Max and I were ready to roll at 8:15. That would give us plenty of time to top off the tank and get to Waffle House early. It was 55 degrees at 8am, but it was only chilly for the freeway ride over to the meet-up. The sun got things warmed up enough to make a liner unnecessary. :sun:



When this little girl saw that a woman can ride a motorcycle just like a man, she had to come over and say hi. Her mom was real happy when I let her sit on the bike and took a pic.



Talking, mingling, getting ready to listen through a reading of the rules... :scott:









Does this look like the face of a man who just crashed? (Not the dork making lame hand gestures, the other one!) :twitch:



The bike didn't look too bad.



He thought his R6 was a lawnmower, but after straigtening the shifter peg he was good to go for the rest of the day. :icon_thum
This was to be our only incident, and it was minor. I'm glad we got that out of the way early! :shame:

We took a road that a few weren't happy about, but technically it was paved. Sorta. Ok, well, kinda. It had one area that looked like a gravel truck took a dump, but the rest was hard-packed and easily passable. Somewhere along it, my license plate bolts rattled off and the whole mounting plate (reflectors and all) fell off my bike. Typical. :headbang: I'm just glad someone knocked it out of the roadway before it got mangled or it took someone down. I was able to go back and get it, and zip-tied it back on.

We made it over to Orsak's in Fayetteville for lunch. Apparently someone else had their license plate fall off along the way, but it too was recovered. Whew! Ok, so everyone else checked their plates before we left, right? :ponder:



Someone got cranky after lunch. Something about none of the men offering to pick up her tab... :whatever:



People starting splitting off for home at 159, 290, and 105. Once we hit Navasota, a few more hit the highway and the rest of is headed to Montgomery. We stopped for a comfort break as we hit 105, and someone tried to sneak in a nap. :sleep:



But wait, maybe he needs CPR? (I didn't quite understand what was going on over there, but it's funny so I'm posting it!) :rofl:



Once down at 1488, some kind of second wind was kicking in with these crazies! It started with a simple pat on the head, then just evolved into some strange entertaining act that slowed traffic on the roadway - everyone was staring! :shock:





"What the heck are they doing?" :loco:







Other than the terribly slow pack of potato-potatos we got stuck behind coming down 149 into Montgomery, the roads were clear most of the day and the pace was decent (IMHO). Some probably thought I was slow, some probably felt it got a little quick at times due to the rubber-band effect, but overall nobody was really complaining.

Some of the roads out there don't have much to them in terms of quality riding roads if all you think about are the twists and turns. Some of the roads are straight and flat, but the scenery around you makes up for it. There were places where the leaves were changing, the scent of burning wood stoves was abundant (as was the stench of rotting roadkill, unfortunately), and it was a peaceful day in the country.

Looking forward to doing it again! (but can we start earlier next time?)