Texas 2015; Day 2

We left our motel this morning, gassed up, and were on the road at 7:40.  It was already 80 degrees and the sun was shining bright.  Highway 59 took us south to Highway 259, which took us to the Talimena Scenic Byway.this is Hwy 1 in OklahomaThis is Hwy 1 and follows a high ridge east and west.  Going east you end up in Mena, AR.  We’ve ridden it many times in the past.  My goal was to find a scenic outlook for a quick photo opportunity.  I wanted to go west on Hwy 1 but it was closed due to high water.westbound Hwy 1 was closed due to high waterHow does a road on a high ridge get closed due to water?  Anyway, we went east on Hwy 1, got our photoIMG_0461 and took off again on Hwy 259 southbound.

Our next stop was at Beavers Bend State Park located just north of Broken Bow, OK.  The park was closed due to high water.  What a pisser!just off Hwy 259 in southeast Oklahoma - park closed due to high water

We stopped at a Love’s in Broken Bow for gas and a break.  We enjoyed beverages inside the store and checked our maps before leaving.  Down the road a bit, Carl realized he left his atlas at Love’s and he did not want to return for it.  One atlas down.

The plan was to take Hwy 259 south across the Red River into Texas.  Wouldn’t you know, Hwy 259 was closed due to high water south of Idabel.  So we took Hwy 37 west and south to our lunch spot in Winnsboro, Richie’s Grill and Café, where we indulged in a buffet of fried fish, chicken, and ribs along with salads, sides, and desserts.  I ate too much.

Our accommodations for the evening were at the LaQuinta Inn in Tyler, TX.LaQuinta Inn; Tyler, TXIt was a steamy hot 95 degrees when we arrived at about 2:45.  The AC felt quite nice and we are looking forward to the pool later.

While preparing this blog I realized I left my extra special atlas and a Texas road map back at Richie’s.  So sad.  Two atlases and one road map down.  Carl believes we are too senile to be traveling anymore.

Despite the loss of two atlases and the heat it was a good day of riding.  Hwy 259 in Oklahoma was beautiful and fun to ride.  Our total mileage today was 259.

For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6157746945115592417?authkey=CJz_gOifjsmlLw

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colorado; Day 9; June 30, 2012

Image
The evening of June 29th we saw the play, “Is He Dead” at the Creede Repertory Theater ( http://www.creederep.org/ ).  It was very entertaining,  one of the better plays I’ve seen. When we drove away from Creede at 6:05 am it was 41 degrees.  A short distance south the temperature dropped to 39.  We tried soaking up the cold for what we knew would be a hot afternoon. We rode South Fork and then east to Alamosa.  From Alamosa we took a detour north up Hwy 17 to see the UFO Watchtower ( http://www.ufowatchtower.com/ ).  It is a place for UFO enthusiasts to go to watch for UFO’s.  The lady who runs the place said something about some sort of vortex existing on the property.  Weird stuff, even for an open-minded guy like me. If the UFO Watchtower wasn’t weird enough we saw a male driving a Jeep with eye lashes over the headlights at a gas station in Alamosa, CO.  Hopefully it was his wife’s Jeep and he was just gassing it up for her. We c...
Read more

My Last Ride

On January 11th, 2017, I departed on a ride to Kelli's Korner (Paradise, MO - near Smithville, MO) for lunch with four friends (Carl, Gary, Bill and Larry). It was a beautiful day, which was all the excuse we needed for a ride. I was leading the group and we were taking a long way there. Riding north on county road N, about 6 miles north of Hwy 152 and I-435, the road turned and I didn't. I exited the road into a field. Fortunately there were no fences, trees, rocks, oncoming cars, etc. I have no explanation for this except that I was out of it for awhile. I remember crossing the center line but I was looking down at that time, which is weird. I have no memory of seeing anything after that until I was laying in the field separated from my motorcycle. I do remember a sensation of tumbling but that is all. My first thought was to drive my motorcycle out of the field and get it cleaned up so Chris would not know what I did. What a ridiculous idea that was. After I'd been up ...
Read more

Florida Trip; Day 11

Image
A beautiful, sunny and warm day! After our B&B breakfast we rode away on our golf cart at 9:45 AM. It was 51 degrees. We spent an hour or so exploring Cedar Key again and Chris did a little shopping on Dock Street. Morning is low tide. It was strange seeing boats sitting in the mud at the marina. This next picture is of the marina at high tide. At noon we had to return the golf cart and then we walked to lunch at Tony's. After lunch we walked the Railroad Trestle Nature Trail. We went to the Cedar Key Scrub State Park to walk but found it uninteresting so we didn't go far.  Back at the B&B we watched a movie and then watched the sun set. We drove a whopping 13 miles today (not counting miles in the golf cart) and our high temperature was 68. A very relaxing day! Tomorrow we start home. Click here to see all photos from today - Day 11 Photos  
Read more