We sent out an invitation to all the bikes that are going to ride with us to Lonestar Bash in November, to see if anyone would like to ride to Canadian Texas for lunch. We got 3 other bikes interested. The Biggs, and both of the Nance boys, and Patty are going to ride with us today. We meet at the Braums on Main Street in Yukon at 8:30. Beautiful day, and a bit cool, so we all have on our chaps and leather this morning. We take I-40 to Clinton, and then we get off the main highways, and start traveling down the back roads. We gas in Clinton, as the gas becomes a little more scarce as you get closer to Canadian. Don't think you can ask for a better day. We are all gassed up and have shed a few of the layers of clothing, and onward we go. The ride to Canadian was really nice. Not very many cars along the way. The roads were nice. It was just a very enjoyable ride. We pull into Canadian right about noon. We make another gas stop there, and time to find the restaurant. We turn down the main street, and I am noticing that there aren't very many cars on the street. Maybe we beat the locals for lunch today. We no more get parked and start taking off our gear, and a couple comes out of nowhere, and captures Chris. Imagine that.....LOL....Poor Chris....he is always explaining the Spyder....(I think he enjoys it, really I do) Patty and I go ahead and head towards the restaurant. I am thinking there was a silent noon whistle that sounded, cause people are coming out of the woodwork, and there are cars coming from all directions. It is NOON in Canadian Texas, and by golly, it is time to eat!!! We get to the door, and find out that you place your order as you walk in. So there goes our idea to get a table to beat all the locals. Diana calls Chris to tell him that he needs to get up here, cause we have to order as you walk in. So I guess he got rid of his buyers, and made it up to the front with us. (I swear Chris is a salesman for those Canams...or at least he should be)
The Cattle Exchange is really a cool place. After you place your order, they give you a leather key fob with a number stamped on it, and that is your number for you food. I thought they were there for checking into a hotel or something, but it was for the restaurant. What a cool idea. We all get different foods, and I think everyone gave it a thumbs up. The food was really good. I actually had chicken enchiladas and they were awesome. I think I would like to come back to this place again. Wonderfully different. We finish our food, and we girls have to do some "retail therapy" with a couple of stores downtown. "The Store" was one that we went into....and all I can say is "expensive but wonderful" stuff in there. They had a sofa that I would love to take home, and it was a mere $7500....sure was pretty but really!!!! There was a resale shop across the street, so we walk over there. The little lady that was in this place was as old or older than most of the stuff in there. I did find a couple of cute small milk bottles, and Diana scored a "sunshine" bottle. Wow, we are really big spenders. Time to get back on the bike, and we head back toward Oklahoma. Randy is following us Hwy. 283 and he broke away from us, as he was going to go do some hunting with his boys. Now we are 3. Notice some high clouds forming, but the weather is still really nice. We get to Watonga and pull off for gas, and this dude on a Harley has been behind us for quite awhile. As we pull in, he stops, and gets off his bike and walks over to the Biggs, and says he just had to see one of those bikes. I tell you, Chris and Diana are really good spokespersons for Canam...I think they should do a commercial for them. LOL. We are ready to head on in, and Chuck ask if everyone wants to come to the house to watch the OU game. Sounds like we have a plan. I notice that the clouds are really forming and getting darker. Looking like rain. We have a slight chance tonight, but not sure where all these clouds have come from. Chuck and I break from the others at Kingfisher, and head on in, and they went on straight out 33. We make a quick stop at the Walmart in Kingfisher so I can pick up a few things for tonight. The skies are really getting darker. I took a picture as we turned on Hwy. 4 towards the house. We get home safe and sound, and it wasn't more than 15 minutes later that we started getting some light rain at the house. Both Chuck and I's weather alarms are going wild. We are under a thunderstorm watch. Everyone shows up and it is really raining, and lightening like crazy. We logged almost 400 miles today, and I can just say for myself, but I really enjoyed the ride. Was fun to travel some roads less traveled. Good food, good friends, what more can you ask for. :)
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Weekend 10-14-11
Friday started very early, as Cooper & Cash are having surgery this morning. Cooper is having to get her tonsils taken out, and Cash is getting tubes in his ears. Chuck & I are over at the Surgery Center about 6:20 to see the kids before they go into surgery. I am happy to say, all went well. Let the healing begin.
Our dinner ride for this evening is to Half Time Grill on Hwy 62. Chuck and I ride the back roads via Newcastle. As we get to the last light before we try to figure out how to get to this place, we see Steve & Jennifer turning in front of us, so we just follow them. We end up having to go through the parking lot of the Casino to get on the service road. We make it there, and didn't realize that Tom and Seda, and Allen and Brandon are already there. They have a big table ready for us. As we look at the menu, we notice it is all blacked out. Not sure what that is all about, but looks like they don't have any food. We get some beer, and she informs us that they only have one more bud light lime. What the heck is going on. Basically if you want a hamburger, that will happen, anything else is questionable. LOL....I think our waitress was a "Snookie" look alike. Felt bad for the girl, cause every time we would order something, she would have to say they didn't have it. Come to find out, they are closing and tomorrow is their last day here. Seems La Luna has bought them, and is going to put a Mexican food place here. Now that makes us feel better about this evening. Was really beginning to worry about the place. Can't believe we are here for their final Friday evening. Food we got was really tasty, and the beers we got were good, just don't ask for anything special..LOL..
10-15-11
Chuck and I are going to see how Cooper is today, and we make a stop in Cowtown to take his kidney belt he purchased in Las Vegas to a leather expert. Hoping they can take a little bit out of it so it will fit a little bit better. We find a shoe shop and pull in. The guy says he thinks he can fix it for him. Has a lot of boots there. I spy a pair that is really cool. I try them on, and as I am putting the left one on, it is really hard to get on. He assures me if I can get past this one spot the boot will fit great. He was right and it really felt great, until I started thinking about not getting my foot out. I had a case of claustrophobia hit. I had to walk outside and cool off, and try to shake it off. Chuck is just looking at me like I am crazy. LOL. The guy gets the boot off, and says he can stretch the boot in that area to make them fit if I am interested in buying them. Chuck thinks I need them, so guess who got a new pair of boots....ME!!!!! I just went ahead and wore them. Matched my stuff I had on, and heck might as well get them broken in. Chuck's belt will be ready next week. Sure hope he is able to fix it for him.
We ride on to Norman and see Miss Cooper. Cash stayed the night with Christy, as they thought Cooper would be a hand full, but I think she has really been good for them. Taking her meds are a little hard, but as long as they explain to Cooper what they are doing, she understands and follows their instructions. We sit outside and blow some bubbles, and she is getting tired, so we go back in the house, and decide to go ahead and leave so she can get a nap. We ride to Van's Pig Stand for lunch. Food was good, and have to say the weather is perfect today. Was a bit cool this morning, but has warmed up nicely and is heading for the mid 80's. We are back home by 2:30 and sit and watch football games. OSU plays early and OU plays at 8:15, so that concludes our activities for this day. :)
10-16-11
I text a few people to see if anyone wanted to ride today, and Steve & Jennifer said they would love to. Steve throws out a couple of ideas, and we are meeting them at Baluu's
We head back towards home, and get to Guthrie and stop at the Love's on 33 and I-40. We gas and Jennifer and I go in to get something to drink. Guess there has been some action that we missed, cause a helicopter has landed on the other side of the highway, and they have closed off the east bound traffic on Hwy 33. No one seems to know what is going on, but as we get back on the highway to head home, we see a News 4 truck going Northbound. A truck looses some of her trash on the highway, and we nearly miss the piece of cardboard. The lady pulls over and as she does, she is rolling down her window and lips, "I'm sorry". At least she realized she was loosing the trash. Other than that, we had a really nice ride, and a very enjoyable day. It really ended up being quite warm, and was just about perfect. Weather is changing next week, so never know what we will have in store for riding. Glad we got to take advantage of it today. Mileage 245.
PS Found out there had been a plane crash at 3:30, and I am surprised we didn't see it as we had just been down the road it happened on. Glad we were ahead of it.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Las Vegas Baby 10-1-11
Although this isn't a Bike oriented trip, we are going to check out a bike rally, so I feel it is blog worthy. We are heading to Las Vegas with The Biggs this morning. We have a 7am flight, and that means we are up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the airport and go thru the TSA screening so we can board the airplane. Diana and Chris are at the house at 4:30am to head on our trip. We actually get there and go through the screening without a lick. We have wonderful seats and we are in the first ones on the plane. Lots of leg room. Flight was great, and we have an easy transfer in Denver. We sit around and eat breakfast, and waste some time as we have a pretty long layover here. We make it the rest of the way and are in Vegas before we know it. So funny, cause we are at the back of the plane this time. There is a couple sitting in front of us with 4 children. The kids are really good, and did quite well on the flight. We find the bus that will be taking us to the Luxor, and can I say, it was a wild ride. Oh yes it was. We get in line, a very long line to check in, but it really went pretty quickly. We are given our room numbers, and we compare with the Biggs, and we are on different elevators. Didn't make sense to us, and we spend the next 15 to 20 minutes walking around trying to find them. Getting very frustrated by now, we walk back to the front desk, and the nicest lady apologized and said they were doing some thing to the hotel, and she could see why we couldn't find them. She changes our rooms to the 19th floor. We get in and freshen up and head to the lobby. We are hungry, so decide to go ahead and eat in the Luxor. We got to the T&T Mexican restaurant, and have some mexican food. Food was really good, and pretty pricey. Imagine that.
We get a cab at the hotel, and he takes us to the center that the rally is at. Glad I googled it, cause he had no idea where it was at. The ride was quite interesting, as he was a pretty wild driver. The cabs have no shocks, and the transmission sounded like it was going to explode at any minute. Chuck was in the front seat and he and the cab guy talked quite a bit, as Chris was in the middle of Diana and I...Chris sandwich...lol...We get to the rally about $29 later. We get into the rally for $15 a piece. Hot in Vegas, and some of the vendors are outside, so we look at the outside ones first. Nice to get inside and cool down. There are quite a few vendors, and we find a few things to purchase. We find the taxi stand, and get another $29 ride back to the Luxor. This guy was a lot better driver, even though he needed new shock also..LOL.
We got tickets earlier for a couple of shows and tonight we are seeing Chris Angel Believe at 9:30pm. It is in the Luxor which will be nice, as this day has been pretty long, and we are still running on Oklahoma time. Dinner downstairs at the buffet, and it was really good. Nice to sit and chill for a little bit. We make it to the show, and get in line. Looks like a really large crowd. Our seats were really good. The show was great, and I for one really enjoyed it. I don't even think I looked at what time we left the theatre, but I know we were pretty close to home, and it is time to get some sleep...been a really long day, and the cowboy boots I have worn all day are ready to come off. My feet are really tired, and this is just day 1/2.....More to come tomorrow.
We get a cab at the hotel, and he takes us to the center that the rally is at. Glad I googled it, cause he had no idea where it was at. The ride was quite interesting, as he was a pretty wild driver. The cabs have no shocks, and the transmission sounded like it was going to explode at any minute. Chuck was in the front seat and he and the cab guy talked quite a bit, as Chris was in the middle of Diana and I...Chris sandwich...lol...We get to the rally about $29 later. We get into the rally for $15 a piece. Hot in Vegas, and some of the vendors are outside, so we look at the outside ones first. Nice to get inside and cool down. There are quite a few vendors, and we find a few things to purchase. We find the taxi stand, and get another $29 ride back to the Luxor. This guy was a lot better driver, even though he needed new shock also..LOL.
We got tickets earlier for a couple of shows and tonight we are seeing Chris Angel Believe at 9:30pm. It is in the Luxor which will be nice, as this day has been pretty long, and we are still running on Oklahoma time. Dinner downstairs at the buffet, and it was really good. Nice to sit and chill for a little bit. We make it to the show, and get in line. Looks like a really large crowd. Our seats were really good. The show was great, and I for one really enjoyed it. I don't even think I looked at what time we left the theatre, but I know we were pretty close to home, and it is time to get some sleep...been a really long day, and the cowboy boots I have worn all day are ready to come off. My feet are really tired, and this is just day 1/2.....More to come tomorrow.
Vegas 10-2-11
Chuck was up early, and already downstairs and got coffee and fruit before I even get out of bed. I am up and dressed when he comes back, and I text Diana that we are going downstairs so I can find some food. I got crepes at the place downstairs, and they were wonderful. Starting to get worried as haven't heard from Diana and I have text her several times. I run upstairs and when I get to the 19th floor, I go totally blank, and text Chuck to find out if we are on the 19th or the 17th floor....duh!!! Diana calls and the first thing out of my mouth is....are we on the 19th floor???? She assures me we are, and she has just gotten up. Guess they were totally worn out. They meet us downstair a little later, and we are off to explore this town. We have tickets for Zumanity tonight at New York, New York, at 7:30pm, so we have the whole day to explore this town. We walk and shop and walk some more. Caesar's Palace is so pretty, and the shopping was good too. The shops are ok, but we find a place that has some Iphone and phone gadgets, and we all have to have some.
We eat some hot dogs at a outside place called Pink's Hot Dogs...
They were pretty tasty, or we were really hungry, not sure. Don't go much past the Eiffel Tower, and head to the other side of the street to check out the Bellagio. The decorations for fall were wonderful. Totally enjoy that place. Really is wonderful. They decorate it so great for each season. The tree is an apple tree for the fall.
We make our way back down the strip, and make it as far as Diablo's and decide we need something to drink. And drink we did. The bartender tells us that we can get a pitcher of margaritas and they are cheaper that way. Well, of couse we can, and we did. A few pitchers later, Chuck has made friends with a couple of guys that belly up to the bar with us. We even got a couple of shots with the guys, and by now, I am seeing double. Feeling no pain, we leave the bar and head back to the hotel to drop off all our purchases. Our show is at 7:30 so we decide to head over and get in line and will eat dinner after the show. Zoology was good. Enjoyed the whole thing. Great seats, and now we know you don't ever want to get the close up seats, or you will be a part of the shows. Make a note of that!!! Show is over and as we are walking back to the hotel, we stop and eat at Dicks. They have a live band, and they are very very loud, but good....Think it is time to retire cause it has been a very fun filled packed day again. More exploring tomorrow...time to rest. :)
Vegas 11-3-11
We are up and on our way down the strip pretty early today. We saw a place yesterday that had a $3.99 breakfast and a 99cent bloody mary, so thought we needed to try it out. We are there way too early. Failed to check out when it opens and we are about 30 minutes early. This 2 hour time change is murder on your stomach. We decide to just sit and watch all the people that are jogging by, and also the homeless people that are so prevalent in Vegas. We see our share of both. One person walks by, and I think at least 3 of us are in agreement that it was a woman....Diana thinks it was a guy with man boobs. Whatever it was, it was really bad. These people need a good bath. Really sad. 8:00am and the restaurant is open, and we get our cheap but very tasty breakfast under our belt. Chuck ordered the bloody mary and I tasted it, and it was good. We head back to MGM to find the monorail, as we are going to ride it to the other end of the strip. After what seems like miles through the MGM, we find it. It cost $12 per person for a 24 hour pass, so that is what we did. Off to the monorail, and we ride it to the end of the line which is the Sahara Casino. Sahara's closed this summer, and is vacant, and I guess they are going to bulldoze it down and make a new casino in its place. We walk around it, and is totally amazing to me that they are going to destroy it. Progress!!! We decide to go ahead and walk back towards our hotel. We walk and walk and walk some more. Chuck calculated we walked 8.3 miles. Poor Diana's feet....found out later she has blisters on the bottom and also holes in her new socks. Now that is some walking. My feet were tired, but not that bad. We are in Caesar's Palace area and we stop to eat at Cheesecake Factory, and as we are walking out, we see a shoe store with all these tennis shoes. Chuck goes in and finds a pair of shoes, and buys them. Puts them on, and he has "happy feet" now.
I don't remember ever going to the Venetian, and have to say, it is beautiful. No one seems to speak English around here. Guess we are really not in the USA...LOL.
Everywhere we go, there are people...seems like all the casino's are very busy. We continue to walk, and make it to the Palazzio and get to check out the beautiful shopping area, and ride the spiral escalator. Very interesting place. There are actually no shops in most of these places, I could afford, or even want to afford. I can't believe all the high end lines of stores. Feet are really getting worn out, but we are going to go ahead a walk the complete strip. We make it back to MGM and feel we are almost home. Decide we need to get out moneys worth of the monorail, so we head back to it, and ride it down to the Sahara and back again. Was nice to sit for awhile. Got to see the back side of the strip. Was good timing on our part, cause the rain has decided to come to Vegas. By the time we have made it back to the MGM, it has stopped, so we head towards the Luxor. We get to the tram that will take us back to the Luxor, and we are seated and ready to go, when an announcement comes over the speaker that we aren't going anywhere, as there is lightening in the area.
We get off the tram, and watch a very large rain storm trap a lot of people trying to run for cover. Once again we have experienced rain...guess Chuck really can bring on the rain. Not sure why this doesn't work in Oklahoma. We wait for awhile and do some people watching, and finally it lets up enough so we head back to the Luxor....on foot!!! We make it back to the room, and after a few of us change shoes, we go down to the buffet to eat dinner. I am totally worn out. Chris wants to see another show that is at the Luxor, and Chuck and I bow out and retire to the room, where I went straight to bed. We have to be down in the lobby at 7am to get a ride back to the airport for our return trip. Had a great time in Vegas, and time to chill for awhile.
I don't remember ever going to the Venetian, and have to say, it is beautiful. No one seems to speak English around here. Guess we are really not in the USA...LOL.
Everywhere we go, there are people...seems like all the casino's are very busy. We continue to walk, and make it to the Palazzio and get to check out the beautiful shopping area, and ride the spiral escalator. Very interesting place. There are actually no shops in most of these places, I could afford, or even want to afford. I can't believe all the high end lines of stores. Feet are really getting worn out, but we are going to go ahead a walk the complete strip. We make it back to MGM and feel we are almost home. Decide we need to get out moneys worth of the monorail, so we head back to it, and ride it down to the Sahara and back again. Was nice to sit for awhile. Got to see the back side of the strip. Was good timing on our part, cause the rain has decided to come to Vegas. By the time we have made it back to the MGM, it has stopped, so we head towards the Luxor. We get to the tram that will take us back to the Luxor, and we are seated and ready to go, when an announcement comes over the speaker that we aren't going anywhere, as there is lightening in the area.
We get off the tram, and watch a very large rain storm trap a lot of people trying to run for cover. Once again we have experienced rain...guess Chuck really can bring on the rain. Not sure why this doesn't work in Oklahoma. We wait for awhile and do some people watching, and finally it lets up enough so we head back to the Luxor....on foot!!! We make it back to the room, and after a few of us change shoes, we go down to the buffet to eat dinner. I am totally worn out. Chris wants to see another show that is at the Luxor, and Chuck and I bow out and retire to the room, where I went straight to bed. We have to be down in the lobby at 7am to get a ride back to the airport for our return trip. Had a great time in Vegas, and time to chill for awhile.
Vegas 11-4-11
Our transportation was with Bell Tran, and we get down to the area to be picked up, and we are off and running pretty quickly. The nicest man is driving the bus. He is joking around, and we go to a couple other casinos and pick up more couples. The driver says he is an ex-cop. Interesting and very nice. Ride to the airport seemed very short this time. Not that many stops, and the traffic is a lot less today. There has been a cold front move in overnight and the high is only going to be in the 70's. Lady at the front desk was complaining about the humidity...cracked me up. We head towards our gate, and the TSA screening area. Lots of people in line, and moves pretty quickly. Chuck and I are in the line with the full body scan...and I guess the studs on my jeans make the thing go off. The lady puts on her gloves, and tells me she is going to check my behind with the back of her hands. She also swabs my hands with something. I guess I am OK, cause they let me go. Chuck, Diana and Chris breeze through without any problem. Leave it to me to be the one that gets picked on. LOL. Breakfast in the airport....it was OK....time to spare, so Diana and I go and check out the airport slots. We both put $5 in the nickle slot...it is paying off pretty well. Diana hits several and is up over $20, and I get there too. We play for quite a while, and decide if we get down to $15 we will cash out, as it is getting closer to time to leave. We both cash out. That was fun, and we are WINNERS!!! The trip back we are in the middle of the plane. We have been in all the areas now. Great, short flight to Denver, and we have to change planes, and it is right next to the place we get off, so no sweat there. We are still in the middle of the plane. Trip on into Oklahoma was pretty smooth. We are down, and back home a little after 3:40pm. By the time we get to the car and get out of the parking garage we are talking about eating, since we missed lunch. We go to the Logan's Steakhouse in Yukon and eat some food. What a great trip we have had. Been a whirlwind in lots of ways, and just really a fun time. Glad to be home, and guess we all will hit the work button for tomorrow. Great adventure with some great people. Thanks Diana and Chris for going with us. Blast as usual.
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