Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Took a fairly long ride today since the weatherman said it's going to get nasty by next weekend. Freezing rain and blowing wind. Oh, the fun!

The ride totaled 141 miles by the GPS and 151 by the tripmeter on the KLX. Hmm... wonder which one is right?

I traveled from my home county of Wichita south through Archer and into Young County. I laid my route out using Google map and USA Photomaps, a freeware Topo map program. I would say less then 10% of the roads were paved. No way to avoid the paved roads when getting near a town.

The weather was hazy and cloudy with a temp. around 60-65 degrees and a wind out of the South around 20-30 MPH. I got beat to death by the wind going South, but it was a free ride coming back North. :D


Left the house around 9:00am after several cups of joe. Ready to ride!

Out of town and on the road to Archer City. County Seat of Archer County. That's not a pond by the way. In Texas they're called a stock tank or more commonly, just a tank.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...556/bike_1.jpg


Welcome to the metropolis of Archer City, Texas. Notice the ribbon on the sign. The wind was wicked!

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...her_sign-1.jpg



Archer County Courthouse.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...r_ct_house.jpg



The Royal Theater. A local historical group spent a lot of time and money bringing this old theater back to life.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...m556/royal.jpg


Noticed that I had lost my taillight when I stopped to get some gas. Turns out the filament burned out. No biggie. Just got a new #1157 while I was paying for the gas. Off on the 2nd leg of the trip, to Graham, Texas. Young County Seat.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...m556/gas_1.jpg



I had about a 10 mile stretch of nothing but straight road headed due South. Boring as hell, but made some good time. Have I mentioned the wind yet?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ad_south-1.jpg


Some of the local geology.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...m556/rocks.jpg


A change in terrain the further I get South.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r.../farmhouse.jpg



An abandon rock house in Young County. Lot's of old houses around this area are made with the native sandstone rocks.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...rock_house.jpg


The road the rock house was on. This is all you get in Texas for Fall colors. :)

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ood_bridge.jpg


Getting close to Graham. Ran out of dirt road options and had to pick up the pavement for the last 5 miles or so.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...edtop_road.jpg

Red Top Cemetery on Red Top Road.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...ed_top_cem.jpg


Got into Graham and topped off the tank and had some water. Have I mentioned the wind yet?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...m556/gas_2.jpg

The K & N root beer stand in Graham. A semi-famous Texas landmark.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r.../root_beer.jpg


Graham High School, the only high school in Graham. Both my wife and my dad graduated from GHS. (Although many years apart) ;)

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...lum556/ghs.jpg


Young County Courthouse in Graham. The town has a very nice town square. Real Mayberry kind of place.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...g_ct_house.jpg


On the way back home somewhere between Nowhere and BFE.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...556/xroads.jpg


Field Expedient Repair on the GPS. The GPS III model is known for having a battery door that starts to stay open after some time. Well that time was today with mine. The unit keep going on and off in the most irritating manner. I'm lucky I had my whole tool kit with me. A dime was too skinny and a nickel was too thick, but two pennies was just right to keep the door closed.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...56/pennies.jpg



Action shots!

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...556/side_1.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...llum556/me.jpg




Back to Archer City and I've seem to have found the local High School hangout area on the edge of town.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...56/graff_1.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...56/graff_2.jpg

All in all a fantastic ride! I'm glad I got at least one more in before the weather gets bad. The KLX is a fantastic bike for this kind of ride.

A final picture of the GPS trip meter at the end of the trip.



http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...lum556/gps.jpg



The bike is washed, the chain lubed, and the ride report posted. Time for tacos and beer!

Willum
TC




edited for spelling and grammer...

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

looks like a very nice ride. I didn't realize how much Texas looks like Iowa. We have a lot of them old courthouses and ancient sandstone buildings, not to mention endless fields and secondary roads. What's up with your front turn signals? Are they a temporary thing or what?

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

IG, thanks for the nice comment, I haven't been to Iowa yet, but I've made it to Kansas so far. ;)

As far as the front turn signals, they're there to stay. I've seen several forum members with the same setup. Although they look a bit bulbous (pun intended), they are tucked in out of the way and not prone to breakage. I alway hand signal anyway and Texas motor laws does not require turn signals on motorcycles. Peace.

Willum
TC

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Great ride report and pics, TC, thanks for posting them up.

I got out a little yesterday, but it was most "recon" - looking for new places to ride off-road. Didn't turn up too much, but I did swing by a custom exhaust place and confirmed that they could weld an access port onto my header for my O2 sensor project.

Our winters are relatively mild here in NC so I'll still be able to get out without too much trouble. I bought my bike last year in January, and put a lot of miles on it during the Jan-Mar months. But while the weather is usually decent during these months, I must say that I do miss the good deep snows we got where I used to live. I love snow and the mountains. Unfortunately, there's not much of either where I'm at here in NC. But NC does have some other nice features that tend keep me here. ;)

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Looks like you had a good time. Sometime we need to go find the trails at possum kingdom if there are any. The weather channel shows it dropping into the 20s this week. And I gotta ride to work on my bike this week. Ouch!

Nobrakes,

This is the setup I was looking at using to be accurate with my jetting.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

Sorry to highjack Thunderchild.

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

I did a bit of recon on this ride too. I marked some waypoints where it looks like I might be able to hit some trails, but who knows how far they go before they hit a fence or gate.

Vurtle, I wish you could have gone with me today, but I know that it's hard for you get away that long. Let me know ahead of time when you can get away for awhile. I want to do some shakedown rides with camping gear before I head West to Caprock State Park for an overnight trip.

Willum
TC
Wichita Falls, TX

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Nice Avatar by the way. :D

Willum
TC
Wichita Falls, TX

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Hey vurtle, that's basically what I'm going to be doing, but I'll be using my own parts. I bought the O2 sensor, though - there are a ton of them, I searched through the Bosch catalog at a local Autozone to try and find one that wasn't horribly expensive. The one I got was $60. I'm hoping to get it installed tomorrow if they can work me in.

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

mmmmmmmmm tacos and beer

RE: Ride Report 11-26-06 Probing Southward
 

Nice Pics and report TC. I spent some time at Sheppard AFB in the early 90's. Do you live close to the base?