Our mixed DFW contingent started at the famous Minyard Gas Station in SW Arlington. I arrived a bit before 10:00 AM to find Rich (Simmons1) standing with 3 motorcycles. He said the traffic fooled him (he rides to Arlington every day) and got there 30 minutes early. Russ (busarider1) had pulled in just after him. The third bike belonged to Theresa (gocatgo). Rich rode in from north Fort Worth, Theresa from Boyd, and Russ from Fort Sill, Oklahoma!
I, of course, suffered the 2 miles down Green Oaks Blvd to the Minyard.
Theresa's friend and fellow Concours rider, Sharon (WeeVeeSharon here, n5ck on others), had told her that she might be late. As T was telling us that, Rich asks her what she rode, T said "red Concours". Rich asks "yellow helmet?" and points across the street toward the Shell station. A red bike with a yellow helmeted rider was pulling in...
With all known participants accounted for (TexasShadow opted out due to sniffles), we were able to get away a bit early at 10:20.
(L-to-R: Sharon, Theresa, Rich, Russ)
bikes:
2 Kawasaki Concours
2 Suzuki V-stroms (both flavors)
1 Honda ST1300
It was cloudy but not raining. We hoped to run out of the cloud cover and get some sun - it never happened, but it didn't rain, and the wind was not a factor. Some of us got a bit cold, however. OK, it was mainly me...
My little GPS displayed a "low battery" warning just as we were going thru Itasca but I didn't see a place to stop until we made Whitney. A couple of coffee drinkers made pit stops while we decided to try lunch at the DQ in Valley Mills.
(Russ and Rich)
Russ and his DL1000
Rich hiding his ST
Theresa had the black Concours
Theresa has custom cat graphics on most of her bikes (I love Bill-the-Cat on her R6):
Sharon beside her Concours
Our lunching put us about 5 minutes late to the Zimmerman home in Temple. Puttering down First street, I could see two young gals watching intently from their front yard.
Jen still is suffereing from a foot injury, so she and Savannah took the chase car.
(Cassie, Chris (wczimmerman), Jen (Blazing Mama), Savannah)
Cassie braved the cold wind (with Dad as the windbreak) on WC's SV1000:
The friendly red sport-touring bike set...
WC and Cassie led the way. We happened upon Bill (Graubart) and his wife, Loretta at a gas station in Hearne. Bill was on his Zuk DL650 and Loretta was in the chase Honda.
There were a bunch of familiar faces at the hotel plus a lot of new ones. Here is a group from the north Texas area - not sure what Don said, but I think Bill is taking exception...
(Don (donroger1), wife Ramona, Theresa, Sharon, Loretta, Bill)
Rich took a few pictures, too
The technical support team works on the video equipment (that's Scott (bluedogok) on the left)
Some more-or-less candid shots.
These two - Rebecca (rocketbunny) and Patricia (Faylaricia) - have some very animated discussions
Some intense setup in progress
(Scott (bluedogok) and Chris (wczimmerman))
(one picture of rocketbunny saved for future blackmail)
Jen got everyone's attention when she announced the pies
(while Bill tries aerial photography)
before the onslaught
more pie photographers
(that's George to the left
- no - it's really Kyle)
some serious discussions (Gavin (skid) with the serious face)
(Cherioer and afrazier on the right)
Patricia attempted to avoid this shot
some Houston area folks
facing camera: Brenda, Brian (Texas T), Howard (mapmaker) and Jan (also uses mapmaker))
Scott (bluedogok), Brian (AlphaFire X5), and Rebecca (rocketbunny)
The big card game: Howard checks on Jan
Brenda and Brian (Texas T)
A Canon enthusiast - Brian (AlphaFire X5)
Dunno how late the card game went. I decided to crash just as Debbie (Snoopster) was eliminated from the game.
Had a few folks appear for breakfast the next morning.
Cassie was enjoying her breakfast
And Savannah gets one last mug in while Mom Jen watches
Will Cassie and Savannah ultimately take over Pie Run duties when Dad and Mom retire?
Anyway, the Z's have two cute young gals...
The crew I came down with was getting restless between 9:00 and 10:00, so I bid the Zimmermans goodbye and our group of 5 took off for Temple and a slightly different return route. I was cold again and added my rain jacket when we stopped just west of Temple and the Councours twins gassed up.
The wind was brutal (and cold) and was out of the west/northwest, thereby killing our gas mileage for most of the trip. The rest of us gassed up in Cranfill's Gap and Rich asked "Where are you feeding us?". So, we changed our route a bit and headed to the Koffee Kup. That gave us a chance to warm up and Russ bought lunch! (he really did class up our little group)
We split up on US67 with Russ and Theresa heading up FM51 so Russ could stop in Granbury and T could head home. The rest of us headed east on 67. I spun off on FM2280, Rich planned to take I35W north, and Sharon was planning to take 67 to 20 to her home east of Dallas.
It was a fun trip for me (even if the rest of the group refused to make any decisions)
I hope everyone will get over my slow pace eventually...
My GPS read 487 miles for both days, but the odometer had 501.3...
Looks like I'll miss the one in January due to a marriage in the family, but ya'll go ahead without me, OK?
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