Saturday April 9th, 2011.

The Honda ST1100 as I have come to find out, is the kind of bike that makes me always find a reason or excuse to get out and ride.
So the day arrived and in keeping with my word of meeting up with my newly made friends at Presidio La Bahia 2 weeks earlier (If you have not read about this yet, I recommend that you read about it before this one, here in my “First Solo Trip” journal as the chronology and facts lead up to this one), I had my reason to get out and ride on this day.

Voices of Texas.

This “West Texas Adventure” originated in The Bayview Cemetery in Corpus Christi, TX
Among other notable important historical facts, it was the first ever military cemetery to integrate the burial of “Colored Soldiers”- of whom 3 of the original “Buffalo Soldiers” are peacefully present.
Again, there is nothing much I can write about here that other more prolific and notable historians have not already written about or documented. But I learned quite a bit more about notable events in the history of Corpus Christi and Texas as a whole.
If you are interested and so inclined, I have no doubt you can find a lot of reading material on the “Internet”.
Events of this day were to make this a very noteworthy day in my motorcycling life. And in of all places – a cemetery!
Read on. I promise you, it is not a horror story from late night TV.
As I moved around the ceremonial grounds, I paused at each offering of representations of historical facts being given by the re-enactors.

I stopped to chat with Mr. Carl Vickers (in the photo I show here) who belongs to the “Confederate Sons of Texas”.
Many of his relatives are interred here and we got into a lengthy and interesting discussion.
As he learned about my desire, or should I say, as I portrayed myself as a modern day “Long Rider” he was surprised to know that I had not visited Mount Rushmore.
He assured me that it was a visit not to be missed and that I should make it a point to visit the monument in my quest for more knowledge on the history of our country.
Moving along I stopped by the gravesites of Mr. Warfield and Mr. Owens.
Both of them, African-Americans, (and I use the term affectionately) were Privates who served in the union Army. They were cavalry soldiers - Buffalo Soldiers.
Warfield and Owens migrated from the Maryland/Virginia area to “open up” this part of the country and make a life for themselves here. They were very instrumental in opening up this part of the country. Unfortunately though, like many others of their kind, they died from “the fever” at that time.




My “big camera” as I can imagine it, seemed in comparison with the prolific “point and shoot cameras of the times, became the curiosity and conversation piece of a lady re-enactor – representing a lady of the past by the name of Mary Mclanahan (whose claim to fame was that she died of malaria).
She inquired which of the News Presses I was representing. (She later remarked in conversation how I looked so much like a press reporter).
She lit up with astonishment when I replied in the negative and went on to describe my passion for doing this as part of my passion for traveling on a motorcycle and documenting my journeys.
Her questions immediately shifted to what kind of bike I rode and where I’d been.
It became apparent to me from the questions she asked, that this lady knew quite a bit about motorcycles.
So shifting into my “Long Distance Rider” character, head up high and chest out, somewhat like a proud peacock, I began to swell myself as I elaborated on my ownership of a long distance, touring motorcycle.
Let me mention here that I particularly avoided talking about long distance journeys. Obviously journeys that I had never made! Hey, after all, I owned the requisite apparatus. That hopefully, in my mind should have been enough to portray me in the image of a seasoned and well-traveled long distance rider!
“Oh really” she exclaimed.
“You must meet some of my other friends. We are all going to Big Bend on Thursday. You must come with us! There are 7 of us going together, all on our bikes. We all ride big bikes too.
Thursday was just 4 days away!
Good excuse to decline – to hide my incompetency or rather, my fear/apprehension.
Subconsciously and out of fear of a LONG ride, WAY out of town, REALLY FAR from home, my mind, within a split-second, already had excuses lined up.
“Not enough time to request time off work.”
“Don’t know any of the others – strangers.”
“Could not fit a trip such as this into my already tight financial budget!”
And before I could even begin to respond with the first of my excuses she already began to lead me off.
So following her lead, we walked over to another area of the cemetery and met with Doug.
The enthusiasm that these 2 new friends exhibited was contagious.
But I was truly more scared than excited. I tried hard to politely refuse but they were very insistent and the best way I could weasel out of it was to respond by promising to call back and possibly confirm my participation in the ride after trying to get time off work.

That was my excuse, knowing full well that I would cancel. The feeling of paralysis was almost real.
So the day ended and that evening as I related events of the day to my wife that evening, she commented on how such an opportunity had been presented. “Hey, at least you will have lots of company on the trip. You will not be alone. I think you will have fun. Plus you’ll have a good long journey and get to see lots of places along the way.
I think you ought to try and get the time off for this extended weekend and make the trip. You may just like it.
If you don’t go, you’ll never know whether you’ll like it or not.”
Anyway, the following Monday, I did request for and got time off work for that weekend.
That evening, I called Doug and confirmed that I would join them on the trip!
So it was final. I had given my word. The trip was on.
Doug got the OK from the “Road Captain” and now it was just a matter of time.
“Crunch Time.”

The Night Before.
I had spent the previous three days checking and preparing the “ST11”. This night, I fueled up the 7.4 gal. - capacity tank, which under normal cruising conditions would return 40 m.p.g. , allowing me a possible 300 mile run between each tank full of gas.. It was after 2:00 a.m. before I would get to bed and up at 4:00 a.m. in order to meet up with the group on time later that morning.
“Kickstands” will go up at 6:00 a.m.. Don’t be late! That was the expectation.

Thursday April 14th, 2011 – Sunday April 17th, 2011.

The “Lolly-Gaggers” :
Teri Harris (a.k.a. “Lone Star Liz”, a.k.a. Mary Mclanahan)
Doug “Buzz” Crumly (a.k.a. Snoopy Doyle)
Tony Spaulding
William Westbrook
Dennis Bosley
Mike Purswell
Terry “MacGyver” Kaufman
… and myself

Next - WT Day 1