Retired and Trippin

It was shaping up to be a great day (maybe a little hot and windy??) for riding.  Departing Hutchinson at 8:00 (75 degrees) we headed east to Cassoday. From Cassoday we changed course north on Hwy 177 through the Flint Hills, which is one of my most favorite routes in Kansas. We encountered numerous bicyclists along the way.  In Cottonwood Falls we stopped to check out the Cottonwood River. We were curious to see how it looked because we were here in May and the river was way high (see pic below). And this is how it normally looks. Our next stop was for lunch in Williamsburg, KS at Guy-N-Mae’s Tavern for some LARRAPIN good ribs. By the time we arrived home around 1:30 to 2:00 it was 97 degrees.  It was good to be home in the air conditioning.  We rode 229 miles today. For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6162864133066788769?authkey=CNOKipnlgamxrgE This trip is over.  While I will miss the traveli

We left Elk City,Oklahoma this morning at 8:00.  It was 75 degrees and as we rode north on Hwy 34 we could see a storm to the west. We escaped without getting wet. As we rode through Leedey, OK a sign at the edge of town said that Darla Hood of Little Rascals fame was born here. A check of Wikipedia confirms that.   ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darla_Hood ) After a gas stop in Wynoka, OK we pressed on to Pratt, KS for lunch.  Carl knew a restaurant there that served spaghetti.  Marge has been wanting spaghetti the whole trip.  Inside they informed us spaghetti was NOT on their menu.  Sometimes they serve it as a “special”.  So Marge whiffed again - strike three.  We left there and went to a Chinese hog trough, which was quite tasty. From Pratt we hustled on to Hutchinson and checked into our motel.  Then we did a tour of the Hutchinson salt mine and museum.  They call it Strataca, Kansas Underground Salt Museum.  It was a good tour but in the two hours allotted we did not hav

Beautiful sun-shiny day this morning when we took off north out of Graham, TX at 8:30.  It was a pleasant 77 degrees. We rode towards Wichita Falls and saw high water and standing water in numerous places along the way. We stopped for a bathroom break a short distance down the road in Windthorst, TX.  Making it through Wichita Falls, we soon crossed the Red River into Oklahoma and continued north through Lawton and past Fort Sill to a Love’s (for fuel) at I-44 and Hwy 49. Hwy 49 then took us west into the Wichita Mountains and the wildlife refuge.  We rode up Mt. Scott, visited the Holy City of the Wichitas, and watched for free-ranging longhorn cattle and buffalo. My plan was to take Hwy 49 all the way through the Wichita Mountains area but well over half way through they had the road blocked due to a bridge being out somewhere further on. It would have been nice to know this about 15 miles earlier. So we had to reroute – south on 115 to  62 westbound.  We had a long over-due

No rain this morning!  We felt very fortunate.  It was mostly cloudy and 72 degrees when rode out of Kerrville, TX at 8:30. Today we were riding north on Hwy 16 with a destination of Graham, TX. Our first stop of the day was at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area just off Hwy 16 north of Fredericksburg.  It is a pretty area.  We did some hiking around, took some pictures and I climbed to the top. Continuing north on 16 we stopped for lunch at CJ’s Diner on the square in Comanche, TX.  After lunch Chris and Marge did some shopping at local shops. We kept expecting to run into remnants of Tropical Storm Bill and around 3:00 near Desdemona we finally found it.  We stopped to put on rain suits and continued on.  It was threatening rain or raining lightly most of the way to Graham. We rode 267 miles today and our high temperature was only 84.  We saw some more flooding and a lot of high water. When parking my motorcycle at the motel I noticed that I had no trailer lights.  After a p

Weather forecasts told us we were in for a wet day or, at least, a wet afternoon.  Thank you tropical storm Bill.  Bill just might be on us all the way home. It was cloudy and 73 degrees when we departed the motel at 8:35.  We rode south and east to Comfort, TX.  As we rode east on 473 our progress was slowed slightly by a group of Harley riders. Darned HD riders.  They went south on 1376, however, so we were wide open and clear when we turned north towards Luckenbach. Things were quiet in Luckenbach, TX.  Neither Waylon nor Willie nor the boys were there. A lady, who walked around and spoke with much authority, said that in 1971 Luckenbach was annexed by Fredericksburg so that now it is not a town but a destination.  I’m not sure it was really annexed by Fredericksburg because they are 11-12 miles apart.  According to Wikipedia, in 1971 the Luckenbach post office was closed and its zip code was retired.  Perhaps area residents now have to go to Fredericksburg to get their mail.  K

We left our motel this morning at 8:35 and it was 79 degrees.  Hwy 16 took us north and west out of San Antonio into the Texas Hill Country. Our route took us through Bandera, Tarplay and Utopia (this town name reminds Chris of her Grandpa Wolf) to Garner State Park, where we enjoyed a romp in the Frio River and a walk on the Blinn River Trail. From Garner State Park we rode north to Leakey for lunch.  The plan was to eat at Vinny’s Italian Restaurant, which Carl had read was one of the top ten Italian restaurants in Texas. Marge was looking forward to a big helping of LARRAPIN good spaghetti.  We were disappointed to find out that in 2011 it was turned into a casual pizza parlor and they no longer served spaghetti.  So we ate pizza. From Leakey we rode west to Camp Wood, north through Barksdale, north on Hwy 335 and east on Hwy 41.  Earlier in the day we rode through a brief light rain shower but as we rode east on Hwy 41 it looked like we were headed into a heavy rain. We stopp

Twas a wet rainy day.  When we departed for the Alamo at 9:30 it was 77 degrees and cloudy but the rain had not yet come.  We rode downtown and found parking near the Alamo. The tour (self-guided) of the Alamo was interesting but before we were done heavy rain arrived.  For awhile we stayed dry under a room on Alamo grounds.  Between the four of us we had one umbrella (Chris, of course, was the prepared one.)  Chris and Marge used the umbrella to go to the gift shop and to use the restroom.  Due to all the standing water their feet got soaked.  When the rain slowed down a bit, Carl and I joined them. After awhile the rain stopped and we walked down to the River Walk. We decided we wanted to take a boat tour of the downtown river area so we purchased tickets and made our way to the boat loading spot.  While waiting there it started to rain (by now we had two umbrellas and two ponchos) so we decided to grab some grub and then try the boats later.  We ate at a sports bar with an interes

First order of the day was to deliver Don’s car back to him.  It was very kind of brother Don to provide us a car while in Rosenberg so the ladies did not get helmet head on the way to the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and reception.  We had a short visit before departing at 9:15.  It was 82 degrees. We rode a short distance to Eagle Lake, where we stopped at Buc-ee’s for gas.  Then we were off to Seguin for lunch at WHATABURGER.  Carl had been craving a Whataburger so we took care of that.  Between Eagle Lake and Seguin we rode through three short rain showers, which were good in that they cooled us down nicely. Gertie Garmin then led us to Mission San Jose in San Antonio. It was a steamy 91 degrees as we started a ranger guided tour.  The ranger proved to be too long-winded and slow so we took off on our own to see the sights. Our day on the road concluded at a Comfort Inn off I-10 north of downtown San Antonio after 191 miles of riding.  Another rigorous day.    We enjoyed a dip

Today was another rough one.  A swim in the motel pool, lunch with nephew Rob in downtown Rosenberg, and the wedding & reception.  CONGRATULATIONS to Jeffrey and Caitlyn (Merta) Clark! For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6159685446943201969?authkey=COWbrNmW7934Cg The Goldwings did not move today because brother Don was kind enough to provide us with a car.

Our destination today was Rosenberg, TX; home of brother Don and his family.  Don’s son, Jeffrey, is getting married tomorrow so we are going to participate in the rehearsal dinner and the wedding festivities. We rode south and west from island to island to Freeport, TX and then north to West Columbia, TX, where we visited the Varner-Hogg Plantation.  Varner was the first owner of the property and Hogg (former Texas governor) was the last. We did a tour of the house and walked around the grounds.  Two things stick in my mind.  One, Governor Hogg was 6-3 and weighed over 300 lbs.  He made a bathtub outside to accommodate his girth, which was fed by an artesian spring.  Two, he named his poor daughter Ima Hogg.  After the governor died, however, she became rich when oil was discovered on their property. After the Hogg house tour we had lunch at Elmo’s in West Columbia and then we rode on in to Rosenberg.  In the evening we attended the rehearsal dinner where it was good to see our f

Today was a relaxing and pleasurable day in Galveston, TX. After breakfast Chris did some exercising in the pool while Carl tried to do some work on his computer and I tried to finish my day 4 blog entry.  The hotel was having problems with their wireless internet so Carl and I were unsuccessful in our endeavors. We took off for the Galveston to Port Bolivar ferry, a free service operated by the Texas Department of Transportation.  We parked our bikes at the Galveston terminal, rode to Port Bolivar and then rode back. On the way to Port Bolivar we saw a bunch of dolphins, which was pretty cool. From the ferry we went to Shrimp N Stuff for lunch. It was very good food.  By now we were worn out so we returned to our hotel for an afternoon siesta, which was followed by a swim in the gulf. Early evening we went to Miller’s Seawall Grill.  Carl and I enjoyed bowls of gumbo while the girls shared an appetizer of crab dip.  It was all very good too.  From Miller’s we went to Rita’s fo

Carl called Ross Motorsports in Lufkin when they opened at 9:00.  They agreed to replace his rear tire so he arranged for a tow to get his motorcycle from the motel to Ross Motorsports.  At 10:30 Carl and his bike were taking off with the tow truck.  A couple hours later he was back in business. While talking to the Ross Motorsports service manager Carl learned that his father was Richard Blume, a former chief of police in Lenexa, KS.  Blume was said to have been the chief before John Foster.  Small world! Before leaving Lufkin we had lunch at Cheddars.  Then we were off southbound on Hwy 59 to Livingston, where we turned onto Hwy 146 which took us most of the way to Galveston. Throughout this trip we’ve seen rivers and creeks out of their banks but nowhere was it as bad as it was between Liberty and Dayton, TX. Somewhere around La Porte (I believe) we had a brief period of rain, which was refreshing.  The temperature dropped from the low 90’s to 82, temporarily. Shortly afte

Today was quite a day.  We left our motel in Tyler, TX at 7:40.  It was 79 degrees.  We rode indirectly to the Tyler Rose Garden.  It was a very nice place but the roses were not as spectacular as normal due to recent heavy rain storms. Chris and Marge wanted to visit the gift shop inside the Tyler Rose Center . . . . . but it was closed.  Darned the bad luck. For pictures of some roses that caught Chris’ eye click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6158205695504074833?authkey=COnUkIj4_ricRg The next stop on our tour was the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site located just west of Alto, TX.  The Caddo peoples moved into this area around 1,300 years ago and the height of their civilization was around A.D. 1100.  They abandoned this site around A.D. 1300.  The mounds are burial and ceremonial sites.  There are three at this location and the following picture is of the biggest. (The mounds on her chest are much more interesting!!!!!!)  We w