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My husband's friend Rick lives about 100 miles from us. They were good friend when they were both in their early 20's, lost contact for a while and are friends today (that's another story for another time... or not). Anyway, Bert (my husband) and Rick both got their Texas motorcycle licenses when they were 21 and they both rode for quite a while and then stopped (for different reasons). Bert kept his motorcycle license all these years ( I won't say exactly how many years... let's just say, a long time) and came back to motorcycling last year mostly because I really wanted him out on the road with me and we were able to get a bike for him that would actually work well for him. A few months ago, Rick decided he also was interested in returning to motorcycling.
Rick bought a very nice Yamaha V-Star 650 but, no longer had a motorcycling license. Bert and I drove down to see it. It's a very good looking bike, came with bags and Vance & Hines pipes... oh yeah, very nice! Only thing was, Rick needed to get a license... again.
After spending some time getting acquainted with his new toy, Rick was ready for the road test. The weather in this part of the country has really been something in the past month or so. Bert was trying to find time to make the trip to Rick's when the weather might be favorable for a couple of days. Last week, we had ice on the roads. This week was different though. Thursday and Friday looked good at the beginning of the week... highs in the high 60s - low 70s, yes! This would be just the right time. I happen to be off those days from work so I was really thinking about making the ride down as well (any excuse to ride country roads in good weather will do). Bert called Rick. Rick was ready to test and he was available those days. As the date approached, the forecast began to change, not temperature wise but it looked like we might get some wind those days. I finally made up my mind and decided to go. Wednesday night, the forecast called for 20-25 mile per hour winds on Thursday and 30-35 mile per hour winds on Friday. I hated the thought of cancelling our plans so I told Bert that I didn't think it would be that bad and we decided to go ahead.
I'm not known to be an early riser so by the time we got out of bed Thursday morning, had coffee, packed up the bikes, looked the bikes over and checked tire pressures... well, it was well after 2 pm. Oh well, plenty of time. Rick had scheduled his road test for the next day at 1:45 pm. No worries, plenty of time to ride the hundred miles at a leisurely pace in the daylight and visit with Rick before bedtime.
Super slabbing is not exactly my idea of fun but sometimes you just got to get down the road and it beats the heck out of riding through town and stopping a million times at red light every 50 feet so, we slabbed our way out of town. After about 45 minutes, I needed gas... we needed cash and, oh yeah, you can't ride if you don't eat. So, we pulled off of I-35 S in Grandview at the Maypearl exit and found a gas station and this BBQ place:
I was facing the restaurant getting my gas tank full and I see this just to the right of the restaurant:
Well, I still need cash. Bert went in to get something to drink. You know, what the heck? Not gonna kill me... I go in and we decide to get the "Zebra Pile-Up". That's chopped beef, beans, cheese, onions and jalapenos. I take a picture while we're waiting:
Here's the "Zebra Pile-Up" at Grandview Smoking BBQ:
Now, I've got to tell you... this was good food! I wouldn't drive down to Grandview, Texas just eat there but if you were in the area and hungry... most definitely good food and friendly folks!
After filling my tank, our bellies and getting cash... we're back on the slab.
Hillsboro, TX... time to hit the FM roads! FM 171 is mostly straight and smooth but does have a few nice turns. It's windy. Not crazy but, my head is bobbing around a little. There are a lot of very nice homes, farmland and several gravel county roads in either direction all along the way. Had to get a couple more pictures:
Almost there, we're going through a lot of small towns. Most of the towns look like this one:
Hey, there's Rick... meeting us along the way:
We road back through the countryside and despite being blown around by the wind, we were at Rick's in what seemed like no time. I don't have pictures but somewhere along the way I saw some (what looked like antelope) behind a fence. Apparently, there are several ranches in the area that specialize in exotic game animals.
Rick was nice enough to put our bikes up in his garage:
And here's Rick's bike (what you can see of it anyway):
Often, riders name their bikes. For example, Bert's bike is named Pearl and mine, well... I call him Eli. Last visit, I asked Rick if he was going to name his new bike... yeah, "Obama". OK, well... doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it? I often say things like, "Me and Eli are ready to go for a ride!"... how's that gonna work with Obama? Really! So, I teased my host about it. "Black Beauty" I say or "Black Betty"... Bert teases him too. At least go with "Mrs. Obama" or "Hot Mamma"... Well, I think Rick's not so crazy about naming inanimate objects (Eli, I'm not talking to you... you know you're different)... but it was a fun conversation.
Rick makes us a great dinner. He has a really nice place out in the country and put us up in his guest room.
We went to bed around 11 pm. Bert and I can hardly go to sleep. We're night people and, it's so very, very quiet at Rick's. Ah, a train whistle... all is good and we fall asleep.
Next day:
It's Friday now, In uncharacteristic fashion, Bert and I rolled out of bed before the sun rose. Guess we were excited too! Two pots of coffee later, I pack our stuff back up on the bikes. The decision was made a while back ( for reasons I won't get into here) that Rick would take his riding test on Bert's bike. If you are not familiar with the driving test in Texas (motorcycles)... you have to have a licensed motorcycle rider drive a car behind the person being tested. In the car is the DPS official. The DPS official tells the driver of the car when to signal for the turn, the motorcyclist being tested has to watch their mirrors and turn at the appropriate places. It's kind of odd really.
Anyway, we get on the road. Rick is riding Bert's bike, Bert is fallowing him in Rick's car and I'm riding drag on my bike. Beautiful FM roads through the countryside. We pass some bison (again no pictures) and a really cool horse ranch that I've got to go back and find that has life sized sculptures of horses at the entrance... I thought they were real horses until we got pretty close. About half an hour later, we're in Corsicana, TX. Then it starts. The wind. It's incredible! A very strong crosswind, so strong that I feel like my front wheel is wobbling.
I'm in Corsicana, that only means one thing to me... Collin Street Bakery....must get fruitcake...
And Bert... well, Bert wants real food:
Here's a shot of the inside:
And Rick and Bert talking... some other guy too:
One of the outside with the bikes:
And stores in the surrounding area... so little time... this is all I got to see of these places... another trip... another time....
We left the bakery (fruitcake in hand) and decided to practice the testing procedures in the residential neighborhood near the DPS office. Many, many turns later I heard the voice. You know the voice, don't you? It's the one in your head that tries to tell you something... you know, the one you ignore.
The voice tells me that my clutch hand is beginning to cramp and the wind is killing me. I'm so tired of the wind by this point I can hardly stand it. The bike Rick is riding is an automatic and Bert was driving the car so, I was the only one who had to do the clutch and shift work. So, I had to break the monotony, right? I decided to show Rick what not to do when he took his driving test so at one of the turns in the neighborhood I let my clutch out, didn't have enough throttle, couldn't figure out if I wanted to lean left or right and proceeded to fall over from nearly a standstill. Yeah, that's right... I meant to do that... OK... should have listened to that voice. I was thinking that I should have pulled over and waited but... I didn't. I did manage to keep Eli from landing on top of me though, avoiding some pretty nasty burns I'm sure I did think "roll" just before I hit the ground... not too bad I guess. I got up to find Eli laying on his right side, right mirror on the ground, right forward and rear foot pegs completely flush with the ground and my hand brake lever and foot brake lever also flush. Both of my wheels where completely parallel to the ground, not touching at all. I reach over and turn off the kill switch, walk over to the left side of the bike and am thinking that I need to turn the petcock valve off when I see Bert (he had turned around) and hear a young man across the street yelling at me. "You OK?", he asks. I shout back "Yeah, I'm OK!" and I am... gear did it's job. It was a slow speed tip over so, I didn't even hit my head (no scratches to the helmet whatsoever), hit my elbow and shoulder (jacket took care of that) and my hand skidded just a little (gloves took care of that), knee hit... it was last and not armored (jeans only) but so slow... it didn't even tear. So yeah, I'm fine, no big deal. The young man (about my son's age) asks me if I need help picking the bike up and I motion for him to come over. He helps me pick Eli up off the ground and I put the kickstand down. I thank him and then the "add insult to injury" part happens. He asks me "Is this the first time you've ever ridden a bike?" "No", I tell him, "I've ridden for years, it happens." Well that's great, I know, it's a rookie mistake but do you have to rub salt in the wound? Guess I must have looked kind of funny because then he says, "You're tough though, fall off a bike and get right up. You gonna ride it now?" "Yeah", I tell him. "I'm going to ride away." "Oh yeah" he says, ""you're tough." And he goes back across the street. Well, I gotta get home someway, right? Don't think that makes me tough so much as it does practical but you know what? I'll take it!
Bert gets out of the car, asks me if I'm OK. I'm fine, just don't understand exactly what happened. Rick comes back around. He says, "Did you fall?" You know... I did it for his benefit, remember? And he missed it! No pictures so, didn't happen, right?
There's a small puddle of gas where the bike was down and the bike smells like fuel. I'm looking it over and don't see any real damage, just a few minor scratches here and there... no dents. I wait a while for the gas smell to dissipate and try to start the bike, no luck. Rick pulls up and tells me to hold the throttle open and then start it... well of course... why didn't I think of that? And of course, Eli roars back to life.
I jump back on the back, wave to my "heavy lifter" as I pass and we are off again. First stop sign we get to, I step on the rear brake and realize it doesn't go down. OK, that's nice... didn't think about looking at that... I step on it again harder and it pops out and down while I squeeze the front brake. After I stop, I try both brakes individually to make sure they will hold the bike and they work... OK, I'm good.
We ride around the neighborhood about 15 more minutes and then head out to DPS for the test. We are early and the DPS workers are all going to lunch. They want Rick to come back in an hour. So, we ride over to Chili's where Rick buys lunch for me and Bert (thanks again Rick). On the short drive over, I feel like my front brake lever feels funny.
After lunch, we go back to DPS:
I stayed in the parking lot and waited. Plenty of time to think. I start looking at my brake lever, it's bent down. Still functions but bent. I start trying to figure out what exactly happened to me back there. My aviation experience tells me that accidents are not caused by one thing but rather by several small things that coincide. My hand was cramping, the wind was kicking me sideways, I got up in the middle of the night (for me), I'm in a strange place, I've got a voice talking in my head (small amount of inattention) and oh yes, the thing that puts the proverbial icing on the cake... apparently my clutch lever/ cable isn't adjusted correctly. Parking at the DPS office, I'm in gear and just very slightly relax my left hand as I put the kickstand down and there it is, the bike dies... I start it again and release the clutch lever slowly and deliberately... less than an inch from the grip and the bike dies, when did that happen? There you have it, a lot of little things. Well, I was looking for an excuse to get new clutch/ brake levers anyway... oh yeah, steel braided cables too. Guess I found it!
Back to the story. Rick passed his test (I was not surprised). Here he is coming back in:
We said our goodbyes and the DPS officer (and Rick) warned me and Bert to be very careful driving home because of the wind. And we were off, back to the super slab.
I had a plan to stop in Maypearl, TX along the route. I wanted to visit the Biker's General Store I had read about on the Internet (and pick Bert up a do rag). Had printed directions in the clear cover of my tank bag. I've got to tell you, I've never ridden in wind like this... coming from the left, knocking me around in my lane, making my front tire feel flat, hurt my head with my full face helmet on and ear plugs in... it was work riding in it! I was on a straight road and at one point I looked down and noticed I was leaning 10-15 degrees to the left, more when the wind gusted! Took my exit to find the store and missed it somehow... Anybody who knows me at all knows that I am directionally challenged. Took the next exit off the highway. On another day, wow, that would have been a great ride! FM 878 is a twisty road but with the incredible amount of crosswind we had.... dare I say it? Those curves weren't fun, they were downright scary! Ended up backtracking 19.5 miles, finding the highway again and going right past the exit for the store. I know where I missed the turn now but... sorry Biker's General Store... I'll have to catch you next time I'm in the area! This time I listened to that voice in my head.... I was tired, wind whipped, my clutch wasn't working right, my front brake lever was at a weird angle and I was developing a bad case of monkey butt! I was going home!
There are no pictures of the return trip, I was too busy holding on and trying to maintain my lane! About two miles from home, I looked down at my right front fork and saw fluid on the seal. You've got to be kidding me, right? No way I have a fork seal leak too! I've cleaned this off to see if it reappears on the short test ride I take tomorrow (need to fill the tank).
So, I'm home now (and have been for hours). It was a great couple of days! I thank Rick for the super hospitality and the great eats! Good times! Welcome back!
I could have done without the tip over and the wind but, I needed the ride. It's odd that I had a dream (a couple of weeks ago) that I snapped my clutch cable trying to downshift during an emergency situation... coincidence I'm sure... but, here's how it works:
Ride
Eat
Ride
Eat
Ride
Eat
Sleep
Maintenance
Repeat
At least, that's how I think it should work.
Rick bought a very nice Yamaha V-Star 650 but, no longer had a motorcycling license. Bert and I drove down to see it. It's a very good looking bike, came with bags and Vance & Hines pipes... oh yeah, very nice! Only thing was, Rick needed to get a license... again.
After spending some time getting acquainted with his new toy, Rick was ready for the road test. The weather in this part of the country has really been something in the past month or so. Bert was trying to find time to make the trip to Rick's when the weather might be favorable for a couple of days. Last week, we had ice on the roads. This week was different though. Thursday and Friday looked good at the beginning of the week... highs in the high 60s - low 70s, yes! This would be just the right time. I happen to be off those days from work so I was really thinking about making the ride down as well (any excuse to ride country roads in good weather will do). Bert called Rick. Rick was ready to test and he was available those days. As the date approached, the forecast began to change, not temperature wise but it looked like we might get some wind those days. I finally made up my mind and decided to go. Wednesday night, the forecast called for 20-25 mile per hour winds on Thursday and 30-35 mile per hour winds on Friday. I hated the thought of cancelling our plans so I told Bert that I didn't think it would be that bad and we decided to go ahead.
I'm not known to be an early riser so by the time we got out of bed Thursday morning, had coffee, packed up the bikes, looked the bikes over and checked tire pressures... well, it was well after 2 pm. Oh well, plenty of time. Rick had scheduled his road test for the next day at 1:45 pm. No worries, plenty of time to ride the hundred miles at a leisurely pace in the daylight and visit with Rick before bedtime.
Super slabbing is not exactly my idea of fun but sometimes you just got to get down the road and it beats the heck out of riding through town and stopping a million times at red light every 50 feet so, we slabbed our way out of town. After about 45 minutes, I needed gas... we needed cash and, oh yeah, you can't ride if you don't eat. So, we pulled off of I-35 S in Grandview at the Maypearl exit and found a gas station and this BBQ place:
I was facing the restaurant getting my gas tank full and I see this just to the right of the restaurant:
Well, I still need cash. Bert went in to get something to drink. You know, what the heck? Not gonna kill me... I go in and we decide to get the "Zebra Pile-Up". That's chopped beef, beans, cheese, onions and jalapenos. I take a picture while we're waiting:
Here's the "Zebra Pile-Up" at Grandview Smoking BBQ:
Now, I've got to tell you... this was good food! I wouldn't drive down to Grandview, Texas just eat there but if you were in the area and hungry... most definitely good food and friendly folks!
After filling my tank, our bellies and getting cash... we're back on the slab.
Hillsboro, TX... time to hit the FM roads! FM 171 is mostly straight and smooth but does have a few nice turns. It's windy. Not crazy but, my head is bobbing around a little. There are a lot of very nice homes, farmland and several gravel county roads in either direction all along the way. Had to get a couple more pictures:
Almost there, we're going through a lot of small towns. Most of the towns look like this one:
Hey, there's Rick... meeting us along the way:
We road back through the countryside and despite being blown around by the wind, we were at Rick's in what seemed like no time. I don't have pictures but somewhere along the way I saw some (what looked like antelope) behind a fence. Apparently, there are several ranches in the area that specialize in exotic game animals.
Rick was nice enough to put our bikes up in his garage:
And here's Rick's bike (what you can see of it anyway):
Often, riders name their bikes. For example, Bert's bike is named Pearl and mine, well... I call him Eli. Last visit, I asked Rick if he was going to name his new bike... yeah, "Obama". OK, well... doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it? I often say things like, "Me and Eli are ready to go for a ride!"... how's that gonna work with Obama? Really! So, I teased my host about it. "Black Beauty" I say or "Black Betty"... Bert teases him too. At least go with "Mrs. Obama" or "Hot Mamma"... Well, I think Rick's not so crazy about naming inanimate objects (Eli, I'm not talking to you... you know you're different)... but it was a fun conversation.
Rick makes us a great dinner. He has a really nice place out in the country and put us up in his guest room.
We went to bed around 11 pm. Bert and I can hardly go to sleep. We're night people and, it's so very, very quiet at Rick's. Ah, a train whistle... all is good and we fall asleep.
Next day:
It's Friday now, In uncharacteristic fashion, Bert and I rolled out of bed before the sun rose. Guess we were excited too! Two pots of coffee later, I pack our stuff back up on the bikes. The decision was made a while back ( for reasons I won't get into here) that Rick would take his riding test on Bert's bike. If you are not familiar with the driving test in Texas (motorcycles)... you have to have a licensed motorcycle rider drive a car behind the person being tested. In the car is the DPS official. The DPS official tells the driver of the car when to signal for the turn, the motorcyclist being tested has to watch their mirrors and turn at the appropriate places. It's kind of odd really.
Anyway, we get on the road. Rick is riding Bert's bike, Bert is fallowing him in Rick's car and I'm riding drag on my bike. Beautiful FM roads through the countryside. We pass some bison (again no pictures) and a really cool horse ranch that I've got to go back and find that has life sized sculptures of horses at the entrance... I thought they were real horses until we got pretty close. About half an hour later, we're in Corsicana, TX. Then it starts. The wind. It's incredible! A very strong crosswind, so strong that I feel like my front wheel is wobbling.
I'm in Corsicana, that only means one thing to me... Collin Street Bakery....must get fruitcake...
And Bert... well, Bert wants real food:
Here's a shot of the inside:
And Rick and Bert talking... some other guy too:
One of the outside with the bikes:
And stores in the surrounding area... so little time... this is all I got to see of these places... another trip... another time....
We left the bakery (fruitcake in hand) and decided to practice the testing procedures in the residential neighborhood near the DPS office. Many, many turns later I heard the voice. You know the voice, don't you? It's the one in your head that tries to tell you something... you know, the one you ignore.
The voice tells me that my clutch hand is beginning to cramp and the wind is killing me. I'm so tired of the wind by this point I can hardly stand it. The bike Rick is riding is an automatic and Bert was driving the car so, I was the only one who had to do the clutch and shift work. So, I had to break the monotony, right? I decided to show Rick what not to do when he took his driving test so at one of the turns in the neighborhood I let my clutch out, didn't have enough throttle, couldn't figure out if I wanted to lean left or right and proceeded to fall over from nearly a standstill. Yeah, that's right... I meant to do that... OK... should have listened to that voice. I was thinking that I should have pulled over and waited but... I didn't. I did manage to keep Eli from landing on top of me though, avoiding some pretty nasty burns I'm sure I did think "roll" just before I hit the ground... not too bad I guess. I got up to find Eli laying on his right side, right mirror on the ground, right forward and rear foot pegs completely flush with the ground and my hand brake lever and foot brake lever also flush. Both of my wheels where completely parallel to the ground, not touching at all. I reach over and turn off the kill switch, walk over to the left side of the bike and am thinking that I need to turn the petcock valve off when I see Bert (he had turned around) and hear a young man across the street yelling at me. "You OK?", he asks. I shout back "Yeah, I'm OK!" and I am... gear did it's job. It was a slow speed tip over so, I didn't even hit my head (no scratches to the helmet whatsoever), hit my elbow and shoulder (jacket took care of that) and my hand skidded just a little (gloves took care of that), knee hit... it was last and not armored (jeans only) but so slow... it didn't even tear. So yeah, I'm fine, no big deal. The young man (about my son's age) asks me if I need help picking the bike up and I motion for him to come over. He helps me pick Eli up off the ground and I put the kickstand down. I thank him and then the "add insult to injury" part happens. He asks me "Is this the first time you've ever ridden a bike?" "No", I tell him, "I've ridden for years, it happens." Well that's great, I know, it's a rookie mistake but do you have to rub salt in the wound? Guess I must have looked kind of funny because then he says, "You're tough though, fall off a bike and get right up. You gonna ride it now?" "Yeah", I tell him. "I'm going to ride away." "Oh yeah" he says, ""you're tough." And he goes back across the street. Well, I gotta get home someway, right? Don't think that makes me tough so much as it does practical but you know what? I'll take it!
Bert gets out of the car, asks me if I'm OK. I'm fine, just don't understand exactly what happened. Rick comes back around. He says, "Did you fall?" You know... I did it for his benefit, remember? And he missed it! No pictures so, didn't happen, right?
There's a small puddle of gas where the bike was down and the bike smells like fuel. I'm looking it over and don't see any real damage, just a few minor scratches here and there... no dents. I wait a while for the gas smell to dissipate and try to start the bike, no luck. Rick pulls up and tells me to hold the throttle open and then start it... well of course... why didn't I think of that? And of course, Eli roars back to life.
I jump back on the back, wave to my "heavy lifter" as I pass and we are off again. First stop sign we get to, I step on the rear brake and realize it doesn't go down. OK, that's nice... didn't think about looking at that... I step on it again harder and it pops out and down while I squeeze the front brake. After I stop, I try both brakes individually to make sure they will hold the bike and they work... OK, I'm good.
We ride around the neighborhood about 15 more minutes and then head out to DPS for the test. We are early and the DPS workers are all going to lunch. They want Rick to come back in an hour. So, we ride over to Chili's where Rick buys lunch for me and Bert (thanks again Rick). On the short drive over, I feel like my front brake lever feels funny.
After lunch, we go back to DPS:
I stayed in the parking lot and waited. Plenty of time to think. I start looking at my brake lever, it's bent down. Still functions but bent. I start trying to figure out what exactly happened to me back there. My aviation experience tells me that accidents are not caused by one thing but rather by several small things that coincide. My hand was cramping, the wind was kicking me sideways, I got up in the middle of the night (for me), I'm in a strange place, I've got a voice talking in my head (small amount of inattention) and oh yes, the thing that puts the proverbial icing on the cake... apparently my clutch lever/ cable isn't adjusted correctly. Parking at the DPS office, I'm in gear and just very slightly relax my left hand as I put the kickstand down and there it is, the bike dies... I start it again and release the clutch lever slowly and deliberately... less than an inch from the grip and the bike dies, when did that happen? There you have it, a lot of little things. Well, I was looking for an excuse to get new clutch/ brake levers anyway... oh yeah, steel braided cables too. Guess I found it!
Back to the story. Rick passed his test (I was not surprised). Here he is coming back in:
We said our goodbyes and the DPS officer (and Rick) warned me and Bert to be very careful driving home because of the wind. And we were off, back to the super slab.
I had a plan to stop in Maypearl, TX along the route. I wanted to visit the Biker's General Store I had read about on the Internet (and pick Bert up a do rag). Had printed directions in the clear cover of my tank bag. I've got to tell you, I've never ridden in wind like this... coming from the left, knocking me around in my lane, making my front tire feel flat, hurt my head with my full face helmet on and ear plugs in... it was work riding in it! I was on a straight road and at one point I looked down and noticed I was leaning 10-15 degrees to the left, more when the wind gusted! Took my exit to find the store and missed it somehow... Anybody who knows me at all knows that I am directionally challenged. Took the next exit off the highway. On another day, wow, that would have been a great ride! FM 878 is a twisty road but with the incredible amount of crosswind we had.... dare I say it? Those curves weren't fun, they were downright scary! Ended up backtracking 19.5 miles, finding the highway again and going right past the exit for the store. I know where I missed the turn now but... sorry Biker's General Store... I'll have to catch you next time I'm in the area! This time I listened to that voice in my head.... I was tired, wind whipped, my clutch wasn't working right, my front brake lever was at a weird angle and I was developing a bad case of monkey butt! I was going home!
There are no pictures of the return trip, I was too busy holding on and trying to maintain my lane! About two miles from home, I looked down at my right front fork and saw fluid on the seal. You've got to be kidding me, right? No way I have a fork seal leak too! I've cleaned this off to see if it reappears on the short test ride I take tomorrow (need to fill the tank).
So, I'm home now (and have been for hours). It was a great couple of days! I thank Rick for the super hospitality and the great eats! Good times! Welcome back!
I could have done without the tip over and the wind but, I needed the ride. It's odd that I had a dream (a couple of weeks ago) that I snapped my clutch cable trying to downshift during an emergency situation... coincidence I'm sure... but, here's how it works:
Ride
Eat
Ride
Eat
Ride
Eat
Sleep
Maintenance
Repeat
At least, that's how I think it should work.
