200+ Miles Saturday

Friday afternoon I rented a Harley Davidson Street Glide for a day. I picked it up at 4:00 from the dealership. There are new owners, Gene and Bobby. Bobby is a local attorney I know a little. Kind of a glamorous business to get into, like owning a restaurant. Lots of inventory and employees.

It was raining slightly and getting dark so I went straight home Friday. Saturday, I went for a run of 9 miles and then met Tom, his son Mark & Jeff and we went to pick up a 5th but he had been out late and was in no riding shape. From McAllen we headed east to Raymondville where we had breakfast at a little cafe, Casa Blanca. Amazing the places you go into on a motorcycle that you'd never otherwise stop in. The waitress was very nice and the food was good and cheap. Afterwards we headed east to Port Mansfield. I had never been there. Its kind of a dead end right in to the bay. Some house and commercial sites there but very small. After a break there we came back down a road I had ridden my bicycle on, FM 1420. That is where we had to stop due to high wind in the Jalapeno 100 in 2008. I saw the little church we were at.

Going further, we stopped at Camp Perry which is the local Boy Scout camp. It was a nice setup right on the arroyo. Tom is very active in the scouts (both he and his son were Eagle Scouts/Order of the Arrow) so we were able to go in the OA Leader room where Tom showed me his "Wood Badge" which he called the Ph.D. of scouting. There was a camp going on so people were there. We also met Pete who is the camp director.

My scout history was not so illlustrious. We moved when I was in junior high. I had been active in the Cub Scouts and Webelos, but going to a new Boy Scout troop, I never quite fit in and lost interest. Never even made it to Tenderfoot rank and only earned one merit badge (in Music!). You earned several badges by going to scout camp but I never made it there.

After the camp, Tom asked if I had ever been to Dirty Al's in South Padre. "No"... "Well we've got to go there then!" Off we went, and it was worth it. The fried shrimp were as good as promised. Excellent. At this time it was 3:30 so time to head back. I got the motorcycle back at 5:00 p.m. and it was a long day of riding. When I got home, I was not able to stay up and watch the Longhorn game. Out by 8:00 p.m Susan said.

Today I was at home mostly. We got the backyard trimmed and cleaned up the beds. It looks good. It was a nice day so I washed the car and went to the driving range in preparation for my golf game tomorrow at the redesigned Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. I'm looking forward to see how they fixed up one of my favorite courses of all.