Spot/SpotWalla Ride to Eat

11:00 am - Saturday, September 25, 2010 

Split Tree BBQ - Bowling Green, KY

Debbie Wells is training to be a Paralegal. As part of this training she is required to give various public speaking presentations. Debbie has assisted Jason Jonas in the development of The SpotWalla Secure Personal Location Manager. This gave her the necessary expertise to give a public SpotWalla Presentation and what better venue than a Bar-B-Q Ride to Eat? 

For those not aware, SPOT is a personal satellite tracking system used by motorcycle riders (and others) to keep their family informed of their location on long trips and to summon help if needed. 

Jason Jonas and Jerry Waggner join the "Tire Kicking Session."

Saturday proved to be a beautiful day for a Ride to Eat. The extremely high temps Kentucky had experienced all summer finally broke with an approaching cold front. The temperatures Saturday began in the mid 50's and by 11:00 am had reached the low 70's. Perfect weather by any measure for a short three hundred mile round trip to Bowling Green.

I left Paducah around 6:30 am, headed east, just in time to watch a beautiful sunrise, filtered through a light fog, clinging high in the surrounding trees. The light fog never posed any danger. In hindsight, I can't believe I did not stop for pictures of that gorgeous sunrise.

After a stop for coffee at Beaver Dam,  I continued on to Bowling Green.

Anyone who knows me knows I am "ALWAYS" early anywhere I go. This RTE was no exception. After assuring myself that I knew where The Split Tree BBQ was, I decided to explore many of the beautiful surrounding side roads. As it turned out, I was glad I had the extra time to explore.

Alan Leduc and his new BMW 650 GS

About 10:30 am I fueled up and continued on to the restaurant where I found riders already arriving. One of the best parts of any RTE (Ride to Eat) is the "tire kicking sessions" that always take place prior to and after the actual meal.

Debbie Wells calming her nerves prior to the presentation. John Saurer from Louisville (center) and Art Johnson (Left) from Topeka, KS, checking out John's one of a kind ride.

Greg Blewett (Franklin, KY) arrived on his new to him BMW GSPD. 

Clay Curtis (Fleeter) and Debbie Wells

Claye SPOTTED her way in from near Fredricksburg, VA to be there.

One of the specialties of The Split Tree is a pork BBQ sandwich smothered in slaw. A unique presentation to say the least.

Jerry Waggner (Morganfield, KY) and Jason Jonas.

The Presentation and Ride to Eat was well documented.

Pat and Greg Blewett

Debbie completed two presentations with a small break in-between. The first explained the differences between the first generation SPOT Personal Tracker and the newly released SPOT (Gen 2). 

Her second presentation detailed the new and rapidly evolving SpotWalla Secure Personal Location Manager. This service is essentially a secure web based map used to view individual (or group) SPOT locations.

Lucas (her son) and Jason were her able assistants..... well........... 

most of the time.... :^)

I talked to everyone after the presentation and we had universal agreement, Debbie did a great job with both presentations. She covered all aspects of both trackers and the personal tracking page. Afterward, both she and Jason answered any lingering questions. I found the presentations very informative and well worth the time.

Afterward we continued the tire kicking session outside for a bit before heading out in different directions. I took my time savoring the beautiful weather and exploring a few more back roads on my way back to Paducah.

Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life. ~Lawrence K. Fish~

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.  ~Robert E. Howard~