Report: Pie Run 2007/XI - Mineola

[Gilk51]

<gasp> Neither WC or Kurt started the ride report, so here goes...

Saturday, 11/17/2007 - weather supposed to hit 80, a bit humid in the morning, but a great day to wander around in East Texas...

My wife, Susan (also known as "tortuga" but she doesn't post much), headed up to our local rendezvous for starting rides - the Minyard at Green Oaks and I20. She was going to get gas there but they had a sign "closed until further notice" on the window... It bit several other folks motoring in to get gas, too.

Chris (Ace Wingnut) met us a bit after 8 and we decided to get underway.

The route was mainly US287 and we stopped in Ennis for gas. Saw a couple of suspicious bikes ride past - turns out it was Rick's (rbickle) group.

We stopped in Kaufman for a courthouse picture. Chris thought it was not one of the better looking ones (well, he said it was ugly). Here he is with his F650GS:

The rest of the bikes in our group

We were going to make a similar stop in Canton but there was too much activity around the square to stop.

This is where the GPS decided to be ornery and route us away from the only decent road on my route - FM1255. It tried to send us to I20 but we turned around and found the start just off 64 and FM17. It tried to do it again but I did remember it was supposed to take us all the way to US80. 1255 was nice except half of it was chip-seal - I hate that stuff...

I had never been to the Burger Company but this time the GPS wasn't far off plus there were some familiar faces out front.

However, there was not much left of the parking spaces, so we headed around back:

Elly (cwdancer) was outside & I got Susan to park next to her. Here are the two MaxiScoots:

And Elly...

Other folks were rolling in.

A couple of my favorite people - Jessica (ninjette) and Bill (pub610)

Dave (terrebandit) stood behind two Voyagers, neither of which were his...

The scene out front

Hanging out in front: Lee (wildebube) and daughter, Kathleen, and brother-in-law, Dave (KLR Dave)

Dave has one of them new fangled KLRs (bought it on Halloween)

The restaurant had room for us but you got the idea that Saturdays are pretty busy for them. We were scattered around in groups of 4-6.

Kathleen got some kind of chocolate moose - it was LOTS of chocolate

She demonstrates proper form

Groups kept filtering in - Rick's (rbickle) group got there well after we did & claimed that they didn't get lost. That's Rick on the right, Mark on the left, and I forgot the gal's name...

You'd think I'd remember to bring my fancy notepad inside instead of leaving it in the topcase...

Now folks are handing out in front again

Fred (Red Brown), Lee (wildebube), Dave (KLR Dave), Kathleen, Rich (Simmons1), and Bill (Rich's imaginary friend)

The bikes had thinned out in the back, and I got Scott and his son, Lucas, to pose with their Voyager:

I estimated 30-35 folks there and I missed meeting a lot of folks. Also missed seeing Todd's new Versys but saw him leaving the gas station across the street. I haven't seen Keith (Dragwn) in a while but got to meet the Mrs. to be (they get married in 2 weeks).

-------

Afterwards, tortuga and I puttered around east Texas - first to Pine Mills (FM49 was very nice), and then found this nice memorial in Hawkins:

My wife in front of the courthouse in Longview:

Unfortunately, we ran into some rain south of Kilgore and it was hard to tell which way it was going. We had hoped to spend more time in New London and the surrounding area due to the 70th anniversary of this event earlier this year:

So we hightailed out 323 and picked up 850 in Overton - that would be one nice road if it wasn't chip-sealed.

And the surface they put on US69 from Tyler to I20 is not chip seal - it's rock seal! That was the largest (and roughest) surface I have seen so far...

All in all a great day, 363 miles for us.

 

[Rick572]

Looks like a Good Pie Run. sorry I missed it

 

[Simmons1]

Nice report Chuck!

Bill and I had a nice ride. Did some wandering North East of Mineola working our back home. We got sprinkled on and just missed a shower on the way back. I wound up with 350 miles for the day.

Your pictures look a lot like mine so I am not going to post any. See you Tuesday night!

 

[DwayneInfo]

The Wife and I rode in from Houston. 550 miles for the day, 15hrs total. Dark and raining for the last 150 mi or so. Very good trip for us, we just never take pictures of anything. We also took the opportunity to visit and check out Fairfield State Park. We will go back and camp in a few weeks.

Dwayne

 

[Dragwn]

One thing to remember the next time back, if you want to get a burger and fries, you really have to sit on the left hand side (the Burger Co.)

We'll show up earlier next time so we can get in with the group and meet more that we hadn't met before.

We ended up running north on 37 in perfect weather and went into Winnsboro to see some friends.....they have an antique shop in downtown, Jan's Antiques.

We're hoping to make the year end New Year's in College Station.

 

[jhansen]

Thanks Chuck!

 

[rickmillertx]

I was out for the weekend at Holly Lake Ranch when on Saturday I had to run over to Walmart in Mineola. As I was approaching Mineola on 49 I saw a group of about 5 bikes pass me headed east.

The light bulb went on. Pie Run is today at the burger joint.

So I drove over to the burger place to see the last of the riders headed to their bikes in the parking lot. About 1:00 pm.

I see from Chuck's pictures that some went to Hawkins so his group might have been the bikes I saw.

Hope everyone had a great time.

 

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

all i can see is red X ????

 

[bluedogok]

all i can see is red X ????

They show up fine for me.....

 

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

Well, doesnt that just figure. even my computer wont let me have any fun..

 

[thumper_tx]

The Wife and I rode in from Houston. 550 miles for the day, 15hrs total. Dark and raining for the last 150 mi or so. Very good trip for us, we just never take pictures of anything. We also took the opportunity to visit and check out Fairfield State Park. We will go back and camp in a few weeks.

Dwayne

Great park!!! The ranger folks there are top notch. I fish there a lot and love the camping. Nice roads in the area also.

Thumper

 

[TAPnTX]

Great report, Sorry I did not stick around long enough for you to check out the VS. I promise to bring it to the next pie run. I have been riding it quite a bit, 1000 miles in the last 8 days

Todd

 

[Con-Man]

As usual the food was great the wait staff was cute and getting to checkout everyones ride was awesome. I didn't get to leave as early as I had planed so I hightailed it up 69 from Tyler. luckily, leo was nowhere to be scene. After the good food and conversation. I hooked up with Terebandit for his East Texas tour ride. You Guys missed a great ride. We left Mineola and wound around several small Towns, some I've never heard of. The terrain was beautiful and the roads were in good shape. As I was riding My thoughts were about how much I take for granted this beautiful area that I live in. I can get on my bike and in about 20 minutes I'm on a great road all alone relaxing in the rolling hills of East Texas. Thanks Dave. We did cut it off a little short due to the impending rain but it was a great ride. I,m going to try to recreate the rout in mapquest for future ride material.

Stephen

 

[cwdancer]

It was such a short ride for me - but as always very enjoyable- Chuck thanks for the pictures.

Elly

 

[voyagerrider]

I and the 5 I brought with me had a great time. We will definitely go on these again.
We were also so doing some checkpoints on a ride we were doing for TMRA that day. All of the checkpoints are towns with womens names. So we rode south on 1255, and really don't remember after that. I don't have my directions in front of me, but 1255 is a great road. I know we went though Canton and turned south on 19. We made our 1st checkpoint in Mildred just south of Corscania, then North to Alma. We rode in rain between Alma and Maypearl. But it only lasted for a short while, just long enough to get the bikes really dirty. From Maypearl to Venus then to Lillian where we ended our ride. Well actually that is not true, we rode to the Boozefighter clubhouse in Fort Worth for a benefit party for one of their members. We got home about 11:00 PM.
Long day, but a great ride. We did about 350 miles.
Marty

 

[Gilk51]

I and the 5 I brought with me

It occurred to me, while looking at the pictures, that you were probably the other Voyager in the parking lot. I really missed meeting a bunch of folks...

Glad ya'll enjoyed it - watch for other Tarrant County events and join us sometime (I promise I'll try much harder to make the next Johnson County event, too).

OK, I resolve to meet more people next time...

 

[wildebube]

Well, we didn't have the greatest ride on record, but we enjoyed it anyway. We got off to a late start and only managed to get in a couple of miles of dirt roads before making it a straight shot down 80. We had barely gotten onto 80 when Dave came up beside me to complain about me getting his bike dusty. I keep telling him that once you go over to the dark side, your bike is supposed to be dirty. Dave seems to like the KLR a lot, but I swear he should have bought a Harley. (Not Harley bashing here - more like admiration. I am in awe of the ability of HD owners to keep them so clean and shiny.)

The food was great and company even better. I did skip the pie though. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard a rumor that cutting down on things like that can stop your riding gear from shrinking. Ya’ll might be a motley bunch, but I think it’s a pretty fantastic group of people I’ve fallen in with. It was great to see everybody.

Dave and I both had to work that afternoon, so the ride home was another straight shot down 80. So not a great ride, but a good trip nonetheless.

 

[voyagerrider]

It occurred to me, while looking at the pictures, that you were probably the other Voyager in the parking lot. I really missed meeting a bunch of folks...

Glad ya'll enjoyed it - watch for other Tarrant County events and join us sometime (I promise I'll try much harder to make the next Johnson County event, too).

OK, I resolve to meet more people next time...

I was! The blue one with the dragons on the saddlebags. I think we are going to make the year end pie run at College Station. We just haven't signed up yet. Will probably bring a couple of the folks that came with us Saturday also. Being CMAers and riding tour bikes we love to eat. They like the idea of the pie runs.
My wife, Kathy, and I have been to couple of the Johnson County M&G. Pacman says we qualify now after 2 consective meetings to be in the Burleson Mafia. LOL!!
Marty

 

[voyagerrider]

I did skip the pie though. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard a rumor that cutting down on things like that can stop your riding gear from shrinking. .

We had heard that, but we discounted it when we heard it was the air in closet that caused stuff to draw up. My wife even told me that leaving the closet light on caused it.
Seriously though we have been going to Weight Watchers, and I have lost about 25 lbs. Their program works, just count your points. Funny thing not only does my riding gear fit better, but my bike seems to run & handle better. Neat side effect!
Marty

 

[Red Brown]

Thanks again for making the pie run a success.

We ended up doing a relaxing 1,000 miles during the pie run weekend. The highlight of the return trip was going through the very lovely Toledo State Park and somehow riding up on 2 miles of dirt road that was quite wet from the misting rain of the early morning (even though the "Avoid Dirt Roads" feature was enabled on the auto-routing preferences on the GPS!).

Later the bike and I was sprayed by a skunk loafing across the road and finally went by some grazing deer at night a few feet to the side of the undivided highway. I think I will not wash the bike since the odor give the bike a certain character and cars seem to keep their distance.

RB

 

[terrebandit]

As usual the food was great the wait staff was cute and getting to checkout everyones ride was awesome. I didn't get to leave as early as I had planed so I hightailed it up 69 from Tyler. luckily, leo was nowhere to be scene. After the good food and conversation. I hooked up with Terebandit for his East Texas tour ride. You Guys missed a great ride. We left Mineola and wound around several small Towns, some I've never heard of. The terrain was beautiful and the roads were in good shape. As I was riding My thoughts were about how much I take for granted this beautiful area that I live in. I can get on my bike and in about 20 minutes I'm on a great road all alone relaxing in the rolling hills of East Texas. Thanks Dave. We did cut it off a little short due to the impending rain but it was a great ride. I,m going to try to recreate the rout in mapquest for future ride material.

Stephen

Stephen,

You're welcome! I enjoyed your company and it was a pleasure spending the rest of the day with ya. I had 200 miles on my ODO.

You're right about the scenery as I was thinking the same darn thing. I have a ton of routes already mapped out for you, if you want them... That particular route is in my brain.

During the ride, I was thinking how much I am going to miss E. Texas and my friends here.. so sad.

Dave