A RIDE IN THE MOUNTAINS 4-15-09

Wednesday, 4-15-09, Russ & I rode up to the Wichita Mountains, just North of Lawton Oklahoma, to meet up with Keith & Wizard who rode down from Tulsa Oklahoma. Scroll down and join us on today's ride and REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE BIGGER, JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE.







Before we could head up to Oklahoma, I had to stop by Eddie Hill's Fun Cycles and pick up Ms. Clone. I had dropped her off Tuesday for a new rear tire & oil change as I am heading out on Monday 4-20-09 for Tucson Az and I plan on going non-stop again this year. I go non-stop because last year a former co-worker & young (30's) biker told Janice I was too old and on the wrong kind of motorcycle to go solo all the way. So, I do it for all us old farts. And the youngster has yet to get on his Harley and drive non-stop 18 hours. So, mark one up for us old farts. ANYWAY, here is Ms. Clone ready and waiting for me.




Another view of Ms. Clone. Even as nasty dirty as she is, she still looks clean to me. For more on Eddie Hill's Fun Cycles, see this link: http://www.eddiehillsfuncycles.com/. I have had Ms. Clone just over a year and am rolling up on 21,000 miles. It's easy to do when ya sell your car to buy a bike.

Russ & I head North for the 1 1/2 hr ride to the Wichita Mountains. Keith & Wizard had a 3 hour ride to the mountains from Tulsa Oklahoma. Here is Russ rolling North on I-44 as we close in on Lawton/Ft. Sill Oklahoma

Russ was jammin' to his music as we rode along. He likes to play the air drums on his Harley, and his wife, Linda, doesn't appreciate him doing it when she is aboard..

Here is my good friend Russ showing me the love with the ol' Numba one G.I. salute. Kids, don't salute your parents at home this way. They might misinterpret your thought process. Trust me..Don't do it..

The Wichita Mountains come into view. We were maybe, 25 miles away at this point.

We get up to "Chaps My Ass", a motorcycle apparel & accessory shop in Medicine Park Oklahoma and meet Keith & Wizard. Keith's bike is the 09 Harley Ultra Classic and Wizard's is the 05 Honda 1300 VTX. We had to laugh because Russ was on his Harley & I was on a clone, an 08 Kawasaki Vulcan and Keith was on his Harley & Wizard was on a clone. So, who was escorting who? (grin)

Wizard had put a Harley light setup on his bike, as well as a lot of chrome and little goodies..

Keith on his bike and Wizard fixin' to get on his..Russ was hungry and we left Chaps My Ass for lunch at Meer's. For more on Chaps My Ass, see this link: http://www.chapsmyass.com/. Once again, I have to apologize to Janelle for not getting any inside pics or pics of her. She is our favorite sales person there at Chaps My Ass.

We headed out through Medicine Park on our way to the Meers Restaurant. This is Wizard, already into one of the curves and Keith directly in front of me. Russ was leading the way..

We head North on one of the highways to go in the front way to Meers. Russ up front, followed by Wizard, then Keith and me at the rear taking pics

I mention that I take better pictures rolling at 70 mph, one handed, on the bike than I do standing still. Here's proof. We were rolling along at about 65-70 mph and I took this pic of the mountain on the other side of the lake. Look at the signs in the camping area. You can actually read them. Some of the pics I took at the restaurant were blurred and we were either sitting down or out front..Of course, Wizard says Keith takes pictures with both hands while rolling. I will have to try that sometime...

Russ up front, followed by Wizard, Keith & then me

Same lineup as we get close to our turn onto the road that will take us to the front door of Meers

We get to Meers & park the bikes. From left to right: Ms. Clone (my bike), Keith's Harley, Russ's Harley, Wizard's VTX. Russ's nickname for his Harley is "The Black Knight"

Inside Meers Restaurant. This place has been here forever and is best known for the Meersburger, a hamburger made from Longhorn beef and served in a pie pan. At the table: Keith (in the plaid shirt), Russ in the vest and Wizard in the chaps

Do I stop taking pics while inside talking? Nope..Never gonna happen.. Here is Wizard. He is a lot of fun and I enjoyed meeting him today

Here is Russ after one iced tea too many.. Russ said that one day, they are gonna find me laying somewhere with my camera stuck up in a darkened "aperture". I think he may be right, but it will be some great pictures of them trying...(grin)

Here is Keith as we wait for our burgers & fries. He was very patient with me & the camera...Thanks Keith for humoring me and not trying to play stick John's camera in a body recess... I think Russ would've held me down...Right Russ?

Keith & Russ at the checkout counter. Keith bought my lunch and he also gave me a T-shirt from Route 66 Harley-Davidson in Tulsa Oklahoma. I am getting Keith a Harley shirt from Tucson Harley Davidson and one from Motor City Harley Davidson when I go up to Michigan in May after I return from Tucson and rest the butt for a few days. And yes, I am going to attempt the ride to Michigan (Detroit area) non-stop. Tucson is 950 miles from here and Michigan (my brother, Bob's house) is like 1450 miles or so..

Here is Wizard at the checkout. And according to patch next to his VTX patch, he knows a man who knows Jack Shit...Remember to click on the pic to enlarge it, then ya can read his patches.

As we exit the Meers Restaurant, we look down at Keith & the bikes parked by the entrance of Mountain Creek. I think there is a restaurant there, but in the 33 years that I have been going to Meers, I have never seen that gate open...

Here are Russ, Wizard & Keith out front of the Meers Restaurant. This is one of those standing still, slightly blurred pics I was telling ya'll about.

This is me, Keith & Wizard in front of Meers. For more info on Meers, check this link: http://www.meersstore.com/

Keith, Russ & Wizard by the bikes at Meers Oklahoma

Keith, Me & Wizard at Meers Oklahoma...

Wizard's bike with the chrome work

Wizard's bike. I really like his helmet...

A view down the line as Keith gets ready to head out.

Wizard had added this skull tail light. He told me that he has two smaller skull turn signals that he will be adding.

Keith getting ready to saddle up. Keith added the horn and then painted it red, white & blue. He bought the Harley and is going to make it a tribute bike to fighter pilots in honor of his Dad, who was a full bird Colonel and a squadron commander while stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls Texas.

Keith's instrument panel & gas tank with the military flashlight mounted.

We leave Meers and head for the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. This is Russ in the lead, followed by Keith and Wizard

Same line up, same destination

Same line up

On the Wildlife refuge. For more info on the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, see this link: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/oklahoma/wichitamountains/ . On the Wildlife Refuge, buffalo & Texas Longhorn cattle roam freely and there are no fences. So we have to be careful and vigilant as we go around the curves and up & down thru the dips in the road. There are also numerous other good sized critters freely roaming about along with the usual rabbits, snakes, skunks & coyotes..

Wizard on his bike, Keith taking pictures and Russ on the end as we make a brief stop at The Holy City. They hold an Easter Pageant Play there every year. For more info, see this link: http://www.theholycitylawton.com/

Keith puts his camera up and Russ waits for me to put my camera up so we can head to the Visitors Center

As we headed to the visitor center, we saw these buffalo grazing by the shoulder of the road. So, naturally, we stopped. Here is Wizard and the small herd behind him.

Russ & Keith wait while I do the picture thing

Here is half of the small herd. Some were ignoring us, some grazing, some laying around and a couple of the big bulls were eyeballing us.

Here is the other half... The Texas Longhorn's, a fairly large herd, were behind me about 1/4 mile grazing on their home on the range.

Wizard, back on his bike, looking at the buffalo

Keith looking at the buffalo and from the way Russ is grinning, leads me to believe that he just made a bet with Keith on how much longer the buffalo would put up with the picture guy before they charged... I got back on the bike and we left before the buffalo got the chance..

Here is Wizard behind me. This small section of the refuge did have a fence on one side of the road for a hundred yards or so...

Russ in the lead and Keith as we continue to the center

We get to the Visitor Center and this is the marker at the entrance.

We went inside to look around. Unfortunately, by the time I got finished getting rid of some liquid waste, the guys were ready to go and I only got two pics inside, one of this buffalo and....

one of this buffalo. They also had a movie theater inside that showed a movie of the history of The Wildlife Refuge.

As we get to the bikes to head out for Mount Scott, I get a pic of the Colonel Eagles and Command Pilot wings on Keith's Windshield

Keith at The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center parking lot.

Wizard had taken off his chaps, rolled them up and stuck them between his handlebars and windshield. Then he flipped that skull around and it pressed down on the chaps keeping them in place. Pretty cool idea...

We leave the Visitor Center and head to Mt Scott. Russ in the lead, followed by Keith, Wizard and me bringin' up the rear..

Same line-up, same destination

Keith didn't want to take his new bike up Mt Scott, so he waiting down at the base while we went up. This was Wizard's first time up. Here he is as we start up

Still climbing

Russ pulled over at one of the scenic overlooks and Wizard told me as I was taking his picture, that this was as close as he has ever been to the Lord. I told him that was great but we still weren't to the top yet...

Russ at the scenic pull over.

We talked Wizard into climbing up on one of the boulders. Russ got on another boulder and took Wizard's picture. I use to mountain goat all over these rocks, but have since become disabled and can't do it anymore..

We get to the summit of Mt Scott and Wizard gets up on the scenic Lookout. The wind was blowing in excess of 35 mph today...

The wind may have been blowing harder than that because we had to lean into the wind and hold the railing to keep from being blown around

Wizard & Russ at Lookout Point, Mt. Scott summit.

Wizard looking out over Lake Lawtonka

The bikes on the summit of Mt. Scott. For more on Mt. Scott, see this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Scott_(Oklahoma)

What goes up, has got to come down. We start back down Mt. Scott

Still heading down to the base of Mt. Scott

We catch up with a van that had a little blue car in front of it. The car was going extremely slow and would darn near stop before going around a curve. So, from 1/2 way down the mountain to the base, we were stuck at 10-15 mph behind the van...

Ever so slow was our descent... the wind had picked up considerably while we were up on Mt. Scott. Keith pulled the weather up and the wind was now blowing at 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. I think the wind was coming out of the Southwest.

After getting to the bottom of Mt. Scott, it was around 5 pm. We all headed for the Love's Gas Station by I-44 to gas up. From there Russ & I would head south on I-44 back to Texas while Keith & Wizard would head North on I-44 back to Tulsa. Here is Wizard rolling along to the gas station.

Here is Keith rolling down the highway

Russ continuing Eastbound..

Another view of Keith on his Harley. He sure is happy with that bike...

Another view of Wizard. Next time I see him, he should have his new lights hooked up and his saddlebags mounted

Keith and Russ talk as we gas up..

The bikes at the gas pumps.. We said our goodbyes and ride safe's here and went our separate ways..

Since Russ asked me not to put all 112 pictures on the post, I condensed the ending a little bit. We took I-44 to US 281/277 to bypass the toll on I-44. We then went to Okla 5, where we went South. Here we are approaching the I-44 overpass.

We get back on I-44 at US 70 and head home. Here we are crossing the Red River. It divides Texas from Oklahoma.

Another view of the famous Red River.

Oklahoma is now behind us in our mirrors....

Here is our Welcome to Texas sign at the state line, which means we are home. It's funny but we may live in Wichita Falls, 17 more miles South, but with 99.9% of Texans, when you leave the state and return, no matter where you re-enter at, when you cross that state line and see that sign, then you are home. Then you drive from there to what ever city you live in...

Russ & I get to Southwest Parkway here in Wichita Falls and Russ turns off onto the street that will take him to his house. I continue on. Here is a view Westbound on the Parkway

Here is the view as I turn onto my street and approach my house. The street runs right up into my driveway and you are looking at my white garage door.










This is the Harley T-shirt Keith got me. Front....

and the back. And for all you Harley riders out there: although, having paid my dues by owning several Harleys and I am authorized to wear this T-shirt, I will not wear it until I get my next Harley. I wear my Harley cap that Russ got me when I am in the car, but I don't wear any Harley stuff when I am on the clone.

This will conclude this post. I had a great time today seeing Keith again and meeting Wizard. I enjoyed the ride up & back with Russ and all the riding the four of us did today. Thanks for lunch and the shirt Keith. I look forward to riding with you guys again.

Scroll WAY down for more rides, events & posts and don't forget to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of EACH page for more rides and posts. Check out North Texas Bikers (1) at http://www.jjskewlstuff.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from January 08-November 08. Until next post, ya'll be careful out there, ride safe, keep the rubber on the road & pray for our Troops................JOHN