Great pics and report, Bill! That's some good quality time right there. Good on ya.

 

Love the B/W stuff. Great shot of the open prairie by silverton. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks, NB and everyone else. I really enjoyed this trip. You know how it is when the wanderlust hits hard, and you just have to get out of the house for awhile.

 

Day Three: 253 miles


We woke up a lot earlier today after having a good nights sleep. After I got the bikes out of the carport, I made smalltalk with the cowboys and oilmen out in the parking lot over a cup of coffee. We were once again called a little nuts for "Riding them dirtbikes that far.".

We wanted to make it home today, so we knew it would be a long ride. The weather was not that hot. Literally. The local weatherman on the tube said it was 45, with sustained winds out of the North at 40 something MPH. It was overcast and a heavy drizzle was coming down sideways when we left the hotel around 9:00.

Since we would be riding mostly east today, it was crosswind city out there on the road.

We made it about 30 miles out of town before our first stop. The rain had slacked off, but the wind was merciless.






We rode for what seemed forever through the Texas panhandle and passed through several small towns for gas and coffee.

We found this old house off the side of the road and decided to get on the downwind side of it to take a break from the wind.






As we got further East, we could see the hills that make up Quartz Mountain SP in Oklahoma. If it wasn't for the relentless wind, it would have been a great day to ride.

We stopped to stand behind this lone oak tree to get out of the wind again.



Closer and closer.












We stopped in Granite for gas and headed for the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, where we would start our final leg south, and in to Texas.


An old quarry on the hillside.







These would be our last stop for gas on the way home.




It was a nice break to ride south for awhile and have the wind at our backs.




Ah, Grandfield, OK. Just about 30 miles to the house.



Another quick break or two, and we were back in Texas and made it to the house before dark.






We had a great ride and both bikes did great. No flats or other problems, although the KLX burned a little more oil than in normally does. We chalked it up to the high speed slab runs.

 

Monday was truely nice. Bright skies, calm winds, 60~70*F temps. I just took my GPS and got lost at my own pace. If anything, if tomorrow is nice, I may try a different direction. Ozark Mountains are suppose to beautiful this time of year. Or maybe I should head NW towards the sands. SW sounds like a good direction too. Ah screw it, I'll just a bottle and head in that direction. Getting lost is better then knowing where you should be going.

 

Yeah, that's the kind of rides I like too.

If you haven't been riding around the Quartz or Wichita Mountains, you should check it out sometime. There was some nice paved and dirt roads that we were on in that area. The trees were changing colors too when we went through. Very nice.