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Up early and ready to get on the road! Looks like two more days to Corpus Christi, TX! Yesterday, I stopped at the first roadside fruit stand I saw. I about slammed on the brakes and crossed lanes to stop. You have to remember that I live in Ketchikan, Alaska, on a rock, in a rain forest. Fruits and veggies in Ketchikan are not great quality and are expensive by comparison. When you live on an island, everything comes in by boat or plane. All our groceries are brought up on a barge which takes about 4 days to get here. This is on fruit and veggies that already have been picked somewhere else to add to the transport time! I couldn't wait to bite into the fruit I bought at the fruit stand though. We like to run fruits and vegetables through a juicer at home but with the price of produce that isn't very economical. It is very nutritious and delicious but not very practical from an expense point of view. Here in Texas, we could juice as much as we wanted for a fraction of the cost. The juice tastes great when you have the right mix and is great for health and weight loss! I got so much fruit that I ended up with a plum and pear left over for this morning's breakfast. So, I said "what the hell, I can eat healthy at least once on this ride!" They tasted awesome and it's something my family and friends in Texas take for granted.
Time to hit the road with a belly full of fruit! I got on the road and said goodbye to all the little green men of Roswell where they milk the hell out of the "Roswell Incident". No complaints here and no probe either! Boy, you talk about taking something to the extreme!
I was in Texas in no time as evidenced by all the signs. I guess they really want you to know you are in Texas! Side note here; Hey Texas, you aren't the biggest state in the United States, Alaska is! Any complaints and we will cut Alaska in half just to make Texas the third largest state! Just kidding! As I am riding through Texas, I get flashbacks to conversations I had with my wife the first time I took her to Texas. We flew into Corpus Christi, TX; so she didn’t get a "lay of the land" so to speak. I was describing where something was and I kept telling her "over there on the hill” and she kept asking "what hill?" Since she is from Seattle and I am from South Texas, we have very different definitions of "hill". Turns out a small mound of dirt does not qualify as a hill in her eyes, go figure! I had to remind her that not all of Texas is as flat as where I am from but truth be told, you can see pretty darn far in Texas because there's nothing to obscure your view!
I started seeing plenty of oilrigs chugging away in empty fields sucking crude out of the ground. I knew for sure that I was in Texas now! Another very recognizable feature of Texas is brown....as in brown fields, brown grass, brown most everything that lives! That's why they have towns like Brownfield and Brownsville here. There's also a lot of farm country in good old Texas. They even have co-op gas stations and such. Wind farms seem to be springing up here as well. The weather in Texas seems to be pretty conducive to growing pretty near anything here.
I made it into Sweetwater, TX for gas and only gas in this town. I guess I should explain why the “only gas” comment is so important here as Sweetwater, TX and I have a history. When I was a kid, my family took many road trips. Some of these road trips were to work as migrant workers in the summer and then back at the end of summer. My dad could run a crew and make good money plus teach all his 7 children the value of good hard work. Well, my next older sister and I were the youngest and arguably the dumbest cause we took everything literally! I must have been about 10 on one of these road trips when we pulled into Sweetwater, TX. Imagine, if you will, a kid of 10 years old hears the name Sweetwater and this is a kid who takes things literally. My sister and I about trampled each other to get to the water fountain to experience this sweet water! Two gulps later, I am gagging and practically puking up the foulest tasting and smelling water I have ever had. NEVER AGAIN! For this reason, I got my gas and I got the hell out of Dodge, I mean Sweetwater.
After a while and some distance from Sweetwater, I start getting a little too hot so time for a rest stop. I pulled in and right behind me pulls in a car with an older gentleman. It is hot, after all this is Texas. I take my heavy leather jacket off and am sitting at a table with my concealed firearm no longer concealed in my shoulder holster. I’m thinking, I don’t care because it’s either this or cook in the jacket. The older gentleman comes over and does not seem at all bothered by the fact that I am sitting there with a gun strapped to my shoulder. I figure he is definitely Texan if that doesn't bother him, either that or from Ketchikan where everybody has guns!
I get to talking with this gentleman and discover he is none other than Dan Rasmussen, the co-founder of ESPN. He tells me he just bought a place nearby and is moving there with his wife shortly. She has stage 4 cancer and has always wanted to live in Texas so he said there was no question, they were moving to Texas for her last days. He said he has no idea of why she has always dreamt of living in Texas, maybe she watched too many westerns or something but she has always talked about it even though she has never visited Texas. We got to talking about life and he told me about his life and how his father treated him like crap all his life and told him he would never amount to much because he was dumb and nobody cared what he thought. He faced some serious adversities but said that what his father said drove him on because he was "going to show him"! He went on to do some pretty amazing things including being the co-founder of ESPN. He wrote a book called The Quiet Co-Founder of ESPN and showed me a copy he had. I would have bought one and had it autographed but I had no room on the bike. He had some really interesting stories and he cemented for me what I already thought; not everybody who has a tough life turns out to be a law-breaking loser. He had a horrid life with his parents and he turned out just fine! We sat for a while longer talking and then I got back on the road. He had so many stories, I could have spent another couple of hours talking to him but I was cooled off and the road was calling!
I got to Harker Heights, which was quite a ways off my route, but I wanted to see an old friend. My friend, Diana Vasquez from West Oso High School class of 1978 found me on Facebook not too long before the trip. I have never been back to Corpus Christi for a class reunion and couldn't pass up the chance to see a friend after 36 years. We had dinner at a place called Genghis Grill, one of those places where you pick the ingredients and they cook it for you. Good food and even better conversation! We had a chance to catch up and talk about where we've been for the past 36 years and our kids. Hell, she even has grandkids now! My kids better get on the ball if they want their kids to know grandpa! We went by her daughter's place where they said I could park my bike in their garage for the night since there seems to be some kind of crime wave going on right now in Harker Heights. I got to meet her daughter and her partner, nice couple and nice house. We agreed that Diana would drop me off at the Super 8 and then pick me up in the morning at 7:30 so I wouldn't have to worry about dealing with unloading and loading the bike since it was getting late. This also offered the benefit of having my bike in a safe and secure garage.
I spent the night at the Super 8 motel, which was not expensive and was nice and quiet. I was beat since the heat made for an extra-long riding day. Plopped myself down to watch a little TV and was asleep before I knew it with the air conditioner cranked up as high or low as it goes. Diana will pick me up at 7:30 am sharp and take me back to my bike so I can get the day started tomorrow for Corpus Christi!
My miles traveled for the day were 515.7. Long day of riding but Harker Heights was a little further then I thought! Well worth the ride!
Following are some details on the pictures:
Pic 1 - Breakfast of Champions: Morning in Roswell. First, breakfast of champions, then on the road. Yeah, yeah, no bacon and eggs but what ya gonna do when you are trying to eat a little healthier? The plum and pear tasted awesomely fresh!
Pic 2 - Little Green Men: Goodbye Roswell, NM and all your little green men. I wasn't abducted last night and no probes!
Pic 3 - Hello Texas: Hello Texas!!! The Texas state line by Tatum, TX.
Pic 4 - Welcome: Plains, TX Welcomes you! Oh yeah. I am now officially in Texas!
Pic 5 - The Hill: You know you are in Texas when this qualifies as a hill. Of course this is the appropriate place for a place called Plains, TX!
Pic 6 - Oil Rig: Another one of those " you know you're in Texas...." Moments. You're in oil country now! Black gold, Texas tea, etc. There's oil in them there hills...plains, I mean!
Pic 7 - The Brown Fields: The first grain elevator I have seen in a long time. Also my first gas stop in Brownfield, Texas. Appropriately named because this whole place looks like a brown field!
Pic 8 - Co-op Gas Station: You know you just rode into a farming community if even the gas station is a coop. Serves as general store as well.
Pic 9 - Wind Farm: Texas windmill farm in Hermleigh, TX. There are hundreds of these things all around me. I guess in Texas its go big or go home.
Pic 10 - Sweetwater: The only reason I stopped in Sweetwater is because I needed gas. As a kid we stopped in this town. My sister and I raced to a fountain because after all this is "Sweetwater". After two gulps of the worst tasting and smelling water I wanted out!
Pic 11 - Don Rasmusson: Met and talked to Don Rasmusson, the Quiet Co-founder of ESPN. We both pulled into the rest area outside Brownwood. TX at the same time and got to talking. I've gotta get his book (in pic). Crazy life he had and how he got past being told he was too dumb by parents and sabotaged always.
Pic 12 - Diane 36 Years Later: Finally, my first 36 year class reunion. This is my high school friend Diane. She looks exactly as I remember her! Had a great time catching up with our lives and our kids. She even has grand kids! We need to get cracking! How she ended up in Harker Heights, TX I never determined!
Pic 13 - Dinner: Dinner with Diane at the Genghis Grill. No idea what I had them cook for me but it was good. Had good company and good sweet tea.
Pic 14 - Diane's Daughter: This is in front of Diane's daughters place. Harker Heights was way way farther then I thought but getting to see a friend from 36 years ago was worth it. Mileage pic in the AM. My bike is spending the night in their garage. Diane dropped me off. Too tired!
Pic 15 - Time for Sleep: Super 8. Believe it or not this place is pretty nice and not much more then the last place I was at so I consider this an upgrade. There are even pictures on the wall at this place. Out of here at 7:30 am to get my bike and back on the road.
Pic 16 - End of Day Miles: As promised, last night's mileage. That was one long hot day!
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