Ride #7 - A Second Home For Elvis
Following the recent meeting with my cardiologist who said I should take 2 tablets each day and try not to fall off my motorcycle, I decided that meant that I had a medical clearance to resume riding.
So, with that in mind, I planned a quick 2 day ride out West to the rural towns of Parkes, Forbes and Eugowra. All up, an easy 750 km round trip.
And as luck would have it, 3 of my riding mates had no doctor appointments, social events, or grandchild-minding duties and were all able to tag along for the ride.
As we are all "senior citizens" and no longer work full-time, the ride was scheduled for a Tuesday and Wednesday so as to avoid the weekend traffic, which nowadays is like one continuous peak hour.
At the appointed hour, 07:00, we all met up at a local 7-Eleven servo and headed off, with our route taking us along Mona Vale Rd onto the M2/M7 and then along Richmond Rd.
Richmond Rd used to be a quiet 2-lane rural back-road with very little traffic and was a great little short-cut around the M4, but since they have built numerous housing estates out there and upgraded the road to a 6-lane dual-carriageway, it is now just one big parking lot during the morning peak hour.
Our first stop was at one of the fruit orchards along The Bells Line of Road at Bilpin, where we enjoyed a very "ordinary" coffee and some reasonable apple pie.
The first coffee stop on any ride always seems to take twice as long (time-wise) as it should as we tend to catch up on what each of us has been up to since our last ride. The highlights of this ride's conversation were Tim's prostate operation and my heart damage adventures.
As an aside, as they say " old age sucks, which is true, but it sure beats the alternative".
From Bilpin we made our way along the Bells Road, then across the Darling Causeway and down Victoria Pass.
Victoria Pass is a narrow, very steep, winding 2-lane road that is an absolute "traffic bottleneck" as 6-lanes of traffic merge into only 2 road lanes, 1 in each direction.
Over the years, there have been many truck "run-aways" when their brakes have over-heated, so now all large trucks are required to descend the Pass in first gear, and at no more than 10 kph.
And of course, the large truck we got stuck behind must have had a particularly heavy load because its speed was closer to 5 kph, which is "walking speed".
I tried to leave my bike in 1st gear and just feather the clutch, but the Assist & Slipper clutch on my N1K was not happy with this arrangement, so I just put the bike in neutral and slowly rolled down the Pass behind the truck.
Historically, various State Governments have looked at building multi-lane upgrades to Victoria Pass, or using completely different routes but as the road passes through a National Park, the " Greens / Conservationists " always protest as no development is permitted.
The various Governments have even looked at building a tunnel under the mountains but the $5 Billion price tag is just too high to justify improving the traffic flow over only a 5 km stretch of road.
From the Victoria Pass, we made our way to Kelso for fuel, and then onto Orange for lunch. Nothing much to write about here, just a boring multi-lane highway that is heavily policed. You have been warned.
After lunch, we made our way to the first bonus mural at the Manildra Flour Mills which shows various unique Australian animals found in the surrounding area.
From Manildra, we headed along Henry Parkes Way to the township of Parkes for some more murals.
Parkes is your typical large rural town with one unique claim to fame. In 1981, Bob & Anne Steel opened a Wedding Reception Centre and Restaurant, which they named ‘ Graceland ’.
In 1993, they hosted an Elvis-themed birthday party at their Reception Centre, and from that humble beginning, the Elvis Festival has grown.
Last year, around 30,000 Elvis fans travelled to Parkes for a week of all things Elvis. It is so popular that all accommodation within a 150 km radius is booked out, years in advance.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to jag a motel room cancellation 5 years ago, and although we were not "die-hard" Elvis fans, we had a great time.
Needless to say, there are a few Elvis murals in town, including this one featuring an Australian native emu.
Having captured my fair share of the Elvis murals, it was time to ride 35 km to Forbes, for a few more murals, and our overnight accommodation.
Speaking of accommodation, I am well and truly sick and tired of being ripped off by greedy motel owners jacking up their prices under the banner of "covid recovery". ( rant over )
In the morning, after a good hot breakfast of bacon & eggs at the local bakery, we headed to Eugowra, a small village of 780 people.
Eugowra has 2 claims to fame. The first was the Escort Rock gold robbery of 1862, when 2,719 oz of gold ( today's value = $5,300,000 ) was stolen.
The second is (was) the 30+ murals that adorned the town's buildings. Unfortunately, a massive river flood in 2022 damaged or destroyed over 90% of the building and murals.
Still, there were enough murals still available to make the visit worthwhile.
After, Eugowra we travelled to Canowindra to bag a couple more murals before turning for home.
Oh well, it could be worse, I could be in a car.
The end of the Grand Tour is now less than 14 days away, and I am not sure if I will be able to squeeze in another ride. Maybe a 2-day Quickie down to Canberra . . . time will tell.
Until next time, " keep the rubber side down, the shiny side up, and my your lid never skid "
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