Author: AK

The morning started off with a surprise.  I put the Sheffield, Texas post office into google and it informed me it was closing at 1pm.  I had just assumed it would be 4pm or thereabouts, and well, it was 180 miles away and I had a lazy morning.  I had enough time, but not the way I’ve been driving the past few days, stopping every half hour or so and being lazy at the stops.  So I started the morning on a mission.  Just stop for Gas and get there an hour before they close.  I planned on shipping home stuff as well, so I didn’t want to show up at 1pm and have to beg.

The roads out of Van Horn were flat as was the land.  It was only a few minutes in when the first gust of wind hit me… hard.  I went through some shallow canyons, and the winds starting gusting really hard and randomly changing directions on me.  For the first time in my riding life, wind seemed dangerous, not just a lot of fun.  Even when ready these gusts could throw Helga 2 to 3 feet to the side and the fact they switched directions at random made for some very hairy riding.  It was so strange thinking of wind alone as an existential threat.  I usually worry more about the pavement or the sky, both of which stretched out ahead of me in nearly unblemished black and blue respectively.

So I slowed down, stayed the fuck away from trucks, and kept as close to the middle line between the lanes as possible giving me maximum pavement if things got worse.  In the end, it never got to bad, but to put in perspective, at times I slowed down to below the speed limit the gusts got so bad.

Both yesterday and today the ride is somewhat boring, no tourist traps, no nothing.  It’s not even historic route 66.  No stickers 🙁  And I’m desperate to get one to stick over the scratched sticker on Helga.

I made it to Sheffield, and the young woman working the post office seemed relieved to see me.  Apparently her post master (Not in compliance with the law) told her general delivery goes back after 15 days.  And it was day 15.  She was sure nobody would come for it.  She had never had general delivery before.  The town was almost non-existent and when I inquired about a good place to get lunch, she denied the existence of any restaurant in town.  I fully believed her denials.  She was very helpful with finding a good size box for shipping my useless gear and clothing back.  I had bought packing tape and a sharpy at one of the truck stops along the way to the post office.

So it was only 12:15 by the time I was done getting my food, packing and shipping my stuff back home, and getting the bike loaded up with fresh provisions.  I realized I was starving and really had to pee, so I hit the road.  Sadly it was 30 minutes to the next gas station much less town.  It was early and I figured I could cover a whole lot more miles today.  The morning ride had been exhausting, heavy winds means lots of leaning and muscling the bike to keep it straight.  If I had been blown away by remaining upright in curves through Cali, my muscles and reflexes were positively baffled by suddenly leaning AWAY from the turn in the gusts.  Every riding instinct rebelled at the signals from my eyes and inner ear – YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!!!  The groin muscle that has been unhappy with me for months was pretty pissed off about getting so much use.  But that’s a sport bike for ya – it takes shoulder and thigh muscles in the turns.

The only pretty part of the drive was around sheffield, and well when you gotta pee, you gotta pee – so I didn’t stop until Ozona.

When I got there I called Slidell post office to check on the situation for my second food drop.  Short version of the story, they do in fact hold packages for 30 days, but require you to check in every 10 days to make sure it is not abandoned.  Cool.  The bad news was they didn’t have anything for me, and as I didn’t have a tracking number it is for all intents and purposes lost.  So sheffield is my last food drop!  That morning I had just gotten rid of provisions as I had/have way too much to carry.  DOH!  The good news, I still 7, maybe 8 days of main protein, and similar amounts of starch and veggies.  Sadly no more potatoes, but I can deal.  Even with this setback I probably have enough food to not have to buy any for when I camp.  If I run out, well I do get gas every day and there’s canned food and ramen at most truck stops.

So I pressed onto Dos Rios and holed up at a best western.  Oddly enough, they had only two rooms left and at first were not sure they could give me a room.  Hunting season is real big around here it seems.  The parking lot is empty though, so beats me what the real deal is.

Woke up and so did not want to get out of the sleeping bag.  It had been a very windy night.  The wind battering the tent whispered seductively to sleep in, just lay there.  But I got up and made coffee instead.

My back is still not happy and I had to fix head turn signal.  The glue on the crank had dried overnight, and I screwed and glued it back in place . Good thing I don’t have to do an oil change but the tool kit had what I needed.

Skipped making breakfast and made a decision to stop  making breakfast too.  so  I’ll get to Sheffield tomorrow and send back shit I’m just not gonna use.  I know better for next time I guess.

Writing this at a rest stop.  I’m stopping lots today and staying at a hotel.  I need an easy day.  I’m irritable, dropping helga has me shy about stopping.  And low speed turns in parking areas.  I’ll get over it but my back is reminding me all day lol.  One bright spot there was an accident on 10 so Google suggested a mountain highway and it was way better driving with nice twists.  I keep failing to mention how awesome the roads have been bene the campsites.  I wish I had Harold for those twists but still they’ve been the highlight of the riding miles .

I’ve been covered from head to toe during daylight and I feel like I’m getting rickets.  So stripped down to my tank top and took a few minutes to get some sun and write .

Some lady sat down next to me at the rest stop and in just like, really there’s 5 open picnic tables sit elsewhere.  If she wanted to be social she could have said hi, instead she just chatted in her phone.  Fucking people confuse me.

As I left the rest stop, I found all my skittishness in Helga was gone.  Threw my leg over the saddle and took off like a boss.  Which got me thinking.  So confession time.  I did figure it was more likely than not, that said lady wanted me to chat her up.  I mean why else would she sit there. Not to mention at the moment I am a fucking trope.  The lone traveling dude by horse or by motorcycle has gotten laid in just about every movie he’s been in.  Too bad I’m not that kind of biker baby.  I may not be fat and grizzled, but I do smell I’m sure, 2 days since a shower. Confidence is a strange and slippery thing sometimes.  I like to think I’m more evolved than that, but I suspect that little ego boost is why my bike feels mine again.  Or maybe I just needed vitamin d.

Pointless angst and pretentious desire for meaning aside.  I’m happy to be enjoying the ride again, even if West Texas is ugly and smells of CAFOs.

I stopped at the days inn in Van Horn Texas.  My phone refuses to understand I’m in a new time zone.  Oh well.  I wanted to get more miles in today but the next place with anything, ft. Stockton was 120 miles more and I’m not doing it today.  I’ve got my clothes in the laundry and I have the cook gear a good scrub in the sink.  Although due to lack of camp grounds along my route and the things I want to do in Sheffield, I’ll probably hotel again tomorrow.  We shall see.

 

So phoning this one in… Get it.  Decided I wanted to make up some miles today and went to agguirre springs in New Mexico.  I’m practically to Texas.  Basically straight drive no fun stops.

Camp was pretty, I don’t want to admit it but I tipped helga twice.  In the same damn spot.  She’s fine ahes tough, but my back is a little sore and I’m way embarrassed.  One of her stickers got scratched

So having net I decide to look into how to change my oil and discover the nifty BMW tool kit doesn’t have a big enough torque socket.  Then I look it up and see Helga can go 6k on an oild change per BMW.  I’m shipping that filter back home along with the esbit stove when I get to Sheffield .  Looks like I don’t have to do an oil change and that makes me happy.

The esbit smells and I’m just tired of it.   It smells like cancer and leaves black crap everywhere.   I’ll trade the space for more fuel for the alcohol stove.  Anyway, can’t find anything except an RV park io my route for tomorrow so I think I’ll just get a hotel.

 

The campsite is way windy and I saw a skunk again.  Good thing it’s easy to be noisy.

I’m staying at the Molina basin campground outside of Tuscon. It’s a lot more primitive than the last place. No signal at all so I’m composing the text as a note and I’ll have to make a post tomorrow. I also can’t look for my next spot so I guess I’ll be taking a long lunch in town tomorrow. I like the campsite, nice tent spot, toilet but no water etc. Glad I filled both platys.

So last night wasn’t too late a night. Got up, Pete made me a latte and after a breakfast of cold pizza we chatted a bit and I took off as an electrician was arriving.

Ok I have way too much food so my plan this morning was to just head to the campsite and make lunch from my supplies. But then I see rooster’s ostrich ranch. Shit. I have to stop. So it was cool, the lady at the counter was friendly and this is a place you get to feed everything. The fallow deer were very sweet and pretty. The stag was just gorgeous with his rack. They had chickens and Boer goats and bunnies. Which frankly it seemed silly to pet. I mean I’ve raised and bred all of those animals. But it was still way cool.
Then at the back they had Nigerian dwarves and my heart stopped. I fed them too. But there was this fat little caramel beast with light blue eyes, so much like Anejo but without the white mottled ears. I choked back tears, even more happy there was only one other set of guests at the moment. Since these were petting zoo goats they were disturbingly doing their little goat lip thing and crawling over each other for food. It made it easier to remember these weren’t my girls I fed a couple more and moved on to the bunnies and ducks. At camp while I write this, some tears do come. Of everything I’ve lost this year, I still really haven’t grieved for my goats.
The larakeets were the most awesome part if the exhibit. Really I’ll have to let video and pictures tell the story. But I had at least 5 of them on me at one point, and over little guy hung out in my shoulder for about 5 minutes, climbing across my neck from shoulder to shoulder. It also seemed convinced I had something to eat in my ears. It was really cool.
The stingrays were also fun if anti climactic after the larakeets. Their mouths are so freaking cool.

I still skipped lunch in the road, but stopped at a tourist trap gas station and got some prickly pear candy. I got chatted up for longer than I’d have liked as i was getting hungry and instead of getting to camp at 1 it was looking like 3. So hauled ass through Tuscon and made my way here.

Made a late lunch of chicken rice mushrooms and spinach. This time granulated garlic, Italian herb blend, salt pepper. It was good. I’ll be wanting a late dinner tonight. Despite the late lunch I’m going to need three meals. It turns out riding all day does leave me almost as hungry as hiking.

…
So I had time and light so took a short hike in my sneakers. I saw prickly pear and running water. So I could survive our here a few days in a pinch.  The desert mountains are heart achingly beautiful.

I just heard some rustling and found what might be kangaroos mice. A good reminder to keep everything bagged up and closed

One of the nearby campsites had cut some of the brush for a fire and left a bunch out to. It pissed me off, so much for leave no trace. But I also want going to waste it. So I have myself a nice little campfire and then I’ll make dinner.

Had a visitor once I was cleaned up and about to go to bed. Heard something turned in the headlamp and saw a skunk like thing. Spotted and the tail seemed different. Will have to Google in town.

I put my boots in the Pacific ocean today.  Hell yeah I rode from Texas to the Pacific ocean.  It was exhilarating and felt incredibly satisfying.  Then 5 minutes later I booked our of san Diego.  The mountain road s were steep twisty and windy.  Total adrenaline ride. At times I had to lean when going straight the gusts were so strong.  And for the first time ever I had to stay straight in a curve because of the wind.  I don’t even understand how those physics work.  The turns were seemingly cambered at random which kept me on my toes.

Then I stopped at all the scenic places I could I don’t have any Rush finally.  The trip really begins.

So I caught this place called Coyote’s alien repair and service.  So again I had to go.  Coyote was fucking nuts and when I asked hey man are you coyote?  He only half jokingly said that depended on if I was with the FBI.  He talked my ear off about just about every conspiracy and the nature of history etc.  But not aliens.  Still I think there was some truth to some of his personal stories.  And In his own intentional half crazed way is dealing with the same malaise so many of us feel when we look at the society around us.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the beauty too.  But coyote could still laugh at least.

Well he drew my an alien portrait on a rock and then tucked it into an old cracker Jack’s box.  After he got over his disbelief that I didn’t know any cracker Jack’s song or the boy or the dogs name, he sung that song and tipped the rock portrait out of the box and into my palm.  We fist bumped and I took off.

 

Pretty much from there I raced the sun and my aching leg to the campsite.

I’m at squaw lake in yuca Arizona.  Service is terrible so I’ll have to upload pictures later.  The wildlife refuge turned out to be a major detour so I changed plans and found squaw lake.

 

The campground is BLM so my national parks pass covered admission.   The place is big with showers and toilets and tables.  I’m the only person in a tent so I have an awesome spot by the lake.  There was a camp host.  Anne, she was real friendly and suggested the spot.  Assured me no bear bags were needed and stuff was generally safe here.  Everyone else I’ve seen here is at least 55 and all of them have RVs or at least campers.  How do people go camping and watch TV?  Coyote had that one completely right.

First day on meal system was good but I slipped and dumped way to much prepper in.  Oops.  It was still good.  Chicken beans and potatoes with garlic granules and chili powder.  Salt.  Have to try some tomato powder in it next time.  Oh and I forgot my coffee… Sigh.

 

There are ducks everywhere and they apparently walk around a little at night

Honestly the ride was uneventful.  I was determined to stop everywhere and take it easy but route 10 is boring AF.  Definitely needed coffee, but the nearest place was an hour into my ride.  On a strange not there is a state highway 95 that is only 2 Lanes and no construction or traffic.  East coasters will understand why that is strange.

 

Anyway back at Pete’s for the night and plan to camp tomorrow . Only putting in short miles tomorrow so I can be sociable.  Once again thanks Pete and Peggy, laundry is King!

I’m composing most of these posts on my phone.  It’s really not conducive to quality posts.  Maybe when I get back I’ll clean it up, but I doubt it.

After lunch i continued onto Fay and Dave’s in San Diego.  For a solitary trip I’ve packed a lot of visits into the front part of my journey.  The ride was good today, but my back finally started to whine at me.  And as I had 388 miles plus detours to cover it was long.  I spent all day putting on our talking off layers as I went through at least 4 distinct climates in one day.  The sand dunes in eastern Cali were interesting to see.  Near the highway they were all scarred from the dune buggies and 4 wheelers that sprouted from the asses of pick-ups and rv’s like some bizarre mechanical colon cancer.  Of course I say this fully cognizant I’m on a motorcycle so pot meet Kettle.

No stickers today, most of the areas I drove through had a functioning economy.  This meant few rest areas were desperate to make an extra back or two with touristy bullshit.  I’ve literally crossed half the country at this point.  It’s strange how the people and the land go together.   It’s not like I’m not well traveled in the US but plane ride just aren’t as analog.  It’s like you take off and land somewhere new and suddenly a sub sandwich is called a hoagie.  On the bike it’s more analog.  There’s a geographic and cultural curve almost and it’s not always clear what is driving the symbiosis.

I got rained on again today.  Still nothing to worry about, but I hope this is not a harbinger of moisture for the next 20+ days.  Fay and Dave fed me well and it was game night with their kids.  We played a game called game of things and it was way more fun than I would have thought.  Actually it was very apropos.  Now that I’m in Cali, I can start my journey through the wilderness so to speak.   It is nice to have spent a night with good food, and friends that have been family for as long as I can remember.  A rare night of human warmth before my self imposed austerity.

Ok so it’s lunch on day 4.  And it’s early for lunch, but when you see a place called the space age restaurant.  You stop.

Yesterday I started and it was 37 degrees.  I actually drive over ice at the first gas station.

 

It was cold in the mountains, but pretty almost liked like the mountains in the NE.

Then in about an hour while descending towards Phoenix it got to be 60 and all desert with these giant cactus.

Arizona had been fun to drive through.

Big shout out to Pete and Peggy for putting me up for the night and feeding me really well.  It was a good night and I’m looking forward to going back through on my way East.

So I finished the day in Grants, NM.  The hotel  has a computer so I can type a decent post today.

My first stop today was at Russels, and they had a sticker.  It didn’t stay on either, but I picked up gorilla glue later and glued it on along with my sticker from yesterday.  So Helga’s getting her decorations!

The place had a free car museum, thats where I found the sticker and they had something called a lubester.  So of course I had to take a picture.

New Mexico is actually kind of pretty, and there started to be hills and roads that twist.  Actually it’s funny 5 minutes after hitting New Mexico it did seem to just magically get more beautiful.  In that somewhat sterile way that nature can be beautiful when it’s winter and a desert, but those mountains gave me something to aim for, and riding through them was nice, if cold.

Today’s ride was cold.  Started at 37 degrees, and got to 55 for all of abouyt 30 minutes.  I spent most of the ride watching clouds and rain ahead and to the west of me.  Trying to avoid Bugs Bunny’s constant conundrum, I went straight at Albuquerque.  However, when I stopped just past Albuquerque, the rain caught up to me.  I should have known, the temperature had dropped 10 degrees and it was getting very cold.  That kind of temp drop in temp usually means rain is imminent.  Pro-Tip listening to Parliament makes it feel 5 degrees warmer.

A few drops hit my helmet, so I skipped the gas and headed west.  The hotel I planned to stay at was only 50 miles up the road, and I was not backtracking to Albuquerque.  So I raced the clouds, most of the were behind me and mostly to the west, so I kept it under 100, but hauled ass before the roads got wet.  I was literally racing the rain.  At one point, 4 trucks were poking along passing eachother at 60 and had me slowed up, after a bout 5 minutes, the rain started hitting me again.  To be fair it was just a drizzle, but there were visible drops on my helmet visor.  Just as I was thinking maybe I should just pull over, the trucks finally opened up a lane, just as Rancid came over my headphones.  So, back up to 90, and a couple minutes later it’s dry again.

Not only did I get my first rain, but there was actually snow on the ground in some places.  No idea where it came from, and none on the road, but little patches on the northern face of hilles interspersed with the scrub  brush.  Of course the amount of snow will grow in later tellings.  Here’s hoping I don’t actually get snowed on this trip.  Rain is probably inevitable.

Today was a great ride.  My aching body realized it was in for the long haul so my hips and knees stopped barking and resigned themselves to the occasional grumble.  Despite the cold, I got to just ride and experience the world.  It’s just so much more “Be Here, Now” than a car, the smells, the feel of the road, seeing and feeling every bump in the road.  Even having the same conversation with complete strangers 5 times in a day was a nice casual touch point with humanity.  In case you don’t know the conversation:

“Hey, nice bike.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah I” sometimes the words used to belong here “ride.”

“Cool, brother”

Then usually I smile and suit up, or head in for a coffee or what have you.

 

“Ride safe, there’s lots of idiots out there.”

“Thanks, safe travels to you to”

 

I’ve ridden with others, and this convo always seems to happen with European bikes, not so much with harley’s or rice burners.  Of course I haven’t seen any biker gangs that ride BMW’s so that might be part of it.  It’s not like I’m tooling around in a vest and patches.

So the hotel also has a hot tub – so I’m gonna go hit that so I have time to dry out my shorts in the hotel laundry tonight.

Stopped in Amarillo Texas.  I’m tired had a rough start and hit traffic right out of the gate.  But past Decatur I found my stride and tried to make up for lost time.  Oil field and wind farms so strange to see life and death right next to each other.

I kinda dug the cotton fields… Almost liked like snow floating above the fields.  Snow that didn’t deign too touch anything made by man.  White all around the naked roofs of barns and trucks

My first sticker was a fail!

Cheap sticker came off in the parking lot.  But I noticed it and I have it.  I’ll glue it on I guess.