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Fort Worth HOG May 2013 Chapter Meeting

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Time again for our chapter meeting to roll around the calendar.  It was a beautiful day from the start, perfect for a short ride from the dealership to Billy Bobs Honky Tonk.  63 bikes rode the parade line this month through the stockyards.  The usual raffles and 50/50 took place along with snippets of future line ups for chapter events.Margaret burned her leg on my tailpipe while getting off the bike upon arrival at Billy Bobs.  I told her not to wear loose clothes but she put on some bell bottom style pants with tennis shoes and got the pant leg stuck on the foot peg while getting off.  That pulled the pants up exposing bare skin and caused her leg to be pulled into the tail pipe.  While she sat on the curb waiting for me to render aid, I promptly grabbed the GoPro to get video clips.  Nothing I could do for her to be honest, I didn’t have any first aid supplies.  Needless to say, she corrected my irresponsible behavior and informed me that I would never leave her wounded on the street again.  “Priorities”, she cried!  She also fixed up a first aid kit for me which I now keep in the saddlebag. Yea, I was exiled to the dog house for a couple days for this mistake.

We left a bit early this time instead of staying through until the end.  The Patriot Guard riders had a mission that I wanted to attend.  So after leaving I dropped Margaret off at the house and Jim and I went to Laurel Land Cemetery where we stood the flag line out of respect for another of our fallen veterans.

After the last couple long posts this one is pretty short and to the point.  To be honest, there just isn’t much to say every month in regards to our chapter meetings.  Except that Pat has the voodoo or something on the prize money for our mileage drawings.  This is her second month in a row to win!  Hehe, Congrats Pat!

Fort Worth HOG May 2013 Chapter Meeting

More Practice!

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We went out to the practice parking lot again so Margaret could get a bit more riding time in. It’s been a month since we were able to make time for her to practice due to weather and work.  I will be fair on this point, some of the days we could have gone out for her to practice we went to a chapter event instead.

Upon arrival, she just rode around regaining the feel for the bike again.  She practiced starting, stopping, and shifting for about an hour.  While she did that I set up the cones for a 24 foot U-turn, a stop zone, and some cone weaves.  I ran out of cones for the stop zone and weave so I walked along the roadside and found a bunch of empty soda bottles, aluminum cans, and a styrofoam cup that I filled with dirt so they wouldn’t blow away.  Gotta do what you gotta do right?  It worked well, and when I got it all setup for her she kind of looked at me googly eyed like I was crazy.

I hopped on the Kawasaki and went through a couple of demo runs on the course for her.  She didn’t look very confident about it.  Off she went, trying her best but not quite getting it all.  The weave she did fine on, the stopping zone she did ok on, often stopping too short having her rear tire outside of the zone.  The U-turn was the main point of focus.  I knew it would be a challenge for her.  Even when we have the HOG skills day you’ll see riders that have been on the road for years having difficulties with this.  One reason behind the U-turn is to be able to safely and effectively turn around in the street.  A typical 2 way street is 24 foot wide and a rider should be able to turn around in that space without issue.

I was on a ride once where a  few of us were separated from the main group due to one of the riders having mechanical problems.  We took a wrong turn and needed to go back.  I watched them both, feet down, shake and wobble while attempting to get their bikes turned around.  Neither of them were able to turn around in the street even with their feet down.  They both ended up off the road, past the gravel edge, now struggling in the grass to get back on the pavement.  They simply lacked the riding skills to make the u-turn properly.  I whipped my Harley around in the road with plenty of room to spare and stopped to wait for them while they continued their struggle in the grass. Fortunately no cars came along during this….

This was a good situational example of how important it is to take time to learn your bike and practice riding techniques. It is my goal to be sure that Margaret has good riding skills before she gets on the open road.  As I mentioned a couple posts back, what you learn on skills day on the closed courses you WILL utilize on the road.

After all that, lets get back to Margaret. Following a few failed attempts I was able to figure out why she couldn’t make the turn.  As she came into the turn zone she would angle in towards the middle cones, then she would turn the handle bars and plow through the cones at the end of the turn.  She was losing about 4 foot of turn space because of angling in before making the turn.  I showed her what was happening and the very next attempt she maintained her straight line into the zone and made the turn successfully.  After that she had little difficulty completing the u-turn every time.

Margarets Practice Session

She had planned on taking the state required riding class in June and had saved the money to pay for it.  We went to the Ladies of Harley event at the dealership a few weeks back and one of the raffle prizes was a paid riding class.  It was really kewl when they called her number out and she won the class.  Hahaha, she jumped up screaming and ran to Kim and began hugging her and hopping up and down like a kid.  Talk about excited, Wow!

Very soon we will have to make a decision on a bike for her.  We have been looking for a few months already. At first when she started trying out Harley’s she liked the 883 sportsters.  I didn’t think this was a good long term choice.  The problem was that without modifications, the bike fit her and she was comfortable with that feeling.  She soon changed her mind upon numerous visits to the dealership and started wanting a 1200 custom.  The problem here was the forward controls were too far for her reach.  The parts department showed us a reduced reach kit that would solve the problem.  I still wasn’t sure about the 1200 custom.  Its still a small bike, top heavy like the Kawasaki she is riding now, and its a 5 speed.  It’s not going to be the ideal bike long term and definitely not for some good road trips.  I tried to get her to try out some other Harley’s but she had it stuck in her head that the 1200 was the one.  Then last Saturday, one of our chapter members was at Harley getting some modifications done for a bike he just got for his wife who is also learning to ride.  It was a Soft tail deluxe. They had a super reach seat put on it.  Margaret asked if she could sit on it, and when she did a smile came over her face and we knew that was the one.  The stock controls were perfect, the handle bars only need to come back a couple inches which we can easily fix, and she will need the same seat.  Other than adding a wind shield and crash bars that bike is perfect.  It’s a 103 so it has the 6 speed for cruising and its heavy enough to provide good stability on the road, plus it has a lower center of gravity than the sportsters.  We both didn’t want to get into this revolving trading up bikes to finally get the one she would stay with like so many new riders do.

We went to the dealership and talked to our salesman and the parts counter to get some solid information and test the seat again.  They put a test super reach seat on the bike to try out and it was perfect. Shes excited about the Soft tail deluxe and were looking at getting it sometime in July (fingers crossed)

Fort Worth HOG Careity Foundation Relay 2013

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Saturday and Sunday April 27 thru 28 brought about a very long day full of loads of fun, live music, eating, and riding!  Fort Worth HOG and other sponsors, Rumbling Rider included, took part in a charity drive for breast cancer through Careity Foundation.  This was a 24 hour relay ride which started at 9am Saturday morning until 9am Sunday morning.  From start to finish for 24 hours there was a group of bikes on the road at all times.  As a group was arriving back at the dealership, the next one would take off, this went on around the clock.

There were 2 routes set up, one for day time which was on very curvy back roads, and the other for night which was all freeway. Each route was 1 hour long and you would sign up for what times you wanted to ride.  I think I did 5 of the day route, and 5 of the night route.  So that put me at about 1 every other hour minus a couple hours when Margaret and I went to grab some dinner.

There was live music from 2 bands, both were just phenomenal.  I am not knowledgable about local bands, its not my scene, but one of them was a DJ’s band from Lonestar 92.5.  The other band had probably the best cover artist singer I have heard in my life.  They did a lot of Heart covers and it was perfect.  There was a pancake breakfast and a BBQ lunch for food.  There was also a bra decorating contest which was appropriate for the purpose of the event.

Saturday morning started chilly in the mid 50’s and very overcast but eventually warmed up to low 70’s and clear in the afternoon.  By Saturday evening the temperature began dropping quickly and brought us back into the mid to low 50’s for the duration of the night.  Along with the cool temperatures was a heavy dew that set in.  So we were chilled and damp.  About 8pm on Saturday the crowd of enthusiastic riders began to dwindle down to the regular HOG chapter members that keep events moving.  Until about midnight riders would show up and do the night route once and then go home.  After midnight however, there were probably only about 20 bikes or so that stayed through the night.  The riding groups dwindled down to about 6 riders for each time block.  We would try to sleep as much as we could but it was cold and that made it difficult.  There were movies that were projected onto the wall of the Honda dealership next door throughout the night to watch as well as some seriously yummy snacks.  Thumbs up to whoever baked those chocolate chip cookies.  And I would like to give special thanks to…….Coffee, Coffee, Coffee, for your constant injection of caffeine that kept us going.

The rides during the night were awesome.  I really enjoyed the ones in the dead of the night between 1 and 4am.  The roads were free of traffic, the earth was quiet except for the rumbling of the bikes moving along the freeway.  I noticed something during the deep night when I could focus on the sound of the bikes without other noise distractions.  Call me crazy but, I’m right.  The sound emitted from a group of Harley’s when moving at a constant uninterrupted speed harmonizes within the same sound frequency.  All you hear is ONE deep rumbling of all the bikes instead of each bike individually.  I have never experienced this when riding with other brands of bikes.  It was great, we would be moving along, mesmerized by the harmonics, then pass under a bridge and have it amplified for that second it took to cross under, then back to that low synchronized frequency.

I didn’t take any night video of the event.  Ive tried some night shots with the GoPro but it just doesn’t do well in low light and night.  Since the route did not change theres not much to the video. I did however take a lot of pictures and a bit of video during the day route.  Some of the route you might notice repeated a couple times in the video but with different riders.  The funnest ride for me was when I went with Road Captain and Sergeant at Arms “Dave”.  He likes to ride fast and lean into those curves, I was loving that. You’ll know which ride that was from the video, its obvious and I was glad the clips from that one came out good.We managed to raise over $13,000 for the local foundation.

Fort Worth HOG Chapter: Careity Foundation for Breast Cancer 24 Hour Relay Video

Fort Worth HOG- May Skills Day

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Skills day is kicking off in full force again for the year.  The road captains setup cones for various bike handling practice and group riding tips.  The purpose for skills day is for riders to become familiar with what their bike is capable of doing, what their riding limitations may be, and improving upon their riding skills.  Our road captains work with everyone individually and as a group to help us improve and become safer riders.  They look for bad habits and work with us to overcome those habits.  They teach group riding techniques to make our chapter rides safe for all.  Most of our road captains are also on the competition team and the advice they have to offer is invaluable.  You will find yourself using techniques learned on the course in your everyday riding.  It’s much safer to drop your bike in the parking lot or run over a few cones than to drop your bike on the road to discover you need to improve on a riding technique.

Skills day is a lot of fun though too.  Its not all just learning to ride better, its having fun riding and challenging yourself.  It doesn’t matter how long you’ve ridden or how well you may already ride, you will always learn some new skill and improve upon your level of riding ability every time you attend skills day.

Fort Worth HOG May Skills Day Slideshow

Fort Worth HOG May Skills Day 2013 Video

The Patriot Guard- West, Tx Memorial Service

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At some point in all of our lives we experience “something” that is so emotional and moving that it becomes difficult to put our feelings to words.  On Thursday April 24, 2013 I attended the West, TX memorial services for the first responders of the fertilizer plant explosion with The Patriot Guard Riders.  Its difficult to even know where to start this post because of my emotions.

The Fort Worth meeting spot for the mission was at the QT off 35W South.  Arrival time was 6am.  I topped off the tank and parked in line for the parade style ride to Waco.  The region captain who is also the state captain introduced himself and some others in the Patriot Guard.  I told him this was my first mission and his reply was, “Prepare yourself, the first one is always the most difficult.  None of the missions get easier but your first one will never be forgotten”.  Upon hearing that I honestly did not understand the impact the mission was going to have on me.

We had a mission briefing and lined up for our 0655 departure time.  Our group was right at 70 bikes.  The trip to Waco went well and we arrived at the meeting area right on time.  Other Patriot Guard riders were already there and more continued to arrive for another hour from different state regions. At this time everyone was allowed to unfurl their big flags if they had them on their bikes. There were riders from different MC’s, RC’s, and Independents that came to show their respects and support The Patriot Guard mission. We had another mission meeting that provided details of our role for the memorial service now that all the regions were together.  We left the meeting spot with secret service and Waco police escort to a staging spot that was about a mile from Baylor University auditorium where the services were to be held.  President Obama was attending the service so the secret service was everywhere.  At this point we were about 300 bikes strong.

After another hour we departed again but this time it was for the parade ceremony.  We rode to the campus, past the auditorium, then on to a blocked of street where we parked 4 bikes wide from which the line extended almost half a mile long.  We were followed by emergency response vehicles who were also part of the parade.  Once we parked our orders were to hurry and get flags from the flag trucks, unfurl them, and head for the flag line area.  We set up our flag line directly across from the auditorium where the services were being held.

The flag line extended about half a mile along the road.  Emergency vehicles continued to roll past in parade formation for over an hour.  I heard there were over 400 emergency vehicles at the ceremony.  After the last truck went by the area became completely silent.  Thousands of people and no voices, music, cell phones, birds, cars, nothing made a single noise.  It was beautifully respectful.  Then far off in the distance from where our bikes were parked, we heard the bagpipes.  Slowly they approached from afar with the music getting louder as they moved closer to the flag line.  When they arrived at the auditorium they stopped momentarily, the base drums did a short deep drum closure which you could feel in your chest, and they moved off in complete silence.  I was having some difficulties during all of this controlling my feelings.  When you understand the magnitude of what is taking place it can become difficult to hold back the tears.  I would often become overwhelmed and feel that lump rise in my throat to be followed by uncontrollable tears.

Next came the most difficult part for me, I have never experienced something like this in my life.  Fellow firefighters slowly walked past holding the helmets of their fallen.  Some of the helmets had the officers name on it, some had burn marks, large scrapes, and other visible damage.  This is where the cold hard reality really took hold.  There was once a person wearing that helmet that gave their life to save others.  The helmets of first responders were carried followed by a fire truck representing the department they had worked for.  Following that were other representatives of the department marching in sync.  All you heard was the low rumbling of the trucks idling by and the stomp of boots marching together under the occasional instruction of military personnel saying ” Left, Left, Left Right Left.  I stood there holding my flag with tears flowing out from under my sunglasses.  Though I didn’t know these people, the gravity of their sacrifice took hold of me.

After this came the families.  You could see the hurt and the loss in their faces. You could only hope that the minute contribution of holding that flag out of respect might give even the slightest comfort for even a fleeting moment.

This marked the finalization of our role in the ceremonies.  We marched back to the flag trucks in single file and furled the flags upon arrival.  Here we were dismissed.  I was invited to lunch with a group of Vets from Haltom City which is very close to where I live.  They were wonderful and I am honored to have spent time with them.  They were stopping off at West, TX on the way back so I rode home alone.  I couldn’t seem to shake the feelings the day had brought upon me and often teared up again while riding home.  Even when I pulled into the garage at home an hour and half later I couldn’t keep my composure.  My wife greeted me as I got off my bike, asked how it went, and I looked at her and cried.  I talked just enough to say “I’m not able to talk about it right now”.  She just held me while I sobbed uncontrollably.

It took a full day for me to be able to talk about the experience completely.  This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life and I will never forget it.

I want to thank The Patriot Guard for their support of our veterans and emergency responders.  I also want to thank them for allowing me to take part in their missions.

As you know I usually have a bunch of pictures or a video.  I did not take my camera or GoPro this time.  I went to support The Patriot Guards mission and out of respect I did not take any media of the ceremony.  I did however take a few pictures with my cellphone of the gathering of the Guard and flag trucks.  If you want more than that I am sure the Internet is full of pictures and media from the news stations that were on site.

The Patriot Guard: West,TX Memorial Service Slideshow

Cowtown Bluebonnet Trail Ride

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Bluebonnets!  Yar, its bluebonnet time in Texas!  As you might know the bluebonnet is the official state flower so what better way to celebrate our states flower than to go on a ride to see them!

Here is a bit of history behind the bluebonnet. The bluebonnet was designated the official state flower of Texas in 1901. Also called buffalo clover, wolf flower, and el conejo (spanish for “the rabbit”), bluebonnets are to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland. Texas has also designated an official bluebonnet city (Ennis, Texas), a festival (Chappell Hill Bluebonnet Festival), and bluebonnet trail (also in Ennis which we rode). The bluebonnet flower is named for the color and sunbonnet-shaped petals.

The peak blooming time for these extraordinary flowers is late March through mid-April.  This year has been unseasonably cool later into the year so we didn’t quite get the full bloom on the ride but it was good none the less!  Riding up on large patches and fields full of the flowers brought color, fragrance, ooohs and aaahs.  We rode the Ennis Bluebonnet Trail and made quite a few stops to take photographs and play in the flowers.  The ride ended in Ennis, TX where a bluebonnet festival and an antique car show was taking place.

Margaret took some pictures while we were riding this time since we weren’t going at high speeds.  As usual I got some video as well.  Media wise we captured a LOT.  It can be difficult trying to decide what to post and leave out.  This time since there was so much good viewing I did a slide show and video of the ride.

A big thanks and thumbs up to Randy and Windell for the planning, pre-riding the route, and leadership on the ride.  All went smoothly and without issue.

It was a perfect day.

Cowtown Bluebonnet Trail Ride Slideshow 2013

Cowtown Bluebonnet Trail Ride Video 2013

The Patriot Guard Riders

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When creating this blog the original intent was to focus on my personal riding experiences since getting my Harley.  This post is a bit off track from that intention but I was compelled to post it. Upon browsing some sites and videos I found a particular video that REALLY moved me.  My personality is kind of hard, cold and non-emotional but I lost that composure when I saw this video.  I have known about the Patriot Guard Riders and what they do as a riding group, even considered joining their missions when I could.  I never did though.  Something personal, fun, or selfish always comes up for most of us to make an excuse not to participate in humanitarian causes.  It is in our human nature to be this way.

Then I watched this video and it gave me a deep understanding of the important role The Patriot Guard has with our veterans.  The flag lines, funeral escorts, send offs, welcome home escorts, blocking off protesters, respect, and honor are all pieces of what this group is about.

Americans in general don’t appreciate the freedoms we have in our own country.  We take our lifestyle for granted simply because we wear the citizenship tag.  We have this idea in our head that we deserve the things we have and deserve the life of freedom we live. We rarely consider the sacrifices our soldiers have made both past and present which has helped create and defend our ability to “freely” abuse our privileged lifestyle.

I have not served in any branch of our armed services.  There is some regret that comes with that because I enjoy the freedoms we have without having put my life in harm’s way to attain that freedom.  I have however lived and travelled across a good portion of the world.  Living and going to school in Belgium, Holland, and Egypt allowed me to see and involve myself with other lifestyles, cultures, and freedoms that people outside America live in.  Travelling Europe, the Middle East, and South America expanded my world view.  From my experiences I can proudly say there is no other country in the world I would rather live in and be a citizen of than America.

Our military personnel both past and present who have fought for our freedoms are often forgotten or victimized by self-righteous, indignant, and ungrateful protesters.  Our deceased veterans are often overlooked and forgotten and their funerals go unattended.  The families of veterans, while suffering the loss of a loved one are sometimes harassed by ignorant and hateful protesters.  The Patriot Guard was formed to combat these issues and have made an extraordinary positive impact by filling a serious need.

Watch the video from start to finish, don’t skip through it, take it in, reflect on what the speakers are saying, and feel their emotion and hurt.  It is very powerful and will give you an appreciation for things you may not have considered being thankful for.  I reflected on it for a good week, I just couldn’t get away from the feelings that were provoked.  Yesterday I registered with The Patriot Guard and began receiving mission emails that I can attend if available.  I work full time and have to in order to support my family so it is impossible to make every mission.  I will participate in missions when I can though.  At least in some way I can give back something to the families and soldiers that have given their life and defend the freedoms we all share.

Fort Worth HOG April 2013 Chapter Meeting

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This months meeting heralded hot tempuratures and clear skies.  There was a great turnout with the parade having 59 bikes.  We took the usual route through the Fort Worth Stockyards and conducted the meeting at Billy Bobs.

This weekend will be a busy ride weekend with Saturdays Chapter meeting and Sundays ride to Thurber, TX.  I’ll keep this post short since there will be another soon from Sundays ride.

I tried sticking the GoPro to the top of my helm this time.  Not sure yet what I think about that position.  I found you have to really keep your head straight or the video goes crazy every time you even check your rear view mirrors!  Still got some good clips though.  Enjoy!

Fort Worth HOG April 2013 Chapter Meeting

Passing Lamps

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Due to weather, personal things, and groups not doing much, I haven’t done any riding since the last post.  However, last month I purchased passing lamps for my bike and we took a few pictures of the installation process!  I saved this post information for a time of inactivity and here it is!

The lamps and the brackets I wanted were right at $400.00 at Harley.  We had planned on getting these at the right moment and that moment was now.  Last year at our chapters picnic Margaret and I did very well in the bike games placing in 3 of the 5 events.  The prizes were gift cards to the dealership.  I had saved those along with some gift cards we had won at other chapter events so with the gift cards I only  had to spend $150.00 for them out of my own pocket.

I knew there was going to be quite a bit of work involved to install them.  What better way to learn a bit more about your bike than to do something you know is gonna be extensive!

The instructions provided were minimal and lacked detail.  It wasn’t all that hard to figure out though.  The only problem I ran into was where to get power for the lamps.  That small detail is not noted anywhere in the basic instructions provided.  I had to go to the dealership and ask Jake for that info.  He was great about it and told me it was the grey wire from each of the turn signals that is not used from the factory.  Harley put that power there specifically for passing lamps to be installed later.

1) Remove windshield

2) Remove front of fairing.  After removing the Torx screws remove the headlight connector.

3) Remove ignition switch.  You have to remove this to get the switch control panel off.

4) Remove switch control panel.

5) Install switch into a blank area of control panel

6) Wire switch power feed both in and out and ground into the harness according to diagram. The picture below is the back of the harness which points towards the switch controls.  You have to stick the new switch wires into the specifically labeled holes to route power to the lights. I purchased the independent lighting control harness as well.  That way you can have your brights on at the same time as your passing lamps.  That was the easy part of the install, disconnect the wiring harness from the switch panel and snap the short harness in between.  It is clean, sealed, and makes the necessary cross connectsso you don’t have to cut and solder wires.

7) Reassemble switch control and ignition switch.

8) Assemble lamps and brackets

9) Remove existing turn signals because you will use your existing housings.  This is where it started getting a bit tricky.  Your supposed to feed the turn signal wires through the new mounting bracket along with the power wire for the passing lamps.  First you have to cut the connector off of the turn signal wires.  You will have to make a new one with the provided component’s later. The problem is that the turn signal lamp wires have been sealed in a plastic material that adheres to them.  You cannot just simply pull that sheath off to expose the wires and with the sheath on it is too big to fit through the bracket hole with the passing lamp power.  And its not just a hole, its a 6 inch long little hole you’ve got to push all the wires through.  I had to take a utility knife and very carefully slice the sheath off the turn signal wires without cutting through to the copper.  This picture is before cutting the connector off to feed the cables through the new lamp bracket.  You can kind of see how the wires are sealed inside a plastic sheath.  That sheath had to be split carefully with a utility knife along the entire length to get the wires out.

10) Here you are supposed to put this wire sheath on now that you have the bracket work finished.  But, the wire sheath Harley gives you is HUGE, as in it could go over 15+ wires, and its not shrink tubing!  Horrible.  I went to Auto Zone and bought a roll of shrink fit tubing and covered them properly from the exposure point on the bracket all the way up to where I had to build the new connector.

11) Install passing light assembly on forks

12) Build the new connector.  This means stripping the jacket off about 1/8″ of the end of all 4 wires for each turn signal and passing lamp. Then your supposed to crimp the provided pins on the wire and snap them into the new connector.  I soldered mine on instead to insure good contact.  Then stick the pins in the correct positions in the new connector and reconnect to the feed in the fairing.  This is where you get the power for the passing lamps.  There is an extra grey wire on the feed connector that is originally unused which is now used for the passing lamps.

13) Try them out before finishing re-assembly.

14) Re-install front of fairing and windshield.

15) Wash the bike.  (Why not right?)

The installation took 3 hours start to finish and that included my trip to Harley to find out about the power feed.  Not bad for not having done it before.  They look great and work great.  It really shoots light out to the sides which is great for safety.  On my morning commute to work which is always in the dark I can come up right beside a car and see the light from them lighting up the driver.

Albany & Fort Griffin

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Destination: Albany & Fort Griffin

This weekend was perfect timing for a nice day long ride with temperatures peaking at 92 degrees!  You could not have asked for a better day.  Cowtown Motorcycle Group planned a trip to Albany, TX with a historical stop at Fort Griffin.  Once again, Cowtown did not disappoint!  It was a perfectly planned and executed ride with wonderful stops and historical content added. Again I met some more riders who were very sociable and friendly.  For the second time riding with the group I felt completely welcomed and comfortable. Everyone has been real and true to character. In all honesty this group is simply “Amazing”.

We met at 8:00 and took off around 8:30am.  The sun was behind our backs heading to our destinations and on our backs when returning.  Gotta love that!  It was a bit windy but not so bad as to spoil the ride.  The group was 17 bikes strong this time.  We had a combination of road types on this trip, highways, farm and market roads, little back roads, and even some dirt roads rounded out the experience.  If you had a preference on type of roads, this ride would meet your expectations.  We got back into Fort Worth around 7pm. It was a dawn to dusk ride tallying in over 300 miles for the day.

After a couple of stops along the way we stopped to have lunch at the IceHouse in Albany.  Historically it was an old ice house that has been converted into a restaurant.  We visited the courthouse area and some replicas of older building styles that would have been around during the founding of the city.  After that we headed out to Fort Griffin.  Windell, one of the organizers, had researched the old fort and gave us a very informative history account about the place upon arrival.  We also visited some replicas of the buildings that once stood at the fort.  The jailhouse was the original masonry and stood in the same place as when it was first built.  Definitely not the type of jails were used to seeing in our modern civilization.

On the trip home something happened to my GoPro video cam.  It locked up completely.  I couldn’t even turn the thing off without taking the battery out, and after doing that, it wouldn’t turn on!  Because of this setback I was unable to record the beautiful scenery for part of the route home.  Fortunately none of the previous footage taken was lost and I was able to make a video of the majority of the ride. After researching the problem with the camera I found out it is a common issue and most people had to contact GoPro and get a replacement.  “Sigh”, looks like Ill have to deal with that this upcoming week.