7-12-08 --- Magnolia House B&B Ride

I rode to Providence with Darwin and Mary to the Magnolia House Bed and Breakfast for a ride with a lot of other bikers. (pictures coming soon)

Willie Brown and his wife own the B&B and invited all their biker friends over for a ride and dinner.

The dinner was catered by Trackside BBQ in Webster county.

We left Providence and headed toward Beulah turning East on Hwy 70 at the Kangaroo Mart.

We rode to Richland and turned on Richland Earlington road.

After arriving in Earlington, we turned Right on Hwy 112 and then connected to Hwy 62 to go on into Dawson Springs.

We arrived in Dawson and it was starting to get very hot. It was going on 2:30 or so.

We stopped at the City park by the pool and sat in the shade for a while. The longer we sat the more tired we got.

Since Darwin had another ride scheduled for later that night (that got him and others very wet) and I had plans to go to my sisters that afternoon, we decided to break off from the pack at this point.

We decided to go ahead and go to the DQ at Dawson and get a bite to eat.

We left DQ and headed home via Beulah and Hwy 70.

About an hour later, my mom looks at the weather alert that came across from her computer. She spins the monitor around and says.... We have a BAD storm coming up...

So, I took one look at the radar and Got up and took my bike home, covered it up and came back with the truck!!!

Darwin however, wasn't that fortunate.

Darwin, Mary, Tommy and Alice had gone to The Front Porch in Marion. We were suppose to go with them but had prior commitment to my sisters for dinner (it was her Birthday earlier that week).

Darwin and the crew got very wet on their trip!

Lots of good food.
BBQ, Baked Beans, Moms Macaroni Salad, and other stuff.

Sunday July 6, 2008

I rode with Darwin and Mary, Tommy and Alice, Darryl and Deloris and James and Valerie to the Lake area.

We stopped at Heaton's in Princeton for a BBQ sandwich and a short break.

We then rode on to the lake and stopped off at Grand Rivers at the Harley Store there. We Met up with Darryl and Deloris there.

We then rode to Paducah to the new Four Rivers Harley shop to look around. Nice new store and lots of stuff!

after an hour or so at the store, we proceeded to head back home. Just a little way out of Paducah, Darryl ran out of gas ALMOST in front of a gas station. I heard someone try to tell him that so far, Honda hasn't made a bike that runs on air...

We rode to Eddyville and stopped at Willow Pond.

I had a Grilled Chicken sandwich and an order of Deep Fried Pickles. (First time I ever had those).

we left Eddyville and made our way to Dawson Springs and stopped for another break there. From there, we started home. We split off from the group and went down 109 to Beulah to Hwy 70 to Madisonville.

Saturday July 5th, 2008

left town around 10 AM and rode with a group of 11 of us from Olive Branch Baptist church to a Amish Restaurant in Montgomery Indiana.

The name of the place was called Gasthof (Meaning Guest House) http://www.gasthofamishvillage.com/

The food was really good. It was Buffet and they had a LOT of it.

Lots of homemade pies too.

Very long day for riding though. We rode up the Pennyrile parkway to Evansville and connected to I-164 as far as it would go and connected to Hwy 57 through Somerville and Oakland City through Petersburg on in to Washington. Then we too Hwy 50E to Montgomery.

After Eating, we Headed back East on Hwy 50E to pick up US 231. We rode south through Jasper and Huntingburg and worked our way to the new bridge by Rockport.
We crossed the bridge and passed by Maceo (Home of Marty Brown) and headed towards Owensboro.

We stopped a couple of times along the route for a butt break! We really needed it.

The back roads are really good riding due to slower speeds and a few shady spots along the road that have nice bursts of cool air.

That bunch we rode with were a blast. They are all nice people and there was never a dull moment!

6-29-08 Trip to Terre Haute Indiana

rode with Darwin and Mary, Tommy and Alice and Darryl and Deloris to Terre Haute Indiana to Boot City.

We left at 7:00 AM and drove to Henderson to eat at Shoney's for breakfast.

We left Henderson and connected to I-164 and rode north to I-64.

Connected to Hwy 41 and rode made it to Terre Haute.

We shopped at Boot city for a while and I had to buy a long sleeve Shirt to use as a jacket. It was THAT COOL riding that day.

We left Boot City and decided to tour the Eastern side of Illinois and ride Illinois Hwy 1.

we stopped in Robinson Illinois and ate lunch at the Red Apple. I had the Taco Salad. It was really good.

We left there and headed towards Mount Carmel and just a little while later it started raining.
We pulled off so the riders could get out their rain suits.

I didn't have anything except for a orange Poncho to wear. It really doesn't bother me to get wet so I didn't worry about it.

However, Tommy gave up his rain suit and he just wore a jacket instead and gave me the suit to wear. Tommy is one of those guys that is more concerned for everyone else than himself. Thank you Tommy!

My feet were soaked though. Wearing tennis shoes in the rain on a bike is not a good idea!

we rode for what seemed like 45 minutes through sometimes hard needle stinging rain and made it to Mount Carmel.

We stopped at a service station / convenience store and removed our rain suits.

At that time, the weather looked like it was going to keep getting worse the closer we headed south to the Ohio River. So we decided to go back East towards Princeton Indiana and connect back to Hwy 41.

we outran the rain this time!

We stopped in Henderson at Thorntons to get gas and REST!!!

It's pretty bad when a concrete sidewalk feels better than a cushioned motorcycle seat! We probably sat around for a half hour before getting back on the bikes for the final leg of the trip back home.

What a LONG DAY. Close to 400 miles round trip considering we made the Illinois loop detour.

Poker Run, Sebree - 6-28-08

I went on a poker run in Sebree with Darwin.
It was to benefit the Sebree Fire Department and was part of their Sebree Summer Fest.

Darwin's wife Mary had to work that day.

The route took us from Sebree through Beech Grove to Calhoun.

From Calhoun through Sacramento to Hanson to the Kangaroo, from Hanson to Dixon, from Dixon to Waverly and then back to Sebree.

Lots of nice winding roads and sharp curves.
Once I ended up scraping my floor boards on an "S" curve.

On the way to Dixon, I saw an Eagle flying off from a large pond. That was one big bird!

It sprinkled on us a couple of times around Beech Grove and between Calhoun and Sacramento but we seemed to be out running the rain... on THIS day....

Saturday June 21st 2008 part two!

Yep!

We rode towards Clarksville and picked up Hwy 48 to to Hwy 46 to Hwy 7. Great road to ride on!

We picked up The Natchez Trace at the end of Hwy 7 and rode south a few miles to Jackson Falls.

We walked to the Falls and sat for a while watching the waterfall. Nice falls but not a whole lot of water but still nice.

Left there and rode back North towards Nashville all the way to the Bridge and stopped there to take some pictures.

Rode all the way back into Nashville to the end of the Natchez Trace and came out by The Loveless Cafe.

Rode Hwy 100 to connect to The Briley Parkway and headed over to Opry Mills area.

On the way down The Briley, My GPS bounced out of it's cradle and skidded down the highway and probably got SMASHED pretty quick....

When we got to Opry Mills area, we were headed to Cock of the Walk to eat. It didn't open until 4PM.

We went down the street to The Santa Fe Cattle Co. It was pretty good except Mary's steak was WAY under cooked. She sent it back twice.

We left Nashville and headed to Clarksville to the Harley shop there. (Appleton's). Stayed there and looked at stuff for almost an hour. WOW what stuff that is...

Left Clarksville and headed on Hwy 76 towards Adams and picked up Hwy 41 going through Guthrie, Tiny Town, Trenton, Pembroke to Hopkinsville and back to Madisonville.

Over 340 miles!

Saturday, June 21st 2008

going to ride with Darwin and Mary and maybe Tommy and Alice today to go hit the Natchez trace about 50 miles south of Nashville where we actually started a few weeks ago.

This time, we are hitting the northern end of it headed back towards Nashville. We missed that section a few weeks ago.

I woke up at 3:30 too excited to go back to bed so I just started getting things ready.. Water, Ice, camera, batteries, sunscreen, etc.

Friday, June 20 2008 Friday night ride

I rode with Pastor Phil and Lisa, Steve Ayer, Willie Brown, Dave and Laura Thomson, Mary and DC Watts, and Tommy and Alice Carr to Shorts in Graham..

When we got there, they had already closed the Buffet and actually told us to go to Philly's in Greenville.

So, we went there.

It was a new nicely built building. Large projection TV's, tin ceilings and nice wood work. Someone pointed out that the floors are the stained concrete type. Really nice work.

The portions were HUGE! I got Roast Beef Manhattan... regular portion.. SHOULD have gotten half size!

All in all, good food, good price, great decor.

The acoustics in the place makes it hard to hear the host ask questions at the table. 3 TV's going at the same time on large speakers adds to the noise level. Still very pleasant atmosphere.

Ran into Rick and Shirley Willis and their daughter and Ronnie Simms (Shirley's brother) and her mother too. They had been to Shirley's uncle's funeral in Greenville.

Thanks to David Thomson for pointing out the tire on my bike looked low. Sure enough, it was down 20 pounds! So, we found a service station to air it up and headed back home.

Finally made it to my home at 11:15 or so.

Veterans Center, Hanson Ky. Poker run 6-14-08

The Veterans center in Hanson Ky had a poker run sponsored by The Rolling Thunder group to benefit the Veterans center.

Close to 200 bikes showed up.

We rode from Hanson to Sacramento to a small gravel parking lot next to a restaurant.

From there, we rode to The Boatman in Owensboro.

From there, we rode to Sebree to a parking lot at the main intersection by the BP station.

From there we rode back to Hanson.

My poker hand was TERRIBLE....

After the poker run was over (around 2:30) we decide to do more riding. We rode down to Dawson and checked out the Riverfront park and then to Pennyrile park.

we Rode around the park and then headed out towards Crofton through Mennonite country. Great riding area.

From there, we came back to town.

Natchez Trace, June 6, 7, 8, 9--2008

WOW!

What a trip...

I rode with Darwin "bigboy" watts and his wife Mary to Natchez Mississippi along the Natchez Trace.

we started out in Madisonville at the new Huddle House about a half mile from where I live.

we got there around 7 AM and it took us OVER an hour to get our food and get out of there! There were at LEAST 10 employees in there with only about 3 working. the rest were training.

(Personally, they should have been trained at another location BEFORE THEY EVER OPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Ok, back to the story...

We rode to Clarksville via Hwy 41A south.

Connected to Hwy 46 in Clarksville to Dickson.

Just south of Dickson, we picked up the Natchez Trace.

We rode to Tupelo that day (6-6-08)

Stayed the night in tupelo. Visited Elvis's birth place...

Rode the next day to Natchez (Boy, what can I say...)

Been there, done that... don't ever do it again....

We left Natchez on the 8th and headed to Tunica.

We stopped off at Vicksburg to tour the battlefield.

The above picture is from behind the Waffle house at Vicksburg over looking the Mississippi river towards Louisiana.

We did cross the river and rode far enough into Louisiana just to say we did....

 

While in the Battlefield, Darwin's bike started cutting out bad.

2008 Ultra Classic Harley... only 7000 miles on it!

we thought it was bad gas but it kept getting worse. Hitting only one cylinder.

He got his HOG guide book out and found the nearest Harley dealer was in Jackson. About 40 Miles away..

Darwin however, has a keen sense of direction... he read the address of the bike shop, put his book back in the saddlebag and rode straight to the dealership.....

The mechanic did the best he could but the manager said he wasn't the best they had and the other mechanics would not be back to work until Monday...

This was SUNDAY.... They didn't even try to call a mechanic and tell them someone was stranded from out of town and ASK if he would be willing to come in to see if they could fix it...

So, we had to spend the night in Jackson...NOT where I would choose to stay..

I was able to cancel our reservations at Tunica through Travelocity but they said it may be several days before they credit my debit card.

We stayed at another Days inn.... They only had one Non-smoking room and since Mary has breathing problems, I gave it to them and took a smoking room.

IT STUNK.. Smelled like Cat PEE...

I walked across the street to the Dollar Store and bought a room deodorizer and some fabreeze to make it a LITTLE better.

We went swimming and discussed our next move.

They were talking about renting a U-haul pickup truck and trucking the bike back to Union City Tennessee to Abernathy's (where they bought it).

After further discussion, it was decided that I would just be a burden or get in the way if I hung around. Mostly by slowing them down having to get gas more often than them.

So, I got up to leave around 5 AM Monday morning.

Darwin and Mary went back to the Harley shop and the mechanic there found it was a bad fuel pump assembly (in-tank). (they didn't have the parts)

It was coming apart.

He managed to tie-wrap it together to hobble him back on the road thinking he would drop the bike off at Abernathy's to be fixed.

well, about 40 miles from Union City, he had a blow-out on the rear tire!

He called the HOG number and they sent a tow-truck to pick up the bike and take it to Abernathy's.

The mechanic there lived in Fulton, so he took them there.

Mary's sister's Husband Tommy came to pick them up and take them home.

I rode a little over 9 hours straight through (a little under 500 miles) from Jackson to Madisonville only stopping for gas 5 times, breakfast and lunch. (oh yes, a bathroom break too!)

All in all, the trip down was great. Lots of scenery along the way.

We want to go back and connect to the northern end that we missed when we connected outside Dickson.

I would really like to do that. Maybe a day trip should take care of that one.

 

 

 

Meriwether Lewis's Burial site.

 

 

       

Owensboro Poker run for Toys for tots.

Rode with Johnny Stevens and his wife and Tammy Wilderman to Owensboro to Walmart.

He called me at 8:00 AM and asked me if I wanted to go on that ride. I had to Shower, shave and eat breakfast and go to my storage building and get my bike and be out to his house in Hanson by 9:00!
I made it by 8:45!

Johnny's son Kelly is the Co-Manager there and they sponsored a Benefit ride for Toys for Tots.

we rode from Walmart in Owensboro to Buds Harley Davidson in Evansville on Fulton Ave. BIG PLACE! I felt like I should have to take my shoes off!

From there, we went to Henderson to Johnny B's Pizza and wings and ate lunch there.

We left there and headed to Sebree to connect to Hwy 56.

Rode to West Louisville, KY to Hayden's Drive in.

From there we rode back to another Johnny B's for our final stop and door prize drawings.

They had a band playing there that consisted of 14-15 year old young men.
with some time under their belt, they will no doubt become pretty good. If it didn't involve some wild lead guitar licks, they sounded good anyway.

Kelly Stevens bike.

 

 

 

Friday night ride, 5-30-08

we rode to Eddyville to eat at Willow Pond.

We finally got rolling around 6:45 and went via Why 70W to Beulah, to Dawson, and Hwy 62 to Princeton.

WE stopped at the service station at Princeton for gas for one of the guys that met up with us.

we had friends from Providence join us tonight too.

They rode with us to Willow pond but had other plans and didn't get to eat with us.

We all had a good time and the food was good too.

Bob Trover rode with us tonight.
He is actually recovering from a bad motorcycle wreck from last February. He was hit in front of Marketplace. He and his bike are recovering nicely.

 

5-25-08

Rode to the Lake.

TRIED to eat at Patti's or Mr. Bills.

it was PACKED.. Didn't even try to see how long it would take.

Lots of bikes down there today.

Settled for Ms. Scarlet's instead.. By the time I got there, it was going on 3:30 PM.

NEVER eat the "special" that late in the afternoon.
The bread was HARD, the Mashed potatoes were stiff, the corn pudding had a crust built up. The Prime rib was OK. A little over cooked but flavor was good. Baked beans were really good.

You can sure tell the difference in service too when you are alone instead of with a group.
the tip reflected that........

rode back through Princeton, through Farmersville, Dalton, Beulah back to Madisonville.

Came home and washed off the windshield!!

5-24-08

Rode out Brown Road to Sacramento on to 85 to Island.

Stopped at the Dairy Dip (???) at Island and enjoyed a VERY large Island burger... (note to self... don't try to eat the DOUBLE cheeseburger next time.. settle for a SINGLE..)

Rode over to Muhlenberg County and picked up Hwy 81 to go to Breman. Back to Sacramento back to Hwy 85 West to Madisonville

5-24-08

Rode to Princeton early this morning to the Honda shop there to have my bike go through the 12000 mile service.

Oil change, filter, differential, adjust valves, air filter, fluids serviced, fork oil, spark plugs.

Got it there around 8:30 AM and it was done by 11:30.

Friday night ride, 5-23-08

Rode with several (8 total on this ride) to Shorts in Graham to eat.

VERY good buffet. Some of the best Fried chicken I have ever eaten. (at a restaurant) .

we were back by 8:30 and still mostly daylight!

nice cool ride.

DC and Mary watts, Alice and Tommy Carr, were there along with another couple (didn't get their name) and a guy I talk to at Ponderosa once in a while on the weekends too.

Madisonville Messenger Relay for Life Poker Run 5-17-08

This run started at Tumbleweed in Madisonville and took the long way to Greenville.

we rode through Sacramento (the Battle of Sac was going on) and then to Greenville to Pogue Chrysler where The Messenger people met us (who gave us Hot dogs and drinks) Very nice people there.

From there, we went to Nortonville, then to Dawson Springs, then back to Madisonville to Tumbleweed for the final card and door prize drawings.

I won a doo-rag and also got a t-shirt for being one of the first 10 to register.

Met a few new friends there. A guy named Larry King (hard to forget that name) and Mr. and Mrs Scott that owns Fugate Lumber co. They rode a nice VW Trike.

Rick Plunkett and Jim and Cricket Pendley and a few others on the run too.

Basically about 8 bikes was all so it was easy to win a prize!

All of the people from the messenger were really nice too. it was a fun ride.

Friday night Ride 5-16-08

Not much to tell on this ride.

Quite cool and that stopped several from Riding.

It was just Woody, myself and another nice couple that rode a VTX-1300. She is a school teacher. I'm sorry I can't remember their names but very nice couple.

WE rode to Pagalia's in Princeton for Pizza.

Ran into John Gilbert (music director at Park Ave. Baptist church) and his son (also John). Younger John attends Olive Branch Baptist and for a while played banjo with out praise band.

The ride back was COOL and we had to wipe our seats off before hitting the road. There was so much dew on them.

5-10-08 Poker Run for Relay for Life. Sponsored by the Kentucky Hwy Department

Started out at Arby's a little after 10 AM and with a Police Escort, we rode to Hwy 70 West to Richland. Then from there, we turned on Carbondale road.

Connected to Hwy 112 for a couple of miles to Hwy 454 at St. Charles. Stopped at the gas station there for our first Draw.

Left there and went to Hwy 1338 (union Temple Road) to Pennyrile Park for our second Draw.

Left Pennyrile to (well, I'm lost after this...)...

We went through Cerulean, to Cadiz to the Marathon station right across from the Hospital where I work! Got our third card there.

Left there and went down Hwy 68/80 (old) to Hwy 274 to RockCastle and turned right towards Princeton.

Connected to Hwy 93 towards Eddyville. stopped for another card at a gas station there.

Turned on 293 to Princeton.

Stopped at Princeton for another card and a short stop at The Honda shop there. They had water and drinks and cookies there. They are always willing to help on poker runs! Great folks there!

Left there to connect back to Hwy 293 to just past Barnes's store and connected to Hwy 70 west.

Rode to Beulah to the Kangaroo store for our last card.

They called my number on my ticket there but I was not paying attention to what my number was!

Left there, hit Hwy 109 past Rabbit Ridge, Connected to Hwy 502 back to Rose Creek Rd all the way back to town.

Stopped at City park for Burgers, hotdog's, chips, drinks!

Great time. Got to see a few people I hadn't seen in a while.

Ran in to Jimmy Denton that I worked with at RMC over 18 years ago and hadn't seen since.

THAT'S what I like about these rides. Never know who you'll run into...