:  Pig Trail Harley-Davidson! :D



We looked back at our bikes, and liked the "pose" under the flags.