The computer I carry on my road trips has developed an illness, so some of my problems were not just internet related. There’s a .exe that fires off periodically and consumes 80-90% of memory. Since I couldn’t fix it in the hotel room, I decided to wait till I got home and post what I thought was kind of interesting. After traveling in Canada, the farmland of mid-America is pretty boring and not very photogenic. Here goes for the last 4 days of a fantastic road trip.
07/29/19 – Scottsbluff, Nebraska to Hays, Kansas. The most exciting thing to watch alone this route is the miles to the next destination on the GPS. Last time I road through so many corn fields was in central Illinois when I was working there from 2004-2008. Needless to say I took no pictures.
After a long day on a motorcycle seat you are looking forward to a nice hotel room so you can kick-off your boots and chill, and maybe enjoy a chilling BOC. We got to the Super 8 in Hays, went in to register, and “booking.com had once again screwed up my reservation.” While I was making the reservation the night before the Colonel said, “are you really going to trust booking.com after they messed up the reservation in Watson Lake?” Should have listened to his wisdom. The good part is the young man working that evening felt sorry for us and gave us a room for less than the missed reservation price. The other bad thing is it was on the 2nd floor, and it takes me 3 trips to unload my bike.
BTW – Rob and Matt have been home since Thursday, the 25th. They just might have made a World Record for the quickest trip to Alaska and back. Welcome home.
07/30/19 – Hays, Kansas to Breckenridge, Texas. Long Hot Day. The Colonel and I got a relatively early start for us. We would ride together to Woodward, Oklahoma. Then he would head east to Edmond and I would continue south to somewhere in TEXAS, depending on the temperature, time and conditions.
Crossing into Oklahoma, the temps got to 92. We stopped for lunch in Woodward, and after lunch we said our goodbyes and headed in our preferred directions. When I was slowing to make my turn south, the Colonel turn the wick up on his Harley and reminded me of an ol’ horse heading for the barn. He was heading home. Great ride Sir, we must do it again sometime.
As I crossed into TEXAS, I was welcomed home by 102 degree temperatures. At one stop the air temp on the bike read 112 (probable effected by the engine temperature or maybe the pavement where I was parked). This meant I would be stopping more often and consuming more water at each stop. I would normally carry water on the bike, but it’s impossible to drink from a plastic bottle with a full-face helmet on. The stops were good, gave me a little relief from the bike seat and kept me hydrated. Took a two hour break in Vernon, just to get out of the heat. Got a picture of the Wilbarger County Courthouse and had an early dinner. When I got back on the road the temp had dropped to 92. Road on to Breckenridge and stayed at the Notel Motel (Regency Inn, not bad for the price).
07/31/19 – Breckenridge to Temple. Breckenridge is the County Seat for Stephens County; however, it was too late when I got there to take a picture and too early (before the sun came up) when I was leaving. So, I’ll have to come back later.
Rode to Eastland in the dark. I do not like doing that. 30 minutes before daylight is the time when animals are out looking for food before it starts to get too hot. The speed limit was 75, but I stayed between 50 and 55 with my bright lights on for the entire 32 miles to Eastland. Had breakfast at 2 Grany’s. Good breakfast at a fair price, good service, and a nice visit with the locals; worth going back.
Got to Temple about 10:30. Va was in Austin so I had the house to myself. Got out of my riding gear and took a 3 hour nap – well deserved, even if I do say so myself. When she got home we had a nice H-E-B prepared meal and went to bed early, still daylight.
08/01/19 – Temple to Coldspring. Pretty easy day, the hardest part is loading and unloading the bike. I am glad to get home. Took another nap. Got up about 2:30 and drove my truck to the local watering-hole to get caught up on what’s happened while I was gone. No one wanted to hear about my trip, so I had to hear about their fishing stories.
I’ll do another post later to summarize the trip. Hope you’ll stick around for it.
Later, Bud…
Bud's Latest Adventure - Motorcycles, Sidecars, and Alaska ! 