Lonestar BMW Crawfish Run – Day 1

The trip did not start off on a very positive note. Rob, Herman and I all hooked up at 6:15AM at the shell station on 15th and 75. It was a chilly 39 degrees when I left the house. I was having some issues with the bike on the way down to meet them. It was sluggish, just not running very well. I was tempted to turn around and call the trip off, but then all of a sudden the bike started to run much better. I rolled up to the gas station on time.

I was also having another issue. I had borrowed a FRS chatterbox from Jackie since he would not be able to attend the run. I wanted to hear what everyone was saying on the ride down, as this was going to be a large group ride. I am not usually one to take part in these, but decided to do it this time. I could hear the guys talking on their radios, but then my XM quit working. I was not looking forward to a 300 mile group ride with no tunes.. uugh not a great start.

We headed off into rush hour traffic to get to the Dairy Queen in Forney where everyone was meeting. While riding down 635 (busy highway for those not familiar) the bike just chugged a couple of times and then died! Right in the middle lane. I turned on the signal and coasted to the side of the road. Rob called ahead and pulled over behind me. I was so mad, as I knew what had happened. I had felt a bike do this same thing a number of years ago.. I opened the gas cap and yes.. you guessed it! I ran out of gas!!! uuugh! I was so embarrassed. I told Rob, flipped the fuel to reserve (carbarated bikes rock) and made it to the gas station to fill up. Now if you wre paying attention, to the start of this story, we met at a GAS STATION. I knew I could make it.. doh! I apoligized to the guys and we made it to Forney without issue.

We had a quick bite at Micky D’s and then rode over to the meeting place. There were already a few bikes that had arrived. We waited for 8:30AM. There were 16 bikes ready to take off. Tom and Herman divided the group up and we headed out at 10 minute intervals.

The ride down was pretty uneventful. The weather warmed up rather nicely and the ride was a good one. We stopped for fuel and lunch at Palestine, Texas. I was in the 2nd group with Herman leading. We actually caught the first group before they hit the fuel stop. We all gassed up and then headed over to Ryans for lunch. After lunch Herman’s group started off first as we were a tad faster than Toms group. This worked out well, as we wanted to avoid everyone showing up for fuel stops at the same time.

We rode about 100 miles in between fuel stops. The ride after lunch was a great one. Very nice weather, wonderful scenery and good friends made it a blast. We stopped in Nacogdoches Texas. We took a little break and then headed to our final destination. It was a great day of riding.