Earache

Headed for the small bar for beers and tequila. Good beers on tap. Scallops for me for dinner - perfectly done !

The hotel is pretty cool - nice rooms and nice grounds....

450 miles later and we're in Marathon. More importantly, we're in the heat! 75F / 24C and sunny. Landed at out hotel - a 100 year old building that a rancher built as a place to have meetings. We are staying outside of the main building in a place with a nice courtyard

On the road to Marathon, TX - eating at only the finest fuel stations. Actually, there is nothing else to eat. Miles and miles of desert crossing today///

I don't wanna steal any ideas from the HD riding crowd. Best to leave them alone with their anal fixations.

Few more o f the Big Texan. Couple eating the 72 oz. steak challenge; if you can eat it all in an hour, it's free. Probably make ya shit like a baboon for week though........

Feel free to come over and get giddy as shit. And be sure to shovel the driveway so I can get back home while you're at it.

It was and they do all talk like that here. Everyone greets you with "How y'all doin'" here.

Much more pleasant. But I' ridden there way too much already. To be fair, I knew Texas was gonna kinda suck - having been here a few times before. And this cold weather is really unusual for here at thiis time of year. Temps shoiuld be around 80F / 27C. But they aren't. This wind is unusual as well. So it's just our luck. But I'm on a bike and riding so I shouldn't bitch too much! Home is getting 16" of snow tomorrow.

They don't let you go away hungry there - fuckin' huge assed slabs of meat. Even the baked potato was the biggest I've ever seen.

Today, Monday, we head 400 miles due south to Marathon, Texas. As I type right now, at 3.48 AM. it's 32F / 0C . Hoping for warmer weather as we get farther south. And also hoping for no wind! More latter ........

For the cattle fans, we did see some Texas longhorn steers on the way back to the hotel . This also shows what the country looks like - flat, no trees of any kind, burnt brown and super windy....

Just boring....

So far, I'd say that riding in Texas sucks. The winds are unbelievable and make going in a straight line virtually impossible. And since all of the roads are exactly that - straight lines - it's not a lot of fun. More of the splendor of Palo Duro ...

The next day, Sunday, and we're heading for Palo Duro State Park southwest of town. It's cold again today so we had to wait until about noon for the temps to get up to 40F / 5C. Although partially sunny today, it never got warmer than that. So chilly riding once again. Palo Duro is touted as the second biggest canyon in the USA. I'm not buying it though. I've been to 4-5 canyons elsewhere making the same claim. It was a rather lackluster place, really. If this was in Utah, it'd just be another country road out in the middle of nowhere. Not impressive at all. Just a desert.

Stopped by the gift shop on the way out to peruse their fine selection of bull horns that were on offer. Wish they had a front fairing mount for the Goldwing - I'd have bought a set for it...

Dave and Debbie finally made it to Amarillo and we set off for the wife's favorite restaurant in town; The Big Texan. Weird kinda place that is decorated like an old west saloon and serves huge assed steaks. Dave had a 24 oz, slab of meat while the ladies had smaller portions. Me, not really being a meat eater, just had some beers. Very good, too.

I';m so fuckin; done with snow this year. And the cold - it's been very cold since October. Ready for some warm.

Today really sucked balls. 40F was the high and again, had 40 mph crosswinds. But we made it to Amarillo and now having a beverage in my warm room Tonight is beers and food at the Big Texan. My bud from home sent his picture of his driveway today we dodged a bullet by getting outta town early.

Don't know the man or else I'd have a look for him. Sounds like a winner.

...says the man that probably eats that nasty blood pudding crap for breakfast. This is far superior; only stays in you for about 15 minutes and then out it comes,. No time for your body to absorb any of the nasty stuff inside of it.

Not something I wanna do again anytime soon, Bob. It snowed 6" last night at home and they expect 10" more today - we escaped just in time. High in Amarillo, our next stop, are only expected to be around 6C over the next 2 days. Not ideal but better than snow!

Yes - remember that she bought the Goldwing late last year so that she could go on rides. She didn't like the fit of the ADV bikes in the past and wanted more comfort. So she'll be along on most Goldwing trips. She's 5'11" tall and doesn't really fit on an ADV behind my big ass - the bikes just aren't big enough for us both. We fit well enough on the Wing though. I'm still gonna do ADV rides though as I really like them.

Today we are heading to Amarillo, Texas to meet up with riding friends Dave and Debbie from Indianapolis. They had to dodge torrential rain and tornadoes across the Midwest yesterday on their first day of riding. Hopefully better weather and temps for all today. More later.

We decided to stay the first night in Raton, New Mexico at the always luxurious Holiday Inn Sexpress. Bets hotel in town, which isn't saying a whole lot. No food around - at least in walking distance - so we had the second worst delivery pizza I've ever had. But it was delivery so I didn't have to go anywhere for food. That's a treat in itself for us as dinner at home involves a 45 minute drive each way....