Santa Rides a Honda

2018

This is our 6th year doing this but our 1st year in our new home town

We hope to do it again on Dec24

Here is a few pics

 

Well,

its been a while

I know thats what everyone says when they

haven't been  keepin up with their Blogs

"Shes in High Cotton" lol

 

But between work and our pup gettin cancer life has been busy

We buried Falkor  a few months back and we found out this month (November 2018) that Starr has cancer, dont know how long we

will have her. Vet said when her bad days are more that her good days it will be time to let her go.

So we will be left with My Girl our cat

After she passes I think we will wait to get any more pets

That way we can go for longer rides and not worry about them

We still have the east coats ride to do and thats a 2 week ride

Ok thats it for now

 

Well

Two rides this close together

What have we done to be blessed

it's almost like the old days (lol)

short ride 340 miles

102 heat index

but we were on the road and happy

So while the house get new heat and air upstairs we went for a ride



fun on the Road

Well it's been a while

Life has gotten busy

We are still doing work on the house and still working to pay for

the work we are either having done or doing our selves.

We have been able to take a few short rides but they are few and far between

Lookin forward to work slowing down and putting many a mile on during the fall and winter months

WhiteWolf



So I am going to bring everyone up to date

Which is funny cause I am waaaaay behind

After the fall ride it was time to start decorating for fall and Thanksgiving.

Our son and his family came down for dinner

It was a short visit 

We didn't take many pictures

 

Well we have been back from our fall ride for a few months.

What can I say it was a blast, hot when we left out but cooler and wet when we rolled back into town.

You know if your going to take a fall ride you ok we want it to be fall weather.
It was 92 when we got to Antlers Ok. on our first day of the ride, yep hot and uncomfortable.
Like always we don't book any rooms we just head out and find a place to bed down. We knew we wanted to stay in the Beavers Bend area and that's where we were headed.
Our first gas stop was Tupelo Ok. we decided to get a late lunch while we were stopped also I called the lodge by the lake to see if they had any rooms.
We were still about 125 miles from where we were sitting but I booked us a room for 2 nights and we were set. Now all we would have to do was make it to the lodge before dark and the deers  start to come out.
WEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
No problem we rolled in just before sunset
The lady at the desk looked really surprised
desk lady : Were you the one that called from Tupelo
Me: Yes
Desk lady: you were really in Tupelo when you called
Me : Yes
Desk lady : and your on a bike
Me : yes
Desk lady : You know I can't even make from here to there in a car that fast
Me : (smile on my face) well 2 things we can ride hard and fast when we have to and
you ever been deer huntin on a 750?
Desk Lady : (confused look on her face) ?
Me : we ride a 1974 Honda CB 750
Desk lady : Oh well your room is ready


I really like sayin deer huntin on a 750 and watchin for the look on peoples faces. LOL

Our Fall ride under way and we were ready to get some rest.  They say its not the destination but the ride, but for us this ride was all about 3 places that we have wanted to run and ride too for almost a year. Sleep was important just so we could get up and get going, but the view was way to nice for us to just unpack and bed down.



The view from the next morning

The cool weather that we were wanting for it to truly be a fall ride had moved in, but fog had also moved in and it was going to get worse over the next 3 days.

We would have to really watch out not only for our selves but for the people who think driving or riding in the fog is the same as sunny days.

We were up early like we always are when we are on the road. We are definitely different people when we are on the road. The aches and pains of our old bodies seem to fade away, its weird how that works out.

The ride out from the Lodge by the Lake was fogy but as we rode toward the bottom of the mtn. it started to burn off.

forever young from Lon Stoner on Vimeo.

we rode to Talihina Ok to eat lunch and to check out 4 cemeteries that we had seen the last time we were up her with the grand kids. The sun had come out and we were runnin free.

One of our goals was to ride a twisty stretch of road that we found last year when we were here with the grandkids , we found it by accident and it was a blast in the car so we thought it would be a great ride on Skull.

Indian Hwy 144 from Lon Stoner on Vimeo.

The next morning we got up early ate in the lodge and packed up , the only problem was it was a lot more foggier than the morning before. We only had the 4 1/2 days for this ride so we had to hit the road.

About 10 miles from the lodge the fog was really thick you could not see very far at all

So we pulled off the road to the shoulder and parked by a flashing road sigh so we would not get hit.



We sat for almost 2 hours as both cars and bikes went speeding by

Later that day when we stopped for gas in Mena Ark we were ask what way we took

and we said the valley road, why?

The owner of the station told us that there was a pretty bad wreck on the high road involving

several motorcycles. Part of the reason we took the valley road is we have always wanted to run it but also we knew the other road would be like where we stop and waited for 2 hours.

When we got back on Skull we were only a few miles from the turn off.

This is what it looked like on the valley road.

 Yep checking out our 6th cemetery of this ride.

We ate lunch in Mena Ark.at the lime tree restaurant and hotel and headed on towards or main destination for this ride. With the late start and then waiting for 2 hours plus and checking out a few cemeteries we knew we would not make it to Gillett today.

So we rode on looking for a place to bed down. We came across a town that looked like it would be a good place to stop for the day. We only covered 185 miles but then again we were not in a big hurry.

Sheridan Ark seemed like a good place to stop

And the steak house was just down the street, so we parked Skull and walked

We parked Skull in the room for the night, we put her inside twice this ride

Just didn't feel like she would have been safe. Sleep is what we needed now, with 85 miles still to go to our main destination it would be a long day in the saddle to make there and back as far as we could ride, because we had today Sunday and we have to be back on Monday.

This day would bring a lot of surprises, we would run across some things that were not in our plans.

We road thru bayous in the middle of Arkansas

We were getting closer to our destination but we still had one more surprise ahead of us

Just a few miles from the reason for this ride we ran across an old fort and battle site

We spent about an hour or so exploring the site. It was still early Sunday morning and the museum wasn't open yet so we were able to put Skull where she wasn't really allowed and got some cool pic's.

Where we were headed was just a few miles away now and we were getting excited.

Part of the reason for this ride was to visit the grave site of the people who owned the house that we bought. But not just any old people the very first people that had the house built and owned it for almost 50 years before they passed.

Gilbert and Clara Berry

there was another reason for this ride

The name of the cemetery

 

We took a recent photo of the house and wrote some pretty pretty words on the back and placed it by Clara's headstone

I doubt it will still be there, with the snow and wind but it was the thought.

 

 

We walked the cemetery because that's what we do, took a lot of pic's and video and saddled up for the long ride home.



we will go home from Lon Stoner on Vimeo.

With 450 miles to go and a lot more to see we would only cover 228 miles this day.

We would stop at the Exxon Station in Gould Ark for gas and well some of the best chicken.

We traveled back the same way we came and stop to take a few pic's along the way.

We made it back to Mena Ark just before sunset and decided to bed down at the Lime Tree Hotel the same place we at lunch a few days before.

Because of where the room was we decided to put Skull in the room for the night. This was easier said than done. We had a pole right in front of the door a narrow side walk and a tall curb to get over. after a lot of turn back and forth lean her this way take the saddle bags off turn the mirrors in we finally got her in the room. We would figure out how to get her out in the morn.

The room was an over sized room so turning her around to point her straight out the door was no problem. Time for supper and a good nights rest.

We woke early and wanted to get Skull out of the room without a lot of people watching. Some hotels don't have a problem wit you putting you bike in the room some do, heck in Klamath Falls Oregon They ask you at the desk if you want to put your bike I the room. I walked the parking lot looking for some thing I could make a ramp out of to help get Skull straight out of the room, and then I seen them.

 a couple of metal grates for water drainage and they could be lifted up and moved to the curb

And she's out and ready to roll , ok except for her bags. lol

We had 250 miles to cover this day to get us home, it would be a long day.

It was cloudy as we rolled out of Mena the weather guy on the TV said rain was in store for us on the ride home and we were ready.

We stopped back by the gas station where we had heard about the wrecks up on Sky Line Drive to get gas a visited with the owner and the locals for a bit the saddled up and headed back across the valley. We had seen a few cemeteries on the ride up so we would be stopping to get some pic's.

As we made our way back to the Oklahoma Arkansas state line we were cold but still no rain that was soon to change.

You see Lynn will ride all day if it's cold , she will even ride all day if it's raining but she hates to ride if it's cold and raining, so the ride this day wasn't going to be fun for her.

We would stop a few time to get out of the rain and that would slow us down

We would make our way to Shawnee Oklahoma where we would stop for lunch before runnin for our lives on west bound I-40.

Right off of Hwy 177 just before I-40 there is a really nice Mexican restaurant call

Abuelita Rosa's

Good food!

But now the part Lynn and I don't like runnin I-40 at rush hour on a Monday, when everyone just wants to get home.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee

50 miles on the 4 lane with the crazies

here we go!!1

Ok so it wasn't all that bad I mean not as bad as Dallas , New Orleans or Denver but hey it still wasn't a cake walk.

WE pulled into our drive way just before 5pm and was ready to put this ride in the books.

4 1/2 days 1200 miles and a lot of memories oh and zero problems with Skull

it all makes for a great ride

WhiteWolf