Fall Fling 2005

 Kaw Lake
September

                                                                                                                                      Story by Andy Baker

     Early Sat morning I jumped in my truck and drove up to Kaw Lake State Park near Ponca City for the Fall Fling.  What an adventure!  What a blast!  It had been years since I'd done anything w/the OBS, well I do Pre-donut every Sat but other than that I've been outta the loop.  I just got a Yahoo map and more specific instructions via Laurie Allshouse's email from GW and took off.  I like road trips, especially in the dark and watching the sun rise as I cruise.  I use to do it all the time but life got in the way and I got stuck in a routine.  But something was telling me I needed to get out and get a different perspective.  What the heck!  OBS has always been like a 2nd family to me.  Kaw lake is only a 100 miles away and these were some new roads to travel (or so I thought, turns out the route used some of the old FreeWheel route, but it was still fun riding it again)...this was a no-brainer.
     I left home at 5:30 am, stopped for coffee and hit the road.  No traffic so I could fly. Stopped in Ponca, which is cool w/all the tee-pees and little indian stores and visited w/some nice people at a little convenience store who gave me exact instructions to the campground/ride start and  some more great coffee.  Ever notice how laid back and friendly the folks in small town Oklahoma is?  Nobody's in a hurry...I love it!  Anyway, rolled into camp to see lots of familiar faces and visited for quite some time.  There was a bunch of cool people there on all kinds of bikes, tandems, bents, hybrids, unobtaniums, you name it.
     Legs and Laurie gave us details of the route and we were off.  There was like 30-40 people and like 10 of us did the 60 mile route.  Real nice group of friends, Bruce and Mtn Goat Johnny and Mel and Mary and Rolf and Mike and 5 or 6 others who adored their bikes and you could just tell were thrilled to be out there.  And what a great ride we had! Lots of fun hills to climb and bomb down. Everybody was roughly the same speed so we just picked 'em up and laid 'em down regrouping maybe 4 times throughout the ride at a nice pace that didn't kill me but didn't languish either.  We stopped once to take a group picture (I'm sure it'll pop up soon :)).
     We stopped at a little store where Mel and I ate french fries and Snickers (Moni would be proud) and Rolf doled out old school Power bars (you know the ones that are like chewing on a roof shingle?!).  Thanks Rolf, great fuel!
     We stopped for a fun lunch at a hamburger place in a small town (it had a population of 300 w/2 restaurants).  The big hamburgers were the bomb but then again I was starving!  In the restroom they had a little machine that would whistle at you when you walked near the toilet, it freaked me out!  At first I thought it was Mel peeking thru a crack in the wall and whistling at me!  We chowed then hammered outta there and were flying again in no time.  We crossed over a super nice bridge and had a real nice view of the lake, it was beautiful.  Then the neatest thing happened.  We were cruising down Pecan Road into Ponca and this little 13 yr. old girl came riding out of some apartments on her little pink mtn bike yelling, "Hey!  where is everybody going?!"  I told her we were headed to tour a mansion.  She said "Oh, that Marilyn Monroe mansion?"  And I was like, "Ya, that's it!" (as usual I hadn't been paying real good attention to all the details. :)).  I could tell she was real excited about seeing us so I stopped to answer her questions which she was full of.  She asked me if I liked vanilla Coke and I said I loved them so she ran back to her apartment and brought me 2 cold ones!  Turns out she's a refugee from Katrina and her and her father were here staying w/his sister as a new home for a while.  She was such a joy to talk to, I bet you, and we sat out on that grassy hill and looked out over the fields and talked for close to 2 hrs.  Her name is Sage and she loves Buffy the vampire slayer, she said she wants to be an actress when she grows up.  She said she likes it here in Oklahoma because everybody is so nice.  It was finally time for me to leave so she rode w/me for a little ways till her 35psi knobbed tired fully suspended Next Wal-Mart bike wore her out and she said, "I'm tired, I'm gonna  go watch Buffy."  We said our goodbyes and I spun back to camp, climbing up to a scenic overlook where I was able to look out over the whole lake, it was very pretty.  That's what's so cool about these tours....the beauty we get to see.  Whether it's the scenery we roll thru, the other riders we get to fellowship with or the people along the way we meet we are surrounded by it.

  Thanks Legs and Laurie and OBS, as always, it was awesome!

 

Click thumbnail for larger view of photo. Captions below

G.W., Lynn and Diana are relaxing after setting up camp at the group pavillion for OBS Fall Fling. What a nice place!

Mike is helping Laurie with the peace sign.

Here comes Barry. What a pleasant surprise!

L to R

Lynn, Bruce, Diana, and Laurie playing with her ear. Diana is reading thru the wonderful historian book Mike has made.

Mary is having a time getting her lounger to stay still so she can lay on it. Darn thing keeps moving.

Mary is goin to the "Nasal Hill" campground. All those who snore, slept there.

Johnnie is cooking dinner as more campers arrive for the weekend.

Nasal Hill in the distance.

L to R

Debbie and Diana outside thedining pavillion.

Craig's monkey bread is Johnnie's Dutch Oven. What a treat!

We are riding to Ponca on the 42 mile route, so we could see the Marland Mansion. Clarence, April and Liz are caught in the act.

Lynn

GW.

Craig and Debbie with Barry right behind them. Gotta get closer, Barry, if you want to draft the tandem.

Miss Diana

Laurie

Talisa

Jim and Arletta.

Lunch at the Ponca City Town Site restaurant.

A reading of western lore by a local at the Ponca City Town Site restaurant.

We had a great lunch here, and also homemade ice cream.

A motley crew, if ever I laid eyes on one.

John, and John look at the statues by the front door of the Marland Mansion.

One of the ceilings on the first floor of the Marland Mansion.

L to R

John, Diana, Laurie, and John.

Larry cooking for the pot luck on his portable grill.

Thad is unloading his cookers for his famous chili.

Judy awaits the culinary extravaganza that OBS pot lucks are famous for.

Jim W. from Stillwater.

Mel and Arletta.

L to R

Maurice, Larry and Terry

The dinner bell must have rung as everybody is coming down with their chairs for supper.

Johnnie and Diana, you better get in line.

Is it ready? Are we eating yet?

Yea Mike, you are looking in the right view finder.

Is it ready? Are we starting yet?

Mike is still trying to master that camera.

See!!!!!!!!!! You shouldn't pick up a camera you don't know how to operate.

Craig is ready to eat.

Craig and Debbie wonder with so much food, where do they start?

Brian is looking for food.

The food is going fast. And there is still TOO much for us to finish.

"Is there room for me?", Laurie asks. "Those who wear yellow need to stick together."

This man is in training for a trench foot inspector.

Cyclists are happiest when eating after a good hard ride.

Cat with her dad, Wilton.

Larry and Terry under the OBS banner.

I think Mike is going to dance for us.

What can I say? This pic tells it all. OBS pot lucks are finger lickin good.

John, Jan and her daughter, Heather.

Everyone is content after the world famous OBS potluck dinner.

 

Link  to the donated pictures from Mike