Collin County Texas riders

[chollahan]

Passed by a good size group of folks riding north on SH121 through Melissa this morning on my way to work. Saw at least one ventutre, (millenium white).

 

Anyone from here in the group?

[Bvinson]

That group was Don's old Texas riding buddies. It was Rick Butler, Longtrain and a lot of Chapter 6 group from MTA . They are headed up into AR for what we call the Dying Leaf run. Usally a 3 day ride in the little mountains around Mena. I had to pass this on it this year. Work just seems to keep getting in the way.

[chollahan]

Boy, I bet that was a nice ride. There were a bunch of bikes out that day and all through the weekend. Killed me not to be able to ride.

[Guest longtrain59]

This is Rick's ride report in the MTA TX 6 forum; I don't think he will mind me posting it here.

 

It was certainly my pleasure. But, this trip was not my idea alone. It was a joint collusion between Jeff Jones and me from earlier this year. This ride started out as a Concourse Owners Group ride that some of us in Chapter 6 had been invited to for the 1st year and have been coming back to since then. This year Heber Springs was Jeffs idea to move this Fall season ride further east to cover some different territory than we have done in the past 3 years at Russellville and Clarksville. And he changed the date to a week earlier to possibly catch the Arkansas hardwoods turning colors rather than dying.

I must say this was one of the more enjoyable Dying Leaves Ride I have participated in for the past 4 years. As always we had an unexpected number of members from this area that decided to take in this ride this year. It started out as a group of 4 of us and turned into a domino effect where some of you just couldn’t let the rest of us have this much fun by ourselves and just had to go along. For the record, we had the following 19 bikes ride from the Dallas area:

Bob Timme

Butch Youngblood

Danny Lantz

David Adams

Don Davis

Doug Tobe

Howard Evans

Jim & Val McCullin

Joe Freeland

Larry Rogers

Mike Legato

Mike Murphy

Mike Robinson

Randy Simoneau

Ray Harrelson

Rex Adams

Rick Butler

Steve Miller

Todd Pierce

 

And once we got to the motel (after a 417 mile ride) we had about another 9 bikes or so already there from other areas. So it was an evening of meet & greet, having dinner, kicking tires, and telling lies until it was time to get some sleep because most of us had a good days ride to participate in the next Saturday. I had taken Jeff Jones original 236 mile ride and modified it to include another 80 miles for a total of 316 miles. Even though I like to ride in the back as the sweep rider, I had to lead this group and Rex rode as the rear sweep rider. And as a side adventure before we got into Calico Rock, I took the group down a 2 mile gravel road to a very scenic cliff overlook of the White River. This road was much better than it was back in 2000 where we had to ride around large rocks, ruts in the road to get to this overlook. However I hope the scenery was worth this ride where it was certainly a Kodak Moment for everyone with a camera. I have attached a group picture and a picture of the overlook cliff. When we finally made it back to the main road, every bike was a rocky grey regardless of the bikes original color. I thought I heard someone say “Get a Rope (or maybe water hose) for Rick when we get back to the motel” J

Anyway we rode up through Mountain View to Push Mountain Road and then to Yellville to the Front Porch for lunch. But before we got to Yellville, Jim McCullin took us to another scenic overlook of the Buffalo River but this time it was down an asphalt road. After lunch we lost Jim & Val McCullin who were headed for another few more days of riding in Missouri before heading back to Texas and Mike Murphy and Mike Robinson then left us to get back to the motel early. But somehow after we got gas at Yellville, we rode off and inadvertently left Joe Freeland who had went into the store to get a receipt. I guess Rex must thought Joe was heading back with Mike and Murph and waved at him as we left. When Joe came out and saw that we were leaving, he got on his bike and tried to catch up. However we had already taken a side road just out of Yellville that he missed and he headed on south trying to catch us. Regardless Joe managed to find his way back to Heber Springs and was waiting for us at the motel when we finally got back. Yeah Rex and I had to do a little groveling but Joe had managed to find a liquor store in Big Flat and had already had a couple of drinks before we got there so he wasn’t feeling that bad about it.

The rest of the group which totaled 8 bikes headed on west and south down the north section of 123 where we stopped at a primitive overlook of the Jasper Valley and took pictures. This private overlook is usually cabled off at the two entrances but when I saw the first one was open, I rode into it to the exit where I found it cabled off. So when we finished taking pictures, everyone had to turn around to go back out the way we came in. At the end of 123 we took highway 16 most of the way for the remaining 118 miles to Heber Springs. It was when we left Clinton after filling up that I finally realized “Where was Joe”? After mentally retracing the route, we realized that we lost him in Yellville…..which was a bit embarrassing J Anyway it was dark when we made it back to the motel at about 7:30, but a great days ride.

The next day we got up and left out at 7:00AM and headed to Petit Jean State Park for breakfast at Mathers Lodge…..what a view. Then we broke up into 2 groups with Randy leading the first group and Rex and I the second and headed for home down highway 80 to Heavener Oklahoma and then 259 south to Idabel and our normal route back to Wylie. But somehow the tortoise group had gotten in front of the hare group and caught us gassing up in Broken Bow and we passed them again at the Red River and we never saw them again. I think I heard Randy grumbling something about highway 80 not going to Heavener over the CB, so I can only guess that they got lost. I guess we made it home around 4:30.

Anyway it was a great 3 days of group riding with a good bunch of friends (and possible future friends for those who hadn’t ridden with us before). The leaves had been turning in Arkansas for a week or so but regardless were very colorful, especially up on the Buffalo River. And even though it was a bit cool in the morning, it warmed up during the day where we were shedding cloths by mid day. So in the end, we had great weather and no accidents or incidents for 3 days of riding.

Thanks for the memories,

Rick