Day 1.
Thursday April 14th, 2011.
I was up before the alarm clock went off. The excitement was too great for me. I prepared myself. Kissed my wife and youngest daughter goodbye. Patted the Chihuahua on the head and headed for garage. “Here, take a photo of me Honey”. “Do be careful on the road” she said as she took the photo. “Yes, I will, you know I always do my best. I’ll call as soon as I get a chance so you know how the trip is going and how I’m doing. Are you sure you don’t want to come along? I joked”. She had given up riding many years ago. With that, I started up the ST11, backed out into the darkness, honked my horn and floated off into the early morning.
We met at the prescribed Whataburger for breakfast. I walked in and Doug, with that perpetual smile on his face, immediately introduced me to those present. Tony, our ride captain, is a BIG man (well over six feet tall), with a BIG smile and rides a BIG bike (Kawasaki Concours 1400). He and the others had a BIG welcome for me. Tony, I got to learn, had had a big idea to visit BIG places and had worked very hard to put the plans together and make this BIG ride a reality. He wanted to share with us in a very BIG sort of way. Almost immediately, the jokes began to roll and it was obvious to me that this bunch I had come to meet were a jolly group of friends who, like me, had a passion for riding and camaraderie. Little did I know, but the underlying theme of the trip had begun to be set. The fun had started.
For those of you reading this who did not make the trip with us, bear with my rambling, read on through this journal and I hope that by the end of my tale you will “get the BIG picture”.
After all introductions had been made, after all riding instructions had been given, after all final operational and safety checks on the bikes had been made, we bowed our heads in prayer led by Dennis “Tail-Gunner” Bosley. Tony assigned our riding positions in the convoy. Being the “newbie” to the group and unfamiliar with group riding, I was placed in the middle of the pack for safety and protection.
6 a.m. and kickstands went up. Horns-a-honking, we started off. Our journey had begun. It was still dark. Headlights mingling with the few cars present on the road at this time of the day, we joined the flow of traffic on Highway 358 W and maintained the posted speed limit. We passed by the Mall and numerous restaurants dotted alongside the highway. I was very familiar with stretch of the road. I use it almost everyday when I commute back and forth to work at the county hospital.
First stop on the agenda would be Pleasanton/Jourdanton for fuel, potty breaks and limbering up. It was now daybreak. We pushed on, heading for Uvalde. We met up with Helmut who joined us on our way and would accompany us to our next major stop after Uvalde. Helmut is a friend of Terry Kaufman and together, had spent hours on previous rides.
Teri Harris grew up in Uvalde, Texas where her grandparents still lived. Hearing of her trip with the group, her grandparents – Esther and Bill Nance made her promise she would bring us all through there for a visit. In anticipation of our arrival and not wanting to miss us, Bill actually rescheduled a pending doctor’s appointment for another day. This visit would bring a lot of activity to their household that day that they had no intention of missing.
We arrived in Uvalde and were met by Grandma Esther who was already out in the driveway. She had notice of our imminent arrival by virtue of a phone call. Wide-eyed with excitement she greeted each and every one of us at her front door very warmly as she welcomed us into their home. She then proceeded to put on her shoes and without further ado, asked to be put onto Doug’s bike and taken for a ride. This was her wish. She had been waiting for this moment for quite a few months now. At age eighty-seven, her eyes were bright and wide and sparkled with happiness. No doubt, the photos express this more than I can with my words.

After potty-breaks, group thumbs-up and farewells we pushed on through Uvalde, found a gas station, fueled up and Tony turned us towards Del Rio. The weather was beginning to get hot, we were all well padded and gloved and looked for a chance when we could begin to shed some layers of our protective clothing.
Midday and we congregated in a Dairy Queen for lunch. Off came the jackets and gloves. The jokes started and the laughter continued.
After lunch Helmut’s Harley exhibited starting difficulty. After a few attempts interspersed with slight backfiring he finally got it started.
We set off after saying farewell to Helmut. Needless to say we were all concerned about the mechanical reliability of his bike for his journey back home to Mathis, Texas. He exhibited great confidence though and was seemingly unperturbed. He insisted that he would be fine. We waited till he drove out of the parking lot, then we pushed on. Del Rio was pretty much halfway on our journey.
Not long after leaving Dairy Queen, this stretch of the ride took us by Lake Amistad. Beautiful blue waters, lovely scenery and near perfect weather made for natural beauty of the landscape. I could not help but take my eyes off the road every few seconds to take in the beauty of the scenery. More miles went by and then out of nowhere, there it was! We just had to turn off the road and drive up to the vista that overlooked the Pecos River. Tony, Mike and I, having been ahead of the group after passing a couple of slow moving vehicles inadvertently crossed the bridge without realizing we had gone past the vista exit off the road and made a turn around to rejoin the group who had already begun to make their way to the vista. Hey, we got to cross the bridge twice!
This bridge is the highest highway bridge in Texas! The view is stunning!
The river is noted for mineral-thick waters and sudden floods. It “snakes” through Texas on it’s way to the Rio Grande.
The Pecos is where the mythic Wild West begins – the land that produced the legendary Judge Roy Bean and fabled Pecos Bill. We took time out for some photography. The camaraderie was great, the scenery was out-of-this-world, the view of the river from this point was impressive, to say the least!
After three tries I finally figured out how to work the self-timer on my camera without any guesswork and the result ……………….. voila!

We pushed on, arriving in Alpine after a grueling eleven and a half hour journey for the day. The natural beauty of the land we had seen on this day made the time and trip seem like a jaunt around the park. Our bikes had “munched” five hundred and seventeen miles that day. We had cut through the West Texas desert lands.
Our happiness and joy of a safe journey to this destination was tempered by sad news of another motorcycling group that had “lost” a member to a fatal accident during the afternoon. We offered our sympathy and condolences to the group of them we encountered at one of the gas stops where they stopped and were holding prayer. This served as a stark reminder to us all that caution and safety on a trip like this and any other, for that matter, was paramount!
We had seen open land, dry land, highland and low land. Land as far as your eyes could see, land we had traversed together, land we appreciated together, land we all call our home state. Land of Texas we call the BIG country!
Dinner at a local joint across from our hotel was pleasant.
But why is it that everywhere you go there is always some smartass you meet who thinks he is a wise guy and has to try to make jokes along racial lines? We met one such fellow seated at a table next to ours. Amongst us, we were having too good a time to worry about him and his remarks. Our camaraderie and fun by far transcended his ignorance!! We did fantasize a good brawl though and came to the unanimous conclusion that he would be no match for us.
Back to the hotel. Settled down for the night. It had been a long day.
“Hi honey, how are you? Are you okay. Did you have a good day? Yes we are fine. How is Jennifer, how is the Chihuahua? Did you feed the fish for me? We had a wonderful safe ride. I’ve seen wonderful things today. I wish you were here.”
“Okay, I’ll check in with you tomorrow. We’re headed for river ride along the Rio Grande tomorrow and the McDonald Observatory. I’ll tell you all about it when we get back. All these guys are so much fun. They’re such a great bunch and they’re taking such good care of me. Goodnight.”

Next - WT Day 2