Monday, April 21, 2014

Has it been 37 Years?

A few weeks back I got a friend request from a person I had gone to school with in England. Our school has a Facebook page "Bradwell American School". I'm so glad Jazz created the page, it gives us a way to reconnect.  This was an American school on the coast of England; put in by oilfield companies, so their employees would not have to ship their children off to boarding school. They could get an education that would transfer when the students returned to the United States. There was also an American school in London, somewhere in Scotland and in Saudia. I'm sure there were other ones, I just know students that had attended these.  My graduating class,  the Class of 1979, was the last year the school was open. After that everyone went their own way. I had friends from Texas, Louisiana, and Canada. So when Facebook came into being, it was great.
Anyway, back to the ride. When I got a  friend request from Adrian Otwell, I immediately accepted it. It wasn't long before I got a message from him. It seems as if he and his sweetheart also ride bikes and are planning a trip to Brady, Texas to look at the bluebonnets, and then to Fort Sill. I told him I live 30 minutes from Fort Sill, so we can ride over and go to dinner.
We exchange phone numbers so we can make plans as the time gets closer.


I get this picture with the text "loaded up and ready to go"

















On the Sunday before we are to meet them on Monday, it starts raining. We need the rain so badly, but I really feel bad that they are having to ride in the rain. His Sweetheart is a trooper. She told me they had rain gear, but it started raining so quickly they didn't have time to stop and put it on before they got soaked. So they got wet. We make plans to meet Monday evening for dinner. I am very excited, but a little nervous. We ride up to the hotel they are staying in. Adrian comes out of the room and walks up to our bike. He puts out his hand for a handshake and I just give him a big hug.Then I introduce myself and give Denise a hug as well. (I'm a hugger) I know they had been riding most of the day, but we decide to head up our mountain 'Mount Scott' and then eat dinner in Medicine Park.
I am a terrible blogger, I was so excited to see AD (Adrian), that I forgot to take pictures while we were on top of Mount Scott.  While we were up there Keith showed Adrian points of interest that you can see. AD and Denise make plans for riding to some of the places tomorrow.
We head to Medicine Park to eat at The Plantation. I think we could have visited all night. We talked about Great Yarmouth, Bradwell American School, what we had done with our lives in the past 37 years, and about motorcycling. It was a great time.


I found some pictures of us 37 years ago.


There is a typo in the year book. (I'm listed as Lunn Gowen)













That was then...
This is now!




We haven't changed much at all! 
All too soon it was time to call it a night. We lead the way back to their motel, and gave the motorcycle wave  goodbye. We are planning on going to Brady, Texas next spring for their annual Blue Bonnet Ride. It won't be 37 years until we see each other again. 

View from the Back

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Memorial Ride


On the morning of April 19,1995 at 9:02 am a horrible tragedy occurred in Oklahoma. The Alfred P Murrah federal building was bombed. 168 people died, including 19 children.  This act of terrorism  changed Oklahoma forever.
We saw an article in the Thunder Roads magazine about a memorial benefit run. The proceeds from this ride benefit the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. It is put on in part by a motorcycle club that is comprised of active and retired Oklahoma City Firefighters.
Keith and I decide at the last minute to head up and participate. I had gotten up early to train for the memorial half marathon coming up in a couple of weeks. So, as we are riding, I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open.  As we get into OKC, Keith suddenly swerves to avoid being hit. The girl in the car next to us just decides to change lanes, no signaling or anything. That woke me up.  We are running a little bit late, so hopefully we will make it to Papas Leather Barn in time. We start west on 23rd and ran into road construction, we will never make it in time. We are about 2 blocks away and can see the road is already blocked by the police escorts.  We turn to go around the block. so we can come up into the back of Papas's. We see a group of bikers congregating in a parking lot and jump in with this group. It is slow going at first, as there are four lanes of bikers trying to get down to two. In just a few blocks and we have a line of bikes two wide, as far as the eye can see. 


It is always a rush to ride in a large group of bikes, especially when the roads are being blocked by the police. You have to be sure and stay in your lane, because they drive very fast to get to their next intersection to block it.
















As we near the Memorial, we can see the end of the reflecting pool and rows and rows of bikes.




We finally find a parking space and walk to the survivor tree. This tree survived the bombing, it is a symbol of the Oklahoma Spirit.  We gather with hundreds of other bikers for the laying of the wreath and the moment of silence. 


A selfie or is it a couplie under the survivor tree.


After the laying of the wreath we decide to cut out, we had not gotten to Papa's in time to pay to do the run  We walk across the street to eat at Blu's Barbecue, then we head to the Pie Junkie to eat dessert. 

I got the peach blueberry crumble and Keith waited for the coconut cream. He paid me a real complement, he said my coconut cream is better.
When we came out of the Pie Junkie, the clouds were looking a little dark, so we decided we better head home.  
It was a perfect day, cool enough for a sweat shirt but not cold enough for leather jacket and chaps, and we had a time to reflect on life. Give the people you love a big hug and kiss, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. 

View from the Back


Friday, April 11, 2014

Crazy mixed up Friday night ride.



This week was a mixed up ride. I got the e-mail that the gang is going to Baluu's in OKC. I love that place I especially like, not sure what it is called, but it is like a make your own spring roll. You get rice paper,veggies,meat, and hot water to soften the rice paper. I immediately emailed back that we would be coming.  Little did I know Keith had made other plans.
While we were at church on Wednesday night Keith talked to Shane and invited him to ride with us to OKC to eat at "On the Border", sit outside and watch the Hot Rods cruise up and down during the Street Rod Nationals.
We get a phone call from Shane on Thursday night, he can't go he has taken the taillights off his bike and is having problems getting them back on, but Larry and Carla are in. 
I send a text to Diane "oops! Keith made plans and didn't let me know. We won't be at Baluu's tonight"
We are ready to roll about 5:30 on Friday evening.  
The weather is perfect. We get to Chickasha and there are some bails of hay in a field beside the interstate. They look like Huge caterpillars 
A little farther down the road and we see the most beautiful redbud trees, there are pastures full of them.  
            

     
These pictures don't really show the beauty of the trees.  I get wonderful views from the back. 
As we are driving up Meridian we see people with lawn chairs on the side of the road watching for cars. "On the Border" is on the corner of Meridian and Reno. The cars cruise north on Meridian and east on Reno. The restaurant is perfect! We ask for a table outside and have to wait a bit for them to clear one off. When they get it ready it is the best seat in the house, right on the corner so we can see ALL the  cars as they turn the corner.  

As we are I eating I get a Facebook alert on my phone. The gang is going to Taco Cabana after their meal at Baluu's, so they can watch the cars cruise.  I have the most wonderful app on my phone it is Find Friends. As we are getting ready to leave I use it to see if the gang is there yet, Yep they are.
We drive a couple of blocks and surprise them.   While we are there I get Chuck the cell phone guru to sync my new phone with my blue tooth head set on my helmet. Now I can talk as we drive down the road. 
All to soon it is time to say about goodbyes, we have a little over an hours drive home. 
view from the back


Until next time!


Friday, April 4, 2014

Food Truck Festival


I am a big food truck food lover. So when I saw in the Thunder Roads magazine that Fort Thunder was having a food truck festival for one of their bike nights I told Keith we had to go. We ask our little gang Carla and Larry, Karen and Shane if they want to go with us.  Shane is just getting over a cold and Karen is going to go and see their daughter, but Larry and Carla can go with us.  I am so excited, I follow a few of these trucks on Facebook, that way if we are in OKC we can go and eat their food if they are out. So Friday night April 4th we take off to Fort Thunder in Moore.

We arrive and the parking lot is Full of Food Trucks and bikes!  I wanted to just start eating immediately but Keith is very methodical, we must walk by and look at all the options before making our decision. We see hot dogs, fried fish, Cajun, barbecue, egg rolls, Italian, and German. 
I follow "Taste of Soul" so we decided to start with an egg roll. I tell them I follow them on Facebook so they give us a free side of fried rice.  
Oops! I forgot to take a picture before I started eating.  
I went to get Keith a soda from one of the vendors it wasn't really a truck more of a push cart. 
It was called Franks Wurst. He had hot dogs and wurst with different toppings and sauces, Oh and soda, that is why I went there in the first place. I just had to try a wurst with honey mustard mayo and grilled onions. It was very tasty the honey mayo was sweet and so were the onions. 
By the time I got back with this Carla, Larry and his brother and sister in law had gotten their meals. They got fish,shrimp and fries. Keith thought it looked real good so off I go again to get him some fish and fries. 
I had to wait a bit because they made each order fresh.  Now I thought I needed some beans and rice from the Cajun truck 

Just a very small order, I want to try ALL the food. 
On the way back to the table I got sidetracked by the German truck. They have German and barbecue. 
They had German sausage and smoked meat. I chose the French fries loaded with pulled pork, onions, sour cream and cheese. 
I know it sounds like I ate an enormous amount of food but it really wasn't that much. I got small portions and I did share with Keith.  I think our friends think I am crazy but I do love food trucks, you have to try all the food. It is almost time to go home, I don't know about anyone else but I have a very satisfied tummy.
View from the back!