Freedom Rock Ride June 9, edition 3
BTW, we determined at the bullhead that our radio communication system was not working like we wanted, so we did some testing to find the problem. Again, it was part of Val's system, the push to talk button, which was brand new never used before June 8. So I contacted the company, Sierra Electronics, and even though the warranty has expired, they said: send it in, we'll send you another. The warranty period was 2 years from date of invoice, which was April, 2010. We've sent in different pieces and parts many times, they've been very good about sending back new stuff. It's a big PIA to take the speakers and such out of the helmet and send it in, pay for shipping, all that. I will always say nice things about their customer service. May not say anything good about their headsets, though.
It's a guy's dream, though, isn't it? We've got these radio things so we can talk back and forth, and happily, the one piece that allows/enables her to talk to me is broken. I can talk to her all day long, but she can't say one single word to me! Not that I'll hear, anyway.
Saturday we get up early and find out that it takes much longer to load up than we think it does. I don't know why this comes as a surprise, we did it for 5 or 6 days back in September. Turns out that Val needs pretty much exactly 2 hours to get up, get ready, pack her crap, load her bike and get to breakfast. I can do it all in an hour....but saying so is bragging and boastful and is therefore rude and not allowed. Head over to Butch's cafe by 7:15, nice little place, full of locals talking politics, gossiping about neighbors, etc. Decent prices, good service, good coffee.
Look, they have t shirts for sale. What's the deal with every place selling t shirts? The statement: we now have corn nuggets. is apparently a big deal.
Breakfast took almost an hour, so we set off into the blinding sun, heading for Coon Rapids. If you know a black person that would be offended by that, please make a couple copies of this and show it to them every day for a week.
That sound you hear is Reggie laughing his ass off.
Coon Rapids is in the heart of corn country, and they have a lot of people that don't know where the road we were looking for was. Turns out, we knew right where it was.
That 10' ear of corn revolves. Neat, huh? Not too sure what these other things are, but they were pretty decorative and shiny.
Good times.
Next up! A deviation from the route/an L that should have been an R causes us to miss quite a chunk of our planned route. Oh well, everything happens for a reason, right? Found ourselves in Gutherie Center instead of Elkhorn, Atlantic and Adair, so we did miss some good stuff. In GC, I sent Shellie a text thingy, but opted to call Sheila. Not sure why, but everything happens for a reason, deja vu, and turns out that Sheila was still sleeping, my call woke her up so she didn't miss our visit.
Freedom Rock, the purpose of this trip. A granite rock along Hwy 25, just off the interstate has been painted for several years in patriotic themes. It is magnificent. You should go there.
Are you planning your own trip there yet?
We ride the "white pole road" on our way to lunch, which was not where we hoped to go, but somewhere different, somewhere that was actually open when they said they were going to be open. What a concept, huh? The Chestnut Cafe doesn't have much of a website, but they have good service, good food and good iced tea. What they don't have is a waitress that can take good pictures. She tried hard, with one camera in each hand...
Look, I have an orange shirt! You can see a couple of my high school friends there, very nice of them to take time out of their busy day to drive WAY out into the country just to see us. Shellie reads this blog with the fervor of a beaver trying to repair his dynamited dam. She's as enthusiastic as Richard Simmons doing aerobics about the bloggy thing. And I thank you for your support. I don't know if Sheila has ever read it or not, she's never commented....maybe she's just one of those "lurker bastards". Yes, there's an inside joke here. I really don't remember associating with either of these ladies in school, it's all thanks to AlGore and facebook that we're good friends.
Dinner in Webster City, 2nd Street Emporium. Nice place, the hostess was wearing yoga pants and flip flops. Kind of different. I had some pork thing which was good, Val had some sort of seafood crape thing that was not good. Spell check seems to like "crape", so I'll have to ask uncle Google what that is. Interesting. You can check it if you're interested. :)
We stayed at Super 8, which had a pool; we were excited by this until we pulled up to the bdlg. It was hot this weekend, hot and windy. So we were really looking forward to getting in that pool; besides, I had to pee! BUT when we rode up, before I turned off my engine, I could hear the 400 kids screaming in the pool area. I could hear them thru the walls. I could hear them over the rumble of my big V-twin engine. We did not go to the pool, because we could hear them screaming all night, running up and down the hall....and then the parents were screaming at the kids to get dressed, etc in the morning. Kind of funny, I think.
Review of Super 8? decent coffee, decent shower, frozen ice, hard bed. Hard as a rock. Comfortable chair, where I sat and read until bed time. I made some Hawaiian punch & added some bourbon for a delightful drink.
I've drawn this out about as long as possible, trying to waste some of your valuable time. did it work? :)
BTW, we determined at the bullhead that our radio communication system was not working like we wanted, so we did some testing to find the problem. Again, it was part of Val's system, the push to talk button, which was brand new never used before June 8. So I contacted the company, Sierra Electronics, and even though the warranty has expired, they said: send it in, we'll send you another. The warranty period was 2 years from date of invoice, which was April, 2010. We've sent in different pieces and parts many times, they've been very good about sending back new stuff. It's a big PIA to take the speakers and such out of the helmet and send it in, pay for shipping, all that. I will always say nice things about their customer service. May not say anything good about their headsets, though.
It's a guy's dream, though, isn't it? We've got these radio things so we can talk back and forth, and happily, the one piece that allows/enables her to talk to me is broken. I can talk to her all day long, but she can't say one single word to me! Not that I'll hear, anyway.
Saturday we get up early and find out that it takes much longer to load up than we think it does. I don't know why this comes as a surprise, we did it for 5 or 6 days back in September. Turns out that Val needs pretty much exactly 2 hours to get up, get ready, pack her crap, load her bike and get to breakfast. I can do it all in an hour....but saying so is bragging and boastful and is therefore rude and not allowed. Head over to Butch's cafe by 7:15, nice little place, full of locals talking politics, gossiping about neighbors, etc. Decent prices, good service, good coffee.
Breakfast took almost an hour, so we set off into the blinding sun, heading for Coon Rapids. If you know a black person that would be offended by that, please make a couple copies of this and show it to them every day for a week.
That sound you hear is Reggie laughing his ass off.
Coon Rapids is in the heart of corn country, and they have a lot of people that don't know where the road we were looking for was. Turns out, we knew right where it was.
Next up! A deviation from the route/an L that should have been an R causes us to miss quite a chunk of our planned route. Oh well, everything happens for a reason, right? Found ourselves in Gutherie Center instead of Elkhorn, Atlantic and Adair, so we did miss some good stuff. In GC, I sent Shellie a text thingy, but opted to call Sheila. Not sure why, but everything happens for a reason, deja vu, and turns out that Sheila was still sleeping, my call woke her up so she didn't miss our visit.
Freedom Rock, the purpose of this trip. A granite rock along Hwy 25, just off the interstate has been painted for several years in patriotic themes. It is magnificent. You should go there.
We ride the "white pole road" on our way to lunch, which was not where we hoped to go, but somewhere different, somewhere that was actually open when they said they were going to be open. What a concept, huh? The Chestnut Cafe doesn't have much of a website, but they have good service, good food and good iced tea. What they don't have is a waitress that can take good pictures. She tried hard, with one camera in each hand...
Here's something that I missed earlier. 2 minutes later, here came about 100 bikes, out on a "fun run." BTW, the arm waves...
We stayed at Super 8, which had a pool; we were excited by this until we pulled up to the bdlg. It was hot this weekend, hot and windy. So we were really looking forward to getting in that pool; besides, I had to pee! BUT when we rode up, before I turned off my engine, I could hear the 400 kids screaming in the pool area. I could hear them thru the walls. I could hear them over the rumble of my big V-twin engine. We did not go to the pool, because we could hear them screaming all night, running up and down the hall....and then the parents were screaming at the kids to get dressed, etc in the morning. Kind of funny, I think.
Review of Super 8? decent coffee, decent shower, frozen ice, hard bed. Hard as a rock. Comfortable chair, where I sat and read until bed time. I made some Hawaiian punch & added some bourbon for a delightful drink.
I've drawn this out about as long as possible, trying to waste some of your valuable time. did it work? :)
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