Ride to see the Travelling Vietnam Wall

April 27, 2018
Friday
Bowie TX

Well Tim has to work tonight and through the weekend so he should have been snoozing this afternoon. Instead, we decided to roll out with Dad for a short trip to Bowie to see the Travelling Vietnam Wall. Today was our last opportunity to see it.

It was a pleasant ride starting off cool and warming up nicely in the afternoon. Skies were clear. Winds were light.

No matter how many times we see the Wall it is always a memorable and heart-wrenching and humbling experience. We looked up a couple of the names that we know personally connected to friends. We paid our respects.

On the way back to our rides, Dad ran across an old acquaintance. Monica Harvey aka Lil' Sis whom he met years ago at a memorial mission. Monica is from Nebraska but she follows the Wall all over the USA. She said she stopped counting somewhere around mission 250. She sang a "Welcome Home" song to Dad. Her musical ministry is often referred to as Band-aid for your Heart. She gifted us with the vest pin with that logo. When we got back to our rides, Dad showed me his original pin still pinned to his vest.

The ride home was interrupted only by a stop at the Dairy Queen in Henrietta.

Approximate s'miles for this ride is 100 round trip.

Slide show of today's ride about 26 photos - no music.

Bandaid for your Heart

Veterans Music Ministry - Monica Harvey - aka Lil' Sis

Lil' Sis on Facebook

Quick Country Ride

April 26, 2018
Thursday
Texas

Today's ride was just a hop on and burn up a few miles before bad weather sets in. 50 some odd s'miles I think.

That grin on his face that say let's go...

Bluebonnets

Look for the spec - that's a pilot in training from Sheppard AFB

Another spec - pilot in training - looks like he's having as much fun as we are - ha!

Dad rides over mile marker 82

April 18, 2018
Wednesday
Texas/Oklahoma

It does not look like Mother Nature is going to cooperate on April 21st so we tagged along on a pre-82nd birthday ride with Dad to log over 82 windy s'miles! It is cool today as Spring mornings in Texas are so we rode out in jackets and hoodies. There is a promise of sun and warmth later but we are not counting on it as the winds have the flags standing straight out today.

It is Dad's birthday ride so it was Dad's call where we rode. We never really have a destination in mind but darn if his rowdy red ride didn't find it's way to a favorite breakfast and pie stop just over the river in Waurika Oklahoma.

JW's Travel Stop (truck stop with a cafe) is at the intersection of US 81 and US 70.

Our travels today took us along familiar roads and state highways in Oklahoma and Texas. We rode across the old river bridge thinking this may be one of the last times we cross it as a new bridge is under construction. The bluebonnets (Texas State Wildflower) are like a carpet of blue on the roadside. The countryside is greening up.

It is perhaps a coincidence that we traveled west on Hwy 82 on Dad's 82nd birthday ride. About Brown Road on Hwy 287 Dad pulled away from us for a bit. I reckon that's where he got a stretch in at 82 mph (legal speed limit is 75 mph).

Breakaway Monday ride

April 16, 2018
Monday
Texas

Yep. Today's ride was a breakaway ride. We closed on a cozy little cottage in late March and we have been down-sizing and moving and settling in. Whew! There's still lots to do and will be for a while but riding season is upon us and the whole point of down-sizing was to make time for what is important so here we are doing that for the first time since the move. We travelled familiar country roads that took us by a dirt road and an old farmhouse where we lived once upon time, past the bridge near the Red River where swallows nest, past a pecan orchard, and bluebonnets and prickly pear cactus patches. And, we stopped to explore the new truck stop at the intersection of Hwy 148 and Hwy 287. Kool! Gas and eats and ice cream! We took the long way around to home... out past the lake this time. We have some sun on our noses and we are certainly happy about it.

We called this a freedom cloud because it looks like an eagle to us

Checking out a new truck stop in Henrietta

Bluebonnets

S'miles = 113

Slide show 23 photos - no music