Tuesday, September 15
On the
walk to the bathroom at the Amarillo KOA, the trees sound alive. It’s actually squawking birds, but as a group
they sound like monkeys.
Bernie
started right up this morning and has been running like a champ all day. He’s recovered from his near death experience
quite nicely… J
Been
wearing the same pair of jeans for about 8 days…starting to get a bit saggy and
bug spattered. But dirty pants are not such a big deal because I put shorts on as soon as we’re off
the bikes. Besides if I can walk around with sweaty helmet hair then a pair of dirty jeans is no problem. I have another pair packed but I just reach for what’s handy. Anyway, KOA had a laundry….so we gathered up
what little we had and did a load.
Didn’t have any laundry soap and I was gonna just do a water wash, but
then I remembered the shampoo. A dab of
shampoo works nice for a sudsy
wash. So today, I put on clean
jeans….which probably had dust on ‘em as soon as I got on the bike.
On previous bike trips, I over packed
shirts. Didn’t realize it, though, until
the ride got underway. So, I did something
different this ride….only packed Under Armor type nylon knit shirts, several
short sleeved and one long sleeved. Nice
and cool when riding…easy to layer…not a lot of bulk under a jacket…easy to
wash and hang dry…less to deal with in the T-bag. Plus they’re black so they hide the road
grime. It’s been working out good,
although they take a little longer to hang dry than I anticipated….but putting
on a slightly damp shirt on a hot morning isn’t so bad. It’s a bit icky at
first, but get on the bike and it’s dry within minutes. J
Google search:
*Been seeing gas station pumps for Compressed Natural Gas. Curious as to what kind of vehicle uses
CNG…and Kim didn’t know. Wikipedia has
this to say: CNG is used
in traditional gasoline/internal
combustion engine automobiles
that have been modified or in vehicles which were manufactured for CNG use,
either alone ('dedicated'), with a segregated gasoline system to extend range
(dual fuel) or in conjunction with another fuel such as diesel (bi-fuel). Yeah, that doesn’t tell me anything…to me it reads like blah,
blah, blah.
There is a ‘wave’ or hand signal that
bikers do when approaching each other.
Some do and some don’t…I usually do.
I’ve read that it’s a way of showing solidarity, respect or of just saying
‘hi’ to a fellow rider. Whatever the
reason and whatever the particular hand gesture, I think I know why bikers
usually put their hand down to the side when doing it. Raising your hand up to wave
when you’re cruising down the road is likely to cause whiplash in your arm and
besides it’s tough to drag your hand back to the shifter when it’s suddenly
thrown backward. Not an expert on these
things but I do have experience. J
Correction:
Texas does have flies…just hadn’t encountered any until this
afternoon. Luckily we were able to
outrun them.
Since we had a cabin already reserved in
Tucumcari, New Mexico, about 120 miles from Amarillo, we decided to go to the
Amarillo Zoo. It’s a small zoo but well
done. Nice diversion from the road. I’ve
been to zoos all over the country…and while I have favorites, I enjoy them all. Today was no exception. And we had an EJIW sighting....the zoo had manhole covers made by the East Jordan Iron Works!
*Cadillac Ranch—this
is what RoadsideAmerica.com has to say…..”Standing along Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas,
Cadillac Ranch was invented and built by a group of art-hippies imported from
San Francisco. They called themselves The Ant Farm, and their silent partner
was Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3. He wanted a piece of public art that
would baffle the locals, and the hippies came up with a tribute to the
evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley
Marsh 3's fields, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt (supposedly at the
same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza). They faced west in a line, from the
1949 Club Sedan to the 1963 Sedan de Ville, their tail fins held high for all
to see on the empty Texas panhandle….That was in 1974….Decades have passed. The
Cadillacs have now been in the ground as art longer than they were on the road
as cars. They are stripped to their battered frames, splattered in day-glo
paint splooge, barely recognizable as automobiles….Tourists are always welcome
at Cadillac Ranch. If you bring spray paint, make sure to also bring a camera.
Because whatever you create at Cadillac Ranch will probably only last a few
hours before it's created over by someone else.”
Got off the highway to ride Route 66, just
because it was there. Nice road, pretty
much parallels the highway. Went through
small towns that looked to be dying…derelict buildings, rusted out vehicles,
businesses closed up. But then again
these towns had schools, so maybe what we were seeing on 66 wasn’t all there
was to the town. Anyway, rode into
Adrian, TX, whose claim to fame is that it is the midpoint of Route 66….1139
miles west to Los Angeles and 1139 miles east to Chicago. Of course, that was according to the original
historic route. A fun historical fact
for this little town to hold onto….
And about 5 miles west of Adrian, when the
sign says ‘Road ends in 1.3 miles’, believe it.
Don’t be thinking you’ll be able to merge onto 40 or turn onto another
road, because the sign means what it says...the road ends. As in you have to turn around and go back the
way you came. Next time, I’ll know….
Went
past a stockyard today that must had thousands of cattle fenced up. Don’t know if they’re going to auction or
market, but what a massive herd….and what a massive smell! J
Rode past many acres of sorghum fields, a
few large cornfields and a hay field that was mind boggling. Round bales were visible all the way to the
horizon. Had to be over a thousand
bales….makes a person appreciate all the time and energy that goes into
farming. Not saying I’d want to do it
but I appreciate the hard work.
Wind is another Texas commodity. There were probably 40 miles of wind turbines
along 40, extending north as far as the eye could see. Harnessing the unseen power of the wind. Miles and miles we were seeing those big
white turbines in rows....then suddenly there were no more. What I realized at that point was that they
were up on a mesa, just had to get far enough west to see that. The landscape beyond that point became less
flat and more contoured, so maybe less desirable for wind energy.
Crossed into New Mexico about 5:30, but
immediately went back an hour because we’re in Mountain Time Zone. So really 4:30. Didn’t realize that another time change would
happen on this trip. The landscape in
New Mexico is slightly different than the high plains of Texas. Texas was flat, treeless and had lots of fields,
some planted, some just plowed….could see out in the distance for miles. More character to the landscape of New Mexico…mesas, buttes,
arroyos, small hills and the occasional mountain sticking up. I did see a string of wind turbines along the
ridge of a mesa out in the distance before arriving in Tucumcari. Our cabin boasts of a view of Tucumcari Mountain. There are more trees, also, although they’re still
kind of scrubby looking…I guess that’s the type of tree the land supports. The wind wasn’t as fierce today, although it
was still a presence. Popular roadside
wildflower is the black-eyed Susan….and they grow tall.
Kim has cruise control; I have a throttle
lock, which I use occasionally but not often because it doesn’t maintain my
speed up hills. Sometimes my right hand
will get tired or get a bit numb from being on the throttle so much and under
normal conditions, I take my hand off the throttle, shake it out quickly and
get back to it. I lose a bit of speed
but not much, and I can quickly accelerate.
The last few days, it’s been a bit trickier. If I was cruising along in 5th or
6th gear and took my hand off the throttle to shake it out, the bike
would lose significant speed…and then would groan if I tried to accelerate
against the wind from a higher speed. So
I learned to time a downshift just right, so I could shake my hand and the bike
was at a more agreeable speed to accelerate quickly. Worked much better that way. Of course, if I could learn to use a cramp
buster, then maybe a numb hand would be less of an issue.
Only Kansas remains west of the Mississippi....J
Today’s mileage: 136 miles Total mileage: 2,156
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