Wild Flower Ride Report

What a beautiful day! A nice ride to see the wild flowers and have some photo ops – which we did.



The ride started with 10 bikes – 11 people. Our fearless leader, The Big Spank Daddy, got the ride going.



Talked Tim into posing for me – the first photo I dared stop and take.



Found a field of BlueBonnets, and everyone got in on the photo op then.


On the way to Halletsville for lunch, MOST of us saw a group of buffalo and Longhorns. Of course, Chris didn’t see it, so we missed the photo op! At lunch he said, “What buffalo? I didn’t see no buffalo!” So when the rest of the gang told him they saw them just like I did, Chris said we’d stop on our way back and get a picture.

Well, guess what?! Chris MISSED THEM AGAIN!!!! So, here’s a picture of the buffalo so Chris can finally see them!



When we got to Burton, Paul Sonderfan decided to head out on his own to ride to Fayetteville, then on back home.

Scratch and Slider split off after lunch in Halletsville so they could “explore” some of the local curvies (roads, you dirty-minded people!!!!).

Made a loop out of Halletsville and stopped of in Weimer for a fuel up. Eric decided to hit I-10 there and head back home. It was already about 3:00 p.m. or so.

We all headed back toward La Grange, then on into Fayetteville. The remainder of us had just slowed down on 237 to turn onto 159 into Fayetteville, when disaster struck!

The Big Spank Daddy was in lead, Tim was behind him, then TexasSlider/Tori, Gary, Chatterbox, RocketBunny. To all our horror, Tim and his bike fell and went spinning down the road. Don’t know for sure what happened, but it was either the rear drive locked up or the transmission locked up. Tim tried valiantly to keep her up, but to no avail. He took a pretty hard hit, but somehow managed not to hit his head!!! Thank God! Only a small tear in his mesh Joe Rocket pants. Not even a sign of anything on his jacket. We are all thankful that we had slowed down and this didn’t happen at a higher rate of speed.

Went on into Fayetteville and called a tow truck. Tim hitched a ride with the driver to show him where to drop off his Beemer. The rest of us headed out of Fayetteville toward home.

TexasSlider and Tori split off in Sealy, heading back home to Friendswood. RocketBunny stayed on 362 when Chris, Gary and I turned off on 529 to head home.

All in all, it was a great day. One incident, but no one was hurt and very minimal cosmetic damage to the bike. Good photos, and great fun with new friends!

Anyone see any pics?

Cindy, the only way I can see your pics is to edit your post and copy the link, paste it in a new browser window, and actually visit your hosting site. Otherwise, nothing shows up in the report.

I'm with Chris, I ain't seen a buffalo, yet!

Whaaaaaaa.......I wanted to see the bluebonnets....Whaaaaaaaa

Yeah, I know. I gotta edit. I tried to do it last night, but was whipped!!!!

We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and didn't get back home until 6:45 p.m. Chris and I put on about 360 miles yesterday - and man was it fun!!!!

OK, you smart alecks - the pictures are posted now!!!!

Tim posted this on the TSBA site:

Flower Riders,

Just got home. Thanks for your support.

At 135,400 miles something wore out or broke and locked up the rear tire on my 2000 K1200lt on todays ride just east of La Grange. I thought it was shifting funny at La Grange but thought I could make it home. Wrong! The rear wheel locked up at around 50 mph, fish tailed and I think I lost it around 20 mph. Low sided. Tore my Joe Rocket mesh pants zipper pocket. Bent the "crash" bar on the right side a little and the brake pedal. My back is sore and I have ice on it now. No road rash or bruises so far.

Tow from La Grange to Wild West Honda/BMW was $400, but should get some reimbursement from the Shell Motorist Club and maybe my insurance. . .

. . . The BWW LT site lists the final drive and transmission as the weak spot on this bike and an estimated 5% have failed. By the time they get to 100,000 miles the failure is more like 50%. Not sure if any have ever made my high mileage yet without repair. Repairs are usually in the $2-3K range.

Hope to be back on the road in a few weeks!

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Glad to hear he's ok, except for a small tear in his britches. At least it wasn't in a "delicate" location!!!!

Wow. Sorry to hear about Tim's "event." Happy to hear he was able to walk away. I'd be interested to hear what the cause was, once diagnosed.

EJK

Sorry to hear about Tim's fall!

Thanks for setting up the ride Chris & Cindy! Had a great time. Doug and I took a round-about route back, giving me a chance to check out a couple more paved county roads out west of Fayetteville.

Ouch...sorry 'bout the fall Tim. Nice photos y'all.

A great day & ride (less the fall of Tim's BMW) The roads we awesome. The flowers well they were flowers, the company grand and buffalo I didn't see no stinkin' buffalo.
All kidding aside Chris lead a great ride. Tori and I enjoyed the company our lunch and the chance to put a few hundred miles on the FJR.

See everyone again soon.

Finally posted a short report (Cindy's is more detailed) and some nice photos on my blog. I'd post the photos here, but most of them are wider than Scott likes, and I'm too pooped to play with the sizes again.

Enjoy!
http://rocketbunny.blogspot.com/2006/04/wildflower-ride.html

We did some flower scouting today...

Great Pic's, I hope they're still out next weekend! I secured a kitchen pass to head down to Austin and ride with a good friend of mine, our plans are still just a suggestion but I see alot of riding for the weekend.

Becca, GREAT pics. Chris, Paul, Patricia and I were sitting around at the Wrench 'n Learn today talking about that ride. Chris said he was "hurt" because he's been so anxious to see the pic he took of you.

BTW - that's a super photo of you and your bike.

Looking forward to riding with you again. We gotta do the Hill Country with you - it'll be my first time not as the 1/2 half of a 2 up!

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera yet for this ride, but while riding along/near the same route yesterday, I took a couple of pictures. (Click on the thumbnails for full-size images)

A panorama shot from a field north of Brenham -


A bucolic scene just east of William Penn -


Also went by the Old Baylor College ruins in Independance, but the blooms there were past their peak.

I was on Hwy 159 Saturday and had no idea how widespread the wildflowers were. I've lived here since 1994 and have never seen them. They are just like in Paul's pictures, it really took my breath away.

Georgia, those images I posted were taken on county roads, not state highways. Nobody else was around when Steve Tanner (Desmo) and I stopped to shoot them. At the same time, there were large crowds of wildflower tourists gathered in fairly unremarkable patches all along Hwy 290 and Hwy 6. Sometimes it pays to get off the beaten path.

Several places on 362 south of 105 there are 20 to 30 acre fields of solid blue , thats the most I have seen this year . There are a few nice spots on 159 between Bellville and Fayetville but way less than usual , that streatch is usally solid blue . It doesn't do any good for me to take pictures , I havent got a clue how to post anyway . SEYA

scratch said:

Georgia, those images I posted were taken on county roads, not state highways. Nobody else was around when Steve Tanner (Desmo) and I stopped to shoot them. At the same time, there were large crowds of wildflower tourists gathered in fairly unremarkable patches all along Hwy 290 and Hwy 6. Sometimes it pays to get off the beaten path.

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Just beautiful, maybe next year I can tag along on a wildflower run. I could tell that you took one of the pictures just sitting there in the road and surmised there was no traffic around you.