Busy weekend coming up. I'm going to Ft Smith AR with the road captains on the Fall Leaf ride pre-ride. We are leaving Friday noon and will return Sunday. It should be pretty aggressive riding with these guys and not a lot of delays at gas stops. Weather is forecast to be pretty good with chance of rain Sunday but hopefully we will be ahead of that. Should be another 1000 mile weekend, give or take.
Darlene is having their LOH LOH all girls weekend, tagging on the Saturday lunch ride. They have a large group of the ladies and should have a great time at an East Texas "resort". Darlene has planned this one out and should be quite successful, the only thing out of her control is the timing of the lunch ride and the impact it will have on her agenda.
We are getting the pool plastered tomrrow and then filling with water if all goes per schedule. All things going well, we can probably be swimming late next week.
The AEHOG calendar year is drawing near, for the November chapter meeting its time to submit Lone Star Challenge (we have all 10 points, yah!) and the Long Flyer. I have just over 15K miles so have met my goal, although given the rides we did I'm surprised I didn't have more. Additionally I should turn 25K by the end of the year and get my HOG mileage.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Meers Burgers
Well this weekend we logged a relatively quick 556 miles. Saturday, quite early we met in Decatur at 8:00 am. We got there a bit early, in fact we were the 2nd and 3rd bikes there and the first bike was a new guy, so we were a bit concerned we had the right meeting place! We are never early.
Anyway we ended up with 21 bikes in 2 pods. I was tailing the second pod so had great view of all the bikes in front of me. The roads were nice, Meers is in a pretty nice and hilly part of OK, in the Wichata mountains. As we rounded the corner and crested a hill, there's a traffic jam in front of the restaurant. We arrived about 1:00 pm and had about a 45 minute wait before we got seated. Nothing around for miles but the restaurant is a destination. Supposedly the 8th best hamburgers in the US. They were very good. Meers is an old mining town and the restaurant has been around since 1901. http://www.meersstore.com/main.html
Several of the folks headed back home after lunch and a smaller group of us continued on Scenic 115 on to Quartz Mountain Resort in Lone Wolf. It was only about 80 miles and relatively uneventful ride. Our room was on the ground floor facing the lake with a patio door. When we opened the door there was a small snake and a small scorpion welcoming us!
Darlene came down with a bad cough so when we got up in the morning we took off early to get home. The drive out of the resort was great, through the grounds and along the lake. We saw 4 deer by the road and a bit further a flock of turkeys.
We got home just after noon.
Anyway we ended up with 21 bikes in 2 pods. I was tailing the second pod so had great view of all the bikes in front of me. The roads were nice, Meers is in a pretty nice and hilly part of OK, in the Wichata mountains. As we rounded the corner and crested a hill, there's a traffic jam in front of the restaurant. We arrived about 1:00 pm and had about a 45 minute wait before we got seated. Nothing around for miles but the restaurant is a destination. Supposedly the 8th best hamburgers in the US. They were very good. Meers is an old mining town and the restaurant has been around since 1901. http://www.meersstore.com/main.html
Several of the folks headed back home after lunch and a smaller group of us continued on Scenic 115 on to Quartz Mountain Resort in Lone Wolf. It was only about 80 miles and relatively uneventful ride. Our room was on the ground floor facing the lake with a patio door. When we opened the door there was a small snake and a small scorpion welcoming us!
Darlene came down with a bad cough so when we got up in the morning we took off early to get home. The drive out of the resort was great, through the grounds and along the lake. We saw 4 deer by the road and a bit further a flock of turkeys.
We got home just after noon.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Uncle?
I got a note from Annette yesterday that they had a new addition to the family. I guess that makes me an uncle again?
Well maybe not but its quite the addition. Dave bought a new Harley, looks like the Nightster. Congrats Dave, I know you will enjoy it. By the way, is it low enough Annette can ride it?
Well maybe not but its quite the addition. Dave bought a new Harley, looks like the Nightster. Congrats Dave, I know you will enjoy it. By the way, is it low enough Annette can ride it?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Rat in da kitchen
Well not really but in the AC unit. We were outside working on the fence when the upstairs unit came on and wham, wham, wham. the thing started making a racket. I was thinking oh no, I hate repairs!!!! I popped the breaker and went over to see what was going on. I was met with a horrific smell and obvious visual cues that a small animal had met its demise. Of course we can't just leave the poor thing there lest it really begin to stink, so I did the honorable thing and tore apart the unit to retrieve (what was left of) the carcass. It was actually a rat, and a fairly large one at that...
Gates done, final inspection can be done, keep fingers crossed.... After that plaster, and firing up the equipment.
Ride this weekend to Meers OK for lunch then on to Lone
Wolf to stay at the Quartz Mountain resort. Should be a nice area and if we get there early enough maybe some cool sights to see.
The gaming computer is coming along, a few hiccups along the way but its the first computer we (mostly Ryan) have built.
Gates done, final inspection can be done, keep fingers crossed.... After that plaster, and firing up the equipment.
Ride this weekend to Meers OK for lunch then on to Lone
Wolf to stay at the Quartz Mountain resort. Should be a nice area and if we get there early enough maybe some cool sights to see.
The gaming computer is coming along, a few hiccups along the way but its the first computer we (mostly Ryan) have built.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Work, work work work work
Pool is coming along, hopefully will be done in a couple of weeks dependant upon weather and who knows what else. Have started on the fence, I think its going to be a bigger, certainly more expensive project than I thought. Some more to do this weekend, get the gates up so that we can get final inspection.
Looking at ride calendar for rest of the year, there are only three big rides left, and one of them is after the Nov meeting, meaning after the Long Flyer turn in. So any miles will be in the next 6-8 weeks. Trip to Meers weekend after next will add a few miles but its not that far of a trip. Then the Ark Leaf Ride pre-ride will add some, likely about 1000. After the formal leaf ride in Nov will have to do another service. I just hope my tires get more mileage this time. That is one thing I haven't been impressed with, I can only get about 8000 miles on a rear tire.
Lets see, what else, oh yeah, we won our D league playoffs. Still in Semi's in C-league, tied 1-1. Next game Thursday night, will be a tough one. If we go, I'll miss the game next Tuesday night as we have tickets to the Henry Rollins spoken word gig.
Looking at ride calendar for rest of the year, there are only three big rides left, and one of them is after the Nov meeting, meaning after the Long Flyer turn in. So any miles will be in the next 6-8 weeks. Trip to Meers weekend after next will add a few miles but its not that far of a trip. Then the Ark Leaf Ride pre-ride will add some, likely about 1000. After the formal leaf ride in Nov will have to do another service. I just hope my tires get more mileage this time. That is one thing I haven't been impressed with, I can only get about 8000 miles on a rear tire.
Lets see, what else, oh yeah, we won our D league playoffs. Still in Semi's in C-league, tied 1-1. Next game Thursday night, will be a tough one. If we go, I'll miss the game next Tuesday night as we have tickets to the Henry Rollins spoken word gig.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Big Bend Trip pics
As a follow up to my yesterday's post, here are some trip pics that don't really show what a great ride, but hopefully do provide some sense.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Big Bend Trip Report
What a great trip. Texas continues to amaze and surprise me with great roads and sights. We traveled 1517 miles in 4 days. An early start Friday with us leaving the house about 5:45 am. We ended up in Ft Davis after miles and miles of West Texas travel, traveling a total of 551 miles that day. Those last 50 miles or so sure made the long trip enjoyable. We passed through Balmorhea State Park and along route 17 through the Davis Mountains. We had a couple of brief showers which actually made the trip that much more beautiful as we experienced not one, but three rainbows, one of which was incredibly brilliant. Of course once we landed at our hotel the skies really opened up, but even that was relatively short and the skies cleared up to a starlit night.
Saturday was a shorter and local day with the Big Bend Loop planned for Sunday. Darlene and I took off on our own, we went to get our Balmorhea point and went into the part to check out the scuba divers, who were of course, diving but we did chat with Karen and some others. One of that day’s highlights was our trip along 118 from I-10 back into Ft Davis which was a great road through the mountain range. We were going to continue on the shorter loop around Ft Davis, Alpine and Marfa, but on the way to Alpine we hit some rain and decided we’d done enough for the day and headed back. A 170 mile day, short but packed and once we got back to the hotel we did some work on the LOH yellow book. Saturday night several of the group went to the Ft Davis observatory for the star party and apparently had a great time.
Sunday was another long day, taking the long route and traveling about 480 miles to San Angelo, via Presidio and Terlingua, where we got out other challenge points. Presidio is a border town and the taking highway 17 / Hwy 67 down to it. We started the day with Breakfast at Indian Lodge before sunrise and had a great view of the sunrise. We even saw a mountain goat up on the side of the hill. Our ride down was incredible, some low fog in the fields, plenty of wildlife, I saw a couple of deer, several antelope and even saw a javelina, the first one I have seen, unfortunately he was heading away from me so did not see its ferocious head and teeth.
On Hwy 67 we passed through the ghost town of Shafter, a former mining community. I would have liked to have spent some time there, the road was very interesting as were the sights. A bit further we got into flat barren desert coming into Presidio. I think old cars go there to die….
Hwy 170, the River Road, what a great road, through the Big Bend State park. We passed those pesky Miata’s numerous times again. Why is it whenever we go on a ride we invariably meet up with some car club? We did not stop in Lajitas, an interesting town on the ride, but did get our challenge points both in Presidio and Terlingua. Next stop Alpine for lunch then on to San Angelo for the night. Hwy 17 was a more interesting ride than 118 into Alpine. We hit some more showers on this leg of the loop.
Monday Darlene and I headed home on our own, wanting to get back quickly. Of course it was very foggy, and I didn’t get good directions before we left so we “took a few extra minutes….” getting out of San Angelo. We had a bit of rain, with the constant threat so we had our rain gear on for a portion of the trip. About 318 miles and we were home just after 3:00 PM.
Saturday was a shorter and local day with the Big Bend Loop planned for Sunday. Darlene and I took off on our own, we went to get our Balmorhea point and went into the part to check out the scuba divers, who were of course, diving but we did chat with Karen and some others. One of that day’s highlights was our trip along 118 from I-10 back into Ft Davis which was a great road through the mountain range. We were going to continue on the shorter loop around Ft Davis, Alpine and Marfa, but on the way to Alpine we hit some rain and decided we’d done enough for the day and headed back. A 170 mile day, short but packed and once we got back to the hotel we did some work on the LOH yellow book. Saturday night several of the group went to the Ft Davis observatory for the star party and apparently had a great time.
Sunday was another long day, taking the long route and traveling about 480 miles to San Angelo, via Presidio and Terlingua, where we got out other challenge points. Presidio is a border town and the taking highway 17 / Hwy 67 down to it. We started the day with Breakfast at Indian Lodge before sunrise and had a great view of the sunrise. We even saw a mountain goat up on the side of the hill. Our ride down was incredible, some low fog in the fields, plenty of wildlife, I saw a couple of deer, several antelope and even saw a javelina, the first one I have seen, unfortunately he was heading away from me so did not see its ferocious head and teeth.
On Hwy 67 we passed through the ghost town of Shafter, a former mining community. I would have liked to have spent some time there, the road was very interesting as were the sights. A bit further we got into flat barren desert coming into Presidio. I think old cars go there to die….
Hwy 170, the River Road, what a great road, through the Big Bend State park. We passed those pesky Miata’s numerous times again. Why is it whenever we go on a ride we invariably meet up with some car club? We did not stop in Lajitas, an interesting town on the ride, but did get our challenge points both in Presidio and Terlingua. Next stop Alpine for lunch then on to San Angelo for the night. Hwy 17 was a more interesting ride than 118 into Alpine. We hit some more showers on this leg of the loop.
Monday Darlene and I headed home on our own, wanting to get back quickly. Of course it was very foggy, and I didn’t get good directions before we left so we “took a few extra minutes….” getting out of San Angelo. We had a bit of rain, with the constant threat so we had our rain gear on for a portion of the trip. About 318 miles and we were home just after 3:00 PM.
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