[ST] Rude Dog's 4/03 ride report

[Jack Hays <sprintst@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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OK, It's been a few month since I have ridden because of the back problems. The operation is over and Saturday was  day to ride solo in an attempt to get my ridding legs back under me. here is the ride report if interested.

04-01.         Saturday and it was a fine day with Hollie?s soccer game rescheduled. I left The Colony around 11:30 AM on Merlin. Because of the NASCAR traffic on my normal west leading back roads I rode the slab west on highway 121, to 183, to loop 820 in Fort Worth, and then on Interstate 20 west out of the metroplex. I exited at highway 180 into Weatherford as I like the scenery which includes the downtown restored stone courthouse and circle around it. I left Weatherford and headed on to Mineral Wells. Even though this road is straight I like the roller coaster elevation changes. About five miles outside Mineral Wells the top of the hills are dug down with nice rock outcroppings. For some reason I really like these outcroppings and the speed seems to intensify as you pass through them. As I top the final hill coming into Mineral Wells I am greeted by the large un-restored hotel in downtown which used to house hundreds of folks who came for the healing water wells within. I
 continued on 180 west and as I passed through Palo Pinto I looked at their stone courthouse. I noticed a cafe on the west side on the square and circled back to the Palo Pinto Café. I sat on the front porch and enjoyed some of the best sweet tea and fried catfish I?ve ever had. The waitress was friendly and I had lots of talk about my red ST sitting among a half dozen Harleys. Before leaving I went inside and thanked the waitress again and started dressing up as I crossed the street. When I arrived at Merlin there was a guy bent over looking at my Triumph. As I pulled my helmet on he looked up and as I said ?Donald Cody? he replied ?Jackie Lee?. Strange as it can get this was one of my old high school Buddies from a class of 24 kids. Donald was grade behind me but we were best friends and shared an apartment when we moved away from home in Dallas for two years. After that we have not seen each other but once since about 1972. Donald didn?t even live there but was trying to visit the
 jail to comfort one of his dad?s friends who had too much to drink the night before. We shook hands and hugged and exchanged words trying to catch up with each other. Donald was walking across to the café to get something to drink so I unsuited and we sat on the porch for about thirty minutes sipping tea. Finally, I had to get on with it and we said good-bye and I headed west and then south on highway 4 into what started looking very much like the Texas Hill Country. Lots of elevation changes and switchbacks as I feel and then rose from a valley. About eight miles and I turned west onto highway 3137 and then south on 919 through Gordon where I refueled. I then kept going south on highway 4 until I turned east on highway 1188. I stayed on 1188 until Morgan Hill and then on east on 1189. These were very good roads with great surface coverings and bent and twisted up and down valleys. At Lipon I headed east on highway 4 again through Tharp Valley and into Grandberry. Grandberry is a
 very nice town and the river crossing is superb scenery. I headed northeast in highway 51 back to Interstate 20 at Willow Park. From there it was slabbing it into Forth Worth and retracing my route home again.  This was the only part of the ride I did not like. As I entered Fort Worth I hit the NASCAR traffic with numbers 3 and 8 being displayed on every inch on rear window which is what I?m sure obscured their vision of me as I dodged several cages pulling over into my lane with socked feet sticking out of the passenger window! I made it home safe and had a great ride of 286 miles in mid seventy-degree weather. Nice to be over the back operation and now it?s just building up the riding endurance.



Jack "Rude Dog" Hays
"I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"

Remember: It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you have:-)
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<DIV>OK, It's been a few month since I have ridden because of the back problems. The operation is over and Saturday was&nbsp; day to ride solo in an attempt to get my ridding legs back under me. here is the ride report if interested.</DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo5; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: black">04-01.<SPAN style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Saturday and it was a fine day with Hollie?s soccer game rescheduled. I left The Colony around 11:30 AM on Merlin. Because of the NASCAR traffic on my normal west leading back roads I rode the slab west on highway 121, to 183, to loop 820 in Fort Worth, and then on Interstate 20 west out of the metroplex. I exited at highway 180 into Weatherford as I like the scenery which includes the downtown restored stone courthouse and circle around it. I left Weatherford and headed on to Mineral Wells. Even though this road is straight I like the roller coaster elevation changes. About five miles outside Mineral Wells the top of the hills are dug down with nice rock outcroppings. For
 some reason I really like these outcroppings and the speed seems to intensify as you pass through them. As I top the final hill coming into Mineral Wells I am greeted by the large un-restored hotel in downtown which used to house hundreds of folks who came for the healing water wells within. I continued on 180 west and as I passed through Palo Pinto I looked at their stone courthouse. I noticed a cafe on the west side on the square and circled back to the Palo Pinto Café. I sat on the front porch and enjoyed some of the best sweet tea and fried catfish I?ve ever had. The waitress was friendly and I had lots of talk about my red ST sitting among a half dozen Harleys. Before leaving I went inside and thanked the waitress again and started dressing up as I crossed the street. When I arrived at Merlin there was a guy bent over looking at my Triumph. As I pulled my helmet on he looked up and as I said ?Donald Cody? he replied ?Jackie Lee?. Strange as it can get this was one of my old
 high school Buddies from a class of 24 kids. Donald was grade behind me but we were best friends and shared an apartment when we moved away from home in Dallas for two years. After that we have not seen each other but once since about 1972. Donald didn?t even live there but was trying to visit the jail to comfort one of his dad?s friends who had too much to drink the night before. We shook hands and hugged and exchanged words trying to catch up with each other. Donald was walking across to the café to get something to drink so I unsuited and we sat on the porch for about thirty minutes sipping tea. Finally, I had to get on with it and we said good-bye and I headed west and then south on highway 4 into what started looking very much like the Texas Hill Country. Lots of elevation changes and switchbacks as I feel and then rose from a valley. About eight miles and I turned west onto highway 3137 and then south on 919 through Gordon where I refueled. I then kept going south on highway 4
 until I turned east on highway 1188. I stayed on 1188 until Morgan Hill and then on east on 1189. These were very good roads with great surface coverings and bent and twisted up and down valleys. At Lipon I headed east on highway 4 again through Tharp Valley and into Grandberry. Grandberry is a very nice town and the river crossing is superb scenery. I headed northeast in highway 51 back to Interstate 20 at Willow Park. From there it was slabbing it into Forth Worth and retracing my route home again.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This was the only part of the ride I did not like. As I entered Fort Worth I hit the NASCAR traffic with numbers 3 and 8 being displayed on every inch on rear window which is what I?m sure obscured their vision of me as I dodged several cages pulling over into my lane with socked feet sticking out of the passenger window! I made it home safe and had a great ride of 286 miles in mid seventy-degree weather. Nice to be over the back operation
 and now it?s just building up the riding endurance.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR><BR>Jack "Rude Dog" Hays<br>"I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"<br><br>Remember: It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you have:-)
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