Trip to Waurika

Keith & I opted not to drive to OKC to eat with the FNDR tonight, because we are supposed to go to Edmond in the morning to help Andrew with unpacking and building a fence. I got a text from Larry asking if we would like to go to Waurika and eat fish at Bills Catfish. That sound good, it is only a 30 minute ride from home and we will be able to be in bed at a decent hour.
We are to meet at 5:30 at Bois D'arc and Hwy 81.

We arrive a little late. There are 3 bikes and a car. Th\is is great, the more the merrier! We get ready to go and Keith gets voted Road Captain. Our little convoy heads south to Waurika. 

We have a good ride, the weather is perfect, warm but not hot. There was only one jerky driver on our trip. (there is always one) He waited until we got to the two lane to zoom past all the bikes. We pull into the gravel parking lot where Larry gets overbalanced and drops his bike.They are right next to us, and I reach out to stop Carla from falling, I'm still sitting on our bike. I don't know what I thought I could do to help from the back seat of our bike. The guys get the bike picked up and no one is hurt. Thank you God!

We really don't have to wait for a table. Pretty amazing as there are 11 of us. 

"Bill's Catfish" has fish that is very thin and crispy. They give you coleslaw, hush puppies, and the most amazing tartar sauce. Almost everyone orders a half order of fish, except me. I am hungry, so I order a full order. I make a happy plate. We have a wonderful visit and are so glad Ken, Lorraine, and Tommy followed us in the car. As we are finishing up, I asked if we wanted to go to Braums for some ice cream when we get back to Duncan. It was a resounding YES. 

Ken, Lorraine, and Tommy decide not to follow us as we are going to take the long way home around Waurika lake. As we head out, Doug takes the road captain spot and we bring up the rear.

The level of the lake is soooo low. It is below 50%, so if it gets much lower we will have to go to even stricter water rationing. Right now we can only water on Wednesday and Saturday from midnight to 9am.

This picture doesn't show it very good, but the black dots in the water are people. They have walked out and are fishing. We need rain so badly.

We drive back to Duncan by the back roads. The sun is setting and it is beautiful.

We have a great time visiting and eating ice cream.

View from the Back

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

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

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!

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!

Blu's Barbecue

We got the e-mail for the FNDR this week and they are going to Blu's BBQ & Burger. It is in a little building across from the Bombing Memorial. Keith and I send out texts and 4 of our friends want to ride with us for dinner. It is a nice and warm as we start out but I know it will be cold coming home.

We arrive and go in to look at the menu board. The owners are taking orders behind the counter and they are super friendly. The husband made me laugh, He asked if my bling ring was real. If it was I would need a body guard to wear it. I ask what their favorite things are. They give quite a few good suggestions.  Finally we decide on what to order. Keith is always healthy and chooses the buffalo chicken sandwich. I (of course) choose the rib and brisket plate. Now to choose the sides, there are the normal fries, baked beans, okra, corn, tater salad and slaw. The interesting sides were block o'cheese and tabouli. I pick the okra to share with Keith and the tabouli. Larry had never eaten tabouli so I share some with him. He thought it was pretty good. The ribs were amazing and the brisket was smoky and tender. I felt bad when Carla asked  me to pass the ketchup so she could put some on her French fries. I gave her the red bottle thinking it was ketchup. OH NO it is the hot BBQ sauce. Carla doesn't do hot. 

 After we eat they bring out cookies for dessert.
There was quite a large group tonight it was Chuck's birthday. Their son, daughter in law and grandchildren, Diane's mom and step dad were there.  Along with the rest of he normal gang. A great group  of people to wish Chuck a Happy Birthday!

Blu's BBQ has a Face Book page and they will take your picture under their logo and post on the page.  We all line up for a photo op.

I had to take a picture of the mirror in the ladies bathroom because Larry loves things with American flags on them.












Diane shares some of her essential oils (snake oil)  with Carla whose back is really hurting. Hopefully this will make the ride home easier for her.  It is now time to put on all the warm clothes we brought and head home.

We may get cold but we can make it home it is only 1 1/2 hours.  This summer the rides home will be great, cool and sometimes cold when you ride through the low places.

view from the back

1st Bike Night of the Year

I got the e-mail this week the gang is going to Johnnies Charcoal Broiler in OKC. Sounds like a good dinner the only thing is they are meeting at 6:30. It is very hard for us to make it that early since Keith works until 5. But we are going to try.

Friday morning at 3:42am I get a text from Fort Thunder "Bike Night Tonight" Dizzle Stuntz (a Harley Stunt rider) is going to be there.  Friday morning I send a text to Larry to see if he and Carla want to take a dinner ride then go to the Fort to bike night.
Early afternoon I get a call from Carla, her back is hurting but she wants Larry to go ahead and go with us tonight. I tell her to have him meet us at our house at 5:30,  we will try to make it to meet the gang for burgers then head to the Fort.
We head out a little after 5:30. 

As we are driving Keith and I discuss the plans for the evening. Will we make it to eat in one hour, will they all be through eating, can we make it to bike night. We decide it might be better to skip eating with the gang and just go eat close to the Fort. There are quite a few good places to eat close to the Fort. I think we should go to Five Guys. I first ate at Five Guys when our daughter lived in New Jersey.I love it because you get to eat peanuts while you wait for your burgers to cook and you get to choose your toppings for the burgers, I always get a little cheese burger with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes,grilled onions,onions, jalapenos, and BACON. Then I get cajun fries to share, only one order is needed for each table. One fun thing about Five Guys French fries they let you know  what farm potatoes come from. There are huge also has bags of potatoes sitting around and each day they post the farm that days french fries are coming from.

I just had to take a picture of my burger. Doesn't it look amazing? 

It tasted just as amazing as it looks.  I just wish the little girl that was pitching a fit and crying thought her burger was good. Her dad finally took her out, her mom looked embarrassed but finished her burger before she went out as well. 

We got to Fort Thunder just in time to see the stunt rider do his thing. As he was doing all these stunts I just kept thinking his mom must have worried about him a lot as he was growing up. He had to have lots of crashes when he started. I had to close my eyes a few times. Then we look over and see a cute little girl putting on her jacket and helmet. Then she gets on the bike and does some stunts with him. 

This was the first bike night of the year and guess what they ran out of....BEER.  I guess the Fort didn't expect so many people to come out. All to soon it was time to get our leathers on and head home.

My friends bought me this fun mask for my birthday, it glows in the dark!

View from the Back.