Chicken Fried Bacon Ride

[roboto65]

Oh here are some of my pics

There here the Katy Group

In front of Sodolaks

All five in front of the "INN"

We stopped here for a little rain and decisions LOL Oh and they are wondering what I am doing lying on the side of the Road 

There is rain down there come on make my day!!

The Crew with there Pies and they were worth it!!!!!!

[TLRam1]

Allen, Wish I could have joined ya. At home working on bikes though.

[Greg Cothern]

Man I am hungry for a steak now!!!!  Well I ended up making down to just south of Richland to hook up with the other Dallas group as they turned back north to do some mechanical issues.

My brother called and had some unexpected issues pop up and get in the way of him being able to ride today (he called about noon so a bit too late to make it to Snook, TX).

Just means we will have to setup another ride soon!

[Smoked U]

Here are the busted parts I got to replace today on Ms. Vee. It pays to have a parts bike hanging around.

The connection of the shifter lever to the linkage (a rivet type affair) just sheared through. This probably was helped along by my dumping the bike on the I-45 service road after rolling through some mud before entering the service road. Bent up the clutch lever and broke the windshield too.

Too bad our trip got cut short. Curtis, Greg and I were having a great time riding the twisties. Lots more adventures: gravel road turning to mud lane work around, bridge out (another work around), my footpeg/shifter trying to fall off.

We got to eat at the Farm House (peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert) in Mexia and then with Greg C. in Corsicana at the Sonic. Sorry we missed the cholesterolfest at Snook. You sure that is fried bacon? Looks like cow tongue to me

I rode Ms. Vee all the way from Mexia back to DeSoto in 3rd gear.

Once again the group left no man behind and rode with me all the way to the house where we sat around for an hour talking bikes and bull.

The best thing is we didn't get wet!!!

Well, when is the next ride???

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[drkngas]

Here are the busted parts I got to replace today on Ms. Vee. It pays to have a parts bike hanging around.

You sure that is fried bacon? Looks like cow tongue to me

The best thing is we didn't get wet!!!

Well, when is the next ride???

cow tongue LOL  you couldve fried anything and this group wouldve eatin it.  All I know is that I gained about 5 lbs. this weekend and it did not taste like chicken.

But, We did get wet!  Nothing on my bike looks like chrome anymore.  Now I know what I've got to do this week.

[Curtis_Valk]

Yeah, I got a little rain on the ride to work and back home today.  Bike was already dirty, so I didn't mind too much.

Curtis

[TLRam1]

So someone go around the table and tell us who these folks are for the ones who haven't a clue.

[drkngas]

I think I got this right.

[drkngas]

We are normally all thinner that this!

[TLRam1]

Alright, great job David.....before I saw your second photo...you know what I was going to ask.

[roboto65]

Yep and that was some good pie !!!! We will do it again real SOON

[Curtis_Valk]

I want to say that Saturday's ride was sheer joy for me.  I'm really looking forward to repeating that route some time.  I know Dave felt bad about dumping his "Ms. Vee" and even worse when her broken shifter linkage prevented us from continuing, but we had already had such a good ride up to that point I really was content at that point.  Here's what our route looked like including the mishaps and detours.



We really started to warm up by the time we reached FM 1603 through Chatfield.  Everyone was riding solid and steady as we began to play a little.  (Hey Dave, I pulled the tracks from my GPS and the slowest it showed in the 20 mph curve was 49 mph!)  The only problem with this stretch is that there are several gravel quarries and where the trucks enter the roadway you have to watch for gravel.  Unfortunately for Dave, those same trucks had smeared a light layer of mud into the intersections of 1603 and the I-45 service road.  I was pulling up the entrance ramp when I glanced in my mirrors and noticed I was all alone.  Going back I found Dave and Greg "picking up the pieces".  We stopped momentarily at the Fina station to pull out the wrenches and massage Dave's highway peg back into position.  Luckily there was no contact with the tank, but Dave's windshield was toast especially after we left it in the roadway for the trucks to devour.

After a short northern jog up I-45 we continued west toward Emhouse.  I love these little towns that I never heard of before.  As I turned right on 2930 I again felt no presence behind and looked back to find Dave working with his left footpeg.  A bolt had fallen out, undoubtedly loosened by the earlier drop.  I reverted back to my old boy scout ways and used Greg's letherman tool to cut a sturdy green branch to screw into the hole to align the peg mount.  Well, Dave had a better idea and robbed a similar bolt from the rear footpeg.  So much for a wooden Magna!

A few hundred yards after we were underway, my GPS indicated that we should take the gravel road to the left.  It looked ok, and Greg and Dave seemed game so we went for it.  Around the first bend (where I almost dumped when my front washed out on a damp spot) we saw that after the first house the road turned into a cart path.  With no hesitation or discussion we began to turn our bikes around.  After a moment to consult a county map (if you guys don't have "The Roads of Texas" you need to get it) we determined that we could go a short way around and come into Blooming Grove from the north (route noted on the map in red).  This turned out to be a dandy road and I have amended my route for next time.

South of Blooming Grove we passed through Dresden, Silver City and Purdon; three charming small communities.  It was along there that I almost had dove for an appetizer or early lunch.  There were several large flocks of them in that area.  There was lots of farming around there, so I'm sure they were fat ones!  Anyone going dove hunting Sept. 1st?  Ahem.......well, I'm getting side tracked where were we?  Oh yeah, just about to come to our second detour.  When we turned off Ranch Road 709 to Ranch Road 638 we noticed big orange signs that warned of "road construction ahead".  I'm sure most of us thought at worst a bit of gravel or a turnout or small detour.  WRONG!!!  After traversing the six miles to the actual construction THEN the signs said "road closed".  We were consulting the map to try to find a work around when it hit me (no not an idea, it was the other end calling).  While I took care of matters down in the fence line, Greg continued consulting the map and Dave scouted out the bridge.  When we had all come back to the huddle, Dave said that the bridge was not completely down yet.  He even volunteered to go first.  Greg and I just looked at each other's heavy Valks and said "uh uh"!!! he he he  As you can see by the second red line detour on the map, we had to go considerably further this time and didn't find any good roads on this roundabout.

This detour had my GPS going in fits because it wanted to put us back on our route at the earliest juncture instead of continuing on to Mexia which any sane person would do.  Somewhat like those folks who drive off in the creek following their GPS, I obediently turned toward Tehuacana and that's when for the third time I felt myself alone.  Doubling back I found Dave and Greg again attending to Ms. Vee, this time though it was more than a dropped bolt.  Dave's shift linkage was busted and no amount of head scratching availed us an idea on how to patch it up.  After a couple of phone calls to area dealers (long shots we knew, but hey you have to try), we decided that Dave could ride in third gear.  This would mean we wouldn't make Snook, but lunch was STILL ON!!!!  (how could you think otherwise?)


GREG AND DAVE CONSULTING THE DEALERSHIP GURU


MS VEE COULDN'T HAVE PICKED A PRETTIER PLACE TO BREAK

We were just outside Mexia so Greg punched up some eating places on his bigger GPS and we selected the "Farm House" restaraunt.  We were just sitting down to eat when Greg C. called.  He needed rescue worse than we did.  It seems he was stuck at the house with three college kids playing "Guitar Hero" or some such and was about to go out of his mind.  Since we were going to take as straight a route back as possible to minimize wear and tear on Dave's clutch it would be easy for Greg to find us.  We finished our lunch, complete with peach cobbler with ice cream (in some cases) and headed north out of Mexia toward Richland.

We met Greg just south of Richland and since he hadn't eaten yet we made the supreme sacrifice and endured another lunch stop at the Sonic in Corsicana.  Sitting outside at their tables talking about whatever came up, we just let things be.  Everyone needs to have a day as relaxing as this. It goes to show that even when things don't go as planned if you let the events sweep you away and take you where they will sometimes you reap more than you otherwise would.

After we were underway again we had one more stop before we got Dave and Ms. Vee escorted safely home.  It seems Ms. Vee didn't like the steady 6000 RPMs under almost no load.  Greg noticed a little smoke and smelled oil so they motioned that we should slow down.  We took the next exit to check things out.  After a thorough examination, we determined that Ms Vee was suffering from nothing more serious than a little indigestion.  We supposed that the high vacuum and RPMs had pulled enough oil vapor into the breather for it to begin dribbling out.  Just as a precaution we stayed there long enough for her to cool down and for us to swap a few more stories.  We continued on at a slower pace and arrived at Dave's house in DeSoto without further excitement (well, Greg C. got kind of excited when we passed the DeSoto air port).

We stayed an hour or so at Dave's looking at all of his projects and discussing past experiences (no, we hadn't run out of stories yet) and then lit out again.  We mentioned we were getting hungry again (do you notice a theme here?) and Dave recommended a few places in his area.  Somehow though, we ended up back at the Cotton Gin where the day started.  Kristi and the kids were kind enough to join us and we had another nice meal with good friends.

It just doesn't get any better than this.

Curtis

[roboto65]

Well other than the shifter peg and a minor misstep sounds like it was a good day for all although I wish you guys could have made it we all made it home safe and thats what counts there WILL be a NEXT TIME !!!!

[TLRam1]

Sounds like two great trips, thanks for the write-up Curtis and the stories Dave. 

You guys should have called and I would of ran parts to ya as I was sitting here working on bikes and riding could have been my peach cobbler!

[greg_o]

Outstanding summary Curtis (as usual !)
It was a terrific ride even with the gremlins gnawing on Ms Vee.
The routes were fast, twisty and fun.
And ya forgot to mention the early morning dense fog as we set out at 6am
Thanks Curtis for plotting out the course , and it was great riding with Dave again
As is typical with the MOOT group the ride was an adventure.
Good roads, good food, good talk
By the time we got back to Daves stable o bikes we'd had 2 lunches and a few snacks
'twas a good day