Today is my sister Cynthia and brother in law Randy’s 30th anniversary. I think I was wearing a tuxedo on this day 30 years ago. At the riders meeting, Drew presented them with a card signed by everyone on the run. A great beginning to another wonderful day. I won the 50\50 drawing of $109.00 and donated it to the chase truck for fuel. It looked like possible showers today, so it was ‘dress warm day’. It rained a bit the night before. Joni was moving a little bit better this morning. We still left her bike in the trailer, and she rode with Svein again.
The first leg was 112 miles to Marseilles Illinois. We arrived to a very warm welcome. The chief of police, Jim, who gave me his name tag off his uniform last year, was very happy to see the good old rat bike back again, along with Joni & I. They had a very good ceremony at the Middle East Conflict Wall, along with a wreath laying ceremony by people from our ride. We visited with the Mayor and a lot of other fine people, who all do a lot to maintain the beautiful wall. It is very sad to know that there are over 4,000 names on the wall and more waiting to go on there. A lot of our young guys died for our right to be a free country. The setting on the Illinois River is fantastic. They take a lot of pride in the whole scene, as they should. We had a police escort all the way down the highway and into town, and out as well.
19 miles later, we arrived in Morris for fuel and a wonderful lunch and lots of cookies put on by fellow riders of Illinois. Our police escort guys on bikes, also had lunch with us before we hit the road again. We then rode another hour and a half to Portage High School in Indiana. We were treated to a demonstration of the Jr. ROTC Cadets. They were flinging their rifles around like majorettes twirl around batons. The Cadets did a couple of demonstrations, with only a couple of “oops.” The whole program was very amazing ‘cause a lot of adults couldn’t do the things that they were doing. We were introduced to the senior members who were soon to enlist in different branches of the service. One of them was Jason Follow, who I met in the parking lot by my bike. I got a picture of him & me standing next to my bike. I was told that I would meet his aunt at our dinner stop at St. Joseph Club. I told him to sit on my bike for another picture. “That’s an order”, I said with a smile. Jason had a big smile on his face as well! I wished him well in his new adventure in the Marines. What a positive attitude he had, as well as the other kids on the drill teams. It was a pleasure to do that stop!
36 miles later, we were in Michigan City, Indiana, for our fuel and night stop. As we pulled up to the gas stop, some of the people with us were very surprised to find out that the fill ups for all the bikes and chase trucks were all paid for. The Exchange Club donated a lot of money for our mission to say thanks for what we are doing. Bruce, an Exchange Club member, is also driving the merchandise van. What a treat with our gas being paid for, for the second year in a row!
Our next stop was a very cool police and fire truck escort, through town, to the Danny Bruce Memorial, down by the waterfront. 21-gun salute, taps, and a bagpipe were played. Headdog, Steve Moore, gives away a lot of certificates of appreciation at all of our stops to a lot of people who have rolls in our special treatment. It’s a pretty cool way to say thanks to people.
Our next stop was the St. Joseph Club for a great dinner. A couple of days ago Headdog told me that Jan had donated her two Bed and Breakfast houses to our NVAR riders. Steve told me he would like to give one to my friends and me as a way to say thanks for all I do, and have done for this run. Feallock House is the name of it, and Jan is the very gracious hostess. Joni &I have one room, Gary & Nancy, Drew & Cliff, Cynthia & Randy, and Les Stephens from Salem Oregon, all got rooms, and John from Iowa, a fellow shovelhead rider, got a room too. Jan made sure we all know how everything works. We are using all three sets of washers and dryers as I write of this day’s adventures. Four of our bikes were able to park inside her garage. This is the first time that I have stayed at a B&B. We might have to pursue this at another time. Jan said no breakfast as she is going to join us for the breakfast provided by the VFW post 2536.
Let’s go back a few days to around Laramie Wyoming. I saw another Oregon plate on a bike, and talked to him. I found out his name was Les, and was from Salem, Oregon. Later I found out that he was riding to the wall by himself. He accidentally ran into our group and found out what the NVAR was all about. So out of the blue, he found our group and was very welcome to ride with us to DC. Les said his wife was very relieved to know that he had people to ride with.
Ok, back to the rat bike. At the last memorial, it would not start. No fire. So I moved the ignition switch around a little, and she fired up. It died again right away. I just replaced the switch, the old brass military WWII switch with the light lockout button that had worked for the last 25+ years. I put a new one on and epoxied the old brass switch cover on it to make it still look like the old one. Not even 6 months old and shot! This new crap sure ain’t what it used to be. So I took one of the household light switches off the handlebars that I taped on for my new turn signals. I wired all my stuff to the light switch and zip tied it to my gas tank. So now my ignition switch is a light switch. I sure hope it works as good as it looks! I reckon I’ll find out tomorrow. The best part of a rat bike is making something look very funky and still have function. After riding the same bike for 33 years, I’ve figured out a lot of function, and the fun part is getting very FUNKY!!!!!! Good night again.
