Winter Rides 2013

January 27 2013 was one of the warm days we have in the middle of winter in Oklahoma. It was warm enough that we decided to head out for a short trip to Medicine Park, Oklahoma. This is a small community in the foothills of the Wichita Mountains. Now if you are from Colorado these really aren't mountains but here in Oklahoma next to the sweeping plains they are mountains.
We decided to ride to the top of Mount Scott, it really does have a beautiful view.

I think I took this while riding to the top.

We love taking pictures of Bella.
It was sort of cold because I was really bundled up.











Another warm day sometime in February my brother had come to Duncan for a visit. Since it was pretty we decided to ride with him part of the way to his house. We rode the back roads to Ratliff City where we stopped for a quick drink and a rest.

The ride over was wonderful but the ride home was a different story. The wind started sweeping down the plain. Keith was driving right on the center line so when the gusts hit we wouldn't end up in the ditch. I felt as if we were riding on the edge of our tires. Even with all the wind that didn't stop me from getting a nap. If you are not a biker you probably won't understand but you really can get a nap on the back of a bike. That is why I like being the "B" on the back.

view from the back

Until next time.

Ride Therapy

If you follow my blog you will realize the last time I wrote was in September 2012 it is now March 2013. It seems as if when we went to Bikes Blues and Barbecue the race began. We have been going none stop since September. I still may blog about our trip because we had such a great time.

Fast forward to March.... Friday night March 15th was a beautiful warm evening. We both had a very stressful week so we decided we needed some therapy "ride therapy" . We got on the bike and headed out. We just road up the road 10 miles or so to Marlow then headed to our favorite Mexican food place for dinner. After dinner we acted like a couple of Duncan kids and road up and down the drag for a while.  It was the most wonderful "Ride Therapy"
Since it was night time my view from the back is very interesting.

view from the back

Until next time.

Deep Deuce!!!

Yeah ! It is Friday.
And boy am I ready for the weekend. I guess I  must have short timers, because vacation is next week.  It really has been a good week at work, and we have taken the time to ride a couple nights this week.
As we headed out tonight one of the first things I noticed was, my feet getting hot. This is not really unusual if you are on a Harley, but tonight it is hotter than usual. Keith says about this same time "the wind must be from the south, because my feet and legs are getting hot" I had just thought that same thing.
The next thing I noticed was as we left Duncan that we didn't have a shadow, but a few miles down the road we got one.

It is nice and warm so I took a few ZZZ's . I stayed awake until we were past Rush Springs and then  woke up in Chickasha.
I have decided, since I know Duncan is playing a football game in OKC  tonight, that all these people on the turnpike that can't drive are from Duncan. Or maybe they just have it out for motorcycles.
We finally arrive at the Deep Deuce Grill in...you guessed it...Deep Deuce. The grill has a patio and that is where our friends were sitting. It reminds me of  Shirlington, VA. The people in the neighborhood bring their dogs with them to eat, and the grill brings out bowls of water for the dogs. They had a mister going, and it really helped keep us cool. When they turned it off and lit the gas lights, it got quite toasty.

 

 

We had all updated our cell phones, and I think I was showing Diane how to use the + button to take pictures. While we waited for our food, we talked about the updates and what kind of neat stuff we can now do.  It always amazes me how well behaved the boys are that come with Doreen and Allen. They bring their video games and you don't hear a peep out of them.

For dinner I saw wings (boned and boneless), taco's, burgers, fries, and wraps.

 

 

We had a great time visiting and talking about the trip to BBB next week.

 



 

 

Hopefully we can meet up somewhere in Fayetteville, since we are going in two different groups. All too soon it was time to say good bye and head to our homes.

 



 

This was an interesting view from the back!

Until next time.





Taco Tuesday!!!

A few weeks ago, on a Monday night, we went to OKC to take some things to Andrew. We decided to meet at the Iguana Grill, we love to eat Mexican. While we were eating Andrew says "too bad this is not a Tuesday. They have dollar taco's on Taco Tuesday"
Soooo this week on Monday we decided we needed to do two things:
1) get 420 miles on the bike before Saturday
2) take a piece of paper to Andrew
In order to accomplish these 2 things we rode to OKC on Tuesday for Taco Tuesday at the Iguana Grill.

The weather was perfect we put on a sweatshirt and off we went. The sunset was beautiful on the turnpike and over bricktown.

When we got to the Iguana Grill Andrew and Holly were waiting on us. This usually doesn't happen most of the time we are waiting on Andrew.
It wasn't long until Holly got a text that our table was ready. They text you instead of using a pager like in the olden days :)
We all ordered different taco's. I ordered crunchy fish, veggie, beef and boraccho chicken. Yes I was hungry but these are small taco's. The veggie was very spicy.

As you can see the food was great we didn't leave anything.
After dinner we tried unsuccessfully to find some coffee, Andrew had googled coffee shops there was supposed to be one a block away but it had moved closed. Then we drove a few blocks away to try another one but it was already closed. We decided it was time to say goodbye and head home.
What a perfect evening we accomplished the 2 things on our list, got to see the kids, ride the bike and eat mexican food.

View from the back!
Until next time.

Here it comes!!!

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?

 

 

 

,

Views from the Back!

Until Next Time!

Celebration Day!

Today, August 10th, was a Celebration Day for all kinds of things.
Celebration number 1:
30 years ago today, I gave birth to the most amazing baby girl.

 It is amazing just how quickly she grew,

and grew,

and grew,

and then she was an amazing young woman!!

All too quickly she was off to college, and then a cross country move to the east coast.






I am so proud of the woman she has become.

Celebration number 2:
Our son has received a promotion at work. He also grew from a cute little thing into...

a young man getting a promotion at work.

He has learned so much over the last few years, I am very proud of the young man he has become.

Celebration number 3:
This was a celebration of life as we talked about our friends Roger and Linda, who were killed while riding 5 years ago today.

The first time we met Roger and Linda, they welcomed us with open arms. We had just bought a bike and were trying to find a group of people to ride with. We went to a CMA meeting and met a wonderful group of people. Linda was a great teacher for a newbie like me. She taught me how to stay cool on hot days, how to stay warm on cold days, and gave tips on packing in saddle bags. Roger was a great joker. He was always giving me a hard time about my hair or spitting seeds on him as they rode behind us. We originally bought our bike to do day rides, then one day Linda says "We are going to a rally in Ruidoso. Do you guys want to come?" so we started really riding. That was the first of many rides and many miles. We miss them, but know they are in Heaven looking down on us as we travel. Every time we ride through Ryan, we give them a wave!!

Celebration number 4: A celebration of new friends. On our first trip to Ruidoso we met Chuck and Diane. Diane is another mother duck that made this newbie feel welcome. We lived in different towns, so when Roger and Linda were gone we lost contact. With the introduction of Face book, we reconnected and a few months ago we started riding with their Friday night dinner ride group. This is a group of people who have welcomed us in and made us feel right at home. We have the best time on Friday nights, just eating, laughing and visiting.

We usually end up with the ladies on one end of the table and the guys on the other, so we can talk and not have to yell over each other. You never know if the group will be 6 or 26, but we have a great time. I can hardly wait for some cooler weather, so we can really ride with this group.

View from the Back!

August 10th, a great day all around!










Until Next Time!!