5/23/09 Short fun

365 Group (f)

Today was nice. Warm and clear. I had relatives stop by for a while so I didn't get to get out on the road like I had planned.

I did manage to get out about three or so. I headed down to the Gas station and topped off the tank then headed east. After a few miles I pulled over to try and take some pictures. In the blink of an eye the sky darkened and thunder started booming. I jumped back on and shot off down the road toward the small community of Hindsville. My thought was to get to the Gas station there and at least wait out the storm.
This was something. There wasn't anyone talking about rain or any kind of bad weather before I left. Now here I was looking for something to crawl under.
I pulled up to the station and went in. Thinking I might just have to get back out in a storm I took my rain gear with me. The lady behind the counter asked if I had brought the rain with me. I got a coke and assured her that I wasn't to blame.
After a few minutes it looked like the storm was headed away from me so I headed back out. I caught Hwy. 412 and continued East. My though was to run over to Carrol County and maybe get some pictures of the Dam and Lake. Down almost to the first turn off to Huntsville I came upon a couple of bikes and pulled up beside them. They were up from Dallas, on the road since early morning, heading on over to Branson. We visited a little and they were ready to get on the road again. They were afraid of getting caught in a shower. I rode along with them for a few miles to the turnoff to Eureka Springs.
After I left 412 I noticed lots of vehicles pulling boats. I thought this odd for a Saturday afternoon on a Holiday weekend. Usually you cant blast people off the lake in weather like this.I finally got to talk to a couple of them and from what they told me I was fixing to get wet. Apparently the storm was coming down in front of me. Thinking about it. While I don't really mind riding in the rain if I have to, I try not to start out in it. So I headed back in the direction of the house. I ended up running the back roads through the little communities of Old Alabam and Alabam and Clifty. From Clifty I ran over and caught Hwy. 412 again and on up to a little cut across called Blue Springs Road that took me across the lake and on to Hwy. 45. Just about a half mile from the house.
Thinking about the time of day I decided to go up to the Gas station where I'd started this ride and hit their little Grill and get a burger.
As I pulled in I noticed that the same locals that were there earlier were still in place. One of them commented to me that "that didn't take long" and asked if I got rained out. As we were discussing the storm that seemed to be following me the sky opened up and poured. I had just barely made it in. The wind picked up and started blowing rain sideways. Everyone started inside and I grabbed my camera and jacket and joined them.
I ended up eating my burger and waiting for almost an hour for the storm to pass enough
that I didn't have to suit up to get the half mile on up to the house.
It was a real short ride, onl;y about 80 miles, that didn't go anywhere. It didn't even go anywhere near the way I had planned. But, it was fun.
I've had worse Holiday weekends. Tomorrow I'm going to try another short ride around the home area and see how far I get.
Catch ya on the road

mail: bikin_ridin@yahoo.com