Mother’s Day Catch Up - Jun 10, 2006

The History

Back in 2002, I took my Mom for her first MC ride in 36 years, she was 73 then and it was Mother's Day. She hadn't been on a bike in 36 years and I got on my first bike at the age of 36. It just seemed like the thing to do.
I did a quick write up at the time and Wing World published it - I had no idea they were going to do that before spell/grammar checking it... Oh well, I'll learn next time...

Anyway, Mom, who used to worry about me all the time driving the car from TX to OK and back when I visited, fell in love with riding - even wants us to do Alaska someday - Heck, I'm not sure I'm up for that.

Well, I promised her we'd do a Mother's Day ride every year but she developed some knee and back problems that required a couple surgeries and she didn't feel confident about getting on the bike until she was healed - but, it seemed that riding was her motivating factor - she'd always say "I'm getting better, I'll be able to get on that bike soon".

So, this year was going to be the year she got back but it didn't work on on Mother's Day for me so this weekend, I'm heading up to Oklahoma to try and catch up on 4 years worth of Mother's Day riding... They live in SE Oklahoma and are parallel to the Talimena Scenic Drive, so that's a must. Might also take her to Robber's Cave SP and Clayton Lake SP just to give her some time in the saddle.

Both of my parents are getting older and living in the country, I think, has helped them to keep moving and not just sit on a sofa all day, they also run a few goats on their land which keeps them busy. Time is never on our side - but I try to do the best I can to appreciate my parents and help provide memories for them as well as myself.

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THE RIDE

We decided to do about 250 miles all around SE Oklahoma, we left just before 7am while it wasn't too hot.

We took hwy 259 and toured all around Broken Bow lake then headed westward towards Clayton Lake (hwy 144).

Prior to Clayton Lake, we hit a road that I thought was only going to be 1 mile of dirt and ended up being 7 miles - at the end of the road there was 8 ATVs getting ready to go down it as I guess it's a favored road for them. LOL

We stopped at the pharmacist in Clayton, OK to show off - they saw a copy of the article from Wing World and had a huge smiles watching Mom and I take off down the road. From there we headed north to Wilburton then east to Red Oak - there's a great little road (82) that leads back to Talihina, OK another 10 miles and we're back home near Whitesboro, OK.

We ended up doing about 220 miles and Mom was okay with that even though she didn't want to stop - I convinced her it was already in the upper 90's and we probably shouldn't push it too much as it would hit 102 later.

She told me next time she wants to go to Tenkiller Lake.

She had a great time and wanted me to tell everyone Hi!