06 TX State HOG Rally Weekend

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This was my 1st long trip for the year 2006. The weekends goal was to ride from Kansas City to Abilene TX, more exact the TX State HOG Rally, with a few side stops for other ABC points. Abilene TX is about 2 hours west of Ft Worth. My HOG group is also doing the “I’ve Been Everywhere tour” which uses the list of all 91 of the towns/states in Johnny Cash’s song. The HOG group challenged its members to find and take a picture of their bike by as many of the IBET locations as possible. Always up for a challenge I have plotted in those towns as they come up in my ABC routes. This is a solo trip on my 2005 883 Harley Sportster ‘Effie’.

19 May 2006, Friday

I took a half day off from work on Friday so I could get an early start on ride down. The first 7 hours of the ride were hard and seriously considered giving up and heading home. It takes a lot for me to give up on a trip. My problems started the night before when my overnight plans for Friday and Saturday had to change. Originally I had planned to go down and stay with an old friend in Ft. Worth. But he had recently had surgery and was still bed ridden, the last thing they wanted was a boarder, I understood that. I was then thinking this opened new possibilities on what I could get done over the weekend toward my 06 ABC points, I had stayed up past midnight working through stuff on the GPS. Rising at 4:30AM the next morning to finish loading the bike and get in early to work so I could put in 4 hours and leave by 10am for TX. So I got to work at 5:45 AM and accomplished a lot. I forgot how easy it is to get stuff done when you are the only one in the building. By 10:15AM Marie is at the bike with her windex cleaning the headlight and mirrors. A quick sprucing up and I am off. I have had little sleep, I haven’t eaten anything all day, drank very little and today is one of the first days its warm enough to go for a long ride with out a jacket on (at least that I have been able to enjoy). By Wichita I am thinking I need to get something to eat, my stomach isn’t feeling well. I get my IBET pictures for Wichita (IBE #8) and El Dorado (IBE #76). At the OK border (IBE #12) I stop and sit down for some chicken tenders and lemonade at the Reservation fuel stop. The food didn’t help. The thermometer on the bike is showing over 100 degrees for the outside temperature. I stopped and took my vest off, although I don’t like to ride on the interstate without it. One layer of leather is the equivalent of 7 layers of skin if you are skidding on the road and I figure my vest protects my breasts and my back. Everything will probably break anyway.

I took a side trip off of I-35 to Hennessy OK its one of the IBET (#41 OF 91) cities. The side trip is about 100 miles. The highway I turned onto was just as hot if not hotter than the interstate. 2 lane divided highway with big paved shoulders. I was cooking. Heat usually doesn’t bother me, I don’t run an air conditioner at home during the summer. I would rather buy a Harley then donate to the utility. I get to a town and make it to a gas station. I take a seat on the antifreeze display inside and ask one of the attendants if they carry sun screen. Yes and it comes in different strengths, I buy the 50. I get some Gatorade and start to feeling better. Out on the road I soon realize that I am still having problems. I make it about another 40 miles to Hennessy to a Sinclair station. By the time I get there, I have the chills. Its over 100 degrees in the shade and I have the chills, this ain’t good. Its 4PM. I get a cup of ice and water and relax in a booth for an hour. Encase things don’t get better, I weigh all my options: Mack and his trailer would come and rescue me, I could get a hotel room, I could ask for an ambulance. I sipped water and chewed ice, I fell asleep in the booth, but I didn’t leave the station until I pee’d. The cost of me hanging out at the Sinclair for over an hour? 5 cents for the cup I put the water in. By the time I left I was feeling good. As a last act, I soaked my T-shirt in sink, this helped for about 5 minutes then it was dry again. I made sure I continued to have ice and water on the bike at all fill ups and that I was getting enough water. Oklahoma City’s stretch of I-35 is like Atlanta’s stretch of I-95 and St Louis’s stretch of I-70, ALWAYS under construction and down to one lane somewhere. I didn’t plan on coming back through OK City so the hour delay was bearable. It was 12:30 AM when I pulled over for a hotel. My time on this trip has sucked, but I know I am not going to push it anymore. I rode that night until I was on the other side of Ft Worth. A Best Western for $60 a night (AAA discount), didn’t try to bargain shop, to tired. It was the first hotel with a vacancy. Second floor room, can’t see the bike from the room. Too tired to care. The last few hours my butt has been hurting too. I think last year I worked up slowing to the 500 mile days… but this year I just started them I was having trouble getting comfortable all day. The bike was so hot that I could not put my left foot on the highway peg because it would cut the wind to motor and cause a build up of heat that cooked the calf muscle. There is also the issue of underwear.

On long rides the seams in your underpants can be felt and precisely located by feel through the tush. At times it feels like sitting on rebar. I had learned last year that some of my underwear were good for riding long distances and some were not. In DEC I had divided them into the 2 piles and taken what I thought was the bad ones to the Philippines. I have a bag of clothes that I leave in the Philippines for my business trips there. I must have taken the good ones to the Philippines because these are causing me agony. I decide to sleep in and take off whenever the next day, registration at the Rally is open until 6PM and I am a little over an hour away. Wake up call for 8AM just as a reminder I need to check out by 11. Happy now because I know I will at least get my TX HOG point and the T-shirt I paid for. 600 miles today.

20 MAY 2006, Saturday
I take off in the morning about 9:30AM. I get to the Expo center about 11:30am and snap my ABC picture, one of the volunteers comes up and asks if they can take one for me. I jump at that chance. I need to have 6 pictures with me in them, so one down. I later learned that the rules had changed in 2006 for the HOG Rally photos and you and your bike had to be present in all the Rally photos. I go to registration to get my packet and wrist band to join the fun inside. The Rally is being held at the county fair grounds and it is proving to be a great location. Lots of room, lots of parking and lots of covered areas for vendors and shade. This was the best rally I have been to and I went to 15 in 2005. I actually stayed for about 2 hours. I wasn’t at the national rally last year for more than an hour. One of the vendors was the Gel seat pad guys, the Air Rider gel seat. They are demonstrating the ‘gel pads’, with ‘memory foam’ …. I tried one on the sample seats they had there but wasn’t sold. Anyway she put one in my hand and told me to go try it on my bike. SOLD. Very comfy. $135. Nothings cheap for a bike, good thing I don’t run air con at the house.

Of course I had to get a Wild West HD t-shirt then I decide that I will modify my trip home and make it shorter. Instead of going so far east, I will only go to Shreveport and then head due north picking up several points along the way. At the rally the food is good, the vendors have bike stuff instead of cell phone stuff. I ate my fill of Mexican for about $7 and had my 3rd glass of ice water for the day. While I am eating I called Marie and checked in telling her I got there and my plans.

I need to back track several miles back to the Dallas/Ft Worth area, at my first gas stop heading back, I meet a couple riders that tried to make it to the rally. One of the bikes broke and the wife is headed their way with the trailer. A big Road Glide, the alternator went out. These guys are bummed, but we have a pleasant conversation about riding and experiences while riding. I stayed there for 45 minutes sipping water and talking to them. Its another 100+ day. They tell me what a long boring (hot) ride its going to be to Shreveport. Their trailer shows up and I decide to change my plans again, screw long, hot, boring, I did that yesterday. So I change the GPS to cut through OK, I need Pittsburg County. The ride is so much better, about 20 north of Ft Worth I turn off onto little highways, ending up on US69 north. Nice ride. Although I was not excited about the new cushion, it wasn’t as comfy as I thought it was going to be. But I have heard that the gel has to work into the appropriate places, so it take a little while for it to conform.

I still needed a TX state sign so I stopped at the TX visitors center at the OK border. That rest area had a great spot for my Kodak moment. A fellow visitor was handy and volunteered to take my picture. The humorous thing is it took about 20 minutes for him to actually take the picture. I have a simple digital point and shoot camera but he just couldn’t get it. I would have called it quits but his son was there and I didn’t want to give up on him as long as he was wanting to keep trying. Finally I put his finger on the button and pushed it down with my finger to take a picture. Then he realized that he had not been pushing hard enough, he had been concerned about using too much force and breaking the camera.

I get to the Pittsburg Co sign just after sundown, the pictures is a little dark but will work. I love my Quest GPS. It will tell me the estimated time of arrival to my next destination. So I knew it was going to be close to dark so I stepped up my rate of speed and made it right after sundown. I hated to stop Saturday for the night, the temp was great the weather was great and the roads were great. I was really enjoying the ride. But I didn’t want to spend the night in Tulsa so I stopped in Muskogee OK. This was a little mom & pop hotel called the Travel Inn. I love this style hotel, the building is a big U with all traffic going in front of the hotel clerk. Every room is a ground floor room and the parking is right outside your door. This room was $28, $32 with taxes, a night. It was around 10PM when I pulled over. Checked in the hotel, peeled the stuff of the bike, ran to Arbys for some take out and then settled in for the night. I had picked up a sunburn on my neck where the collar was loose. One last call that night to Marie, to check in and let her know what my route plans were. My fear is that I don’t return from a trip and no one knows where to look for me or even what state to start looking in. So I have someone I check in with on these trips. It used to be Scout, my son, until after one weekend of leaving messages on his phone all weekend, Sunday he asked me if I had taken any trips recently. He hadn’t picked up any messages.

I have 2 options I am debating for Sunday, one is an early rise and get to KC by 10AM, I figure I am about 4 hours out of KC. Central HD south is have a pancake breakfast for Toys for Tots and a lime run after that. The second option is to sleep in spend a really relaxing day riding those 4 hours home. I will decide in the morning. 525 miles for the day.

21 MAY 2006, Sunday
I wake up for my usual 6AM bathroom break and decide the sleep in option is the winner. Routine is the same, an 8AM wake up but about 10:30AM I am hitting the road. That morning I got distracted by a movie on HBO which impeded my progress toward leaving. This trip I have collected 5 IBET points and 3 ABC points (TX Rally, State TX and Pittsburg Co). I have a Tulsa OK (IBET#10) stop to make and then there are some locations in KS I can pick up if so inclined.

Traveling along 169 in OK just out of Oologa I see a sign for Will Rogers birthplace. About 2 miles off the highway is his fathers ranch, the Dog Iron Ranch. The house is open and has a endless loop tape playing telling you about the house. You just go in a look around, drop money in the donation box if you like. The view was outstanding. The yard was full of animals grazing. Donkeys, sheep, goats, geese, ducks… RV Hook ups and camping on the side yard for $10 a night. The little things about Will I learned… Will was named after a Cherokee leader of the time. Will was 9/32 Cherokee and a member of his mothers Paint Clan. His father brought up long horns from TX to stock the ranch. At one time having 10,000 head. The house was moved ¾ of mile, when the dam was built and the valley flooded to make the reservoir that is at its foot now. I really enjoyed the stop and started thinking about who all with kids I could tell about this. Heading back home again, I need to decide if I want to go back to KC on US169 or US69. 169 brings me into Iola KS.

I have hit a few sprinkles but find the skys lighten up when I flip up my sunshield. Duh. I decide that if the weather holds out from raining I can cut across to US69 on US54. US54 is a nice highway that runs all the way across the state (east to west) but I have used it several times between Ft Scott and Yates Center. I wanted to stop at Gas KS for lunch. Gas is about 2 miles east of Iola on US54. There is only 1 café in Gas KS, Bonnies Corner Café and it has good food and quick service. One of the few places in life where you can find fast, cheap and good all together. They are only open for 3 hours on Sunday, so if I don’t get there by 2pm I am out of luck. I pull in at 1:30pm. The café sells t-shirts to promote the town. The T-Shirts proudly state: “Don’t just pass Gas, stop and enjoy it.” So I sit and order the Sunday special Chicken Fried Steak, fill a plate at the salad bar and call Marie to tell her where I am at. As soon as I tell her I am in Gas eating, she hollers to Mack her husband that ‘Cindy is in Gas and she stopped to enjoy it’. I am served more than I can eat for $6.50. When I pulled into Gas I realized that I have had no tush issues today, so the cushion is working well today or I have a good pair of underware on, something for investigation Sunday night. While eating I decide I will pick up Bourbon Co, Xenia and Fulton on the way home for 3 more ABC pts. After eating, its back to the GPS for some quick changes.

As I approach Xenia I pull over to the side of the road, turn off the engine and wait for buggy with 2 young Mennites to pass by. The horse was also young and acting skittish when I was way down the road. I thought it best to just stop and let them pass with out any problems. Part of the skittishness might have been caused by my deer horn too. I have a Hornet Deer Alert on the bike, its an electronic deer horn. It is audible and can be heard by the human ear if your hearing is normal. I gave one to my parents and my dad can not hear it, which is good because the man that installed it wired it up so the its on when the ignition is on. The horn promises only to give the deer an additional warning time, so they can flee as they naturally would instead of panic and run right at you.

In Xenia I stop for a picture by the city sign and acquire my ‘X’ city for the ABC’s. Proceeding out of town I noticed a barn that is plastered with old oil company signs. The woman of the house was putting a letter in the mailbox so I turned around and asked if I could take a picture of the barn. She invited me in and soon the husband was out there showing me the barn. He worked construction of some type that put him at these old gas stations. The barn housed a car lift and was made to be quite the getaway. The inside was just as plastered with old signs as the outside. The husband was recovering from a heart attack he had recently had and was one of those guys you just can’t keep down, even when it is best that they take it easy.

The rest of the trip into Kansas City (home) was uneventful. Odometer said there was 1480 miles total for the trip.

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Photos

TEXAS HOG Rally ABC Photo
The purpose of the trip was to get my point for the TX HOG Rally. But I learned alot more than that point will give me credit for.

State of TEXAS ABC Picture
This picture wasn't easy to get. The guy was really nice but couldn't get the hang of my point and shoot camera.

Will Rogers Birthplace
This was just off US169 by Oologa, OK. The state maintains it, this site would be a great place to bring your kids for the weekend. Camping is available right on the farm for $10 a night.

Will Rogers Birthplace Plaque
This is the plaque that is in front. The ranch is called the DOG IRON RANCH. The house was relocated to this site when they flooded the valley to make a lake.

Front View
This is the view from the front porch.

Old Light Fixture
This light fixture was located in the kitchen.

The Family Room
Many of the furnishings were orginal. If I remember right this was the room Will was born in.

Barn outside Xenia KS
What a hoot. The guy had put alot of effort into this barn and it showed. He had quite a getaway in the barn. Not to mention a Harley, so you know he was good people.

Barn outside Xenia KS
A view of the other side.

Comments

[Neil]

Nice Trip
Enjoyed reading your travel notes. I stumbled upon your blog because four of us are going to the KC Harley plant in June '07 and I too will be trying to obtain the coveted "X" for the ABC point. I'll be watching for more of your articles! Keep 'em coming. [e-mail]