HOT! No damn DQ ride through little town Texas

August 19, 2017
Saturday
Texas

We had a good ride yesterday north into Oklahoma so we lazily rolled out this morning from Red River Harley-Davidson where we met our pals for donuts thinking we would get a short ride in before the heat got too bad. It's about 10:30 am. It's August in Texas. Making a note here: everyone else we know went home to their air-conditioning. Dad rode off shaking his head. I'm sure he went home and told Mom them damn crazy kids are riding. Ha!

We thought let's ride out to Medicine Mound and back. That's a quick round trip. Medicine Mound is basically a ghost town but there's supposed to be a tiny museum there. We said quick round trip. Nope! We missed the turnoff for Medicine Mound in Chilicothe and ran into road construction near Quanah. Rather than back track through road construction we ride on to Childress. It is getting HOT!

We had a choice to travel north and ride Hwy 62 in Oklahoma home or travel south in a wide loop back to Vernon through small Texas towns. We nixed Hwy 62 having ridden it many times to and from Colorado. Besides, we could get ice cream at a Dairy Queen in Paducah - right? Nope! Okay we'll ride on to Crowell and get ice cream at the DQ there - right? Nope!

Did I mention it was getting HOT! We're riding in triple digit heat now. How the heck does little town Texas make it through a Texas summer without ice cream? Don't they know it's against the law in Texas to not have a DQ?

It had gone from HOT to stinking HOT by the time we found air conditioning and banana splits at a Braum's in Vernon! That's approximately 200 miles spent looking for a DQ! Tim said as we rolled into town I think there is a DQ here. I said if you pass that Braum's there will be hell to pay!

By the time we got our body temps down to just half-baked, the winds had kicked up and some nasty looking clouds were building. The last pic I got was of the banana splits because the battery died in the old camera I was carrying (no extra in my pocket).

The dry winds were strong and we could see a dust storm brewing. The only rain we had were a few spits as we rode into our home town on loop 11.

Today's ride = 269.9 sizzling s'miles

Slide show of about 39 photos includes old trucks, old buildings, hot Texas roads and baked landscapes + ice cream at the end!

Ride south, EAT then north, EAT, ride south again

August 18, 2017
Friday
Texas

It's a Friday off. It's hot but not as hot as it has been and that's as good a reason as we need to ride not that we need a reason. We figure we will head south, ride toward Graham, maybe ride around Possom Kingdom lake, maybe mosey on over to Palo Pinto County... but first! We stopped at Thad and Paisley's in Scotland for breakfast. And an excellent breakfast it was!

The Ride - Thad and Paisley's - Scotland, TX

YUM!

Feeling pleasantly plump and fortified with about a pot of hot, strong coffee, we ride on... As we get near the Graham cut-off we think the skies could look better. By the time we get within about ten miles of Graham it's spitting rain and the roads are wet. It's not looking good over the lake and south.

Trying to avoid cutting our day short because of weather, we choose another direction, riding back to Wichita Falls. We stop in town, adjust our wardrobe, top off the tank and head north. Oklahoma here we come. We ride north on I44 something we rarely do. We get to Apache OK and get off the interstate. Apache is a neat little town, lots of murals and old buildings. From Apache we check out Anadarko - another neat town.

I don't know when we got the idea we would ride on to Chickasha and visit Jake's Rib for the first time but that's how the day played out. Jake's Rib is a somewhat legendary BBQ restaurant in Chickasha OK. We've heard about it for years from people who live in Texas and Oklahoma. Dad and friends rode to Jake's many times and then bragged about it while we were in Colorado. We had a big breakfast early but nothing in between. We were hungry. I say that's a good thing.

What a damn delicious surprise says Tim! We actually discussed whether we could find enough to do to spend the night and eat at Jake's again before heading home tomorrow! We decided if we did that we were going to have to convert the Ride to a trike. Ha!

Jake's Rib - Chickasha OK

Oh my goodness! Delicious! Look at that brick of fries!

It was a windy and warm ride south on Hwy 81 through Duncan and Marlow and Waurika where we would normally stop for pie. We couldn't even think about pie today!

Today's ride = 374.5 s'miles

Slide show = about 70 photos - roads, buildings, murals, landscape and Ribs!

From Donuts to Burgers Ride

August 6, 2017
Sunday
Texas

Today we were just out a Sunday cruise between donuts and a burger.

We were lazy getting around this morning. It was about 9:30 am when we rolled out. Cafes in little town Texas are normally closed on Sunday but no matter - we found donuts tucked away on a side street in Iowa Park at Good Morning Donuts. It was just donuts and coffee. The donuts were fresh. The coffee was hot.

We rode north to Burkburnett and turned west. Riding down a few unfamiliar side roads of SH240 that were mostly dead ends or ragged loops through the Johnson grass or the road slowly dwindled down to the width of a cow trail... we spent a lot of time today turning around.

Aside from Historical Markers I often wonder as we ride by a sign designating a town or a place how that place got its name. We ride by a sign designating a tiny trickle of a waterway as 10th Calvary creek on Hwy 240 West. I finally looked it up. Here's the story: First called Getty's Creek, this stream was renamed by cowboys and settlers who found near its mouth, on Red River, remains of a military outpost garrisoned by the U.S. Tenth Cavalry from 1873 to 1875. Most of the Negro soldiers and white officers stationed there had previously served in the Federal army during the Civil War (1861-1865) and at Fort Sill, in Indian Territory. This staked timber outpost was attacked by Indians; legend says that all the officers, men and horses killed in the battle were buried in a common grave somewhere along this creek.

I call this the pump jack graveyard

Just an interesting sight along the way

Ranch land gulleys or arroyos

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Tim points out that we just pegged 79666 on the odometer. We rode back in the early afternoon under troubled skies.

Troubled skies

Grabbing a burger at Heff's on the way home

After burgers, we tried to get a few more miles in especially since it had cooled somewhat, but we managed about ten miles before we made our last U-turn of the day. Actually we rode out one road and back on another. As we rode the last few miles home - the skies spit on us. We had just enough time to kick back with an adult beverage before we had a very welcome thunderstorm.

Today ride = 159.8 s'miles