Day
17, Friday, May 01, 2015
My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. Sound familiar? I was already awake at 6 AM. I was just laying there waiting for the alarm
to go off. It did and I turned it
off. Chuck told me that I didn’t have to
be quiet because he was awake also and just not moving. Chuck got up, got dressed and we packed our
bags. Our Motorcycles were parked just
outside our door. We took a couple of
bags out to the Motorcycles and packed them.
We then walked to breakfast with Ken.
We finished having breakfast and walked back to our rooms to grab the
rest of our stuff and load them. Chuck had
to check the map to see where we were going.
When Chuck was done, we got on our Motorcycles and left on Highway 7
South a couple of blocks to gas up. We
left at 8:53 AM.
Jake led us on Highway 7 South. We got to Highway 70 West and we got on
it. Highway 70 was a very bumpy
road. There were a lot of repairs on
this road and it was not smooth at all.
We were bumped around a lot. We
continued on Highway 70 until we got to Glenwood, Ark. There was a gas station at the corner with a
lot of bikers there taking a break. We had
been riding for about 55 minutes and I thought that, maybe, Jake would stop and
take a break. We turned the corner and
we were now on Highway 8. We didn’t
stop. My mind started to wonder if there
was another city close by, or maybe some trees or something in the near future
where we could make a pit stop. We
continued and rode through several small cities that had nowhere for us to
stop. I was starting to worry about what
could happen to me if we continued longer.
We rode into the city of Mena. It
has its own airport in the outskirts. I
knew that it was a larger city and that Jake WOULD stop. I figured out a game plan for me as soon as
we got to a stop. I took off my gloves
as we rode. Jake spotted an Exxon
station and we pulled in. Everyone was
parking and I quickly parked in front of the mini-mart, took my keys and,
without taking off my helmet, went inside to the restroom. Bruce saw that I was in a hurry and held the
front door open for me and stayed out of my way. If he was in my way, I was going to walk over
him. I made it on time! This happens to all of us at one point or
another. Sometimes it happens to me more
than others. This is why I am only
allowed ONE cup of coffee for breakfast.
Everyone took their turn taking a pit stop. We bought some refreshments and took a little
break. We had ridden for 91 miles and
stopped at 10:42 AM. We left at 11:08
AM.
Jake took the lead again.
We were on Highway 8 again. We
rode and at 11:44 AM, we crossed the Oklahoma State Line. The rode changed numbers. It was now Highway 63. The road was much better. The countryside was absolutely
beautiful. Everything was green. We rode for 57 miles and at 12:10 PM we
stopped in Talihina, OK for lunch at Subway.
We finished lunch and we were on our way at 1:00 PM.
Jake got us on Highway 1 after leaving Talihina. We rode for a distance and had to get on
Highway 2 for a short distance and then get back on Highway 1. Jake was given the instructions back in
Talihina when we finished lunch. We were
on Highway 2 and then I saw the sign for Highway 1. I watched Jake as he led. We were getting close to the turn and he wasn’t
slowing. I got on the CB and told Jake, “Highway
1, Left…Highway 1, Left!” Jake went
right. We were still on Highway 2. We rode for about a quarter of a mile and he
slowed and made a u-turn. We all did. We rode back to Highway 1 and turned. No problems after that. We rode for 54 miles and at 2:01 PM we
stopped at McAlester, OK where we took a pit stop and filled up with gas. Chuck got the map out and was studying
it. A couple of the guys went and looked
at the map also…why, they weren’t leading next.
Jan went over to see the map because he was leading next. We left at 2:25 PM.
Jan led the Group west on Highway 1/270 west. There were two numbers but the same
Highway. The road was very smooth. Jan rode at a faster speed. Before we knew it, we had ridden for 61 miles
and stopped in Ada, OK at 3:25 PM. We
stopped for a requested pit stop. While
we were stopped, it was warm, however, when we were riding, it was cool. None of us were wearing jackets. We took a break and someone mentioned ice
cream. We all went in and had some. We were done and ready to continue. We left at 3:54 PM.
Jan continued to lead.
We rode through some small towns and caught in the “rush hour.” I swear that there must have been two or
three cars in front of us! Nonetheless,
we couldn’t go our normal speed because of the “Sunday Drivers” ahead of
us. We finally got a break and no one was
ahead of us. Back to our speed! Before we knew it, we had ridden for 89 miles
and at 5:31 PM, we arrived in Chickasha, OK…Where? We stopped at a Holiday Inn Express. I went in to “make the deal.” The clerk gave me a price that I, and we,
thought was high. Chuck and Jan rode to
a nearby Hampton Inn. They went in to
check on prices and found that the prices were more that the Holiday Inn
Express. Chuck called me and told me to
book the rooms. Two of the rooms in the
Holiday Inn Express were Suites. The
prices were more than the other rooms. I
asked if we could get a discount for four rooms. The clerk gave us the four rooms, which
included a couple of Suites, for the same price. SCORE!
We all checked into our rooms. We
got our bags from our Motorcycles and took them to the rooms and returned to
our Motorcycles and cleaned them. We
decided to go to a Mexican Food Restaurant across the street for dinner. The guys went to the Hot Tub first while I
went to my room and started this blog. We walked to the restaurant and ate a good
meal and walked back. When we got back
to the hotel, we tucked our Motorcycles in for the night and we all went to our
rooms. It was a good day.
Today, we rode for 352 miles. We are pushing 5,000 miles total. We really didn’t do much, other than ride,
break, ride, break, etc. We did see a
ranch with numerous Buffalo on the property.
Also, there were several turtles on the road.
Tomorrow we are still headed west. We are going to head toward the panhandle of
Oklahoma. I’m not sure where. Chuck will have to look at the map and then
tell us…hopefully. We shall see. So, until tomorrow…
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