The Wacky Adventures of Patrick

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Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Branson Ride Day 6 the ride home 52208

#121 Unread post by Patrick »

Branson Ride Day 6 the ride home 52208

We started off late as usual leaving at 1045 AM but that is ok we are on vacation. The weather looks like it could rain so we were not sure how far we could get before having to put the bike on the trailer or just wait it out, but as it turned out we did not get caught by any rain. We went from Branson down 65 to 62/214 and headed back to the little town of Alpena but only not on the same area as where the maps and such were as we stopped on the way to Branson.

Here is a shot of old Alpena.
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A little flea market in Alpena.

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I parked in front of this old Gas station. Look at the cost of gas.

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We then headed off and found a little gas station in Marble off of 214. It was a small town with this Amish gas station and store, and man they had just about everything.
Strange name however.
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We headed down 540 south and found this little town called Chester. It was quite a quaint little town. Here is Val in a little flower garden with and old water pump.
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Here is a shot of some flowers Val took.
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Well we decided to head toward Fort Smith AR to stop over night. When we got to Van Buren and found a Best Western. We then decided to look for a place to eat and the guy at the front desk recommended this place called Big Jakes Cattle Company and man did it suck. The meat was over cooked and dry. The service was good but it has nearly been 5 hours since we ate and I still feel cruddy. Both of us have upset stomachs and the food was just plan lousy, do not eat there at any cost. I even orders from the “Jakes Favorites” part of the menu. While we were eating Philip called Val and it sounds like for the most part all is well with our dogs. But we might need to shag it a bit going home we are not yet sure as our older dog is beginning to act up a bit. Have a great day and we should be back in town sometime early Saturday.
Pj
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Branson Trip Day 7 52308

#122 Unread post by Patrick »

Branson Trip Day 7 52308

Wow is all I can say. The pictures will never do the trip justice but I know my exhaustion right now does. We only went 207 miles but I feel like I rode a thousand. That is just how backwoods the roads we got on today were. One road went for 20 miles where I was wondering if it was going to turn to gravel at any minute. The bridges where 1 lane only and at one point a city truck had half the road blocked because there was the huge dead cow just on the shoulder. Not sure what happened to it, but if it was a car there was no sign of it and based on the size of the cow any normal car or truck could not have survived the collision. It was there for awhile as the stench was something not to be forgotten. In fact my hands smelled like it until I washed them and I never even stopped. We took the 9 out of Fort Smith and ran across a small but friendly town. Its name is Keota, not much really there but I just felt compelled to stop. You will note the clouds, all day long we had a great potential of rain but we got lucky and it never did.

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We ran across the friendly little place called Cross roads as I thought maybe I read the map wrong and we were in Stigler where we plan to do a road change. The folks inside were extremely friendly so we bought a T-shirt about some type or roadster rally. Val shot this picture of me headed to or from it little place. It was a bar, restaurant, general store, and gas station.
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At Stigler we decided to take 82 South which was depicted as a scenic route and it was and it was fantastic. However before starting off we stopped in Stigler and Val went craft shopping and got a wicker chair (thank God we had our Van with us) and some other junk. I found this while she went shopping.
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A general shot of Stigler.

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While in Stigler we stopped at a grocery store and bought some Salami, bread, pulled pork, and misc other stuff so we stopped at this little town and had a picnic at the Baptist Church front area. I think the town was spelled Liquir.

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A view next door.
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A shot in both directions on the road.
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The little place on the left is the post office. Many folks met other folks there while we had our lunch.
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Then things on 82 got interesting as we headed towards the Sanbois Mtns. Here is some shots we took. Val shot some of them while driving.
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Then we found 270 and shot some horses.
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At one of our stops I thought about taking hwy 63 south west to shave some miles off of 69 when we get there so the plan is to come out on 69 at Kiowa instead of McAlester. Hwy 63 was the one with the cow and maybe about 15 minutes total of speeds greater then 45. It was fantastic, Val was so busy driving she only got this one shot while driving.
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We then pop out at 69 and find a working Sinclair Gas station.
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Once on 69 we mainly shagged it down to Durant where we are staying the night. With the wind, I was just too tired to drive safely. I must admit I was tempted as we are only 100+ miles away from home and the way we are going to go might take us into the 125 range. Anyway today was the best riding day of the trip. Learned a bunch from the hard back roads.

We should be home by noon Saturday.

Pj
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

User avatar
Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Mary’s and Possum Kingdom Lake Meet and Greet with over nigh

#123 Unread post by Patrick »

Mary’s and Possum Kingdom Lake Meet and Greet with over night camp out

What a fantastic trip and great folks to spend time with. Jim (Scooter Express) and myself did not ride with the main body as the early morning and start off locations where a bit out of our reach (at least mine) . So we decided to meet up with the main group at Mary’s and take a north route down that way. Jim had googled a route that took us up 199 to Azle then back roads from there. My kick stand up is at 0800 and off I go.
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We met at the QT at 183 and Precent Line Road. Once we got into the back ways of Azle it got very interesting. They do not have a whole lot of street signs and much to my surprise the maps if I had looked at them in detail would have shown a lot of turns. Well we got lost a few times but the scenery was spectacular and we did not get lost by much as we stopped and asked the very friendly far an few commuters on the back roads where we were and how to get to the next cross section. We have been riding for awhile and found this little area to stop. Do not even ask me where we were here. While on some of these back roads I ran across a Squirrel that wanted to run besides me. I was slowing down afraid he would turn right under my wheels and thank God he decided to turn left.

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We then headed further on and got lost again as we came to an intersection that did have street names but we were not where we thought we should be. So once again we had three people come by and they each gave us different paths to our destination so we picked one and it worked based on luck, some map knowledge, and who knows what.
While here how ever Jim notices a snake skin hanging on the stop sign.
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Well we get out of the back roads on to a more conventional road, stop for gas and consider ourselves lucky in that we did not get so lost we ended up rotting on those back roads, we were ahead of schedule, and having fun. It was here that we ran across some friendly bikers who admired Jim’s scooter and we passed out RUT cards.
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We got to hwy 4 and started our trek south. We found this little rest area and decided to take a break.
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Jim grabbed the camera and took a shot of me next to my bike.
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This shot does not justify the surrounding landscape much justice but here it is anyway. I love hwy 4.
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We road along heading for Strawn and found this historical marker placed where we were ready for a break and am I glad we stopped. Check out some of these shots.
A description of what you are about to see.
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Some Cactus in full bloom.
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Now the school house. It reminded me of close to what I went to when I was young. My school was bigger but believe it or not just, a about as old and small. I might try to dig up some pictures and post those next to this.
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In side here is the chalk board. We could not get in so I shot this through the door windows.
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Well we take off on the final leg to Mary’s Café and the food was great, it was great meeting folks again and anew. The portions were well beyond what I could possibly eat. I would say more but since folks actually cleaned their plates I will leave it at that. 
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Well all filled up and tired, we (Jim, Tammy - in the SUV, and I) decide to let the main group do a little sight seeing while we head directly for the PK National Park. I am really glad we did, I was hot, tired, and ready to take a break. On the way to the park we found a little Church like building to stop and take a break. Here is a little feeding area next door to the building.
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Here is Jim and Tammy with SUV and my bike.
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From here we get to the park and the folks at the front guard shack were real friendly. When I asked how to find our actual camp sites they said you will have no problem seeing them as there are flags and such. Well, it was great, Tank had made some banners and Paul and Gabby set them out on Friday night. It was really great. So we stopped and talked with some of the folks that were already there and they told us our boarder lines and gave us recommendations as to where to set up. We followed the recommendations and it was great. I had my tent under a big shade tree that gave me day, evening, and morning shade. So we introduced ourselves to our neighbors Rut and others as well and started setting up. By now I am real glad we went straight away to the park.
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Check this one out.
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The main body arrives and starts setting up. It was fun watching but we could not help but help out here and there, not much I will admit however. Everyone had their way of doing things and everyone was up and running in a very short time.
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It is getting time to eat so the fire is started and the cooking begins.
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The next morning Sun Rise.
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The camp at break of dawn.
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Some folks start to get up. When seeing a man about a horse last night I went over to the fire and put more wood on as Grey Beard promised coffee if we had some hot ashes so in the morning the fire was still going.
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Well with all good things it must be time to hit the road. Tammy takes off with their SUV, and Jim, I, and Moonfish decide to once again leave the main group to head home but only on a northern route and not take the scenic rides they had planned. I know we missed a lot, but I had limited sleep last night and wanted to get some miles towards the north east. The three of us stop near lake Palo Pinto to take a break. Great area, a long fence keeps us away from the fence and later we run across a great big electrical power plant so I guess that is why we could not get near the water.
When we get to Palo Pinto much to our surprise the only gas station in town had 87 octane because the 89 octane hose was leaking. I had gas all over my bike and did not get a drop in the tank. After some discussion Moonfish decides to put a couple of gallons in his and I only add one. I am glad I at least added one as I was getting worried that would not be enough.
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Along hwy 4 we come up on this canoeing area on the Brazos and Jim beeps his horn and I thought he wanted us to pull over and go there so I did. It turns out he was blowing his horn at the folks on the river.
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At this point we head further north on hwy 4 and come to 2210 and take a break on it as well. The terrain is getting more open with less shade trees so finding a great place to stop was hard. Just out of Perrin I found a semi paved road to stop and take a break at.
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We then headed to where 920, 199, and 2210 met and stopped to say good day to Moonfish. We really enjoyed the ride together. Jim and I finally found some decent gas a bit down 199 and filled up before finishing the ride home. We were going to go to Dukes but at this point with both of us not having a whole bunch of sleep last night we decided to take it straight home so Jim peeled off at 820 and 26 while I went on home alone. It kind of feels strange riding with out someone when you have spent two days riding with folks.

A BIG THANKS TO BA AND ALL THE FOLKS WHO GOT TO THE PARK ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND PRESET SOME OF THE STUFF UP.
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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Patrick
Legendary 300
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Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day One Repo

#124 Unread post by Patrick »

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day One Report)

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day One Report)

Where to begin, this was a trip that had remarkable sights and memories every day. Last night Philip came by to have our nightly sit out and he asked me my favorite part of the trip. Well I answered the time at Eureka Springs and this morning, I started looking at the pictures and I have now decided there was no favorite time or spot they were all great.

Paul and I had a late start Thursday as I had some things to deal with at work before I could take off and I worked late into Wednesday night that I was not even packed so we were kick stands up at 2PM. The plan was to head towards Sherman and meet up with Philip south of Pilot Point at the little Mexican place that you all have seen pictures of in prior reports. On the way there since Philip was not going to get off of work until 430 or 5PM we took our time but we just wanted to be past Denton before rush hour. I think the traffic in Denton is horrid and we did not really want to go through stop light H E double hockey sticks on 121 to 380 and we did not want to do the 635 to 75 Nascar run.

We take 121 North to 114 West to 35 north to 455 East to the Mexican place near the intersection of 455 and 377. The weather was hot but not unbearable. We find a little park near Lake Ray Roberts. We come up the hill and there was a state patrol officer in his car watching us carefully but he then drove off. When we got to the top of the hill we ran across these hikers who were getting ready for their hike. They had a ton of water, a 24 pack of beer, bed rolls and an axe and machete. They must have been serious about their adventure.

This shot over looks the lake, I had to stand up on a picnic table to get the shot as they have not maintained the vegetation very well.
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Here is a shot of the bikes next to the old un-kept pavilion.
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Here is a shot of from on top of the hill looking down from where we came.
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Philip met up with us at the Mexican place and we decided we could get to Durant so we did. We ended up staying at Candlewood Suites (Holiday Inn Express). They let us park our bikes in front where you see them. Just a side note, so far in my experience (I have not been to all hotels, much less many in Texas) but all of the Hotels on this trip and in past outside of the state of Texas have been exceptionally kind to bikers. Not saying Texas hotels have not been good but it just seems the routes we took they were exceptional. I will talk more about each one as the day reports are written.
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Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

User avatar
Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day Two)

#125 Unread post by Patrick »

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day Two)

Getting up in the morning with some coffee, reflecting on the day ahead. Here we are having some coffee. Some of these pictures are courtesy of Philip.

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Well we take off heading toward Broken Bow via hwy 70 in OK. We end up at this gas station in Boswell. They owner of the general store, and it had everything, told us a story on how he rented it out and they never paid and cleaned out the store. He said he still did not have a full inventory but I can tell you he was off to a good start. Too bad I did not take some shots inside. But we did roam around outside and found some interesting things to take shots of.

Here is one for the old gas pump price contest, in the background is our bikes.
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This little café and hotel across the street caught my eye.
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We then looked in the garage which was also owned by the owner of the gas station/general store. He told us to feel free to look around.
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We rode for awhile and found a little road to take a break at.
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We then headed out and landed in Hugo for some gas. Philip got this shot while we were there.
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And of course it was not much longer and time for a short stop so we found this little road that seemed to go for about two miles so I found a house that no one seemed to be home at the time so we stopped. Cars from time to time went by and waved at us so we figured we were ok with stopping here. The road was a wreck but it was usable.
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We stopped in Broken Bow for some gas on our way northerly. We were starting to head up some hills and found the scenery getting better so we stopped.
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We were driving along and then Philip pulls and U-Turn so we follow and man it was cool what he found. We have been discussing since this stop why we did not just put our swim suits on and jump in.
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So after spending some time there and help getting Paul’s bike turned around we were off and riding again. He pulled up into an area the was a bit tricky to get out of so all three of us worked on it.

After a bit more riding we were getting higher into the mountains of OK so we found another area to stop for a short one.
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A shot of Philip
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Paul and Philip
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Paul and I
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I do not need to say just how fantastic the scenery was along this part of the journey. We seemed to stop every 3 minutes because there was just so much to see. Here is a little area we found and took a few shots.

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Another cool stop just before leaving Oklahoma Philip pulled out his camera.
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Just before Wilhelmina Resort we are now in Arkansas.

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Now we are at the Wilhelmina Resort, this would be a cool place to stay over night but it was still too early in the day. Philip got a kick out of this train for the kids, ran on diesel.
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Well we come down out of the mountains and learn that the nearest place for a beer is either back in Oklahoma or Fort Smith north 80 miles so we are now getting tired, thirsty, and hungry so we shag up 540 to Fort Smith. Even though it is a highway it is scenic. We did not take any pictures and I did that on my Branson trip report. It was one of the most scenic rides I have been on a long time and it was a great day.
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

User avatar
Patrick
Legendary 300
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Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day Three)

#126 Unread post by Patrick »

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day Three)

Another Great Morning and looking forward to a shorter ride today. With us being in Fort Smith, Eureka Springs is not too far off. So we head out a little later then normally and just kick back and enjoy the ride.

Our first stop we found a little off shoot from the main road and decided to have some beef jerky and a cold one.
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We took off and found another little gravel road to take a break. For a little gravel road we saw about 3 cars (really pickem up trucks) go by while we were there. It seems the folks are very used to motorcycle folks as they all waved and smiled. For the first one that came by we had parked our bikes a bit in the middle of the road so we went to move them and he just said no problem I can drive around ya all.
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We saw this little shop along the way that had a sign saying motorcycle accessories. We stopped and got some water in us and generally just talked with the store keeper. Philip just had to get a shot of him under this flag.
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We get to Eureka Springs via 62 and man what a cool twisty ride. Here we are at this real cool hotel getting settled in. We ask the lady at the front desk the best way to get to the town and she said if we ride we should go the long way as traffic at the bottom of the hill would be bad. She said as young as we all looked that we could walk down the hill. Man I do not know what shape she was in but it was one heck of a hill even to walk down.

While putting stuff in our room this little cute girl (about 5 or so years old) just comes right in and makes herself at home. Her mom and dad are not too far behind and start with the getting her and apologizing and we of course said no problem and it turned out they were our neighbor for the night. They were up here for a wedding and the little girl was the flower girl. Later that night all dressed up in her dress she had to bring us some rose pedals. I think she kind of took to us. I wish I got a shot of her, but we were not ready for her surprise visits through the evening and the next day.
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So we venture walking down the little hill (my back side). Here we are in part of town.

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Philip decides he needs me to shrink his pool ego so I gladly except the job of whopping him in a game.
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As it turns out this little tavern is the oldest in town. The folks were really friendly!
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We thought this was kind of cool. Even with the ROT and another Rally in Oklahoma there were still all kinds of bikes in town.
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We found this old truck behind a fence off the main street.

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We walk around the town a bit. And at about this time I am full and tired and find out the trolley’s that will give us ride back to our hotel are about to shut down so I take the opportunity to take the ride while Paul and Philip decide to explore more of the city.

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This picture does not give this hill justice, but Paul and Philip had to walk back as they did not get on the trolley with me. The trolley ride went for about 20 minutes but it was worth the trip.
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After the guys got back we went down by the pool and hot top. The place had a mini kids park, with putt putt golf, video games, and pool tables. At the pool they had this great big wide screen TV playing kid shows, we watched part of that fish cartoon, I cannot remember the name, something like I think “Saving Nemo”. While in the hot top we had a local man join us that gave us a run down on the history of the town. Apparently the town started to die off in the 70’s so a whole bunch of hippies moved in and set up little arts and crafts shops and such and the town took off from there. My kind of folks. 

Anyway after we were all refreshed Paul and Philip decided they wanted a night on the town and very wisely they chose to take a taxi ride to and from our hotel as they went out on the town and had a bunch of fun. Here are some of their shots.

Before they left.
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They got back to the room at about 1 or 2Am and woke me up as there cards would no longer work in the door. I barely remember them waking me up. It was a great stay in Eureka Springs and I will no doubt bring Val with me next time as she would really love it as well. I will try to see if my Dad and Patt would like to meet there sometime in the future as it is not far from Branson at all.
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

User avatar
Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Last 3 days)

#127 Unread post by Patrick »

Eureka Springs AR Ride June 12 through June 17 (Day Four)

Another great day has arrived and we are getting ready to leave Eureka Springs to head down south via Scenic 7 towards Hot Springs. This is a shot in front of our room, I was up first so I took some morning shots of the hotel area.
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The next shot is of the water tower in front of our room area, I rotated it on Photobucket I will be interested to see how is shows up here.
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So we take off and find this little spot to take a break off of Hwy 62.

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We took off and Philip found this little State Park to pull into. It was really neat.
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It was real funny when we came to 412 and hwy 65 as Branson is only about 35 miles north. We of course turned south to pick up 7 in Harrison. While in Harrison we stopped at the Arkansas welcome center who advised us to stop at this place for lunch. Man we are still thinking about returning and staying over night some time. There really is not town, just this Hotel, and restaurant.
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Here is a shot from the rooms you would be staying at.
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The next shots are from the restaurant deck.
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Well back on the road again after having a very good lunch. Philip finds a little pull off for us to stop and take a break.
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We then came up on this river. It was quite high and it was a nice place to stop.

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We then came across another state park, seems to be some pictures missing or I thought I took them and I really did not, but here we are at our last stop before Hot Springs where we plan to stay the night. There were these two hound dogs that seemed to be just dropped off, I fed them some beef jerky while another lady who was traveling via car and sleeping in it gave them some water.
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Well another great riding day is over. I will continue with Day 5 and 6 here as after Hot Springs we mostly hit the road to get close to home. We took 30 most of way home.
Here is a shot on day five getting ready to hit the Hwy to start the shag part of the trip.
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We made it to Greenville and this is where we parted Phlip’s company. About two stops before Greenville we were tired, hot, and thirsty, so we stopped and I had a large Gatorade, Philip had some type soda and Paul had this high end Energy Drink. We had been talking about staying over night in Greenville but where not sure. Well we knew Greenville was a dry county so we stopped in Cumby to get some beer just in case we decided to stay. Well Paul was looking awful red faced we loaded up the beer, had some water and took off for Greenville. Well when we pulled up into this hotel, we got off our bikes to make our decision and Paul was white as a ghost. It was then we realized he was either having some type of reaction to the sports drink or was experiencing heat stroke or maybe a combination of both so knowing Paul was not going to go any further I got us a room. To be honest I would not have ridden any further anyway as the heat was getting to me as well. So Philip said his good byes and Paul climbed into a cold shower. While he was doing that I went exploring the hotel grounds and found a couple of grills. After Paul got out of the shower he looked better but was still quite tired so I asked what about grilling some grub tonight. He was all for it so we got some hot dogs, cheese, and onion from Wally World and proceeded to have a BBQ. We had more then enough dogs so I offered some to the front desk guys and one guy took us up on it.

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The next morning day 6 we took off down 380 and man did we get into heck with the weather. It was so windy while I was on 121 that I could not lean enough to turn my bike off of the freeway so I had to slow down, drop to 1st and turn like a car. We were going to take the long scenic route home until we saw the storm clouds so we hit the 121 south. Well he got some hail and now it was time to pull over. We took cover at this gas station and found out there was a little Mexican place up the road so the rain was still coming but very light so off we went. On arrival I went into this office and asked if we could park the bikes on their sidewalk in front of the office and they said heck yes. So here is that shot.
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We then got to Dukes to have our end of ride beer as we always do and Philip and Val came down to meet us. It was a great 6 days and it was full of adventure. I may need to up date these reports as I remember more and can take more time writing. The good Lord blessed us and we said our morning prayers together as a group and God did watch out for us.
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Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

User avatar
Patrick
Legendary 300
Legendary 300
Posts: 367
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
Sex: Male
Years Riding: 30
My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

PJ’s Carlos Huntsville Ride Report

#128 Unread post by Patrick »

PJ’s Carlos Huntsville Ride Report

Day One

Well as usual I got a late start in that I set the alarm for 6 PM not 6 AM so I got up about 1 hour late which put me into traffic hour and sure enough WFAA reported two accidents on my planned route, so, I did not get kick stand up until 0930. We (Jim (Scooter Express), Philip, and myself held a discussion on the feasibility of the trip Wednesday night as I was boarder line on going Tuesday due to the logistics of leaving Friday night with Jim and my thoughts of just going directly to Huntsville. It was the heat that was my concern as some of you know I have a somewhat low heat tolerance. So we decided I would head to Waco in the cool of the morning and get a room for Jim and I on day one and then ride from Waco to Carlos on day two as Jim would be arriving in the evening on day one.

I took 360 south to 157 to 2258 heading over to 35W south. 157 south was a really twisty road, and I wish I took some pictures but it was getting warm fast so I did not stop. 2258 had just been surfaced and it too was a very nice ride. I will do that again. Panhead told me it was due to when they were putting in the Gas drilling rigs they really tore up the roads and I was lucky they had finished the resurfacing. Grey Beard later told me that there were some other roads I could have taken to Waco instead of popping out on 35. Well anyway here is a shot of a little picnic area off of 35 I stopped to take a break.

As you can see I am in flat lands at this point, in fact with all of the corn fields around 2258 and this part of the country I thought I was in Wisconsin or some other north central state.
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I got to the Quality Inn at about 1230 in Waco and, the room was not ready so I rode over to Hooters for lunch. I quickly found out that I could have walked. I had the crab legs which were over priced for the quantity but I was warned of that and enjoyed them anyway. I had a bowl of clam chowder to fill me up. It was good. I then went back to the hotel and the room was ready and it was really nice. A bit pricey at $99 but again as the with the crab legs, worth it. They had an indoor hot tub and swimming pool.

I called Jim to let him know where I was and he informed me that Dennis and Cece are also thinking about coming. So after a few discussion with Denis sure enough they came down.

After getting settled in I checked the RUT web site and there was a private message from Panhead giving me his number in case we wanted to meet up. So I called him and I am glad I did. It was great getting to meet him. He wanted to go on our ride but his starter switch had gone out and it was not your normal motor cycle starter switch in that it is a 3 position switch like that of a car where to start it you would let go of the key once the engine was running and it would go back to the run position. He literally went all over town looking for one. Later we did find out he got one. So he and I met up for a short time and he left just as Jim showed up from Dallas. Jim was disappointed he missed him but much to our pleasant surprise Neal (Panhead) was still in the area so he came back to the Hotel. Jim, Neal, and I waited on Dennis and Cece and they showed up so we all went to Dinner after this shot in the hotel room

Left to right is Jim, Dennis, Cece, and Neal.
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We then went to Hooters for dinner as folks were getting tired and did not want to ride someplace else to dinner. It would have been cool to go to Buzzard Billy’s (I think I have the name right) on the Brazos river. I saw it riding through town and Neal mentioned it to me on the phone earlier. I later remembered that Val and I stopped there once when we took a trip to San Antonio and it was cool and good food. Here we are at hooters.

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Jim grabbed the camera and took this shot just as the hostess with the mostess came up and jumped into the shot.

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It was great that Dennis and Cece came down and that we got to meet Panhead (Neal).

DAY 2

Well we got up early but the humidity was already high as you can see this first picture captured it some how. Not sure if it was really that hazy or the camera was temporarily fogged over.

We are in front of our hotel.
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Jim grabbed the camera again.
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We stopped a couple of times to get gas and at one of the stops this younger women walks up to us to ask if she could use one of our cell phones to activate a phone service she just got and she needed to make a call very badly as I think she said her dad was in the hospital and the pay phone would not allow her to do the job. So I pulled mine out but I was not about to hand it over to her just incase they did something to my phone by mistake and this is a business phone that I do not need to have interrupted because of some mistake. Well it was quite a process and after trying to answer all of their mechanized questions the system got frustrated with me and I got frustrated by it so finally I get a real person. Now that was about at much fun as the mechanized system. The lady must have been from northern state or some place else on the globe. She talked way too fast and I had to keep asking her to repeat herself. By now I am getting the evil eye from our group as to say, nice going Mr nice guy now get this going. They know I have not yet used the facilities nor have I had a smoke yet. Anyway the funny part of this whole thing is that I got to learn an awful lot about the young lady in a very short time. It would be a great segway for young people to introduce themselves to other as in the 10 minutes I was going through the process, I knew her name, age, zip code and some other minor stuff like phone numbers etc.,. So we looked at each other at some point and I introduced myself after saying “now that I know you better then folks I have known for some time, my name is Pj”. We finally get on the road again.

We are still ahead of schedule for the meet n greet so I see this “Veterans park” and pull into it. Man it was great. Here some of the shots which did not capture more then ¼ of the whole park.

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On these walls are engraved the names of fallen Texan’s in wars past and present.
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Under this pavilion was a little kiosk that you could look up names and such. It was really well done and very well up kept. I was quite impressed and over whelmed by the sights and thoughts.
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We went rolling past the turn off for the meet n greet so Jim called Paul and gave me his phone when Paul put BA on the line. Man I am glad we stopped and asked for directions as we did pass the turn off.

Here are the shots of the meet n greet. Everyone was very friendly and it was great to put faces with RUT call signs.
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I went on to my normal walking around and exploring. Man the grounds were great and this is one party place. I will let the photo’s do the talking.
The bathrooms in the building to the right were immaculate and air conditioned.
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I came around to the back of the Tavern and found some folks and more interesting shots so I took more pictures, actually someone else grabbed the camera.
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Now this is scary, Paul with a mechanical staple gun putting up Rut cards on the wall. We were commenting that he best not staple Gabby’s hand to the wall. She is behind him in this shot so you might only make out part of her.
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I saw this ride and decided to take a shot of it.
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Dennis reported his oil was low so I told him if he wanted to head directly back to Huntsville I would ride a long just in case. It was getting quite hot and I would ready to hit the road in either case as I was getting concerned that it was getting nearly uncomfortable out. It just so happened the rest of the crowd was getting ready so Dennis decided it should be ok to take the next leg of the trip. Jim heads off to get gas just before we start our trek to the next stop. Some of these pictures are taken by others and I “stole them” from their ride reports. If anyone minds let me know and I will take them out.
Here is a shot from our support vehicle driven by, Texadan, Texaslady, and Tatorman a great family and we are thank full for them. I stole this particular shot of all of us, that is me riding the in the rear behind the trike. The 429 East was a very cool windy road.
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I did not get a shot of the name of the next stop so I stole this one from Wind another real great person.
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The rest are from my camera of Drifters.
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Well it was getting very hot and so I talked to a few people to tell them that I was going to by pass the last stop and trip and take off for Huntsville via the 1375 through Sam Houston national forest. Man it was a great road tall trees and much cooler. I see the lake so I decide to pull over and take some shots of the road and Lake Conroe. As it turned out there was another place to stop that had a better view of the Lake but I did not stop.
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We got to the Sam Houston Place hotel and checked in. Once settled, Jim, Dennis, and Cece went to the pool while I took my afternoon nap. I woke up a short time later and then the rest of the crowd showed up. At the end of this report I will put all of the links from the other ride reports as you will then see what we missed. They told us they got a little sprinkle of a rain and it was much cooler, just my luck to miss that. Once they all got settled in, we headed next door to dinner, man the food was great and a lot of it.

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We all talk over rides and places and just plain enjoy each others company and walk back to our hotel. I took some shots while we kind of mulled around. I thought this was a cool one. This is BA’s better half Lilnae.
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Paul
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Jim
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BA and his stogy.
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We all were fairly tired and wanted to get up early so most of us went off to bed shortly after chatting for awhile.

DAY 3

I took this shot of the sign of the Sam Houston Place hotel as based on the occupancy percentage I have a feeling they will not be in business over the long haul. They had fairly clean rooms and an out door pool. The staff was friendly and let me park my bike in front under the roof as I thought it might rain that night plus the night time guy could see it better.
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We got kick stands up at about 720AM. The weather was nice and cool with some rain clouds in the area. BA took the lead and we made good time and had plenty of appropriately made stops. Grey Beard was talking last night about this great place called Sam’s and sure enough it was a great place. It had a nice gift shop and a buffet. Paul and Gail where already there but they had left some time after we did, I could not believe my eyes. They said they were driving slow, but I think it was a bit faster then that. I was not hungry and neither was Dennis, Cece, or Jim so we talked about heading on down the road. We decided to do that so I went back in side to say my good byes and we took off.

Here is a shot of the bikes at Sam’s.
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We got to Corsicana and it looked like the chances of a heavy rain where quite high so I called Val and she said they were headed East but not yet to 45 so we took off again. She also mentioned there was rain in Ennis and that we would get a bit wet at that point. Well she was right, we turned down 287 and we got some rain, but mostly a very light rain. Slightly more then a sprinkle, just enough to get the bottom part of my pant legs wet and dirty my bike. I pulled off into the speedway to kind of wait it out and use the facilities. Here are a few shots.
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You can see the facilities to the right in this shot. “Out Houses”
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They had cancelled the days races and were looking to lock up where we were so off we went. But they did say they would wait to lock up this section last so we had a bit more time.

We were getting hungry so we stopped at On the Boarder in Arlington and had lunch and then took off up 360. Jim and I stopped for our end of the trip beer at Dukes and up came this trike.
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We got a guy to take a shot of the two of us saluting a good and safe ride. It was a lot of fun and the RUT family did not let me down, they were all friendly, approachable and warm folks.
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Here are some links to the other ride reports.

http://rallyuptexas.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

http://rallyuptexas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=745

Thanks everyone!!!

Pj - Patrick
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

blues2cruise
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#129 Unread post by blues2cruise »

That was a lot of reading and a lot of pictures to look through....but I finally finished. :lol:
It looks like you had a couple of great road trips. After seeing your pics, I think I would like to visit Eureka Springs, too. :)

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Patrick
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Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:40 am
Real Name: Patrick
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My Motorcycle: 1998 V-Twin 1500 & 2008 Suski C50T
Location: Euless, Texas

July 5 and 6 Ride to Glen Rose and Granbury

#130 Unread post by Patrick »

July 5 and 6 Ride to Glen Rose and Granbury

We start off with the first meet at my house with Dennis and CC. They show up on time and believe it or not we actually on leave about 5 minutes late at 0805. Here they are in front ready to go. Courtney did not call back so I figured she was not going to make it, and Philip took his truck to Glen Rose to take his nephews and Paul’s son to Dinosaur National Park. The plan was to meet Philip and them down at MK’s Restaurant and Bar.

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Jim (Scooter Express) and Willie (Two Bears) called this morning and said they were going to go so we decided to meet up at the Suzuki dealership on Hwy 10 and 820. Here we are meeting up. It was fantastic seeing Willie, remember he had that wreck a couple months back and he got his bike looking great. It was like family being back together again.

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We took 820 south to 35W south and when we hit Burleson it was time to stop and we found this place called Big Willy’s. A bit of a spelling error on their part but the point taken.

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We headed down the 174 to Cleburne (mental note: Do not take that route again – too many lights in Cleburne) to where we picked up 67 south to Glen Rose. On the way we found a picnic area and the if you decide to stop here, the first sign that says 1 mile out seems way short as we were going down it seemed more like 7/10’s of a mile it comes up fast. I had to hit the breaks so hard that Val slid up the seat and was all over my back and I am glad that when I saw the first sign that I signaled to the group we would be stopping soon and Dennis and CC even though they had to stop hard was far back enough to not cause a problem. But I am really glad I did not blow by the stop as it was quite nice.

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The round brick thing in the back ground is not a garage can but a fire pit.

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Jim grabbed the camera and shot this one so I could get in it.

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I decided I needed to take a shot of the sign of where we were.

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We started talking about Jim’s new scooter so Willie climbed aboard and I just had to take this shot.

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Well it was time to take off and head for breakfast/lunch in Glen Rose. We were only about 20 minutes away and it was only about 1030 AM. We get to MK’s and they would only serve breakfast. We call Philip and he is at National Park and getting ready to go swimming. I told him we are getting ready to eat so we will not be too far behind.

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Philip told me where he was so we eat and take off. When we get to the park entrance to pay our $5 pp they also have a little history/info center type of room describing some of the foot prints we will see in the park. So we tour that for awhile and then head to where Philip said he was. He get there and I could not find his truck and I managed to head the wrong way in the main parking area going against the traffic and getting a lot of glares as we proceeded through. We then get turned around and we park in a more remote area across from the gift shop. As we were getting off our bikes a park ranger pulls up, roll downs his passenger side window and yells to Jim “are you with those guys and do they let you ride with them?” He is laughing and having a good ole time. As I walk up, he says I see why you make him ride the rear. It was funny and it turns out he was quite a nice guy. Actually most of the trip it was Willie holding the rear. It was tough keeping track of the guys as I had Dennis and CC on my tail and with them being a modified trike they took a lot of my view out so it was hard for me to easily make sure everyone was still with us. At one point we picked up a stray rider who rode with us and I was counting 5 not 4 head lights and thought I was seeing double for a while.

We get to the site near the river and it is a about a 30 40 foot trail down wards. Willie billy goats on down to the river and is ready to swim while, Dennis, CC, Val and I are like thinking about the journey. Here is a hot of Willie getting ready to go in to the river. Keep in mind I have a zoom lens, I did not think about figuring out a way to show our height from Willie.

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Willie dove into the water.
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Here he is in the river us still up on top.

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Dennis and CC start heading down and Jim goes back to the bikes so Val asks what do I think. I say what the heck lets go in, which means going back to the bikes getting our swim suites, finding a place to change and head on down. So we find this bathroom facility that was not really meant for changing cloths, but it worked. While waiting for Val I see if there is a better place to get into the water and could not find one. So we are now changed and head for the river. We start the trek down the path and it is soon we realize that this is not an easy journey not to mention we take the wrong path which made it more “adventure some”. I notice at one tricky passage Val is wearing these flip flops with fuzzy straps and I can only laugh and say you are going to get killed in those. She goes on about the traction they have and all that girlie stuff so I just shut up and deal with it.

We get down there and I take a couple of shots. .
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Val and I finally get into the river and Jim grabs the camera and takes a shot of Willie, Val, and myself.

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The water was fantastic and we cool off the then decide it is time to get out and head towards Granbury. Philip and Jim talk on the phone and Philip decided to take the boys to the Brazos (I am thinking for an easier entrance into the water). We climb back up the path Dennis and CC found going down which was easier but it still made Val a bit uncomfortable with some of the cliffs that if you fell you would be back in the river. It is hard to believe that there were spots in the river as deep as 20 feet but yet spots that were no more then an ankle deep. It was a great stop so off we go and we get to Granbury and check into the Best Western. Very friendly, clean, and nice hotel. They did tell us our rooms were not ready so I asked about a place to eat as Val and Willie were starved as all they had at Mk’s was pie and ice cream. They recommend a place across 377 called Montana’s and it was good. Navigating the parking lot was quite the challenge but all went well and the food was indeed very good and inexpensive.

Well, Jim and Willie had to be back by 5PM so it was time to say good by and they headed back towards DFW and we went back to get into our rooms. It was getting quite hot and we were ready to cool off. We get back and while everyone is dressing down out of our cycle gear I went walking around having a smoke and I ran across this trolley. Well as it turns out it comes by every hour and takes you around the historical part of Granbury. Now you men must be knowing what I am thinking, the gals love to shop so I figure “let me see how this works out where I do not have to go down town”. I tell Val about it and him and haw about it and she decides to see if CC wants to go. She does, “the plan is falling into place”, so I tell her you all go I am going to hang back and take a nap. Well Dennis hears I am not going so now he has an easy out so they get on the trolley and we head to the hot tub. Here are some shots the gals took while down town.

They of course find some trouble of themselves to get into. Here they are at a martini bar.

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They had to make it like they walked around a bit so they did take some other shots.

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Now this picture fits.

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Of course no shopping trip goes with out some kind of purchase of a gimmick. Val buys this beer can and bottle holders that are supposed to work better then cozies. So far it is a major pain to put on the can. I will let you know later if you’re interested if it was a true gimmick or if it really works. She has the guys card so she can chew him if I abandon the new toy. Here she is at his stand.

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Here is the back side of the building shown above.

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After a couple of martini’s it was chair time.

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Break time is over back to the martini shop to wait for the trolley. Now how many of you are buying that bull. The mood seems more up beat here.

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Dennis and I are now relaxed, watching the Nascar race in the lobby and waiting on the ladies. Of course it did not take us long to realize that some type of drinking was involved on their trip. So we all enjoy the race and wait for the fireworks. One of the major reasons for staying over night was that there was supposed to be fireworks. The gal working the front of the hotel told us that the view would be great from the hotel and we could take lobby chairs out side to watch them. But she did not know there was going to be fire works tonight. Well she was right there were none, but we ordered a pizza and had a good time in the lobby anyway. We did see some fire works coming from the Southwest but there were quite far off. Here is a shot earlier I took of the sun set behind the bike.
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Here is a shot in front of the hotel.
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We were all quite tired and it was time to go to bed.

The next morning (Sunday) we get up and have breakfast. Val could not sleep at one point so I let her sleep until 8AM.

We get going at about 930 AM and get some gas and pretty much shag on home as it was going to get hot quick. Val and I decide to take a rest at the Suzuki shop at HWY 10 and 820 while Dennis and CC keep on going past us on 820. Here is a shot of her, the bike, and the Fort Worth Sky line.

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I then call Paul to see if he wants to meet at Dukes for a beer as today is his birthday and he does.

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We later decide to take him out for dinner on his birthday. Here he is riding the wooden pony.
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Another great trip and end to it. Keep it safe one and all.

Pj
Keep the wheels on the road.

If you want check my blogg at this site.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/viewtopic.php?t=25466&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

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