The 2008 Itinerary

One of the fun activities that keeps us going over the winter is watching the calendar of events develop and then planning our trips to see how many we can attend. Here's what we have come up with so far.

April 19/20 weekend is the Hill Country Ride in Texas that we originally planned to attend since our last time there was 2005. However, we canceled because this was the weekend Heather and Tom wanted to pick up their new bikes in Newmarket and we wanted to be there for the event and the ride home.

May will be quiet. The weekend of the 10th, we're working on the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Awareness display in the New Sudbury Centre. The next week involves the Bikers for Life Challenge to get blood donations and a Motorcycle Awareness Week proclamation at City Hall. The Victoria Day long weekend will be spent, as always, at Stevenson's Lodge in Combermere, Ontario with the Fry family and friends. We rode together years ago and this is our one big gathering of the year. If Heather and Tom want to ride up, we'll go to Waterloo first and travel with them. Unfortunately, this means we will again miss SEVROC, the Southeast VROC gathering in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

In June, the traveling begins. June 7/8 weekend is VROC at KSL (Kickstand Lodge). We'll haul the camper trailer down and set up on the beautiful KSL grounds, taking time to ride some of the nicest motorcycle roads in existence. From there, we'll haul the trailer home and drop it, heading west for the Great Midwest River Run in Boscobel, Wisconsin the next weekend. The following weekend, we'll be in Topaz Lake on the California/Nevada border for the High Sierra VROC weekend. We'll be sharing a room with Sherm at the Topaz Lake Resort and Casino. Sherm will then join us heading east to the Aztec VROC gathering in Deadwood, South Dakota.

The big July run is the annual Wolfman's Wandering Rally, being held this year in Coos Bay Oregon on the July 19/20 weekend. Our original plan had been to come home after Aztec for a week or so and then head west again. However, west coast hospitality is so nice that we'll head for the coast after Aztec, visiting Sandy's brother in Vancouver; our friend Scorpion~ in Olympia, Washington; Sherm and Pat in Coos Bay, Oregon; and Don VSP Inamasu in Stockton, California; before heading back up the the WWR, aka Oregon Trails Rally. After that, we'll head for home and get to work preparing for our own Freedom Rally in Sudbury on Civic Holiday Weekend (the weekend with the 1st Monday in August).

The week after the Freedom Rally, we'll be at Cycle-Moore Campground in Interlochen Michigan with the Michigan VROC contingent and friends. If Heather and Tom want to attend, we'll come through Waterloo and ride with them. From Interlochen, we'll set sail for southeast Pennsylvania where a VROCer named Badluck will be hosting his second annual bash. We missed it last year. I hope to get a chance to see some cousins while we're in this neck of the woods. Then it will be home for the rest of the month.

The September run will be the usual. We'll haul the camper trailer to the 29th Annual Cyclefest in Waterloo Region for the Labour Day weekend and then will head on to Indiana for the WARB gathering the next weekend. From there,we'll head back through Sudbury and drop the trailer before heading out the the New England Maine Ride the week after. We'll finish up with a run across to Eureka Springs Arkansas VROC Reunion for the last event of the traveling season.

Gas prices will be challenging, but not enough to make us stop. Maybe some day, something else will catch our attention but, for now, this is still working. I have a few minor bike mods in the works, including a cord that will let me use the cell phone (through the BlueTooth capable GPS) while riding. I'm also working on a voice recorder so that I don't lose some of the thoughts I have as I cruise along, the ones that slip out of my mind before I can stop and make note of them.

So stay tuned to this channel and ride with us as we meet friends old and new, and explore more of the continent.