SFO Report from cub reporter.

[SMC]

Michelle, this mainly is for you as I know that you couldn't get the time off to enjoy the fruits of your labors...life just isn't fair sometimes. Anyhow, everyone that was supposed to be here has made it safely, not like last year where some participants never made it due to an accident.

As usual we have gathered for dinner @ Colters and have been swapping war stories and tall tales.

Todays ride was led by Tony O. and was quite a spirited pace, but this year no lost lady has jumped out at us from the forest causing an accident with two of our riders going down as last year's October gathering.

Following Tony O. is an adventure for a "novice" like me as Tony knows these roads like the back of his hand and he is a very accomplished, saavy, experienced rider that can set a pace that is smoking. Due to this spirited pace I'm glad to say most of us have very little to no chicken strips and no on went for a ride in the trees or had an off road adventure. I'm chagrined to say not only is Tony fast and smoothe, but he also has his wonderful wife Francis on the back....and he can still leave me in his dust wondering where he went...like I said life is not fair and never will be, but it was interesting trying to keep up with the man.

Looking forward to another mass and raucious dinner tonight with a guest appearance by the "Bounce" man; Mark.

 

[fjrchik]

Thanks for the update Scott!! Hope everyone is having a good time! Its raining some here, so not a horrible day to be stuck here at the office.

ummm, what happened to Bounce? He was supposed to be there last night. Did he not arrive yesterday?

 

[odot]

Too bad you couldn't go, chik....at least you'll be there in "spirits". Enjoy the soco tonight.

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Sorry i didn't make it this year, As i got caught up working...

I am very glad that everyone has had a safe trip! Last year was a bummer with Ron crashing, But thankfully he made a full recovery and has a new 07 FJR!

Hey Tim, Did you bring some of that wonderful single malt scotch this time? :dribble: I had a blast last year and it really sucks that i had to choose work over play.

Keep the rubber side down and i expect to see the full ride reports with pictures from many of you!

Adam

 

[donroger1]

Thanks for the update Scott!! Hope everyone is having a good time! Its raining some here, so not a horrible day to be stuck here at the office.
ummm, what happened to Bounce? He was supposed to be there last night. Did he not arrive yesterday?

:thumbsupsmiley: Great Weekend! Scott is a hoot!

Mark got there late Friday evening. Apparently his "in room alarm clock" was set wrong.

It was KSU at 8:30 Saturday and we pulled out of the Exxon next door at exactly 8:30.

Mark got up and out at "7:30" and seemed to miss everyone.

Had a great ride and Mark was patiently waiting our return with adult beverages, dinner plans and the evening drawing.

Tony led a small group south today toward Hot Springs (Glenwood) to check on their new "River Cabin". Sweeeeet!!!

Al then led the remaining riders to the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge for lunch. Afterwards, they looped back to Royal for the night.

I stayed on OK Hwy 1 to Talihena and then south thru Honobia and on to US259 and Broken Bow.

Great fun! Headed the rest of the way home tomorrow.

OK 144 south of Honobia is about 8 miles of "dual-sport". HA!

The first eighteen vehicles I met leaving Honobia were ATVs. Seemed like Arkansas all over again.

Life is Good. SFO still rocks......

 

[fjrchik]

very cool! glad you had a good time Don!!

 

[dcarver]

I've said it before, and will say it again..

I'm thinking I'd rather attend all the small events, around the country, than the beg mutha of all events.

If not for just seeing more country...

and having a chance to really meet and talk with fellow feejer pilots that the smaller events seem to allow.

 

[Bounce]

Checking in quickly to let everyone know I made it home safely.

I got called in and had to go to the office for a bit, so got a late start Friday. Arrived around 6:30pm (that's a whole story by itself).

Everyone had a great time and it was lots of fun meeting old friends and making new ones.

Friday, we were joined around the pool, and at dinner, by some Brits on holiday... one of them is an Official Knight but we couldn't get him to say, "Ni!"

Those who stayed away because they were afraid to get wet sure missed a great weekend. It almost sprinkled once Saturday evening after everyone was back and before we went to dinner.

A big thanks to Tony and our other sponsors!

A HUMONGOUS thank you to everyone who attended and who make the SFO rallies so much fun. "Passing the Hat" was again a much appreciated consideration.

 

[Heber Guy]

Alive and well in Royal, AR. Scott and Jeff <SMC and DBX> are still asleep, Renee is off to teach school and you know what I am doing. After we left Don in Oklahoma we headed back to AR And I was leading at a pace Renee thought much to reasonable and took the lead. Perhaps to much sugar at lunch or to much testosterone in her wheaties in the morning but she had us dragging toes or pegs on the way home. The first time I have ever seen one of her tires graining and completly void of any chicken strips at the end of a ride. The little FZ6 called "Blue" ran her heart out. I was really happy she was not on her R1. We watched Alaska motorcycle pictures and had beer, slaw, beans and brisket for dinner while watching the hated Bears beat the much beloved Packers and at the same time enjoying the view of lake Hamilton from Renee's windows.

SFO was a small but personal gathering were everyone met and talked to each person with the prime reason for the gathering being to RIDE and ride we did. Heck we even had British Royalty with us for dinner. Top that guys.

Thanks all for a fabulous weekend and we are looking forward to more.

Time to get the boys up and some coffee made.

Life is sweet.

Al

aka Heber Guy

PS Tony and Frances home on the Caddo river is Gorgeous!

 

[SMC]

:blink: Hello Everyone,

Made it home safely with not a drop of rain making any guest appearances of any kind. For that matter it didn't rain on us at all during the whole event.

On Saturday's ride the most percipitation we encountered was driving through about a mile and half of fog and then it seems as though there was about twelve splatters of moisture on the face shield before that was just a memory.

I enjoyed the heck out of everyone's company and good cheer.

Hat's off to Michelle and Mark for all their hard work that culminated in a great time for those intrepid souls who showed up. This years gathering was a much more intimate group with about 18-20 of us getting together for some great riding, meals, photo ops, tall tales, and poolside antics.

Don Roger, Randy, Kiley, Jeff, Jim, Francis, Tony, Al, Renee, etc., etc., you are all stupendous, funny, considerate and a blast to be with.

Thanks are also in order to Tony and Francis O. who were kind enough to be tour guides and leaders of the pack setting a pace that by my standards was cause for an constant stream of adrenaline dumps. I'm just glad we didn't have any meetings with the local constablary and no performance awards were received on those tire shredding runs.

Tony and Francis, congratulations on the wonderful "river cabin" you have under construction...you folks deserve the best.

Not to be out done was the pace on the second's day ride set by our very own Al "Heber Guy", and his better half Renee. Let me inform everyone that Tony has a female equal in Renee.

Gentlemen, this lady can ride and make all of you including me (I can't tell you how many times I was eating humble pie this weekend) eat her dust. She took the lead in the later part of the day and was continually leaving us behind wondering how and if we were going to keep her in sight, let alone catch up with her. This lady has no chicken strips on her tires. Al, you are without a doubt thee luckiest guy I know, to have the company, devotion and affections of a wonderful, intelligent, lady who by the way happens to be a teacher, ex-commercial pilot, female "Rossi" of the group and dynamite cook. Yikes, that can be an intimidating situation to keep up with.

Thanks again Al and Renee for your hospitality in entertaining me and Jeff at your palatial digs. Sorry about ratling the timbers with my sonorious dronings.

And just to keep me honest, yes I was stopped by one of Arkansas finest gendarmes at the AR. 7 and I-30 interchange for exceeding the speed limit by an embarrassing amount. You guys and gals set such a blistering pace over the weekend I was just trying to do you proud in my new found "attack mode".

In my defense, it went from a 60 mph, to a 45mph to a 35 mph speed limit in the drop of a hat...and I wasn't doing 60 in the 60 mph speed limit either.

But once again, God does smile down upon this idiot with regularity, and due to my contritness, apologetic demeanor, clean record, good guy CHL license, the officer let me off with a warning even though he stated he shouldn't and was a "rider" himself. Thank you LORD and thank you officer!

I'm looking forward to next years gathering and I need to know now if I should be bidding another October vacation or April vacation so I can enjoy the company of all you good people again!

Scott

 

[fjrchik]

Oh wow did u get lucky!! good job on gettin outta that one!

Bounce and I will be having a wrap up meeting this weekend. The Spring Thing will be back for sure and since its seems to be our bigger event, I'd ask off for that one Scott. We'll post up new info once we hammer out the plans!

 

[dbx]

I second all of the kind words toward Bounce & Michelle for organizing another great riding event, Tony & Frances for taking yet another leadership role in planning and leading the ride routes, and of course Renee and Al for the outstanding hospitality! (I'm so sorry about the spill!) Rather than name everyone who attended, let me just say that everyone contributed to another good time this year, so thanks everyone! Scott, you're a hoot, thanks for the good conversations.

Al, your directions for getting out of town worked perfectly. No wrong turns, no concerns.

I made it home at 4:30 today. Trip stats below.

Total miles for the weekend: 1324

Total miles to get home today: 436

Total miles in the rain today: ~110

Total fuel used: 27.54 gals

Average fuel cost: $2.61/gal

Average fill-up: 3.93 gals

Performance awards/warnings: 0

Bears seen on the way home: 1 (on Hwy 309 coming down north side of Mt. Magazine)

See y'all next time!

dbx

 

[Luke]

As all the postings above agree, it was a great weekend to be in AR with your FJR friends! Great company and roads. Kay and I really enjoyed ourselves. Meeting all of you again was wonderful. I love to ride the mtns with like-minded riders.

A big THANK-YOU to Michelle and Mark for their organizational efforts. And a big THANK-YOU for all our sponsors. And THANKS Tony O. for your sponsorship and participation in such a FUN weekend event. :clapping:

 

[Heber Guy]

Glad everone is home safe.

Eagerly waiting for Spring.

Al and Renee

 

[dln2477]

Hey everyone, I wanted to let everyone know what a good time Carolyn and I had this past weekend . What a great bunch of crazy "GO FAST" guys and gals!! Everyone was really nice to us on our first time (rookies). I hope we didn't slow down the super fast pace after all we were pulling a trailer (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!! lol ) Anyway we headed back to Texas thru Mena ARK. up the mountain to QueenWillamena Park it was beautiful up there until I happen to look at my rear tire to find a spot about three inches long of cord showing. I freaked out because I don't know how long it was like this!! We rode real slow down to the first town and checked it again and it looked about the same I called Tony to see if he knew of a dealer close by, he gave me a few options and I called my brother and told him to be "on call". WE rode another 35 miles at about 50-55 mph and checked it at each stop. We rode in the rain which helped to cool the rear tire all the way home !! The last time I checked it there was now three spots showing cords!! Carolyn prayed all the way home I think it worked!! Try riding 375 miles with a death grip on the bars , I had to pry my fingers off of the bars every time we stopped! Again thanks every body for a great time hope to see you guys again! Derrell 'Stormin Norman",

 

[Heber Guy]

Scott,

I was just having a hormonal moment exacerbated by the fact I needed to pee pee.

Tony you still have the big cojones and I will be learning from you for years to come unless they put to much testosterone in my daily fix.

Thanks to all the Electricians who attended to and brought forth light from from the rear of Blue.

Great to see everyone again and meeting all the new faces was a PLEASURE. Hope to see everyone next year.

Renee h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r: h34r:

 

[beardo]

Well, as everyone else has said... SFO Fall Freakout turned out GREAT!!! It got a little warm in the afternoons, but we didn't have any rain. Lots of thanks to Mark and Michelle for all of the efforts in putting togther this event... Tony and Frances for their generosity with all of the door prizes and leading the rides... and of course Al and Renee for leading the rides as well as putting some life in the party with their high energy personalities.

For all that I met and visited with... you're all GREAT... I had a great time!!!

Well, I made it home on Sunday afternoon after riding through a heck of a rain storm Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. My rear Avon Storm needs replaced after only 3500 miles... however over 2000 miles was on AR roads that I rode over the course of several days that week. That probably describes the short life on that rear tire. Then there's the front tire... I should probably replace it as well since it got bit by this ferocious dog!!!

Yeah, I'll let another fellow rider (you know who you are!!!) who had the pleasure meeting this nice doggy fill you in on his experience!!!!

Well, I'm already looking forward to riding and swapping stories again next year with all of you!!!

BeardO

 

[donroger1]

+1 to everything already said.

Had a really great time. Even though it was my second SFO event, it was my first time riding with the group.

This crowd covers ground quickly!

After viewing Tony and Francis' river chalet, (stunningly beautiful) had a great ride to Queen Wilhelmina Lodge for buffet.

Lunch crowd (minus me!)

Al, Jeff, Renee and Scott

After parting with the Group at US259 and OK 1, I got back on Talimena and headed west. Finally found rain. :eh-smiley:

Turned south at Talihena and found the Indian Hwy.

I had already planned to take OK 144 south to hook up with US 259 to Broken Bow.

Not far south on Honobia, OK 144 turned to a dual sport road. (under serious repair)

This was the smooth part.

Got to Broken Bow about 2:30 and spent the afternoon with some Grandkids.

Left Broken Bow at 9:00 this morning and wandered around the Red River to get home.

Finally found Carpenter's Bluff bridge. (east of Denison on Hwy 120)

Home at 2:30 this afternoon with 1198 miles for the weekend.

Thanks to Mark and Michelle for setting this up and Thanks to Tony & Francis and Al & Renee for the rides!!!

 

[phil]

I'D LIKE TO ADD MY THANKS, AS PROBABLY THE NEWEST MEMBER. THE ROUTE SELECTION COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER, AND I'M GLAD I WAS IN THE BACK HALF OF THE PACK, AS WE SELDOM SAW ANY TAILLIGHTS OF THE FRONT-RUNNERS. I DIDN'T GET BACK TO RUSSELLVILLE SATURDAY, BUT WANTED TO THANK BOUNCE FOR PUTTING THIS NEWBIE ONTO THE RIDE ONE DAY BEFORE (I ARRIVED JUST AS EVERYONE WAS LEAVING HOTEL).

HAVE RIDDEN A HUNDRED BIKES, BUT NEVER ONE WITH RADIAL TIRES BEFORE THIS MONTH (dirt and cruiser rider). FINALLY I UNDERSTAND WHAT ALL THE EXCITEMENT IS ABOUT! DIDN'T KNOW WHAT A CHICKEN STRIP WAS, BUT WITH 800 MILES ON MY NEW UNIT, IT IS DOWN TO 3/8" NOW. CHEERS!

Oklahoma Phil