Texas '05

"Serving America since 1962"

[Under Construction]

Home

Feedback?

 

 

Three men on three Harley's set out on an 11 day adventure with a Southernmost destination of attending the Texas State HOG Rally.

Day One:  Depart St Paul MN at 8:am, 52 degrees and cloudy.  Rained from Faribault to the Iowa border. Rest of day sunny/cloudy.  Destination was Dorothy's B&B in Trimble, MO, where we arrived at 6:30 to a hot meal and lavish accommodations.

Day Two:  (Mother's Day) Depart Trimble, MO after French Toast and Sausage breakfast on breezy but clear morning at 10:am.  Destination, Harrison AR by way of Pea Ridge Battlefield. Rain in southern MO caused us to be late for the Battlefield, but just made the gift shop! Gratis lodging at Comfort Inn and hearty dinner at Dixie's Southern Kitchen.  Alas, we find ourselves in a dry county!  But never fear, the Beer Buggy is stocked!

Day Three:  Depart Harrison, AR and immediately engage Scenic 7 Byway.  This is a must for any enthusiasts lifetime goals.  Smooth pavement, consistently signed curves.  What a ride!  We had the road to ourselves, not one RV, only a few logging trucks.  If you wanna run hot, suggest getting a local to unwittingly be your pace car so they can snag the deer or traffic coming out of the many blind driveways. Nimrod Dam is a good place to enjoy beef sticks and libations! Managed to bypass Hot Springs down to Arkadelphia, then made a run for the border on the slab.  Imagine 3 Hogs running 75mph as a single unit for 70 miles to Texarkana.  Sure the truckers either enjoyed the show...or thought we were nuts! Another gratis night at Quality Inn with next door liquor.  Time to restock the buggy as Eastern TX is also riddled with dry counties. 

Day Four:  Leave Texarkana, AR and make a quick stop at Texarkana, TX H-D to get missing gas tank bolts.  Inspection of earlier photos shows bolts were present earlier in trip.  Ride main Hwy to Center, TX.  Then gas up and eat BBQ at Chaps BBQ, a place the GPS found.  Good, Fast, and Cheap! Now time to take Hwy 89 through Sabine  Nat'l Forest. Arrive at yet another gratis Comfort Inn in Beaumont, TX and have our first nice sit down meal at Italian place.

Day Five:  Leave Beaumont, TX.  Hard to soar with Eagles when you party with the owls!  That's why they make bottled water and Red Bull.  Locals say avoid Houston at all costs, may as well enjoy the run along the coast from High Island all the way to Freeport. Strange to spend 75 miles alongside coast but only see ocean 4 times due to grassy berm. Plan was to beat the women to Corpus, but don't arrive until 7.  Check in to Bayfront Inn, it's had a facelift, but still shows its age.  And what's with no clock, no hair dryer, and no bike wash station?  The kicker was seeing the tag on the mattress that said "Made Exclusively for Marriot". So do you think they bought used mattresses, or did they actually get paid to haul them away! 

Day Six: Visit Corpus H-D dealer then ride up coast of Padres Island and take ferry back at north end. Pick up HOG packet and have free BBQ dinner at rally. Then checkout Knuckleheads, Corpus' biker bar.

Day Seven:  Get cart from Ramada across the street and move.  Ramada was full in Jan. when planned this trip.  Heck, everything was full, due to blocked rooms by Hog Chapters.  Note to self, always check back later after blocks are released.  Same price, plus full amenities AND a hot breakfast buffet! Kris gets us 3 rooms in a row on 9th floor. Do the HOG Poker Run, which is NW of town and goes thru ranch country. Return to watch Kris finish his 4-hour bike cleaning detail. Visit vendors at rally and find late-night feast at Crawdaddy's.

Day Eight:  Enjoy the Ramada's Hot Buffet and then go to Knuckleheads to do the Reguladores MC Poker Run.  Turns out the run is an exact repeat of the route we did Thur but this time do it with cops and stop at bars. Upon return stop at Rally to see the Bike Show and see an unexplainable top two finishers in the Touring Class.  I've lost more chrome parts than the first place bike had, and he was running stock mirrors and stock wheels/tires.  Pretty bizarre, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Anyway, turn in poker hands at Knuckleheads and go shopping again.  The off site vendors are always the best.  Then off to watch the parade that ran 10 miles up the coastline, just a block from the Ramada. Had a nice vantage point from near the Selena Memorial.  Then the whole crew joined us for return visit to Crawdaddy's, where we were seated in "Last Supper" style at the table on the stage. Fitting style as it was our "Last Supper".

Day Nine:  Alarms sound at 0400, quick shower and over to Jay's room for coffee.  Leave hotel in time to que up at the USS Lexington at 0500 for boarding 50 at a time on the same elevator that carried jets from hangar to flight deck. All 500 bikes on deck by 0630.  Helicopter lands on deck and picks up photographer for aerial shots. Takes another 1 and half hours to unload.  Back at hotel by 8:15 to pack and have Hot Buffet and kiss wives goodbye. Depart Corpus at 9:45 with just over 500 miles to go to another gratis night at Ardmore, OK Comfort Inn.  Gas up in Victoria, TX then head north into incredible shit-storm of swarm of "love-bugs", 2 for the price of 1. Jay takes the worst of it, having no windshield. Arrive 8:30, time for "Gritas" and steak at Applebees. Also time to wash off LoveBug Flotsam as it will eat the paint.

Day Ten:   Underway by 9:15, not bad for this crew.  Seems like an easy day but...failure to plan, is planning to fail!  Impromptu stop at OKC Memorial eats an hour, but very well done.  Then detour to H-D of Stillwater eats another hour plus, then visit with kinfolk in Ponca City, OK and next thing you know it's 5:30 and we got 300 miles left. Time to tuck and boogie boys! Treat the Kansas Turnpike as if it were the German Autobahn.  Arrive at gratis Quality Inn in St. Joseph, MO at 11:pm.  Desk clerk takes pity and allows after-hours use of Hot Tub.

Day Eleven:  The Party is Over, Gentleman!  No more screwing around, no more playing tourist. No Jesse James, No John Wayne.  But we did get 3 free SubWay sandwiches before they shitcan the stamp program.  And despite the Weather Channel...it did not rain. All returned home in one piece around 7:00.

 

Home ] Up ]

Last modified: 02/18/08