Myself and 4 others left at 7:30 this morning to take care of a couple of things over in southern Missouri...

388 miles round trip, with temperatures starting off in the mid 50's and climbing up into the low 80's.

Got on Interstate 44 outside of Joplin, MO., and cruised over east of Springfield, MO., with portions east of Springfield being the old Route 66.

Great day to be out on a bike, and I feel sorry for those that were stuck at work on such a nice day....

That is all.

 

Rode to Columbus myself. Had to show the salesman at AD Farrows how I butchered the bike he sold me.

 

Damn I was stuck working with my pink sporty out in the parking lot. I managed to throw on 50 miles of country back roads that I never been on before after work, but wish I had the whole day off. I was going to call in sick tomorrow cause we are having mid 80's but my boss stopped by and I joked that I might not feel well tomorrow and looking back now I should have kept my mouth shut.

 

I was just in that general area Monday. I took Arkasas 59 up though, then crossed over on 60.
It wasn't exactly pleasure, I had a funeral to attend, but it was a beautiful drive to Aurora.

 

As you probably know, SW Missouri area had some rain on Monday night, so when the sun popped out late Tuesday morning, and the temperature climbed up around 80, the humidy must have been close to 100%... Muggy out there for sure. [8D]

We stopped in Aurora for a while as that is where my parents and younger brother live. Nice country....

Kind of skipped in and out of light showers when heading back to the OK border area, but it was still a great ride.

 

388 miles?....I envy you.

Me n riding buddy headed out to restaurant/bar on the river and kinda vegged out...then we rode 30 miles to town and hit all bars still open...ended up at stripper bar.

Leaving river restuarant/bar I over shot sharp left curve and ended up skidding rear tire thru most of turn fighting a high-side.....I'd never rode that road before and was just hitting second really hard when curve came into view of headlight, so i tossed her hard to left and stood on rear brake thru turn...She wanted to high-side but rear end was controllable and allowed me to lean her hard over to left as she skidded....front wheel remained steerable as i scooted up on tank.....I was still puckered to the seat 30 miles later when we hit the red lights of town.....rural Lousiaina roads are not very forgiving but I played flat tracker and survived that curve somehow.....

That kinda handling is in her blood....just push hard on the bars and crawl up on the tank-she won't toss you like a jap bike when the rear wheel gets stupid....the sporty also has enuff torque to convert a brake slide to a power slide and that's another saving grace.

They tossed us out of stripper bar at 3AM sharp so we puttered slow thru down town listening to our pipes echo off the buildings and finally headed home....I prefer night riding...always have....especially solo, but this bud was in town for the week and he makesa good riding partner....me n him kinda read each other's minds and avoid each other when it gets iffy....then we just look knowingly at each other once to stoppedto cool off after the hot laps.....we both end up grinning at what we just survived.....no words, just grins and head shakes, then on to the next stupid adventure.

I'm falling in love with the sporty.....My road king ain't seen many miles this last month now that it's warmed up....I jerked the windshield offand rode her to work a few days ago but it wasn't the same as the rush i get on the sportster.

The sportster is really coming together.....combination of mods is starting to click....been tweeking the fuel map and riding her to her limits more n more.....she's starting to look good....folks taking pics and asking questions everywhere I go....Just ordered hera billet front wheel yesterday.....thinking 200 MM azz end is next.

 

Muggy is right! My brother, who never wears a helmet - but had to for Mo. law, was dripping sweat.
But we were out of there, & I was back home by 7:30 Monday night - so I missed the showers. I would have been home even sooner - but I forgot that on the Ark side - Hwy 100 is something else, so I blew right past it, and figured out when I hit Natural Dam that I had gone too far.
Even with the ever present Arkansas road construction, we made it up there earlier than I expected, so we stopped into the Blackbird Bar/Grill in Aurora. A couple of beers, some greek bread and cucumber dip later, & I was ready to say goodbye to my favorite uncle.
I wonder if your kin know my kin? His name was/is Xury Burk, his wife is my aunty Betty.
If they know any Hedricks - those are all my kin.
I will be taking that same route fairly soon - my cousins asked me to come up and stay a day or so... and it IS a beautiful ride. This time I can really enjoy it, instead of flying as fast a possible.
If you are in the area too - I can introduce myself, & buy you a beer if you are so inclined.
Have a good one.

 

Same temps here yesterday!! Not muggy though, excellent day for riding. I didn't get in 388 miles, but managed to ride about 120 miles. Finally got to ride in my riding gear of choice. Shorts, sleeveless t-shirt. Oh, and don't forget the "gayass fingerless gloves"