On the Road Again 🎶🎶🎶🎶

We were on the road again this morning. First we stopped by the lovely coffee shop we have been patronizing since yesterday. We were sitting outside enjoying our javas, people going in and out of the coffee shop are friendly. An older gentleman walks by with a big camera around his neck. He says hello, I'm an old geyser, I like your boots, can I take a photo of them? I've had many people admire my cowboy boots but that is the first time anyone has wanted to photograph them! I said sure he could! Strange things often happen!
Soon we were on the actual road, heading down a secondary highway in Hill Country. The terrain was gently rolling hills and big oak trees, red barns and many beautiful ranch gates. The distance from Georgetown to Luckenback is only 95 miles so it was a short day on the bike.
After a stop for lunch we soon arrived and checked into the Sunday Hotel on Main Street Fredricksberg. Fredricksberg is 11 miles from Luckenback and the closest accommodation available. We have stayed at the Sunday twice before and the owners are very nice as is the hotel.  After a relaxing time at the pool we made our way to Luckenback. It was the same as ever it is, there were a group of musicians outside at the pickers circle, just strumming and drumming and singing. Very laid back, the chickens and the roosters were in their usual form, climbing the trees and pecking around, squawking at the music. Quite amusing!
Our friend Walt was not there nor did we see T-Bob or Virgil, but hope they will be around tomorrow.
We came back into town and had dinner at a steak restaurant across from the Sunday. I had grilled catfish for the first time, it was delicious; Jeff had chicken steak and garlic mash....also good. The air conditioning was so cold we basically ate and ran. There was a Mexican restaurant next door so we decided to pop in and have a margarita as long as it wasn't too cold. It wasn't chilly so while Jeff had a margarita I had a chocolate fudge cheesecake.....what was I thinking! It was very sweet, I didn't think I could eat it but I eventually did......and had a hot water with lemon to wash it down.
We came back to our hotel and sat outside at the gas fireplace on the patio for a little while.
A nice night.............

Another fine Day !

After a nice lie in we drove a few miles to a wonderful coffee shop with a free newspaper. It had already been read by an earlier patron of the coffee shop ......we picked it up and sat down to enjoy. After about 15 minutes a guy stops by our table and asks (very nicely) if that was the coffee shops paper....we said yes, he asked if we were finished with any of it....we gave him some and promised to drop it off when we were finished. A further conversation ensued, he didn't want the sports as he had read it already. Next a lady comes along and asks, is that the coffee shop paper? Nothing like feeling rushed, fortunately we were almost done and said we would deliver it to her in a few minutes! Long story about a silly paper I know! You probably wonder why we didn't just buy one, well, we didn't have a clue where to do that and neither did anyone else!
After coffee we parked the bike back at our hotel and went for a walk along the San Gabriel river, it is dammed like the one in Idaho Falls but due to really low rainfall it is very shallow. It was a very nice walk, partly treed, and there was an egret fishing in the shallow water and a very unusual type of duck, it had a puff of white ontop of its head which looked like a big pompon. We thought we would continue the walk into the old town but it was much too hot, we turned back and got the bike.
We strolled around the court house and looked in a few shops. This is sort of torture for me as there are so many things I would like to buy but cannot. One shop had a sign in the window that read,
CAUTION Dog Cannot Control it's Licker.  Intriguing! As we entered the store a golden lab slowly walked toward me and started licking my legs!!! He followed me all around the store...licking! Quite funny.
We discovered that we just missed a big art show by one day! And there is another one coming up very soon, including  an auction but we must move on.
For dinner we chose a restaurant called Nancy's Sky Garden ( sounded interesting and reviews were quite good). When we got there we were the only ones there, not a good sign. We decided to sit outside in the patio garden, the garden was not impressive. There was one table of 3 also on the patio so we thought that would be preferable to sitting inside by ourselves. The server asked what we would like to drink, we find out for the second time this trip that they don't have a liquor licence but we could go next door to the Uptown Social Club, buy a drink and bring it back. Jeff had lemonade, I had water. Dinner was also different, we didn't recognize what it was when it came.  My salad was with chicken, it was a scoop in the middle of greens that looked like a tuna ball. Jeff's was tuna sushi style, but it was minced like steak tartare. There was no atmosphere so we ate and left. Upon leaving we cross the hall in the building and we are in the Uptown Social Club and it is open mike night. We sat at the bar and ordered beer. As usually happens at the bar you get into lively conversations with locals. We met a young girl of 23 who was Arabic, her name was Reem. She was very friendly and interesting to chat to, which we did for a good hour.
Open mike was about to start so we took a seat on the couch near the staging area. We stayed to listen to 3 musicians which were all quite good. Only thing, I made a booboo! After the electric piano player finished one of his songs and everyone was clapping I said....(and we were sitting very close) that was better than Elton John played it the last time I heard him......only it was a Billy Joel tune NOT Elton John!!!how embarrassing. In my defence I think they do sound a bit alike ..........!
Time to make our exit. We stayed for one more performance and left.
Tomorrow is another day. We will ride on to Fredricksburg and Luckenbach, the end of the road before we turn west and north to Phoenix.

Deeper into Texas

I know you are expecting another long coffee report..........nada, no coffee again, end of report.
We stopped for gas and a bottle of water on our way this morning. As I was exiting the store I noticed piled up at the entrance large bags of "deer corn". They were the size of bags of garden soil! I said to the clerk, do people actually buy this to feed the deer? When she said yes they did, I said why, is it to keep them from eating the flowers? No, it is to attract them so the hunters can shoot them!!!!
We were on our way., roads were quiet, church parking lots were full of vehicles.  By 11:30 hunger pangs were starting so we stopped at a restaurant called the Branding Iron.  It was very homey and everyone seemed to know each other. They were equally friendly to us. We usually only have to speak a few words and they want to know where we are from. Soon the restaurant began to fill up, I think church was out and it was the habit to lunch out afterwards. There were women in dresses and men in denim overalls and everything in between ! Great people watching.
Further on down the road we were aiming for a Harley dealership as a new bulb was needed for one of the turn signals. We got the bulb, a pair of shoes and a beanie cap for Jeff.
We arrived  Georgetown, a beautiful city with many historical buildings. A university campus within the city, the oldest uni in Texas (1840). It is also the red poppy capital, 50,000 population. It is one of the top retirement capitals in North America. Georgetown is 26 miles from Austin.
We decided we will stay two nights, we need a break and the city looks like it will be fun to explore. People are so friendly we went out for pizza and the owner came to chat with us, introduced us to her husband and kids who all work with her.
The sun is pretty intense, not too bad when the bike is moving but (for me) stifling when we stop.
We have sussed out a coffee shop for the morning!!!!

There is Something About Texas............

There is something about Texas that I love! I feel it whenever I cross the state line. It's big, it's friendly! Everybody waves! I learned last time we were here that years ago the state had a campgain to be friendly and they had bumper stickers that said wave at your neighbour or something similar and the practice continues.
On leaving New Boston we were riding on McCoy Blvd.......so I'm guessing since Hatfield was back in Arkansas the McCoys moved to Texas. Maybe.
I have to comment on the number of graveyards and churches there are in the last 3 states we have been riding through. They are so numerous, mainly Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal, not too many catholic. Quite a few of the churches have cemeteries attached, which is quite commen in older communities and in Britian/Europe. The cemeteries are full of beautiful upright headstones of all shapes and sizes and flowers are abundant, though most are plastic.  There seems to be lots of available land for this practice. I guess it strikes me as soothing, much more meaningful to visit a burial location than a plaque on a wall.  We past through several towns today where the population of one I noted was 229 and the town cemetery looked like it had around 600 headstones. Enough of graveyards.....but it is interesting!
Of course this morning the coffee hunt was unsuccessful.....till we arrived in the town of Marshall. It is quite a good size town, so we drove around all the streets till we found one! Jeff doesn't like me to ask the locals if they have a specialty coffee shop as he doesn't want them to think we are hoity toity! He has a point they are pretty simple, no disrespect intended. We discovered  Central Perk, which was the name of the coffee shop Jennifer Aniston worked in, in Friends. The shop was huge and included a store that sold all kinds of treasures.....nothing I could fit on the bike. One of the downsides. Since it was almost lunch time when we discovered this place we also had food. The BEST tomato basil soup I have ever had.
After a relaxing stay at the Central Perk and a perusal of the map book we were on our way to Palestine.  The secondary highway we are on is lined with big trees on either side, there are properties  along the way, some small and not very prosperous some quite grand with big fancy gates with
interesting iron silhouettes of cowboys, horses and cattle, or simple wooden structures with the family name, or Hog Hollow ! This being Saturday we passed countless yard sales and the ever present Flea markets. Occasionally a small dirt road winding around the back of a ramshackle farm building flashes me back to the Camino, the heat of the day is the same; this time I'm glad I'm not walking.
We arrived in Palestine about 4pm and popped into the visitor bureau. The clerk was about to pack up for the day but loaded us up with a ton of booklets and was very friendly. She corrected my pronouncation of Palestine ......it is Pal-is-teen. We decamped at our hotel, did some laundry and caught up on emails. We were off to find the brew pub and music which we thought would be fun for Saturday night. We drove everywhere, it was like a ghost town! Getting hungry we spotted an Italian restaurant called Giovanni's .......parked the bike and four people coming out of the restaurant chatted to us....where you from etc. we asked if the food was good inside......they said ok but did not seem too enthused. Well, our server came and asked what we would like to drink. Us "do you have beer on tap?".......she "No" us "what do you have bottled?" She......"nothing" me "what kind of wine do you have?" She "none, you have to bring your own" we were flabbergasted ! We had water with lemon . Our server was one of the sweetest girls with a lovely soft voice. We wondered about her age and naïveté ! I said to Jeff we should ask her where the action is as we could hardly believe how quiet it was for a weekend night. Jeff asked her how long she had lived in Palestine .....she appeared to be counting and said 13 yrs.  As to the action, she said there is nothing really! We were to pay our ticket at the cash register on the way out. Here we tried again saying to  "Giovanni " we were surprised how quiet it was. He looked at us and said lots going on tonight! There was a football game at the high school and after that the town would be crazy busy.
We left, us old folks are going to bed!  It was hard work trying to have some fun.

Leaving Lafayetteville for Texas

We started off the morning at Starbucks! First one we have seen for days! Happy campers! Next up was Walmart.....last night we met a couple from Little Rock Arkansas at the bar near our hotel and had a lively conversation with them. They asked if we were there for bike week, we told them we kind of just landed here unawares. They gave us the lowdown as they come for it each year.....they have a motor home in "Hog Haven" (in Layetteville) they pay $5,000 a year for the space and drive 200 miles from their home in Little Rock to watch college football, I wasn't exactly sure but I think they travel back and forth. Anyway, they said if you want bike rally tshirts you must go to Walmart as their price is  9.88 and on Dickson St. They charge $25.........so we were off to Walmart!
It was about 11am by the time we started south. The bikes coming towards us were constant.....most of the day, some bikers don't actually ride their bikes to rallys, they trailer them, then ride them a few miles into the heart of the rally. Those who trailer are called boulevard bikers. Part of our ride was on a road called Pig Trail, it is said to be one of the top 100 rides for motorcycles in the USA .....being beautiful and with good curves. (I can do without the curves!) the forest made a canopy overhead which was a nice respite from the sun. There are a lot of name places in the area with the word pig , the pigs are razorback pigs, not the chubby pink ones we associate with bacon. The razorback is the mascot for a lot of the university teams at Arkansas State. I think they probably hunt them in the Ozarks as well.
We were stopped at an intersection with a semi that was carrying livestock and as it pulled away we could hear hundreds of pigs squealing!!!!
A couple of times today we drove by photographers on the side of the road who were photographing bikers as they rode by....the idea is you note the time as you pass and they click, then you go on their website, find your time and hopefully your picture and then you order it on line. Our times were 11:45 and 11:52 Friday .
Gradually as the day went on we were seeing less bikers heading to the rally, we passed through a small place called Hatfield, thought we might see a McCoy but no such luck.  It was a calming scene of goats and cows and  small homesteads as we crossed the state line into Texas. We are in New Boston....two hotels, we picked the one we thought looked the nicest and asked for a room. When the desk clerk said it was $45. I asked if we could see it first.......$45!!!!! You've got to be kidding what will it be like. To my surprise it is fine, and clean! Still in shock.
As I write Jeff is on line plotting tomorrow and where we will stay.....he has found Palestine Texas a town of 18,000. Should be interesting.

Cafe Yum......Grove Oklahoma

We were on the coffee hunt this morning.....found the Cafe Yum which is only open for drive through service, and $$$ cash only please. Two problems, we are out of cash and we are on a motorbike.  Well......debit is just like cash....right? Let's try it. It is such a cute place, nicely looked after so we drive up to the window. The lovely Sabrina opens up her window, "hi! what can I get you?" We say, will you take debit, she is apologetic, but no she can't. We had looked for a cash machine but Wells Fargo is not in Oklahoma! She asks where we are from and after a few minutes she says she is going to give us free coffee, what would we like.  We ended up staying for a good half hour enjoying conversation with her, she was starting to get more customers so after giving her my card ( she will follow my blog) we were on the road again.
Before we left our hotel we discovered that there was a major bike week happening in the area and hotels would be scarce. We had them phone a Best Western down the road and we booked a room, available for the night only.
It was a beautiful ride to Lafayetteville, we stopped in a town called Siloam at a funky little coffee shop reminiscent of hippy days., had a light breakfast and continued on to Lafayetteville. We were seeing more and more motorcycles. We are now in Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozarks.  Bike week in this area is the 2nd largest rally in America, they are expecting between 400,000 and 500,000 by the weekend! After checking in to our hotel we venture out to Dickson Street which is closed to vehicles except for bikes. The scene is basically a gong show. The university of Arkansas has an area where kiosks of every kind are selling all kinds of biker merchandise. More of the same is on Dickson street. There is a large police presence. There is a college game on at the stadium. The whole town is nuts.
It is not the type of scene we would intentionally attend and we will be moving south in the morning.

Random Thought I had today .....

When we are riding along there is not much for me to do but think about things 🎶🎶🎶 and today I was thinking about when I was in Nechako elementary school in Kitimat.
It was in either grade five or six, that the classes would have music together in the gymnasium. I can't remember the teachers name but can picture her in my mind. At the end of each music class she would play a piece on the piano for us students to identify.  If you knew the name of the music you were to raise your hand and the first person got an extra  mark or some such thing. I could NEVER put my hand up as I had no clue what the piece was. It puzzled and amazed me that several hands shot up quite quickly! I remember Jane Springer and Doug Unia being correct a few times! It bothered me but I had no idea how to "study" for this! Toward the end of the school year the teacher said next class we were to hand in our music books for marking and she would choose the best (neatest I think) book. Well here was something I could "win" at! I purchased a new scribbler and spent a few hours transcribing the years notes into the new scribbler. YES, I got best marks for my scribbler.  It wasn't till many many years later that I felt good about and understood why I wasn't able to identify the music pieces each week.
It was when my mum passed away. My old friend Jackie Mufford ❤️(Love her)! Sent a letter to me, my sister and brother and dad. In her letter she expressed her sorrow at mum passing and went on to say how she loved coming to our house where she learned so much about Scottish culture and MUSIC!  it donned on me, I didn't recognize Mozart and Bach and the like because the music I grew up with was Kenneth McKeller and such!  It took Jackies letter and all those years for me to understand.

Rain Rain Go Away!

This morning we awoke to teeming rain! Apparently it had started through the night but I slept through it this time! The bike was soaking as there had been nowhere to leave it undercover. So we were not off to an early start, we studied the map book again and waited for a window of less rain......taking to the road around 10:30 in light rain. We must have looked quite a sight. I was wearing leggings under my jeans, tshirt, heated jacket and another waterproof jacket and blue oversized rain pants. Jeff was in his normal gear but had plastic bags over his boots that were taped to his legs! We were beyond caring about looks!    We could see ahead that the sky was blue and we headed for it. We were still in Kansas but heading for Oklahoma. The roads were pretty much our own and the countryside was green with some trees.
We were traveling through many small towns, none of which had a coffee shop or even a restaurant! Hard to imagine.  There was one burger joint but we decided to forgo it, not being able to face hamburgers before coffee.    Eventually my blood sugar got the better of me and we spotted a Mcdonalds in the next town, it was now nearly 2pm.   This place had no salads! We ate just to fill ourselves up. The girl serving us was grumpy, we were coming to the conclusion this was the norm, at least for Nebraska and Kansas. We are hoping Oklahoma will be better ! I'm starting to see why Canadians Are well known for being "nice"! It really makes one feel unwelcome and definitely not returning. We have always enjoyed the people in the west coast states and found them to be friendly and helpful.
Although it was early for us to stop....about 3:30 we decided after our horrid place last night we weren't taking chances tonight. There was a best western here in Grove and we checked in at 4pm, just in time for the warm chocolate chip cookies that most BW's serve everyday.
After relaxing and enjoying showers we headed out for dinner. The front desk recommended a place on the lakefront called the Parrot......yes, they had a macaw parrot in a cage at the front door, we could not get "Jake" to squawk.

Fighting With The Elements (or The Enemy)

I awoke at 3:38 am to a strange noise outdoors. I thought it was someone pushing a shopping cart, but it didn't make sense, it never went away, I got up to look and it was raining, a mighty storm complete with thunder and lightening. I was so agitated I could not sleep. Around 8am we opened up the laptop to plan a new route. This weather had not been forecast. Things were about to deteriorate, the Internet was not working and the weather tv channel is not really detailed enough for us.
We decided to go for coffee and use the Internet at MoJoes.  It is overcast and windy but not actually raining. We are sitting quietly with our coffee and I turn on my iPhone and log on......immediately I get a LOUD buzzing alternating with beeping and the message on my screen reads Emergency!!! Flash flood Warning in your location till  3pm today!!!  Seriously! I wondered if everyone had received that message on turning on their devices today. OMG now I am freaked, I have seen too many examples of what flash floods can do.
We go back to our hotel to check out and have a new route planned. We are heading east and then south. The wind is ferocious, coming at us from the side and it is exhausting to stay upright against its force......all day it blew!
The landscape is the same as it has been for two states now, acres of sunflowers, corn, wheat, soy, alfalfa, and a new one I had not seen. It looked similar to corn except it was shorter and with a brown cone like top. I had been staring at it for 3 days...finally I googled it....it is sorghum.
We came into another small farming town which I cannot remember the name of and we lucked out in finding a really nice deli that also served food! So nice to have a wholesome bowl of soup and we shared a piece of rhubarb pie mmmmmm!
We are now camped out at a less than ideal room in a motel across the street from a Sonic drive-in in a town called El dorado ! This is what happens when you don't ride the freeways.....all the decent places to stay are on the major roads.
We will be off in a flash as soon as day breaks.
I forgot to mention, it did not rain on us today.

Still In Kansas looking for Dorothy

We decided to take a rest from riding and are staying in Hays a second night.
It is nice not to be packing up; to be sitting in a coffee shop enjoying lattes and americanos, we are a couple of (coffee) junkies!
A sushi restaurant was highly recommended for lunch and it did not disappoint. Jeff always likes to engage the servers, just to find out what makes them tick. He says to our waitress something about how he likes her tattoos. She has them covering one arm. This was a subject dear to her heart, she loved   to talk about them, she explained they were all Star Wars images from the "dark side"; and when the left arm  was complete she would get the right arm done with the "light side" (of Star Wars) I had no idea what the "sides" meant but Jeff apparently did. THe conversation continued with inquiries about the cost, which we found out was quite excessive. She told us she had tattoos all over....everywhere!  And that was lunch!
We took a drive a few miles outside town to the original location of Hays, which was Fort Hays. The historically restored fort was closed. I guess tourist season is over, so we walked around the site ourselves, read the plaques and peered in the windows at  the displays.  The soldiers wives requested a dance hall be built but the government declined to use military labour or resources for such purpose so the women requested a church.....which when finished they used as a dance hall! Clever!
I spent about an hour in a deserted mall while Jeff went to wash the bike. Back  at the hotel We both had a workout....yes me too!
Another recommend from locals was a brew pub, which we went to for dinner. We shared an entree as we quite often do.  The servings are so large it is ridiculous.
We thought of seeing a movie but nothing appealed, I am catching up on CNN and FOX while Jeff plans tomorrow's route, skirting any tornadoes, rain, wind or floods!
We are missing family, grandkids, friends, tennis, painting and sorority at home but still having a great adventure. I mean, how else would you ever visit some of these places unless you were on a road trip.

Goodbye Nebraska......Hello Kansas

This morning we checked out of the Pump and Pantry Motel (there are no Four Seasons in these little places) ! it turns out there are also no coffee shops. We went all day without our latte and americano. The countryside was similar to yesterday, corn field after corn field, with the occasional hay field. I found myself thinking on the unpleasant time and general indifference we had with locals in Nebraska and seeing all the corn made me wonder if it was GMO (probably) and concluded it had also modified their manners.
The unchanging scenery and lack of coffee had me falling asleep. This is ok, as I tend to wake up before disaster happens.
It was about noon when we crossed the state line into Kansas. The landscape gradually changed, there were oil rigs dip dip dipping, into the ground, still some corn but not as much. We passed through several tiny towns, in fact in one we did find a coffee shop which was closed. We have to keep reminding ourselves it is Sunday and this area is in the Bible Belt.
We are now doing laundry at one of the more deluxe Best Westerns in Hay Kansas.
Jeff would like to add that he cleaned my boots for me this morning! I'm doing his laundry so we are even.

Broken Bow Nebraska

We left South Dakota this morning and by noon had crossed the state line and entered Nebraska. The wind was brisk which makes for a tiring ride as trying to keep your head steady wearing a relatively heavy helmet is not easy!
As many of the roads we ride, this one was pretty much our own as well. Nebraska is ranch country, very prairie like with gently rolling hills. The road stretches out in front of us as straight and far as we can see, it's like a ribbon unfurling continuously; we  come up over a little rise and there it is again.
I keep hearing and feeling  little ping like noises and stings on my legs, it is grasshoppers, lots of them all over the road, they must be jumping up as we ride by.
The fields on each side of the road are shades of gold and green, spotted with herds of cows, some look up as we pass by and it makes me want to wave, sometimes I do.
We stopped in the little town of Hyannis for gas and a beer. The temperature I would describe like being whirled around in a clothes dryer on medium hot. The lady who served us was just opening up (3:00pm), she was a bit flustered about her appearance as she tried to explain away her hair etc. I said not to worry, I wasn't ready for a beauty contest either. The bar decor was a bit like a 1950's diner and the beer was cold! She kind of told us her life story, was very friendly.
We arrived in a Broken Bow at 6pm central time checked into a roadside motel/gas station, which by the way is clean, spacious and right beside the train tracks!!!!! We will see how many trains run at night.
Not wanting to ride again today we opted for the restaurant across the street. We were told to seat ourselves, which we did, then we proceeded to watch the staff serve people who came in after us and  then to clean tables while ignoring my pointed looks for attention.  If there is one thing I won't put up with, this is probably it! Needless to say we got up and left, I think they got the message. Fortunately next door was a deli market where we bought ready made salad, fried chicken and beer.
Nebraska has not impressed, when Jeff was here years ago with a friend they walked out of a restaurant after waiting 20 minutes for service.
It's ranch country and the folks are plain, but they don't  have to be rude.
Tomorrow we will likely cross into Kansas and stay just this side of Witchita. Hopefully we will get time to do some laundry, I never wear the same clothing for 3/4 days in a row at home. (Sigh!)

Close Encounters of the Scary Kindt

This morning started out with a pleasant walk from our hotel , the Washington Inn, in Keystone S. Dakota. We strolled with coffees in hand past souvenir shops selling tshirts, mugs, jewelry and other knick knacks and sat by the river discussing our route for the day.
We were packing up our bags, Jeff was doing a few stretches for his back on the floor in our room. Next thing I hear, unbelievably is......"there's a snake on the floor" anyone that knows me probably knows I am terrified of snakes. The location of this snake was the edge of the head of the bed ON MY SIDE! I immediately ran into the bathroom, could not look at it. Jeff said I better go tell the hotel desk and he would watch it didn't disappear. Now the snake was a baby; the hotel guy thought it might be poisonous and therefore the bite, if it bit, would not be harsh. Well from what we know of baby rattlesnakes, the babies haven't learned to control the amount of venom they inject so they let the whole wad go! I waited outside while it was captured (hoping there was just one) . Soon the news was shared with all the staff and one of the housekeepers told me she had not heard of a snake in the 14 yrs she had been there.THEN, she said to me, you know some boys told me the other day there was a snake in the closet, but she didn't believe them as they were just kids!!!! I could not get away from there fast enough.
We started out for Custer State Park which we had visited part of yesterday, it was so beautiful and we wanted to see more of it.. The park ranger yesterday told us to ride the wildlife loop, that the buffalo were in the south end. Off we went, entering the park, the ranger said she just had word on the radio there were a lot of buffalo on the road so be cautious. I said what should we do????? She said if they were still there we should try to drive beside a car to get through them. They were 8 miles ahead and I was very nervous. First sign we saw said .....drive slowly...turtles crossing....sure enough there was one lone turtle crossing.
We got to the 8 mile mark and boy were there buffalo....too many to count, all over the narrow 2 lane road. Again I was terrified for the second time today! I wanted to turn around and go back from where we came! Jeff said, not possible, too narrow, too many vehicles waiting from each side trying to pass.....best to move at a crawl through and hope they move. There were female buffalo with young nursing right in the middle of the road.!!! We managed to get the car in front of us and the truck behind us to keep tight to us, then we moved beside the car and inched along. Unbelievably the situation actually got worse. More of the beasts came onto the road! I told Jeff I wanted to get off the bike and I asked the car beside us if I could get in their car, they said of course. I felt terribly abandoning Jeff to the buffalo, but in reality he was better without a hysterical woman on the bike.
The last buffalo we had to pass was massive, taller than the SUV I was now in.....Jeff kept to the opposite side where the buffalo were a tad smaller and we managed to all get through safely.  Further on down the park we encountered more herds but thankfully they were not as close.
The rest of the day was uneventful, we saw wild donkeys, antelope and amazing scenery in the badlands.
We are spending the night in a small town called Wall, it is the home of the Wall Drug Stores, tomorrow we will visit the store, which is I think the only game in town.  We walked out to a bar for dinner (there being nothing else open) . It seemed to be all locals and one fellow took a fancy to me! He told me I was so beautiful!!, asked Jeff, do you mind? The waitress later asked if he was bothering us, he was drinking triple jack Daniels!
I would say it was an eventful day.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

We had a short ride today, temperature is getting warmer. There is no need for heated jacket!
We had a lovely coffee at a gas station that was transformed into a coffee shop, very retro complete with  a Formica table and chrome chairs, and tons of 1950 style decor.
We made a quick stop at Mt Rushmore and continued on to Crazy Horse. It is very impressive what is being built without any funding from the USA government. The size is immense, much much larger than Rushmore.
We continued our ride into Custer State Park which had some incredible rock formations and tunnels blasted through the rock. There were constant warnings to be careful of animals and not to approach dangerous buffalo. Deer were abundant and we did see one buffalo up close as he scratched himself on a tree a mere 5 feet from the road! Not exactly comforting on a motorcycle!
The sun was disappearing fast and the chill in the air caused us to stop and don our jackets.  As usually  happens when we stop on the side of the road, within a few minutes a vehicle stops to see if we need help. Kind of restores your faith  in humanity ! It was the park ranger, who was so helpful in telling us what direction to take.
We arrived back at our hotel in Keystone and shortly thereafter went out to the saloon for drinks, dinner and entertainment.  It was karma that when we entered the establishment the band struck up with Luckenbach Texas!!!! It was a lively night, with Willie and Waylon and the boys, Kenny Rodgers, Johnny Cash and more! We got talking to a couple at the table next to us....they were from Wisconsin, other patrons were from Switzerland, Texas, Minnesota and I heard a German accent. Regardless of the ethnicity everyone enjoyed  the evening .
It was with slight trepidation we checked  the news to see what was happening in the UK. Today was the Scottish vote to see if they would gain their independence, it looks like they have voted to stay in the UK., I am so glad about this result.
And so ends another day on the road.

Oops!

Looks like we had two lunches in that last post!!!!!
Not really, I skipped a whole day.....we were in Gillette Wyoming for a night before we got to Deadwood!
See what happens when you get old.....you forget what happened yesterday!
I'll try and stay current.
Ciao amigas and amigos

A good Day but not a good start!

We sat outside drinking coffee at Mojoes in Cody Wyoming. We noticed further up the street, people walking were stopping to look Into the garden over a small white picket fence. Curiousity got the better of me and I wandered up to have a look. A large buck with a full set of antlers was the reason for the lookers. The lady of the house slowly came out to check her mailbox and I asked her if she was aware of the visitor .....she was and said she had opened the back gate for his escape and he would wander off after he had eaten all her flowers! Seemed it was a normal occurrence .
Soon we were packed up and ready to hit the road. The morning was pleasant, a relatively quiet road with fields of llamas , a few yaks, rural America suspended in an earlier time. One little farm had about a dozen big fat thanksgiving turkey's pecking in the yard, unsuspecting of their fate.
After about an hour I started to have an uneasy feeling......where did I put my phone? Yup, you guessed it, we checked all the bags and concluded it had been left behind......somewhere.  Now, I don't normally drink a lot of beer but just last night while kibitzing with the English couple I had actually consumed 4!!! Unusual  for me.  There was nothing for it but to reverse back to Cody where happily we recovered the phone at our hotel, The Moose Inn.
Since it was now lunch time we paid another visit to the Proud Cut Saloon. Can't get enough of that great beef!
The ride continued up and over the Big Horn mountain range, thanks were given to my heated jacket.
It was grizzly territory but we saw none, a healthy looking coyote or maybe wolf looked at us without fear, elk crossed the pale yellow meadow, deer and antelope skittered away when they heard the Harley approaching. We felt fortunate to be there witnessing nature in its glory.
We stopped in a pub called the Longhorn and split a sandwich......we are getting wiser to the large helpings american eateries serve! Next we took a detour of 6 miles to view the Devils Tower monument, where Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed. Crazily we counted 7 climbers on it! I don't know what makes those type of people tick!
It was getting chillier and turning to dusk as we approached Deadwood, South Dakota.....all because we had an unexpected 2 hours added to our day by a missing phone.
We will be checking those bed sheets thoroughly from now on!

Texas Here We Come!

We (Jeff and moi) left our home in Vancouver BC traveling by motorcycle on a clear sunny, but not hot, morning in early September.
The first few days I am a bit apprehensive on the back of the bike, but I soon settle comfortably, confident in Jeff's supurb driving skill!
We keep to secondary roads and a decent speed, that is moderate. Traveling through small town America one really gets a sense of the country, the economy and the people. As the passenger my "job" is to observe and enjoy the ride. Every town has a Main Street and here you sense the life or not of each place.  One of the first things I notice is flags, a good percentage of homes have one. Next are the verandas or front porches, also a design staple. You can tell a towns prosperity .....it's not if there are businesses that are closed, boarded up, run down,....... it is if the paint is fresh, the garden is cared for and there are people attending.
Main Street America in the rural towns is cookie cutter similar, the homes lining the Main Street remind me of Vancouver Specials, same architecture design only smaller. They look so brave all lined up in a row.
In Idaho Falls we spent 2 nights, necessary to have the oil changed in the Harley. The Snake river runs through it, 4th longest river in the USA. The Falls are a man made creation for hydro electic power and they at a beautiful sight on the river, right in the middle of the town. While there we visited an art gallery with a water colour exhibition, and were lucky to also visit the artist studios and speak with one artist who was just moving himself in. This is a highlight for me as I like nothing better than learning something about how each artist works.
We moved on to Alpine Wyoming and stayed at the home of a friend, on a private airstrip, beautiful, cold, crisp, green, and very quiet, you could not even hear the airplanes as the taxied past the kitchen window on their way to their garage hangers! Truly beautiful landscape with the most glorious red foliage, which I was to find out were bush maple trees. We rode pedal bikes and read our books in sunny corners away from the wind, but travel on we must and after two restful days we were off on the road again.
Next stop was Cody Wyoming, stopping in Jackson Hole for breakfast on the way. Cody Wyoming is home to the magnificent Buffalo Bill Museum. What a treasure, we spent 6 hours taking it all in, and could have spent longer if we hadn't given into fatigue.
We had a fun evening and the best hamburgers ever sitting at the bar in a restaurant called The Proud Cut Saloon. I had buffalo and Jeff had angus beef......mmmmmm delicious! Sitting at the bar you meet other people at the bar! And the bartender and the bar girls! Jeff and I have plenty of talk time so it is entertaining to meet others. Sitting next to us were Susan and Ernie from Newcastle England. It was a little hard to decifer their speech patterns but somehow  we managed. They had flown to Denver and rented a car for a western trip. They regaled us with the mishaps ......getting stopped for speeding, they immediately got out of the car and approached the highway patrol cop......NOT the right thing do do in the USA but quite the norm in England.  We left the restaurant and proceeded to a nearby bar with the , exchanging email and all the rest.
Life is definitely a bowl of cherries.

September 16/2014 Deadwood South Dakota

I decided to start a new blog to record my travels, random thoughts and musings. These thoughts and musings are for the pleasure of family and friends and myself......maybe mostly my self.  As my years advance (yuck) I find I'm forgetting all the wonderful things I get to do and the places I get to go, and the interesting, funny things that happen day to day. If I blog about it all, I can enjoy "it" over and over again.
So if you like......come along for the ride!
Mur ❤️