Day 3:
Got a e-mail from my friend and hero Young Ted (AKA: Father Nelson) that it was 7:30 and he was hitting the sack so he could depart Chicago at 4:30 a.m… Of course I thought – WHAT, IS HE NUTS?? Now here is a guy that is 75 years young, getting up at 4:30 in the morning to come and ride with someone who is known to get groups of people so lost that they are never heard from again – yep, HE IS NUTS!!
I met up with Ted at Cedar Creek at 9 am on Monday morning.. Randy was already there ( he had ridden his bike up from Spring Lake and was READY to roll). Larry, another looser – I mean friend, soon showed and we were on our way!! Well, not yet, Larry springs breakfast on us (that Larry is always surprising us with something). I told Larry that the cold eggs were better then the 2 Bologna sandwiches that I had eaten at 7:30. I don’t think Father Nelson was real impressed with the food cause I couldn’t talk him into indulging himself. Randy on the other hand NEVER turns down FREE food and somehow always gets his fill hahahaha.
So we head out, well not yet. A beautiful morning with GREAT friends requires LOTS of picture taking. I talked everyone into coming over to the picture pole (there is a set of lot poles that have flat tops – PERFECT for setting a camera on it – that’s important info!!). I took pics for this report and Father says “should we take some with mine just in case - I said GOOD idea – we did and it was a good thing we did cause I lost all my pics later in the day – ERRRRR!! All of the pics in this report that are WELL DONE with wording, are the masterful accomplishment of Young Ted himself.. The first pic here is of our Monday group left to right , Father Nelson, Woodsy, Larry and then Randy.
Now we head out for a hard day on the trail. In the lead where he should be is Woodsy riding Kadie, followed by Larry (the General) riding his CR250, Young Ted on INCA and (the Lieutenant) Randy on his XR200.
I had warned Young Ted ahead of time about the type of riding we did (cross country). All of us were shocked at how quickly he caught on to our game. That being, lets all pick on Woodsy. We got up onto the entrance of the South Loop of Horseshoe Lake and I looked down on the trail and saw a NAIL laying in the trail – NO KIDDING. I stopped, picked it up and showed it to the guys. Now you would think that an act of spotting a NAIL laying in the dirt while riding a KX500 would mean you are some kind of AWESOME dude or something. Not with these yo-yo’s!! Larry and Randy started teasing me - no thanks from either of them losers – but Ted, I couldn’t believe what he did. He says, HEY WOODSY – YOU FOUND THE NAIL, NOW HERES THE FINGER and he flips me off – he learns fast!!
I assume by now some of you are asking where the name Father Nelson comes from. Well Ted, I AM GOING TO TELL THEM ALL – HAHAHA, sucker, the jokes on YOU!! I had just got done explaining to the group why I ride so slow (bad back) when Young Ted says “I have a cure”. First he gets behind me and puts his arm on my shoulder and says to Randy and Larry – whats this – they answer – a Half Nelson. Then he puts his other arm on my other shoulder and says “and this” – they answer – Full Nelson. Then he pokes my leg with a stick about 1 inch long and ¼ in in diameter and says – this is Father Nelson. They all laughed, I didn’t though cause my back still hurts!! Not much of a healer that Father Nelson, but he tried…
At this point on our DAY LONG trip something was mentioned about me getting lost anywhere farther north and LT started leading. We broke out on a 2 track – Randy, Larry , Ted and then another rider went by on a KTM400 in front of me. I rolled Kadie on and went by that putsy little bike – ooops – I mean gently passed him and waved as I got back in line with the other riders. We turned onto the next section of single track and the guy behind followed us in. We came out to our next 2 track and turned and he kept following. Being the inquisitive type I stopped and introduced myself to him. He said I am Dan Smith from Chicago. He told me a little about himself – always one to enjoy company I invited him to ride with us for the day and he did – WAY COOL!!
When we stopped at the next rest stop Dan pulled up by Larry and Father Nelson (at this point I was the only one who even knew there was another rider with us). They both turned and started talking to Dan. I interrupted them and boldly said: “oh yea, I gotta introduce you guys to my good friend Dan Smith from Chicago hahahahahha. Larry just shook his head (he is getting to know me to good) but I got Ted REAL GOOD – he had the most confused look on his face that I have ever seen on ANYONE – Father Nelson me will ya – hahahahah)!
The 5 of us made our way North and ended up at Bitely for lunch (fitting name for a town to have lunch in). We all laughed, joked and told stories while we ate. I think I introduced Dan to everyone about 10 times while we were there just to make sure they all knew him – actually, Ted sat next to me and I think I intro’d him to Ted about 50 times – Father Nelson me will you!! This second pic in here is of Dan on his KTM.