7/4/09 Fourth of July

365 Group (f)


Today is the Fourth of July.
I had a couple of rides to pick from today. People that I know were going on a poker run for someone and there was a ride over into Oklahoma. I didn't have too much info on the poker run other than where it was talking off from. The ride over to Oklahoma sounded good till I talked with a few of the people going. Rain was in the forecast and they were about to back out. Before I knew it the day was wasted from waiting around on someone to let me know if we were going anywhere. Finally with no definite plans I headed out toward Fayetteville and a late lunch. One of those days that things didn't really start happening till dark anyway, I figured to just ride around till almost dark and then head on over to the lake for the Fireworks display. I had gotten a new Camera and was looking forward to taking some pictures of the fireworks.
Lunch was at a little out of the way burger joint. The locals were holding court and it was quite a comfortable place to just sit and eat and listen. After my lunch I topped off my tank and started out to go over and hit the East side of Springdale and the lake area. Traffic in town was a real Zoo! People seemed to be out in droves. Most were dragging a boat around like they were heading toward the lake. From what I could see, everyone was just running around town pulling their boat. Once I got on the highway' I didn't see anyone with a boat. Funny how a holiday effects people.
I hit a few of the lake areas and landings. A few people were sort of camped out. It wasn't anything like last year. Leaving the Blue Springs launch area I decided to run on down to Huntsville and then over to Withrow Springs Park and see if they had anything going on. The ride over was a nice one. I didn't even see a Trooper. That has got to mean something... The Ranger at the Park kind of hinted that there wasn't anything of a planned nature going on. There did seem to be several campers in the area. I figure that maybe they had some kind of rules against fireworks in the park. I headed out and started back towards home.
Back at the house, I got word that some of our local Churches had some things planned for kids in the area. I made a quick pass hoping to maybe get a shot or two of the kids?
Pulling into town I didn't see anything going on anywhere. Guess it was a little too warm and sticky for people to be out and be comfortable. I hit the local hangouts and had a coke and listened to the locals for a little while. After an hour or so I headed back to the house.
Finally it started getting dark and the "war" started. I rode around town for a little while and took a few shots of the fireworks. Finally I headed down to the lake to try and get shots of the really big displays. It was literally like a combat zone for about two hours with different groups trying to out do each other. I filled up all my memory sticks and about midnight or so kicked off for the house. I took the long way around the lake and watched the straggling fireworks, making a nice ride home.
Catch ya on the road