Novembr PieRun: Edom, TX

Well, it was certainly a long day. After only five hours of sleep, I was up and getting ready to head out pre-dawn with Scott (M38A1) in the chilly 40-something air. We slabbed it up to Huntsville and made it to Tourmeister's place right on time.

From there, we headed up to Edom through various FM roads, all the while waiting for the sun to come out from behind the clouds and begin to warm the air.

Scott

Deb

Some of the bikes lined up at The Shed

The food was great, and the staff did a great job of keeping everything moving. I had the baked chicken, mush potatoes, and baked beans with a bottomless cup of coffee.

Sarah

Chuck tried fitting her into his topcase...

On the way back, we came to a small county road and I was sure Tourmeister was leading us towards an unpaved section. Thankfully (since I was on the FZ1) it remained paved - although badly potholed, rutted, and bumpy in sections.

We made a quick stop at the Bradford Cafe and found that they do lunch, homemade desserts to order, and can seat 90. Future pie run? I suppose someone will have to "take one for the team" and head there for lunch one day to sample the menu.

Near Madisonville, I hopped on I45 and zoomed towards Houston. The darker the sky became, the worse the traffic flowed. I aimed the GPS for the Toyota Center and got there with just 25 minutes to get into the parking garage, change into jeans, and head into the arena to watch the Aeros game.

Barely able to keep my eyes open, Jamey offered to ride the bike back after the game and I went back in the truck with the kids and some friends. By the time I got home, it was probably less than a half hour before I was in la la land.

October Pie Run: Blessing, TX

We met J and Lilia at the Starbucks for the ride down

Most of it looked like this. Not too interesting as far as riding goes, but it kept us off the main lanes most of the way down and provided for a quiet ride.

For Lilia's first long ride, she seemed to really enjoy herself!

The food was good, although the choices somewhat limited.

After lunch my camera battery went dead, so I went out to the bike and swapped out to my spare - which was [I]also[/I] dead :doh: so that's the end of my pics.

I got a ride on Grover's Tiger before we departed, and when he, Michelle, and Chris (dirtrideroader) and Mike (mikeylikesit) joined us for the ride home I got the green light to trade off for an even longer, curvier test ride.

The Tiger is now on my short list for potential next bike.

August Pie Run: Marble Fals, TX

Ok, so it took a while...

Our group met up in Navasota

Then hit the road for pie...

Then I took a picture of Bill's new wife Justin: :lol2:

And this horrific lens-shattering picture ended up on my camera somehow :shrug:

Ride-To-Eat: Kedra's Roadhouse

I didn't take the camera out much on the road for some reason (even when it was sunny and dry) but I did get a few.

Tina and neither of her husbands :lol2:

The other half of our table

Jack's table

Hardy's table

We met a bunch of folks ducking out of the rain in Ellinger. It was the first covering we could find once the deluge started and lucky for us it had a table and chairs in the back. We got some snacks, watched the radar images on J's phone, and waited.

These two were headed back to Austin from Houston and were still in pretty good spirits. ;-)

When the rain let up enough to continue on, we went down a few exits to get J some rain gear at Columbus Cycle Shop. I'd always seen it on the side of I10 but I'd never stopped - they had a pretty good selection and very friendly folks that let us park up on the curb (under the awning) and drip all over their store.

By the time he'd bought rain gear and we were ready for the push for home, the sky was starting to clear up a lot more.

Big thanks to Jack for taking the initiative to put these diet-undoing RTEs together, and thanks to Kenny and J for putting up with my routing ideas and, um, guesses... :doh:

June Pie Run: Hico, TX

My Saturday started off dark just after 6am with Jamey (JAR675) from Stafford. This just isn't natural for me... :yawn:

Met the NW Houston group in Navasota at the corner of Hwy 6 and 105. No, not that one - the [I]other[/I] one. :doh: Thanks to Chris (DirtRideRoader) for joining up in Hempstead and knowing where the meet-up was. ;-)

As we headed out up Hwy 6, I took advantage of a slow(ish) 4-lane section to get a rolling roll call:

David (Maverick)

Corrine (SchooterGal)

ToroGuy(?)

Tim (Abby)

Greg (Gregwithsomenumbers)

Deb (Snoopster)

Jamey (JAR675)

Chris (DirtRideRoader) and his daughter Erin

Incline? What incline?

Mav's bike left its mark on the tarmac... (and unfortunately the tarmac left its mark on his bike)

"Who me? Oh, I'm just waiting for Maverick. Silly guy, he dropped his bike in the parking lot!"

And we hit the road again

A few of the "originals" - Deb and Chuck with their vintage name tags

A bunch of people were already leaving at 11:30 when our group rolled in, and many more were gone by noon when we got as many as we could to gather for a group picture.

We needed to decrease the mileage between stops as the day wore on. It was just too hot to ride the route we'd planned, so from here (some town with an L?) we decided to cut south for Temple.

At another shaded rest stop at a Dairy Queen, the asphalt not only wanted to swallow my kickstand, but it wanted the kickstand plate too! :eek2:

Ten Minute Call... :sun:

Hotel time! The sun was starting to set, bellies were rumbling, and the dogs were barking...

Messican! :eat:

We can still see you :-P
(There's TWO fingers up, not just one!)

Brian (Nixx) and James (?) from Austin joined us for dinner before splitting off for home.

Whitebread (Robbie?) is in the blurry-faced witness protection program. :lol2:

But if you sneak a picture when he's NOT being blurrified, he'll give you the evil eye! :giveup:

Shower. Sleep. Morning. Pack. Breakfast at IHOP.

Jamey departed north on 35 towards Kansas City to start a two week riding/family vacation. :clap:

With a smaller group and more time to play, we stopped more frequently on the ride back.

This was ShooterGal's first ride that exceeded 100 miles! Considering she probably topped 600 miles in 100+ degree weather, she has certainly proven she's gotten over her "should I just give up" thinking. :cool2:

We split off in Navasota and went back from whence we came.

The gals:

The gents:

"Hey, what's that noise? It sounds like my bi..."

"What the?"

"Where's he going with my bike?"

SQUID! :phead:

Sayonara! Until next time... :bigokay: