BikerGeek99
Yeah, it's a concrete corn cob. So?
The Long Way Home
Route 66
As some of you know, there was a FJR owners rally in Eureka Springs, AR, called SFO.
When Susie and I were discussing attending SFO ’09, we decided to take the long way home. A couple of ideas were tossed around. We noticed that Eureka Springs is only about 150 miles from Tulsa, OK. Cool! Susie’s brother just happens to live in Tulsa!
Originally we were thinking we would head south out of Tulsa down to the Gulf, then head east-ish.
When I started looking at the map, though, I saw that Route 66 goes right through Tulsa. Hmmm…. I remembered having a conversation with a couple at a Harley Owner’s Group rally last year who had ridden Route 66. Hmm…. Started doing some research, and a plan was hatched like an amoeba splitting. Or something like that.
Thanks to the Zumo forums, I was able to get the entire route of Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica. Only thing was, the routes I downloaded were westbound and we’re going eastbound.
I discovered something about inverting routes in MapSource – sometimes, in order to hit a waypoint, the damn Zumo will take you in circles. Believe me when I say that’s ANNOYING AS HELL, but it’s doing exactly what it’s been told. So who’s the bigger ***** – the GPS or the GPS programmer?
So enough background. Let’s get this ride rolling!
At SFO, it rained. For 4 days straight. Historically, I haven’t really done much riding in the rain. Now I can say I’ve logged close to 1000 miles riding in rain. It doesn’t really bother me anymore.
We headed out of Eureka Springs and went south to grab the slab to Tulsa. On the way out of town, we took a quick spin through the older part of the town.
It’s a very neat little town.
We rode through the Ozarks, dodging rain.
Eventually we stopped at a choke & puke for some chili.
After about 1200 miles or so, mostly in the rain, the FJR was a dirty girl.
And we made it to our destination state! WOO-HOO!!
And we hopped on the turnpike to heard north to Tulsa. Let me just say that toll booths are a 24-carat PITA on a motorcycle while in full riding gear. Ugh.
Fuel stop.
Tulsa here we come!
After a brief interlude thanks to Dr. Zumo taking us onto the wrong street, we eventually make it to Casa de Ross.
After unloading the bike, and having a couple of wind-down beers, we did some sight-seeing, since this was my first trip to Tulsa.
Let me say that I like Ross. He’s a helluva good guy. He and I are the same age, and we’re both geeks, so he and I get along great!
Ross works at a local TV station. We got the Grand Tour. SCORE!!
After coming into the station via the Super Duper Ultra Top Secret entrance (OK, so it was the employee entrance, AKA the back door), we made it to the foyer. Time for a picture!
He took us onto the news set for show and tell.
BikerGeek, Susie and Ross, on set.
They did the HD transition, so their news broadcasts are in HD. He told us about all the work that goes into that transition – changes to the set to accommodate the wider broadcast formats, updating the backdrops on the set due to the fact that HD is, well, high definition, so blemishes that are not evident on non-HD broadcasts stick out like Bozo the Clown at the Vatican. For a geek like me, it was interesting stuff.
Around the corner from the news set, they have a kitchen set. Cool! Since Susie and I are food geeks (one of our goals is to eat at all of the Iron Chef’s restaurants; so far, we’ve gotten to restaurants owned by Bobby Flay, Morimoto, and Michael Symon), we HAD to have pictures.
In the same room, they had a HUGE green-screen. We decided to pose for a few pictures. We’ll be having some PhotoShop fun with these.
The cute couple.
GODZIRRA!! AAAHHHHH!!!!
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a green wall!
And a picture of the tower.
After the station, we drove around a bit. Saw ‘The Hands’ at O.R.U. O.R.U. has a, uh, interesting campus.
We wound up having dinner at a place called The Brook. Ross had mentioned that their country fried steak was HUGE. By the time we got there, I was seriously jonesing for that country fried steak. He was NOT lying! Holy cow!!
After dinner, we were getting kinda tired, so we retired for the evening in the guest wing at Casa de Ross.
The official mascot at Casa de Ross is Groucho the Kitler. If you’re not familiar with Kitlers, look it up. We only had a brief Groucho sighting, though.
After a fitful rest, we got up the next day, Monday, ready for the beginning of our long way home, on Route 66. We don’t have any hotel reservations for the rest of the trip. We’re just gonna ride, see everything we can see, and stop whenever we decide to. Basically, we have No Plan for the next 5 days – we don’t need to be home until Friday. Sweet!!
Coming up, the Blue Whale, World’s Largest Totem Pole, and MORE!!
Route 66
As some of you know, there was a FJR owners rally in Eureka Springs, AR, called SFO.
When Susie and I were discussing attending SFO ’09, we decided to take the long way home. A couple of ideas were tossed around. We noticed that Eureka Springs is only about 150 miles from Tulsa, OK. Cool! Susie’s brother just happens to live in Tulsa!
Originally we were thinking we would head south out of Tulsa down to the Gulf, then head east-ish.
When I started looking at the map, though, I saw that Route 66 goes right through Tulsa. Hmmm…. I remembered having a conversation with a couple at a Harley Owner’s Group rally last year who had ridden Route 66. Hmm…. Started doing some research, and a plan was hatched like an amoeba splitting. Or something like that.
Thanks to the Zumo forums, I was able to get the entire route of Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica. Only thing was, the routes I downloaded were westbound and we’re going eastbound.
I discovered something about inverting routes in MapSource – sometimes, in order to hit a waypoint, the damn Zumo will take you in circles. Believe me when I say that’s ANNOYING AS HELL, but it’s doing exactly what it’s been told. So who’s the bigger ***** – the GPS or the GPS programmer?
So enough background. Let’s get this ride rolling!
At SFO, it rained. For 4 days straight. Historically, I haven’t really done much riding in the rain. Now I can say I’ve logged close to 1000 miles riding in rain. It doesn’t really bother me anymore.
We headed out of Eureka Springs and went south to grab the slab to Tulsa. On the way out of town, we took a quick spin through the older part of the town.
It’s a very neat little town.
We rode through the Ozarks, dodging rain.
Eventually we stopped at a choke & puke for some chili.
After about 1200 miles or so, mostly in the rain, the FJR was a dirty girl.
And we made it to our destination state! WOO-HOO!!
And we hopped on the turnpike to heard north to Tulsa. Let me just say that toll booths are a 24-carat PITA on a motorcycle while in full riding gear. Ugh.
Fuel stop.
Tulsa here we come!
After a brief interlude thanks to Dr. Zumo taking us onto the wrong street, we eventually make it to Casa de Ross.
After unloading the bike, and having a couple of wind-down beers, we did some sight-seeing, since this was my first trip to Tulsa.
Let me say that I like Ross. He’s a helluva good guy. He and I are the same age, and we’re both geeks, so he and I get along great!
Ross works at a local TV station. We got the Grand Tour. SCORE!!
After coming into the station via the Super Duper Ultra Top Secret entrance (OK, so it was the employee entrance, AKA the back door), we made it to the foyer. Time for a picture!
He took us onto the news set for show and tell.
BikerGeek, Susie and Ross, on set.
They did the HD transition, so their news broadcasts are in HD. He told us about all the work that goes into that transition – changes to the set to accommodate the wider broadcast formats, updating the backdrops on the set due to the fact that HD is, well, high definition, so blemishes that are not evident on non-HD broadcasts stick out like Bozo the Clown at the Vatican. For a geek like me, it was interesting stuff.
Around the corner from the news set, they have a kitchen set. Cool! Since Susie and I are food geeks (one of our goals is to eat at all of the Iron Chef’s restaurants; so far, we’ve gotten to restaurants owned by Bobby Flay, Morimoto, and Michael Symon), we HAD to have pictures.
In the same room, they had a HUGE green-screen. We decided to pose for a few pictures. We’ll be having some PhotoShop fun with these.
The cute couple.
GODZIRRA!! AAAHHHHH!!!!
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a green wall!
And a picture of the tower.
After the station, we drove around a bit. Saw ‘The Hands’ at O.R.U. O.R.U. has a, uh, interesting campus.
We wound up having dinner at a place called The Brook. Ross had mentioned that their country fried steak was HUGE. By the time we got there, I was seriously jonesing for that country fried steak. He was NOT lying! Holy cow!!
After dinner, we were getting kinda tired, so we retired for the evening in the guest wing at Casa de Ross.
The official mascot at Casa de Ross is Groucho the Kitler. If you’re not familiar with Kitlers, look it up. We only had a brief Groucho sighting, though.
After a fitful rest, we got up the next day, Monday, ready for the beginning of our long way home, on Route 66. We don’t have any hotel reservations for the rest of the trip. We’re just gonna ride, see everything we can see, and stop whenever we decide to. Basically, we have No Plan for the next 5 days – we don’t need to be home until Friday. Sweet!!
Coming up, the Blue Whale, World’s Largest Totem Pole, and MORE!!
