April 24-25, 2005

Waldron To Home

There was frost on the pumpkin this morning and we welcomed the absence of wind.

We struck out for DeQueen, Arkansas, for breakfast bundled up against the cold which can be severe at 60-70 MPH on a cruiser bike.  Bill was on a tour bike and sitting in hog heaven protected from the windy elements.  He played his CD's and listened to talk shows.  I felt the wind and listened to it rushing against me all the way.

In DeQueen, I contacted Jake Jacobssen who wanted to join up somewhere on my inbound route.  But he is maxed out with all he does and had to prepare for a Reserves assignment.  He is a truly committed  man with what seems unlimited energy.  His devotion to the F4 era of the Thunderbirds is inspiring and I know he would love to be on the road with me.  I call him a 'Great American' because he is. I call him a friend because he is everything a friend could be.  He has been behind  this venture with heart and soul and I am sorry we couldn't hook up.  We will work something on Part Two of the trip.

So we hit the highway down in Texas where our route crossed IH 30 and headed to Dallas. En route we stopped for pictures at the Mena, AR, train station and when we crossed the state line to our home state...all y'all understand that-right!?.   Experts now on the GPS we found my son Geof's and his Finance Belinda 's home in north Dallas early on.  We chilled out, did some maintenance on the bikes, had a cool beer, watched some tv, and went to bed.  I woke up at 11pm, 3am, 5am and I heard a shower running.  That's just Bill, I said. At 5:30 I got up and I met my son going to work.  I said I thought you didn't go 'til 6:30. He said it is 6:30.  Clock in my room still on CST.  Hello.  Wake up Long Rider. I was to find out how time and presence can fool you again and again during the western part of the trip.

Bill and I then got an earlier start than expected and headed south.  We split at IH 35 and US 67.  He went to Waco then Austin to visit friends.  I went US 67 through Alvarado (Warning!  Speed Trap City...They must get a good percentage of their City Budget here but not from me this time!) to Hico then US 281 to home using back roads.  Storms threatened all the way.  There was one to the north and I could see the rain at ten miles. One to the south at five miles. I worked the GPS to find a route around them and was successful at threading the needle between them getting only mild sprinkles from the hail spewed out the top which then became rain over me.  I made it to Hico, TX, and stopped for breakfast to wait out the storms.

I had beautiful weather all the rest of the 175+ miles down and was grateful for the vision of my home when I got there.  GPS gave me a longer route...it thinks it's faster.  Not so...I finally figured how this GPS works and I know these back roads better than it and its programmers will ever know in my lifetime.

I rolled in tired and sore but what the hell...you only live once.

Some pictures (Full Album HERE):