HOUSTON: NE Houston - Atascocita/Humble area riders!

We'll miss you, but have fun at the races!

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Awesome ride today, Blue Flash..!

I lost count of how many of your rides I have been on, and they have all been excellent, but I particularly enjoyed todays, getting to see the International Boundary marker, and the overall length of ride was great.

Thanks for all of the thought you put into the routes, as well as the restaurants and fuel stops. Looking forward to the next one..!!!

Thanks! The marker was pretty cool, and it was a ride i had been wanting to do for awhile.. just looking for a sucker... errr.. partner in crime to ride it with! Enjoyed it! Had some issues... bad power connection on tbe gps, discovering there really is no gas station in Milam...

We've got to do another!!!!

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Ride Report: 11-12-2016 Butt Burner

The ride last Saturday had multiple purposes, to get out for a good, long ride (I needed that!), to get out to the curves around San Augustine, and to check out the Republic of Texas International Boundary Marker... the last remaining original marker of its kind within the lower 48.

5:30 am

CVW1973 and I met up at the Chevron on Will Clayton and West Lake Houston Parkway. It was a bit cool, but not too bad (if you dressed for cooler weather).

I got their early in semi-full winter gear, and had my mandatory java monster, in memory of my old riding buddy Donnie (a lot of you guys have heard about him...). Chris arrived right at 530, geared up and ready to go for a ride with slightly higher temps. We set out for bacon at Mama Jack's in Kountze.

The ride to Kountze is far from memorable, but we got it out of the way as the sun came up, and that helped. Mama Jack's has a great breakfast buffet for about 8 bucks, and their cinnamon rolls absolutely rock!

When we got there, Chris was getting pretty chilly... mesh doesn't work very well when the temps are in the 50s! He was ok, and we warmed up a bit as we had breakfast. The sun had come up, so we had seen the coolest we would see. Had a great breakfast, topped off the fuel tanks, and headed for the curves!

Ride Report: 11-12-2016 Butt Burner

Off to the curves!

Again, it was a bit of slabbing to get to Hwy 87 via Kirbyville, then up to Newton and onto 1414... FINALLY! Curves!!! Woo Hoo!

and then a Dish Network van pulled in before us... slow...

I pulled off for a smoke break to let him get ahead of us, and we got a pick of a nice little S-curve in front of us... Burned one, got a pic... geared back up. Just as we got on the bikes and fired up, Grandpa and Grandma Moses creeped by... at about 1/2 the speed limit... Ughhhhh!!!!

We followed them for about an mile... no safe place to pass... and pulled off again for a couple minutes. I think they turned off, so the rest of 1414 was great! That was the last issue we had with slow cagers. it was going to be a great ride!

Ride Report: 11-12-2016 Butt Burner

OK... I'll apologize now... I don't have a huge number of pics here... We were riding, and enjoying it... no time for no stinkin pics!!!!

However, after 1414, we got back on 87, enjoyed the sweet sweepers on 87 up to Milam... our next scheduled fuel stop.

Uh Oh! I could have sworn there was a gas station across the road from the Burger joint on 87... hmmmm... no fuel in Milam.

Fortunately, we weren't sucking fumes, and there was a gas station about 5 miles off the route... so we headed east (in the opposite direction of the route), and filled up, got re-hydrated, and headed back through Milam and back onto the planned route.

The power to my GPS started going wonky... once in awhile, it would say it lost power, and was shutting down... hmmmm... Just an irritation so far...

West of Milam, we caught FM330 off of Hwy 21. 330 is an awesome road... nice switchbacks, a few autumn leaves on the road... nice scenery... one of my favorites in the area.

Back onto 87, we headed north to near Hurstown, and caught 139, which curves around toward Toledo Bend Reservoir and up to Haslam, TX / Logansport, LA. This road isn't as epic as 330, but a nice road with some good curves.

From Logansport, it was 765 up to the Texas State Line, where the International Border Marker is located.

For all the history buffs, particularly Texas history buffs, this was pretty cool. We spent a lot more time here than I had planned... but it was cool.

Ride Report: 11-12-2016 Butt Burner

To save some time, we headed back to Logansport and over to Center, TX, then back down to 87.

87 took us to FM 353. FM 353 is a lot like 330. GREAT curves, nice road! love it! this road took us back into San Augustine, and our next fuel stop. This time, there was a gas station. hahahah!

From San Augustine, it was 147 to 69 to Colmesneil and the Texas Star Cafe. Great chicken fried steak, and their peach cobbler is excellent! Nice folks there, too.

We topped off the tanks there, and that was enough to get us back home...

Out of Colmesneil, it was 1745 to 942 to 2500 to 1276 to 943 to Segno. Normally, I ride south from Segno to Votaw... we just keep burning straight through... Turns out there are some really nice curves just outside of Segno that we've been missing!

The original plan was to take 146 to Liberty and then 1960 home. For some reason, I was looking for 321 instead, thinking it would get us home faster. At this point, it was just get er home...

Remember the GPS power issue? it got worse... much worse... was turning on and off about every 30 seconds... would finally get the normal screen up for 5 seconds or so, then go back down... not good...

To make things worse... darkness was upon us. Critters come out and want to talk to you on a motorcycle, so I was looking for the safest way back, and actually avoiding curves... although we had pretty much run out of them by now.

Got to 321... Got turned around (that's normal for me)... ended up back to 105, over to 59/69. More traffic, but less likely to hit a deer... Smooth sailing from there.

Overall... a great ride! over 500 miles, from dark to dark... good company, some good food... and other than the cool start, perfect weather! I'm ready to think about the next one.

What a perfect description of the ride......haha......you've missed your calling..!

It was truly an excellent ride and day all around.

When is the next one....?? Saturday...??

I think i have a solution to the GPS issue... but i don't think mom will let me do it again saturday....

But... i have a couple other long routes in my bag of tricks...

Somewhere, i need to book some time to get a new tire on for big bird as well.

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Ride, Thursday, 12-29-2016

OK... another last minute post here.

Big Bird has put together a nice looking route that we're going to try tomorrow.

All interested, let us know... if we need to look for you to connect along the way, that could work as well! Just PM / post up and we'll seee what we need to do.

If you are going to be there, be sure to post up and/or PM! We won't be looking for you if we don't know you're coming!!!

Meet: Javaman, FM 1960 in Atascocita, 0800
KSU: 0830

Route: See map. Just over 5 hours ride time, about 260 miles.

a bit of a figure 8 loop including a ride along the east side of Lake Livingston, 223 and 224 through Shepherd, and catching 942 to Colmesneil and Lunch at the Texas Star Cafe. I would estimate about 7 hours total clock time.

The start of the ride will head east through Huffman / Dayton to Kenefick.

Weather.... hmmmm...could be windy. Will be cooler than today... but should be good. Dress for the weather! Just in case... rain gear may be a good idea.

Count me in.

Blue - I'll meet you at your house prior, as discussed.

See you guys in the morning.

Another good ride! A bit breezy, but otherwise great weather and a good route. The Texas Star Cafe was, as usual, excellent!

No crashes, mishaps, or performance awards!

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Ride Thursday, 1/5/2017

Yep, I know... some people have jobs... I'm working on that one, too... got a break in the consulting work...

The temps look like they are headed down on Friday, so Thursday looks like the best ride day... here's the scoop:

Meet, Javaman, Atascocita, 0800

KSU: 0830

About a 5 hour ride (plus stops), 250 miles.

From Atascocita, to Kenefick, up to 787 and Ace, Segno, Dallardsvile, with fuel stop at the Alabama Coushatta Smoke Shop.

up to Colmesneil, back on 1725 and 942 through Legget and over to Livingston Lake, then down 222, 223 through Shepherd. Fuel stop in Shepherd.

Lunch at the Ranch Hand Cafe in Cleveland and back to Atascocita via Plum Grove road and Huffman.

Anybody Free??? If so, post up or PM so we know you're coming!

DANG!! I'm retired so don't have a job and have the time to ride anytime....I just don't have a bike yet.

I live in Atascocita and have been shopping for a Adv style bike for a few weeks now. I'm pretty close to a deal where I may have a Wee 650 by late January. I even reached out to a local TWT member, Big Bird. Turns out he lives like two blocks from me in the same subdivision.

So I look forward to riding some of these runs with y'all at some point, if that's cool. Of course, I've not owned a bike in well over 10+ yrs so I'd want to get my riding chops up again in much shorter rides for awhile at first.

But hopefully down the road, I can go well, down the road with y'all.

If any TWT-ers ever hang out at Humble restaurant/bars to share travel-tales. My blues-grass band, Hillbilly Bayrats will be at Green Oaks Tavern on Main St. this coming Friday nite 1/6/17, 9p-12a.

Come by, say hi. Maybe help me keep my Wee thoughts up. Peace y'all, ernie

Good to hear from you, Ernie!

Hurry up and get that bike... I've got a new, magical resume that is guaranteed to get 50 job offers here...

But really, that sounds great... hope you can get some wheels under you soon. It would be great to have you join in on the rides... We typically run a sport touring pace, don't drink and ride, and occasionally do lunch on the route... it's mostly about the ride. Can't wait to see Wee #2 show up!!!

I've got a lot on my plate, even though I'm in the job hunt... could be rolling back to only weekends if things change for the better (employment-wise, anyway).

Looks like I'm tied up for this Friday, but we'll have to get out and see the band soon!

No worries Blue Flash, another time, another place. Just FYI, Band is at Zachary's Cajun Grill in Kingwood on Jan 28, 8pm. Fun place, great food.

Thanks for the reply here. I'm just hanging around here and ST site reading all I can while I'm waiting for a Wee to land here. I've been retired about 12 yrs and feel I'd like to look for a part time job now. And with all the pricey farkles, riding gear, eventual replacement parts for a bike, I may just have to get a square job again to afford all that.

Hey, at least I could ride my, new to me bike to my new to me job, that'd be fun. later, e.

ernieD2 what exactly is Blues-grass? I Googled your band but couldn't find anything except a comment about "good harmonies" only which doesn't scream bluegrass to me. Is your band laid back sound or rocking?

_

Well, it's a thing we just say as a few of us play in blues bands also. When we first threw this together we still played some blues cover tunes but we'd throw our mandolin some solos' in the blues songs. So we'd say it was like bluegrass with a blues feel.

So we weren't trying to be a real bluegrass band. Mando player does some sing/play alot of bluegrass so he introduced more of those songs along the way.

So it's more a hybrid (*******-ized) version of bluegrass with some classic country and a little R&B tossed in for flavor. Just a fun side project for us to do in the Humble area. We even use a cajon player as our drummer. So we're all over the place. We do have FB page.

But this site is about biking not bassplaying/MI, my other passion. So I'll stop. I'm attempting to be doing both at some point. I got 12 basses; I gotta get at least one bike to re-start my second passion. peace, e

ernieD2 said:

...I live in Atascocita and have been shopping for a Adv style bike for a few weeks now. I'm pretty close to a deal where I may have a Wee 650 by late January...

Click to expand...

Ernie is Rod's old bike going to you? Saw him post this in another thread.

Mr2mch said:

I'll be deliverin Oui Strom to the new owner in Humble on Sat.... but may be bac in time to stop by that evenin....

Click to expand...

His '11 Wee 650, yeah I'm hoping. Just that he's done some mods to it that make it sit up higher for him at 6'2' or so, I'm only 5'9". I won't have much $$ to spend on making any mods soon. Heck, I still have to buy a new helmet. And I need other gear to wear before I'd be out on the streets riding again.

Been well over 10+ years since I last owned a bike. I'm thinking the higher stance of a bike is only going to make it harder for me to gain my confidence if I feel it's going to tip over on me at every stop.

A TWT member near me may have a stock 650 seat for sale, so I probably gotta drop some $ on that now too. I know many say it's an easy mod to lower the Wee some. But again, I have other things I planned to spend my cash on that I will need to ride safely too. So we'll see how it goes.

Hate for him to come down for nothing but I just wont know until I can finally see the bike up close for the first time. Also, hoping the weather will settle down for Sat. Sunday is looking better actually but I it's a haul for Rod so trying not to make it difficult for him. OK well we'll see how it shakes out soon. or not. peace, e.

Don't let the height keep you from buying it. In the Adv world it doesn't get any lower than a DL650.

Spend $30 for lowering links and raise the forks a pinch. I would help you do it, 30 minutes max. The modded seat can be swapped back to stock. I have a stock seat you could try and a low seat is available also.

_

Yeah, maybe not as big a deal as I was thinking. Good to know the mod is not pricey. These are tall bikes. I test rode a '08 Versys 650 recently and '07 Wee 650. The Wee just felt so much better to me overall. That Wee was stock and I was able to flat foot it.

I appreciate the offer for help here. We'll see how she goes.

Just spoke to Rod, he should be here mid-day this Saturday so I can see his bike firsthand, first time. TWT member BigBird lives a couple blocks from me. He may have a stock Wee seat and he said he wants to come meet Rod in person.

Looks like we may be having an unscheduled Wee Strom mini-meet up.

Thanks again, e.

Let's Ride! Friday, 1/17

OK... I've been totally consumed with my latest educational venture, and Big Bird says I need to ride...

Current Weather forecast is 20% rain in the morning, and 30% and possible T-storms in the afternoon... I'll take that chance!

I'm thinking a KSU no later than 0900, could be Busters in New Caney or Javaman in Atascocita.

200 miles, about 4 hours road time. Stop at Alabama Coushatta Smoke shop around 100 miles for fuel, hydration.

Avoiding San Jacinto County for some reason... OK... here's a map!

Who's in???

I'm in.

See you Friday morning..!!

2/17... not 1/17...

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