Road Ramblings
by: goon73
4:45am Thursday morning, August 18, 2005 The alarm starts chirping and I momentarily contemplate just turning it off. The bike was packed the night before with the few clothes I am bringing, little tent in case I want to camp, a blanket, and my leathers. The new tool bag was mounted on the handlebars and filled with everything I could think of needing, the sockets I primarily use for my bike, spare set of plugs incase I foul one on the mountain, and a few miscellaneous tools. Now the only thing not ready to go is me. I drag up out of bed and take a long shower, I put on my BDU pants, with my maps in one leg pocket, I tie the legs and tuck them inside my boots so they won’t blow up while going down the road. Next is a t-shirt, and my colors. I am ready.
 The first leg of the trip was awesome, almost no traffic through Houston. The weather was cool, and my bike was getting awesome gas mileage. Steady 75mph until my first gas stop in Centerville. The gas stop was quick and easy, filled up the bike, drained the rider, and a quick smoke. Back on the road in less than 15 minutes. Light traffic all the way to Ennis and my turn off for 287 steady highway speeds with a few journeys into the triple digit speeds for the fun of it. As I turned off onto 287 I decided to have a smoke break under an overpass, so I checked the rigging of my gear, had a smoke then hit the road. At Midlothian I figured it was time for another fill up so I pulled into the loves truck stop a little before 11:00am. Filled up the tank, then pulled the bike over to the store, decided to grab a bite to eat since I was making great time. 30 minutes later I walked out, geared up and got ready to ride. I threw a leg over the bike and as I sat down I noticed I was much lower that I should have been. I looked down to notice my rear tire was flat. Murphy’s Law in full effect; I checked the tire and found the offending screw still sticking straight up out of my tire. OK, helmet off time to regroup and make a plan.
 This is the part of the story that I take a moment and make the praises of the AMA MoTow service. I had never really though of joining before this trip, but after some thought I went ahead and spent the $25 to sign up. That decision saved my ass, my trip, and someone from having to bail me out. The Tow to a service center to get my tube replaced would have cost $250 if I had been paying for it, but with the service it cost $0. Nothing more that a 5 hour delay and I was back on the road just in time to hit rush hour in Ft. Worth.
I have never been a fan of lane splitting; I have pretty much thought it was exclusively for squids with a death wish. But hitting the rush hour standstill in the Hot Ft. Worth afternoon after being sidelined for five hours brought out something in me I couldn’t resist. I split lanes through the 10 miles or so of heavy backup and in less than 20 minutes I was out on open road again.
Wichita Falls found me a little hungry and I wanted to check the map to see where I was falling in as far as schedule was concerned. So I stopped at Denny’s. A soup and salad combo and a pitcher of tea later I realized I was way behind where I needed to be, but decided to carry on. As I put Wichita Falls behind me I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets playing out ahead of my route. The realization of being alone and how bad I wished I could share the sight moved me to stop on the highway and snap photo, it’s a good picture, but it is nothing in comparison to seeing it in person.
 
As the sun set and my constant 80mph journey continued, the realization that I simply was not going to make Colorado this day started weighing heavily on my mind. Then the fatigue started creeping in, as more and more miles passed the disappointment of not making my goal and the soreness of being on the road all day built more and more. Around 11:pm I found myself in Clarendon 60 miles south of Amarillo sitting cross-legged in the parking lot of a closed grocery store with my map in my lap. I sat there knowing how bad I was hurting, how far I had to go, and I hit the wall. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move, but I couldn’t give up. I made a phone call to a friend that I had been giving updates to off and on all day but I got her voicemail. I left some sort of message, but I honestly have no idea what I said. As I sat there finishing my cigarette trying to figure out what to do my phone rang and it was her. She simply said get a hotel room, and start again tomorrow. I lost it, the disappointment of the day hit me like a ton of bricks, in tears I remember telling her how bad I had wanted to make it in one day, and I was nowhere near my goal. She told me it was ok to not make it in a day and that I had plenty of time for the rest of the trip, she told me everything I needed to hear, and I promised to get a room. After checking at one local place called the “It’ll Do Motel” only to find out they didn’t even have alarm clock, I went down the street and stayed at another of this fine towns local no-tell motels. After trying to fit my bike through the door of the room and finding out the entire bike was too wide for the narrow door I ended up parking it on the sidewalk next to my room’s window. And ten minutes later after a shower and a call home to let my mother know I was alive I set the alarm and passed out
DAY 1, 571 miles + 5 hour delay.
4:00am a mere four hours after my head hit the bed. My alarm is screaming incredibly loud and I simply cannot sleep through it. I drag out of bad, get dressed and pack the bike back up, I am gassed up and on the road by 4:45 and after about 20 minutes on the road I notice something I am not familiar with in the month of August. I am cold. A quick stop on the side of the road to dig my jacket out of the bag eats 10 minutes, but was necessary. I am back in the wind (although less of it is getting though to me now). My next stop is in Vega for gas as I turn off of I40 and onto 385. After getting gas I stop for a cigarette while I enjoy the sunrise over the panhandle plains. Then it’s back on the road and blazing down some small Texas two lanes at speeds that couldn’t be described as legal. Somewhere along the way I stopped for breakfast in some nondescript town where the waitress informed me it was six hours to Denver. (Good thing I wasn’t going all the way to Denver)
 The next stop was Clayton New Mexico for a fill up and to take off the jacket. Then back on the road for some more miles. Along the way I stopped at a rest area to put the jacket back on and I answered a couple calls on my phone. After a couple check in calls to assure everyone I was still alive, another call to my friend from the night before brought out the camera since she told me I had to get pictures of Sierra Grande (the largest inactive volcano in NW New Mexico and happened to be over my shoulder at the rest stop) then it was back on the road. 90 something miles later was another gas stop and a look out to Colorado a mere 3 miles from that gas stop.
On the road again and finally into Colorado the first thing I notice is that Mountains are big! The second thing I notice is that Colorado has a 75mph speed limit on the highway now add my usual 10-15 over and I was finally making great time to my turn off in Pueblo. Pueblo brought another gas stop where I realized the octane content of the regular unleaded was dropping the higher I got, by this stop I filled up with 85 octane and 10% ethanol, aside for a little extra popping on deceleration my bike ran fine on it and I even averaged over 50 miles per gallon for a while. After the gas it was on to Royal Gorge.
  One thing that struck me was how tourist driven the area was. Everywhere I looked there was something that the family on vacation just wouldn’t be able to pass up. Finally I arrived to the Royal Gorge, paid my $20 and went in, I spent sometime checking the gift shop and side attractions out, and then I walked out and looked at the bridge and gorge. I was honestly dizzy the first look down. The slope of the walls and colors of the rocks caught me off guard. And then I saw the rafts (just a little more than dots) going down the river and it out it all in perspective. I walked out on the bridge and was a little shaken up when I realized how much the entire thing bounces and shakes when a vehicle goes across (keep in mind me and heights don’t really get along) after checking out the bridge a while it was time to do what I came for; to Ride across it. A last stop at the gift shop relieved me of a little coin, but I got my Pin and keychain for a friend. Then it was back on the bike, and time to ride across. The ride across was weird to say the least, the bounce of the bridge and the movement of the planks all while avoiding the pedestrians made for an interesting trip. I stopped in the middle to take a picture of my bike by the sign and was honestly afraid it was going to fall over on the stand when another vehicle came by.
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