slightly behind the curve, but in the middle Texas

There are some things I do fairly well – like wash dishes 😉  But blogging is not yet on the list of things I’m comfortable with.  So it is that today I published what I thought I published several days ago.  Oh well.  Good news is – I’m on the road and loving it!  I left Fl on Wednesday on my Suzuki VStrom, loaded to the hilt.  I stopped to see my special friend, Tom Butts, in Monroeville, AL, and after a 2 1/2 hour cup of coffee,  headed west.  I’m about 1,200 miles into the 1,400+ mile ride to a conference center outside of Santa Fe.  I’ve been on blue highways most of the time, riding through the heart of America.  I wondered if I would enjoy this as much as making the trip with the comfort of a truck & RV – I like it better!  Today, I rode west out of Wichita Falls, TX, on Hwy 287 which runs for long stretches parallel to a railroad track.  I crossed over a creek filled with muddy red water and could smell the creosote on the train trusell –  you can’t do that inside a truck.  Yes, it’s more challenging & thus more tiring on the bike than in the truck – but OMG is it more fun, too. After a couple of days of repacking the bike, things have gotten tighter/smaller.  I start getting antsy after about 100 miles, so I stop and walk around.  I’m directionally challenged, and  spend part of every day lost.  The first morning, I stopped at the edge of the motel parking lot and started laughing – I didn’t know which way to turn.  I had programmed the GPS but decided it was trying to take me to a dreaded Interstate, so I headed the other way.  Wrong!  I’ve repeated that process each of these 3 days – muttering to the GPS & then having to concede that just this once, she was right and I was wrong. I’m averaging 57 MPG on the bike and it’s running like a Singer sewing machine.  I took some pictures with my camera, but packed the wrong cord so I can’t download them ;-( I’ve posted a couple of pictures from my cell phone at my face book page, Public Secrets and Justice.