Day 9: Duty Calls

Tonight I was supposed to be camping in Cloudcroft and I almost made it.  As things stand I am writing this installment at a lay your head down motel in Seymour Texas , some 420 miles from what I had hoped would be my camping spot for the night. But, things change.

My day began at 6:00 am. I decided to write my blog in the morning since I had been really tired the night before. I knew what I wanted to write so my plan was to brew coffee in the little in-room brewer and get started. I would then go downstairs to the lobby and refuel on the Hampton’s better grade of coffee. So, I opened up the brewer and…..bugs crawled out.

I started looking around the desk and the wall and there were dozens of bugs. They were everywhere! Not bedbugs, just some kind of bug that looked like a lightning bug without the lights. I went down for coffee and came back and wrote the blog while fighting off the attack of the legions of bugs at the same time. The blog posted, I then began loading so I could get out and head to Cloudcroft for camping and breakfast.

While I was loading the manager on duty came out to smoke. I told him about the bugs and he immediately went in to get pest control on the problem. By the time I was loaded the head manager spoke with me, apologized and comped me the room. I was satisfied and rode on to Cloudcroft.

I followed my policy of giving every restaurant a second chance and this morning Dave’s was on his game. I had the day’s special – biscuits and gravy with sausage crumbled on top, thick sliced bacon and two scrambled eggs and coffee. It was excellent. the owner offered to charge my phone for me when he saw me checking my battery. and my waitress brought me several packets of crackers for my camping at no charge. I’ll be back at Dave’s this fall when Susan and I come out to visit my son Elliott and his bride Sydney. Which brings me to my change of plans:

I had just selected my camping spot at the Silver River campground and was in the process of unloading my bike when Elliott called. The Air Force had just notified him he would be sworn in and commissioned as a First Lieutenant next Tuesday morning in Nashville. Well, there went the camping plans. I checked my maps, made a plan and got on the bike and headed for home.  Tonight I’m here in little Seymour 1019 miles from London. I’ll get home in time to pack and turn around and drive to Nashville. I wouldn’t miss his swearing in for the world.

I encountered a lot of West Texas wind today and it was bad, real bad. One good decision I think I made before starting out on my trip was to remove the top box. I think if I had it on the bike it would have been near impossible to control. Also, last night I decided to remove the visor/mud deflector from my helmet. It is much, much quieter and my head is more stable in the wind.

I took the by-pass around Lubbock today and it was still a nightmare with construction zones everywhere. Texas is just so big that places like Lubbock don’t look significant on a map and yet they are true cities.

Did I tell you that Texas oils their roads? Well, they didn’t tell me. They just let me come around a curve at 75 mph and wham! there is fresh oil on the road. I’ll give the Texans this, they do things complete or not at all. Not only did they pour fresh oil all over the road, they then spread gravel on top of the oil “to make it safer.” In whose world is such a mess safe? As it was I kept the bike upright and let the GS  find it’s way through the stuff. That mess went on for hours all afternoon.

Texas has beautiful rest areas. It’s kind of a private club because they don’t have any signs telling you they are there. You just sort of see them as you swoosh on by and watch the locals go to their own private Texas potty. So considerate of them.

When you are looking at a Texas map you need a Texas frame of mind. Get rid of your Kentucky/easterner thinking. All those little roads to out of the way towns you’ve never heard of? They’re four lane roads with divided median and the speed limit is 75 mph and they go through towns that have less than 500 people. One town after another offering no services of any kind. For hundreds of miles. For hours and hours.

General Motors and the other auto makers have secretly developed cars and trucks that get over 200 miles to the gallon. You and I don’t have these vehicles but everyone in Texas does because there are no gas stations in most small communities. The only way these ranchers and townsfolk can survive, in my view, is to have the top secret high mileage cars of tomorrow right now.

I rode through the Llano Estacado today – the Staked Plains of west Texas. It is flat and beautiful and oh, so very, very big. I don’t know how a handful of Texas Rangers ever brought law and order to the place. Had the buffalo not been exterminated I think the Comanche might still be out there today. The vastness of the American West is so special. The punishing wind, the lack of gas, the goofy road policies – none of that matters. This part of America is so beautiful it just has to be seen.

I know this, I’ll be back and I can’t wait for the next trip.

Tomorrow I will ride in to Arkansas. Let’s see how far I can get as I make the journey to be with Elliott as he takes his oath and prepares to serve at Holloman AFB, Alomogordo, NM.

Be safe and bless you all,
Brian