Ozarks 2009

I was up at 5:00am in anticipation for this ride. Mike and I had been planning this Ozark trip since late January. Ever since, it has been one long waiting game these passed few months. Let me start off with a quick summery for everyone.

• Total Miles: 1874 ( give or take a few miles)
  
• Damage: 4 - Dropped Bikes
  1 - lost nut
  1 - fuel line
  1 - carburetor gasket
  1 - bent break lever
  1 - head light
  1 - broken kickstand
  
• Favorite Quotes:
  "I feel like a freshman at camp, I can't find shit" --Flounder (Chris)
  "Whats the matter Chris, can't get it up?" --Tape Worm (Jim)
  "She can put stiletto's on and walk all over me..." -- Boots
• Roster:
  Mike (Capie - road captain)
  Kevin (Pelon)
  Steve W.
  Steve H. (Princess - cause it is the only thing he answers to...)
  John (Boots - we all know the story)
  Jim (Tape Worm - cause the dude never stopped eating...)
  Chris (Flounder - because he is...)
  Robert
  Jason (Tumbleweed - cause he like to hit them on the road...)
  myself
  

Finally the departure day came, like I said I was up at 5:00am ready to go. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, I couldn't wait to get going. The plan was to meet at Starbucks and then head out at 7:00am. Well I got there at 5:45 got me a coffee and donuts and waited for everyone to show up. Finally the boys started to trickle in one by one, as each person showed up the energy and excitement level built until we were all ready to burst (kinda like a virgin at the prom ;-) ). We had a quick rider meeting, kickstands were up and we were off on five days of freedom. Freedom from the MAN!!
Getting out of town was interesting, as we rode along I noticed the other people around me rushing off to work, the stress in their faces from daily life. Sad part is we (the 10 of us) will probably look the same when we get back home and go back to work. It amazes me how rarely "we stop and smell the roses" and enjoy the day.
The first half of the day was pretty uneventful and boring, long straight roads with little to see along the way. The first stop along the way (besides for gas) was in Paris Tx. to see the Eiffel tower, while we were riding in we were all looking for a huge tower with a cowboy hat on it. Turns out, not as big as you think, wonder how many woman think that... anyway. After we took pics we headed to the HD dealer for a quick look around and then we went to a restaurant called Ta Molly's. It was good eating, we tried to get the new guys to pick up the tab but we couldn't convince them that it was a good idea.
We gassed up and headed north in to Oklahoma, about an hour after we got into the Ouachita National forest the ride got GOOD! I'm talking about 25MPH U-turns taken at 40MPH, 15MPH S-turns that snake you up and down a mountain taken at 30 MPH this was what we came for, the TWISTIES!!!! We climbed up the mountain about 2500 feet and pulled off to the side of the road for photo-op and to take in the scenery, it was beautiful up there. The air was crisp and cool and the valley below had beautiful green trees that you can see for miles. After our breather, we saddled up and headed over to our camp site for the night at Queen Wilamena state park. This is a very nice park, however it sits on top of a ridge and the wind blows constantly. I'm not talking about a nice breeze, I'm talking 20-30mph winds. Fortunately our camp sites were in the trees at the bottom of a slight hill so the wind was blocked a little but it still made for some challenging tent pitching... (clean up your dirty minds).
After we got our camp sites setup and ourselves cleaned up we headed up to the restaurant and ate.

Princesses brush with death: While we ate dinner and talked about how great the riding was the second half of the day I found out that one of our guys was almost hit by a car head on. While riding the twisty roads through the mountains the majority of the roads are 2 lane with limited visibility most of the time so when you have the opportunity to pass a slower vehicle you take it quickly. With 10 bikes spread out over about an 1/8th of a mile the last few riders sometimes don't make it and the guys in the front will radio back whether the road is clear or not, so the people in the back can catch up with the group. On this particular incident Capi radioed back and said "I'll let you know when it is clear" what Princess heard was "...it's clear" so he gunned it coming over a blind hill passing an 18 wheeler. He was almost passed when a car was coming head on. Fortunately he clear the truck safely with inches to spare. After this a couple things happened, Capi no longer said "I'll let you know..." anything he just said it's clear or not and Princess had to change his shorts after that.

After dinner we sat around the camp fire, the lies and stories started. One of the best parts of this trip is the comradery at camp. Two of our guys brought tents that were smaller than they were. Matter of fact the biggest guy (6'3") on the trip brought the smallest tent. His toes stick out the end. Of course, we all mocked them the whole trip. Our two new guys (Tapeworm and Flounder) were heading off to bed, and Flounder was hanging up his bag of food on a post to keep it away from the critters and we hear "Whats the matter Chris, can't get it up?" You could of heard a pin drop followed by an outbreak of laughter and loads of jokes about them. They deserved the ridicule that they received. After some Jack and cigars we all turned in for the night. That night while I laid in bed all I heard is the wind blowing through the trees, it was great to finally unplug and relax.

Next day we woke up to low hanging clouds and a heavy mist on the mountain. We broke camp and ate breakfast and we all thought we were in for a slippery ride down the mountain, however we got about a 1/4 mile down the hill and it cleared up. Immediately the road started to twist and turn we were already in for a great ride for the day. We drove for about an hour or so and Capi pulled the group over cause Flounder lost a nut that held his shifter linkage together. We borrowed a nut from another part of his bike and got him back on the road. As fortune would have it, in the next town there was an O'riellys parts store we stopped and picked up some extra nuts to fix his linkage and discovered that his fuel line was leaking so we picked up a couple feet of fuel line to fix his bike later when we got to camp.

B - double E - double R - U -N Beer Run: I have come to the conclusion that we are all a bunch of alcoholics. While driving through Arkansas there are a lot of dry counties. When we got to Russellville we found out that 40 miles down the interstate was the next county which was NOT dry. So we drove 40 miles out and 40 miles back to pick up beer and whiskey. We are a sad bunch.

After our quick run for beer, we jumped back on our original route and twisted our way into the Ozark mountains. We reached our camp site early afternoon, we stayed at a place called The HUB which caters to bikers. It was a neat place that has a hotel, a big field for camping and a restaurant on site. After setting up our camp sites and unloaded the bikes, we relaxed for a bit and then walked up to the restaurant for a bite to eat. Turns out the food was very good, and the service was great. The place is fairly new and we (the 10 of us) were pretty much the only ones on site. The owner of the place had a cooler full of ice cold beer that he set out for us and just asked for donations which was very cool cause the county was dry.
While we were setting up camp Flounder and Tumbleweed gave up on their tents, mainly cause they brought tents that were smaller than they were and couldn't fit their stuff and themselves in the tent. Also they had those cheap tent stakes that wouldn't hold the tent down. They decided to split the cost of a room so their sensitive selves had a place to sleep. After we got settled in Flounder was going to work on his bike and change out his fuel line. I told him that if he pulled his bike into the shade I would help him work on it, then I told him to pull it right into the "circle of trust" where we were all sitting. This allowed everyone to mock him while he worked on his bike. We got the fuel line changed fairly easy, when I say "we" I mean Flounder who worked and the rest of us drank beer and managed his work. Once we got the bike back together it wouldn't idle right and it sounded like there was a vacuum leak. At first we thought it was a cracked head gasket, after pulling everything off and troubleshooting the noise we found out that the gasket on the back of the carb was not seated properly. Finally after fixing that it was more beer, horse shoes and conversation about the days ride.

Next morning, it was breakfast and then off for some killer rides through the Ozarks. When we got to Branson we looked for a HD dealer so we could pick up a new gasket for Flounders bike. Found out there was not a dealer in Branson like we thought so the next closest was up in Springfield. We blasted up to Springfield to the dealer and picked up the part and then headed back down to Branson to pick up where we left off. We went on a ride called "The Perry's Ferry" ride. Basically the ride took us north into Missouri and then back down into Arkansas. Besides the KILLER twisties on this ride there was a unique feature of this ride where you have to take a Ferry across a lake up there to get to the other side. While we were leaving Branson we were waiting at a light and an old lady was coming around the corner and she slowed down and told myself and Pelon "I love you" our jaws dropped open and then Pelon yelled back, "I love you too!" It made for an interesting story around the camp fire later that night.

Watch out there is debris on the road, oh wait it's not: While we ride in a big group we use hand signals to pass information about road conditions and stuff using hand signals. One of our signals that we use is to kick our foot off the left or right side of the bike to let the person behind us know that there is debris on the road so they can avoid it. While we were riding Flounder say someone put their foot up on their highway pegs and he thought it was a debris signal so he kicked out his foot but then realized what the guy in front did so he created a new sign. He took his hand and waved it down by his foot as if to say "never mind, no debris" He waved it off. He then proceeded to make up several more hand signals like "look at the dear" which is when he makes antlers with his hands on his helmet. Freshmen, they are entertaining to say the least...

After we got back to Harrison we stopped off for some lunch and planned our next ride. We decided to head over to Eureka Springs and loop back to camp. The ride was nice and twisty, when we got to Eureka Springs we found out that there was a rally there so the place was packed with bikers from all over. We saw a HD store so we stopped in to look around and rest for a minute. After a break we started to head back to camp which was about an hour or so ride. It was an AWESOME ride back to camp.

That night while we were all hanging around camp, Robert had walked over to the parking lot to call his wife, while he was on the phone a couple drove in and the girl on the back was topless. WTF!!! NICE! She stopped and asked him if she needed to "put these away". Not sure what his response was, but I am sure his mouth was open and he was drooling on himself. After he got off the phone he walked back over to camp and told us about the whole thing. Later on we built a fire and hung out. The topless girl and her boyfriend walked over and hung out with us along with some other locals. After a while everyone started to leave and it was just the 10 of us again.

Jack Ass Award: I hesitate to tell this story, but it is only fair. Next morning it was time to to pack up and start heading south. After I got my camp packed up and on the bike I was pulling my bike out of the field onto the parking lot. I thought I was gonna be cool and spin my tire on the wet grass, and if you haven't guessed it yet, I lost control and dumped my bike on the ground. I don't feel too bad, I wasn't the only one that dropped my bike however, I am the only one who deserved it. Other honorable mentions in the bike dropping category was Capi on the first day he was waiting on Pelon and forgot to put his kickstand down and his bike fell over. The Tape worm parked his bike on an incline and his kickstand doesn't lock so his bike rolled forward and fell onto Capi's bike. Final drop goes to Robert who parked his brand new ultra on a hill and dropped it. Fortunately for everyone there was no major damage to any one's bike. Tape worm tore his seat, Robert bent his break lever and my engine guard got a bit tweaked.

The next stop was in Hot Springs where we would spend our final night. Instead of taking the direct route over to Hot Springs we took the scenic route down which ended up being around 200 miles. The ride down was great, just like every other ride we took this weekend. The original plan was to camp at the KOA there which is just a few miles out of town when we got there we setup our tents and then we went into town for a bit to eat. While we were in town we found out that there was a 60% chance of thunder storms that night. We got on the phone and called the KOA to see if they had some cabins available. Fortunately they did so we booked them and packed up our tents and stayed in the cabins that night.

Billy Bob is that you?: While we were in town we ate at a cafe there on main street and for the life of me I can't remember the name of that place. Anyway it was pretty much the only place open down there, so we went in and sat down. Our waitress showed up and started to take every ones order.l Our waitress sounded like Billy Bob Thortons character on Sling Blade. "What can I get you to drink mmm hmmm..." Not sure what her deal was, she was all jittery and shaky, must have been from all the crack she smoked that day. When she started to bring out our order every thing was a cheese burger and she got everything mixed up . It was actually kind of humorous after a while. Then when we went to pay every ones total was different, not by a lot but it was off just a couple of cents here and there. We just left it alone and headed over to the bar across the street. After a few rounds we headed back to camp to pack up the tents and then move into the cabins. That night we relaxed and hung out talking about the great ride and great time we had. I believe that Flounder said that it was the best riding he has ever done. Granted the furthest he has ever taken his bike is down to the Wag-a-Bag and back home, regardless I am glad that everyone had a good time. It got to be around 10pm I guess when we all started to get a little hungry so we order some pizza from Domino's and Boots placed the call to order them and put on his thick Brooklyn accent (where he's originally from) and proceeded to give the girl on the phone a hard time, while we were all laughing in the back ground. The pizza hit the spot, after that it was off to bed.

Next morning we were all pleasantly surprised that there was no rain yet. We finished loading the bikes and headed out. Everyone was in agreement to get as far as we can as fast as we can to we can reduce the amount of time we would spend riding in the rain. We had a quick gas stop and then jumped on the interstate and started home. We got to Texarkana without any rain so far, so we stopped for some gas and for a quick bite to eat. For a while I thought we were gonna be lucky and make it home without hitting any rain. I was dead wrong, we got about 60 miles east of Dallas when it hit and it came down hard. We drove about 30 miles and finally had to pull over cause visibility was so bad for everyone we could only see the tail lights of the person in front of us, it was bad! After we regrouped and filled up we took off again, fortunately the rain let up right before we got to Dallas and held off until we were south of Dallas. It actually stayed clear until about Hillsboro when it started up again. We made it to Waco and pulled off for a break and to have a final dinner together at the Elite Cafe before we spit up and headed our separate ways. After dinner we hit the gas station and then pressed on in the rain. It pretty much rained the entire way home till we got to Georgetown where we got a break. From there people started to split off from the group heading in different directions until it was just the guys who live in the same sub-division as me.

This years ride was awesome, we experience every type of riding you can on a trip, twisty, rainy, long and straight, it was a good time for everyone. Friendships were made and the bond between brothers grew stronger. I can't wait for next year and the time we will have then. More pics of the ride are here.

To Gruene and Back

This passed weekend my friends and I took a ride down to Gruene, Texas. That is pronounced green if your not from these parts. This is one of my favorite rides in the area, it has lots of curves and when you get out on Hamilton pool road the traffic is lite. Once you're there let your throttle open up and enjoy the ride, the scenery is great and the twisties keep you leaned over and having a good time.
The plan was to head over to Gruene, have lunch at the Grist Mill restaurant and do a little shopping and then make the run home. Gruene is a great little town, it has a lot of history, if your a history buff you could spend quite a bit of time looking around at all the historical markers and old buildings. The other thing about Gruene is that it has had many a famous person through it. The movie Michael with John Travolta was filmed at the Gruene Dance Hall, also any Texan knows that Gruene Hall is where George Strait started out.
After we ate and walked around a bit we headed over to the Dealer just around the corner from where we were at to see if there was anything there was we couldn't live without. From there we took River Road and then hit the Devils Backbone on our way back home. It was a great ride, great weather and great friends. Can you think of a better way to spend the day?
Route Map

Rattle Snake Round-up

Well it was time for our yearly pilgrimage up to SweetWater Texas for the annual rattle snake round-up, not just any round-up it's the worlds largest one. As we packed our cats were protesting our trip and did everything they could to prevent us from packing, including sitting on our luggage.
This year like last year our plan was to run up there on the ol' iron horse. Days before we were to leave the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Seventies during the day and clear blue skies. However, it never fails, every year the weather is great before and after the round up and this year was no exception.

The 4 days we were there in sweet water it was cold and rainy. It was horrible weather to be riding in, however we braved the weather and went up to visit friends and family anyway. We showed up on Thursday and we were lucky cause it was only cold and there was a break in the rain, however our friends Mike and Clyde (Tanya) went up on Friday and it rained on them all the way up. We were promised blue skies on Saturday for the ride we took out to Odessa however it was gray and cloudy all day until we started to head back to the hotel.
While we were in Odessa we stopped by the HD dealer there (of course) to see if they had anything that we couldn't live without. Turns out, we road for an 1.5 hours in the cold and didn't buy anything. After the HD shop we went to the Petroleum Museum and looked around outside, cause it was already closed by the time we got there. On site at the museum is one of the oldest wells in the permium basin, Santa Rita #2. Midland/Odessa is also the home town of G.W. Bush.
After looking around the outside of the museum we grabbed a bit to eat and then headed back to the hotel where we warmed ourselves with some whiskey and good conversation.
Sunday was uneventful, we ate breakfast with the in-laws and then headed home. This time at least the weather was nice. More pics of the trip are here.
Until next time keep the rubber side down.

What were we thinking?

It has been a while since I wrote anything about any MC trips that I have taken. Today the wife and I along with some friends decided to take a ride out to Bryan/College Station to the Independence Harley dealer and then over to a place called Yankee Tavern . However, today was not the best time to ride, although I enjoyed the time we spent with our friends. Every time we go out it is an adventure and every adventure has good parts and bad parts. In Texas if you don't like the weather stay around for 10 minutes and it will change. That is what happened to us. We left the house to meet everyone and it was humid and balmy. While we drank our coffee and waited for everyone to show up for the ride, the wind picked up and the rain started, then the cold front blew threw. So now it was windy, rainy, and cold. None of us wanting to back down we headed out for good or bad. The ride would have been fine except we all drove sideways because of the 30-40 MPH cross wind that we battled on our way over there. Regardless of the weather we made it to the dealer and we took a break to warm up and look around. As usual I didn't get out of the store without spending my standard $100 on stuff.


Then it was on to the tavern, this place is really neat, they have several acres out back with several BBQ pits, a pond, lots of tables for eating and drinking. I talked with one of the locals and he was telling me they let people camp out on the land and they have showers for people who stay the night. It is only a short 2 hour drive from Austin and would be a nice place to go for a night out with the boys or just to stop in and have a burger and good conversation. All in all we had a great time and are looking forward to going back.

Greetings from Shanghai

Well it has been a while since I took any kind of scooter trip, however I just got back from a work related trip in China. So this blog isn't about any motorcycle rally or great ride I just took so if you don't want to hear about China you can leave now. ;)

Myself and some colleges went there to meet with some business partners about business stuff, I will not bore you with anymore work related details.
We went to Shanghai and Kunshan in China, when we landed it was raining and continued to do so for about four days. Needless to say it was a welcome relief to the 100+ degree heat here in Texas but I was still a little bummed out that I wouldn't be able to wonder around and explore as much as I wanted. We did however take a couple of hours that first Saturday we were there to go out for a walk in the rain. The area we stayed in was very industrial and there wasn't much to see that was in walking distance of our hotel.
That pretty much forces us to hang out in the hotel bar everynight and watch the "Shock Band" play.
The "Shock Band" was the best thing since sliced bread until we went to Shanghai and was able to go to more clubs and see other bands playing. They were a typical lounge band that played all the top 40 hits from years past and unfortunately the carpenters. After suffering through some bad songs we found their library of songs and started the requests. They played everyone of them too. The band was very accommodating with the request and soon they had the place rocking.
Over the week we met each of the members and talked with them. They are a great bunch of people. We found out that they are all from the Philippines and that one of the girls that was singing was filling in for another girl that was away on some personal business. Needless to say we all became good friends and we had a standing appointment to go down and cheer and holler during their performance.
This lasted all week, on our last night at this hotel before we went to Shanghai one of my colleges... lets call him Bill, went up on stage and sang with the band. He not only sang one song, he performed 3 lovely Sinatra tunes. As you can see from the picture the girls got a real kick out of this. After their set Bill was trying to talk them into a permanent position with the band. Although it was great fun for a one time performance I think the decision not to let Bill join the band was a wise one for their carriers ;)
The next morning we checked out and the went to our final meeting with another partner before the weekend.

Ahh Shanghai... rain, pollution, traffic. If anyone has ever been to Houston that pretty much sums up the type of weather they have in Shanghai. With the exception that Houston has less pollution than this town, and for good reason. In Houston there are about 2.5 million people. In Shanghai there are about 16 million people, and WE complain about traffic sheeesh. To get anywhere in Shanghai via taxi or car it takes FOREVER!!!! Even if your going up the street, you will probably get there faster if you walk.
After we got done with our meetings on Friday we checked into the hotel, got settled and then our guide took us to a shopping center where we were able to haggle and pickup a few souvoniers from our trip. After shopping we headed across the street to grab some food. We found a great bar that had some good western food, beer, foosball table and dart games. Our waitress was great! She played foosball, darts and hungout with us for part of the evening before things got too busy in there.

I will preface this next part of the story with this, before I left town I did a search for a Harley Davidson dealers in the Shanghai area, and I found one! Before I left town it was a personal objective for me to visit this dealer and get a t-shirt from there before I came back to the states.
Well the next morning we got up grabbed a taxi and headed out to the dealer. We arrived about 30 minutes before they opened, so we decided to go look at an "Ancient Chinese Village" that was in the area. It was about a mile away and figured this would be a good place to go to waist some time. Once we got there we were not disappointed it was a really neat tourist trap! Lots of cool architecture to look at and while we were there the Buddhist monks were chanting and praying. It was really neat to see that and hear it. After spending some time looking around the village and taking some pictures we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the HD dealer for me to complete my mission! A t-shirt for me and my wife and some Shanghai HD pins for my friends, Mission accomplished!

After we were done we decided to head all the way across town and go to Nanjing road and Peoples Square. We were told that a taxi ride would take about an hour to two hours but if we took the train it would only take about 30 minutes. The train station was only a few minutes away so we grabbed a taxi and went to the train station. The train is definitely the best and cheapest way to get from one side of town to the other. When we took our taxi from the hotel to the dealer it was 50RMB. To take the train from the dealer pasted the hotel to the Peoples Square it was only 4RMB. So if your ever in Shanghai learn the train system, it will save you loads of time and money when your getting around.
Once we got to Peoples Square I have to say I was a little overwhelmed with the number of people that were there, it was CRAZY! This road is completely blocked off from all motorized traffic cause there are so many people. One thing that was fun at first but then became annoying was all the people that would come up to you and ask if you wanted to buy a watch, DVD, t-shirts. They see a white person and mob you. I finally took one of the guys cards and then proceeded to try and start selling things back to those people I was trying to sell them my HD t-shirts that I just bought. I make you a good deal bro! HEHEHE. One of the vendors that started to try and sell me stuff heard me telling them I would make them a good deal on stuff I was selling they stopped and asked "Are you local?" I told them yeah so they would stop bugging me, it was funny.

We finally reached the end of Nanjing road and headed to Yuyuan Gardens (pronounced U garden). This place was really neat, it was amazing how quiet the garden was compaired to the busy streets of Shanghai. This goes for all parks/gardens we went to visit, once you get into the garden it is like there is a cone of silence around you while your in there, it was nice. We walked around the garden a while and took lots of pictures. However the day was getting on and we were starting to tire. We all decided to run back to the hotel drop our purchases from that day and then head down to a place called the Bund.

From what everyone has told us this is the place to go at night to see a beautiful skyline of Shanghai, and after being there I have to say they were right it was worth the trip over there. There was a different light show going on for each building, and the boats that were on the water in front of the buildings also had their own lights and designs on them. After some pics, we were all getting hungry for some food. We were told that there were many good restaurants on the Bund. However, what was left off of the recommendation is that the restaurants were expensive as hell. Not, very good if your trying to watch your budget. We walked around down there for like an hour and we were now getting really hungry and we were all starting to get cranky.

Finally the walking ended and we found a taxi to take us to a club called Malones. If you go to Shanghai this place is a must see, must eat and must party at club. This is a western style bar with great food, a lot of expats spend their weekends and nights at this place. There were also a lot of local people there too. First order of business was to get some food and drink. Let me tell you the food was great and the drink was even better. Instead of buying individual drinks myself and two other friends of mine split a bottle of JD black label. I think the picture speaks for itself.
After dinner we went downstairs and listened to the band that was playing. They were AWESOME! they played all kinds of good rock-n-roll. I am sorry to say, the Shock Band has nothing on these guys, although I am grateful for the Shock Band getting me through the week.
The band that was playing at Malones was off the hook ya'll! It was our last night in Shanghai and we went out with a bang! We stayed there for couple of hours jamming with the band and just enjoying the time we had left. We headed back to the hotel around 1:30-2ish, one of my friends fell asleep in the taxi the other doesn't remember the ride home or who was in the cab with him, and I think our taxi driver was blind as a bat cause he held the card with the hotel address on it about an inch from his face to read it. I mentioned to my buddy that the day we spent in Shanghai was almost like going to a rally, we went to the HD dealer in the morning, went sight seeing during the day and drank and party with a live band at night. Only one thing missing was the bikes.
All in all it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to go back. More pics for my trip can be found here.

Pet Fest

Well, it's been a while since I have taken any kind of trip on the scooter, at least there hasn't been an epic ride like I have written about before, but there has been a few day trips worth noting.
Back at the beginning of the month my wife and I rode up to the Fort Hood Harley Davidson to attend a Pet Fest. They were taking donations to support the local animal shelter and since we are big softies when it comes to our four legged companions we couldn't resist.
It was a short ride up 195 and not much to report there, but the action inside the HD dealer is worth noting and sharing some pics about. Something that I noticed when when we got there that was unusual when you go to biker events and that was the lack of bikes. I guess everyone who normally rides had to bring the car this day in order to bring along their four legged friends. There was one exception to this rule though. There was a little chihuahua named Dirty Jack. His owner had a pouch that he road in that he strapped to his leg. This dog won the best in show, he rode from Texas all the way to DC to visit the Vietnam Wall. So not all dogs need to ride in a car ;)
They had a pet competition in several categories

• Best Swim trunks
• Best Bikini
• Smallest Dog
• Biggest Dog
• Best Trick
• Best kisser
  

The competition was fierce in all categories.
First up was Best swim trunks, I have to say that when I saw the winner of this category I laughed out loud. The dog that won was Zeus, a Great Dane with a g-string on... I think the saying cruel and unusual applies here. It's hard to say but this either totally humiliated the dog or it boosted his ego.
Thats right bitches get a good look at what a REAL dog looks like... HA!!


For the best bikini contest there were several dogs that were dressed up for this. I can't for the life of me remember which one won the category but there were several that made a lasting impression.

The pet competition was a lot of fun.
The shelter that was there even brought some of their dogs up there and were available for adoption to good homes. There was even coverage from the local news media to support the pet fest. It warms the heart :)

I won't bore you with the rest of the details, however here is a link to the rest of the pictures we took that day. Enjoy!

HOG Rally 2008

Well, about two weeks have passed and we (wife and I) were on another scooter trip. This time it was to the HOG rally in Gruene Tx.
On Wed. my sister-n-law who just got a new sporty a few month back came into town so I could help her install a lowering kit on her bike, she is short and needed a little help reaching the ground.
After that was installed I finished packing my stuff and we loaded up the Bikes. Next morning we waited for my brother-n-law to call me so we could leave and meet them in Llano for some BBQ at coopers. It was a little out of the way but who cares when your riding.


After all the "hello's" and "how ya been"s we fueled up and headed south on 16 and over to Luchenbach Tx. IMHO, this is the best place in the world to waste time and relax. Walk into the back of the post office, get yourself a beer and take a seat on one of the many picnic tables and just enjoy the day.
After a few beers and some good conversation
we saddled up and took a nice scenic drive through the hill country over to New Braunfels to get checked into the hotel and unload the bikes.
Let me tell you this is where the fun started. When we were checking in found out that they had too many rooms reserved under my name and also under my brother-n-laws name which means since we didn't cancel the reservation with 24 hours notice we would have charged. Lucky for us after a conversation with the hotel manager the rooms were canceled and we were not charged for the extra rooms. However one of the couples in our group was not so lucky, they were not charged the group rate for the weekend like the rest of us and that was a big mess. They ended up leaving the next day and found another hotel in San Marcos just up the road.

After we all freshened up we headed over to the fair grounds to register for the rally and get our t-shirts, pins and patches. The t-shirt and rally pin comes free in your when you register, I asked the lady where the rally patches were and she pointed me down to the table where they were being sold. We got there and found out NO RALLY PATCHES!!!! WHAT THE F**** After much whining and complaining the person in charge of patches showed up and we were told that they only made 300 patches!!! Again, WTF!!! How is it possible that when a few thousand people preregister for a rally they only make enough product for 300 of them. Needless to say we were all very unhappy about that.

We walked around the rally grounds for a few hours and checked out some of the vendors and then headed over to the dealer ship to see what they had going on. I hate to say this, but the dealership had more cool things going on than the actual rally itself.


While we were there I found a light vendor at the dealer that installs LED lights on bikes and I have been wanting to get some LED's installed on the ol' geezer glide for a while so we had them installed by Trick Lights. These guys were out of Waco and did a really nice job. I found out later that these guys did my buddy's bike also and he was real happy with their work, so I was happy that I chose this vendor instead of the other one that was there. I found out that the other vendor Renegade lights does shitty work. They cause a short on 2 of my friends bikes.


Next morning we got up early and took off to do a dealer pin run. When they told me about this I wasn't all that thrilled to run to 4 different dealers to get a pin. Plus we were also told that there was a "limited number of pins" so there was no guarantee that we would even get a pin. Plus the route that we had to take took us down I-10 and the 410 loop in San Antonio during Friday morning rush hour and the traffic SUCKED!!! Once we got to the 2nd dealership I realized that the pins you collect from each dealer are like puzzle pieces and when you get all 4 pins it makes a larger pin of the Texas flag, which I thought was pretty cool and it made all the traffic on the interstate almost bearable.
That reminds me... My brother-n-law told me a joke.
Mexican word for the day "texas", "My friends always texas me with stupid jokes". HA! (BTW my B-I-L is mexican).

The pin run ended back at the Gruene dealer where we were the previous day. We got there and ran into my wifes child hood friend Teresa, or "bird" as she is known to our inner circle of friends. While some of the group ran over to grab some food we stayed there at the dealer to checkout some of the store and some of the other vendors. In addition to that we spent some money in the beer tent.






The rest of the guys called and said they were heading back to the hotel to hangout at the pool and cool off for a while. We jumped on the ol' iron horse and headed back to the hotel to meet everyone and relax for a while. While we were there a guy shows up with his kid and wife. He takes his little girl in the pool and they are swimming around having a good time and we start up a conversation with him and find out he is Bubba Blackwell.
So we sat and listen to this guy tell us stories of different rally's and stunt shows that he does for Harley and he runs to his hotel room and grabs some signed posters and we each got one. I thought that was pretty neat.


Next day we slept in a bit cause we were gonna meet my buddy Mike, his wife, and two buddy's at the dealer to go for a ride through the hill country. Man I wish it was that easy. After we ate we had to take a minor detour to get through the traffic, while on our little detour my buddy Kevin bottomed out his bike going over a speed bump and knocked the spring loose from his kickstand. Lucky for him the spring didn't fall off the bike. We were able to re-attach the spring and we finally got out of town and onto some good riding. We took a ride on the devils back bone and then down river road. By the time we got down with the devils back bone two of the riders had to head back to Austin for previous engagements.
We finished up river road and stopped at a bar for some drinks and to relax for a bit. To finish out the ride we headed back down to Borne to look around the dealership there and see if we could find that all important piece of chrome that was needed for the bikes. Plus, driving out there was a lot funner than going back into town and driving in traffic.

After we got back to the hotel that evening my wife and her sister decided they had enough and were gonna stay at the room. I went over to my buddies camp site on the comal river and listen to the beach boys perform. It was pretty fun, we sat and bs'ed for a while and had a few beers and then I headed back to the hotel.
Next morning we headed back home. The ride home was pretty uneventful except when we had to dodge two buzzards flying low across the road.

I have to say that although we were able to visit with all our friends and family, which was the highlight of the rally. I was pretty disappointed with the HOG rally this year. For one, they didn't have enough merchandise and two, all the vendors and activities were free.
What did I pay the $40 bucks for? The rides were not that great, maybe cause I have rode all over the hill country and it was really nothing new. I mentioned to my B-I-L that my rally days were numbered. IMHO once you been to one rally you've been to them all. However there are exceptions to that rule. If the rally you go to has lots of good riding and far enough away then it is probably worth your time. Heck my bad rally experience might be someone else's best rally ever! Some guy who drove in from west texas might have loved it cause he has never been there before or been on any of the great rides down there. Who knows, maybe that is why there are so many rallies. Each one is different for each person. I will say this, my wife enjoyed herself and is ready for the next motorcycle trip weather it is to a rally or just to a distant location that we haven't been to before.

Here are some more pics from the rally. Until next time, keep the rubber side down.