[ST] TSRA Western Rallye

[Richard & Lisa White <RedRiders@xxxxxxx>]

Well, we made it into the driveway at 9:00 p.m. tonight. The trip back
was uneventful, thankfully.  We had enough excitement getting there.

On Tuesday after work, Richard left from Houston to go to Bird Dawg's
house in Dallas.  He was driving the truck with his ST in the back.  I
say Dallas, but really he lives just south of the Red River, or so it
seems ;-)!  I left from Lufkin on my bike.  Even though I was riding
highways and interstates, I was having a great time, until I pulled into
a rest area to change my visor from my tinted to the clear for the
remaining 80 so miles to David's house.  Remembering Richard's near tump
over, I put the kickstand down even though I was not planning on getting
off the bike.  As I almost was finished, my sunglasses case fell to the
right of the bike.  Thinking I would be smart, I got off the bike to get
them, took one step away from the bike, and heard the kickstand coming
out from under her!  I turned reflexively and took one step back towards
the bike.  The seat met my right leg just above the knee, forcing it
backwards. Needless to say, my worry about the bike turned to worry
about me!  Why do I always have this type of luck ????  There was a
trucker there who lifted my bike up for me in one fell swoop like it was
a small dirtbike!  I thanked the him profusely, reattached the pannier
(after bending the "hook" back into place), looked at the scuffs on the
front fairing, and hobbled around a minute before getting back on the
bike.  For the first couple of miles, I didn't know if I would make it
to David's house, but it is amazing what the body will do if it needs
to.

I arrived after Richard, who was of course worried about me.  I told
them I pulled one of his tricks, as I got of the bike, limping.  Richard
& David were kind enough to get my bike loaded along with all of the
other gear while I soaked in the tub and put my leg up.  The next day I
could only walk with a cane!!  The area above my knee was very swollen! 
I'm glad I have armor in my Vansons, or I would have been much worse!! 
The guys again were great, driving all the way to Espanola, NM, with me
in the back seat of the truck with my leg up. Once we arrived, they
unloaded my ST from the trailer and David's Guzzi.  Richard would ride
my ST the next day.  We had a nice dinner there and it was off to bed. 

On Thursday, I was walking with a limp but without the cane.  Still, I
could not stand to bend my knee enough to stay on the for more than a
minute.  Richard's ST stayed in the truck, and I followed the guys up to
Montrose.  I hated being in the truck on those roads, but I did a great
job of keeping up with them, if I do say so myself.  

Rude Dog arrived before we did, as did Shon Trimble and Dan Miller from
South Dakota. Soon afterwards, Dan Wallander and Ruth Morris showed up,
and from there it was a steady trickle of STs :-)!!  It was great!!! 
The majority were red!!  In fact, we had 1 Green Moto Guzzi, 1 Blue SV
650, 1 Concours, 1 BRG Sprint Exec., 1 white and orange T-Bird, 1 BRG
Trophy, 2 Red VFRs, 1 BRG ST, 2 Blue STs, 3 Black STs, 1 Blue RS, and
the rest were Red STs (some 16 bikes!)!   

We had a great meeting Friday morning, and we were off!  I could ride by
then, but I decided to do the shorter loop and not push it.  We took
Hwy. 50 to 92, which was a fantastic, twisty road with great scenery. 
We ate in Crawford, and I then made my way back via Delta, with Dan and
Ruth. The rest ran Hwy 65 and then went back down to Montrose, some via
the National Monument road.  The evening was spend relaxing and kicking
tires.

We were off early on Saturday, and I was able to do the whole route,
plus some.  We took 50 down to Ridgeway, and took 62 over to 141, which
is a fantasic canyon road.  I road with Beth (SV 650) and Ruth (VFR),
which was great!  On 62, the guys up front actually saw a bear in the
middle of the road!  Think about that . . . Do you really want to
stop????  At any rate, we made it into Grand Junction to the dealer,
Competition Cycle, and they kindly showed us a great place for lunch! 
We then went and ran 65 again.  It had to be one of the most favorite
roads!!

We had a great dinner that night, followed by our annual meeting.  Blake
Sobiloff was elected to the TSRA board, taking the place of the
"retiring" Jack Hays.  We'll tell you all more about it in the TSRA
newsletter next month.  

As usual, the company for the event was top notch!!!  Everyone was
great, and I so enjoyed putting more faces to names ;-)!!  The
facilities at the Best Western Red Arrow in Montrose were top notch, as
I am sure everyone will tell you, and the riding was awesome!  Dealer
support from Competition Cycle in Grand Junction was fantastic.  While
the dealer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was great in Arkansas, Competition
Cycle was even better!!! 

The closest thing we had to an "incident" was when Adam Nagel took his
bike into a gravel area off of 141 thinking he would stop there, and
ended up in 2 inches of pea gravel, and onto her side she went. He was
fine, as the drop occurred at an extremely slow rate of speed, but his
bike was pretty scuffed, hence his new Dawg name "Scuff Dawg."  Steven
Kohlscheen and Greg Gagliano had an interesting trip to the Rallye, as
did Jim Schroeder, but I'll let them tell you about their adventures . .
. .

We had an uneventful trip home, staying over a night in Vega, Texas.  I
rode my bike from Bird Dawg's house to Houston--not exactly the best 5
hours of the whole trip.

I HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED THE RALLYE AS MUCH AS WE DID, AND WE'RE LOOKING
FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!

Lisa & Richard
Aqua Dawg & Sly Dawg
Houston, Texas
'99 Red Sprint ST x 2

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