75* in January, Ya gotta ride.

[luckylindy]

  So I did.  We hit several little towns in NE Texas and SW Arkansas for a 160 mile afternoon.  Here's an old Texaco station in tiny Bloomburg, TX.

[luckylindy]

 Another view of the Texaco.

[luckylindy]

  Another excuse to ride.  I'm doing a game on TWT forum where members are trying to collect pics with their bikes in front of all 3,000+ FM roads in Texas.  We are only in the 60's now so it could take a few decades.

[luckylindy]

  Into Arkansas we ride.  This is the Red River where many years ago the only way across was by ferry, until they built this.

[luckylindy]

  Must have shot of bikes in front of Big Red.

[luckylindy]

  This is an old store in Lewisville, AR.  I wish I had stopped for more pics as we passed through lots of farmland and old towns, but we got a late start and wanted to put on some miles.  A great day that I will think about alot when I return to work on Monday and on those cold dreary days that will hit for the next 2 months.

[Bumblebee]

I like the bikes together at the river picture. Awww, they're friends...

It was 60F here in Colorado today. I was seconds from putting the battery back in the motorcycle and going for a short ride when a friend called...Instead of riding I ended up helping with final mechanical preparations to a motorhome for a 12+ month, 10,000+ mile roadtrip.

[happycommuter]

This is the sort of exploratory joyride I need to force myself to do when weather is less of a constraint.  Just open up a day and head out.  Everything is observed better on bike, and you can pull off easier than if in a car. Great daytrip and way to seize upon good weather.

Am I the only one who doesn't know what FM roads are?

[detdrbuzzard]

nice ride report, you guys out west and down south are my riding entertainment for the winter months. i woke up this morning dreaming about which bike to ride first this spring. what is an fm road

[Deadly]

That does it, Im moving to Texas!       

[Bumblebee]

Am I the only one who doesn't know what FM roads are?

You must be a city kid. How do you think your food gets to market? They're Farm to Market roads. They're typically 2 lane roads that connect remote/isolated farm areas to cities. IIRC you only see them in TX. The rest of the farm belt region through the middle of the country calls them County roads (Co Rd #) or County Highways (Co Hwy #)

The real United States is not in the cities and not on the interstate highway system. The real working people of america and the living history of this country is miles and miles up those little side roads that everyone drives past at 55-75mph and never thinks about. A good friend of mine spent 3 years criss-crossing this country on those roads and the little known back highways doing a photographic series of the people you find in places like that. It's good stuff and the stories are even better.

[FAITHBIKER]

I didn't know what those were either until I visited Texas during Ike cleanup with Farmers Insurance.  I traveled a few myself to get to some of the rural homes I photographed for the adjusters in the Houston area all the way to the southeast and the gulf.  I'll never forget the house I photographed in Sabine Pass, or what was left of it...

[luckylindy]

  You 've got to ride on days like that.  We are getting a cold front in here tomorrow and my first day at work in 2 weeks on Monday will be in the 30's with rain.  We also have county roads here but those are sometimes dirt or very poor pavement. Farm to Market roads generally have good pavement, very little traffic and lots of curves.  Like this...

[hang man]

Well this ride report explains your user name  ....love the 

[luckylindy]

Well this ride report explains your user name  ....love the 

  Thanks Hangman.  I've lived in this area most of my life and sometimes a person takes things for granted.  I lived in far south Texas for a year and the desert heat, lack of trees and greenery were not to my liking.  I also lived in the burbs of Dallas and hated it with a passion.  I occasionally think this rural setting lacks something, but it is a great place for a motorcyclist to live.