|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The whole truth and (almost) nothing but the truth!
|
December 31st, 2003
HRRC New Year's Party - Grand Prairie, Texas Johnny and Linda once again hosted the HRRC New Year's party. The weatherman kept the cold winds away and the party was a smash hit. Three turkeys lost their lives in the deep fryer, and everyone brought a covered dish. Liquor flowed and Jello shots were coveted. Hot Damn and black eyed peas were omnipresent. Richard's twin brother made an appearance, but couldn't keep his shirt buttoned. The women were all beautiful, and the guys were all... well GUYS! Fred passed out early in the living room, and somewhere along the way we lost Linda. But at midnight, the kisses and hugs flew everywhere. But, at least Dixie made it home with her shoes this year.... I think. November 22nd, 2003 Love County Toy Run - Marietta, Oklahoma For the second year in a row, the USA Highway Riders made the short trek to Marietta for the Love County Toy Run. Thanks to a following jet stream, we arrived about 6 hours early. Fortunately, we had plenty of time to ride around Lake Murray, AND have lunch, AND hang around a parking lot for a while. Just some of the things we do best. If only there had been a WalMart around, it would have been perfect. Anyway, it was a very successful trip. A very large HRRC group made up about 20% of the bikes attending. Marietta is a small toy run, but nobody appreciates our help more than they do. There are plenty of kids there, and they all want to see Santa. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 November 16th, 2003 Garland Toy Run - Garland, Texas The expected bad weather never showed and we were treated to a warm day. A 23 bike group of Highway Riders left for Town East Mall, where we met the Kaufman group. Our guide for the morning was Chewy, who was to escort us to the Toy Run. After dressing, we headed out, making our usual grand entrance before a huge crowd at Dallas Harley Davidson. Police from several cities blocked every intersection for the parade of an estimated 2,400 bikes that stretched 10 miles long. The ride was too slow and too long. I can still smell HoHo's clutch burning. But hey... it was for a good cause. See you next year. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 Pic10 Pic11 November 8th, 2003 Angel Tree Toy Run - Kingston, Oklahoma The day started out early, looking outside at the rain, Do we go, or not....we waited anxiously for the word from the First Officer...after about 6:30 we decided to cage it. We went to eat breakfast at IHOP, Jack, Angie, Lester, Johnny, Linda and Ed. When a phone call came in for an order of bacon egg and cheese biscuits from Carl and we asked him where he was. He just said that he had to stop for Chuck to upchuck on the side of the road and would be there in about 10 minutes. When they arrived we gave him hell about being pregnant, and his reply was "No Comment". Well, we usually know the answers to those huh? We finally departed from the IHOP in our cages, said goodbye to Johnny and Linda, at about 9:15. it was decided to take 2 cages and save some fuel instead of 4 so to Carl's place of employment to park them. We loaded Toys and goodies in Carl's truck and Lester and Ed, rode with Jack and Angie. After a few miles we had to stop to gas up Carl's truck and degass Jacks fuel tank. We were on the road again and after what seemed like 6 hours (really only 2) we arrived. We didn't hit much rain on the way up....just a little drizzle. We met up with Dawn, Wade, Megan and Chad, just outside of Kingston, we used the little boys and girls room and suited up. After a couple of photos, we piled into the back of HoHo's truck and rode into town as Santa, His Reindeer, and Frosty. The USA Highway Riders had made the trip. After mingling with everybody for about an hour we lined up in the parade and headed out to Madill. After about 7-8 mile on the road with it drizzling we drove thru the town streets of Madill and ended at the City Square. Here we had an award presentation, for the oldest rider, (70), and the rider from the furthest traveled. This was awarded to our own Larry a.k.a. Texx Mexx. The Lil Elves Group was going to sing Christmas carols to us, there were only 3 of the so Santa, The Reindeer and Frosty all stepped in to help, and the Lil Elves just smiled big. After the ceremonies, we were treated to a BBQ lunch at the city park where we had brisket, hamburgers hot dogs (hey Megan do you remember what's in a hot dog) lemon cake bars, spicy cake, potato salad, beans and cookies. We mingled for a while and said we would see them in Marietta a couple weeks, they said they would be looking for us. After saying our good buys to our new friends in Madill, we loaded all of us back in the truck and headed back to the Gas station to drop off Dawn, Wade, Chad and Megan. Boy, was it cold in the drizzle at 60 MPH!!. We unloaded, said our goodbye to our newest members in Oklahoma and headed home. We were talking about how the trip went and said with just the drizzle we would have been alright if we rode, that is until we got to the Red River when the rain came down hard. Now we were really glad we didn't ride up. We had a great time, and can't wait till the Marietta run. Hope to see more of us there. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 October 24th - 26th, 2003 Fall Colors Talihina Ride - Talihina, OK Despite the threat of rain and cold weather, a dedicated (ie: non-pussy) group of Highway Riders departed DFW for the Ouachita Mountain and National Forest area of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. We were all treated to a hot supper by our own Lone Wolf, and full moons by Doughboy, Spooky, and Bug. Saturday morning, we expected to awake to rain and cold winds, however the front had not yet arrived. We geared up and headed up the Talimina Drive to begin our Saturday ride. At Mena, we headed east on Highway 88 and then 298 to Hot Springs Village. Then north on Highway 7 to Ola. Then the rains came. After lunch in Ola, we put on wet weather gear and headed west on 28. After about an hour, the rain stopped, but the cold started. The front had arrived and we were headed west with it. 310 miles after starting, we arrived back in camp about 7:30, cold, wet, and hungry. The winds blew, and the alcohol flowed. Everyone had a great time. We saw beautiful roads, wide rivers, rain, fogged up windshields, broken booze bottles, a flying coffee cup, a shadowbox tent show, the Duchess falling down, upside-down tents, and Bob's underwear. A pretty normal HRRC trip, if you ask me. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 Pic10 September 27th, 2003 Spooky's Ride to Paris (Texas that is) A beautiful Sunday morning found the Highway Riders riding the winding roads around White Rock lake. As we entered a barren no man's land know to some as the Land of Gar, our first hint of trouble raised it's ugly head. We got lost. Undaunted, we pressed on. Two u-turns later we were back on track. Headed northeast from the Land of Gar, we encountered some lovely twisty roads we all dream about. Redbeard must have been dreaming about something when he missed that BIG STOP SIGN and showed us all how to motocross with a Valkyrie Interstate. Either that or he was trying to figure out the radio controls, which on a Valk is like searching for the cigarette lighter in the cockpit of a 747. Fortunately the barbed wire and bushes broke his fall. After a quick bungie cord wrap to hold on the windshield, were on our way again. Ah yes, on the road again. Wind in our face, lean into the turn, hit the big DIP IN THE ROAD. Oops, there goes Steve... straight as an Aero, across the road and into the other ditch. DAMN. Two bikers down in ten minutes!!! We were in the Bermuda Triangle for bikers. Steve was OK, but that left turn signal was DOA. Undaunted, and fearless, the Highway Riders boldly continued our journey. At twenty five miles per hour. Now a bold few can proudly say, "We survived Spooky's ride to Paris". September 27th, 2003 HRRC at the StockYards - Fort Worth, Texas After delivering Margaret's chili dinner, a few bored Highway Riders headed north to the Stockyards for beers. Our fearless leader put on spurs and wowed the crowd with his riding skills. Spooky and Duchess each gave a much different exhibition of their own special riding skills. Doughboy showed off for the girls in the crowd. But, it wasn't long before the pussy posse came and locked up our women folk. Damn... another lonely night. Oh yeah... ask the Duchess how she likes doing wheelies on Exchange Street. September 27th, 2003 HRRC Oil Change Party - Grand Prairie, Texas Duchess and Bucky hosted the 2nd semi-annual HRRC oil change party. A chance for everyone to make fun of those that cannot find their oil plug with both hands. Bucky cooked chili, beans, potato salad, bratwurst, and sausage. Ding and Ed provided the beers and ice. Thanks guys. Tinkerbell provided the bike wash, wearing Bucky's t-shirt. Thanks Tink. Later that afternoon, we delivered a meals-on-two-wheels to Pokey who was working and couldn't make it. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 Pic10 September 3rd, 2003 Highway Riders Hijack Hospital Elevator !!! (HEB Area, Texas) An uneventful Wednesday dinner ride turned into a tense standoff with hospital maintenance people when a large unruly group of hungry Highway Riders piled into an obviously overworked elevator on their way to visit Trashman, who had earlier donated some useless internal organ to medical science. The poor elevator gave up the ghost midway between floors, stranding the bikers who were doing their best not to fart. Seconds turned into minutes as the sweat poured from the brows of the trapped victims. After what seemed like hours, a faint glimmer of light shown through the growing crack between the doors. Suddenly, a spring fresh breeze and a warm ray of sunlight poured into the dark cavern which almost became our tomb. A cracked, tanned hand of a savior reached up to save us. God bless the maintenance man. Oh yes, I almost forgot... Trashman was OK too. August 8th, 2003 A LARGE Cobra Bites Tinkerbelle !!! (Grand Prairie, Texas) - Our own little Tinkerbell received her very first tattoo today while swimming in a Zanex induced haze at Blues Tattoos near 360 & Division. Surrounded by fellow club members, she bravely dropped her drawers in the name of bikers everywhere, lifted her fist high in the air, and shouted "I WANT A BIG SNAKE ON MY ASS, AND NOBODY IS GONNA STOP ME !!!". Congratulations Tinkerbell ! Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 July 27th, 2003 Bucky proves that TURKEYS DO FLY !!! (Decatur, Texas) - An old myth was dispelled today when Bucky completed his high flying adventure which began when Miss Frilly asked him what he wanted for his birthday. Well folks, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR (cause you might get it). Donning a very large prison uniform, he set out to do something he hasn't done in 25 years... GET SCARED SHITLESS. At 12,500 feet, the jumpmasters carefully pried his cramping fingers loose from the plane, and out the door they fell. At 5,500 feet, he waved off the other jumpers and pulled the ripcord. A beautiful white and orange canopy opened above him. Oh beautiful day. Wait, what's that warm stuff on his leg? Oh, well... it's their jumpsuit. July 26th, 2003 BACA Breaking the Chains Poker Run (Fort Worth) - The USA Highway Riders were out in force today to support this very worthy cause. We headed to Granbury for registration and to meet the Granbury group. Then we proceeded north to Weatherford where we had two more poker stops at Bakers Ribs, and Apache Cycle. After a nice BBQ lunch stop, we headed for stop 4 at the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. The final stop was at the Stagecoach Ballroom. The HRRC really kicked ass in the bike show where Bucky scored 1st place in Foreign Dresser Stock, and HoHo and Bald Eagle scored 1st and 2nd respectively in American Dresser Custom. Way to go guys. July 19th, 2003 Party In The Country - First Officer Fred of our Ellis County chapter invited the Highway Riders to a party at his place this weekend. There was riding, eating, jet skiing, eating, horseshoes, eating, beer, and oh yes, Hot Damn watermelons. YIKES! While Ding was clearing out the BBQ, Donna was giving Slip-n-Slide lessons. HoHo was squirting Sharon (and everyone else) with cold water, and Tiny was mixing MudSlides for everybody. We all had a great time. THANKS FRED !!! July 13th, 2003 Highway Riders search for Bug Tussle!!! In our never ending search for weird places to ride to, The USA Highway Riders set out in search of the legendary Bug Tussle. Now most of us over the age of 40 remember Bug Tussle as the original home of Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies. That is, before the OK Oil Company bought it from him for 25 million dollars. Well we didn't see any oil wells OR swimmin' pools, OR movie stars, but we did find Bug Tussle. A lovely place, population zero. After posing for the required pictures, we headed north to Honey Grove (the Sweetest Town in Texas). There we had a fine lunch on the square at the Red Brick Grill. The heat was hot and the ground was dry, but we all survived. Good ride. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 July 6th, 2003 (Decatur Texas) Miss Frilly had this wild idea about wanting to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. She kidnapped Bucky to drive her to Decatur to the Skydive Texas drop zone. She wanted him to re-live his youth, and make one more jump before he dies. Hell, at his age the jump would probably kill him! Anyway, while Bucky is in his training class, Jack and Angie show up. Angie says she has "always wanted to do that". The next thing she knows, Paula and Angie are both wearing prison garb, climbing into an airplane that once belonged to Air America (the CIA for those without cable TV). At 12,500 feet, a blast of cold air blew up their pants leg when someone suddenly opened the airplane door. Paula is sitting in the open door looking out into space. Suddenly, they are out the door and into the windblast. A few seconds later, Angie is out the door. Now at this point, what is SUPPOSED to happen is: the skydiving instructors they are connected to deploy a small drogue chute to slow and stabilize their freefall. They freefall for about 40 seconds at 120 mph until about 5,000 feet and then they open the parachute, have a 10 minute canopy ride and glide in to a soft landing. Unfortunately, Paula's parachute opened immediately after leaving the plane (not her fault) and left her hanging at 12,000 feet in some pretty chilly air. And we know how she hates the cold. So she has about a 25 minute canopy ride and no freefall. There were plenty of big grins and hugs all around when they landed. Way to go girls!!! Denise and Pam, you are next. And what happen to Bucky? By the time he gets out of class, the winds and clouds are too heavy to jump. Oh well, maybe next week... Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 July 4th, 2003 The Tarrant county chapter of the USA Highway Riders held their 4th of July party at the wooded country estate of members Jerry and Dawn Briggs. Also represented were the Ellis, Smith, Hood, and Kaufman county chapters. Club president Carl "HoHo" Fletcher served as head BBQ chef and Mudslide maker throughout the day. Steve "Bug" Harbour was the entertainment director (but he didn't know it). There was both intentional and unintentional swimming activities and an enormous fireworks display after dark. As the liquor flowed, dancing on the patio would breakout for no apparent reason. The only injuries reported were Nathan (Shaggy) who forgot to let go of a firecracker soon enough (beer related), and his mom, Lonna (the Duchess), who broke Jerry's toilet seat while attempting the Macarena with her husband (which proves the old adage, "Never dance with your wet shorts around your ankles."). Special thanks Trashman for your contribution. AND, special thanks to Ed for bringing the Potato gun, and to Gutter Rat for the corn of the cob eating exhibition (WOW, we'll charge admission next time.). Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 Pic6 Pic7 Pic8 Pic9 Pic10 Pic11 Pic12 Pic13 Pic14 June 29th, 2003 Bob Haelle comes home from the hospital 6 days after quintuple heart bypass surgery. Then he came to bike night at Joe's Crab Shack, and immediately ordered extra crispy french fries. His wife Sue slapped him silly and gave him a boiled chicken breast to chew on. Welcome back Bob. June 28th, 2003 Highway Riders invade the Alamo City! A large group of Highway Riders and associated Royalty went to SA for the weekend. Highlights included several Winery visits, standing on the side of the road with a flat tire for several hours, begging the SCRC for a trailer pull, and fighting over who slept in the bed. Two words: AIR MATTRESSES June 18th, 2003 The Granbury Chapter held a most excellent Weinie Roast (without weinies) at Sharkbite's house this evening. After a fine repast and bullshit session, we adjourned to the boat dock were we were all swept away to a sunset cruise across Lake Granbury. The mosquitoes were pretty bad though. Next time we should wear clothes. May 24th, 2003 Wedding plans were announced today for HRRC member Paula "Miss Frilly" Stinson, and new beau "Bubba" from Buffalo. It was love at first sight for these two. The wedding date will be set right after Bubba's hip replacement surgery. May 25th, 2003 HRRC Coastal Fishing Trip. A brave (stupid) contingent of Highway Riders ventured onto the high seas today in search of the elusive "Red Snapper". A 4:00AM wake up call for a 6:00AM departure. Ahh, I love the smell of bait fish in the morning. A very wet 3 1/2 hour ride was followed by severe bobbing up and down like a rubber ducky in Ding's bathtub. Bucky quickly disappeared below decks calling someone named RALPH! The next six hours were a blur, especially to this reporter. Everyone caught fish except Bucky and this Ralph guy. The ride back was almost as wet as the boat trip.
|
