[ST] 2 of every kind in the GIVI luggage!

["Scott" <98-VFR800@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Howdy,

	I just thought I'd let some of you know how last weekend went.
I have been trying to get up to Arkansas the last few weeks to enjoy
the peak of the fall foliage. At every turn the weather channel has
botched their forecasts and the weather has not cooperated. I made a
run for it last Thursday evening and made for Texarkana. It was in the
mid 50's but not raining. From Huntsville, it is about a 4-1/2 run to
Texarkana. I met up with one of my clients that lives there and he
treated me to dinner and a free hotel room for the night, sweet!
	Friday morning as I start to head North, I spot a red VFR
pulling into a gas station and I stop in to introduce myself. Yet
another VFR rider that has never heard of the mailing list hehe. He is
meeting some friends and they are heading to Kerrville for the HSTA
Hill Country rally, something I had been considering. I give him a
business card and head North. I get as far as DeQueen, Ar., before the
50 F and rain stop me. Without electrics I am thinking this will only
get worse, maybe I should have gone South with the guy and his buddies
to Kerrville. I had planned on heading as far as Springfield, Mo., to
stay with VFR lister Brad Holcomb. I call him an let him know I won't
be able to make it. Then I call Beth and tell her I am switching to
plan B, head to Kerrville for the HSTA rally. It is bound to be warmer
and drier there. At least that is what the weather channel predicted
;-)
	So I set out, cold and wet, working my way across Texas. I
skirt South of the DFW messoplex and head for central Texas. It is not
any warmer and it is only raining harder!? As I pass through Meridian,
a tiny town Northwest of Waco, it starts to get real foggy. The temp is
still hovering at the 50 F mark. The fog gets progressively thicker as
I get further and further out into the middle of nothing. On each side
of the road I catch ghostly glimpses of the outlines of trees and
grazing cattle. It is times like this that the VFR gives me a warm
fuzzy feeling, my baby has always been totally reliable and that goes a
long way on days like this.
	I finally reach highway 16 and US 183. Does anyone actually
live out here? So far, the roads have actually been kind of fun.
Despite the wet conditions, the Pirelli Dragon GTS tires stick like
glue to the road and inspire great confidence. I have miles to go and I
want to get there. Once I start South on 16, the fog begins to give way
to a hard steady rain. I have been on the road since 8:00am and it is
now pushing 6:00pm, remarkably, I am not that cold and my hands are
still dry. The new Tourmaster gloves I just bought a few days before
leaving are doing a great job. However, I do feel a little bit like the
little brother in the movie "A Christmas Story". You know, the one that
can't get up when he falls down because he is wearing so many layers of
sweaters and coats. But I don't have to move that much when sitting on
the bike ;-)
	Just before I reach Llano, the water finally manages to work
its way into the cuff of my gloves and wick down into the liner and
reach my hands. They lasted for 10 hours so I am not too unhappy.
Fortunately, I have a second set of dry gloves with me and I stop to
swap them out. The gas station attendant must have thought I wet myself
considering the size of the puddle on the floor under me whilst waiting
inside for my turn in the restroom. I'm sure she was not happy about
having to follow me around with a mop.
	With a new set of gloves and warm hands, I continue my trek. I
reach Kerrville about 7:45pm. A little over 550 miles in just under 12
hours. Fortunately, the LEO's don't like to stand in the cold driving
rain to write tickets ;-) I have totally lost faith in the weather
channel people to make accurate predictions. It is still 50 F and
raining all the way down here! Had I realized what I was in for, I
would certainly have just headed for home back around 1:00pm! Oh well,
at least here I can wallow in my misery with everyone else that rode in
for the weekend.
	Despite the nasty weather, there is a pretty good crowd,
somewhere over a hundred people show up. I manage to find a guy that
needs a roommate for the weekend so I don't have to pay for a room by
myself, sweet. I meet up with some Sprint ST riding friends from
Houston, Richard and Lisa White, and we get dinner at the Cracker
Barrel across the street. Then it is back to the hotel and to bed. I am
beat and still cold. After a HOT shower, I pass out within minutes of
my head hitting the pillow.
	We get up nice and early Saturday morning. It is still 50 F and
raining. A local dealership just up the road has setup a free breakfast
for us. So we bundle up and ride down to check out the place. After
several breakfast Tacos, we all pretty much decide to just go back to
the hotel and hang out in front of their massive fireplace, drink beers
all day and share stories. A few die hards actually head out to ride.
Later that evening they come dripping back in looking quite bleak. They
don't seem to anxious to talk about it hehe. The HSTA put together a
banquet for this evening and the food is great. There are drawings for
door prizes after dinner. My new found roommate wins the prize of
having our room paid for the entire weekend. SWEET!! I manage to get a
free T-shirt and another rider that won a Shoei face shield gave it to
me because she could not use it. This is turning out to be a better
weekend than I had thought!
	Sunday, we get up and it is still cold but not raining. I ride
back with Richard and Lisa, taking some backroads to Austin. While we
are in Austin visiting Richard's sister and her husband, we hook up
with another riding bud of mine and go get lunch. In the time it takes
for us to get lunch, the weather turns wet again. Great. Lunch is
awesome. All I want to do now is curl up in a nice warm corner and go
to sleep. But we still have about three hours of riding to get home.
Heading East on Hwy 290, we hit more rain and heavy drizzle. I split
off from Richard and Lisa in Brenham, the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream,
and take the backroads home to Huntsville. The rain gets worse the
closer I get to home. It is starting to get dark. Strangely, I haven't
seen many other riders out and about today? Somewhere past Navasota, I
pass an unhappy looking line of Goldwings plodding along in the gloom.
	I finally pull into the garage around 6:30pm. The rain
continues all night, the next day, and into the next night. Tuesday the
schools are closed because of flooding on area roads. Today, Wednesday,
it finally clears out and the sky is a brilliant blue! It seems the
weather is predicted to be perfect for this weekend, clear and in the
low 70's with a 0% chance of rain. I am still craving a ride up into
Arkansas but that just doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. So some
friends and I are planning to romp around East Texas this weekend on
the endless FM roads that wind through the National Forests. I think
I'll definitely be taking the rain suit with me!

Adios,

- -- 
Scott Friday
98-VFR800@xxxxxxxxxxxx
2001 Honda VFR 800 Fi His in Red
1998 Honda VFR 800 Fi Hers in Blue - RED BODYWORK FOR SALE!!

http://BackroadMotorcycleTours.com/
http://sfriday.com/
http://pages.tca.net/sfriday/ (mirror site)




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