If the "best laid plans of mice and men often go awry," then averagely laid plans on an abreviated time table probably suffer a significantly higher level of difficulties. At least this was the case for me. My motorcycle has had been in the shop for nearly two weeks getting a bunch of major services done that I'd planned...and a few I didn't. I finally had the bike back in my possesion at 3 pm, a whopping 18 hours before I was supposed to leave. And just in time to run to another bike shop to have all new tires put on. After a quick dinner with the family, the rest of the evening was spent packing, organizing, and doing last minute maintenance and electrical fixes. It was a late night and I was up until 3:26am....only to get up at 6:30... Nothing like a good night's rest to start an adventure.
Day 1: Cincinnati to Brownsville, TN. (437 Miles.) In my brief experience, the things that we dream about and look forward to most often leave us unsure of how to respond or feel when we finally get them. This has definitely been my experience on this trip. As I pulled out of Cincinnati, finally on the road after months and months of planning, I was shocked at how "real" my dream had become...how "normal" it felt. The day had started at the Bluebird Cafe in Norwood- a pre-motorcycle trip tradition for me. And from there I hugged family goodbye, took a few pictures, repacked a couple things, and was on my way. At times I began to panic about the scope of what lay before me. At other times, I just giggled like a little girl at how lucky I am to even be attempting something like this. And other times, I felt cold. And bored. And tired... And all the things that I felt while I was at home. And yet I wasn't at home, and hopefully won't be for a very long time.
Day 2: Brownsville to Waco, TX. (610 miles) This day was pretty miserable honestly. As I pulled out of America's Best Value Inn, it was cold, but the sun was shining. I skipped breakfast and got some good miles behind me. But before long, the sun disappeared and was replaced with torrential rain. I'd ridden in the rain before, so no big deal I thought. Well, at 75 mph in rain on a motorcycle, nothing stays dry for long. After about an hour, I was freezing and wet, with "prune-fingers" underneath my gloves. Pissed off and freezing I stopped at a rest stop to dry off. I completely changed my clothes, but back on my wet riding gear, and spent about 20 minutes with my gloves under the hand dryer after literally wringing water out of my gloves. Not fun. As the day went on, the rain stopped, but the cold didn't. But hey, this ones on me-who plans a motorcycle trip in February?! The best part of the day was when the riding ended and I made it to my buddy Griffin's place in Waco. Griffin works for Habitat for Humanity, so we stayed in a super-cool old renovated house, and had Firemans Four, an excellent local Texas brew.
Day 3: Waco, TX to McAllen TX. (412 miles)
After an early start (including a breakfast burrito at an amazing little Mexican place) I rode to McAllen, a smaller border crossing east of the much larger Nuevo Laredo. (which the US State dept. has had adisories against travel due to the drug war there...)Not too much to report on this day. I listened to XM and the audio version of the newest Dan Brown book, and road. I made it to McAllen about 8pm, went to wall mart to pick up a few last minute things, bungie-corded a little caesars $5 pizza to the back seat, and headed back to the hotel room to do some last minute planning and make sure my paperwork was in order until 3:30 in the morning...
More to come later! The following day (my first day in Mexico) was more adventure than I'd bargained for...stay tuned!
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2 comments:
I love reading about your adventures. Don't be surprised if I steal some of this for a story someday...
You are a man among boys! Let me know when you head back up through Texas. I'd love to buy you lunch!
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