Yup. I was in stealth mode.
I saw him coming - you can catch him off-guard by calling him "Fred".
---
Thanks to all that braved the elements, whether out in it or in the sanctity of a warm, dry vehicle.
And thanks especially for Mic and JoJo coming out and allowing us to make a long-awaited presentation. Jo is awlright (I'm too old to say "she rox"), ifn ya ask me.
---
I started out in the wetness with Soozy(also known as Soozy) and most excellent daughter Hannah (KomodoreObvious). They live just down the street now and Hannah agreed to exercise the ZR7S that is somewhat neglected in our garage.
The streets were wet and nobody else joined us at the old Minyard, so we blasted down I35 W and I35 to Hillsboro where we made a warm-up stop. Hannah did the glove-in-glove thing and Soozy put on another layer under her jacket.
We were to meet a couple of folks in Waco. I know that Russ said he turned around a bit north of there - we may have seen him heading back - I saw a GoldWing headed the other way around that time.
We ended up meeting James (JBay) who is local and also Leon (focus frenzy) from Cleburne and Ed (dualsportrider) from Ft. Worth. It didn't start raining until we met up with these guys.
We did a bit more I35 in the light rain and looped around Temple onto 95. I kept thinking we would run out of the droplets and didn't put the raingear on...
We made a rest stop in Little River Academy. Hannah was still suffering from cold hands. I think this pictures shows that she is surprised that they are still attached:
Also in the photo - Leon, Ed, Soozy, and James behind Hannah.
It was still lightly raining here. It just didn't seem to bother you standing still but it tended to get everything damp and then cool with the air flow.
It finally stopped falling somewhere north of Hutto. We were able to warm up and semi-dry out while visiting and eating. Some random photos:
A good scooter turnout - 3 here plus Soozy's made 4.
The Houston bunch was late due to weather and they didn't get to mingle as much. The DFW bunch waited for Anthony (macktruckturner) to finish since he was headed to Arlington for a visit.
Along with our original 6 we added:
. Anthony (macktruckturner)
. Douglas (Sockwell)
. Denton Don (donroger1)
Hannah tried some chem heater packages for her hands and got some loaner gloves from Don. She still used my heated grips at the rest stops for an additional assist! I know what should be on her Christmas list...
After talking with Don, I made a change to my original route and we took 436 into Belton and then followed misc roads thru McGregor, Valley Mills, Whitney and Cleburne, dropping off various riders along the way.
Thanks to the patience of all the riders who put up with my AARP pace.
The GPS showed 361 miles for the Arbor Valley Group.
Even with the rain, a great day to get out and see some good folks!