First let me start by again thanking Scott for putting together the ride, MxTaco for a place to stay on Friday night and everyone else for helping me pick up my bike again, and again, and again. This was my first group ride and the first real ride offroad since running around my grand-parents farm on an RT100 fifteen years ago. Although my new screen name should be GreenSubmarine or GrndLvnKLR, I had a great time.
I logged 615 miles in the saddle this weekend. Left Houston 'bout 5 on Friday afternoon and promptly scooted east on the surface roads toward Liberty. Unfortunately my dancing D606's led me straight to 10 miles of grooved road being repaved on 1960. Just my luck. Hold on!
A few hours later as the temps dipped in the 30's I met up with MxTaco at his family hunting ranch just north of Jasper. A few drinks and discussion of bikes had us ready for some shut-eye. But not for long. About midnight the house phone rings. MxTaco sleeps like a hibernating bear, so I ansered. "Hello." "Hello, this is Raul. I'm at a house and I'm not sure if it's the right one and I don't want to get shot." This Raul is a smart guy. "No, problem." I stepped outside, thus saving Raul from an untimely meeting with his maker. Raul shook of the cold and to sleep we went.
At 7 the alarm went off. Squecky and Dr.Blackbird had already been on the road for 2 hours, but it still seemed early. A look out the door confirmed that it was still cold.
Nonetheless, the bikes, and Louisiana's curvey dirt roads beckened.
MxTaco and Raul exchanged greetings and we set off for Leesville. A quick call from Squeaky and Doc confirmed that they were arriving, so a quick stop at DQ filled our stomach's with greasy goodness (sorry no pics of the biscuits or funny stares from the locals.) What haven't you ever seen somebody pull up on a dirt-bike at 8 in the morning when it's 30 degrees outside? Jeez. Get on board!
A few minutes later we arrived at Scott's friends house is Leesville, made introductions, and set off for a quick Exxon stop for gas and water. Squecky had her first fall in the parki...wait, sorry, wrong story. Scott led us out of Leesville North onto muddy NP roads. They had the consitency of ground chicken snot and quickly provided some entertainment.
Raul, ever vigalent, muscled the wee-strom through the mud. About 10 minutes later we had a little scare when Scott decided to crash test his fancy windshield. Sadly the windshield did not pass the test. Perhaps his next model will be airbag-equipped. Yes, that's a shard of his windshield just to his right.
The rest of day one consisted of some submarine action, tight two-track trails, a heroic 4 man wee-strom lift, and an apartment carb clean-out. From the video you can see why I didn't have a moment or a breath to stop and take pictures. We also nearly had a run in with the locals in Nag-tish and MxTaco's horn seemed to be malfunctioning whenever he passed some college coeds. Funny horn, that one.
Stay tuned for day two.