Backyard Ridin

Today I didn't have anything going on and decided to run the local back roads around home. I find it help full to keep up with the road conditions locally. Anyway, I took off around 9 am just puttin around.
About half way into my ride brought me back to an intersection in the middle of the town I live in. Since it was getting close to lunch I drifted up to a local gas station that has a decent cafe and ordered a burger. After giving my order to the girls at the cafe I wandered back outside to sit at the picnic table while I waited. Most of the morning it had been very hot and muggy feeling, like it was going to rain and just as I sat down it did. Man! It opened up and poured. Glad I was under the awning.
As I sat there watching the rain a big Yamaha cruiser pulled in and the rider looked very relieved to be out of the rain. Also, at this time two young guys walked out of the store and began talking to the Cruiser rider. After a few minutes of listening to them talk I noticed two sport bikes parked next to the building in the rain. Their conversation centered on the riding they had been doing and how bad it had been. I learned that the Cruiser rider had just left his home and had ridden a total of eight miles before he was forced off the road by the rain. The two sport bike riders had about 20 miles in when they noticed the sky getting dark and headed for cover. Absent mindedly I checked my trip meter and my total for the morning was 126 miles.
The conversation finally drifted my way with one of the sport riders asking what kind of bike I had. I told them all about my antique and one asked if it was a bobber as it looked like something was missing. I explained that compared to when it was new a lot was missing. That I striped off everything I didn't like. So, I guess you could call it a bobber. At hearing this the other sport rider began to show some interest and started asking questions. As we were talking one of them noticed my mileage and asked how long it had taken me to put 126 miles on it. When I told him a couples of hours or so this morning they both acted like they were hard of hearing and said "huh"? About this time, Mary, one of the girls from the cafe brought out my burger and started telling them how I always ride and junk like that. They were kind of caught short so to speak and said that they didn't ride much, just around town and that 20 or thirty miles was a big trip to them. I told them that I understood. Life sometimes gets in the way and you do what you gotta do.
Both of the sport riders were seriously giving thought to our conversation and looking over my bike and the big Yamaha as well as their own. They seemed to have a question on their minds but suddenly changed gears and went back to chatting about bikes in general.
I finished my lunch and offered to let Mary kick start my bike. She grinned and passed. The cruiser said you have a kick starter? Pointing it out I offered to let him start it. Mary started giggling and he got red faced and I guess thought better of the idea saying no. All three said that they had no experience with anything other than late models. None with a kick starter.
I couldn't resist and flipped out the pedal and kicked it to life. I let it idle a few minutes and switched off. About this time we all agreed on a couple of things. It was time to go and electric starters were sooo much easier.
All in all it was a good day totaling 207 miles. It's funny what you can get into just puttin around your on Back yard.

Proud Member Of the 365 Group
(i rode mine today)

First trip of the year

Proud member of the 365 group

(I rode mine today)

I took my first trip of this year this past week. I had a doctors appointment in a couple of nearby towns so I combined them and made one three day trip.

The weather was perfect for riding, although I didn't see any other bikes on the road. Lightly cool when I started out and turned to down right warm as the days wore on.

My first stop was Harrison. About 80 miles down hwy 412. Over the last couple of years this stretch of road had been under construction and was slow in places. Now it's mostly back to normal and I made good time. (About an hour and a half.) While I was in Harrison I met some people that said they were riders and had a lot of questions about Bikes, Blues & Bar B Que. I tend to get that alot. People all over seem to be interested in B,B&BBQ. I have developed a standard answer for them when they ask about the different attractions. I tell them, "You need to come and see". B,B&BBQ has steadily gotten bigger each year in all areas from food to manufacturers and is worth getting out to see.

After my Doctor visit in Harrison I pulled out for Conway down hwy 65 and just got lost in the ride. Hwy 65 is kind of fast paced like it wants to grow up and be an interstate or something. Lots of traffic and not too much road work going on. It was a nice ride and I made good time for just taking my time. I managed to get through with the Doctor by about 2pm and went out to grab something to eat a Sonic. Now a sonic drive in on a motorcycle is a sure fire grin producer. The girl that brought my burger out said that I was the first bike she had ever waited on. While I was munching my burger a group of younger local guys drove by slowly and finally circled and started asking questions about my "Dodge". All of them said that they owned bikes, mostly Harley's and although I didn't ask, had reasons why they weren't riding. One of the main questions I hear about my bike is "how old is it"? When I tell folks that it's 31 years old they kind of take another look at it. Usually that is followed by "you rode that all that way"? Then usually all kinds of questions about wasn't I worried break downs and how does it run. Most people now a days only know of the newer sport bikes and the chopper type V twins. Most are younger and weren't around when this model was the sport bike of the day. It does tickle me to see their reactions when they see an old 70's bobber style beater that's still running strong.

I pulled out of Conway and headed back up 65 in a lazy fashion. The evening was warm and I was headed over to my place in Deer to spend the night. Everything felt good as I buzzed up the road. The rest of my trip over to Deer was the kind of ride you always hope for. Just a comfortable uneventful ride. This is the perfect time of year to be getting out and taking trips, long or short. I highly recommend it.

All total I got in almost 400 miles and had a blast.

Hope to see ya on the road.