Road Trip #3 - Texas HOG Rally - Day 3 - Historical Ride and Casino Night

September 3, 2010
Colorado, USA

Wichita Falls, TX -- Dad was assigned to work at the rally this morning registering people for the dart run (a PC name for poker run), so we followed him in and spent some time wandering around at the rally and visiting. My brother wandered in not long after and later Mom joined us.

When Dad got loose, we rode with him and my brother (Teddy) on a Texas Historical Marker Pin Run sponsored by Red River Harley-Davidson. That was fun. Dad led us through the boonies in and around Wichita Falls, TX through small towns and communities to markers located near Burkburnett, Kadane Corner, Mankins, Henrietta and Petrolia. Red River required answers to five questions that would be answered from the information obtained from the markers. They awarded really nice historical marker pins to the first 500 people to turn in the correct answers. These were fairly obscure markers, containing information about places and people and times I had never heard about. We loved it. It was fun to ride with both Dad and my brother on Texas roads, portions of which Tim and I could not remember ever traveling. Of course, the ride included an extra stop (let's call it a Ted-Stop) at the DQ (Dairy Queen) in Holliday. What decent ride in North Texas would not include a stop at the DQ?


The three T's ready for a ride... Teddy, Ted and Tim

We ran into David and Tate (cousins) at the courthouse in Henrietta where one of the markers was located. They had spotted Dad on his ride waiting for us to get the info from the marker. We visited for a few minutes, but soon we were off to the last marker near Petrolia. We followed Dad's lead, rolling up the pavement back to Red River Harley-Davidson where we collected our pins from Ed at the parts counter.

We had just enough time to ride in, clean up and head out to Kiowa Casino in Oklahoma for Casino Night. We spent most of our time there in line to register for the free $10 play card, bike give-away and free buffet supper. The casino was not prepared for the number of bikers that showed up. I believe they said over 1300 HOG members registered for the free bike give-away. We arrived just before 6 pm. We did not get seated for supper until after 10 pm. The buffet was good or at least I think it was. It sort of reminded me of something I usually say when a meal doesn't get to the table on time at my house - if you keep 'em waiting long enough - they will eat anything. Ha!

After supper, we hung out with friends Tex and Laura and visited with other friends. The casino extended the drawing for the free bike from 10 pm to 12 pm. Many of us a lingered. One woman did not and missed her chance for the free 2010 Harley-Davidson Sportster. The second name called belong to a man who could not believe his good fortune! Neither could we as we all thought ours was the winning ticket.

Oh and I gambled for the first time ever. Laura instructed me and Mom how to use the $10 play card in the penny machine. I played my card and doubled my money and some. I played Tim's card up and then down to just under what he started with. Mom and I both walked out with a little something extra in our pockets feeling fairly pleased with ourselves. That was fun and we told Laura we might just try that again sometime. I believe Dad said he thought we had been properly corrupted.. smiling all the while.

Here's a slide show of today's activities (77 photos):