I didn’t post much in 2022, though I did get to visit a lot of sites. I just never sat down to write anything each day after the ride. I will try to be better this year.
A quick recap some of the events that happened at the end of 2023.
This marks my second year as state sponsor for Mississippi. Even before the Tour of Honor riding started for the 2022 year, I was out scouting sites for 2023. I like small towns a lot more than I like cities, especially when on a motorcycle and trying to get to memorials. Through out the year, I added a few to my reserves. I had a list of about 20. I decided to put them in my mapping software with all my note with each site. Halfway through the year, the mapping software database crashed, taking all my records down with it.
Luckily, I had some of the sites listed on scratch paper. Near the middle of the riding season, I get a note that the theme for 2023 will be Vietnam Veterans. This gave me reasons to go out to search for Vietnam Veteran Memorials. I add a couple to have enough to submit when the time comes, November 1!
The end of September comes and Hurricane Ian devastates the gulf coast of Florida. I get an email asking if I can help the state sponsor for Alabama. I send him a note and ask if he had any sites in mind or if I was going to be starting from scratch. He tells me that he had a lot of notes on several possible sites, all on his laptop. Great! I think this will be easy. Then he tells me that he has found part of his laptop, but not the hard drive. OH… Guess I am starting from scratch.
October’s weather was pleasant. I had gathered a list of possible sites from the internet, using satellite images to verify that things are where they are supposed to be. I take off for a few days with only a few areas that I was sure about. Long story short, I leave with a list of over 20 sites. Most turn out to not be as exciting as I had hoped. Riding to these sites did provide me the chance to ride through little towns. I found several more along the road; I think that four of the seven sites were found as I was just riding around in small towns.
I get all the write-ups and pictures submitted with a few days to spare. Last week, I get a note that one of the sites I had submitted for Alabama was showing “Closed” on Google maps. I made a few calls and learned that the Welcome Center where the memorial was located is closed for renovations; at 48 month project. (Yes, 4 YEARS!). I made a quick run to find another site instead of using one of the alternates that I had submitted.
Yesterday, my 2023 Tour of Honor package arrived. The flag and shirt with the usual paperwork. Beautiful shirt this year.
The new Harley Road Glide is working out great. I am still working to get familiar with the handling, it is a bit heavier than the Pan America or the BMW GS and handles a lot different at slow speeds. I don’t want to forget how to ride the GS by putting all my focus on the Road Glide. Though I have put almost 1,000 miles on the Road Glide in the last two weeks.
I am ready to ride!