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My tour of Texas, sort of.

Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
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Location
Bryan, TX
First Name
Dennie
Last Name
Spears
Several of my riding buddies ride the MCGTT. They take pictures of their bikes at the various stops and send them to the tour guide. I also sign up for the MCGTT, but I just use the stops to dictate a route. I also added about 150 stops. Maurice wanted to go to several of the stops and I wanted to go to the last known signpost for the Republic of Texas. Thinking I might take a few pictures of my bike with the assigned number plate, I dug through my stack of mail that has not been opened and found my packet. Unfortunately, it was from last year. My new number was nowhere to be found. But my Texas map is well marked.
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We decided on an early start last Wednesday, so Maurice went to Bible study Wednesday morning and met me at the donut shop about 9:00. We ate donuts, planned a first stop and decided we were not going to plan a return to home date or any stops. We were going to plan one stop at a time. Retirement is good. Our early start was about 10:45. Gold Wing and my new to me Vstrom 650.
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I don't know which of the pictures are part of the MCGTT and which are my add on stops. Some may be last years stops. First stop at 174 miles for gas and food in San Augustine. When one does not have a sloped lot on which to build an elevated deck, one uses a little ingenuity.
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The deck builder's business and truck, complete with gun rack. I think the builder is a cabinet maker. The doors to the shop and the wood storage building were open, but nobody was around.
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We ate lunch in a cafe/drug store/clothing store. The food was good, but the prices of the clothing were out of my range. Zoom in to the price tag. It says $104.95. Other items were similarly priced.

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The purpose of the trip, the last known remaining Texas Republic border marker.
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New London memorial. The school blew up in 1937 resulting in the death of 311 people. Shortly after, Texas passed a law that required natural gas to have an odorant added so leaks could be smelled before another explosion happened.
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On to Texarkana, Arkansas and Oklahoma by way of Gladewater when I get time.
 
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That is a Madd Maxx looking truck there for sure. Was not there when I went by.

BTW, I don't think that the clothing you showed is your style (or size), regardless of cost.

Did Maurice get a pic of the Welcome to Texas sign as you were passing into Louisiana (I am guessing you went through Jauquin,Tx/Logansport, La. to get to the marker?)?
 
That is a Madd Maxx looking truck there for sure. Was not there when I went by.

BTW, I don't think that the clothing you showed is your style (or size), regardless of cost.

Did Maurice get a pic of the Welcome to Texas sign as you were passing into Louisiana (I am guessing you went through Jauquin,Tx/Logansport, La. to get to the marker?)?
We both got a picture of "Welcome to Texas" on a city street in Texarkana. It's coming up.
 
Can anyone tell me how to turn pictures 90*? They didn't load true to the originals.
 
In Gladewater we took pictures of the same spots as last year, except the fire truck has been dropped.
Museum and oil rid in Gladewater.

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Texarkana has half of a courthouse. Maurice is straddling the border.
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Texarkana also has a monument to the Confederate soldiers. How long does it stand? Please don't answer that question. I want this thread to continue to be about a nice ride.
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Maybe there will never be a problem since the monument is kinda about moms.
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Welcome to Texas in the middle of a town.
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After spending the night in ?, we headed to Hwy 7 in Arkansas by way of back roads. Most rivers were muddy from recent rains, but not this one.
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Outside Mena. Houses on this street are hard to sell.
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A beautiful bike and a Gold Wing at one of the first turn outs of the Talimena Trail.
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There are two trains at the lodge on the Talimena Trail. This steam train, with heat provided by diesel, is available, but stationary.
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If this guy is going to be your engineer, I would check his driver's license before boarding. Actually, he is a licensed engineer.
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Drum brakes are OK if the wheels are 5' in diameter.
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This train has a more competent engineer/mechanic/ track repairman than the big train.
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We stopped for gas and a soda and noticed this truck in the parking lot. The store clerk said the owner drove it into the lot and asked to park it overnight.
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Probably a little grease on those wheel bearings and everything will be OK.
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Highway 82 and 2, just west of the Talimena Trail are awesome roads. Lake Carlton along highway 2.
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A race car just waiting to be stolen.
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Maurice has a sister who lives west of Norman, so we decided to mooch a free room. She's a veterinarian and also has freshly sheared Alpacas.
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Freshly sheared alpacas means bags of wool.
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The start of day four. The highlight of the ride was Sebastion. He came right to me. It might have been the plate of pancakes that coaxed him to climb onto my lap, but once he got there, we became instant friends.
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Back to Texas and more stops when I come back.
 

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In the welcome to Texas center, just south of the Red River is this WWII memorial. Camp Howze trained about 90,000 infantry soldiers.
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In Gainsville, just down the highway from the WWII memorial, there is a Medal of Honor Park. There is an engraved brick for every person to receive the MOH. Theodore Roosevelt is there as well as his son Teddy Jr. Teddy Jr. participated in D-Day at the age of 60. The only other Father/Son combination is Douglas MacArthur and his father, Arthur MacArthur. The youngest recipient was 13-year-old Willie Johnston in the Civil War and the only woman recipient was Dr. Mary Edwards. Dr. Edwards wasn't in the military.
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For you gamblers, here's an eighter from Decatur.
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On to Ft. Wolters in Mineral Wells. Eli Whitely, a Medal of Honor recipient from TAMU trained at Ft. Wolters.
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Texan Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier of WWII, also trained at Ft Wolton.
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Mo and I went back in time and ate with the Fonz.
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Just down the road from Mineral Wells is Weatherford Texas, the home of an antique car museum. It's privately owned and is most notable for the previous owners of the cars on display. Entry is free, with donations accepted.
This wooden wheeled fire truck was obtained from the city of Weatherford.
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This taxi was used in the movie Pearl Harbor.
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This car was licensed as a bus by the Broadmoor Hotel outside of Colorado Springs. It was one of a fleet of luxury cars used to transport guests around the mountains near Colorado Springs. It has 4 rows of seats.
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Gorbachev rode in this limo. It came up for auction and the owner of the museum purchased it for$140,000.
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Our own LBJ owned this car.

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Off to the Gym for me. I'll finish the ride back home tomorrow.
 
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Along the road back to Bryan

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A successful dung beetle
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Two praying insects
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Snoopy required a U-turn
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The main purpose of this trip was to put a few miles on my newly acquired Vstrom 650 before heading off in a couple of weeks on a longer ride to Colorado and Utah. I wanted to make sure everything worked correctly. Mission accomplished. New tires and a chain adjustment is all it will require before heading out again.
 
The main purpose of this trip was to put a few miles on my newly acquired Vstrom 650 before heading off in a couple of weeks on a longer ride to Colorado and Utah. I wanted to make sure everything worked correctly. Mission accomplished. New tires and a chain adjustment is all it will require before heading out again.
DRZ400 retired? Great pictures as usual!
 
The DRZ is still in the garage. It will remain my main touring bike at least until I get a CFMOTO Ibex 450. I get back from a 50th anniversary cruise to Alaska on July the 20th and my new job requires me to be in Wyoming three days later and I need at least one day of rest before leaving for Wyoming. I like the DRZ a lot, but I like the seat on the Vstrom more.
 
The DRZ is still in the garage. It will remain my main touring bike at least until I get a CFMOTO Ibex 450...

I had to look that bike up. Very impressive and USA msrp is reported to be only $6,500. They should sell a bunch when they finally get here. When is the expected date?

 
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