And they fished

A huge thank you to Ronnie and Mary for letting us share a wonderful quiet weekend with them at Cedar Creek Lake. Thanks also to Mike and his wife Patricia for inviting us and to Rick and Camila for being there to share with us all.

It has taken a week for me to get to post a few pics and talk about our weekend away. As can be read in an earlier post Tawnya and I were without the boys for a weekend and got to enjoy some peace and quiet. Saturday night we were weary from our ride but soon perked up at sharing some cold ones with old friends, getting to know a few acquaintances better, and meeting new friends.

We drank and talked, laughed and fished long into the night. In the morning Mike made buttermilk biscuits from scratch to go with our bacon and eggs. Ronnie netted us some shad and we were off again with lines in the water.

The only person that didnt catch something didnt wet a line that weekend, here are a couple of the spoils!

I mangled a few fillets for the experience and Ronnie ran us through the rest, giving freely of any knowledge he could add along the way. In the end everybody pitched in and we had a fish fry supper with the 7 pounds of fillets that had been out of the water less than 45 minutes.

A meal outdoors with a view of the lake, none of us will soon forget. I hope to return soon with new friends and old alike.

Action photos!

Since Tawnya was able to join me this past weekend I wanted her to practice getting some action shots. I am sure she will get some great ones as she gets more comfortable. To date Tawnya's longest ride had been about an hour and a half, and that was on the back of a Goldwing. She persevered through 401 miles and was still comfortable enough to get some pics, here are a few.

Lured to Fish

Tawnya and I were invited out to fish Cedar Creek Lake from a beautiful lake front property, belonging to the family of a friend. It had been a while since we last got away for a night without work or kids or bills or, or, or you get the idea. My parents agreed to watch the boys so the ride was on. Early Saturday morning when we were packing up for the overnight I decided why not try to hit the ground on this county project that I was dying to begin. A quick look at the map and I decided I could do a few before meeting up in Gun Barrel City at 1800 with our friends.

2 Kids, 2 dogs, and a ferret were deployed on my parents home as a blitzkrieg and I stuffed our gear into the boxes on the Concours, strapped 2 fishing rods on the back and we were off, with no sign of our intent save for the poles on the back giving us the air of shortwave radio operators.

We made quick time rolling into our first stop, Rockwall of Rockwall county. We were greeted with the sweet smell of roasted corn and the unmistakable aroma of swine over charcoal being massaged with sinful mixtures of Texas barbecue sauce. Rounding the corner and approaching the town square revealed some kind of carnival event complete with vendor booths, food, and cowboys in broad straw hats, starched jeans, and pressed white shirts. You could see a bit of the courthouse but I will have to return to collect a good picture, and a great reason to return to a cool little county, the smallest in Texas in fact covering only 147 square miles.

Fun Fact: Quoted from the counties website
The Rock Wall - In the early 1850s, farmers were digging a well and discovered a rock wall that crossed the county and at some places appeared above ground level. Scientists have determined that this is a natural formation, but folk tales continue to say that it was built by prehistoric natives. When the town of Rockwall was formed, it was named for the rock formation. 

Next we trekked into Kaufman of Kaufman county. The night prior to our ride had seen a fairly decent size storm pass through the areas moving east along the route we were taking and left behind in its wake damage that looked to be primarily downed trees and ripped billboards, people's homes seemed to be in good condition and road crews beat us out and left the roads in very good condition. We found the square to be the first of many that would prove quiet and mostly vacant. The smell of fresh cut grass is what I enjoyed as I sat in the shade on a brick step taking in the peace.

Fun Fact: Find out more at http://www.kaufmancounty.net/
Kaufman is home to the Vietnam Memorial Wall Of Texas

Canton of Van Zandt county was up next with a very straight road into downtown. Canton is home to a very active open air market and there was enough traffic to make me think twice about lingering. I took a picture and we continued on.

Fun Fact: 
In 1845 William H. McBee established a gristmill and a sawmill three miles west of Loller's bridge at the site of Hamburg, established in 1850 by James Colthorp. This mill is said to have cut the logs that were used in the first courthouse in Dallas.

In Rains county we visited the county seat of Emory pursued by a large pack of Harleys and their cheery riders in leather vests and bandannas, not a one wave could be pried from them as they rumbled passed. I will definitely be returning one of these days to eat at a burger joint on the town square with a sign sporting a burger with about twenty patties on it. I am not sure they serve this artist's representation but I am willing to find out.

Fun Fact: 
Upon entering the county a sign declares Rains county as the eagle capitol of Texas.

The road from Emory to Quitman of Wood county was the best we encountered with sweeping turns and shaded by mature trees passing some very impressive properties. Traffic remained light and the air crisp under a blue sky made clear by the passing of the nights storm.

Fun Fact: 
In a county of 696 square miles there are 1,521 miles of paved roads.

Up next was a visit to Upshur county with a visit to Gilmer. The courthouse lawn was home to a very large cannon that looked really cool, I wonder what kind of fuel mileage I would get towing that beast home.

Fun Fact:

On February 28, 1844 he [Able Park Upshur] was killed in an explosion of the "Peacemaker", a new cannon on the Battleship Princeton, so when the legislature organized this county they requested that it be named Upshur.

We stopped for lunch after visiting the Gregg county courthouse in Longview. The last time I was at this courthouse I was researching genealogical information and received a parking ticket, we were hungry anyway so no worries about over staying the 2-hr limit this time. Tawnya's father lives in Longview so we frequent the area. Our all time favorite Tex-Mex can be had at Papacita's located on the loop.

Fun Fact: 

Late in 1930, Gregg County was rescued from the Great Depression by the largest pool of petroleum ever discovered in the United States.  

Smith County, home to Tyler is another area Tawnya and I had frequented with family members living in and around the county. We rode past a very cool, old train station turned museum and some very old cobblestone roads just north of downtown. The day was growing old so I took my picture in front of a crowded courthouse and we moved on.

Fun Fact: 

The County was established in 1846 by the new Texas State Legislature and was named for General James Smith who fought for Texas' independence and served during the Indian Wars. Boundaries were established at that time and have not changed to this day.

Our last stop on our impromptu county collection trip was Athens of Henderson county, with park benches sporting slogans like 'Home of the friendliest people', well the attendant of a cafe on the square wouldn't let Tawnya use the bathroom so we hit a Taco Bell and bee lined to Gun Barrel City. We met up with our friends and spent the rest of the night and most of Sunday doing exactly what we came for, but that is a different story all together.

Fun Fact: 

The Saturday that we were there was the only weekend in April with no event scheduled at the large fair park complex. Making light traffic for us :)


All in all we got 9 counties done, or 3.5% of all counties in Texas! Not bad for a spur of the moment trip. Stay tuned for more and watch for bikes out there folks.

Gas and a Laguna

I was in need of some better fuel consumption numbers and there is only one way I know of to get those. I stepped in to the garage as the door rolled up to get a late start on my day. Would you believe the beauty that spilled in to that garage just then. Sunshine and a breeze that not only carried the perfect blend of cool and warm but with the aroma of fresh cut grass and diesel (it is trash day). I warmed up the bike, strapped on a helmet and was off. I first had to make a quick DVD drop off, made so simple by my new tank bag (thank you Mom and Dad). In go the DVD's to Dave's mailbox and I'm off again, I felt a bit like the Postman in Austraila, only with a cooler bike!

This fellow is a neighbor of my aunt and uncle and he has a pretty good set of bollocks for such a young guy.

I was beginning to doubt that the bike would ever actually hit the reserve so I went ahead and filled up. My mileage increased about 1 mile per gallon to an average of 35.5. I hope to increase that on road trips with throttle control. The bag conceded easily allowing my fuel stop to be a pleasant one, and with my wallet and phone in it's pockets, a convienient one as well.

The Laguna GPS Tank Bag that my parents treated me to for my birthday is perhaps the best tank bag I have ever seen. I will be getting a 12v DC outlet wired up hopefully this week and look forward to using the GPS pouch!






Watch for riders, and ride safe.

A valiant effort.

To further blanket myself in the technology I decided to test out a feature of blogging probably best reserved for the web's elite. This had been posted via text message from my mobile phone, however it split the post into 10 pieces and to add insult to injury reversed the order making the message incomprehensable. I will leave it to the pros, enjoy the post as a consolation prize.

When deciding what to post with my new found feature I came across an anecdote in the old noggin that I am sure I have never written down and rarely found a situation so hard up for conversation that warranted sharing it.

I had ridden on a few varied motorized vehicles in my youth, however the rides were few and far between. This helped me later in life, before I bought my first motorcycle, by not allowing me to know what fun I was missing out on. One summer day when I was about 10 years old my scout troop had taken a field excursion to a remote cattlestation outside of Alice Springs, Australia. While there we were exploring life on what was practically an alien planet, such as grocery shopping, daily chores, and the school of the air. I assure you these things were familiar to us in title only.

We had finished milking a cow that was anything but plump and healthy looking as those to which I am now used to seeing, and we were about to head back to the house. The trip was about a thousand yards from where we were and the group began it's hike. Now the kid that actually lived here had a little moped and planned to leave us in the dust and join us when we arrived hot and thirsty. Before he left I motioned for a lift and he waved me on. I swung a leg over and planted my self on the hot steel luggage rack that was bolted to the rear fender in place of a passenger pillion. I then endured one of the funnest and perhaps most painful to date expieriences that I can remember. It was all off road and far from smooth, but it was my first ride on two wheels.

I do have two children, but this certainly could not have helped.