LEFT: Jerry Erb (on a colder day than we encountered in Texas!)
And now, on with excerpt #6 from the forthcoming book – The USA on 3 butt boils a day
Wednesday
We awake again before sunrise and get Chris ready to ride. He’s going to take the early shift today, go visit his brother in Dallas for ~ 12 hours, then reel us back in. A farmer stops by (don’t these guys ever sleep?), and wants to hear our story. His parting words – “Don’t let the cowboys get you…” I am very concerned about dramatic foreshadowing.
Cliff, Jerry, and I man the RV and get ready to head up to Post, TX for breakfast. Just before we leave, Joe the innkeeper comes out to check on us, and asks why we are leaving so early. We explain to him that we have to reel in the other riders. “Oh, too bad” Joe says, "I just got done talking to the local paper (The Tekula Tattler?), and the TV station up in the big city (Lubbock – about 100 people or so). They want to interview our newest celebrities”. Even though it personally kills me to pass on media coverage, we beg off and get on the road. Good to see though that Texans are now using the written word!
We stop at a little breakfast place in Post. We are the only ones in the place not wearing cowboy hats, cowboy boots, levi’s, a 4 day growth of facial hair, smelling like cows, - you get the drill. The waitress serves everyone in the place before us – seems they’re big on the locals here. I talk to some guy in the crapper who’s interested in “What are you boys doin’ out there…”. Seems he rides also – has a 3 speeder that he sometimes rides out to the barn. We bond…meanwhile Chris procures "services" from one of the local waitresses.
Our goal for the day is to get to our friend’s (Len and Pat) in Dallas. They just moved there after 16 years in Rochester, and it’s a big transition for them. We plan to “ride like the wind” today.
Unfortunately, we ride “into the wind” for nearly 16 hours; relentless, in your face, non-stop wind. As it gets later in the day, it becomes obvious that we will miss our first days end goal. We fall ~ 40 miles short of Dallas – disappointing but we gave it a good go. We did get a chance to see some huge ranches/farms along the way, sometimes seeing dozens of cowboys out on horses, or what seemed like thousands of cattle. Also, oil wells everywhere, looking like hungry grasshoppers out feeding. The only sound you hear is the screech of the oil derricks and the sound of the wind – awesome.
Tom, Gill, and Chris stop in Throckmorton to get supplies and run into the “real cowboys”. EVERYONE in the store, the town, down to the field workers have on their cowboy hats, wranglers, cowboy shirts, smell like cows, oh, how the story continues. We decide to roll in cowshit before we head back out on the road, just so we get the local flavor. Cliff buys a cowshit mocha latte…
With Gill navigating yet again, the group gets lost on the way to Aspermonte – the ½ way point. She "Drives the Big Rig" fantastic; it's that direction thing that causes her the problem.
Wednesday
We awake again before sunrise and get Chris ready to ride. He’s going to take the early shift today, go visit his brother in Dallas for ~ 12 hours, then reel us back in. A farmer stops by (don’t these guys ever sleep?), and wants to hear our story. His parting words – “Don’t let the cowboys get you…” I am very concerned about dramatic foreshadowing.
Cliff, Jerry, and I man the RV and get ready to head up to Post, TX for breakfast. Just before we leave, Joe the innkeeper comes out to check on us, and asks why we are leaving so early. We explain to him that we have to reel in the other riders. “Oh, too bad” Joe says, "I just got done talking to the local paper (The Tekula Tattler?), and the TV station up in the big city (Lubbock – about 100 people or so). They want to interview our newest celebrities”. Even though it personally kills me to pass on media coverage, we beg off and get on the road. Good to see though that Texans are now using the written word!
We stop at a little breakfast place in Post. We are the only ones in the place not wearing cowboy hats, cowboy boots, levi’s, a 4 day growth of facial hair, smelling like cows, - you get the drill. The waitress serves everyone in the place before us – seems they’re big on the locals here. I talk to some guy in the crapper who’s interested in “What are you boys doin’ out there…”. Seems he rides also – has a 3 speeder that he sometimes rides out to the barn. We bond…meanwhile Chris procures "services" from one of the local waitresses.
Our goal for the day is to get to our friend’s (Len and Pat) in Dallas. They just moved there after 16 years in Rochester, and it’s a big transition for them. We plan to “ride like the wind” today.
Unfortunately, we ride “into the wind” for nearly 16 hours; relentless, in your face, non-stop wind. As it gets later in the day, it becomes obvious that we will miss our first days end goal. We fall ~ 40 miles short of Dallas – disappointing but we gave it a good go. We did get a chance to see some huge ranches/farms along the way, sometimes seeing dozens of cowboys out on horses, or what seemed like thousands of cattle. Also, oil wells everywhere, looking like hungry grasshoppers out feeding. The only sound you hear is the screech of the oil derricks and the sound of the wind – awesome.
Tom, Gill, and Chris stop in Throckmorton to get supplies and run into the “real cowboys”. EVERYONE in the store, the town, down to the field workers have on their cowboy hats, wranglers, cowboy shirts, smell like cows, oh, how the story continues. We decide to roll in cowshit before we head back out on the road, just so we get the local flavor. Cliff buys a cowshit mocha latte…
With Gill navigating yet again, the group gets lost on the way to Aspermonte – the ½ way point. She "Drives the Big Rig" fantastic; it's that direction thing that causes her the problem.
Chris’s younger brother who lives in Dallas is going to pickup Chris en route today. This turns out to be quite the adventure as Chris has no clue where he is, his brother doesn’t even have a map and knows nothing about the Dallas area, usually spending most of his time scouring trailer parks (no wait, that’s Chris – sorry). They’re talking about rockbottom and bottomrockers and rockcrushers. It’s quite an entertaining conversation. They finally hookup on the road to Dallas (SR 380 for those of you keeping score). We put cliff and Jerry on the road for the last pull (~ 3 hours) and gill, tom, and I drive ahead to Len and pat’s for the evening.
We have a great 6 hour R&R at Len/Pat’s. They have just bought a beautiful house, with a pool and outdoor Jacuzzi. We spend close to two hours just soaking, lowering our core temp, and drinking cerveza. Oh, and laundry – the most repulsive laundry in history. Cowshit everwhere...
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