40% Chance of Rain

We had been talking for a couple of months about riding south to Decateur to eat at Sweetie Pies Ribeyes, but the temperature had been hovering around 110.  That is too hot for a fun ride.  The heat broke last week, so we decided to give it a try on Saturday. We watched the weather all week, and Saturday was supposed to start in the 60's and hit a high in the 80's, with only a 40% chance of rain.

It is a date. Our friends from OKC are going to ride to Duncan, and we will leave from here to head to Decateur.  

Since there was a 40% chance of rain, we decided to bring the rain gear just in case. The day started out perfect, it was warm enough for just shirt sleeves. We met at the normal place for us. We always say Tractor Supply, but we really mean the Chisholm Corner convenience store/gas station.  We meet there so we can fuel up our bikes and ourselves. If it is cold I get a coffee, if it is hot I get a soda or water, and if it's early I may get peanut butter crackers (the breakfast of champions). Today I got an ice tea and some peppermints. As we were checking out, there was a most interesting basket of impulse buys, as I was looking I found a pack of gum that I just had to buy.

As we got ready to pull out Chuck says "OK Keith, you lead"  so we headed out.  We were going to Decateur via Wichita Falls.  You have to keep in mind that we are riding motorcycles, and a lot of the time we go from point A to C to get to B.

The highway in this part of the country goes through quite a few water tower towns.

As we were driving, there were miles of dry yellow fields, then you would feel cooler air and see a lush green field. Were they irrigating?

On Highway 70, as you get near to Interstate 44, you can see the Red River. This is the border between Oklahoma and Texas. We got to I-44 and headed south to Texas.

We are now over the border and could sing "Texas, Our Texas" the state song, if we knew it. We were headed to Red River Harley Davidson, and little did we know that it is tax free weekend and they were having a sale. After a bit of shopping we were headed to Decateur for lunch. I love driving through Wichita Falls. There is a very tall bridge that you get to drive over, the bridge is above the rooftops.

 

 

 Driving down Hwy 287 to Decateur, you go past Bowie. I have been traveling down 287 my entire life. My grandparents lived in Corsicana and we went through Bowie to get there. I don't think I have ever been on 287 on the west side of Bowie. It was neat to see what was on the other side of the curve.

Dianna had received a phone call from her friend Glenda on the way to Wichita Falls. She now lives in Weatherford, Texas, and Glenda decided to drive to Decateur to eat lunch with us. When we got to Decateur, she had arrived about 5 minutes earlier and had a table and hot rolls waiting for us. 

As we were walking out of the restaurant, we find that it had started raining. We need the rain so much (remember the dry fields we drove past on the way). Diane ran across the street to rescue the helmets from the rain. Once again the mother duck saved us, I hadn't even thought about the cloth neck edge soaking up the water.

Isn't the rain beautiful!!

 
 Since it was raining, we decided to do a bit of shopping on the square. Our bikes were parked in front of the Main Street Mall, so in we went. The store was sort of a shot gun style, it was narrow and very long. We shopped all the way to the back of the store. As we shopped back to the front I saw the jewelry, some really neat earrings. I had to have 2 pair.When we came out it was still raining.

We were all looking at the weather apps on our phones; trying to see where the storms were, are they past us or are there more coming our way. We saw some more coming our way, so the ladies went shopping around the square, leaving the guys sitting on the bench with the lizard.
As we came around the last corner, the guys were sitting right where we left them. They had a couple of interesting comments from people "this weather is not very conducive for motorcycles" and "think you are going to get wet before you get home"
After looking at the weather again, we think we can make it between storms. As we were riding out of the square to get gas, the water was running curb deep. We got gas and head north. Keith asked me to keep an eye on the weather, so I look at my phone and OH NO, there is a severe thunderstorm warning for the current location, telling people to take cover from the 60 MPH winds. The storms were about 13 miles northeast of Decateur, so I knew we were safe from the storm, but we were sure getting the outflow. A couple of times Keith was riding almost on the shoulder to keep from being pushed into the other lane of traffic. As we made it closer to Bowie, the rain was slowing and the skies were clearing.

We stopped in Waurika and I put on another jacket, while the others were taking off rain gear.

As we were leaving Waurika, we decided to stop in Duncan and you guessed it...EAT! We went to La Fiesta and had their wonderful Guacamole and fried Jalapenos. Since we were already in our home town, after dinner I got to say "text me when you get home".

This was a wonderful day.  I got to ride, shop, eat, and make a new friend. What could be better?

 

 

 

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Views from the Back!

Until Next Time!