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Diane picked me up at 7:30 am on the dot! Man is she punctual. I got back to Diane's daughter's place and suited up for the ride. It's early and I can already tell this is going to be a hot day. Thanks to Diane and her daughter, my bike is safe in their garage and loaded up for the most part. Minor adjustments and I am ready to hit the rod. This was a fun stop and I am glad I detoured to come here and see my old friend. Now we can keep in touch via Facebook even better. Let’s not wait another 36 years next time though!
Well, since this is Texas and the state with the highest speed limit (85 mph!), it’s time to take advantage and hit the throttle. I feel the need for some speed! I guess we have a winner in the speed limit wars at 85 mph. Since I have run out of states that I will be crossing, I declare Texas the fastest state in the union! However, I did find that I am not the only one on the road that likes this speed limit; these people fly low to the ground. Here I thought that at 85 mph, I would be passing people left and right, well I was getting passed half the time! At least I know I am not in a hurry so let them pass damn it! I got to Lockhart, TX in a flash too. Fueled up and hit it again.
So, this time I made it to the small town of Seguin, TX. Not much of a blip on the map but they have something I want here. A taqueria! For the non-initiated, a taqueria is a small shop where you guessed it, you can get tacos. Here, in Texas, many take the form of old gas stations that have been converted. Hell, even convenience stores here will sometimes have tacos for sale! I stopped off at a taqueria that used to be a gas station and this one was done up pretty well with a little sitting room inside and outside. They have a drive up window you can just pull up to or park and walk in if you wish. The outside sitting area was shady so I opted to sit out there. The owner noticed I had Alaska plates on the bike and asked if I was really from Alaska. When I confirmed that I was, he had to tell everybody within ear shot that I was there and where I was from. He and I talked for a while as I waited for a couple of bean, cheese and bacon tacos. He gave me free lemonade and introduced me to the regulars sitting outside. These are real tacos and not that crap you get at Taco Bell. Try to tell a real Mexican that Taco Bell is Mexican food and you might end up in a fight!
I sat out there enjoying my tacos with my new homies having some great conversation. Turns out all but one used to have bikes. One had hurt himself a while back and all three had to admit their wives played a large part in why they no longer ride. We laughed pretty hard about that for a bit! It was funny because these guys are the kind of guys I grew up with. The Spanglish was flying fast and furious. The mixing of Spanish and English is very common around here. It was kind of funny though cause there was an old white guy in the bunch; so, everything had to be repeated for him to follow. It's not that he was being excluded on purpose but you get into animated conversations and you forget which language you are talking in. He didn't seem to mind the delay and nobody seemed to mind repeating stuff. The thing to watch out for when you get more than a couple of us people of the Hispanic persuasion together is flying arms and hands. We are well known for using our hands to talk and you have got watch out or get smacked accidentally! If you want to see us one of us stammer, just hold our hands down while we speak in Spanish!
OK, time for another history lesson. I grew up in south Texas so taquerias were a usual site for me and I often frequented them. When I left Texas, I was surprised to see they were not on every other corner like I was used to and man did I miss them sorely. There was one taqueria in particular that I remember. It was called Crazy Taco and they lived up to their name. You would buy a crazy taco for about $3 - 4 bucks, I can't really remember. This crazy taco was on a huge tortilla and had everything in it, beans, rice, cheese, carne guisada, and God knows what else. Trust me; this was a full meal by itself. As a matter of fact, I have a recipe for carne guisada which, I make once in a blue moon and I share the recipe whenever asked. I enjoyed my meal and conversation and back on the road. I am really close to Corpus Christi now!
You hear on TV where they refer to Texas as rolling plains, well I would have to say that's a pretty good description because it is pretty darn flat and the altitude changes are just rolling....barely. Again with the hay bales! These really do look like some kind of free-range beasts as they lay scattered here and there in the fields; some even get to sit in the shade! I started running into more cotton fields as I got closer to Corpus Christi. The fields go right up to the side of the road in some places and looks like they are ready for picking. Some have even gotten too "ripe" because the wind is starting to blow some off the stalks. I found a bunch of loose cotton sitting right on the side of the road. I will have to make a point to get a baggy and bring some back to show my wife and kids what raw cotton looks like. Cotton is not an easy harvest. I guess these days, they pick it with machines but back in my dad's day, this was manual work. People were hired and paid by the bushel they picked. This was back breaking work and really hard on the hands. One of the pictures shows the cotton still on the stalk. The part that holds the cotton ball is extremely sharp and will cut your fingers up pretty bad.
My father, rest his soul, was one hard working man. He died at the age of 91 in a house fire. He was as sharp as a tack to the last day of his life. He could tell you stories from as far back as when he was a kid and remember anything and anybody you asked him about. As a child, I remember that he would leave super early for work and get back really late. I thought that's how everyone worked. It turns out that many of the times it was because he was working two jobs at the same time. The one I remember best was the period during cotton harvest. He would leave really early while it was dark to go to the cotton field to pick at least a bushel of cotton before going to his job. At the end of the day, he would go back to the cotton field and pick another bushel on his way home. This way he got a couple bushels picked a day and made some extra money for us.
My father always believed that everyone should work as hard as their body allowed and not b**** about it. He was not a great believer in welfare programs but acknowledged that some people did indeed need it. He figured we especially didn’t need it because we were all fit and capable of going out and making our way on our own! He was huge on education and believed that it was the only way his seven children would not end up having to work as he did. My father had a first grade education and my mother had a second grade education. When they were children, their parents felt they were needed at home more than in school. My parents made sure 6 of the 7 of their kids got a college education. I could go on and on with stories about my parents' drive for educating their children.
Finally, Corpus Christi! I made it to my sister Nina's house but they weren't home from work yet. I took the opportunity to sit on the grass for a while till my brother in law, Jerry, arrived. Soon after that, my nephew Joseph arrived. Joseph lives a couple houses away in back through the alley. Well, after a day of riding, it's beer thirty again! We headed over to B&J's pizza for good pizza and copious amounts of beer. They have quite the selection here and they will track which beers you get. Joseph has his name on the wall and a t-shirt to commemorate his 100th different beer from this place. No, not an alcoholic, just a resident with a beer place close by! LOL
After a few beers and great pizza, Joseph informed me that he had bought me a ticket to RiffTrax to go with him and his girlfriend. Unless you are my age, you probably have no idea what MST3000 is. It stands for Mystery Science Theater 2000. This was a show on TV where they would show low budget science fiction movies while a guy with 2 robots sat in the audience and made fun of the movie. It was funny! Well, these same guys, the actual guy and the guy who voiced the robot do RiffTrax. This is a live show where they do a split screen on the movie theater screen. The movie was Godzilla 1998 (definitely a crap movie). They would show the guys as we watched the movie and the guys would interject comments and make fun of how dumb the movie was. Joseph had no idea what MST3000 was until he found out by accident and he was hooked! The movie was great and we had to laugh quite a bit at the stupid comments the RiffTrax guys made especially when they were making fun of Mathew Broderick!
After the movie, we went back to my sister Nina’s house. We were sitting around talking and I started laughing at my hand when I noticed that I had tan marks at every knuckle and where my gloves tie shut. I thought it looked funny and I was glad it was the only sunburns I got on the whole ride. I made the mistake of asking my nephew, Joseph what he thought of the marks and that's when I realized my family genes were alive and well in this kid when he responded with nothing about the marks but that he thought I needed a bigger ring! Smart Ass!
I will be staying at my oldest sister Amelia’s house while I am in town. She and her husband Raul are going to be out of town for a few days and offered me the house. Air-conditioning finally! Moved my stuff in and prepared to settle in. My miles for today were 301.1, not bad!
Following is some detail on the pictures:
Pic 1 - Until We Meet Again: Goodbye Harker Heights and my old schoolmate, Diane. It was a great stopover and hope we can now stay in touch via Facebook at least. Now we are caught up on the last 36 years!
Pic 2 - Speed Baby: Go Lockhart, Texas! Highest speed limit I have encountered so far and since I am going no further then Texas, we have a winner. These people drive every bit that speed limit and then some!
Pic 3 - Taqueria: First real taqueria I ran across. I just had to stop in Seguin, TX for a couple of bean, cheese, and bacon tacos. The owner threw in free lemonade when he found out I rode from Alaska and invited me to sit and talk a while.
Pic 4 - My New Homies: Just chillin' with my new homies at the taqueria! I talked with locals while having my tacos. Fun bunch. The Spanglish was flying furiously! There was one white guy in the bunch, so everything was said at least twice to keep him in the loop.
Pic 5 - Free Range Hay: This is why they call them "The Rolling Plains of Texas". Lots of hay bales around here. Be kind to your animals and provide them free-range hay. No cages for these beasts. They even get shade.
Pic 6 - More Hay: A whole herd of free-range hay bales! Going through Stockdale, TX and the hay never ends.
Pic 7 - The Fluffy Stuff: Starting to run into cotton fields too. This is the real deal. Raw cotton just like my dad would occasionally pick. Sinton, TX has lots of hay fields just like this one.
Pic 8 - Harvest Time: This is cotton from the adjacent fields. If they wait too long to harvest, the winds gets hold of it and makes a mess on the road.
Pic 9 - Up Close With Cotton: Up close on the cotton plant. The part where the cotton grows is so sharp they will slice you up as you pick the cotton. You’ve got to have tough skin to pick cotton.
Pic 10 - Beer Thirty: Corpus Christi, TX arrival means it's time for beer! First things first; off to B&J's for pizza and copious amounts of beer! You have to love family when they know how to treat you! My nephew Joseph even has the 100 imports drank shirt!
Pic 11 - RiffTrax: First night here, first movie. RiffTrax Live, Godzilla 1998. These are the same guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000. They talk over the movie making fun of it. Should be really funny cause they do it live.
Pic 12 - Sunburns: Funny marks on both my hands. I was totally covered with leather except for holes on the knuckles and where the wristband connects. Lucky though, those were the only sunburns! Asked my nephew what he thought, he said "you need a bigger ring?" LOL
Pic 13 - End of Day Miles: End of day miles. This is from Harker Heights to Corpus Christi. Nice shorter drive for the final piece. I think I will keep this going while here and on the way back.
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