TAT-2016 Post 42 – Wednesday, 3 Aug 2016

 Leg-2 has begun. We finally got all our gear loaded and everyone in the truck around 5 pm yesterday. With four of the riders in the truck (Terry, Steve, Mike & Woodrow) we headed west with Oklahoma City as our destination for the night.

We arrived at the motel around 11 pm and I was in bed by 11:30.  The bikes rode great on the trailer and we were even able to get all our gear in the bed of the truck protected by a bed cover that Terry had installed the day before we left.

Our plan was to meet at 5 am, breakfast at Waffle House, which was 50 yards from the motel and be on the road before 6 am. Jeff left Tulsa much earlier and hooked up with us at the motel in time for breakfast. His son and my grandson Garret drove Jeff to OKC then had to drive back to Tulsa to go to work at 10 am. Great kids both of them and I’m really glad Jeff is able to join us on this leg of the TAT.

We started today with a 11+ hour ride ahead of us and 5 of us riding in Terry’s pickup. I drove the first 4 hours past Amarillo, TX. Now in the back seat writing my Blog because I have been informed that there is no Wi-Fi at the cabin in Lake City, CO. For the first couple of days Wi-Fi is questionable so trying to get ahead of the game. Terry’s truck is very comfortable and even though 3 in the backseat isn’t perfect it is manageable. We hope to arrive at Lake City around 5 pm local so we have time to unload the bikes and get our gear together so we can get an early start tomorrow for our local rides.

Now for the bad news. The weather in Lake City doesn’t look good. Lots of thunderstorms and rain for next few days will certainly impact our local rides to some degree. We won’t know for sure until we get there but our ability to get the Alpine Loop done tomorrow is up in the air. I know if we were on the ride non-stop we would go no matter the weather but we are riding smart and that means taking no unnecessary risks.

Not much more to report right now but will wait to post this later today.

As a side note we did get reservations at LJs Bunkhouse close to Boise, OK for night 3 on the trail.

As a reminder, the link for my SPOT track will begin in the morning and last until we return to AR. The link is below:

SPOT Tracking

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=11c26579b759077ef8

It’s now 9:45 pm and it’s been a busy day. We arrived at Lake City around 5 pm, unloaded the bikes and immediately took a ride around town to fuel up and just get a ride in to loosen up after 13 hours in the truck.

We then drove the truck into town (3 blocks away) to have pizza and beer for dinner. We are now gearing up and loading the bikes for a 7 am departure to ride Engineer and Cinnamon passes. The weather is forecasted for 100% rain so we will play it by ear but determined to go see what it looks like before we turn around in defeat. Have to be back by 5 pm so we can drive to Gunnison to pick up Marty at the airport.

Everyone is excited to ride somewhere tomorrow no matter the weather so hope to have some great pics on tomorrows Blog.

BTW we have excellent cell service at the cabin so Wi-Fi works great.

More tomorrow night.