Killeen Texas is My New Home: The Ride... 2.2k words

5/20/10

Thursday, 1am - Resting.

2am - Resting.

3am - Up and at 'em.

5:00am - Took a picture of me pretending to sleep next to G. She grunted something, but didn't wake up.

5:30am - Off and away.

6:15am - Salinas. Beer and banana.

7:15am - King City. Beer and gas.

8am - Priest Valley. Beer and picture.

8:45am - Coalinga. Gas, beer, ice.

10:45am - Unfortunately, I was done with back roads for the day. I wanted to make hay my first day out, so had decided to stay on the freeways. This was gonna be the last day like that for this trip though! I went south on I-5 and then east on Hwy 56 thru Bakersfield; past Arvin; and up and over Tehachapi Pass.

12:30pm - Mojave. I had gone thru a cloud coming over the pass. It went from a drizzly wind chill of about 30 to an arid wind heat of about 95 in less than 10 miles. I had to stop to disrobe behind a metal shed. Off came the layers, and on went the sunscreen. Oh, and another beer.

1:45pm - Barstow.

2:45pm - Ludlow. Beer. Met Joe Misplay on his Orange Gold Wing. He and his buddies were on their last leg of completing the entire length of Historic Route 66. I'm gonna do that someday, hopefully it will happen in this lifetime. The picture didn't turn out, sorry.

4pm - Fenner/ Oasis. Gas, beer, ice.

5pm - Needles. I don't think I've ever been thru Needles without stopping at BK's Pepper Lounge, and after this trip, my record still stands. SHOOT. Somehow I lost the picture I took of Karla the bartendress… and she was cute too! =(.

6pm - Kingman, AZ. I made it! 630 miles in 12 ½ hours. Day 1 complete. Well almost complete. First…

6:30pm - Poolside, having my last beer for the day. Were you counting?

6:45pm - Spoke with G about our last night together. We've always had communication problems, and last night was a perfect example. She said she DID want to have sex, but thought that I was too sleepy. I asked her why she didn't ask or tell me what she wanted, and she said she was trying to be polite. F - ing hell woman… be polite about something else… when it's about sex… rude and crude can sometimes be a GOOD thing! She'll never understand my humor. Oh well. We worked it out, and things are ok now.

7pm - Dinner.

8pm - TV.

9pm - Sleep, with Honey hitched up just outside my motel room.

5/21/10

Friday. 2am - My neighbor at the motel came home and turned on his TV. Loud.

2:15am - I knocked on his door and got no response. Actually, that's not true. He did respond. He turned UP the volume.

2:30am - I called the motel desk clerk and then listened to my neighbor's phone ringing for about 15 minutes. He never answered… fortunately the volume didn't go up though. Maybe it was already turned up as loud as it would go. I called the clerk and said thank you for trying, and thought about asking her to move me to another room, but decided to use the experience as an opportunity to practice my 'spiritual exercises.'

3am - I succeeded, and was able to zone the TV out, and get some rest.

4am - Up and at 'em. Feeling substantially better than I looked.

5am - Packing. Morning beer.

5:30am - Off and away.

6:30am - Four miles from Seligman, and… I ran out of gas. Wow… this is a new experience. I wasn't even in Texas yet.

7am - Back on the road. If I hadn't have spent ten minutes pouting about running out of gas, I would've already had been pulling into the station up the freeway. How was I able to get going so quickly you may ask. Well, because of my previous experiences (in Texas)… I'd decided to have Honey carry an extra can of gasoline on her back. Me smart.

7:15am - After filling her tank I went directly across the road and bought a Road Kill Café t-shirt. It won't show up on a picture, so I'll tell ya 'bout it. It has the 'Historic Route 66' emblem on the front, with the name of the café, and on the back it has a (partial) menu of the food they serve. One item listed from each state the Route goes through:

Illinois - Pavement Possum "Served on a bun, this beast is awesome"

Missouri - Show Me Shitzu "A hairy little treat with fuzzy little feet"

Kansas - Curbside Kitty "A little bitty, bite sized kitty"

Oklahoma - Airbrake Owl "It was saying 'whooo' when thru the windshield it flew"

Texas - 2 Step Terrier "Step 1, we hit it, Step 2, you get it"

New Mexico - Chihuahua Chili "A Southwest delight that shivers when it bites"

Arizona - Grand Cnayon Cougar - "A big mountain cat, that you'll eat 'till you're fat"

and finally…

California - Cream-O-Kitty "Our Western version that starts out Persian"

8:00am - Ash Fork. Kellie wasn't working at the gas station mini mart that day, so I left a message for her with one of her coworkers, that I was passing thru town again, and still wanted to spend the night with her in Flagstaff some day. I was a bit sad that I'd missed her, but I was very excited that I had reached the point of my chosen route and was leaving the freeway for the rest of the day!

8:30am - Chino Valley. Breakfast at The Iron Horse Restaurant.

10am - Valle Verde.

10:15am - Pulled over and given a warning about speeding. Whew. Nice guy.

11:15am - Pine Trail trailhead. Honey wanted to go in and sit down, but I explained to her that the door was just too small for her to get in.

12:30pm - Heber. I'd heard there was supposed to be a BMW event there, but I didn't see diddle-e-dee.

1:30pm - Show Low.

2:30pm - Sunrise Ski Area.

3:45pm - Alpine! What a beautiful area. This is the Arizona that most people don't know anything about. Absolutely lovely… about 9,200' in elevation, and just as beautiful as you could imagine.

4pm - I headed south from Alpine, on Hwy 191 and encountered the most difficult part of this particular adventure. I'd 'aimed' my route directly at this road, because of its color and shape on the map. Honey and I both love little black squiggly lines. The biker lingo is 'twisties'. I had been lookin' forward to this road since I picked my route the night before. I'd gone many miles further than I needed to because of it. It was going to be a BLAST!

5:30pm - MAJOR twisties… non-stop for about 110 miles. Hwy 191. It's just what I wanted, but it was too late in the day, and two many miles. It almost won, and in a sense it did. It wore me out to the point of making my only mistake of the trip. Fortunately, it ended up turning out to be a good thing. I love it when that happens. Read on.

6:00pm - I drove right through the "Biggest Fucking Copper Mine" in the world. I 'google-earthed' it when I got to Killeen, and as I had suspected… you CAN see it from outer space. It was the end of the MAJOR twisties, and I'm sorry I was so pooped that I didn't even stop to take pictures. I just needed to find a motel.

6:30pm - Clifton. Gas & beer. No motel available, and the next town was 100 miles away. Shoot. I hate it when that happens. Riding when I'm overly tired is not a good thing.

8:30pm - Silver City, NM. Yea! A motel! That was the good news. The bad news was that when I went to call G, to let her know I was ok, I discovered my cell phone was nowhere to be found. I did what I do when things like this happen, and right away remembered. I'd set it on top of my saddlebag back in Clifton. I hoped that whoever might potentially find it, would enjoy some of the pictures of me on it. I hope it wasn't a kid, or someone with sexually conservative values or morals.

15 hours and 640 miles for the day; 1270 for the trip.

5/22/10

Saturday, 6am - Slept in.

6:15am - Coffee, beer, pack. Confirm route.

7:30am - Off and away.

8:30am - Emory Pass.

9:45am - Hatch. I'd been on this route before, going the other direction. I liked the stop the first time, and even more this time. I'm easily amused, so I laughed at myself when I felt 'impressed' that I remembered my way around the convenience store (they keep their beer in the opposite corner from the soda).

When I came out with my cooler full of beer and ice, I spoke with Ed, who was getting out of his truck. He was a NM State Trooper, a fellow 'brother', and after we chatted about Honey and his bike for a while, I asked him for… and he gave me… very accurate and detailed directions to the Verizon Store in Las Cruces.

11:00am - Las Cruces. As I was chatting with Corena about getting my new phone, I discovered that she was from Watsonville, the same town I was born in. I LOVE it! This Country (and World) is huge, but time and time again… I am given clear messages and examples of how small it really is.

I was eligible for an upgrade, so instead… I got a phone that was almost exactly like my old one… for FREE. I love Verizon.

11:45am - Back on line. Back on road. 1:15pm - Alamagordo. Very nice lunch (green chili chicken alfredo).

2:30pm - Sunspot; Sacramento Peak; The National Solar Observatory.

The "Tower Telescope," 136' feet above ground, and 228' below!

4:30pm - Durken. It had been a really nice road down from Sunspot, but now I was getting out of the mountains and back into the desolate high desert plains. It was only going to get flatter, hotter, and humider (I know it's not a word… I just said it to be cute).

5:30pm - Artesia, TX. Velma checked me in to my motel and I was happy. Not because of Velma… she was nice, but not in 'that' kind of a way. I was happy 'cuz I knew I'd be back home in Killeen the next day; it was going to be a fun route; the worst thing that had happened on the trip had actually turned out to be a good thing (getting a new phone); and it had been a relatively short and easy day… only 10 hours and 376 miles… and 1,646 for the trip.

6:15pm - Huge serving from salad bar; sizzling chicken & shrimp w/ green bell peppers and sweet onions… all for $10.17.

7pm - Spoke with G, happy to hear she's 'taking herself off the grid' for a few days… going to a 'spa' in Sonoma (Ca.). She REALLY needs to learn how to take care of herself. She should take lessons from me. I'm really good at making myself #1.

8pm - TV

9pm - Bed, sound sleep.

Sunday 5/23/10

4:30am - Up and at 'em.

7am - Off and away. Again… feeling much better than I looked.

7:45am - Loco Hills.

8:15am - Hobbs. No beer 'til noon. I love Texas… but I MUST learn to remember this rule, so I will plan ahead the night before.

9am - Eunice. Gas. And Jennifer (from Nashville, TN)… what a cutie!

10:45am - Tarzan (a post office and a church).

Noon - Big Spring. Gas. Food. And BEER!!

1:45pm - Robert Lee. I stripped off my leathers… and my helmet… for the first time on the trip.

2:30pm - Bronte. Eleanor at the gas station mini-mart remembered me from 1 ½ years ago!. Well of COURSE she'd remember me. How many good loookin' motorcycle riders come thru town on Halloween, with a stuffed alien on the back of their bike?

As per my previous visit, I was aware that the people in this town are nice. No… not ONLY because someone remembered me, but just regular… nice folks. I love Texas.

3:30pm - Santa Anna. Getting close.

4:15pm - Brownwood. Getting closer. Honey was breathing heavy… she's getting used to the heat now, but this was her last day of the trip, and we'd been traveling through some pretty hot stuff. Well… hot based on our 'northern California coast' weather… not even close to hot by Texas standards. I think it was about 95. She asked nicely, so how could I refuse. I stopped and let her take a quick nap under a (very small) tree.