Appropriate for the day, some would say only fools would head out on a day like today for a longer motorcycle ride. Our first overnight road trip of the year turned into just a day trip on Sunday, April 1st, after the 65 degrees that was forecasted became 56 for a high. I’d been looking forward to this ride all week, hopping on the bikes with friends and heading out SOMEWHERE. I thought for sure it was cancelled when we left this morning, however. Cold, overcast and a 40% chance of rain, yet the Doppler radar showed our intended path completely clear. We decided to go for it, figuring we’d just turn back if the weather turned bad. My zombie friends and I suited up and headed out, under a cold, dismal sky.
I was SO thankful for my heated gear today!! My jacket and glove liners kept me toasty warm as we cruised down westbound I-94. However, it wasn’t long before I was reminded of the broken zipper on the left leg of my chaps, and the wind catching the leather pushed the zipper all the way up to my hip. One handed, I kept pushing it back down as far as I could, until we were able to stop in Onsted, when my MacGyver produced several zip ties and fastened them around my leg, which would at least keep the wind from pushing my zipper up. VERY handy to have these with you on your bike. My extremely crafty husband once made an emergency throttle cable out of zip ties.
We had stopped at the location I’d had in mind for our overnight trip, actually, Randy’s Roadhouse BBQ and the Cowboy Creek Lodge Motel, which is a part of the now closed Stagecoach Stop USA. Leaving Saturday evening, I figured it would be a quick jaunt close enough to home to ride out, have dinner and stay the night, then continuing our journey on Sunday. Their pulled pork is fabulous! Perhaps our next excursion.
Continuing on, we stopped at Artesian Wells for a bite, at the corner of US-12 and 127, in Cement City, a popular spot for bikes, located next to Town & Country Sports Center, also known as Cement City Harley Davidson. We shared an appetizer, memories and lots of laughs, particularly around the proper queso to salsa ratio and the importance of good queso coverage on a tortilla chip.
It was 3pm, and we headed back to our side of town to check out an electrical problem that a mutual friend was having on her Sportster. Back down US-12 we headed, turning north on 52, took a short detour through Manchester, and another detour down Werkner Rd. because I forgot to turn my turn signal off. I am notorious for that. Luckily, Werkner Rd. spat us out onto North Territorial, our intended route, after becoming Stofer Rd. HA! I learned a new route today. On accident.
We got lucky. I was sure our trip would at least be cut short by the expected rain, but all we got was a brief sprinkle, only enough to mist our windshields. It felt great to get out on a decent ride, and the season is just beginning.
Ahhh, the tortilla chip debate. One thing is clear, we know we’re all gonna eat that app again, because regardless of what goes where and how much, it was tasty! And I think Bill and Kevin will forever be in a contest of who did the craziest thing to their vehicle. 🙂
🙂 Too funny. I thought about mentioning the pimp car.. Crazy times.. Thanks so much for the invite, let’s do it again soon!