Friday 02/02/2018 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• It looks like Friday will be okay for a ride, so I thought I'd head to The Gray House in Starr to try their daily lunch special.  If you're up for it, we'll leave the Key Mart parking area at 10:30.  Hope to see you there.   Steve

The Gray House - Trip Advisor

• A promising forecast of sunshine was enough to get seven riders to brave the cold for a ride to Starr today.  The departure temp was hovering just above 40 degrees when Dan, Len, Rob, Gary, David D., Doug, and I headed out on the ride.  The ride through Pickens and Anderson counties was on mostly familiar roads.  The rumble of the v-twins was enough to scare and scatter some cows as we passed a lot of farms on our way southeast.  Keeping up the tradition started by Sue, Paulette called ahead for us and a table was ready, again in the back of the restaurant, when we arrived.  There were few patrons when we arrived, but a lot of people came in while we were there.  The food is always good here, and we tried a variety of the menu options.  Banana pudding was the unanimous choice for dessert and it was good.  As we relaxed over dessert and discussed things like Trump's speech and government spending, we almost solved a lot of the world's problems, but we had to leave before we could complete the task.  Oh well, maybe another day.  After all, it was Ground Hog Day, and we seem to continue with the same problems again and again.  On the ride home, as we took some new roads, it was clear the temperature had not risen much at all.  At least, we did have the sun as we rode home.  Overall, it was another great day on two wheels.   By the way, check out the physical therapy update on OG Bob below.  Steve

from The Busted Knuckle

New photo from Excel showing OG Bob's progress on shoulder strengthening

Friday 01/26/18 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• It seems Mother Nature is going to let me get a ride in on Friday so I plan to jump on my Harley and head on down to Hartwell, GA for some lunch at the Downtown Café.  If you would like to join me, let’s plan to leave the Key Mart parking area about 10:30 AM.  Hope you can make it.     Dan

Downtown Café

Trip Advisor - Downtown Café

• I missed this ride because I was on a recruiting mission.  I think I've successfully convinced my grandson to become a future HOG Member....

Future Harley Rider..........

Friday 01/19/18 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• It looks like Friday should be okay for a ride and I thought I would head to Puerto Nuevo in Westminster for lunch.  With the snow we had today, and the freezing overnight temperatures, we'll have to keep an eye on the early road conditions.  Watch for an e-mail by 8 am Friday to see if plans have changed.  If it's still a go, we'll plan on leaving at 10:30 am from Key Mart.  Hope to see you there.    Steve

Puerto-Nuevo Westminster

• With the temperatures edging up and the sun on full display, six riders, including me came out for a ride.  With last weeks rain-out, it was good to get out, even if the temperature at the time we left was not quite 40 degrees.  Those joining me included Dan, Rob, Steve G., Ed, and Doug. With the below freezing overnight temperatures the past few days, I did some scouting yesterday to make sure there wouldn't be any potential problems on todays ride.  We did have some sand on a couple of bridges, but not the kind we wanted between our toes.  Taking some familiar Oconee County roads, we arrived at our destination before any of us got too cold.  Paulette had called ahead, and a table was waiting for us.  The restaurant was not that busy, but they did have the set up we needed.  We should have asked if they had a "hot margarita-toddy," but we were on motorcycles.  Instead we were served our basic drinks and chips in good time, and adventurous Ed found some of the specialty dips to enhance the chips.  The meals came in traditional fashion - "be careful, the plates are hot" - that you hear at any Mexican restaurant.  The ride back was on some open roads to get us back to Seneca.  With dry roads and sunny skies, we still encountered two fairly serious accidents.  On Hwy 59, a car inexplicably rear-ended a pickup with major damage to the car.  And then, after we arrived in Seneca, we were detoured due to a roll over accident at Walnut and N 1st Street.  I was glad we were heading home.  It was warming up and was another great day on two wheels.     Steve

  

OG Bob sent another progress photo from his shoulder physical therapy session.
Performing the classic "shoulder lift and push" move......

Friday 01/11/18 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• Considering the disgusting probability for rain on Friday, of all days, I am not planning a ride.   Those wishing to ride regardless should meet at the Key Mart parking area and select a destination and ride leader at that time.     Dan

Friday 1/05/18 Ride

Fellow Riders,

• With another cold Friday expected, staying closer to home seems like a good idea.  I thought I would head to Joe's New York Pizza in Patrick Square in Clemson.  I was thinking about a long ride to Charleston, but they have too much snow there.  If you're ready for a cold ride, we'll leave the Key Mart parking area at 10:30.  Hope to see you there.     Steve

Joe's NY Pizza - Clemson

• Well, we actually had some riders today for a ride that started out at around 25 degrees.  There were three crazy courageous riders that decided, what the heck, lets ride to Clemson in this cold weather.  Dan and Neal joined me for the ride.  You can tell by the wind chill calculator below how crazy courageous these riders were.  I  knew we didn't want to take too long, so I tried to come up with an interesting ride that provided some curvy roads and a reasonable number of miles to get to Joe's NY Pizza.  There were not many other folks out for pizza and subs today and we had no trouble getting a table.  Once again, hot coffee was used as a hand warmer and we tried the calzone and subs.  The food was quite good and we did manage to warm up a bit without sitting next to the pizza oven.  We took a pretty direct route home in the sunny, but still cold weather.  Although quite a chilly day, it was still another great day on two wheels.    Steve

OG Bob sent me a picture from his physical therapy sessions
at Excel.  Looks like the shoulder is progressing nicely.