Spring Fling 2006

Story by Andy Baker

        Well, it all started for me early Fri morning before work. Got off the bike w/30 minutes to spare before I had to be clocked in. Grabbed a shower and a bite to eat. Dove in the closet, dug out the tent, sleeping pad, riding shoes, helmet and ran out the house w/bike in tow. Ya, I knew I'd forget a million things but had to get to Spring Fling and more immediately work...quick!!!
    Got to work and printed off Gary's instructions. Thank God they were perfect cause I'm the world’s best at getting the most lost. Got outta work late so of course, as always, was driving down the highway in the dark looking for a foreign campground and familiar faces.
     I started having deja vu of a bunch of years back going to the Boy Scout Campground out there in Clinton for a ride. After dark, starving to death, new tent w/NO idea how to set up. I'll never forget that night how Johnny and Diana Lerma crawled out of their tent in the cold and shined flashlights and helped me figure out how to put up the tent.
     Made it to Marietta landing. Usual MO for Andy. No food, no tent stakes, no hammer, no floor pump, no water, no clue, etc. :) Thank God for buddies (and convenience stores in the campground!). Got food and stakes.   Gary pointed me to a parking spot and a tent spot. Paul came out w/his mega-lantern and good ole Kurt and Mary w/their headlamps and endless help. Mike came thru w/the hammer. And we all watched as Kurt set up the tent in about 2 minutes. Dude is a born tourist/camper!!! He and I talked bikes (he's a major techno-geek READ: we were talking gear inches for goodness sakes!!!) till everybody else was in bed then we said our goodnights. But in the age-old tradition of Moni, I just couldn't go to bed early. She typically sits under a light in camp and journals. I don't journal so opted to go out on the pier in the lake and read awhile. I missed her. I know she woulda been out there with me if she coulda come. We deduced this must be her daughter Lori's wedding weekend.... otherwise I think Spring Fling 2006 woulda been ALOT louder! :)
     Woke up the next morning to hearing Legs and Laurie talking to others about how much noise I made throughout the night (ring a bell Esther?! :)). Laurie was saying she asked Legs in the night, "Good Lord, who is making all that groaning noise?" Legs told her it was me and she said,” what is he, freakin' 80?!!!!" :)   I was totally stunned to hear all this. I mean I've always noticed my sheets and pillow cases are always torn off in the morning but I didn't know I screamed and groaned all night....sleep for me must just be a very violent experience. :)
     So praise God for buddies. Mary kicked me down Panera bread bagels and cream cheese, Mtn. Goat Johnny :) made us awesome breakfast burritos and Legs and Laurie had bomb coffee. We were set to ride!!! What a killer day!!! GORGEOUS weather, hardly any wind and warm and a spectacular route.
     I LOVE riding around Lake Murray. Nice rollers where you can keep up the momentum and lots of real pretty scenery. It was an easy day for me, good legs, good friends, good food and a really good route. I rode w/the group some and on my own some, I'm JUST so used to just riding Hefner every day that when I'm able to get out of town and explore new territory I just kinda get lost in the whole experience and I just have a total blast!!!!
     We stopped at a real nice convenience store (I recognized it from one year on FreeWheel) and had a bar-b-que burrito...I don't care what Moni says, it was killer fuel! Then we went on to Gene Autry Museum where I was blessed to sit and talk w/the lady in the gift shop. Her name was Floe and she sold me a real cool postcard that had pics of 3 bikes that are there in the museum. As I got to talking to her she told me that the gift shop we were standing in had been her 5th grade classroom. I then found out that she hadn't been a Gene Autry fan but she'd lived in that town all her life and the town was about to tear down that old schoolhouse. Since it was the home town of Gene Autry, she took her inheritance and offered to turn that schoolhouse into a museum.
     I like that museum, I always have. It's set out there in the country, atop a BIG hill (just ask my granny gear) and there's a tremendous sense of peace out there. And the people out there, like Floe, possess the same peace. I can't imagine living so far from anything but I sure enjoy visiting.
     Next we rolled on down to the Airport cafe which is just 1st class!! It's a very spacious, nice facility. It's called the Blue Hog or something like that. It's got the whole Harley theme going on, complete with heavily tattooed and pierced waitresses, totally cool! And the food was awesome too. Just what we needed to power us another 40 miles. Coming back Legs was our sag driver and he was cool in letting me draft him through a bit of a headwind coming back into the lake area. Finally about 10 miles down the road, he, Mtn. Goat Johnny and I regrouped under a shade tree to wait for the others. And Legs, as he ALWAYS does, had to make one of his crazy comments. He said, "Ya, Andy's bike is pretty cool, except when he has that bright colored rag down the side of it and then he looks like he's headed over to Brokeback Mountain." :) With that, I said, "That's it. I'm outta here!" And took off in the direction of the campground. I heard him yell out after me, "Was it something I said?" :)   I swear that Legs is a freakin' card!!! :)
     So, of course, I don't have the route map on me. And that's when the ride really got fun. I counted I got lost at least 4 times getting back to camp. But that's what's so cool about touring. The adventure of it and interacting w/the locals who'll bend over backwards to help you. So I would just roll up to people out on the road and get directions. I was having so much fun. Country folk LOVE to talk, especially when you're on a freaky bike! :) I finally made it back to a convenience store on the lake, bought a Gatorade and asked directions to Marietta Landing campground. The two cowboys behind the counter told me, "Dude, it's on the other side of the lake!!!" I asked them how far that was and they told me 20 miles. I said then, "You better sell me about 3 donuts to go w/this Gatorade!"   Don't you know the last 20 miles around the lake were the hilliest of the day? Yep, the rollers were ancient history. It was time to gear down and spin up. It was all good though. I like working hard at the end of the ride. Makes you feel like you really got your money's worth, which in this case was VERY reasonable. :)
     Great job Mr. Cannon and OBS. THANK YOU! It was an absolute riot and a great way to kick off the season. I appreciate y/all for making it such a GREAT Spring Fling '06!!

Andy :)

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