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Sunday, November 13, 2011

The weekend that Stan planned Day 3




We meet at Randy & Toni's place at 10am.  The wind is still doing its thing, but at least we have sunshine.  It is really a nice day, and would have been so nice to have had the sun like this yesterday.  Oh well....we will enjoy today.  I ride with Diana in her car and we follow the group to Checotah and gas up.  Diana and I enjoy talking and have a nice (non windy) ride.  We stop in Wellston for gas and Shari says there is a good BBQ place on 66 between Luther & Arcadia.  We stop at The Boundary on 66 and have  some really good food.  Was a nice little place to say our goodbyes to a great group and end our weekend. 
Chuck and I enjoyed riding as we didn't have to make a decision this weekend, other than what to wear and what to eat.  Love it when that happens.  :)  Met some really nice people that I hope we get to ride with even more in the future.  Great times!!!  Thanks to all who participated, and thanks for all the great planning.
Stan & Patty 
Randy & Toni

Moles rule! Mileage according to Ginger 629.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

The weekend that Stan planned Day 2

Meeting for breakfast at 8am at Duchess Creek Marina Cafe.  Was told ahead of time that if we get there should go ahead and order, as the cook takes awhile on orders.  Chris, Chuck and I are the first to show, so we go on in and order.  I walked in and they have a Westie that is the dog of residence.  He was so darn cute, reminded me so much of my sweet Minnie.  Sure do miss that little dog.  :(  Everyone else shows up and we get breakfast under our belts.
 We are ready to tackle the ride of the day.  The wind is really blowing, and they say we will have winds of 35 mph, and gusting.  Cloud cover helps to make it pretty cold this morning.  Stan says our first stop will be Robbers Cave.
 We have a really nice ride there, and enjoy some beautiful colors of fall.  As we drive into the park, the trees line the road and it is really beautiful.  After we make our pit stop and take the photo op, we saddle back up and head towards Talihina to get some gas.  The OSU games kick off is at 11am today, and we are running in and out of signal, but have to say that Patty and Shari keep us informed about the touch downs, by waving their arms when they make one.  There was quite a bit of waving going on, as OSU was stomping the opponents.  Fueled and ready to start over the mountain, we deal with the winds that just won't give up.  We make a stop for the picture op.  Have to get a pic of the moles on the mountain.  Decide to not stop at Queen Wilhelmina as the weather just really isn't cooperating with us.  We stop in Mena for lunch.
We pull into the Branding Iron to eat, I think we all gave it a thumbs up!!
 Heading back towards the lake, we ride the lower road to keep out of the darn wind.  It was a really nice ride, everyone enjoyed the break from the wind gust.  I have been in contact with Diana and she is going to meet up with us for dinner later.  We make a pit stop in Red Oak and meet Kristi's mom and dad.  Starting to cool down again, and we was riding along this one road, and this deer thought he was going to come our way, but did a u-turn and ran back towards the trees.  A raccoon crossed the road in front of us also.  That was really the only critters we saw.  Thank goodness.  As we pull up to Chris & Diana's place, it is getting dark.  Stan & Patty suggest Pemberton's to eat.  It is only about 15 minutes away, and Patty calls ahead and reserves us seats.  We meet Diana there, and sit down for a good meal.  Glad we got there when we did, as they had people waiting for tables after we got there.  The food was really good, and think everyone enjoyed it.  Sounds so funny, but I think we really do ride to eat.  Seems like our rides are always involving food.  It is really nice to get to try different places.  Part of the fun. 

Shari seems to be relieved as she has gotten to pick her "Mole" name.  She was so scared she wouldn't be ask to be a mole.  She and Kristi have been working on their mole waves.  Think they have them down.  Names were picked over dinner, and again we did what we do so well, laugh.  Stan & Patty said they would start a fire in their fire pit, and for all of us to come over and partake.  We all sit around the fire, and BS....seems we do that pretty darn good too.  The wind is still blowing and the fire feels pretty good, but it is so one sided...LOL.  Time to hit the hay, as this day has been a long, but very fun one.  Good night Eufaula.  We had a wonderful day  :)

Friday, November 11, 2011

The weekend that Stan planned :) 11-11-11

It's Friday at 2pm, and we are meeting Stan, Patty, Chris and another couple at the gas station at Northwest Expressway and County Line Rd. to head towards Eufaula and meet up with Randy & Toni.  There is another couple that will be coming down later in the evening, so we will meet up with them at the lake.    We meet Roger and Kristi Frost, and we all saddle up and get ready to head east towards the lake.  We make one stop along the way to get fuel.  Looks like Roger & Kristi just got their new bike, and this is their first big trips.  I am so excited for them.  I hope they enjoy it as much as we do.
We get to Randy's place a little after 5pm.  Toni has made a pot of chili for all of us...and have to say it has been a pretty cool ride, and something hot to eat sounds wonderful.  We sit and chat for awhile and and then we eat.  Toni's chili was great.  I loved it.  Was so good.  We just finish eating and the couple that was coming in later showed up.  We meet Shari & Brent.  Glad they made it safely.  Always worry about deer while traveling in the evening.  Now we are complete.  We sit and talk and laugh a whole lot.  The "Mole" stories started flowing, and it sure makes for some good conversation.  The jokes and stories that can be thought of it is just amazing.  I think it is fun, cause it gets everyone involved.  The newbies probably wonder what the heck they have stepped into.  LOL...Time to head towards the Biggs house, to get some rest.  For tomorrow we ride.  The wind is supposed to be really bad tomorrow, so we have to be rested and ready for it.  Sure wish Diana could have made it tonight, but she is staying home as she has a new grand baby that was born this morning.  Congrats to the Biggs and their newest grand baby. Diana will catch up with us later tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

11-7-11 Quakenado in Oklahoma

OK, we have had a lot of earthquake activity here in Oklahoma, and it is seems they are getting stronger.  Saturday night we had a 5.6 and the epicenter was in Prague, OK.  We weren't home as we were in Texas.  Did quite a bit of damage, and people are a bit gun shy to say the least.  Been having aftershocks, and had missed them too, until last night.  Sitting in the living room watching TV, as we had storms coming, and tornado's were out west, and the rain and thunder and lightening was going wild.  All of a sudden the dogs jump up and start barking....the house rattles, and the floors are moving.  Chuck looked at me and said "earthquake".  I can't believe we had another one, and that we actually felt it.  The news comes on and says it was a 4.7 this time.  I actually thought a truck was pulling into the driveway.  Funny thing is you can hear it come and go.  What a strange event....
By the way god was very good to us last night.  We got some much needed rain, and we are all thankful for that.  Showed on the news that Edmond got 6.1".  Highways were under water, and as I drove out this morning, noticed that you couldn't go down 11th street towards Yukon.  I had to write about this, cause I know I will forget when and where this all happened one of these days, and wanted to document it for my own personal records.  Like I said...Quakenado in Oklahoma....who would have thunk it!!!  :)

Lone Star Rally 11-3-11

Plans are to pull out from Yukon at 3pm and head towards Galveston to partake in the Lone Star Biker Bash with some good friends.  We will have 7 bikes after Diana & Chris join up with us a little later tonight.  We have Jud, Linda, Stan, Patty & Randy as we head out today.  We will meet up with Tom at I-35 and 89th street about 30 minutes later.  After we pick him up we will meet up with Allen in Purcell.

What a good looking group!!!!
We are right about even with a cold front that is coming through, and they are saying the winds are going to be very high, so even though it is cold, we are going to try to beat all the wind.  I would like to say that the wind gets better the farther south we go, but it didn't.  It was worse.  Was a very strong northwest wind, and it was not going to let up at all.  It was all the guys could do just to keep the bikes between the lines.  Stan, Chris and Chuck are pulling trailers so we girl will have plenty of room to pick up any goodies along the way.  ;)  We make the usual stops for gas, and warm up and figure out what other clothes we might need along this route.  Plans are to eat Mexican food at Mercado's in Ft. Worth.  We get into the Ft. Worth area and we have a little mist and of course a lot of traffic.  Was glad to see the restaurant so we could sit for a while and warm up a bit.  Food was great as usual.

Moles sharing some food 
"Theme" room...you be the judge!  
 I have been in contact with Diana via texting, and they are getting close to meeting up with us.  They show up about 7:30 and we had just finished eating, so we get ready to finish this days ride in Hewitt Texas.  We get to the hotel at 10:10pm....wind was still howling and I thought the palm trees in front of the hotel were going to blow over.  Checked in and we meet down at the pool to discuss the day and wind down a bit.  Diana tells us that she lost one of her gloves (new ones at that) didn't make it to the hotel.  She says she lost it somewhere along the way.  The guy at the hotel tells us that he didn't have any of his "Dallas Cowboy theme rooms" available.  Hmmm, not sure what Diana is standing by, but looks like they got them a "theme" room  ROFL

Day 2 Lone Star Biker Bash 2011

Rested and ready to get on the road to Galveston....but we have to make a stop at one of our favorite Harley Shops.  Horny Toad HD.  Windy today but at least we have sunshine.  Getting there a little after 9am, we do some selective shopping.  Find some treasures that we have to take with us.  New shirts and some of us girls even got a hot pink t-shirt...Diana opted for the purple.  Imagine that!!  On the road again, and have to say the temp is pretty darn good.  Going through Sugerland was a bit tricky, as there were so many stop lights, and we would get split up quite a bit.  We concord it though....nothing we moles can't handle.  Make it to Alvin around 3pm.  We will call this home for a couple of nights.  They have us all over the hotel...Diana and Chris get the first floor, and Nance's and Webster's are on 2nd, and Tom, Allen and Chuck and I are on the 3rd floor.  We have all the floors covered.  After getting settled in, we head towards Galveston.  We are about 30 miles away.

 Going through the town of Hitchcock, I spy a liquor store and it is on our side of the road, so we make a stop.  Wasn't much of a liquor store, but we all found stuff to drink.  I think we might have made the little guys day....he walks out and waves as we leave.   Weather is just about perfect now, and as we get on the island it warms up very nicely.  We are going down the main street into Galveston and Jud ask if anyone had lost anything off their bike.  Thought it looked like a highway peg.  We checked and we were fine.  Find out later that Randy is missing one of his passenger pegs...oops!!!  Decide to go and get our parking pass so we don't have to mess with that tomorrow.  New rules this year.  You now have to pay $10 per day for parking.  This is at all their designated parking areas.  We decide to just wait till tomorrow and come back early and make a day of it.

Jud and Linda had been told to try The Spot to eat.  It is on the seawall side.  We find it, and even get a good parking spot.  The food was just pretty darn good.  Starting to cool down, and there are a few vendors next to the restaurant, so we walk over there and check them out.  Time to head back to the rooms, so we bundle up and make the trek back to Alvin.  Great day, and I know tomorrow is going to be even better.  Time to rest, for tomorrow we shop!!!

Day 3 Lone Star Biker Bash 2011

The Seawall
Breakfast at the hotel, and then we pack up to head to Galveston.  Beautiful morning, and looks like it is going to have a perfect day.  First we ride to the seawall, so we can get pictures by the water.  Never miss a good photo op you know.  Find out that Patty has lost a glove and a hat on our way to the seawall.  We offer to go back and look, but she says it is fine.  So far we have lost 2 gloves, 1 hat, and 1 highway peg.  Hmmm.....OK, that is done, lets get parked and go where the festivities are.  We park in a parking lot, and they bunch us all together.
 Even gave Chris an escape route if needed.  The escape route comes in handy a little later on in the day.  If we get separated we are going to meet in front of Willy G's at 3pm.  Tom & Allen tell us they will meet us there and they head off.   First thing Diana and Linda get feathers put in their hair.  Randy get some patches sewn on his vest, and we have just gotten through the first 15 booths.  Chuck suggest we get over to the big vendors and that way if we need something installed, we will be able to do it fairly early.  Good suggestion Chuck, as we have to find the Kuriyakyn booth, and Randy is able to find a replacement highway peg.  Patty & Stan are checking out some goodies, and Chris is looking for something for Spydie.  Linda get her Throttle Boss for her bike.  Think this booth was a hit!!!   Chuck drops his helmet by the J&M booth so they can replace his broken speaker.  We are all shopping at our own pace, but we still stay a pretty close group.
Jud buys himself a blower for his bikes.  It will make the cleaning and drying process a little easier.  I think he should offer to clean and dry all our bikes.  :)
Diana & Chris find a new seat for Spydie at the Corbin Seat booth.  We look at a new one, and decide to buy one too.  Chris & Chuck go to get the bikes out of the parking spot.  This is where the exit strategy comes in to view, but Chuck has to get Stan to move his bike.  Chris moved the barricade and was able to get the Spyder out without a problem.  The guys at Corbin install the seats and get them wired up.  The backrest has to be sent to us, as they don't have one that we like in stock.

What a group

By the time all of this is done, it is getting close to 3 and time to meet up with Tom & Allen.  Tom text me and he has had some new grips put on and his bike is over at the Avon booth.  Tom, Chuck & Chris move their bikes back to the parking lot.  The rest of us walk back to the Strand.   It has really gotten  busy.  People everywhere.  We find a place to sit and watch the bikes go by, and meet up with the guys.   Interesting groups here and it is just fun to watch all the weird people.  Time to eat again, and we head over to Willy G's.  There is a 45 minute wait, and we sit outside and have to say that was a very quick 45 minutes.  We were seated in less than 15 minutes.  Really enjoyed the group dinner.  Was a nice relaxing dinner, and we all were ready to sit down and rest our feet.  We finish and head back to the Strand to watch the parade of bikes for the evening.    Patty & Diana said they sat and watched some people grope a poor stuffed bear, and a drunk guy trying to take a picture with his iPhone.  Said they thought where they were sitting was even more interesting than ours.
The Strand
Jud, what are u doing?  





The police were really trying to enforce the noise and burnouts.  They were all over people if you racked your pipes.  Cutest thing we saw was a little boy about 6 yrs. old, I guess, riding a little motorcycle.  He was a show stopper.  Poor Jud has been sick from the first day we started this trip, and we make a potty break at a Wendy's on the way back to the hotel, As we sit there and talk Diana says he needs some NyQuil.  My memory card for the camera is acting up, so I think we have a reason to stop at the Walmart by the hotel on the way in.  Diana & I are totally happy about that decision.  LOL  What a perfect day, topped off with a visit to a Walmart in Alvin Texas.  Not sure if it can get any better.  We get back to our rooms around 11pm.   What a day.  Jud & Linda turned 105,000 miles on their bike (First Love).  Congrats to them!!!



Jud, Linda & First Love


Day 4 Lone Star Biker Bash 2011

We are leaving Alvin Tx. today, and riding to The Hill Country.  Plans are to eat in Lockhart.  Lockhart is the Barbecue Capital of Texas.  Beautiful day, and perfect riding weather.  Mother nature is really being nice to us.  We get to Lockhart around 12:30 and Tom suggest we eat at Black's this time.  We had tried Smitty's the last time we were here.  Pretty good line of people at Black's, and we make it longer.  Looks like it is Mr. Black's Birthday and we are going to get to eat some of his Birthday cake.  Mmmmm, my favorite.  We all get our share of barbecue, and it was really good.  Can we take a nap now???  Nope, we have miles to make, so we are on the bikes and ready to head onward.  We pull out, and turn the corner and get down the road a little bit, and see that we are missing some of our riders.  I look at my phone and Diana had text me that Allen had dropped his bike.  Said he was fine....but the bike was flooded.  We turn around and head back.  By the time we get back, the bike starts, and Allen assures us he is fine.  Said he just watched the bike slowly go down.  So glad it wasn't anything bad.  OK, now we will get on down the road.  We lose Jud & Linda at San Marcos as they are going to spend some time with their son.  Hate to see them leave, but maybe we will meet up tomorrow on the way home.  Traffic was pretty bad as we get to San Antonio.  Chris & Diana get caught several cars back from us, and we try to tell them on the radio where to cut off the highway.  They don't make the cut, and I am trying to get hold of Diana to tell her where we are.  Finally we are able to text each other and before you know it, Spydie has made it back with the group.  I really don't know what we would do without our iPhones.  :)  Back together we make it to Bandara.  Chuck wants to take everyone to the Oldest Bar in Texas.  We park and attempt to go into the bar.  They have live music today, and there is a $10 cover charge.  Not that we are cheap or anythign, but really!!!!  It's just a bar....a very OLD bar, with lots of dust....LOL.  Group decision was to not do that, so we go to the little soda shop that is above the bar.  Sitting down and drinking a coke and eating some ice cream was a good alternate idea.  Sure do wish they could have seen the place, but we will just have to make a return trip and do that next year.  We get back on the bikes and head on north.  The ride was really nice, and the consensus was that this is just a pretty cool place to ride.  They didn't even get to ride the "Twisted Sister".

 Again, I guess we will just have to make that a plan for next year.  It is getting late in the day, and is time to find a place to stay the night.  There are too many deer in this part of the country to ride at night, especially in the fall.  The sunset was great, and I got a few pics of it.


 Looks like Johnson City is where we are going to stop tonight.  We get rooms, and decide to order pizza for dinner and watch the OSU football game.  I ask the lady at the front desk if there was a Pizza place that would deliver, and she says there is a Pizza place but she didn't think they would deliver.  Hmmmm.....well, we will work on that.  I call and order the pizza and the girl says there is no problem with her delivering to the motel.  This is great.  We have all the booze that was left over from the other nights, so we sit and wait on pizza and have a few drinks.  Beautiful evening, and the rooms are the type you drive up to, so Diana and I sit outside and wait for the pizza to be delivered.  Finally shows up and it is time to eat.  It was really pretty good.  Totally enjoying the group...just way to much fun.  Patty informs us that she has lost her brand new orange bandanna.  Poor girl...she is going to have to get a whole new wardrobe by the time she gets home.  :)  Time to crash as we have the end of daylight savings time, and we want to get on the road early, so we are home before it gets dark.  Good night world.  Oh, but wait....our fire alarm goes off at 2am.  I try to pull the battery and I am not able to.  I call down to the front desk and the girl says to disable it.  Wellllll,  I do....I end up pulling it out and undoing the hard wire, and it is still howling like crazy.  Finally figure out how to get the battery out.  OK...that is done, can I go back to sleep.  Thanks u....  :/  Good night again world.

Day 5 Lone Star Biker Bash 2011

Homeward bound today, and we wake up to wet bikes.  As we are eating breakfast it starts to really rain.  By the time we finish, it had quit, and Chuck says we aren't going to get wet, so no rain suits for now.  Not cold this morning...just wet roads.  We do run into a few spots of heavy mist, but nothing that bad.  We have had a time change over the night, and we are up and on the road pretty early.  We get to Stephensville around 10:15 and pull into Hard 8 and the sign says they are closed.  The guy comes out and changes the sign, but we have already loaded back up and headed to get gas as they open at 10:30.  Been in contact with Jud & Linda and they are about 30 minutes behind us.  This little delay will put them even closer.  :)


The lunch break should put them back with us very shortly.  Just like a fine tuned book, they show up in record time.  Tummies are full, and we have some miles to make, so we are on the road again.  All of a sudden, Stan radios that his bike isn't running good.  We pull over and evaluate the situation.
Not sure what is wrong, but he is going to try to limp along and try to get closer to home.  Patty has called her parents and they are coming our way with a trailer.  Randy is now pulling Stan's trailer.

 Average speed is around 60 miles per hour, unless we are pulling a hill, and we drop down quite a bit.  Jud is last bike, so he radios if we have cars wanting to pass, so we can pull to the shoulder and let them by.  Since we got the new seat, my butt has been hurting, and all this excitement takes my mind off my woes, and makes the ride a lot more exciting.  Our next stop is Wichita Falls, and Stan says the bike is running "great" now.  Guess it healed its self.  We are meeting Patty's parents at the midway on the turnpike, and guess we really don't need them now.  We pull off and they are no where to be seen.  Patty calls them, and they thought there was another stop, and they are about 10 miles south of us now.  Stan says he is going to go ahead and try to finish the ride, so we take off.  Stan is leading this train now, and we all have come to the conclusion he just wanted to lead, and this was his way of getting there.  Randy is still pulling his trailer...can you believe he would do this.  Man, if he wanted to lead the group, he should have just said so.





 LOL  Jud & Linda pull off at Chickasha, and we stop at the midway after Chickasha to get our final gas and say our goodbyes.  Allen is going to make a u turn and go back towards Chickasha, so he can go home to Dibble.  We are now down to 5 bikes, and Stan is "still" leading....Randy does get rid of the trailer, as Stan latches on to it, to take her on into the barn.  What a great trip, and I have to say we have some really great riders, and seemed to me that everyone had a good time.  If they didn't, I sure didn't hear about it.  Guess they can comment on this blog if they want to add their two bits.  Diana says Spydie turned 12,000 miles on the trip.  Congrats to them....think we have been with them on most of those 12,000 miles.  :)  I say this every time we finish a ride, but I really thank the lord we have such a wonderful group of people to ride with.  We are so lucky to have this time in our lives to spend time doing something we all seem to love.  Riding the motorcycle all over this great USA is a once in a lifetime event, and so glad we can do it.  Would love to hear from everyone on what "their" favorite part of this trip was.  I usually ask everyone, but I failed to this time.  Oopppssss, guess I am slipping.  Thanks again to all that participated.  Mileage 1529 according to Ginger.