Topic: 23 Rides in 2023, Frank's New Years resolution that we can all enjoy.

[budman]

Ride #53, 114 miles.

I went to a little bike rally today at the Pecan Grove Store, just north of Fredericksburg.  It's a small bar/restaurant with a nostalgic vibe, that used to be an old Sinclair gas station.  The owner is a former motorcycle racer and has decent collection on display year-round.  They have events like this on occasion...car shows, bike shows, etc.  This weekend was their first attempt at bringing three former motorcycle events together, and it was dubbed "Do The Ton Motorcycle Rally".

I got there about 11:00am and it was already getting crowded.  They don't have an expansive piece of property.  I knew I wouldn't be staying long.  I was by myself and didn't know anyone.  It was all the typical kind of stuff you see at most rallies anyway, just not as much of it.  I walked through the bike show area as it was being populated and snapped a few pics.  I ordered a "Dino" burger, which was tasty, ate it and left.  I was feeling a little claustrophobic with all the people in a small area, and I was more interested in riding.

I rode into town for some gas and then headed up north on the backgrounds to Llano while doing my best to take out as many bugs as I could along the way.  I stopped for pics in front of an old abandoned house and windmill.  I ended up at the Llano River Park...again...and had my second lunch consisting of an apple and a can of sparkling water that I packed with me.  I took a few pics of some of the oddities in the park, which I had never noticed before.  From there I headed home.

Breakfast taco ride tomorrow.

[jgger]

Good job there budman. You even unknowingly got a long horn pic with your 6th picture too!

Ride #53, 114 miles.

I went to a little bike rally today at the Pecan Grove Store, just north of Fredericksburg.  It's a small bar/restaurant with a nostalgic vibe, that used to be an old Sinclair gas station.  The owner is a former motorcycle racer and has decent collection on display year-round.  They have events like this on occasion...car shows, bike shows, etc.  This weekend was their first attempt at bringing three former motorcycle events together, and it was dubbed "Do The Ton Motorcycle Rally".

I got there about 11:00am and it was already getting crowded.  They don't have an expansive piece of property.  I knew I wouldn't be staying long.  I was by myself and didn't know anyone.  It was all the typical kind of stuff you see at most rallies anyway, just not as much of it.  I walked through the bike show area as it was being populated and snapped a few pics.  I ordered a "Dino" burger, which was tasty, ate it and left.  I was feeling a little claustrophobic with all the people in a small area, and I was more interested in riding.

I rode into town for some gas and then headed up north on the backgrounds to Llano while doing my best to take out as many bugs as I could along the way.  I stopped for pics in front of an old abandoned house and windmill.  I ended up at the Llano River Park...again...and had my second lunch consisting of an apple and a can of sparkling water that I packed with me.  I took a few pics of some of the oddities in the park, which I had never noticed before.  From there I headed home.

Breakfast taco ride tomorrow.

[budman]

True…and the lady is fixin’ to be gored between the…fun bags.

[jgger]

That will leave a mark! 😁

[jgger]

Well I did it, ride # 14 152 miles!

Started with a trip to gas up and added some fuel injection cleaner, then off to the grandson's soccer game. After the game it was out to the desert town of Banning ( not a high point) to pick up the  " Palms to Pines Hiway. What a magnificent road, very well maintained and awsome scenery as you gain elevation. Banning is just an arm pit kind of town before you get to Palm Springs,  but that's where you pick the fun. As you start up the hill/mountian there is a sigh that says curves next 24 miles! Awesome shucks, right!?

Anyhoo, at the bottom I think the elevation is around 2,000 to 2,500 feet, at the top its about 6,200. So at the bottom it is all rocks, sand, and lizards,as the altitude goes up it gets greener and cooler. Down low it was around 95° f, then at the top it was as low as 72°f and Soper clear all the way. On this trip I planned on going up one side of the mountian then back down the other side. Except for the necessary freeway at the very begining and end, I could have not have asked for a better ride, very few Carson the best part of the trip and no issues. It was about a 50 mile ride to get to the good stuff though.

Now my reputation for getting a bunch of pictures is pretty poor, but I will try anyway! The first one is from the parking lot of the soccer field. The last is the obligatory food pic, I don't get wound up over food so I waited until I was al.ost home to hit up In-N-Out. The others are along the way, I didn't want to stop because I was having too much fun! BTW the injector cleaner and the high desert te.ps seems to have really helped the bike, so it was a win/win for both me AND Eeyore the Magnificent!

[jgger]

Well crap that didn't seem to work!

[jgger]

Oh well, take my word for it, it was awsome!

[RAFster122s]

Budman, that's a tasty looking burger...plenty of seasoning grilled in...

It is interesting how older women gravitate to that shade of red hair. Some are pleasant and fun, while others it is a warning sign they are a bitter old cantankerous old bitty who will rip your head off and...
Generally I steer clear of them as you never know what you are gonna get and sometimes life is best not exploring to even see...just keep moving.
Saw a meme that said in nature very brightly colored animals are often a warning to others, the same is true of women who color their hair in unnatural ways... very true!

Great looking ride and I fully understand your sentiment on the crowd sometimes makes you just want to get out of there, other times all is cool. Sometimes I deal with social anxiety, when triggered best to leave...much better experience then.

I ride alone 99% of the time, but anymore I am alone 90% of the time.
Glad you had a good ride and experience, look forward to more. We had another 100F day, setting a new record for latest 100 or higher day in October here in Tucson. Was 102 yesterday...
Front coming through first of week taking temps to high 70s with some rain and temps into low 80s for several days. Will be nice change of pace. My birthday, 61st, is on 29th with current forecast for high temp of 83f.

Look for to your ride reports...
David

[budman]

Sounds like a great ride, Jim.  Brings back old memories.  I lived in So Cal from '85-'90.  In the winters I would drive up to Big Bear every other weekend to go snow skiing.  I owned an '81 Harley Sportster back then, but never made it up to the mountains.  I've ridden around Lake Elsinore and down around Laguna, and all over OC...but mostly just to work and back.  Never to San Jacinto.

There's a San Jacinto, TX.  It's just outside of Houston.  Some people call it Battleground, Texas.  It's where Sam Houston and the Texan army defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican Army, after the Alamo and the Battle of Goliad massacres.  That's how Texas became a republic.  There's a big monument there.  It's right on the Houston Ship Channel surrounded by chemical plants and gasoline refineries.

There's something wrong with the attachment feature, when posting.  I used to be able to attach a bunch of photos in one go when writing a new post, but now I can only do a few photos at a time.  Then I have to hit the modify button a couple of times, adding a few more photos each time.

RAF, as an introvert I understand.  I do OK one on one, or with smaller gatherings.

High today was 90F.  Tomorrow only 84F.  Expecting rain next week.  I'll just work and wait for an opening or two.

[ofreen]

By midweek, fall will be making its appearance here suddenly as is usually the case,  with highs in the low to mid-50s here in the valley and much lower up where I usually like to ride.  So I got ride #21 in yesterday, and #22 today.  To celebrate 30 years on my '93 BMW R100GS-PD, I took it far out into the Owyhees and camped overnight.  As usual, here are a few photos -

Day 1.  It's a big country -




Here's what it looks like when mother earth burps and it solidifies -


Found a nice spot to pitch the tent. All the comforts of home.


And yes, I did some picnicking.


I took a walk after the sumptuous repast.  Here's a look back at the spot just as the sun was setting.  Interesting colors.


I figured when I crawled into the tent it would be a quiet night is such a remote spot.  It was at first.  Then at around 10PM a pack of coyotes started in.  One was probably no more than 100 yards away.  Whenever I'd drop off to sleep, it would let out yips, barks and howls.  It was quite a performance, but hard to sleep through.  After about the third time I howled back.  I don't know what I said, but it did seem to increase the interval between sleep interruptions.

Day 2 -

The morning had fewer clouds than the night before.  Didn't get all that cold, but that will be a lot different a week from now -


Interesting how the morning light differs from the evening light -



I still need to get ride #23 in.  I'll think of somewhere interesting to go on the 750 before the weather turns to crap.

[jgger]

Very nice trip  ofreen. Funny how those coyotes love to party in any ravine (sp?) Especially if you are trying to sleep.

[RAFster122s]

Greg, nice place to camp, even if the coyotes were #$%*s. Turns out that one coyote will yip and howl in different manners and make you think there are more of them than there actually is out there…

Jim, definitely Cali landscape, it isn’t all lush and green and beaches, at least Southern AZ.  Saw article indicating that fewer Californians moved to TX this year because of increases in real estate prices, they moved into AZ and FL in the most numbers…
Wish they would realize their voting practices turned Cali into the cesspool they are escaping and wouldn’t vote the same woke crap here… why is it most states surrounding  California hate Californians?  Granted some are cool, but wow are many stereotypical.
Just seeing California plates on another vehicle is enough to cause some of my AZ friends to be triggered and start a rant about  Californians…it is surreal.

I enjoy visiting for vacation in central Cali around Pismo Beach, Avra Valley, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Morro Bay, Cayucas…. Great place to decompress and enjoy the varied terrain, beach, sand dunes, estuaries , hiking, eucalyptus groves, orchards and wineries and fruit & vegetable stands and some nice curvy roads too…

[ofreen]

Greg, nice place to camp, even if the coyotes were #$%*s. Turns out that one coyote will yip and howl in different manners and make you think there are more of them than there actually is out there…

Ventriloquist coyotes?  Actually, it isn't too hard to tell if there are multiple coyotes when they are all going at it at once from different directions.

[PeWe]

Season seems to be over here so I'll enyoy the rides documented here.
As Budman's and ofreen's well documented rides with photos.

Stay night in a tent another thing to envy
- Any dinosaur fossiles over there ofreen?

[budman]

Looks amazing, ofreen.

I’ve got a bunch of credit card points and have been looking at tents, now that the Scout is better setup for traveling.  Been wanting to do some overnighters.

There’s a pack of coyotes that live around here.  I can hear them in the evenings.  My landlord had a pretty big flock of sheep until he sold most of them.  He kept a few, to rebuild the flock and the coyotes consumed the three lambs.  When they are scared they get in a tight group.  I guess when the flock was bigger the lambs could run to the middle and be protected.  I don’t think my landlord thought it out.

[ofreen]

Very nice trip  ofreen. Funny how those coyotes love to party in any ravine (sp?) Especially if you are trying to sleep.

Thanks jgger.  I have always enjoyed listening to coyotes.  I didn't really mind too much, it wasn't like I had to get up early to go to work or something.

Any dinosaur fossiles over there ofreen?

Thanks PeWe.  There are fossils in some areas of Idaho, and of course Utah and Colorado are famous for them.

Looks amazing, ofreen.
I’ve got a bunch of credit card points and have been looking at tents, now that the Scout is better setup for traveling.  Been wanting to do some overnighters.

You've been knocking it out of the park yourself, budman.  I used to do a lot of backpacking.  Anything that works for backpacking is perfect for motorcycle camping.  Light, compact and durable are the main attributes to look for.  It isn't cheap to attain all three.  It sucks to have your cheap walmart tent fail you just when you need it most, like during a severe thunderstorm.  (You may may remember the story I told about the night spent in Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park.)  The one I use is no longer made, but there are plenty of reasonably priced ones out there.  Mine goes into a stuff sack about the size of a big loaf of bread.  It has been through some heavy winds with no damage, goes up fast, and it has always kept me dry.  My sleeping bag also goes into a stuff sack the size of a loaf of bread and is rated down to 0 degrees.  It wasn't cheap either but I've been using it all for many years and all the equipment is as good as ever.  The air mattress I use is a Klymit, has held up for several years and goes into a stuff sack the size of my hand.

[jgger]

Greg, looking at your camp pics, is that chair made by R.E.I.?  My son has some of those and they are awsome and on my list to buy.

[ofreen]

, is that chair made by R.E.I.?  My son has some of those and they are awsome and on my list to buy.

Yes, got it at REI.  I bought it several years ago.  Nice and compact, but comfortable.  Beats sitting on a rock or log or the ground.  There are others out there now that seem as good, without having to pay for the REI name tag.

[Terry in Australia]

Beautiful pics everyone, I wish I could post a ride but Saturday I had to take my wife to hospital to visit her mother (91) who the paramedics had thought had a stroke. She hasn’t apparently but looks knackered, so they’re keeping her in for a few days while they decide what to do with her.

Yesterday the weather was bitterly cold and wet. I spent the day at Spotty’s place working on my latest project, the black Rocket III. So far we’ve replaced the wheels and tyres (after much cleaning) the exhaust system, brakes, pads, one fork leg, a new rubber boot for one throttle body, and a sexy “Ozclaw” air scoop, along with cleaning and lubing both bikes as we went. I did ride it, but only 10 miles or so over to the storage facility to squeeze it in amongst my other “riders”.

While I was there I thought about the Suzuki T500’s “pinging” issue and decided to fill it with 98 Ron fuel, normally a two stroke doesn’t need premium fuel but I’d forgotten that someone had done some pretty serious porting and the heads had been milled and combustion chambers modified for more compression, so that mightbe the cause of the pinging. I’ll hopefully get it out for a ride shortly and test my theory, all I need at the moment is some nice weather.

[budman]

Ride #54, 317 miles.

Long day.  Left home about 8:30 for some tacos.  First thing I see from my driveway is the con/chem trails...whatever they are...who cares.  I wanted some tacos.  So, guess where I headed?  I wasn't sure where I was going after that.  As I was finishing my coffee outside, I kept coming back to Leakey, TX, and I mapped it out on my phone.  I figured I would ride down there and head back home.  But as I got closer, I figured I might as well ride the Tres Hermanas Loop (335, 336, 337).  I haven't ridden it since spring and since I was going to at least ride one of them to get to Leakey, what's two more?

I made my way south through Kerrville, headed west at Medina and stopped for gas in Leakey before tackling the Sisters Loop.  After I filled up the bike with gas I got a chance to bust out my new Thermos.  When I go on these early morning rides, I don't get my usual allotment of wakeup juice.  Having the Thermos full of coffee made sure I did, and it was most enjoyable out on the road.

The weather was pretty much perfect.  There were a lot of clouds in the sky, but the sun was showing pretty much the whole day.  After some coffee I kept heading west to Campwood and then north on 335.  On the map you can see where it says Gathering Tree and Riders Memorial.  That's the photo of the piled up rocks under the tree and the stuff hanging on the fence.

All the photos are somewhere along the Loop, expect for the con/chem trails and the tacos.  The third photo is a place where I've been stopping for a pic of my bike every time I ride by there, since 2008.

I'll sleep well tonight.

[jgger]

Such a fine way to spend the day.........and tacos too! Looks good.

[Kevin D]

Nice rides everybody.
Jgger:

I didn't want to stop because I was having too much fun!

+1

That happens to me often, you get in a groove, the bike is running well, the weather is good, you have the road to yourself, you don’t want it to end. Usually I just go on. Sometimes I stop and get off the bike, walk around a bit, and still enjoy the moment. It’s a good time for a photo to cement the memory.

Greg, there is no place around here to park your bike and set up camp. I’d get made out for a vagrant, rousted and sent on my way by the sheriff. You get the coyotes singing for you.

[ofreen]

Ride #23 is in the books.  With a big chill slated to begin in a couple of days with no end in sight in the forecast, I figured I'd better get #23 documented.  Today, I rode down US95 to Jordan Valley, OR on the good 'ol 750F, accompanied by my friend Steve on his Wee-Strom.  It was a nice day today, if a little on the windy and cool side.  We hit some other back roads on the way back.  A few pics -






I forgot to take a photo of the Black Rifle Coffee mocha drink and Twix cookie dough candy bar I consumed in this fine establishment in Jordan Valley.


I saw these turkeys a hundred yards or so up ahead on a back road.  So I stopped, expecting them to run off.  The turkeys ran toward us instead.  No one ever accused turkeys of being smart.




It was a fine ride, might be the last long one for a while. 

[scottly]

So what's the price of the F after today's ride Greg?
Noticed your new signature; a wise man doesn't know what it's like, to be thick as a brick.

[Kevin D]

Ride #23 is in the books.

It was a fine ride, might be the last long one for a while.

Well done Greg. Congratulations on your completion of 23 rides.
You certainly have some wide open road in front of you.

PM me with your address and I will send your award.