We had to meet up with Larry, one of Anna’s co-workers down at 360 and 20. Here we are at the meet up.
L to R: Larry, John, & Anna
We took off East on 20 and man the wind was bad. I think the weather said 40 MPH gusts out of the south. We got off at 34 north to take 80 further east and ran across this little nuts and bolts (all kinds of stuff to buy) kind of corner in Edgewood Tx.
Of course I spotted this 71’ Buick Skylark across the street so I wondered over to take a shot.
From the car location I shot across to where John and Anna were and noticed behind them a little fruit and veggie place. So I went on in a and we looked around. I found the fridge with some slices of watermelon grabbed a piece went to pay for it and the guy said that is a sample. I told him I had no intent of buying anything as we are on cycles and on day 1 of the trip so I gave him a buck. It was a large piece that we all shared of course after they sliced it further. It was sweet and sure did hit the spot.
We said our good byes and hit the road to Mineola Tx where I had to do some map reading to figure out a good scenic ride up to Jefferson so I found the historic down town and we pulled in there. I have now been in two cities that claim to be the dead end of the railway before the Forth Worth folks got together to lay tracks from Fort Worth to the end of the rail headed West. So what did really happen to Jessie James?
John and Anna took a walk around the square and while I found a chair to read the maps Larry said he was also going to take a walk about. I figured out a course and then I too took a walk about and did not see the rest so I wondered over to what looked like an old movie house and instead it is now a private bar. So I went in to find out the rules and then looked around outside again and saw Larry and motioned him on over. He came over so I asked if he wanted a cold beer. He said heck yes so while John and Anna were off to who knows where (they are really into the shopping for old stuff gig) we when on in for a cold one. I asked the bar tender if this was an old movie house and she said “I know this is a historical building but I do not know what it was but it was not a movie house.”
We had our beer and headed back to the bikes so I took two more shots of the area and I found my helmet on the ground and the visor latch on the left side was broke. But I was able to rig it up enough to finish out the trip. It must of blew off the bike, remember I said the wind was strong.
We ride to Big Sandy Texas and head north on 155 to Gilmer to the north end of Lake O’ The Pines lake. We take a short break in Gilmer and Anna mentions she is ready for a cold beer. I told her we would be riding near the water on the East side of the lake so there may be someplace to stop along there. So as we started down the east side of the lake I found a national park thinking they may something but it was a pay to stop thing with the exception of the boat ramp so we stopped there while I did more map reading. Anna wanted me to find a watering hole.
Well here is some water…. She should have hung with me and Larry back in Mineola.
So we keep heading down 729 and run across Big Cypress Tavern. Man this area was cool. The tavern was real friendly, large, and had a big cha-bang gong on Saturday night with a mud puppy (Crawdad) boil and Budweiser was going to sponsor it. In fact John started talking to a lady at the bar and found out she was a big wig with Bud and so Anna, John, and I started to commence with Kissing her butt to see if we could get some “stuff”. Well sure enough Anna was able to get a hat and 4 coozies out of her. I got the coozies but she kept the hat. Like I said a real bunch of friendly folks. To the left was a liquor and deli store, to the right a very rustic cheap clean hotel we (so were told). I bet a lot of folks sleep there on a Friday or Saturday night. The local sheriff was big against DUI and speeding.
We might want to consider checking this place out for a RUT meet up.
We took off for Jefferson and got into down town.
We checked out the down town “Jefferson Hotel” and it was a bit too pricey for the amenities and even though the town rolled up its side walks and they had plenty of rooms she was not too interested in giving us a better deal. Too bad for them as they had what looked like a fairly expensive restaurant in the lobby and they would have made up from us the loss to the room price.
It is too bad I did not think of going back to the Cypress Tavern area before we decided to head south to Marshall. All but two hotels in Marshall were full due to construction folks and some kind of Lawn and Garden convention in town. I think John, Larry, and Anna would have still opted to go to Marshall since it was close to hwy 20 but I would have gone back had I thought about it before landing in Marshall. Larry decided to head back home that night while John and Anna were going to head back home early in the morning and I was going to ride for a couple more days so we could have parted ways right there with no issues.
We get a hotel room at the Days Inn and Larry said his good-bye’s. Here is John and leaving to head home in the morning.
I started packing and looking at my maps to decide where I wanted to go. The direction was dependent on weather as this time of year in Texas the weather changes faster then the wind blows. I had contacted Joy a friend of ours who has a ranch in Northeast Texas and she said I could come by and bunk up there. Her and Dave where going to be there for the weekend. More on later. The weather forecast prompted me to head up towards the ranch.
It was only about 60 miles but a lot of places to stop along the way so it took me several hours to get 60 miles. Here is a few shots from a quaint rest stop area I found. Time for some map reading as at this point I thought I went the wrong way. And sure enough I missed a turn and this direction would have taken me to Atlanta Texas towards Northeast boarder of Texas. I wanted to head a bit more Northwest at this point.
Well I backtracked and found the right place to go and man I highly recommend you take the 1399 out of Linden to Marietta. It is a great ride. I stopped at some cross roads and took these shots, I will be sure to come back to this area this year most likely many times.
I ran into Marietta and man what a friendly small town. I ended up spending nearly an hour there talking with another rider who was taking shots, a lady in the General Store and a gent sitting across the street. The town dog that offered up his salutations also of course greeted me. I forgot his name now but he came by the General store while I was in there and got his daily dog biscuit/bone from the kind lady.
I got so distracted by this beauty that I forgot to take a shot of across the street where on Saturday nights the local chief cooks up steaks for the town at an extremely reasonable price. I heard they were more then worth it. I wish the weather forecast had allowed me another day in the area. As I said before I will be back! Tomorrow (Saturday) is bread day, the lady at the general store bakes a bunch of bread with some other town folks. I was looking for my time machine, as I had just entered a new dimension in the Twilight Zone.
Now I headed towards Dave and Joys ranch. I will try to keep this short. Based on our discussions prior I thought I found the roads on Google Maps but she forgot to mention just one little detail and it was so long since I have been up that way I forgot about that little detail myself. I ended up riding around a loop and since I did not recognize her ranch I rode to another loop. When I got to a crossroads area I was about to ride on out but thought “what the heck” I would check my cell phone. Well sure enough she called and left me voice mail saying she could hear me but could not see me. You can hear a pin drop out there for miles when the wind is not rustling the trees or the birds is singing their songs. I tried calling her and the communications where sparse at best so between our broken sentences I thought I got an idea and headed around the first loop for a second try. Well I ran across this lady who stopped me and asked if I was looking for Joy. I said yes and she said wait here as Joy went out driving around looking for me. We chatted for some time, I know all about her, and then Joy showed up. Sure enough there was one more street to traverse before getting to the ranch, the minor detail. Well Joy and I had a great time talking and based on the weather predictions I thought best not to stay over night there and head more towards the west and it was still early in the day. In hindsight I am not sure if my thoughts were all that good. Anyway we said our Aloha (in Hawaiian that is hello or good by). They apparently do not like saying good bye as that is too final.
So I headed down the road and had to find a man about a horse (find a tree) so I took this side street (about big enough for a bike and a car) and found a Pilgrims Pride farm. I stopped and took these shots.
Well of course I got myself lost once again so I found a little rest stop to do some map studying.
After the map reading I started to just walk around the area and found these behind a fence. It is amazing what a walk about can yield.
I figured out where I was and I found hwy 30. Based on the weather forecast I wanted to be a bit further west but not so far as that I close options for tomorrow. So I stopped over night in Mount Vernon which gave me options of going back to Marietta, going to Corsicana for a auto show and John would be performing there, heading north to Oklahoma or even west past home to Muenster Tx for their German Feast.
I stayed at the Super 8 and there was a Saloon down about 200 yards that had a great big bikes only parking area. I went in side and of course found more friendly folks. I got to bed early because I knew I had to check the weather out and make some decisions. Well going south or even back east was out, a big line of thunder storms were headed my way so I had to hurry to get packed, showered and on the road. So now my options were either Oklahoma or Muenster or of course home. Well has I got further west the clouds started to build up in the area headed north, so now I ruled out Oklahoma and took the 380 west when I got to Greenville. Well it started to mist and then a few bigger rain drops were hitting me, not so much to get real wet but just a bit of an annoyance. I stopped in Farmersville to call someone in Euless to see if they could look at the weather maps and tell me what the heck is going on. This was not supposed to be happening. Well sue enough I had a voice mail from Philip to warn me about the big mass of thunder storms headed towards my area. I called him and he was watching the weather map at my neighbor Earl’s house and told me there was another storm starting to brew up in south Dallas. He did not see anything in my area, well the rain on my windshield and helmet told me that this was real.
I took off with some intentions for riding further but as I headed west the clouds kept building so when I got to 121 I decided to head south to home thinking maybe if they are building just a bit south and headed north I would just get behind them. Well that plan did not work as I got wet (very minor) again in Lewisville. Again not supposed to happen. I thought to myself with the wind blowing so hard and the day being so cool at 70 mph with full leathers (glad I brought them) I say heck let’s call it a day and go home.
Of course as I unpacked and got into comfy cloths the dang sun showed up and it was a beautiful afternoon. I was real tempted to get back on the bike and ride again but now I am glad I did not as it is misting out as I write this report on Sunday when I would have come back.
It was a fun trip and I enjoyed all aspects of it.
Be safe, have fun, and ride easy!
Pj
