Kathleen and Phil with their 2007 Honda Goldwing

25 years ago, BC ( before children ), Kathleen and I had a Yamaha 650 Maxim to take a trip or 2 on. However, Kathleen became pregnant with our first child and the motorcycle was sold. Now, with the last child graduating from college....we decided to revive this great adventure in our lives. Below we will share our trips on our new Goldwing.

<

We are members of the GWRRA

GoldWing Road Riders Association also known as GoldWing Restaurant Raiders Association

Dinner Rides and our rating of the establishment (***** is best)

Eduardos, Chickasha, Ok ***** Ya gadda eat there !!
Jo's Famous Pizza, Purcell, OK ***** Ya gadda eat there !!
Firelake Casino buffet, Dayle, OK ***
Sonic, McLoud, OK **
Sonic, NE 23, Choctaw,OK ****
McAllister's, Edmond, OK ****
Ted's Escondido, OKC-south ***** Ya gadda eat there !!

April 11-13, 2008 . . . 552 miles. We headed to Muskogee ( Phil is a true Okie from Muskogee...born there in 1952 ), Ok for the famous Azalea Festival at Honor Heights Park and parade. This was a motorcycle trip Kathleen and I took 25 years ago, BC. That we decided to repeat. The winds were a gale force and it was great practice for our upcoming 4000 mile trip to California and back.
Leaving Muskogee on Saturday afternoon we traveled north to Tahlequah( one of the destination stops for the Oklahoma Grand Tour contest ) and on to Pryor to spend the night with Phil's parents. Sunday morning we headed north to Vinta to catch highway 60 to travel across the northern edge of Oklahoma thru Nowata, Bartlesville, Pawhuska, and Ponca City. Again fighting crosswinds of 25-30mph. At Ponca City we stopped at the Standing Bear Museum ( another of the Oklahoma Grand Tour destinations ). We then headed south to Stillwater and enjoyed the wind to our back for a change.
It was a fun trip and a good 'tune-up' for our summer trip.



October 12-14, 2007 . . . .destination Talimena Scenic Drive and Mena, Arkansas, 531 miles round trip . . . .We traveled SE through Tecumseh, Seminole, and Holdenville to McAlester where we spent the night at the very nice Hydrangea Bed and Breakfast. After arriving and checking in at the Hydrangea we traveled to Krebs, OK to the famous Pete's Place for a wonderful dinner. If you haven't eaten at Pete's Place, you should put it on your "to do" list. Saturday morning after a wonderful breakfast at the Hydrangea we headed towards The Talimena National Scenic Byway in the Ouachita National Forest. Along the way we traveled thru Hartshorne. They were having a "Hard Times" celebration all along the downtown street. We stopped there briefly to see the activities. We resumed our voyage but oddly enough....we stopped at the Talimena State Park for a bathroom and leg-stretch break....where Kathleen ran into someone she knew from 20 years ago...in the small bathroom there in the park. We continued up the twisty scenic drive noticing that we were a little too early in the year to catch the autumn foliage colors but it was a beautiful ride regardless. About 3/4 thru the drive we arrived at the Queen Wihelmina State Park and Lodge in Arkansas and enjoyed lunch at the lodge and a 1-mile hike to work-off the lunch. We continued down the route and arrived in Mena, Arkansas where we had reservations at the Ozark Inn motel. It was quite funny...after a bit of searching we found the motel to discover there were NO cars there...it looked abandoned. A note on the office window said to look around for the office manager who was working somewhere in the motel. After a brief search we found a couple folks who were busy remodeling a room. I asked if they were open for business and received an affirmative nod. I mentioned that I had made reservations....tho' it looked like I probably did not need to do that :-) Turns out the room was fine ( just newly remodeled--- finished minutes before we moved in ). Sunday morning we headed home but took a different route. We were trying to beat some predicted thunderstorms home but we did manage to stop briefly at the Heavener Runestone State Park and Robber's Cave State Park. We arrived in Eufaula ready for some lunch and found a VERY nice quaint cafe, The Flower Shoppe and Caffe. They serve lunch, only, daily from 11am-2pm. It is a "must eat there" place if going thru Eufaula at an appropriate time. We arrived home after a nice 265 mile trip for the day, completing our 531 mile trip. We may do this again soon and try to time our trip to see the fall colors.



July 7, 2007 . . . .destination to see the grand-daughters and family in Stillwater, OK...145 miles round trip . . . . . We traveled over to Jones, Ok and caught Hog Back Road, a favorite road to utilize going north from home. It has very little traffic and some gentle curves that are fun on the cycle. It ends up in Luther where we caught old Hwy 66 for a few miles to Wellston. Just past Wellston we caught Hwy 177 thru Carney, Perkins and on to Stillwater. We enjoyed a nice visit and late lunch with our daughter and her husband, son and his girlfriend, as well as our 2 granddaughters, Natalie and Savannah. We departed Stillwater, heading east on hwy 51 to take a different route home, via hwy 108 thru Ripley, OK. We were surprised to find the hwy appeared to be under construction with "Caution: Motorcycle" signs everywhere....but they must have been through with the construction as the hwy was very nice and had just been re paved. We continued on thru Agra, Chandler, Meeker, Harrah and Choctaw. At Choctaw we stopped at one of our favorite places, Sonic, and enjoyed a slush to cool down a bit before heading on home.



July 4-5, 2007 . . . .destination Quartz Mountain State Park, 360 miles round trip . . . . . the morning of July 4th we began our trip towards Quartz Mtn State Park with our first stop to be at our friends, Ron and Mary Segal, in Clinton, OK. about 2 hours away.

Along the way we went thru Tuttle, OK. and were amazed that the streets were lined, 2 deep, with people for several blocks....WE WERE IN a PARADE...and didn't even know it. I guess they were actually waiting for the real parade to start but it was kind of cool driving thru the town with all the people standing there to wave at. We wished we had brought some candy or something to throw to all the kids and townspeople as we cruised their main street. We continued on thru Minco, Binger, and Corn towards Mary and Ron's house. We were very excited to go thru Corn as it was a little town that Kathleen and I had both bypassed for over 45 years....knowing where it was but never having actually been there. We had a wonderful visit and lunch with Ron and Mary before continuing our journey thru Cordell, Rocky, Sentinel, Lone Wolf, and Granite before arriving at Quartz Mountain. The lake was FULL....it was down over 30 feet just 3 short months ago. It is beautiful....the granite mountains were so green.....these were things that have been very rare to see at Quartz Mountain the past few years. We visited and dined with Kathleen's brother and sister-in-law that evening. The next morning we broke out the collapsible fishing poles we had stowed away in the saddle bag of the motorcycle and spent a short time failing to catch anything.

We loaded the cycle and headed back home...going thru Lone Wolf, Hobart, Gotebo, Mountain View, Carnegie, Fort Cobb, Albert, and back to Binger. We had a nice lunch at a quaint little Cafe in downtown Binger before heading on home. This was our first cycle adventure and it was most enjoyable with no difficulties. Even tho' there were chances of rain both days....we didn't even get sprinkled on until getting about 2 miles from home.

TynyŽ home page