I seriously just have too much fun

Destiny. That's right, Blueberry and I were just meant to be.

 Enjoyed my Sunday afternoon riding through the refuge and having coffee with the family!

Hello front brakes! So nice to have you back.

The stars, moons, and planets must have been aligned because my parts arrived just as I had some extra time in my schedule and was closing the deal on a bribe I offered someone to play free public transportation for me. Yes! I had a bombproof, or so I thought, plan.

My plan was to call a locally owned shop and have them do the work since their website advertised that they install parts and change tires. Since it's just a couple of miles from home, I figured I had a better chance of actually finding someone to drop off my tires AND give me a ride back home should my bribe fall through. I'm all for exercise, but I think I'd be too tempted to give my poor feet a rest and hitch a ride home. Someone once told me hitchhiking was bad. It was probably my mother. See? I do remember things occasionally. 

Of course, I was already happy dancing seeing my grand plan unfold so smoothly in my mind that when I called the shop I was utterly disappointed to have my bubble be bombed. I was told that they don't put on provided parts...Man, I wish I could turn away paying customers. I guess $65/hr just isn't as enticing as it  used to be.

The key to having a bombproof plan is having a back-up plan when Plan A gets annihilated  and sent to the bottom of a dark sea along with all the other bombed ideas. I ended up taking Blueberry to a dealership and the work was done in a couple of hours.

But, seriously, I would much rather have given my business to a locally-owned shop. Oh well.

Since the work was done a lot faster than I expected, I've been able to enjoy the amazing weather we're witnessing here in Oklahoma. I decided the conditions were perfect to start breaking in my tires and front brakes. Woah baby! Stopping power never felt so good. I cruised through the refuge and saw some buffaloes chillaxin' in the prairie. Beautiful day!

Of course some more pictures can be found on my new Facebook page. I'll probably be posting most pictures there so it won't take forever for the blog to load.

Belated 3 Year Anniversary Ride

So the idea that women never forget anniversaries is not applicable to me. I'm sorry, Blueberry! I couldn't imagine owning another bike. At least not at this point in time. Still a little curious about cruisers, but not curious enough to where I'd want to trade in Blue. To another year of awesome rides!

Oklahoma Summer Evenings

Smell wonderful! There's nothing like a cool breeze and the smell of fresh cut and bailed hay. Love being at Stone Turtle Ranch since it's so close to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge; makes a quick, scenic ride more than possible!

Can you find my guardian "bell?" After losing my 6th or 7th bell, I had to find a substitute. Much better!

More of Beautiful Oklahoma!

Just some pictures I took this morning on the way to a "waterfall" near Elk Mountain. No climbing today since the mom came with me. We saw a bunch of awesome flowers and I even stepped right over a slumbering rattlesnake. I scared the poor thing to death. That's how scary I can be; Rattlesnakes flee. Be warned.

To the far left is Mt. Scott. To the far right is the "mountain" that can be climbed from the Parallel Forest. From the forest to Mt. Scott and back is about 8 miles. An easy afternoon hike =)

Prairie dogs in the prairie dog town. Watch out for these little rascals, they like to cross the street at all times. Also, if you visit the prairie dogs, it's best not to feed them since their water resources are limited.

Rock frog.

Oklahoma: where the buffalo roam.

More pictures on Facebook album!

What I love about Oklahoma

 

Is that Oklahoma offers amazing riding weather almost 365 days a year!

Riding with the Ducs

I found myself in the company of two Ducati motorcycles this weekend. My sprockets are kind of shot so I just stayed in the back...way back. At least I don't have to drive down to Dallas to have my bike serviced (if I wanted the dealer to service my bike in the first place). I hear the Ducati shop in OKC closed. The only motorcycle shop that serves espresso, and it closes! The audacity.

Seems I always have an excuse to stay out of trouble (shot sprockets, low fuel tank, no rear brakes, new tires, etc).

Yes, I'm also a horrible bike cleaner (at least lately).

So I'm ordering some steel sprockets this go around and hope they'll last longer than my Driven sprockets. I'm kind of going to miss my blue chain... I'm also considering changing my gearing back to stock as well as going back to a 525 pitch, but...I don't know if I want to. I mean I haven't had an accurate speed reading in 1.5 years, I oughta be used to it by now, right?

Because some days I'm just too lazy to pack my own coffee.

Coxs Corner

Waurika Loop

Temple. Not much to comment about Temple... Sears owned a store there until the 50s. I believe a Chinese company bought that facility in the early 2000s... It used to be quite the local-business supporting town (44 small businesses back in the day) compared to the now-ish time frame (13 stores). Sad.

Hastings. Another town that changed its name. It was originally called Bayard (I wonder if they had sheep...Ba-yard- get it?) and was incorporated in 1902. In 1910, it had a population of approximately 727. Nowadays, it's under 200. It's this tiny little town and doesn't seem to have a lot to offer (from what I saw- didn't get to explore too much). But, back in its heyday, the town had a lot of newspapers (Free Lance, the Hastings News, the Hastings Telegraph, and the Hastings Herald), a pool, a movie theater, and, get this, an opera house. At the edge of town (if one can call it that- it's a corner town. You turn the corner and that was it) there was a historic marker for Hastings Baptist College. Yet, the building didn't look school-like at all. Once again, I should have stopped... Apparently it opened in 1906 and was relocated to Mangum, OK in 1912.

All I can see about Waurika is that it's an awesome little town. I'd move there in a heartbeat. Yes, the Waurikans are probably thinking "Oh God, No!"

Waurika means clear water. I wonder if they have a spring.
...Wait...they have a lake...which I've been to. Good thing I'm blonde and can blame my memory lapses on something. I'll dig up that ride sometime and post it, too.

I should have stopped in Comanche and Addington because I saw some interesting/amusing things. Oh well, next time.

Logged about 160 miles on this ride. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of a semester!
Pictures from this ride can be found on WGR's Facebook page.

Bye Bye Birdie

May the little bird that met my front tire at 65 mph rest in peace. It certainly took a dive at the wrong time.
Otherwise, it was a lovely afternoon for a ride! Three other riders showed interest in getting out and putting some miles on the bikes. When the time came to meet up, only two other riders showed. The 5 minute wait policy was long up, so we decided to head out. Of course, we took a major detour to our not specified destination of Altus. We rode the lake road to Medicine park a couple of times before riding up Mount Scott where we happened to meet up with our missing rider. Funny how life works out sometimes. Since we had our four and the detours out of our system, we made our way over to Altus via HWY 115 and Hobart. I just hung back and stopped here and there to take some pictures for the blog (have to justify my fuel bill somehow, right?).

Pictures from this ride can be found on WGR's Facebook page.