Sunday afternoon ride

Sitting in Sunday School this morning I got a text.

A plan was made to meet Diane and Chuck at the Harley shop in Lawton at 2 and ride to Burkburnett to eat at "The Feed Lot".  As we head out it is overcast and cooler than we thought it was going to be but we had put in extra clothes in just in case. The weather app didn't show any rain but this is Oklahoma and who knows.

We turn the corner to the Harley shop and see another bike headed our way, it is  Ginger. We could not have timed it any better if we had tried. Soon we are headed down the turnpike to Burkburnett Texas.
In just a few miles Chuck and Diane are coming up beside us so Diane can take our picture. She is real good at this.

 

 

 

We get close to Texas and Chuck takes the lead. We take the 3rd exit and The Feed Lot is right there. Keith has been to this exit  before but he went to Whataburger not The Feed Lot.
The special today is all you can eat catfish. I decide that is way too much to eat so I choose the small catfish, Keith gets the same, Diane gets the chicken fry, Chuck goes  for the all you can eat. The fish is really good and the hush puppies were amazing. We had a wonderful visit, lots of laugh's. All to soon it is time to head home. We decide to ride back up the turnpike to Lawton. As Chuck and Diane are coming up beside us I get a chance to take their picture.

I haven't had near as much practice as Diane but I didn't do too bad.
We wave good bye as we turn east to Duncan and they ride north to Yukon. We had a great time today like we always do. Friends, riding and food it doesn't get any better than that.

View from the Back

First Ride of 2015

We are weather watchers in our house so when we saw on Wednesday that the temp was going to be 70 degrees on Saturday, a light bulb went on. "Let's ride somewhere "

I have been wanting to ride to Noble for a while, and eat chicken fried steak at Kendall's. I keep seeing pictures on Facebook, and it looks so good. It is as big as your head! So it is decided we will take a road trip on Saturday. 

Guess where we have to go before we meet the group? 

You guessed it....

 

The car wash! 

I must admit she was dirty, it doesn't take very long and we are ready to go. 

We meet up with the group and find out Carla is not feeling well, so Larry is riding solo. We thought Larry would be leading, but since his "governor, aka Carla" is not going he was afraid he would drive too fast. So we take the lead.

We decide to go through Lexington to get to Noble. There is an interesting major bridge that connects Purcell and Lexington. It has been in the news recently because it was found to have more than 100 cracks and needed major repair.
Hopefully it will be safe to drive over today.

 We make it safely across the bridge, I guess our bikes weren't too heavy.

I google the address since we haven't been there before. It says in 9.3 miles make a U turn on Chestnut street. Keith and I are very confused, we thought it was on Main street. As we get into town, we are looking for Chestnut. We see it, but can't figure out why the U turn. Then we see Kendall's right on the corner. The U turn is so you can park in front. We take the row of bikes past the restaurant, around the corner and back to the restaurant and find a parking spot.
We obviously picked a good time to arrive, because we get right in. We have sort of a private table.

 



I decide on the original chicken fried steak, and not the large. The large really is as big as your head.









Keith and Larry aren't big chicken fried steak fans, so Keith gets the catfish and Larry gets a burger.
 

The rest of us get the chicken fried steak.

 The steak was real meat and the green beans were amazing. I tried real hard and I did it. I made a Happy Plate!

The waitress wanted to take my plate a couple of times, I kept grabbing it back from her, I wanted to make a Happy Plate. Then she brought out a cinnamon roll, I took one bite and that was it. I couldn't eat anymore.
After lunch we decided to ride to Moore to the Harley shop. Keith and I break away from the group and head to Edmond. Andrew's birthday is tomorrow so we want to see him. After a nice visit we start home.
We are riding down the turnpike when Keith says "something is going on with the front tire, it is not right" we pull over and check to see if the tire is going flat.
No, it looks ok. We pull back on to the turnpike get up to speed and he is not comfortable with the way it feels. We pull off again and he rolls the bike while I watch to see if there is a nail or something in the tire, first the front then the back. I see nothing. So we get back on and head towards the house. When we get to Chickasha he decides to stop again. As we are pulling in I pray and ask God to let Keith know if it is ok to drive or not. Keith puts it up on the ride off stand and then really looks at the front tire. He says "Oh My!! the front axle has lost almost half of the bearings"

 We then knew we weren't driving it any more tonight. If the rest of the bearings had come out, the front tire could have locked up. We gave Larry a call. Thank God for good friends!!
He brought his trailer to pick us up.

Our Knight in Shining Silver

 

I just want to thank God for keeping us safe today and for our wonderful friends.







Sturgis day 2

We had a good nights sleep and are ready to hit the road. First, a little retail therapy. We meet at the Harley shop, and of course, I can find a shirt to buy. Mine was on sale, the one I wanted for Keith was a real pretty blue, but the only 1 left  was the display model. The motor clothes girl took it right off the display for us.

 

Finally, a picture of Doug & Twanna. They are riding behind us so I don't get their picture very often 

As we leave Hays, the weather is cool and a bit overcast. I'm sure glad I decided to put on my jacket. 

As we are driving along, we see these interesting bluff things. I can just imagine the Indians lining up along the edge, waiting to attack the cowboys below. 

Interesting thing happened in one town we went through. There was road construction on a hill. It went down to one lane and there was a stop light at the top. There was a truck in front of us and the driver was definitely a green horn. He kept missing gears and killing his truck. It took us so long to get to the top that the other lane of traffic was coming down our lane. They had to quickly drive over into the lane being worked on. 

Just a few miles down the road and "we aren't in Kansas any more"

Now for the miles and miles of corn fields. 

We arrive in North Platte, Ne, and pull into the station to get gas. I am writing down the mileage, etc, when Keith says 'that looks like Bruce'. Sure enough, it was Bruce. We met Bruce in Duncan when he and Darrell came to the Freedom Biker Church Rally. Bruce said he looked at our bike as we pulled in, thinking that it looked familiar, then he saw our sleeves that we wear and knew it was us. I still can't believe Bruce and his wife were moving their daughter to Colorado, and happened to stop at the same gas station to get gas. Amazing!

I could of visited for hours, but we both needed to hit the road. As we started to leave, Doreen noticed her check engine light was on. Oh Well, after lunch we are going to go to a Harley shop, so they can look at it then.

We have a great lunch at Whiskey Creek. Dianna introduces me to a Cobb salad. It was very yummy.

On the way out, we have a fun time taking pictures with the pictures and riding the horse.

Just about a half block down the road is Budke Powersports (this is a Harley, Honda, SeaDoo, Can-Am, Polaris, Victory, Yamaha, Shoreland store). We pull in and Doreen goes to see if they can take a look at her bike. They tell her they can look at it tomorrow. She tries to tell them she is traveling and can't spend the night, but no use, they can't even put it on the computer to see if it will harm the bike to ride ie. She was not a happy camper, but what do you do? She had our guys look at it.

Not enough guys!

They decide it will be ok to drive it. The closest Harley shop is in Rapid City, so we will get there tomorrow about noon. 

Beautiful clouds as we drive.

We have the most interesting and fun gas stops. We stop in Oshkosh, Ne, "the goose hunting capital". We stop at this little convenience store. It is very busy with bikes and rv's going home from Sturgis. There is an rv taking up one whole side, while the other side has a pump that doesn't work. So our bikes get in line to get gas. 

We were just pulling the bike into line when a guy in a pickup cut in front of us. So Keith decided to use the gas nozzle from the working side and pull it around to the non working side. As we were getting our gas, Chris called Dianna over the people in the huge RV. They had locked the keys and phones in the rv. He wanted Dianna to find the number for OnStar so they could call and get the doors unlocked. While Chris and Dianna were helping this couple, a little lady pulled up behind the rv. Keith went to tell her they weren't going to move soon, but she could pull over to the non-working pump and use the working one like he had. 

Next thing I know, he is pumping this a little ladies gas. 

So much for being 'mean bikers'!

Next stop will be our stop for the night in Chadron, NE. As we are driving, we can see the storms coming in. Keith and I are watching the storms and the really neat coal trains, when we look up and the bikes ahead of us are almost out of sight. It is like Star Trek, warp speed-factor one. I decide they must be trying to out run the storms. 

Finally, we pull into Chadron, NE, for the night. We had been looking at Yelp earlier in the day for a place to eat dinner in Chadron. We were teasing about Helen's Pancake & Steak House. Guess what was right next to our motel? Helen's!

We decided to check it out. It was ok, but nothing to write home about. 

Our waitress was a hoot, as she handled all the teasing very well.

As we were eating, I noticed I had lost a stone out of my favorite ring. Luckily, I didn't pay much for it.

There was a liquor store across the street, so we went to get Carla some tonic water (it helps with her leg cramps). I purchased some Apple Ahhh Rita's, but I still can't decide if they are good or not. We went back to the motel and sat by the pool for lots of laughs and a few drinks. Time to hit the hay, or should I say corn, since we are in Nebraska?

Sturgis Day 1

I have been looking forward to this trip since January. Going to Sturgis is on my bucket list and it is finally going to happen.

We arrive at the meeting place just a couple of minutes late, they are waiting on us.

Larry and Carla don't match!!! Come to find out those are their throw away shirts, when they take a long trip the first couple of days they wear shirts they can throw away. That makes room for the new ones they will buy.

We head out to El Reno to meet up with rest of the gang. We arrive at Love's and get gas and a drink. Here come the rest of the group. 

Let's get this party started.

This was our order for riding the whole trip. Our fearless leaders Chuck & Diane, Chris & Dianna, Larry & Carla, Doreen, Allen, Keith & I, and bringing up the rear Doug & Twanna.

We are driving along making good time when we have to stop in the middle of the road because a train is crossing the road.

After a wonderful salad lunch at K-Bob's we start to leave Woodward and what happens? A Train!!!

Who would have thought we would be stopped by 2 trains in 1 day!

As we are getting close to the Kansas border I tell Keith to be on the look out for the Kansas state sign so I could get a picture as we cross the border. I had teasingly asked Chuck if he would stop at all the state lines so I could get a picture. And you know what....He did! He stopped! He is such a sweet guy! 

Thank you Chuck so much for stopping.

A little way down the road we see Dorothy's house from the Wizard of Oz, at least it looked like it.

Doesn't it look like the house from the Wizard of Oz!

As we approach the town of Lienbenthal KS we see the most interesting fence posts. They are made out of rock from a quarry.

There were also a bunch of houses and church's made out of this same stone. I just love the things I see from the back of the bike.

Soon we arrive at our stop for the nig,ht, Hays KS. Doug has a friend who suggested we eat at Gella's Diner & LB Brewing Co. I had looked .up the address on line so Keith was elected to lead. We only made one wrong turn of course no one knew but Keith and I. The menu had a good variety of food and since it is a micro brewery, beer.

I was not a fan of the darker beer but I really liked the Lemon Ale. Doreen liked the darker beer so we made sure she had enough.

Back to the motel we have an early start.

Great Weekend!

This week has been very British by that I mean cool, misty, overcast. But when our FNDR coordinator suggested Baluu's I knew I wanted to ride. I just love this place my favorite is the Vietnamese Hand Roll Spring Roll. They bring out a bowl of hot water for you to soften up the rice paper wrappers in, then a plate of vegetables and meat, and peanut sauce. It is YUMMY!
We are only bringing the 2 Smith's  this week. Us (Keith & Lynn) and Doug & Twanna.
When we head out it is overcast and a bit chilly, I could have worn a jacket.

At we got into OKC the clouds broke for just a few seconds and the heat came through. It was wonderful.

It is a very small group this week only 6. Last week there were 14 you never know how many will show up. Oh well they missed a great time.
After we ate we decided to head to our favorite place for a marguerita, the place we call Mole Nation, Taco Cabana.
The talk came around to where are we going to ride tomorrow. Doug & Twanna are busy but the rest of us are free. Keith mentioned that I had been wanting to go to the Pink Pistol in the big town of Tishomingo. It is decided, Pink Pistol it is!

Since Keith went on a poker run through Tishomingo a couple of years back I have wanted to go check out the Pink Pistol. If you aren't a country music fan you might not know but it is owned by Miranda Lambert.

As you can see by the picture it is still cloudy and cool. We brought rain jackets just in case it starts to rain. The weatherman says it is not going to rain but you never know in Oklahoma. 

We meet Diane & Chuck at the corner of Hwy 7 and Interstate 35 at a really nice convenience store. Then we head out to the big town of Tishomingo OK. 

It is so interesting taking the back roads you never know what you will see. Today we saw a silica plant and a very long train hauling something that looks sort of like coal. What is it really and where is it going?

We had no idea just exactly where the Pink Pistol was located in Tishomingo. But how hard could it be to find really. We just turned towards the main part of town and there it was. 

We had to park about 2 blocks down the road but we did get to look in the windows of a bunch of shops as we walked up the block. The shop was so cute, lots and lots of pink. 

There was this cute little gazebo thing with a throne where you could take your picture, so of course we did.

Our guys were so good to let us shop as long as we wanted, they didn't rush us at all. 

Notice the pink bicycle on the ceiling and the Christmas tree decorated with pink bulbs. It was such a cute store. Of course we found some t-shirts and the cutest bracelet with a little gun on it. When we got checked out we both got a pink reusable shopping bag. Found out after that you had to spend $50 to get a pink bag, well...we both got a pink bag! 

This was outside the store not sure if you were supposed to use it as a prop but we did. We got a very nice gentleman to take our picture. We always have a good time.

We walked up the street and shopped at another cute store by then it was time to eat some lunch. We had walked past a little place called the Rockin Rib. I had seen it on Yelp so we decided to give it a try. The trip to the bathroom was real cute!,

After lunch we decided to ride to OKC with Chuck & Diane. Our new computer is ready for us to pick up. We decide to head up the back roads instead of the interstate because when they were coming down the interstate there was construction and the north bound lane of I35 was moving REAL Slow. 

Once again I slept through the curvy, pretty part of the road. I don't know how I always manage it but I do. We got to Shawnee and Keith needed gas and we needed something to drink. We found a gas station and then the Starbucks. Life is good!

 

 

After we picked up the computer and bought some real cute lighted power cables to charge our cellphones it was time for dinner. We headed to Joe's Crab Shack and asked to sit on the patio, we had been outside most of the day anyway. And the weather is perfect.

What a beautiful day! Lots of laughter and good roads.

Won't be long until our trip to Sturgis!