Friday, October 17, 2008

Brooke AMC to Portland, TX = 142 miles.

Seems doable. Who's in?

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Lunch Friday 17th - Weinberg's in Grapevine.

Say, 12, straight up?

I'm there, Steve & Tate, too. Anyone else? I called CR_Dean, but I don't have Cliff's digits. I emailed Luke.

Sorry for the short notice.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Planning Notes From Steve and Tate's Lunch

Okay, so it was more of a quick phone call than a lunch. I had some things to get to that wouldn't allow for a full lunch. At any rate, here's what we talked about:

Probably stating the obvious, but here goes anyway. This year's route needs to make it easier logistically for any soldiers that want to ride with us. That will include things like hotel availability at each stop between the start and Austin. Also, a good, reliable SAG will be a must this year. I think if we can get those things hammered out, we'll be able to get more interest from both vets and non-vets.

We talked about starting from the VA around Duncanville. If we can swing it, that sounds like a great plan. If we stay mostly East of I-35 like we talked about before, things should be quite a bit flatter. I put down a couple of towns (below) that are along the way to Austin, along with any VFW info I could find. There isn't a VFW in Italy (2nd day stop), but there are a couple that are about 10 miles away. We might be able to talk them into coming out to meet us when we get in. Also, by meeting up with Woody and the guys on Wednesday afternoon, we won't have to leave on Saturday like last year, Sunday should be fine.

David and I had also been talking about mileage. The daily mileage is a bit lower than last year, so we were thinking that if anyone wanted to do an afternoon ride after setting up camp, that might be interesting. Once we get the route finalized, I might be able to put up some options there. There will also be some long day possibilities between Austin and San Antone (80-ish miles), and San Antone to Corpus (140-ish miles !!!) in case anyone wants to stretch their legs a bit.

Below are some notes. Bear in mind, this is just what Tate and I talked about. If anyone has an idea about how to do it better, please speak up. We're certainly not running the show, just trying to pitch in.

Priorities
===========
Hotels available
Good SAG required
Low traffic roads
Camping a plus

Duncanville VFW (or VA hostpital) to Italy - 55 (Sunday)
- Route info: Magical Mystery Permanent
- Route info: Lancaster Community Ride
- Italy Inn Hotel
- Camping (??)

Italy to Mexia VFW - 55 (Monday)
- Route La Bella Rani Brevet
- Camping @ Fort Parker SP

Mexia to Cameron VFW - 75 (Tuesday)
- Route ??
- Camping ?? (VFW?)

Cameron to Austin - 70 (Wednesday)
- Meet up w/ the Guys
- Route ??
- Camping ?? (VFW?)

VFWs
====
Post 7843 Duncanville Memorial Post
702 Hwy. 67 East
Duncanville, TX 75137-3408

Post 4694 Lancaster Post
317 S Martin Luther King Jr Hwy
Mexia, TX 76667