The Mangum Oklahoma Recon 9-18-08

Next Monday, 9-22-08. the Blue Knights Tx XX is making a weekday ride up to Mangum Oklahoma to eat at The Burger Inn. Mangum Oklahoma is about 110 miles NW of Wichita Falls Texas. As Russ will be on the East Coast next week, we decided to ride up and recon Mangum to see what the roads would be like and check out other restaurants. Also, Russ could then say he's been there. So, after we met our other retired friends for breakfast (see my Cop Stuff blog at: http://jjscopstuff.blogspot.com/), we then headed out on the recon. We invited Don to come with us but he had stuff to do around his house and opted not to go. So scroll down and check out Mangum Oklahoma & surrounding areas and REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE BIGGER, JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE.


After breakfast and prior to leaving Iowa Park Tx to head out to US 287, David thought it wise to fill up his gas tank. Here are Russ & David at the pumps.

Russ & David at the pumps as David pumps the liquid gold into his Goldwing.

After David finishes, we head out and get established on US 287 westbound towards Vernon where we would turn North onto Us 283. Here are David & Russ as we head West.

I took this because of the clouds above put the pattern on the headlight and speedometer.

David & Russ as we continue West bound on US 287. David is on the white bike & Russ on the black bike

Russ & David cruising down the highway..

Here is Russ at about 70 mph.

Here is David at about 70 mph. We take pictures of each other like this on all the rides. Just depends on who is where in the column and if traffic isn't too bad.

More cloud patterns..From what I heard from Sissy & Pattie and the group that went to the Hot Springs Rally (Arkansas) last week, this would of been storm clouds reflecting back..The cumulonimbus type...

Here we are northbound on US 283. David used to work this area when he was on the Sheriff's Department here a long time ago..A LONG, LONG TIME AGO...oops, I mean this area of US 283 on the Oklahoma side of the Red River. He was an Okie then...

A self portrait shot of me at about 70-75 mph.

Still Northbound on US 283, getting close to Oklahoma

My speedometer read 75 mph, but Russ & David's read 70-72 mph. Whatever the speed was, it was a good cruising speed..

Coming into the last town in Texas on US 283, prior to crossing the Red River into Oklahoma. For those of you that are not familiar with the Red River, it divides Texas from Oklahoma, just as the Rio Grande divides Mexico from the United States.

Russ cruising North on US 283

Here is the sign telling us we still had 51 miles to Mangum..You may have to click the pic to enlarge it to read the sign.

Here is another pic of Russ as he jams Northward..He plays his stereo and he has a few heavy biking songs he listens to and plays the air drums to while he rides. He do love his Harley & music.. David does the same thing except he has one of those XM radio's & he rocks to the classic oldies as he rides and David do love his Goldwing & music...

We are coming to the Red River Bridge about a mile ahead.

Here we are crossing the Red River Bridge, leaving Texas behind and entering Oklahoma.

I misjudged my speed and almost missed it but that is the Red River. Texas to the left & Oklahoma on this side..

And here we have the Oklahoma State Sign. Again, you may have to click the pic to enlarge it to read it.



We stopped a short time later at Us 283 /OK SH 5, so David could rest his back ( he has a bad back) and to check the map as far as which way we are going to head back after eating lunch. Here, David & Russ do the map reading thing.

Because I have CRS, I took a picture of the highway signs as a reminder to me when I was putting this post together. What is CRS, you ask? Putting it nicely, it stands for " Can't Remember Crap". For the adult version, just substitute the other word for crap and ya got it..

Russ shows me where we are, where we've been and where we're going...

Way off in the distance, you can just begin to see the Wichita Mountains. The run to Quartz Mountain last month, came through these parts..

With the map check over and David feeling semi-normal again, we get ready to saddle up and continue North.

The next town we came to was Altus Oklahoma.

In Altus, we stop at a Valero Gas Station to water up and Russ to gas up..

Russ at the pumps putting the liquid gold in his gas tank. I refer to gas as liquid gold because it is ridiculously priced..

Davids, Bike, my Bike and Russ's bike parked while Russ gets his drink..We had to get out of the parking lot because some 80 yr old man was driving all over the parking lot like he was on a mission or something and we thought he was going to use our bikes for speed bumps

Here we are leaving Altus. Way off to our right is Altus AFB and there were KC 135's and c-5's and a couple C-141's flying around in the pattern.

The mountains getting a little closer. Yup, we are still on US 283 because it runs right through Mangum..

Next town we stopped at was Blair. Russ's daughter's name is Blair. So, Blair, this one is for you! When I was previewing these pics, I was surprised at the saying on the sign on the building. I didn't even notice it when I took this picture..

In Blair, David was told this restaurant, The Back Door Steakhouse was the place to eat. As a matter of fact, on our Tuesday night dinner blog, Tammy, the girl with David, is from Blair and she told him about it..

Some of the signs on the wall of the back Door restaurant in Blair Oklahoma. I have no comment on the yellow sign...

The Backdoor Steakhouse sits right next door to Luigi's.

After checking out the business, we get back on the bikes and prepare to continue North.

I was going too fast and almost got all the sign, but we were now 8 miles from Mangum, Oklahoma

And here it is, The Burger Inn, in Mangum Oklahoma, our destination for Monday's run.

We parked our bikes across the street which was directly in front of the Greer County Jail, Greer County Sheriffs Office and the Mangum PD.

Russ & David inside the Burger Inn. We had to go sample the burgers. The burgers were great and inexpensive. Russ ate a burger & drank water & his bill was only $2.91. I highly recommend the burgers. I would not advise on getting the Onion Rings..They were nasty...And Russ & David can vouch for me.. They couldn't even eat a whole ring..One bite and "pa-tooey"

Here I am as Russ takes my pic inside of the Burger Inn. I think I looked at someone who farted as he clicked the shudder...no, just kidding..No one farted inside...Now outside, that is something else all together.

They had paperwork under the glass on the table that was from 1951 and older..

Here is Debbie, our waitress...

The Greer County Sheriff's Office and one of those who get to wear the orange inmate garb..

The Greer County Jail & Mangum Police Department

The Mangum Water Tower...

Here we are heading East on Okla SH 9.

Coming up to our Okla SH 49 turn off. That would take us through the Wildlife Refuge in the Wichita Mountains

Coming up on our turn.. We apparently missed a turn somewhere...

Highway 19 was behind us and we missed it because several of the signs had blown down during the last storm...

So, once again we pull over to stretch and look at the map...I actually enjoyed the stops.. Gave me a chance to walk around and give Ms Clone a rest.

As we get ready to head out, I told David that I bet he could get that house for next to nothing...(David is currently looking for a house). I think the realtor's call this a house in need of some TLC, in their ads.

The Wichita Mountains to our left...

We make the left turn and head East on SH 49.



We continue East towards the Wildlife Refuge. The Wildlife Refuge is just North of Ft. Sill & Lawton Oklahoma..

Eastbound on SH 49. This part of the road had loose gravel here and there and a couple pebbles were thrown up by the bikes in front and stung like heck when the hit my legs and fingers..

We entered the Wildlife Refuge and a bunch of wild turkeys ran across the road. A little farther down a herd of buffalo's with some Texas Longhorns were getting pretty close to the roadway. Both times I couldn't get the camera ready fast enough to get the pictures.

Wichita Mountains dead ahead....

We got thru the Wildlife Refuge and just prior to getting to Chattanooga Oklahoma, David starts going all over the road. We pulled in a gas station and he gets off his bike. Oil was all over his shirt, the front of the bike & back of his bike. Seems he blew the left fork seal and the fluid went everywhere..His shirt made him look like a leopard with all the oil spots on it...He washed the bike and we continued back to Wichita Falls Texas without incident. David was going to leave in the morning (9-19-08) with some of his friends and ride the bikes to Shreveport Louisiana to play in the casino's..That is questionable at this point.

This will conclude this post. We put 280.4 miles on the bikes today and had a great time. The next ride is this Saturday, 9-20-08, down to Strokers in Dallas. (130 miles one way). That should be fun as we should have a group of 20 or more bikes. Maybe less, who knows. We never know until we go KSU. Scroll down for more rides, events & posts and don't forget to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of EACH page for more posts, back to January 08...Until next ride & post, ya'll be careful out there, ride safe, keep some extra fork seals in you pocket & keep the rubber on the road................................JOHN