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Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Hub, Dogpatch AK. 8-19-21-11

We are going to the 1st Annual Reverend Troll's Rock & Roll Revival, and have rooms at The Hub Biker Resort.  This should be interesting.  :)  Chris is taking the trailer, and we have put our lawn chairs in it so we can have something to sit on at the Revival.
 Diana and Chris are the only ones that will be going on this little ride with us.  Diana gets off work at 3 so she is at the house around 3:15 and we are ready to get this show on the road.  Hot is not even the word for the temperature today.  We have our cool vest on and we think we are going to get on the road.  Chris is going to lead the first stretch of the ride.  We get to Wilshire and Chukar and Chris says his bikes check engine light is on.  We turn around and go back to the house, to get under the some shade trees.  He looks up the code that it is showing, and it was saying the air temp. is too HOT...Imagine that...we know that...Spydi didn't have to tell us that.  Decide to go ahead and take off and see if we get some air moving around the bike and hope the light goes off.  Didn't know if I mentioned it was hot, but yes, it was hot.  We make it to Tulsa and Chuck says there is a neat Mexican food restaurant to eat at, and you didn't have to twist Diana or my arms for that.  I think all we really wanted was a lot of cold water.  We did get some really good food there, but the water and tea seemed to tasted even better.  Would be a fun place to come with the group sometime.  I feel a Saturday ride coming!!
Looks like we are going to get on the road again, and we have diverted a trip to the dealership for Spydi, cause the light has not come back on.  This is good.  But not sure if I have said this, but it is HOT.  It is about 7:30 now, and it is starting to cool down a bit.  Really is a nice ride.  We get through Silhoam Springs and I am texting Jennifer telling her we are missing them.  She tells me that Steve says to stop and put $20 in the slot machine in Silhoam Springs.  Told her we had already passed it.  Then I text her back and informed her that we had turned around.  I put Steven's 20 in and he didn't win a thing.  I thought I would go ahead and put 20 in, cause you know just how lucky I am.  Low and behold, I won $500.  WOW, how bout that.  (and if you believe that story, I have lots more to come.  ;)
We are enjoying the cooler ride, and we make a stop for gas, and since it is going to be close to 11 by the time we make it to the Hub, Diana calls them.  They tell her that the keys will be in the doors and gives us our room numbers.  That is pretty cool.  We are making our way down 412 and Chis says something over the intercom, and we didn't get what he said, but I see his hazard lights on, and he is dropping back really fast.  There were 3 cars behind him, and as we finally find a place to pull over, the cars pass us.  I can see his flashers in the distance, and he is inching his way towards us.  This is not the road a person wants to have problems on.  He gets up to us, and says Spydi went into "limp mode".  This is not good, not good at all.  It threw a code, and Diana is on her phone looking it up.  It is something to do with the steering.  A car pulls up by us, as they had turned around to see if they could help.  Very nice couple, and they said they had a trailer if they needed to haul the bike somewhere.  Chris starts the bike back up, and seems like all is good again.  RPM's are all fine now.  Not sure what has just happened, but looks like we will continue on our way.  We didn't have any more problems, and got the the Hub a little after 11pm.  Place was still hopping, and the owners were still up and moving around.  He directs us to the rooms, and we pull up right to them.  So glad we made it.  We get unpacked and sit out in front of our rooms and chill.  I had bought some Stinky Gringo Margarita mix, and we had a few.  Oh my, Stinky Gringo makes your eyes cross.  Time to get some rest.  We have a busy day tomorrow.
We are "first" in line for the ferry 









8-21-11  We are up and ready to eat at the restaurant next to the Hub.  They have an all you can eat breakfast.  It was really good.  The place is decorated with t-shirts from the people and groups that have visited.  Diana spies one from Dogpatch.  There is some information in the lobby about Dogpatch USA.  We do a little googling, and find out that it has been closed for quite a while now.  Still no bells and whistles going off about Dogpatch, but there will be some later. We are heading to Peel's Ferry and we go ahead and ride thru Harrison, and find the rally, so we detour and go ahead and sign up for it.  Cost $20 ea. and we are going to see if we can do one of the guided tours.  We get up to the entrance, and sit for a minute.  They are signing up for the poker run.  We aren't doing the poker run...just let us in the gate.  Stupid Arkansawyers.....LOL....We get in the gated area, and we are basically the only bikes in the parking lot.  Should be our first clue, but you know we are a bit slow sometimes ourselves.  There is one lady selling jewelry, and the CMA booth is manned by a couple of guys, that soon become Chris and Chucks best friends. They asked where we were from and when we said Oklahoma, they called us "flat-landers".  I had never heard that before, but it made me laugh.  Guess we are "flat-landers, cause when you look around here, there is no flat places to drive.  Curves and mountains everywhere.   Diana & I walk back up to the place we entered...talked to Dumb and Dumber and found out, there will be no guided tours, as no one showed up.  OK, well, we are batting a thousand right now.  So back to plan B...the original one.  We are going to ride to Peel's Ferry and ride the ferry over to Missouri.  We have some cloud cover and the ride is really nice.  The scenery was great....roads were good too.  We get to the ferry and park and wait...The sun is out and it is getting warm again.  Didn't take too long for it to show up.  We are first to load, and we have a couple of vehicles and then there are another 4 bikes made it in time to board with us.  Not a very long ride, but it was pretty cool.  One of the people on the ferry ask the guy how deep the lake was right now, and he says at its deepest area it was 125 feet deep.  Says it is up...wish we had some of that water back home.
We exit the ferry, and you have to choose left or right.  We went right.  Everyone else went left.  Wonder what that means.  We had a beautiful road to ride.  Lots of curves, and just a really nice ride.  About 10 miles into the road, Chuck pulls over and ask The Biggs, do you think we should turn around and go back the way the others went.  We decide to be adventurous and keep on going.  We get to a populated area, and find gas, so we stop and fill up.  There are several bikes around the gas station.  Chuck is looking on Lupi for a restaurant, as it is after 1:30 now and it is time to eat.  He pulls up 2 restaurants.  One is the Wagon Wheel, and one is Fat Daddy's.  Diana and I think Fat Daddy's sounds good, so we head for it. I run into the gas station to get some water, and ask the lady that is checking me out if she liked Fat Daddy's...She says she has never eaten there, but she has heard it was good.  I am not at all shocked at her response, cause in all our rides, I am totally amazed that people live in an area, and have no idea about it.   As we ride, we go by the Wagon Wheel...think we made a better choice for the second one.  We get to Fat Daddy's, and it is really a cute place.  I was thinking probably be a burger joint, but it was BBQ.  Diana orders the catfish and we all get some BBQ.  Had a very witty young waitress, and she and Chuck were in rare form.  She was really cute and fun.  The food was really good, so just didn't have anything to complain about.  Tummy's full, it is time to head back to the Hub, and get to the revival. We get back to the Hub, and sit and talk about going to get some ice cream...we saw a Dairy Queen towards town....but we just sat some more.  Had a couple of bikes come in and park down by us.  They had rooms a couple doors down.  They have pulled their bikes up under the cover just in case it rains.  Rain...what is that?  Then we hear the biggest clap of thunder.  Looks like rain is moving in.  We move the bikes under cover and decide to walk back to the Hub restaurant and see what they have.  They are known for their steaks.  We go in, and decide to go ahead and eat before we go to the rally.  The steaks were really good, and we even got our ice cream we had talked about for the last few hours.  The restaurant was starting to get busy with other bikers, and even some locals were coming out.

 Nice to see they have a good dinner crowd.  We walk outside and it is starting to look like it is going to pour.  We see Debbie and Randall (the owners of the Hub) and start talking to Debbie.  She tells us about the church that is across from them, and they kinda look out for the ladies dog.  She lets the dog run, and he is so cute.  He was so happy to be free.  She is telling us about the area, and that it was Dogpatch USA...We are standing in Dogpatch.  There is a beautiful top of a building we can see, and I ask her about it, and she says that Dogpatch built it to be a Ski Chalet, and that it was kinda their demise. She also tells us that the motel, was the Dogpatch Inn.  They also own the ice skating rink that is right below the chalet.  She said they would love to have a bike shop there.  There are so many things that could be done with the area, of course it would take a boat load of money to do it.  Wonder how the heck they make a living with the motel.  They have owned it for 6 yrs. now.  Debbie said the Chalet was for sale, and the last she had heard they want $200K for it.   Wow, had no idea.  Reading on the Internet, it says that they changed the name at the post office to Marble Falls, but on our GPS it says Dogpatch.  We decide to walk over to the chalet and check it out.  Oh my...what a neat place.  She says the owners were living in the lower level for awhile, but now it is empty.  I should have taken a picture, but totally forgot to.  The dog went with us, so he was barking and keeping all the wild animals away for us. We make our way back to the Hub and sit outside the restaurant and Randall says, rains are coming if you can no longer see the mountains and pointed in a direction.  Well, within a few minutes, you could no longer see them.  We got so much rain.  There were about a dozen bikes that came riding in during one of the down pours.  They were all very wet.  The lightening was beautiful.  We sat there for a good hour I bet, just watching the rain.  They have a new kitten there, and his name is Ranger, and he came up and was being a clown.  I was playing with him, and he got me with his claws.  Oh, I forgot what it feels like to get a claw in the finger...the little guy wouldn't let go.  I think I will have cat scratch fever.  LOL


Before the rain..good food, great company 
We keep thinking the rain is going to let up....but it keeps on coming.  It will let up for a little bit, and then pour like crazy.  We haven't had rain like this in a long time, and it really was nice and peaceful to just sit and watch it.  People were running around, trying to stay dry...trying to get to the restaurant, and we just sat there and watched them.  Guess we aren't going to make it back to the rally.  I am sure by now, they have cancelled the bands.  Oh well, would rather be sitting here, than be on the bike somewhere trying to stay dry.  Looks like it is going to continue raining, so we decide to try to get back to our rooms.  We take off, and man, it is wet.  We are totally soaked by the time we make it to the rooms.  We get out Stinky Gringo and our cherry and berry vodka out and find the popcorn and just chill for awhile and watch TV.  It is getting close to 10 and I stick my head out the door, cause it still sounds like it is pouring outside.  Well, little did we know, there is an old riding lawnmower on the end by our room, and the water from the downspout is directed right on the top of it.  There is no rain coming down anymore.  It is the rain coming off the motels other floors.  LOL...was kinda funny, cause we thought we were going to need boats to get out of this place if it continued raining like that.  Well, it is time to get some rest, cause we are heading back home in the morning.  Too bad we basically blew our money for the rally, but this was really nice.  It was just nice to hang out at the Hub.  Still not believing we are actually at Dogpatch USA.  We are going to leave at 8 in the morning and grab breakfast somewhere along the way.
8-21-11
We wake up to sunny skies.  I didn't even see very many puddles around.  The larger than life rain that we saw last night was gone.  Packed up and on the road a little before 8 and the temperature was perfect.  We have the sun to our side and eventually to our backs and it was just perfect.  Got to see the highway in the daylight that we had driven in on Friday night.  Was a really nice ride.  We eat at the Cracker Barrel that we have eaten at before. It is in Springdale.   It was really good.....the food was great!!!  Warming up a bit as we leave from breakfast.  By the time we get to Tulsa, it is really warming up.  I water down our hydrating vest and we chill for a little bit at the Wendy's by the gas station.  I am really dreading the ride on into OKC.  Have to say, to my surprise, we actually had some cloud cover.  Was not that bad.  I was having bandana issues and I thought I had them fixed, but my headache came back.  I think I had it folded too many times and the pressure points were really driving me crazy.  I would take the helmet off, but I thought it would be a great idea to buy a very very large drink, and hold it.  That was all fine until you want to do something other than just sit there.  We stop at the 7-11 on Northwest Expressway, and I am so glad to get that helmet off.  I throw away the drink and hold the helmet the rest of the way.  Very humid here, but the cloud cover sure did help.  We got home about 2:30.  Was a really nice trip and wished we could have ridden the area a little more.  We logged 864 wonderful miles.  (and found dogpatch)


FNDR 8-12 and ride 8-13

We rode to Althea's Vault in Washington, OK. for the Friday Night Dinner ride...Have to say, it was really good.  The food was really good...no crowd..LOL...we were about it.  When I called to reserve, the girl said there would be no problem getting a space, and she wasn't lying...  Ended up bringing brownies home, as it was a toss up between them or the cinnamon rolls.  The burgers really looked great.  Will have to go back and try some of the other food they offer.
Got up on Saturday, and since the weather didn't permit us to ride on Friday, we decided to ride to Marlow today and eat Italian food at Giuseppe's.  Met up with Tom, and Steve and Jennifer in Tuttle and off we go.  The weather was a little warm, but when you were moving it was just perfect.  We make it to Marlow about 1pm, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table.  The food was good, but think we all voted that there is some better Italian food in OKC.  After we eat, we ride to Rush Springs.  Their watermelon festival was going on.  Got to Main street, and the traffic was at a stand still.  We sat for about 5 minutes, and no one was moving, so we pulled out of line and proceeded to find a way out of this mayhem.  Come to find out, the train tracks had trains on both tracks, moving at a snails pace.  Think it was a good idea to forgo the festival.  We ride on to Chickasha and stop and decide that Tom needs an oil change.  We head back to the city to get a filter at World.  We get there and they are having free ice cream and lemonade, so of course we have to have some.  Filter in hand, and we are off to Chukadi acre to work on Tom's bike.  The Alvey's go to their house and get their new little puppies, and come out to the house.  Their dogs met our dogs and all was good.  We sat outside and talked and had a really nice evening.  So nice to finally get to ride without it being so darn hot.  I did get a sunburn, and oh, by the way, we rode Pearl.  Ginger is in the shop with her "clutch issue".  Sure hope they get the new cable in this week, as we are leaving for Arkansas on Friday.  Enjoyed the day.  Mileage about 250. :)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Oklahoma Heat Dome 2011

I haven't blogged because there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about.   The weather has been unbearably HOT...We haven't been out of the 100's in quite some time.  The evenings are so darn hot, you just get out to try and water some plants and grass.  Not sure if anything is going to live thru this year.
We have had our usual FNDR's and with it being so hot, it just isn't any fun to ride to eat.  We tried the new mexican food place in Bethany this Friday.  It was good, and I think most everyone enjoyed it.  The week before we went to Mustang and ate at Luigiano's Italian Rest.  It was good as well.  Funny thing is about Luigiano's, we have driven by it for years, and just never tried it.  It will be a place that I wouldn't mind going back to.
Today is Aug. 7th, and we got up and rode to breakfast.  Actually have had some rain showers, and the temperature is more bearable.  We pulled out from the house, and actually had to turn around and make a little change of road we were going to travel, because it was raining ahead of us.  Yes, it was raining.  We were headed to Cherokee Trading Post, and it was absolutely a wonderful ride.  The cloud cover and mist was great.  As we get off at the exit for Cherokee, I ask Chuck if he wanted to go on to Weatherford and see if Lucille's was open.  He liked that idea, and we got back on I-40.  Pulling off at Lucille's exit, there were no cars around the restaurant.  Went ahead and filled up with gas, and drove on into the main area of Weatherford.  We find a place to eat named Jerry's....there was a bike parked out in front.  Must be good.  As Chuck says, "you can't screw up breakfast to easily".  It was good, and the clouds were giving away to some sun.  We get out to leave, and the biker dude that was inside had to come out and share of few stories.  He was throwing around peoples names like we were supposed to know who the heck he was talking about.  Cracked us up.  OK, talk time is over.  We start back towards the city.  Got back in the cloud cover and had a few drop of rain hit us.  We pull off in El Reno to do a little shopping at Tractor Supply.  As we are in there shopping, I get a text from Diana, and she was wanting to go eat lunch a little later.  Told her we could do that about 1 if they want to wait.  She says they will be over around then.
Diana & Chris come by about 1, and we decide to go to Swadley's off Memorial and Penn.  As we pull up to eat, there is a man making a bee line towards Chris.  We knew exactly what he was up to.  Had to check out Spydie.  Sure enough, we walk into the restaurant and leave poor Chris out there talking to the guy.  LOL.....Spydie sure gets a lot of attention.  I still think I need to make an information pamphlet for it.  We finish eating and decide to make a stop at Westlake Ace.  Diana actually finds some soy based lubricant, so we have to each have a bottle.  Hope it is like the stuff that Chris used to take the tar off their bike.  As we walk out the mist is getting heavier.  I think we might actually get a little wet.  We decide to ride on to Kingfisher and check out the Atwoods there.  I didn't even know they had one.  The rain wasn't bad, and it really was probably more a mist.
We run out of it by the time we get to the 3-4 junction.  Very nice riding weather.  Just felt great to get out of the house and actually get to ride.
Nice store, and they have some really cool boots...and guess what, Chuck bought me a pair.  I am ready to style now.  Decided they wouldn't fit in the bike, so I had to go ahead and put them on and wear them.  :)  We end up getting home about 7:30 after we stopped for a while at the Bigg's house.  Was a really nice day, and so glad after all this hot weather we actually got to get out and ride a little.   We ended up riding about 250 miles today.