09 - Eureka Springs

The Ride Home

*remember, you can click on any picture to enlarge it

Headed home. The weather did not want to cooperate, even on the last day. Behind me are Flyin Willy, Waterman, JameyT and Trouble. I guess we could say that trouble was following us...

Kinda Creepy... I kept listening for banjo music.

Kinda pretty too.

I snapped this photo at a stop light.

Jamey and Melanie kept going north to Kansas City.  We headed west towards Wichita, but stopped just inside OK for a snack.

Woohoo! Sunshine in Kansas!

Check out the thermometer.... 81 degrees!

A field of yellow flowers

and a field of red flowers.

We did really good eating up the interstate. The miles were flying by. Other things were flying as well. About 30 miles from the CO border, a pheasant took wing from the median. It swerved to avoid John, and came right across my path. I didn't worry too much, after all it was just a bird... a 5lb bird... I ducked my head, and heard a 'thump'. When I looked up, my right mirror assembly was *gone*... I went back and got it. The bracket is broken, and the mirror is shattered, but I think it is fixable. Darn birds. As John said, it's a good thing it only 'Winged' me...

The weather turned really ugly. Big black clouds, lightning and cold rain. I had hoped to ride all the way home in a single day, but abandoned that idea. Joel had peeled off north near Burlington, and John and I decided to stop in Limon. We walked across the street to a Bar and Grill for dinner. They had cheesburgers on special, but these are certainly not 'Big Ass Burgers'. They filled our stomachs tho.

The next morning was clearer, but very windy. The wind made passing semi's a tricky situation. If you weren't prepared when you got around them, the wind would blow you about quite a bit.

This is looking towards Denver. We didn't know it but we were heading for some cold rain.

John turned north in Denver, and this is what I found in Idaho Springs, about 30 miles west of Denver. Snow. Cold, nasty snow. I bet I turned few heads riding the Wing in the snow. But it wasn't too bad. Thanks to Frogg Toggs and Gebings I was warm and dry. As long as the snow didn't stick to the roads I was fine.

Yup, that is Ice alright. My feet did get cold, as I didn't have my Merino wool/ possum fur socks with me. I only had golf socks, so I put on and extra two pair and motored on. My feet weren't warm, but they weren't uncomfortably cold either. As it worked out, the sun showed its face for a bit after the top of Vail Pass.

Close up of the windshield. This kind of weather is all part and parcel of riding cross country.

Got to love Colorado. If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change. It never really warmed up, the high was 57 degrees. But the sun was shining and it was great to get home...

Day 8

Started the day with a memorial to our fallen brothers.

Piper played a very moving rendition of 'Amazing Grace'.

CheapB reading the forcast hoping for some nice riding weather. He, Wrong Turn and Waterman had taken a very spirited ride thru MO yesterday, and was hoping to ride it again in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Breakfast at the Silver Spoke. They had one heckova special, I had two sausage patties, two scrambled eggs, hash browns and a buiscuit split in half, then covered in sausage gravy. Every day...

Melanie is a bit worse for the wear after trying to party with Susan. We all stayed up late and had a great time until they closed the patio at 1:00am. Thankfully Sherm was playing Designated Driver and took Melanie, Jamey and Susan back to their hotel.

\

It was not a total loss for the day. Even tho we didn't get to ride, we all got to spend quality time with old friends.

Day 7

Zmean1 horsing around with CheapB

Line of bikes outside the patio

Lined up and ready to ride to the Ozone Burger Barn

Moosquatch

The Wonder Dog

Gambler's mascot

Zmean1 was kind enough to take pictures of the ride.

Arriving at the Burger Barn

The Ozone Burger Barn is just this tiny little building out in the middle of nowhere...

This double was more than a mouthful. She had to bite from the top, then bite from the bottom to be able to eat it.

Good eats!

Gambler just wanted a 'snack' so he went for the frito chili pie... and got a lot more than he bargained for.

After eating Stewey and Flamekiller decided to take some 'Killboy' type shots. Here I am, with Susan, trying to look 'sporty'.

A little better shot. It seems like we were leaning a lot more than this picture show. We even managed to scrape a peg!

The line up for the reunion banquet.

Lots of nice bikes.

Mitch and Rooster clowning around., staging a race on these tiny bikes.

Wipe out!

Looks like multiple casualties, but they were fine. There were no brains to damage.
=)

Day 6

Last night around the firepit. Magellan, Piper, Stewey, Lucky Al, Cheap B

Reverse, Rem, Waterman, Magellan

Cheap B and Wrong Turn. Two of the "Fighting Pappy's". On the way out here, they missed "Popeye Days" by one day...

Shelby and Toby. Shelby's t-shirt almost has a naughty saying.

Big Dawg and Sherm

Rem, Reverse and Lucky Al

The registration booth. Moon out front, with Badger, Flamekiller, Stewey and Cheap B

Chris and his wife

Following Wrong Turn and Cheap B thru Eureka Springs. Who let 'Wrong Turn' lead?

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Or Santa's elves, take your pick...

We decide to go to the Rowdy Beaver for dinner. We started out in the bar, but moved into the dining room after we found out they had one.

They had a area just for large groups. We had no sooner sat down then they started arranging the other set of tables for another group. A group of Harley riders! There were some good natured jabs, and some not so good natured jabs, but all in all we coexisted peacefully.

Flip, Wrong Turn, and Shelby enjoying an evening chat

Stewey, zmean1, Hooligan and CheapB

This day was mostly spent socializing. We did take a short run out to Cycle Gadgets, a few leather shops and the Ice Cream Store.... Cycle Gadgets is a techno-geeks candy store...

Day 5

Hotsauce and Bass man. Scott stopped by for a few hours of socializing last night. He was in the area for something work related. His visit was a pleasant suprise.

412 in OK, headed east on our way to ES

Waterman bringing up the rear

Stopped in Siloam Springs to go to Wally World to fix my sunglasses. One of the nose pieces had fallen off, and OK won't allow vision centers in their Wal-marts. Man, it was an expensive fix too. All of $2.50.

Arrived at last. It was drizzling when we got there, but it rained later. Flamekiller, Magellan, Stewey, Lucky Al and Rem hanging out. It is good to be back among old friends.

Waterman and Flamekiller.

Wrong Turn arriving in the rain. Soaked but still smiling.

Six Pack Jack arrived on a new Yellow Goldwing

Cheap B drove thru the rain pulling a Kwik Camp camp trailer. It is a nice little unit, set up quick and gave him a nice dry place to stay.

Lucky Al and Sherm. Sherm is a master blogger. You can view his blog of this trip at http://estrip09.blogspot.com/

Iron Horse Stables. The Kaw pasture for 09

Ice Cream and his wife Sharon, Flamekiller, Reverse, Rem, ?, Stewey and ?

Waterman, Wrong Turn, Cheap B

This is Stewey showing affection...

After I ordered the 1/2lb Cheeseburger, CheapB made a slight change to the menu. The wait staff didn't notice the change until a few days later, when people started ordering the burger by it's new name. They thought this description was better than the original and kept it...

Day Four



The day was much nicer, so we decided to go for a ride. This is a shot right down the road from Don's house.

A bit farther down the road.

The view goes on forever.

We stopped for a snack, and found this guy outside. He was very tame and his owner had stories of how affectionate he was and that he followed her around like a puppy. He would even try to stop her from leaving without him by blocking the door if he saw her putting on shoes.


A profile shot. What a colorful critter.


This is not what I expected Oklahoma to look like

Another lakeside view.

Scenic shot at Tenkiller lake. The ride up here was very scenic with some twisties and great views.

Our lunch stop.

The lunch special, A cheeseburger and fries.

Hotsauce (Scott) called up and he was in Tulsa working, so he decided to call us up and come by. No more blogging for me tonight...

Day Three

Don's favorite BBQ Place. We took a short ride in the car to get here because of the rain. Know we know what bikers do when they can't ride... they eat!

Inside is none too fancy, kind of sparce.

But the portions! OMG! This is one order of chicken fingers! The girl who took my order literally plunged BOTH hands into the pan of home fries, pressed them against the side of the pan and scooped out as much as she possibly could!

Don had a sliced beef sandwich and Sherm had the ribs.

The left-overs... were enough for dinner.

Lakeside view

Sherm taking a picture of a road designed to let the creek flow across it. The water is running too fast for a passenger car, so the sign has it closed.

Another pic of Don's classic showing the front. What a beauty...

Day Two

Heading out of Dodge City. Can't see it real well, but it is really foggy. At least the fog softened the bugs on the front of the bike from the day before. They wiped right off!

Now you can see the fog...

The fog stuck around most of the morning.

There are lots and lots of these metal artworks lining one side of the road.

As far as the eye can see...

I think there is blue sky!

A huge field of sunflowers! Pity they were all turned away from me.

I got sent off on a detour that turned out to be quite scenic.

The scenery is starting to look nice, I must be getting close to Oklahoma.

About 1:00 I entered Oklahoma, and started to really enjoy the day. As soon as I crossed the border the speed limit went up 10mph, the roads got curvy and hilly, and it got warmer. I was soon shedding the leather pants and the liner. The last 2 hours were quite pleasant.

It doesn't look like it, but this plane was quite close.

Bassman's Vulcan Classic. The paint job is amazing...

Cocoa the dog, what a good girl! I wonder if she will fit in my trunk...

The restaraunt Don took us to for dinner. I caught Sherm taking the same photo.. =)

Five tables of choices! - Oh man, I ate too much.

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Got up this morning, ready to head out. Went to check out the complimentary breakfast, and it was meager, even for continental breakfast standards. It was pathetic, I ended up with a bagel the size of a silver dollar and some juice.

It was very foggy out, but the nice thing about fog is that the bugs are soft and wipe off easy. The morning was cool, it stayed in the 60's until after noon. It never did rain, but it 'misted' on me. I watched the water creep up the windshield and spatter my face shield.

370.9 Miles in 5.53 hours, stopped for a total of 29 minutes. Moving average 60.8mph. Max speed 96.7

hehehe... There were these 3 semi's in a line you see and only a short passing lane...

http://www.mapquest.com/mq/7-4_qx0bVeuJ0*DaPJ

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Day One

This is the view of I-70, looking west...

and this is the view looking east... guess which direction I have to go...

The scrub oak is changing color...

Same view, a bit closer... Not the greatest shots, but I think you get the idea. =)

The view from the top of Vail Pass... 43 degrees...

Just outside of Limon... Still overcast and about 60 deg.

Finally, some sun and temps in the low 70's part way thru Kansas

Just screwing around with the camera...

Hwy 238 between I-70 and Dodge City... 84 miles of 'straight'... would have been a fun road with a higher speed limit...

Came across this way cool building in the tiny town of Ness, KS. What an fantastic building. The street is paved with brick, btw...

Yvette says the building looks like a sand castle...

Beauty of a sunset on the plains.

This is the sign coming into Dodge City... it looks really cool from the road.

And even better with the sunset behind it.
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It was an OK day of riding. It never really warmed up, but after the sun came out, at least I could ditch the heated gloves and the rain jacket. After 43 degrees on Vail, and in the tunnel too, I don't care if people tease me about my heated gear. I love my Gerbings.. =) When I got to Limon, I decided to keep going east instead of south to Amarillo. I thought I would go ahead and see how far I could get, besides, the weather going south didn't look any better than the weather going east. I must have been fighting a good headwind, cause my fuel light came on at 200 miles or so. I was planning on making it to Hays, but barely made it to Wakeeney... I had only a 1/2 gallon when I stopped... I only got 34 mpg, normally I get 42... Talked to Sherm for a bit on the cell, he recommended I head south to Dodge City from Wakeeney. It was only 80 miles away, and I was running out of daylight, so I agreed it sounded like a plan. 84 miles later, I was signing into the Travelodge that Sherm recommended... I even got the same room he did last night.

I took a walk to the Taco Tico down the block. When I got there they had a picture of a gun,with the universal 'No' sign over it. I had the LCP with me, but I went in anyway. I figured they would never know I had it unless I needed it, and if I needed it, I didn't care about their sign. When will people figure out that they have no need to be concerned with someone who is legally carrying a gun...

Tulsa is one gas tank away, but Emily says it will take 6 hours. Gonna head out bright and early.. Hopefully it will be a sunny day...

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575 miles in 9.12 hours. Stopped for a total of 1.1hours. moving average 71.6 mph. Max speed 94....

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Tomorrow morning I'll be headed for Eureka Springs. I plan on going via Amarillo this time, as I will have to come home on I-70, and really don't want to ride thru Kansas twice in 10 days...

I'll try to update the trip nightly, so stay tuned...