Christmas 2014

we will start out this post with

ELFIES!!!

I will post some pic's and a video

of our trip to Rockport Tx. in a few days

Now we didn't ride, we drove Lynns car and it was a good thing.

Snowing when we left OKC on Dec 24th and raining from Rockport to north New Braunfels Tx., 

and not a light how ya do rain and hard driving rain Dec 28.
So we will start off our stay in Port Aransas and on the Red Dragon Pirate Ship 
and dolphin watching.

Now the reason for this trip was to do something different, to be some place else for the 
first time since Lynn and I have been married.
See my birthday is Dec 21st, Lynn's birthday is Dec 29th
and we were married on Dec 25th 1979.
So Christmas time is our time 
and this year it was all about us, or was it?

This brings us to our last video for our anti-Christmas 
Christmas trip

To say it was fun would be well an under statement
we are looking forward to our next anti-Christmas trip.  

Happy 35 years

Love Ya!!!

Before playin Santa Claus I had to be Granddad

With the Guthrie Victorian Walk just a few hours away

we had a visitor at our place

Our 2 yr old Grand daughter dropped by for her Sat visit.

She seems to like skull and she always wants to sit on her 

when she can.

Now you have to watch the whole video 

cause I already know I'm building her a bike.

Guthrie Victorian Walk 2014

With 11 days till Lynn and I leave to head to RockPort Texas for Christmas

Lynn wanted to do something to give back. Now this is not as easy now days 

as it used to be.

Lynn and I used to go to the Post Office and get letters written to Santa Claus

and go buy the things the child had ask for plus buy the makings for Christmas

diner. Not that easy any more you have to jump through all sorts of hoops

just to do something nice.

We heard about an event in Guthrie Ok that was going on in Dec and decided to 

buy 100 bears and dress up like Santa Claus and Mrs Claus ride Skull out 

to Guthrie and pass out bears to the kids.

Well 130 bears later we loaded up, Lynn drove the car with all the bears 2 Elfs

(peanut and butter) the Santa suit and I rode Skull. Yes I rode Skull without 

Lynn on her, it was odd to say the least.

We got to Guthrie and our staging area Recollections Antique Mall

and our hosts Roy and Eileen Miller who were very helpful with helping us get ready.

They even babysat Peanut for a few hours. We started riding around about an hour before 

the start time, and stopped about 8pm. We had people walking out into the street 

to take pic's of us and Skull. It was a blast to say the least and Lynn got

her time to give back. We have been doing what we call Elfies for about 2 weeks now

And Lynn even got to take some Elfies after we were done handing out bears.

Enjoy the pic's and video

It starts with a box of Bears

The lonely ride to Guthrie

It's time for the fun

The Long Ride

part2

Grafton IL.

So to understand why Grafton Il. in the fall at the end of Oct.

We have to go back a year to Oct. 2013 and the ride home from Niagara Falls.

We stopped by a friends house in  Charleston Il. and him and a group of the Flat Landers took

Lynn and I for a ride to Grafton and The Hawg Pit BBQ joint for a bike get together.

Lynn and I were awe struck with the town and the rivers.

We were also awe struck by a house we seen way up on the bluffs.

Tara Point

When we got home I started looking for B&B's in the Grafton area

to my surprise I found out that The house on the bluff is a Inn and also rents cabins.

So I made plans to take Lynn for the fall of 2014.

We had already taken our first fall ride on Voyager.

Now it was time to take Skull.

We set a date and made our plans,

Oct 29th we set out to see the fall colors of Grafton Il.

Now when we ride we are always ready for what the world will throw at us

This ride was no different. No Skull gave us no problems I mean we had to buy a new

battery, but thats not a big deal.

We have rode enough miles in the fall to know we will get cold and wet, and well we got cold and wet LOL.

I'm going to start you off with a video of us running the river road (hwy100) from Alton Il 

to Grafton and Tara Point.

Now every story and every ride has a beginning, middle and end, this ride was no different.
Ok maybe a little different, after all we had zero break downs.
I have shown you where we were headed now I would like to show you how we got there.
one of the places we wanted to see on the way to Grafton is a place called The Devils Elbow.
It's said to be one of the best views in Missouri off of Rt 66.
The town got it's name from a wicked turn in the Big Piney River.
There isn't much to the town, a Elbow Inn and Bar by the river and across the bridge in the center of town is Shelden's market which is also the post office.
We spent a little while in the town and checking out the view, we also bought 2 t shirts boxed them up and mailed to our selves. Yep been there got the T shirt LOL.

 The Elbow Inn and Bar
We didn't stop in but we have heard they have bras hanging from the rafters

Shelden's market and Post Office

  
Riding with Lynn I am never at a loss for fun and she is always seeking out fun.
We hit the Flyin J truck stop in Stanton Mo. at lunch time and it seems
that some of the high school kids had just finished eating lunch after puting
on a play for a local grade school. And Lynn just had to say howdy and take some pic's.
Now her and one of the girls are face book friends

 Doin what we do
while at the Flyin J this little one wanted to sit on Skull
Mom and dad were so excited to see we didn't mind and
they pulled out their phone and started takin pic's.

Once we made it thru the rain to Grafton and woke on fri mornig
it was time to go out and ride the country side and see what we could find.
With the fall colors in full, the country side was a blaze with reds, golds and yellows.
We did have one pre-booked planed thing for this day
We wanted to take a ride on the pirate ship but that got scuttled because unlike SPI
they only rent the ship out for groups of 14 or more at $450.00 a group.
Our second choice was to take the haunted boat ride at 6pm, a 2 hour ride with all the Halloween
 fixins. But that was canceled because of lack of booking.
So our third choice was to take the last ride on The Hakuna Matata to see the sights from the river.
So we booked it before we left OKC, 3:00 pm Fri afternoon. Yep we get to take a fall boat ride and it's the last one of the season.
The thing is we can book something all day long, but what to do when your 60 miles
away from the boat sight seeing and you have 1 hour and 30 mins to make it back?
Well if your us instead of turning back the way you came because you know you can
make it back in time, you keep going forward. Oh and you stop for lunch along the way.
Mmmmm good catfish

So in the mists of trying to make the boat in time cause there would not be another

chance to ride it, we stop for lunch and all Lynn could say is we will make it.

Yeah if I push Skull like a crazy man, LOL.

Before we left the restaurant I ask the girl serving us how far away was the ferry, she 

said about 14 miles.Hmmmm 14 miles to the ferry or I could just go back the way we came 

and cross the bridge. Well Lynn has a saying "forever forward", so the choice was easy.

"To the ferry"

which by the signs was 22 miles away

LOL

We made it to the Ferry that was a given.

But did we make the boat?

Of course we did
Really
Did you have any doubt that we would make it?
We got caught behind local traffic for about 6 miles
Then we had to wait for the ferry
once we got on the ferry and rode it across, we still had to wait to unload and
then we had to make a quick ride back to Grafton, slowing to go thru
town. Don't need a ticket.
We got to the boat just as they were loading.
Here's what Grafton and the area looks like from the water
There is also some pic's of Tara Point from the river in the video.

Yeah I know, what an odd song for that video.
I mean it's a viking song and thats a pirate ship
But hey I have always wanted to use that song in a video
Now I can check that off my list
LOL
The pic's and video of the pirate ship was taken from the deck at Tara Point,
with one of the best cameras I have ever owned.
My Fuji finepix S

Our time at Tara Point was almost over.
3 days and nights of great sights from our eagles nest.
Our Grafton adventure was to come to a close Sunday morning.
One more evening of walking the deck and taking pics.
It was like the whole area was saying good bye hope to see you again.

The ride home was cold and windy.
4 hours of 32 degrees and winds blowing from the south at 20 with
gusts to 35. Yep we would spend this day riding head long into a cold wind.
We took 4 coffee/warm up stops from Grafton Il to Rolla Mo.
We were also riding head first into a rain storm that we could see in front of us
and doing a check on our phones we could see on radar.
My goal was to get us to Rolla Mo. for gas and coffee before the rain.
Our timing could not have been better. Just as we pulled under the gas station awning
it start sleeting. Yep sleeting every one that was at the station could
 not believe it and we had many
come up to us that could not believe we were on two wheels in it.
There was a guy who had sold his place in Il. in a uhaul truck filling up next to where I
was filling up Skull. He looked around the pump and said
"Hows the air conditioner working on that bike today"
LOL
Every one has to be a smart butt.
Well we lived thru a night time ride on the most dangerous hwy in Oklahoma
the Turner TurnPike and made it home by 6:15pm Sunday night
11 hours
539 miles (one way)
4 gas stops
4 extra coffee/warm up stops
But it was a blast, and the fall colors were amazing!!!!



As I sit here in my nice warm and cozy office out of the cold.
According to everyone winter has come early and "all kick stand are down"
Hmmmmmmmmmm
All kick stands???

2 long rides, 2 1/2 weeks apart
taking in to different views of fall
3337 miles total road miles
280 miles of wandering miles
$197.00 in gas all total
Some of the best food on any long rides we have taken
and some really nice people along the way.
Our riding season is far from over.
See you on the road
OK maybe not till spring
but if you are out in your cage and you catch a glimps
of 2 crazy people on an old Honda Chopper
give us a short honk and a wave.

The Long Ride

Fall 2014 (part 1)

So we are 2 weeks back and I'm finally done with the videos

Heres the break down

8 days

2259 miles

100+ miles in the rain

3 days in South Padre Island Texas

3 days in New Orleans

great food and good times

We left out of OKC on Friday afternoon Oct 3. trying to get a jump on the weekend traffic.

We headed west to Hwy 81 heading south out of El Reno Ok. We know south I-35 on a Fridays 

is rough and extremely busy, so taking the back road would be safer but slower. We would hook up

with I-35 down in Texas around Ft. Worth. and go from there.

This trip was going to be a bit different than years past. Yes we would be on 2 wheels ( is there another way to take a trip?) but we would be taking Voyager. She is Voyager 2 but in all aspects a

clone of our first Voyager. This will also be the longest ride we have taken on this bike.

We stopped for supper in Bowie Texas at a Italian restaurant. Great food!

We gassed up and headed out again.

Now the ride so far was great with zero headaches, but we had not made it to Ft. Worth yet.

Now ridding in big cities doesn't bother us. We have rode in big cities all over the country.

But the thing about Dallas and Ft. Worth is the Hwys, they are always tore up and the traffic is 

so bad. Well it was really bad this night, seems there was a wreck and we got stuck in stop and go traffic. Now we can deal with that BUT Voyagers are known for not liking sitting still and running .

They run hot and after being on the road for almost an hour well shes already hot and getting hotter.

With the temp gauge showing almost to the top end of hot we had to get off and find a way around this cluster fuck.Off ramp close and we are off and moving again. We work our way around and back on the hwy and we are headed out of Ft. Worth. Good bye! We find a place to bed down for the night and get ready for the next day.We wake Saturday morn ready to make our way to SPI, now if you have read this blog you know the story behind SPI for Lynn and myself. We have been going to SPI since 1979. We have seen it grow up and become what it is today, at one time we even thought about moving there (but thats another story). We made it with no problems and no more traffic jams.

We seen some old friends and visited some familiar places and even did a few new things.

So the Theme of this trip was set by a flag that I had bought for the ride. It is a pirate flag that says                     "the beating will continue till morale improves"

                    And we can't have a ride to the ocean with out the ocean and bike pic

 Our time here had come to the end and it was time for the ride along the gulf coast. Now we were headed to Galveston Island and to ride the ferry across to Port Bolivar and Hwy 87.But first we have to make past these guys.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm must be a rough job, what with checking our text on our phones while drug dealers and illegals sneak past. Well we made made it past now on to our next adventure.

WOW we have never rode or drove the gulf coast of Texas, I can tell you besides all the hwy work it was great. The weather was perfect and the people were nice. We made it to the ferry later than what I wanted but we seen some great sights and had some good food. By the time we got off the ferry the sun had gone down and we were on the search for a place to bed down, so we rode for around 29 miles to find a family owned motel called Gulfway Motel in High Island Texas. I know we missed a lot of sites stumbling around in the dark but thats the way it goes some time.

It would have been nice to stay and maybe play in the pool but day light was here and it was time to roll to our next adventure. From here we were going to ride inland to interstate 10 to Lafayette and then take hwy 90 south and around to New Orleans. We had one stop in mind OakLawn Manor an old plantation where the Drowning Pool was filmed.

From here New Orleans seemed to get further and further away. Every time we would stop for gas I would ask how far is New Orleans and they would always say about 2 hours. Really am I backing up or just going the wrong way?
  Well we make our way from hwy 90 back up to interstate 10 because it had rained and there were motorcycles down all over the hwy (I kid you not) traffic was bad and course it was almost 5 o'clock on a weds so you know we are screwed in a traffic jam. I get off on the one exit I know and then thats when I screwed the pooch. It seems that Katy Perry was in town and the concert was tonight and we are sitting right by the one place I really didn't want to be the Super Dome and the concert was here and now.

Streets closed off plus road work being done had us stuck in down town New Orleans and going in circles. We met up with a guy and ask how to get to where we were going, he said he was headed that way and could take almost all the way. So we said ok he got on his bike and we took off. He stopped at the red light and said 2 blocks up hang a left then it's just up the street.we thanked him, the light turn green and he was gone and we had finally made it to the B&B.

Well we have 2 days and nights to rest and play and we did but we had so much fun that we stayed an extra day and night.

Oh New Orleans until we meet again be safe be free and enjoy life. We met some great people had some great food and had a really great time. We will miss you New Orleans but it's time for us to head home.
   Sat morn Oct 11 and it's time to roll out to home. Today will be another test of machine and man and woman. Voyager has done good on this ride the clutch is slippin but she will get us home. Home thats our goal for today. It's only 718 miles can we make that in 1 day? We know rain is in our future for this day, radar shows showers by Shreveport and back to the west from there. Maybe it will clear off by the time we get there?

Or maybe not LOL.
We woke up in New Orleans Sat morn and went to bed in OKC.
718 miles
13 hours
3 food stops
6 gas stops
over 100 miles in and out of rain, at some points a down pour
We lived thru I-35 all tore to hell in Dallas
plus OU football traffic headed back to Oklahoma
and still made it back in one day
I will let you do the math on our speed.
Anyone Anyone that tells you riding a full dresser is like driving a car is full of it
anyone that tells you, you don't feel the weather or that your out of touch with what a true"biker" is when you ride a couch glide is full of SHIT!!!!

I can tell you ridding a bike that is 917 lbs dry weight then you add me, Lynn and all our stuff (cause we pack heavy on Voyager) is not easy and not out of touch.

So we are getting ready for part 2 of our Fall Long Ride
we leave n Oct 29th late afternoon on Skull and head to Grafton Il.
so look for an update early Nov.
Till then be safe
WhiteWolf