BullCBX
Well-known member
It figures that anybody who has a massive concrete ear of corn for their avatar would naturally be drawn to the world’s biggest wind chime. Great RR. Keep it coming and be safe.
+3 Sword of Protection
- Thread starter BikerGeek99
- Start date
Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
Saturday, June 28, 2014.
Super-mega-thanks to the ShowMeMo family for hosting us. We deeply appreciate them opening their home to us, a couple of folks they’d met at FJR rallies. You know how it goes – you meet some folks at a rally, and at the end of the rally the whole “Hey – if you’re ever in <insert home town here>, let us know and we’ll meet up with ya!” thing. Well, we let ‘em know, and they stepped up and hosted us. Again – we deeply appreciate it.
When we got up this morning, I checked the radar and there was weather in the area. Greeeeat. Oh, well. When you really ride, you ride in the rain. I was hoping that we’d miss it, so after fiddle-farting around a bit, we said our goodbyes and got on the road.
This covered bridge is at the entrance to their neighborhood. Cool.
We got outta the Kansas City area and headed south into Oklahoma.
As we headed into Oklahoma, the temperatures had risen a bit and the wind picked up. Big time. No – BIG time. It was damned windy and while moderately annoying while on the bike, still manageable. Especially compared to the insane wind we hit in central Montana in 2010. Oy.
After a bio break at a rest area on Interstate 44 – AKA the Will Rogers Turnpike – the skies opened up on us. And I mean epic opening up. Cars were pulled off to the side of the road. Under the occasional underpass, pirates were struggling into their rain gear. Not us. We just kept moving. Quite frankly, that stretch of road offered absolutely no areas to safely pull off anyway. I was somewhat concerned about fuel, however since there were no exits anyway, we just kept moving.
Luckily I didn’t have too much of an issue with my visor fogging up – that always happens to me. It really only got bad just as we were getting to our exit, and the fuel held out long enough so that we rolled into our hotel – the Geek’s Preferred Hotel of Choice, of course – about ten miles into the reserve.
Safely at our hotel, we freshened up a bit (I kinda stank like road spooge after riding in the rain for so long), tucked the FJR in for the night, and called Sooze’s brother who just happens to live about 5 minutes from our hotel.
Sooze’s brother, whom I will call Ross in this ride report because, well, that’s his name, and his wife, whom I will call Gloria in this ride report because, well, that’s her name, came in their cage and picked us up and we were off to dinner.
Ross and Gloria.
Me and Sooze.
We were at an Irish pub / restaurant. I had … Ummm … Well, I don’t remember what this was called (I completely butchered the pronunciation when I ordered it – the waitress laughed at me and openly mocked me) but it was a ‘tater pancaked stuffed with something and covered in sauce. It was stick-to-your-ribs filling and pretty tasty.
Sooze had the kebob.
In case you’re wondering, we were in Tulsa. Really – we were. Where else could we get this picture taken? And Ross was telling us that, since the Tulsa Driller had been re-done, there is a local push called “Bring Back The Bulge.” I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.
Super-mega-thanks to the ShowMeMo family for hosting us. We deeply appreciate them opening their home to us, a couple of folks they’d met at FJR rallies. You know how it goes – you meet some folks at a rally, and at the end of the rally the whole “Hey – if you’re ever in <insert home town here>, let us know and we’ll meet up with ya!” thing. Well, we let ‘em know, and they stepped up and hosted us. Again – we deeply appreciate it.
When we got up this morning, I checked the radar and there was weather in the area. Greeeeat. Oh, well. When you really ride, you ride in the rain. I was hoping that we’d miss it, so after fiddle-farting around a bit, we said our goodbyes and got on the road.
This covered bridge is at the entrance to their neighborhood. Cool.
We got outta the Kansas City area and headed south into Oklahoma.
As we headed into Oklahoma, the temperatures had risen a bit and the wind picked up. Big time. No – BIG time. It was damned windy and while moderately annoying while on the bike, still manageable. Especially compared to the insane wind we hit in central Montana in 2010. Oy.
After a bio break at a rest area on Interstate 44 – AKA the Will Rogers Turnpike – the skies opened up on us. And I mean epic opening up. Cars were pulled off to the side of the road. Under the occasional underpass, pirates were struggling into their rain gear. Not us. We just kept moving. Quite frankly, that stretch of road offered absolutely no areas to safely pull off anyway. I was somewhat concerned about fuel, however since there were no exits anyway, we just kept moving.
Luckily I didn’t have too much of an issue with my visor fogging up – that always happens to me. It really only got bad just as we were getting to our exit, and the fuel held out long enough so that we rolled into our hotel – the Geek’s Preferred Hotel of Choice, of course – about ten miles into the reserve.
Safely at our hotel, we freshened up a bit (I kinda stank like road spooge after riding in the rain for so long), tucked the FJR in for the night, and called Sooze’s brother who just happens to live about 5 minutes from our hotel.
Sooze’s brother, whom I will call Ross in this ride report because, well, that’s his name, and his wife, whom I will call Gloria in this ride report because, well, that’s her name, came in their cage and picked us up and we were off to dinner.
Ross and Gloria.
Me and Sooze.
We were at an Irish pub / restaurant. I had … Ummm … Well, I don’t remember what this was called (I completely butchered the pronunciation when I ordered it – the waitress laughed at me and openly mocked me) but it was a ‘tater pancaked stuffed with something and covered in sauce. It was stick-to-your-ribs filling and pretty tasty.
Sooze had the kebob.
In case you’re wondering, we were in Tulsa. Really – we were. Where else could we get this picture taken? And Ross was telling us that, since the Tulsa Driller had been re-done, there is a local push called “Bring Back The Bulge.” I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
After a quick stop at Casa de Ross and Gloria to say hey to their furr-kids…
We were off to the Comedy Parlor in Tulsa.
By now, you may be asking yourself, “SELF! I know the Geek is kinda odd and all, but what the hell kind of a name for a ride report is ‘+3 Sword of Protection’ anyway?” And that’d be a good question.
While we were at the house, Ross grabbed this.
So he could do this.
Ross is a man of many talents. One of his hobbies is music. The whole thing that spurred this trip was this performance. Sooze and I had never seen him perform and though this night’s performance was as good of an excuse as any to come out.
Oh – and “+3 Sword of Protection?” That is the title of a song that Ross wrote. Yes, Ross is a fellow geek. He sang it that night. One of the lines in the song is, “Got 7 of 9’s autograph at the last convention.” You geeks out there will know what that means. I snort-laughed.
Ross has been working in television for 20+ years and a few of his television friends he has worked with over the years came to the show.
After having been entertained by Ross for an hour, we all went to a pub across the street.
We had a few oat sodas, a LOT of laughs, and deep thoughts into the whole craft beer explosion in the states and how the craft beer scene in Oklahoma, generally speaking, truly sucks.
We then retired to our room and called it a night.
We were off to the Comedy Parlor in Tulsa.
By now, you may be asking yourself, “SELF! I know the Geek is kinda odd and all, but what the hell kind of a name for a ride report is ‘+3 Sword of Protection’ anyway?” And that’d be a good question.
While we were at the house, Ross grabbed this.
So he could do this.
Ross is a man of many talents. One of his hobbies is music. The whole thing that spurred this trip was this performance. Sooze and I had never seen him perform and though this night’s performance was as good of an excuse as any to come out.
Oh – and “+3 Sword of Protection?” That is the title of a song that Ross wrote. Yes, Ross is a fellow geek. He sang it that night. One of the lines in the song is, “Got 7 of 9’s autograph at the last convention.” You geeks out there will know what that means. I snort-laughed.
Ross has been working in television for 20+ years and a few of his television friends he has worked with over the years came to the show.
After having been entertained by Ross for an hour, we all went to a pub across the street.
We had a few oat sodas, a LOT of laughs, and deep thoughts into the whole craft beer explosion in the states and how the craft beer scene in Oklahoma, generally speaking, truly sucks.
We then retired to our room and called it a night.
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
Sunday, June 29, 2014.
After our evening libations, we weren’t exactly up with the sun. We kinda took our time – we had all day to get where we were going anyway, so no real rush.
The cockpit.
Back into Missouri. Or, as my step-grandfather used to called it, Mizzurrah.
About this time, Sooze’s camera was acting up so no more pillion paparazzi pictures for the day, just some crappy iPhone pictures.
The last time we were in Tulsa was in 2009. We rode Route 66 to Chicago on that trip. We found a couple of places on that trip that we really liked. One of them is the Route 66 Rocker that I mentioned earlier. We stopped and were hoping to buy some trash and trinkets in their trash and trinket shop, but it is closed on Sundays. The terrorists are winning.
It is still kind of a neat place nonetheless. Just because when you pull in on a motorcycle – that gravel is kinda nastier than it looks.
Our destination for the evening was Litchfield, IL. To get to Litchfield, we had to go through St. Louis. If I were to say that the traffic through St. Louis absolutely, positively, sucked *** cheese, that would be an understatement. After getting through St. Louis, traffic still sucked. At one point, we got off the slab, gassed up, and lolly-gagged on some kinda pretty back roads for a while. But it was hot and I was done with traffic, so we hoofed it to our hotel in Litchfield. The Geek’s Preferred Hotel of Choice, of course.
This is our third visit to Litchfield. On our first visit – the Route 66 ride in 2009 – we found a place that we absolutely fell in love with. It is the Ariston Café. Family owned and operated since the 1920’s. I love stuff like this.
The food is really good as well. Sooze had their steak.
I had the fried chiggun.
And we split dessert. Holy cow was it delicious!
After our evening libations, we weren’t exactly up with the sun. We kinda took our time – we had all day to get where we were going anyway, so no real rush.
The cockpit.
Back into Missouri. Or, as my step-grandfather used to called it, Mizzurrah.
About this time, Sooze’s camera was acting up so no more pillion paparazzi pictures for the day, just some crappy iPhone pictures.
The last time we were in Tulsa was in 2009. We rode Route 66 to Chicago on that trip. We found a couple of places on that trip that we really liked. One of them is the Route 66 Rocker that I mentioned earlier. We stopped and were hoping to buy some trash and trinkets in their trash and trinket shop, but it is closed on Sundays. The terrorists are winning.
It is still kind of a neat place nonetheless. Just because when you pull in on a motorcycle – that gravel is kinda nastier than it looks.
Our destination for the evening was Litchfield, IL. To get to Litchfield, we had to go through St. Louis. If I were to say that the traffic through St. Louis absolutely, positively, sucked *** cheese, that would be an understatement. After getting through St. Louis, traffic still sucked. At one point, we got off the slab, gassed up, and lolly-gagged on some kinda pretty back roads for a while. But it was hot and I was done with traffic, so we hoofed it to our hotel in Litchfield. The Geek’s Preferred Hotel of Choice, of course.
This is our third visit to Litchfield. On our first visit – the Route 66 ride in 2009 – we found a place that we absolutely fell in love with. It is the Ariston Café. Family owned and operated since the 1920’s. I love stuff like this.
The food is really good as well. Sooze had their steak.
I had the fried chiggun.
And we split dessert. Holy cow was it delicious!
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
D’OH!! One last shot from the Ariston.
And that’s a wrap for Sunday.
Coming next – Monday! And will there be rain in Indianapolis? What do YOU think??
And that’s a wrap for Sunday.
Coming next – Monday! And will there be rain in Indianapolis? What do YOU think??
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
Monday, June 30, 2014.
Time for the slog home.
We’ve made this particular slog home a couple of times, so we know about how long it’ll take, what to expect, etc….
This particular day, though, we were definitely gonna be doing our best to dodge weather that was between where we were and where we were going.
We timed our departure so that we were in between two weather systems. There was really nothing to see most of the time – just your typical boring farm country that is that area of the country. Which is good, because if there had been anything photo-worthy, Sooze’s camera was acting up again and she couldn’t take pictures anyway. First-world problem, right there, eh?
We were gaining on the weather system in front of us, so we pulled off in Casey, IL, once again to get gas and check the radar. Whattaya know – it was DUMPING in Indianapolis! What a surprise! Since we had all day to get home, and I didn’t really fancy riding directly into some REALLY nasty-looking weather (green on the radar is no big deal; yellow and red? That’s a different story.), we decided to fart around a bit on US Route 40 for a bit. That was redundant, wasn’t it?
We decided to stop for a little walk-about in Marshall, IL, a little town on Route 40. There was a nicely-done veterans memorial.
The county offices building.
Note the skies – there was weather in the area.
Honest Abe. Honest!
And they have a Historic National Road Welcome Center. We decided to check it out.
Inside is about what you’d expect, I guess. Lots of stuff about the history of the National Road, primarily in Illinois. These dudes kinda creeped me out, man.
Yep – Route 40 goes right through Columbus.
Time for the slog home.
We’ve made this particular slog home a couple of times, so we know about how long it’ll take, what to expect, etc….
This particular day, though, we were definitely gonna be doing our best to dodge weather that was between where we were and where we were going.
We timed our departure so that we were in between two weather systems. There was really nothing to see most of the time – just your typical boring farm country that is that area of the country. Which is good, because if there had been anything photo-worthy, Sooze’s camera was acting up again and she couldn’t take pictures anyway. First-world problem, right there, eh?
We were gaining on the weather system in front of us, so we pulled off in Casey, IL, once again to get gas and check the radar. Whattaya know – it was DUMPING in Indianapolis! What a surprise! Since we had all day to get home, and I didn’t really fancy riding directly into some REALLY nasty-looking weather (green on the radar is no big deal; yellow and red? That’s a different story.), we decided to fart around a bit on US Route 40 for a bit. That was redundant, wasn’t it?
We decided to stop for a little walk-about in Marshall, IL, a little town on Route 40. There was a nicely-done veterans memorial.
The county offices building.
Note the skies – there was weather in the area.
Honest Abe. Honest!
And they have a Historic National Road Welcome Center. We decided to check it out.
Inside is about what you’d expect, I guess. Lots of stuff about the history of the National Road, primarily in Illinois. These dudes kinda creeped me out, man.
Yep – Route 40 goes right through Columbus.
BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
Finished with the Welcome Center, we needed a bio stop and used the facilities in the county office building. It’s one of those kinda neat old buildings from the 1800’s.
All in all, we were doing to good job fiddle-farting and lollygagging and staying out of the rain in front of us. We were getting kinda hungry, though, and I pulled up a place that Guy Fieri had on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” a joint called Zydeco’s in Mooresville, IN. I keep all the DDD places in my GPS as Points of Interest. Pretty geeky, eh?
Upon arrival, however, they were closed! They’re closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Grrr…. We were bummed, to say the least. Our first DDD place we ever found was a place on Route 66 back in 2009 and we do our best to search out those places whenever we can.
Instead, we found another little shop called Ralph and Ava’s Café.
I had an Italian-ish-sub sammich that was decent enough.
No, I didn’t fart. Sooze just has really good timing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
After that, it was back to the slab for the last leg home. We timed it right so that we did not hit any of that rain – it had all moved through.
So, that’s it. Kinda boring, I know, but that’s what happens when you travel with a time constraint. Total miles for the trip was somewhere around 1900 or so. The bike ran like a top and the only issue I had was the cruise control didn’t work, thanks to the rain in Indy, on the ride Friday from Terre Haute to KC. It magically started working again on Sunday, though, and has been fine since. Prolly got some water up in the control pad is my guess.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
All in all, we were doing to good job fiddle-farting and lollygagging and staying out of the rain in front of us. We were getting kinda hungry, though, and I pulled up a place that Guy Fieri had on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” a joint called Zydeco’s in Mooresville, IN. I keep all the DDD places in my GPS as Points of Interest. Pretty geeky, eh?
Upon arrival, however, they were closed! They’re closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Grrr…. We were bummed, to say the least. Our first DDD place we ever found was a place on Route 66 back in 2009 and we do our best to search out those places whenever we can.
Instead, we found another little shop called Ralph and Ava’s Café.
I had an Italian-ish-sub sammich that was decent enough.
No, I didn’t fart. Sooze just has really good timing. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
After that, it was back to the slab for the last leg home. We timed it right so that we did not hit any of that rain – it had all moved through.
So, that’s it. Kinda boring, I know, but that’s what happens when you travel with a time constraint. Total miles for the trip was somewhere around 1900 or so. The bike ran like a top and the only issue I had was the cruise control didn’t work, thanks to the rain in Indy, on the ride Friday from Terre Haute to KC. It magically started working again on Sunday, though, and has been fine since. Prolly got some water up in the control pad is my guess.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
beemerdons
Certifiable Old Fart
+1, Gunny; a really fantastic Ride Report and exceptional photographs Sooze and Andy, however I do miss seeing Geek fistfight a bookcase though! JSNS!
Redfish Hunter
Gone Fishing
I always look forward to Geek RRs because, well because they are AWESOME! I mean the RRs and the Geeks themselves, they are both awesome. Between The Lovely Miss Sooze's pics and Andy's witty prose, a Geek RR is always worth my time.
I bet sitting off to the side with a drink just listening to the Geek talk would be a wonderfully entertaining experience.
I bet sitting off to the side with a drink just listening to the Geek talk would be a wonderfully entertaining experience.
El Toro Joe
FYYFF
I really liked that riding mower. And there's nothing wrong with a little crop dusting.
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
Nice RR. I thought I was a bit geekish but I had to google '7 of 9'. You Geeks......
TomInPA
Well-known member
Every good road trip deserves one....
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
hppants
Well-known member
Enjoyed reading the R/R.
Give yourself credit - all we need to know is "where did you ride and what did you eat?"
Seems you covered that pretty well.
Give yourself credit - all we need to know is "where did you ride and what did you eat?"
Seems you covered that pretty well.
Last edited by a moderator:
bgross
Recusant Infidel
Redfish Hunter
Gone Fishing
Top_Speed1
Panama Canal Crosser
Great job Andy, a BIG thank you. And Sooze's "steak" deserves the full monte... "Filet Mignon" brotha!
