Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
AllByteNoBark
Forum Supporter
So how is that for a hand full of acronyms?
I saw a post by @blupupher on his 2024 Grand Tour of Texas rides and thought it was a good idea. Sorry blupupher, not trying to horn in, just such a good idea I wanted to participate.
So back to the acronyms, most of you may have already figured them out but just in case, translation is AllByteNoBark's 2024 Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas and Team Strange Airheads 40th Anniversary Grand Tour. That makes for a fairly wordy post title so hence the acronyms.
The below is really long. If you want to skip it just jump down to the next post where photos and ride reports start.
I'll provide just a bit of background on why I have decided to sign up for these tours this year. I have ridden since I was somewhere around 10 years old. Started on a Sears Allstate Scooter, then and SL125, from there moved up to an XL250, etc. I have always ridden dirt bikes and at one point was a mediocre B class rider in motocross. After a year or two there moved on to 2 hour hare scrambles in AMA District 22 (Iowa) and once in that world never looked back.
While dirt was my thing I also usually owned at least one street bike. The street bikes were more transportaion to me, while dirt was where I went to have fun. When the kids were little and money was tight I took a few years off. Once my son got big enough to ride we got back into dirt bikes and riding hare scrambles and eventually ended up with a couple of VStroms we rode to Alaska and back in 2004.
Well the son went off to college and I switched over and road mainly street for a few years. As some here know I ended up with a Honda Africa Twin after moving to Texas, loved it, but ended up selling it do to having issues with vertigo. Then the fall of 2022 the son got back into dirt bikes and in 2023 rode in several TORCS events. The wife and I would go and watch and after the first event I mentioned how much I miss it. Her resonse was "buy a bike and get out there." Haha, not quite that easy, but who am I to argue. So I bought a Gas Gas EX 350 F in Feb of last year and started riding it 3 or 4 times a week. No vertigo when riding but still had some if I was shooting. Finally figured out that ear plugs seemed to be the major cause which I mentioned here before. Any way, this is already way long, so will try to quit rambling.
In July I was riding the GG and caught a rut wrong and got off in an unconventional manner. Caught the handlebars under the left bottom rib and bruised it pretty good. A couple of days later it still hurt a lot, so decided to go make sure I had not cracked a rib. The idea being that if I cracked a rib, probably should not be out riding the GG. If not it would hurt, but could still ride.
Well got to the doc and next thing I know I am being put on the helicopter for a ride to BAMC in SA. Doc was white as a sheet and said they had found an aortic dissection, whatever that was, and they had no choice but to get me to someplace that could deal with it. When I arrived at BAMC a full crew was there in scrubs and ready to do emergency surgery. I mean people EVERYWHERE. I was like "whoa, you guys are all nuts, I just bruised my ribs a bit" but no one would listen to me. Eventually they decided that the condition had been there for a while and asked me a lot of question about when it had happened as there was no way I couldn't know. Sent me over to Methodist as they could not treat me at BAMC due to it not being trauma and me not being military. They watched me for a few days and sent me home telling me I needed to come back in 6 months so they could monitor the issue. Dec came, went in, no changes, as good as it could be.
Meanwhile, every doc is telling me I need to quit riding. My response was pretty much the same to all of them. "I've been riding for over 57 years, it is part of who I am, not just what I do." I was fully planning on riding the TORCS series with my son this year in the 65+ but had to take a second look at that. I for sure am not getting any younger. Have noticed I bruise a lot easier than I used to. That part makes me a bit nervous as my interpretationn of it it says the blood vessels must be thinning some. Aorta, pretty sure that is probably one of those blood vessels...
So with all that said, I went and bought the RT and decided to put on some miles while I still can. When I brought the RT home the wife looked at it and said she might go along sometimes as it looked a lot more comfortable than my other bikes had. She used to ride with me but has not for quite a while. After a trip to Cycle Gear and a couple of online orders, we got her gear all updated and she will be going along on occasion. She has been out on once ride so far and really enjoyed it.
It helps to have an excuse to go places and saw the MGTOT post by blupupher so I signed up as it offers pretty good excuses to ride.
Then I saw the Team Strange post by @lddave and thought it was interesting. Mentioned it to my wife and she asked several questions. I told her how the 40th Anniversary portion of the tour worked and she decided she might want to try that as a passenger. So we signed up for the Team Strange Tour also. It doesn't start until April 1.
Not sure exactly what I am going to do about the GG and even the 390A as it is not getting much love now days. I would like to think that I could ride them in a casual manner but am probably fooling myself. I mean, how do you ride a dirt bike slow? The GG is just an awesome dirt bike and the 390A I want to take places I maybe should not be going. The mind says I should still be able to do everything like I used to, but the body does not always agree. I am enjoying riding the RT but miss the thrill of riding the dirt bike. Going to have to decide what to do there.
For now the wife and I both just need to stay healthy and find the time to get out and ride!
Next up: Ride Reports
I saw a post by @blupupher on his 2024 Grand Tour of Texas rides and thought it was a good idea. Sorry blupupher, not trying to horn in, just such a good idea I wanted to participate.
So back to the acronyms, most of you may have already figured them out but just in case, translation is AllByteNoBark's 2024 Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas and Team Strange Airheads 40th Anniversary Grand Tour. That makes for a fairly wordy post title so hence the acronyms.
The below is really long. If you want to skip it just jump down to the next post where photos and ride reports start.
I'll provide just a bit of background on why I have decided to sign up for these tours this year. I have ridden since I was somewhere around 10 years old. Started on a Sears Allstate Scooter, then and SL125, from there moved up to an XL250, etc. I have always ridden dirt bikes and at one point was a mediocre B class rider in motocross. After a year or two there moved on to 2 hour hare scrambles in AMA District 22 (Iowa) and once in that world never looked back.
While dirt was my thing I also usually owned at least one street bike. The street bikes were more transportaion to me, while dirt was where I went to have fun. When the kids were little and money was tight I took a few years off. Once my son got big enough to ride we got back into dirt bikes and riding hare scrambles and eventually ended up with a couple of VStroms we rode to Alaska and back in 2004.
Well the son went off to college and I switched over and road mainly street for a few years. As some here know I ended up with a Honda Africa Twin after moving to Texas, loved it, but ended up selling it do to having issues with vertigo. Then the fall of 2022 the son got back into dirt bikes and in 2023 rode in several TORCS events. The wife and I would go and watch and after the first event I mentioned how much I miss it. Her resonse was "buy a bike and get out there." Haha, not quite that easy, but who am I to argue. So I bought a Gas Gas EX 350 F in Feb of last year and started riding it 3 or 4 times a week. No vertigo when riding but still had some if I was shooting. Finally figured out that ear plugs seemed to be the major cause which I mentioned here before. Any way, this is already way long, so will try to quit rambling.
In July I was riding the GG and caught a rut wrong and got off in an unconventional manner. Caught the handlebars under the left bottom rib and bruised it pretty good. A couple of days later it still hurt a lot, so decided to go make sure I had not cracked a rib. The idea being that if I cracked a rib, probably should not be out riding the GG. If not it would hurt, but could still ride.
Well got to the doc and next thing I know I am being put on the helicopter for a ride to BAMC in SA. Doc was white as a sheet and said they had found an aortic dissection, whatever that was, and they had no choice but to get me to someplace that could deal with it. When I arrived at BAMC a full crew was there in scrubs and ready to do emergency surgery. I mean people EVERYWHERE. I was like "whoa, you guys are all nuts, I just bruised my ribs a bit" but no one would listen to me. Eventually they decided that the condition had been there for a while and asked me a lot of question about when it had happened as there was no way I couldn't know. Sent me over to Methodist as they could not treat me at BAMC due to it not being trauma and me not being military. They watched me for a few days and sent me home telling me I needed to come back in 6 months so they could monitor the issue. Dec came, went in, no changes, as good as it could be.
Meanwhile, every doc is telling me I need to quit riding. My response was pretty much the same to all of them. "I've been riding for over 57 years, it is part of who I am, not just what I do." I was fully planning on riding the TORCS series with my son this year in the 65+ but had to take a second look at that. I for sure am not getting any younger. Have noticed I bruise a lot easier than I used to. That part makes me a bit nervous as my interpretationn of it it says the blood vessels must be thinning some. Aorta, pretty sure that is probably one of those blood vessels...
So with all that said, I went and bought the RT and decided to put on some miles while I still can. When I brought the RT home the wife looked at it and said she might go along sometimes as it looked a lot more comfortable than my other bikes had. She used to ride with me but has not for quite a while. After a trip to Cycle Gear and a couple of online orders, we got her gear all updated and she will be going along on occasion. She has been out on once ride so far and really enjoyed it.
It helps to have an excuse to go places and saw the MGTOT post by blupupher so I signed up as it offers pretty good excuses to ride.
Then I saw the Team Strange post by @lddave and thought it was interesting. Mentioned it to my wife and she asked several questions. I told her how the 40th Anniversary portion of the tour worked and she decided she might want to try that as a passenger. So we signed up for the Team Strange Tour also. It doesn't start until April 1.
Not sure exactly what I am going to do about the GG and even the 390A as it is not getting much love now days. I would like to think that I could ride them in a casual manner but am probably fooling myself. I mean, how do you ride a dirt bike slow? The GG is just an awesome dirt bike and the 390A I want to take places I maybe should not be going. The mind says I should still be able to do everything like I used to, but the body does not always agree. I am enjoying riding the RT but miss the thrill of riding the dirt bike. Going to have to decide what to do there.
For now the wife and I both just need to stay healthy and find the time to get out and ride!
Next up: Ride Reports
So, probably will not get that stop. Got up early on the 30th and headed North. Next stop was the Explosion Museum in New London. Grabbed it and headed to Gladewater where I pulled in and got a shot of the oil derrick. Then got on the bike and proceeded to ride directly by the Gladewater Museum without stopping. Totally missed it when planning the route as they were so close to each other that the derrick marker on basecamp was hiding the museum marker. 
Got up the road and stopped and took a shot of the Welcome to Texas maker as I left the state. The Texarkana postoffice was fairly close but was going to hit there right about 8:00 in the morning and decided not to fight traffic and take the time.
