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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Strokers 3-26-11

Chuck and I head out to meet up with the others in Moore.  As we pull out, there is a fine mist falling, and the wind is howling, and it is cool.    I think it is like 51 degrees.  There is a cold front coming and is supposed to get colder as the day continues. We are meeting the Alvey's and John Sebrant in Moore at 10am, to head to Dallas and partake in the Spring Fling at Strokers.  The mist stops after we get out of the downtown area, thank goodness.  Have to say the ride down was a windy one.  Was never sure which direction it was blowing from, cause it was whipping around so much.  We cross over the Arbuckles, and it seems to be coming out of the west.  Could tell the temperature was changing too.  We stop in Ardmore to get fuel, and the sun is feeling a lot better here.   We are riding to American Eagle HD in Corinth.  As we start getting into more traffic, it is getting a lot warmer, and really would be nice to not have all this leather on.  I had to laugh as we pulled in at the dealership as there is a lady on the back of a bike and she has a halter top on....and we all have leather on from head to toe.  Didn't take us long to get some of the clothes off.  We do a bit of shopping here, and Jennifer finds a really nice sweater, and I get a cool shirt...(all on sale) and we are just really happy about that.  It is time to eat some lunch, and I suggest Whataburger.  There is one about 2 miles down the road.  Tummy's full, and it is time to see if we can check in to our rooms, and drop some luggage and head to Strokers.
We get to the hotel and as we pull in, John and Steve have a few choice words to say about the drivers in Texas.  Everyone seems to know where they are going, and by golly, they are going to get there.  LOL....  Checked in, and we all have nice rooms.  We are on the 2nd floor.

Strokers is booming, and I had spied a couple of guys getting ready to pull out, so I get off the bike and go over to save the spots for our bikes.  By now it is HOT....I checked the  temp. and it is like 81 degrees.  Man, we are sweating...Walk around and check out the vendors (which are the same vendors that are there every year) and Jennifer finds her a new hip wallet.  Really nice, and does what she wants it to do.  John buys some new sunglasses, and I have found a really cool Skull necklace.  Make our way to the showroom and walk through there, and Jennifer finds some neck gators for her and
Steve.  Right now, we don't need them, but anticipating tomorrow to be another story.  I get a picture of John with Marilyn Monroe, and Jennifer and I with Santa.  John finds him a shirt, and he is paying for it, and he comes and ask me to come and get a pic of him with Rick Fairless.  John was pretty excited about that.  Walking back to the bar area, we watch a little of the wet t-shirt contest, and decide it is time to find another Harley shop to check out.
Another shop is checked out and now it is time to eat.  We ride to The Wild Turkey, and sit outside and have some really good food.  As we are sitting there, the wind changes and starts blasting out of the north, and the temp. starts to drop a little.  There is a big ole limo driving by, and I told them, that our ride had arrived.  We even saw a hooker walk by.  Too darn funny.  Fed the rest of my fajita's to the resident cat that was hanging around.  Jennifer and I walk to the liquor store that is next to Wild Turkey, and get a margarita mix, and she gets some "Zombies".....Oh my...We head back to the rooms to rest and relax and have some refreshments.  The group joins us in our room.  We have a balcony and it is so nice to have the door open and fresh air coming in.  We sit and make a good dent in the margarita's, and Jennifer took care of the Zombies.  I think she was feeling no pain.  We all had a good time, and got a lot of laughs out of the day.  Not looking forward to the ride home as the high is supposed to be in the 30's.  We are going to ride by Cabella's in Fort Worth in the morning as we ride out.

3-27-11  We are all up and loaded and head out around 9am.  Heading to a Waffle House for breakfast.  Really good breakfast, and we all start bundling up as it is about 47 degrees, and we know that is the warmest temperature we are going to see for today.  It is damp, and feels a lot colder than it is.  Cabella's is a really cool place.  They have some really cool stuffed animals, and the aquarium is great too.  As we walk out, there is a mist in the air.  There is actually drop of rain on the bikes.  I think that everyone is glad they purchased the gators for their necks, as I think we are going to be very cold by the time we get to Oklahoma.  John made a comment that he has figured out the Texas drivers, if you want over, just signal and do it.  I think he has got the hang of this driving in Texas.  LOL  We pull into Ardmore, and we are all freezing.  The north wind is blowing pretty good, and the air is so humid.  We sit and warm up and thaw out, and I suggest we eat in Norman, at Ted's.  It was accepted by all.  Steve is going to lead on in to  Norman.  He pumps it up a bit, and we are North bound and down.  Really making some great time till we hit the road construction around Purcell.  We get split up from Steve but get thru the construction and meet back up with Steve and Jennifer on down the road.  Steve had pulled over to wait on us.  Never so glad to see Ted's as I think we are all frozen, except Chuck.  He has his heated jacket on and he is nice and toasty.  I check the temperature and it is 37 degrees.  It was great to sit and eat some good food and warm up.  I can say that the ride back was good, but have to say the temperature sucked....and I mean sucked.  Where was that 80 degree stuff we was in yesterday.
I can only speak for myself, but I had a great time, as usual, and I think everyone else did too.   I mentioned to everyone as we was getting ready to leave that if we hadn't had the weather to complain about, it would have just been an ordinary ride.  I guess that is why I like the rides, as you never know what is going to happen when we ride.  The mileage was  right at 500 miles by the time we pull in the garage.

Friday, March 25, 2011

FNDR 3-25-11

Wonderful day for a ride and we are going to Thunder Roadhouse to eat this evening. We meet 8 bikes at Harley World to ride to the restaurant. Regular crazy drivers as we make our way in the 6pm traffic on the busy highway. Got split up for a little bit, but we all made it to the restaurant safely. Walked in and Alan Darling and his son was there waiting. Had a really nice girl take care of us this evening. The food was good. Keven and Wendy show up a little later as Keven had a deposition today and didn't get home til later. So good to have a good turnout tonight. We missed Carolyn and Norma. Jennifer and I downloaded a new app for our phones. It is a ghost detector. Too funny, and there was ghost there. Planning on using this app when we go back to Eureka Springs. Turned in a bit early for us tonight but had to get back and get stuff ready as we are heading to Dallas tomorrow, to go to Strokers for their Spring Fling. John, Jennifer and Steve are going with us. Great evening with some great friends. Planning next week to eat at McNeely's.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

3-19-11 Saturday ride

Today we are riding to Burkburnett, Tx. To eat at the "Feedlot". Plans are to meet John Sebrant, The Webster's, The Alvey's and we are riding by the Scoggin Plantation to pick them up on our way out of town. We are meeting at the midway point on the HE Bailey turnpike, just east of Chickasha. Linda text me a little before we leave and says they will not be going. Jud is a bit under the weather. Hate they aren't going, as they were the ones that suggested the place to eat. The weather is good this morning. We have chance of showers of on 30%, so hope we stay easy from them.
On the road and as we ar going down the turnpike, the Alvey's ride up next to us. I had told Chuck earlier that it would be funny if we met up with them. We get to the midway around 10:30 and John is there waiting for us. Our cb's are not getting out very well, so we all a set our squelch and hope this fixes the issue. We shall see. We are off and heading for lunch. We actually pull in to the "feedlot" at 12 straight up. They put us in our own little room. We are used to this. :). Had a great waitress. She had a good sense of humor. The food was really good. Would be a great place to come back to.
Frock & Elizabeth were with us today!!! 
Our tummys are full and we are going to get some gas and head to Red River HD. The sun has come out and it is getting really nice.
Shopping is done and we are off again. Chuck ask if they want to go the quick route or the slower one. All say the slower route. Chuck pulls off on this one road that he thought was the one we always take. Wrong.....we ride north till we see the sign that the pavement ends...we do a u turn, and I get on the gps on the phone and find we havent gone far enough west to run into our road.
We are on 183 heading north, and we are seeing our sunshine has gone away. It is kinda cold. I know Carolyn didn't have on her coat, and chuck didn't either, so I ask Carolyn if she would like to stop and get her coat on. She says yes. We are all set, and off we go again. The wind is pushing us north, but when we have to cut back east, man it is bad. We go east on 19 and made a pit stop and filled up with gas in Apache. Plans are to go to Chickasha for a dairy queen treat. We no more pull out from Apache till Mark says we have lost John. We turn around and thank goodness, he was fine, it was the bike that was having problems. His bike had gone into "limp mode". No power. The great minds discussed it and decided he needed to unplug his ECM, so it could reset. He did that, and it was running again. We go a little further and it does it again. Well, after about 4 times, it wasnt going ten feet and pooping out. We are in the city limits of Chickasha now. John tells us to go on to the dairy queen, and he will let it cool off....We get there and as we are going in John rolls by. Plans are to follow his route home, and if he breaks down and can't get it going, we will get the trailer and haul it home. We have a wonderful DQ break, and head on in. No signs of John, and I text him as we are going down 119h street, and he says he is home safely. We are all releaved to hear this. As if we haven't eaten enough we go to Ginghis Grill for dinner. First time for Alvey's and Scoggin's. We have had a very full day, and all are pretty tired.

Mark leads us back to Yukon, and we get home a little after 10 pm. Great day was had by all, even John says so.....mileage 350.

Friday, March 18, 2011

FNDR 3-18-11

Tonight we all met at Baluu's.  Mai was not there as she had made a trip to Viet Nam to have some dental work done.  Bill and the other lady did a good job getting out all the food.  We had 15 friends show up to eat.  Carolyn brought Janice and Dee.  Was nice to see Alan   Darling there tonight too.  He said he appreciated the invites.  We were planning on riding to Pawnee to eat at Click's on Saturday, but we are having a bit of a cool down, and the decision was made to go south.  Linda Webster suggested eating at the "Feed Lot" in Burkburnett, Tx.  We are going to meet whoever wants to go tomorrow at 10:30 at the Midway point right before you get to Chickasha on the HE Bailey Turnpike.  Plans are to eat lunch and go on to Red River Harley Davidson.  Hope the weather cooperates.  More to come tomorrow.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Benchwarmes in Weatherford 3-13-11

We have plans to meet the Alvey's and Tom McRae at Harley World at 10am.  We have to do a bit of shopping before we leave on our little ride to Weatherford.  Tom is going to lead us down there to eat at Benchwarmers.  We take out and ride 152 west all the way to 54 and straight in to Weatherford.  As we leave, the sun is shining, and it is going to be a nice warm day, or so we thought.  All was pretty good until we rolled through Binger.  I guess the cold front they had said would be coming in, made it.  By the time we reach 54 I am pretty cold, and the wind is really bad.  Noticed that Steve didn't have on any gloves, and also noticed that Jennifer was scrunching down in her seat quite a bit.  By the time we reach Benchwarmers, I think we all needed our benches warmed.  Couldn't believe that a beautiful day could turn on us so quickly.  I know we get a lot of looks from people when we walk in with all the leather on and sit there talking about how cold it is, but I am sure they are all tucked in their cars, with the windows up and the heat on.  Have to say, Benchwarmers was a nice place, and hope to bring our FNDR group here on a Friday night.  Would be a nice ride.  Trying to decide what to do next wasn't too hard, as Steve suggested we go eat pie at Cherokee Truck Stop.  That got all our attention, and we head on to the next stop.
We get all our "warm" clothes on and head out.  Tom is still our lead, and we make a quick stop to fuel, and we are off to get pie.  On I-40 we pass about 7 bikes that are from
Texas.  As we get off at Cherokee Truck stop, we all commented that it seems it has gotten warmer.  Well, to say the least, the pies were great.  My coconut cream was actually still warm.  We sit and do what we do best, talk.  I wanted to check and see if the glass factory outlet was still in the area, so we ride over there, and it is closed.  We all get bundled up and ready to head on in.  Tom says he is going on home, and the Alvey's are going to follow us to the house.  Jennifer had made the comment that she figured Mark was off work, so I text Carolyn as we was rolling down the road.  She said they would get on the bike and come to the house, as soon as she could find Mark.
Yukon was a lot warmer than Weatherford.  As we are waiting on Mark and Carolyn, Jennifer and Steve try on our leather legs.  I think they really liked them.  Ended up wearing them to dinner, and said they was going to order some.  We love ours.
Well, since all we have done today is eat....why not do it again.  We all decide that Earl's in Moore would be a good place to go....Steve leads us there, and we make a quick stop by their house.  Dinner was great, and of course the laughs were even better.  We can talk and get some of the biggest laughs out of some of the craziest things.  I guess that is what is so much fun about a group like this.  We all enjoy each other.  Great day of some warm and cold riding with some wonderful friends.  Looking forward to the next adventure.
Mileage around 220...

Saturday, March 12, 2011

FNDR 3-12-11

Wasn't sure if we was going to be able to make it to Norman to eat at Sandro's Pizza, as the whole south and east parts of Oklahoma City area is covered in smoke.  The wild fires are out of control...I took a picture as we headed south on Western towards Norman.  The sky was thick with smoke.  Harrah, Newalla, and Goldsby areas really got hit bad.  They had highway 9 closed from I-35 to HE Bailey, so we weren't able to take our usual route.  Actually made it there at 6:30....We had 13 people...Was so nice to see Allen Doll there, and he had brought his son.  Food was great as usual, and Sandro's is awesome.  He can get more food out and it is always so good.  We finish, and decide we need to find some margarita's.  We ride to Hawaiian Don's...when Jennifer and I walk in, the guy at the door tells us it is $5 a head, and that we have to take off our bandana's.  We backed out, and left. I told the guys a sales rep friend of mine works at a bar on Meridian.  I couldn't remember the name of it, but knew it was somewhere around 15th and Meridian.  She we was on a quest to find it.  Didn't take long...Brewsky's is the place.  We go in, and actually find a table to fit the 6 of us.  The Scoggin, Alvey and us make up the 6.  Got some good laughs out of watching people.  Deborah was working, so she made us some margaritas, and have to say, they were good.  We was out in the parking lot getting ready to leave, and Jennifer says, she thinks we have just as much fun if not more at Taco Cabana, and it is a lot cheaper.  Guess we are just Taco Cabana struck.  LOL...Getting up tomorrow and meeting the Alvey's at HDWold at 10am, and riding to Weatherford to eat at a little place that Chuck and Tom ate at last week.  Great night with friends...  Can't get much better than this.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Trips that are planned for this year

We have already gotten our year of big rides planned....I know there will be a lot of overnight rides, and evening rides, but for the long distant rides, we go ahead and schedule our motels early.  You have to plan for a lot of the rides, as the rooms are snatched up early and the price goes up the closer you get to the event.  We will be going to Red River this year over the Memorial weekend.  Plans are to stay in Santa Fe.  We did this last year, and it was really nice.  Going to try a new place I found online, so I am sure there will be a story there.  So far the Alvey's and Webster's and the Scoggin's are planning on going with us.  Should be a lot of fun.  Hope the weather is cooperative.

Our summer trip is going to be to Niagara Falls.  Chuck and I have been wanting to do this trip for a few years.  We have the new bike this year, and what better way to put some miles on her.  The Scoggin's are planning on making the trip with us.  We will be going over to Canada and spending a little time over there.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be going on that trip.  Should be lots of fun.  Can you imagine the stories that we will come home with.

We are also planning to go to Galveston in November to the Lone Star Biker Bash.  We have been every year for the past 5 or 6 yrs. and looking forward to riding to Galveston and enjoying the rally.  We will not be staying on the island this year, as they have already raised their prices so high, it isn't even worth the trouble to stay there.  We will be about 30 miles away, but should be fun.

That is just a few of the rides we have on the docket for this year.  I will try to keep blogging about our trips, in hopes that they are fun reading.

New to blogging

I am sure everyone starts like this, but I really have no clue how to use a blog.  I just thought I could write about some of our bike trips that we take.  I have always written down our trips and what happened, even if it was non exciting.  I always finish them off with the mileage of the trip.  I hope that I get into blogging about our experiences, and it is actually something that friends will enjoy reading.  For as little as I know in this field, here I go.  Wish me luck . :)