October 30, 2013

Note that you get TWO full entries today because of the extra time spent in Wichita Falls to buy the Honda tire and then drive to Altus, Oklahoma, to have it installed.

Morning:
           Overnight in the Walmart parking lot in southeast Wichita Falls. This lot has no tree cover so I was happy to learn that the camper, though it buffets in the wind, completely shutters it out. Bed-down time was 9-ish but no sleep until later as there is a gas station adjacent to the lot. Some punk with loud mufflers revved it randomly until midnight. My guess is some local loser trying to pick up the fat little girl who works there.

           My Honda tire size is 130/90x17, not easy to find. In the end, I bought the tire in Texas and drove to Oklahoma to have it installed. That’s 92 miles, Wichita Falls to Altus. The sidecar scares mechanics until I assure them the tire can be changed in forty minutes. Special thanks to Bob’s Motorcycle in Wichita Falls and Altus Motorsports in Altus, Oklahoma. (That's not Bob in the photo, just a smitten passerby.)
           Here’s something people take to be an illusion, but isn’t. Notice how the tires on the motorcycle and sidecar seem to angle away from each other. That is so because the frame of the sidecar is adjusted so that the motorcycle does pull to the left or right. You can barely see it, but there is a triangular strut almost dead center of this photo that can be adjusted. It is a compromise, the bike will pull slightly left or right depending on even how full the gas tank is. That’s your trivia today.

           I’m reading “The Fifth Passenger”, a Brit spy mystery novel. Published in 1963, it has that Ian Fleming touch, where anyone that eats does so in a restaurant and you get a complete description of what they ordered. And what brand of wine. And of course, the 41 year old man meets a single 25 year old woman on the train. Just like always happens in real life. She is single, beautiful, and available and he does not suspect a thing. And we get a description of how she was dressed, right down to her sensible shoes. Hey, that's how movie scripts got sold in the early days.

Daytime:
           I’m not sure if this tire is a trip expense or repair expense. It looks like a tire lasts only 5,000 miles. I am loathe to split transactions. Another thanks to the BK in Altus for letting me wait there for the tire repair when I nodded off on this perfect prairie afternoon. It was late afternoon when I pulled in for gas to find I was a mile from the Roger Miller Museum. It closed an hour before I arrived.

           No, there are not a lot of scenic photos. Ayee, north central Texas ain’t that scenic and Bee, this ain’t a travel blog. (Actually, the blog rules are at work saying I can’t focus on certain aspects too much even if they are the most significant events of the day.) The important thing was the motorcycle tire and that is what is going on here.
           My memory for trivia like Miller’s birthplace is bad, so I’m tickled when I find these places on the fly. But I know that I’m not that lucky, so it just shows you that America is full of famous places and I just happen along. I pressed on to Amarillo until a half-hour after dark. I’m feeling a chill in the air that should not be present this early in the year and it is giving me bad vibes for the trip. I decided to carry on straight up through Denver and stay ahead of whatever these cold mornings are telling me.
I carried on, passing some low lying hills in the middle of the Oklahoma prairies called the Wichita Mountains. I was born near there and never knew they existed.

           They appear as a low range of hills for close to fifty miles long north of Highway 62. There are also isolated large hills on the rest of the prairies, but nothing on the scale of this range. This would normally be something I would stop and drive through, but look at those clouds and tell me what you think.

Evening:
           I passed the 2,000 mile point near Conway, Texas. Yes, the Conway Twitty town. It took me seven days to get here but I have not really been pushing things. My average is 300 miles per day which might pick up because the rest of the diagonal to Yakima is not that new to me. I will see a few sights yet, but something is telling me to get west fast.

           The ride was on my new tire, shown here. I passed Dumas (Dumbass) Texas at nightfall and for the first time, the evening was chilly. I consider that the first cold weather, not a good sigh. I turned in to Amarillo looking for a Walmart and that was another lesson not to drive after dark. You must be extra vigilant for traffic and thus often see things when it is too late to turn.
           I gave up and camped out with a bitter 48-degree wind from the south forcing me to button up solid. The electric heating pad is only good for a few hours on the lowest setting and covered by two blankets. The interior is cozy but not designed for the bulk of a sleeping bag. However, I’m not waiting for it to drop to freezing. As soon as I’m in Aurora and know my way around, I’ll go shopping.



Here is the second entry. Ignore duplicate topics, this is a transcript.
           Oddly, I managed to sleep in an extra hour in New Boston, which means I slept soundly enough. Then it was down Highway 82, another one of those roads that varies between smooth four-lane to axle-breaking frost heaves. All this compliments of GPS "IQ Route" technology. Did I mention my traditional stop at the Bookinier? Yes, so let's move on.
           In fact, the road was so bad, I asked the GPS to find an alternative. That's how I got scary ride into St. Jo, TX, where I arrived burning fumes. The only local gas station took my picture. I got back on 82 for a drive directly to the beautiful library in Wichita Falls. The new one on Lamar. I missed the librarians name, but what a cutie. She gave me directions to the Greenbriar Walmart, in a new part of town I've never been. The manager there was far too young and too shart to stick there very long. I crashed overnight and it fell to 42 degrees.

           I needed information, so I went to the source. The Denny's on Kemp. I met an Aaron's employee who knew the cycle shops in town. So far, my biggest non-travel expense was the $16 for books in Paris. See photo nearby for MY kind of used bookstore. The camper, like my bedroom at home, is starting to fill up with books, and I have the ex-girlfriends to confirm that. Uh, Ken, that's textbooks, detective novels, computer manuals, what we call "real" books.
           Trivia time. Like the majority of Americans, I belive we have no business policing the world. I was informed to day that Sheppard AFB north of town is not at risk for any cutbacks because the European nations send their pilots there for training. I did not know that, but I'll bet it brings in a pretty penny. I just wonder if those pennies can be traced right back to "foreign aid" or something equally useless.
           Here is a picture of the healthy style on the road made possible by the cash freed up from the motel budget. This is a mom & pop sandwich in Paris y'day. It wasn't cheap, but it was as good as it looks. It's really here to balance today's post, so there is more than one picture. But a picture of food always keeps 'em happy.

           I made it to Wichita Falls, TX, where I had to purchase a new rear tire for the Honda. $140. That's the first major expense on the trip. Well, involuntary expense, I mean. Turns out the size is a little rare, 130/90 x 17, and I was lucky to find one. But I was flabbergasted by the amount of information required to buy this tire at a dealership. Name, address, phone, e-mail, even the VIN numbers of the wagon and the vehicle towing it, plus some kind of serial number on the tire itself. I balked, and returned later to buy the tire in cash, ready with fake information. But what the hell?
           The weather is perfect for motorcycling, but I'm running short on time and I'm going to risk the more direct route through Denver. It has already been snowing in the mountains (I hear tell). I may get more adventure than I bargained for.

ADDENDUM
           One aspect of the camper I did not anticipate was that sometimes I would not find any cover. While I can disrobe inside the camper, that requires a degree of athletics I'm too old to manage on a regular basis. I always thought I'd find a secluded parking spot. Not in windswept northern Texas. The camper is thus evolving toward a compromise. Even a permanent higher roof will mean I need a tarp, tent, or awning for privacy of egress. If I find a spot with permission, I'd like a small sheltered sitting area, but all this is in the future. There are no major problems and the camper works. You adapt, for example if you get a warm place to shave and shower, do it in the evening, not the morning.
           That also brings me to the topic of travel centers, which are not big in the east. These are truck stops with all the amenities. The best one I've seen but never been to is Rice Valley, in Oregon. Movie theaters, shopping, repair shops, everything. But best of all, for as little as $8, you can rent a shower and bath for an hour. They are spotlessly clean and the price includes all the warm towels you need.
           Sorry, if still no pix. If you do see pictures, you'll know I was successful. I'll pick up a card reader in Denver in a day or two, where I know I can find one. I'm tired of explaining what it is to the yokels.