GARY'S RIDE 10-15-09

Wednesday night, 10-14-09, I got a call from Gary and he wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride with him and some others, Thursday morning, 10-15-09. You see, Gary's mom died last week and he needed to ride. Those of us that ride, know the therapeutic value that riding can have when your upset, pissed or just need to get your head cleared. So, I told Gary I would meet him at the staging area (Sutherland's) in Wichita Falls Texas at 1000 hrs. Little did I know that I would have to stand in line for a flu shot yesterday from 0845-1000 hrs. So, I met them in Jacksboro Texas, 55 miles South of here. Scroll down for this ride and REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE BIGGER, JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE...











I rode down to Jacksboro Texas and caught up with Gary & the others at the Green Frog Restaurant. The ride from Scotland Texas (20 miles South of Wichita Falls) to Jacksboro was a repeat of last Sunday's ride with the weather being heavy mist & some drizzle. When I got to the outskirts of Jacksbor, the mist & drizzle stopped. Here is the Green Frog Restaurant. For more info on the Green Frog, see this link: http://local.yahoo.com/info-18937097-green-frog-restaurant-jacksboro

The guys bikes in the parking lot.

This is Nubbin's new Harley trike. That skull on the trunk is a brake light. The eyes & nose light up red.

This emblem is to honor Nubbin's son, Gary, who was with the USMC and was killed in Iraq during combat operations in 2007. He and Angela, his wife, had pins made up, just like this, that we all wear in memory of Gary.

The line of bikes outside the Green Frog Restaurant

The bikes from the other direction. That's Gary's Harley on the end. Great paint job, eh?

Here is Nubbin inside the restaurant

Here is Gary, inside the restaurant. Gary is also one of our North Texas PGR Ride Captains and everybody riding today are PGR members. For more on the PGR see this link: http://www.patriotguard.org/

Bud inside the restaurant

Ted inside the restaurant

Joe inside the restaurant

Ted & Terry, one of the waitresses at the Green Frog Restaurant.

So as not to get Ted killed by Inez, his wife, I had my pic taken with Emma, our waitress. She kept me supplied with hot decaf coffee..

Bud had taken his new Venture into the dealership Tuesday for it's 600 mile checkup. While they were working on it, it fell off the lift and damaged his fairing and scraped up his foot board & mirror. The dealership has another fairing on order. Here is a pic of the damaged fairing. Bud is just sick about it

Ted gets ready to depart the restaurant..The front of Ted's Harley

The front of Nubbin's trike

The front of Gary's Harley

Gary's paint scheme

The points cover on Gary's bike

Joe gets ready as Gary checks in at home

Nubbin looks on as Ted backs up

The horn cover on Nubbin's trike. Those eyes light up on the skull

Nubbin ready to depart

Ted getting into position

Bud is ready to leave

Joe is fixin' to mount up as Gary looks on

We line up in the street & wait for Gary & Joe to join us..

Gary, backing up, getting ready to swing around into the street

Joe waiting for traffic to clear so he can join us

We pull out onto US 281 and then go down to US 380 where we head West. Ted in front of me as we hurry to catch up with the rest of the group

Westbound on US 380 as we head to Ft. Belknap near Newcastle Texas. Our formation was: Nubbin lead bike, followed by Bud, Gary, Joe, Ted & me.

Ted rolling West on US 380

Joe rolling West on US 380

Gary rolling West on US 380

Bud rolling West on US 380

Nubbin rolling West on US 380

Out in the countryside Westbound on US 380 between Graham Texas & Newcastle Texas

A short time later , we arrive at Ft. Belknap which was a Texas Forces & Confederate Fort during the U.S. Civil War

Texas Historical site honoring Maj. Robert S. Neighbors, Texas Indian Agent, who was killed on Ft. Belknap. For more on Major Neighbors, see this link: http://web.mac.com/jptate/De_Leon_Handbook/Neighbors_Expedition.html

Ted at Ft. Belknap

Nubbin's trike on Ft. Belknap

Gary's Harley at Ft. Belknap Texas

Joe's Harley at Ft. Belknap. We had parked our bikes on the road in front of the barracks & cook's quarters.

The bikes in front of the cook's quarters (small building) and the barracks

The barracks area Ft. Belknap Texas

We head to the museum, which was the original commisary in 1852 and the original Ft. Belknap water well

This monument was made from the stones of the original Fort and is in memory or the U.S. Texas & Confederate troops that were stationed here

Out back of the museum, standing around an old Civil War Cannon. Left to right: Ted, Bud, Nubbin, Gary & Joe

Again by the cannon: Ted, Bud, Nubbin, Gary & me

The sign over the entrance to the museum..

Some of the donated weapons to the museum

A collection of Rattlesnake buttons from snakes killed on the post. For the curious, buttons are what the rattles on a rattlesnake are called

A collection of arrowheads found in the area. Ft. Belknap, as I understand it, was also located on an Indian reservation

Nubbin signs the guest book inside the museum

Ted signs the guestbook in the museum

Gary looks at the original Ft. Belnap water well..

The cannon behind the museum

We leave the museum and head back to the bikes. Left to right: Bud, Joe, Gary & Ted

Nubbin leaving the museum. The monument with the flag poles to Nubbin's right is the monument built with the original stones from the Fort..

At the bikes: Left to right: Bud, Gary, Joe (in front of Gary) and Ted

The old Ft. Belknap Powder magazine. For those who don't know what that is, it is where they stored the gun powder & ammunition on the Fort. For more on Ft. Belknap, see this link: http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasTowns/Fort-Belknap-Texas.htm

We leave Ft. Belknap and head to Olney Texas. Same formation as before.

Ted as we continue West on US 380 from Newcastle Texas

We arrive in Olney Texas a short time later and proceed down main street

The bikes in a place we stop at in Olney Texas..Wonder where this is? Hint: Wichita Falls Texas is one of the very few cities in Texas without one of these.

I bet you all were shocked to see that we were at a Dairy Queen (DQ). And it is true..Our hometown of Wichita Falls Texas, population of almost 105,000 does not have a DQ. We used to have at least a dozen but the owner died and his kids let them go out of business. Been about 10 years now...

The bikes in the DQ parking lot: Left to right: my Vulcan, Ted's Harley, Joe's Harley, Gary's Harley, Bud's Venture and Nubbin's Harley Trike. Olney Texas

Nubbin sees a friend inside the DQ. This is Nubbin & Donna.

One of my all time favorite desserts is a DQ dipped cone. Since I had the gastric bypass, I can no longer eat ice cream. But Bud was more than happy to buy a dipped cone, eat it and tell me how good it was...

This is Thea & Bud. Thea is Donna's friend and I asked her to get with Bud for a picture. She did....

We finish at DQ and get ready to head out. Next stop was the NAVSPASURSTA (NAVY SPACE SURVEILLANCE STATION) about 10 miles Southwest between Megargel Texas & Archer City Texas. But Bud wasn't feeling good and was heading back to Wichita Falls and I opted to ride back with Bud to make sure he made it home ok.

As we watch, the others depart the DQ parking lot and head to NAVSPASURSTA. That is Ted, Gary, Joe & Nubbin.

Bud is ready to go so we then depart the DQ parking lot

As we head North up TX 79 to home, this is Bud behind me

Nubbin & the others made it to the NAVSPASURSTA and he sent me these pics of the antenna. This ground antenna is two miles long and at the time it was built (1958-1965), it was the worlds longest antenna. For more on NAVSPASURSTA, see this link: http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/navspasur.htm and this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_Space_Surveillance_System

This will conclude this post. I had a great time, as always, seeing & riding with Gary, Nubbin, Joe, Ted & Bud today and I look forward to our next ride. I also plan on riding out to the NAVSPASURSTA here in the very near future and see this thing for myself.

Scroll WAY down for more rides, events & posts and don't forget to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of EACH page for more rides and posts. Check out North Texas Bikers (1) at http://www.jjskewlstuff.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from January 08-November 08. and North Texas Bikers II at: http://www.jjskewlstuffii.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from Nov. 08-July 09. Until next post, ya'll be careful out there, ride safe, keep the rubber on the road & pray for our Troops & Pattie & Manuel................JOHN