By Wing to Wing Ding - 347 miles

This morning we got out of Dodge. (Always wanted to say that)

Bright and early as we had over 300 miles to do to get to Tulsa. Ken's turn to lead and the previous evening I had uploaded the route to his GPS. Pity I didn't do the same for mine and Bob's. Ours had an old version which didn't quite include the same destination.

First thing Ken did was take us on a side road, through a couple of small towns and back to the main road we had been on. We had to overtake cars we had already overtaken. They were nice towns.

East, straight in to the sun towards Witcheta. From there it was on to a southern-heading toll road heading for Oklahoma. Only problem was Ken's GPS didn't know it was there. We rode it anyway.

Next turn left - which was a genuine four leaf clover crossing - we did by turning right then doing a U-turn. We do such great U-turns.

Arriving on the outskirts of Tulsa, our tanks were about empty. Bikes and tummies. So we pulled in for fuel and found a Subway shop. Then it was the final few miles to our motel. Bob took the lead. I thought that was strange as he didn't have the motel on his GPS. I went by and signalled him to pull over and follow me mistakingly thinking I had it on mine. We eventually sorted that Ken was the only one with it so we followed him and eventually found it. We did have a good tour of Tulsa though.

We are here for Wing Ding. For those who are not aware it is an annual gathering of GoldWing Road Riders Association (GWRRA), held at a different location every year. A bit like Australia's Ulysses Club AGM, but all GoldWings. There are thousands of them here.

First thing to do was get down to the Tulsa Fairgrounds to register. We did and even though I had made a small mistake of forgetting to pre-pay for Charleen, they were very helpful and had us both with our armbands in no time. We split up the group and promising if all else fails to meet up again Monday morning, went our separate ways.

I put in a call to Jack in case he was here. No reply - leave a message. We wandered around for a bit and came to an Australian site. Curious, we looked and they picked our accent immediately. They told us there had been a couple of gentlemen looking for us so we then knew Jack and Deane were here somewhere. I dialled Jack again and while waiting I saw him in the crowd, completely ignoring his phone.

So we caught up again with Jack, Deane and another riding buddy of theirs, Norm. Norm is local to Tulsa and a very nice bloke.

We chatted - had coffee - chatted some more and decided to look at more exhibits. But it was 6pm and they announced closing. Oh well, Norm took us to his favourite Rib Cafe and we had a sumptious meal of baby back pork ribs with trimmings. I got conned again by the sassy waitress when I asked for a small dessert. Out it came - raspberry and icecream in a huge bowl a large goldfish would be happy to call home. Oh dear. Well it was a Rib Cafe, so I got a good ribbing all around.

Back to motel to fit our new com-sets and get ready for a big Wing Ding day tomorrow.

Here's the pics and even a short movie.

Nice to see a minimum speed

Not so nice to see tolls - three of them today

Where does the name Turnpike come from?

Touring Tulsa - nice church

Big buildings

....and GoldWings.

All shapes. This outfit is wider than an average car.

Norm's Honda pacific Coast. Interesting bike. 800cc. This one has been to Prudoe Bay, Alaska - lots of rough dirt roads.

Jack dinks a nervous Deane to the Honda Shop.

Norm opens up the PC. Big boot. Room for helmets and more.

Following is a small video in the car park. More to come.