Tourmeister
07-13-2004, 01:10 AM
Howdy,
:tab This is going to be brief as I have to get back to the report for the Colorado trip ;-) Below are the pics for the ride. Everyone actually arrives on time and with a full tank of gas. We get away a few minutes late because someone makes a last second decision to not ride and Scratch has to remove his rear cowling and install the passenger grab rail. But that's okay, a few minutes of waiting now is better than an afternoon of waiting if someone crashes because they are feeling under the weather ;-)
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/
[I'll go ahead and apologize now for not knowing your full names, spelling, etc... Just PM with the correct info and I will fix it ;-) ]
:tab After a brief preride meeting and going over the rules very few have read :roll , we mount up and hit the road. I dunno, maybe 18 bikes and 20 something people? I have trouble counting :-P Getting this many people through town without losing anyone is a real challenge. I go slow and do a lot of waiting to make sure everyone is still with the group. Near the edge of town I pull over for a last regroup before heading out to the backroads. There are lots of puffy clouds floating around but nothing that looks threatening. The temperature is hovering in the mid eighties and it is nice. We head out towards Riverside, cross Hwy 19 and head for Waterwood.
:tab Often I make route decisions on the fly. Today is one of those days. I take everyone down Waterwood Parkway, a road everyone always seems to enjoy, then head back West on US 190 to FM 946 and back up Hwy 156 to 190 again. Then we cut over the lake to Onalaska. The water is dirty brown from the runoff from all the endless rain during the month of June. A few jet ski's are out making waves and having fun. After running through Onalaska, we head North up into the woods and start our tortured zig zag run on the numerous FM's that roughly parallel US 190.
:tab These roads are great for newbies because there really aren't any surprises from the curves and they are all posted at 40-50mph. There is very little traffic to contend with so everyone can just focus on the riding. Our first stop is in Chester on US 287 and FM 256. We swarm the local Exxon and take over the place.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02175.JPG
:tab I take the time to start getting pics of folks with their bikes. Despite the size of the group, everyone gets gassed up quickly, grabs their drinks and snacks and we are back on the road in about twenty minutes. Considering there is only one restroom here, I think that is pretty good ;-) It is a little after noon and we are only a few more miles from our lunch stop for the day in Colmesneil.
Kieth "Fox7777" Hahn with his GSX-R1000
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02176.JPG
Scott "Bluedogok" with his Triumph Sprint ST
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02177.JPG
Keith "Teeth" Curtis, Paul "Scratch" Massie and Andy "SVinAustin" ?
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02178.JPG
Cassandra Seinz and Will "birdwh" Bird
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02179.JPG
:tab We get back on the road and run FM 1745 to FM 256 which drops us into Colmesneil. As we pull into the parking lot of the Texas Star Cafe, I spot another GS and quite a few other bikes. It seems another group of riders had the same idea as us. Once inside, I quickly find the other riders and get to talking only to discover that the GS owner is our very own Hacksaw, a relatively new member here at TWT! Small world! They are on their way out as we are coming in. The waitresses stick us off in a nice side room for private partys and take good care of us.
Scott and Andy
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02180.JPG
Squeaky, Will, Debbie, Cassandra, Will --> Keith, Steve, Don, Doug, Rob, and Keith
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02181.JPG
:tab After lunch, Rebecca "Squeaky" Nelson rides with me since she has never been on the GS. Her previous ride on the 98 VFR back in March must have been boring because she fell asleep on the back! :-P She struggles to stay awake on the GS so I won't give her too much grief about sleeping on my bikes. To help her out, I give her my camera so she can take pictures on the fly. From the pics below, she apparently likes pics of straight roads :-P
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02182.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02183.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02184.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02185.JPG
:tab She misses the two little Bambi's on the side of the road that look like little statues until we are right on top of them. Then they freak and run back into the woods. They were so still, my first thought was that they were the little fake statues people put in their yards. Then I snapped that they were not in someone's yard but in a ditch. Duh... :suicide:
Don't ask me, I was just doing the driving :roll:
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02186.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02188.JPG
FM 942 in Camden at the International Paper Mill
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02189.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02190.JPG
We're stopped so I can warn everyone about a real nasty decreasing radius curve coming up.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02191.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02192.JPG
:tab So when we get to the curve, a little old dude in a slow smoking truck pulls out right in front of me. Everyone winds up going through the corner at a smoking twenty miles an hour... Oh well, better safe than sorry ;-) The rest of the run is just nice up and down rolling hills, super smooth pavement and nice sweeping curves. When we reach US 59 just South of Diboll, we backtrack the way we have just come and head back down toward Camden. Between FM 1987 and FM 352, we pull over for a break. We have not stopped since lunch and it has been about an hour and a half.
Don Vann and his customized FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02193.JPG
Will "Dower" Howard and his R6
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02195.JPG
Tom "FlatDogOne" and Peggy Young on their VFR 800
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02196.JPG
Jim and Linda with his ZZR1200
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02197.JPG
Doug East and his FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02198.JPG
:tab After a nice break, I get everyone suited back up and on the bikes. It is getting late in the afternoon and we still have several hours of riding to get back to Huntsville. We run back down FM 352 to US 287, then FM 62 all the way back through Camden and over to Moscow on US 59 where we pick up FM 350 and head West. Finally, nearing 150 miles since our last gas stop, we arrive back in Onalaska and stop for gas. I wonder if anyone is on fumes yet? I forget to check because I get distracted trying to get pictures of the last few people I've not yet captured.
Will Bird and Cassandra Seinz with his Triumph Trophy 1200
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02199.JPG
Keith "Teeth" Curtis with his mighty Busa
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02200.JPG
Steve "Steve Strom" with his V-Strom 1000
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02201.JPG
Ron "GsGuy" with his GS500
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02202.JPG
:tab It is about 5:15pm now. Andy and Scott are getting anxious to get on the road back to Austin. They rode over together this morning. KidProQuo was supposed to meet up with them in Austin. He arrived late, about five minutes after they decided to stop waiting on him... :lol: So after we are all refueled and ready to roll again, we head back over Lake Livingston on US 190 toward Huntsville. I was thinking we'd just run 190 all the way back into Huntsville. However, as we get nearer and nearer to Waterwood Parkway, the pull of the twisty side of the force wins out. I stop the group long enough to let Andy and Scott know that they should continue on while we head back into the woods for some fun.
:tab The last few miles into Huntsville are quick. As we are passing through Riverside, it starts to rain!! Big huge fat drops are falling. The sun is shining and I can't tell where the rain is coming from. It is heavy enough to get me wet, but I can see that I will be through it in a minute or two. With no where to stop and don rain gear, and not wanting to spend ten minutes stopping for two minutes of rain, I ride on, albeit a little slower for the sake of the group. Sure enough, a mile later it stops and the road dries out. I am not wet enough to be concerned about it. As we continue down the road past the Prison farm hog feeder slab, I take a look back over our shoulders. There is one little cloud, right over the road. A thin wisp of rain is streaming down out of the bottom of it right where we had just come through. I swear it is no wider than the road :roll:
:tab Soon we are back in Huntsville, 6:00pm. A quick check of the weather radar shows that the huge thunderhead we had been watching off to the South is now on the move and heading our direction. Several riders elect to don their rain suits and rough it out. Others decide to hang out and wait it out.
Chris "homermcleod" and his SV650S
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02203.JPG
Stuart and Don's FZ1's with Stuart peeking from behind
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02204.JPG
Stuart "Thermalaser" Robles and his FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02205.JPG
"Does this make my butt look fat?"
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02206.JPG
Unafraid of a little rain, Will takes off for home.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02207.JPG
"Does this make my head look fat??"
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02208.JPG
Rob Knight and the little Ninja 250 that can!
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02209.JPG
Tom and Peggy Young decked out in their very fashionable Frog Toggs
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02211.JPG
:tab I don't know how I do it, but I always seem to miss a pic of somebody. Today it is Paul and his Triumph Sprint RS :roll: You've all seen it before... move on and quit standing around... :-P
:tab Will, Cassandra, Paul and Rebecca are staying the night with us. So we gather up Beth and all of us head out for dinner, after a small detour by the liquor store... I swear I have never seen Paul giggle like a little girl as hard as he has tonight :rofl I almost shoot my Tequila out my nose! :-|
:tab 283 miles in about eight hours with 18 bikes. Not bad! The folks in the group are all great people and I really enjoy getting to spend some time visiting with many of them. Now I just have to get them all to come back so I can spend time getting to know the ones I missed this time! ;-)
Adios,
:tab This is going to be brief as I have to get back to the report for the Colorado trip ;-) Below are the pics for the ride. Everyone actually arrives on time and with a full tank of gas. We get away a few minutes late because someone makes a last second decision to not ride and Scratch has to remove his rear cowling and install the passenger grab rail. But that's okay, a few minutes of waiting now is better than an afternoon of waiting if someone crashes because they are feeling under the weather ;-)
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/
[I'll go ahead and apologize now for not knowing your full names, spelling, etc... Just PM with the correct info and I will fix it ;-) ]
:tab After a brief preride meeting and going over the rules very few have read :roll , we mount up and hit the road. I dunno, maybe 18 bikes and 20 something people? I have trouble counting :-P Getting this many people through town without losing anyone is a real challenge. I go slow and do a lot of waiting to make sure everyone is still with the group. Near the edge of town I pull over for a last regroup before heading out to the backroads. There are lots of puffy clouds floating around but nothing that looks threatening. The temperature is hovering in the mid eighties and it is nice. We head out towards Riverside, cross Hwy 19 and head for Waterwood.
:tab Often I make route decisions on the fly. Today is one of those days. I take everyone down Waterwood Parkway, a road everyone always seems to enjoy, then head back West on US 190 to FM 946 and back up Hwy 156 to 190 again. Then we cut over the lake to Onalaska. The water is dirty brown from the runoff from all the endless rain during the month of June. A few jet ski's are out making waves and having fun. After running through Onalaska, we head North up into the woods and start our tortured zig zag run on the numerous FM's that roughly parallel US 190.
:tab These roads are great for newbies because there really aren't any surprises from the curves and they are all posted at 40-50mph. There is very little traffic to contend with so everyone can just focus on the riding. Our first stop is in Chester on US 287 and FM 256. We swarm the local Exxon and take over the place.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02175.JPG
:tab I take the time to start getting pics of folks with their bikes. Despite the size of the group, everyone gets gassed up quickly, grabs their drinks and snacks and we are back on the road in about twenty minutes. Considering there is only one restroom here, I think that is pretty good ;-) It is a little after noon and we are only a few more miles from our lunch stop for the day in Colmesneil.
Kieth "Fox7777" Hahn with his GSX-R1000
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02176.JPG
Scott "Bluedogok" with his Triumph Sprint ST
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02177.JPG
Keith "Teeth" Curtis, Paul "Scratch" Massie and Andy "SVinAustin" ?
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02178.JPG
Cassandra Seinz and Will "birdwh" Bird
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02179.JPG
:tab We get back on the road and run FM 1745 to FM 256 which drops us into Colmesneil. As we pull into the parking lot of the Texas Star Cafe, I spot another GS and quite a few other bikes. It seems another group of riders had the same idea as us. Once inside, I quickly find the other riders and get to talking only to discover that the GS owner is our very own Hacksaw, a relatively new member here at TWT! Small world! They are on their way out as we are coming in. The waitresses stick us off in a nice side room for private partys and take good care of us.
Scott and Andy
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02180.JPG
Squeaky, Will, Debbie, Cassandra, Will --> Keith, Steve, Don, Doug, Rob, and Keith
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02181.JPG
:tab After lunch, Rebecca "Squeaky" Nelson rides with me since she has never been on the GS. Her previous ride on the 98 VFR back in March must have been boring because she fell asleep on the back! :-P She struggles to stay awake on the GS so I won't give her too much grief about sleeping on my bikes. To help her out, I give her my camera so she can take pictures on the fly. From the pics below, she apparently likes pics of straight roads :-P
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02182.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02183.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02184.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02185.JPG
:tab She misses the two little Bambi's on the side of the road that look like little statues until we are right on top of them. Then they freak and run back into the woods. They were so still, my first thought was that they were the little fake statues people put in their yards. Then I snapped that they were not in someone's yard but in a ditch. Duh... :suicide:
Don't ask me, I was just doing the driving :roll:
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02186.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02188.JPG
FM 942 in Camden at the International Paper Mill
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02189.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02190.JPG
We're stopped so I can warn everyone about a real nasty decreasing radius curve coming up.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02191.JPG
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02192.JPG
:tab So when we get to the curve, a little old dude in a slow smoking truck pulls out right in front of me. Everyone winds up going through the corner at a smoking twenty miles an hour... Oh well, better safe than sorry ;-) The rest of the run is just nice up and down rolling hills, super smooth pavement and nice sweeping curves. When we reach US 59 just South of Diboll, we backtrack the way we have just come and head back down toward Camden. Between FM 1987 and FM 352, we pull over for a break. We have not stopped since lunch and it has been about an hour and a half.
Don Vann and his customized FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02193.JPG
Will "Dower" Howard and his R6
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02195.JPG
Tom "FlatDogOne" and Peggy Young on their VFR 800
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02196.JPG
Jim and Linda with his ZZR1200
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02197.JPG
Doug East and his FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02198.JPG
:tab After a nice break, I get everyone suited back up and on the bikes. It is getting late in the afternoon and we still have several hours of riding to get back to Huntsville. We run back down FM 352 to US 287, then FM 62 all the way back through Camden and over to Moscow on US 59 where we pick up FM 350 and head West. Finally, nearing 150 miles since our last gas stop, we arrive back in Onalaska and stop for gas. I wonder if anyone is on fumes yet? I forget to check because I get distracted trying to get pictures of the last few people I've not yet captured.
Will Bird and Cassandra Seinz with his Triumph Trophy 1200
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02199.JPG
Keith "Teeth" Curtis with his mighty Busa
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02200.JPG
Steve "Steve Strom" with his V-Strom 1000
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02201.JPG
Ron "GsGuy" with his GS500
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02202.JPG
:tab It is about 5:15pm now. Andy and Scott are getting anxious to get on the road back to Austin. They rode over together this morning. KidProQuo was supposed to meet up with them in Austin. He arrived late, about five minutes after they decided to stop waiting on him... :lol: So after we are all refueled and ready to roll again, we head back over Lake Livingston on US 190 toward Huntsville. I was thinking we'd just run 190 all the way back into Huntsville. However, as we get nearer and nearer to Waterwood Parkway, the pull of the twisty side of the force wins out. I stop the group long enough to let Andy and Scott know that they should continue on while we head back into the woods for some fun.
:tab The last few miles into Huntsville are quick. As we are passing through Riverside, it starts to rain!! Big huge fat drops are falling. The sun is shining and I can't tell where the rain is coming from. It is heavy enough to get me wet, but I can see that I will be through it in a minute or two. With no where to stop and don rain gear, and not wanting to spend ten minutes stopping for two minutes of rain, I ride on, albeit a little slower for the sake of the group. Sure enough, a mile later it stops and the road dries out. I am not wet enough to be concerned about it. As we continue down the road past the Prison farm hog feeder slab, I take a look back over our shoulders. There is one little cloud, right over the road. A thin wisp of rain is streaming down out of the bottom of it right where we had just come through. I swear it is no wider than the road :roll:
:tab Soon we are back in Huntsville, 6:00pm. A quick check of the weather radar shows that the huge thunderhead we had been watching off to the South is now on the move and heading our direction. Several riders elect to don their rain suits and rough it out. Others decide to hang out and wait it out.
Chris "homermcleod" and his SV650S
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02203.JPG
Stuart and Don's FZ1's with Stuart peeking from behind
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02204.JPG
Stuart "Thermalaser" Robles and his FZ1
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02205.JPG
"Does this make my butt look fat?"
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02206.JPG
Unafraid of a little rain, Will takes off for home.
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02207.JPG
"Does this make my head look fat??"
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02208.JPG
Rob Knight and the little Ninja 250 that can!
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02209.JPG
Tom and Peggy Young decked out in their very fashionable Frog Toggs
http://twtex.com/linkfiles/071004TWTride/DSC02211.JPG
:tab I don't know how I do it, but I always seem to miss a pic of somebody. Today it is Paul and his Triumph Sprint RS :roll: You've all seen it before... move on and quit standing around... :-P
:tab Will, Cassandra, Paul and Rebecca are staying the night with us. So we gather up Beth and all of us head out for dinner, after a small detour by the liquor store... I swear I have never seen Paul giggle like a little girl as hard as he has tonight :rofl I almost shoot my Tequila out my nose! :-|
:tab 283 miles in about eight hours with 18 bikes. Not bad! The folks in the group are all great people and I really enjoy getting to spend some time visiting with many of them. Now I just have to get them all to come back so I can spend time getting to know the ones I missed this time! ;-)
Adios,