Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

Joel Perlish; USA/MEXICO/CANADA DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY & THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008 by Joel Perlish

July 11, 2008 - Friday - Day 11
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
-- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 326 - Total Miles - 2964
Average Daily Travel Day Miles - 296.4
Houston,TX - to Winter Park (just west of Forth Worth,TX)
(-staying at a Ramada Inn -)
(TX)
- STEADY RIDING - A CERTAIN SADNESS - IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

I was up by 6:30am. Bill's 8-year-old grandson, Allen, a cute towheaded kid, popped his smiling face up to the loft where I was working on the journal notes. In a bit the personable fellow joined me for a run through the humid and hot morning.

As Allen and I left for the run we chatted with the blond lady from next door who was not having a good start to her day. She had just locked herself out of her car - with the engine running. And worse, when I asked if she had a spare set of keys, she said she did, but that she kept them in her car!!! (I'm sure there's a blond joke there somewhere, but I won't go there!)

Further down the street miniscule yappy dogs came barking out at us as we ran. I said with a smile over to the owner lady, “They think they own the street, don't they?”

Ellen, kind-hearted lady that she is, had made yet ANOTHER batch of chocolate chip cookies - this one NOT burned. I said to her, “You just didn't believe me that I like the burned ones, better, did you?”

Ellen had been up since 5:30am getting ready for a trip the family was taking and preparing breakfast. A great table of foodstuffs was already laid out when I went downstairs.
After some good-by pictures, I headed out by 10:30ish and immediately made my first mistake. I passed the local gas station before getting on the big highway. Didn't run out of gas, but came close and the added morning angst just wasn't necessary. (Note to myself: always get gas when less than half-full before getting on the highway. It's generally less money, it avoids worry, and it doesn't break up the rhythm of the day as much.)

When I did get gas I figured out that my mileage per gallon on the gallant Vulcan Nomad is 40mpg!!

Well, in reality, the very first mistake was leaving my special soap in the shower last night - but I didn't realize THAT until the end of the day!

I had trouble keeping track of what day it was today… They are all starting to blend into one… in some ways every day is the same it seems.

After my Taco Bell lunch, I rolled next door to the Texaco pump. An older chap with a wise and friendly face approached to me with an earnest demeanor and suggested, “You fill up that tank, and I'll trade you that bike for my pickup over there.” I hadn't heard him completely, and he caught me off guard as I hadn't noticed the gleam in his eye. But when I got the joke we both laughed out loud. I told him about the trip and he said he was envious. He looked like an old cowboy right off the calendar page. He said he was working with the guys at the prison down the way. He told his actual name, but said with a smile that was for “the government boys” and that “my friends call me 'Bud'.”

Anyone have a contact with the Jay Leno Show? (You know Jay is a motorcyclist himself who has a passion for the ride.)

Here's the little fantasy dream I have: Jay is giving his monologue and I come motorcycling onto the stage. I interrupt his monologue to ask directions. He gets all flustered, of course, but helps direct me, then asks about the trip around the country to visit former students and so on, and he has me sit and answer a couple questions. Wouldn't that be cool?

This morning I kept deluding myself into thinking that the wonderful green trees along the side of the road would stay with me. But I know that won't happen. In fact, by this late afternoon they began to thin, and by the time I was riding this evening out of Dallas and into the heart of Texas they were pretty much thinned out as the flat Texas landscape had mostly bushes and scrub.

Went to Irving, TX, a 'burb of Dallas, to have dinner with Sharon, the ex-wife of my roommate from college. She came to meet me on the edge of the city and then we went to Snuffers, an oddly named restaurant, but one with character. Sharon had mistakenly brought her 15 year old dog along, and so although we tried for the outside terrace at the place, she eventually had to leave him in the car with the windows rolled down. “Too old to jump out,” she said. There was a condom store across the way. Never saw anything like that before. What a world!

Neil, my college pal, died a few years ago of heart disease. He died as he was bringing the groceries home. Shortly after college he got the old time religion, let himself go in a number of ways, and put on a huge amount of weight especially for his short stature. I think it's also fair to say that he changed in quite a number of ways psychologically and emotionally, from the in-shape brilliant guy I knew. He sure didn't treat Sharon very well in the end.

But back at Kutztown College in those late teenage years, he had a wonderful free-thinking confident flair that influenced and impressed me quite a bit. Our times on the tennis court and talking will never be forgotten. I still see him lifting those weights in our dorm room while philosophizing about this or that. I sure didn't see him much in the last number of years, but with a certain sadness, I sure do miss the guy.

Left Dallas and the magnificent skyline with the sometimes odd-shaped wonderful buildings around 6:20pm. Sharon led me most of the way to I-20 West. It was the latest I had ridden on this trip, and I was a little afraid of getting caught by the dark. This was especially true as the Texas countryside opened up and there were miles of open space and fewer buildings at many more of the exits. And the motels were much rarer. I got the old bicycle trip worries of not finding a place… and then I realized it was Friday and worried even more. But as 7:30pm came around I spied one motel just west of Fort Worth. It was a Ramada Inn, and the Indian woman behind the counter, slim and pretty despite some chipped teeth, was helpful but hard to understand. Between my hearing, and her speech defect, and her accent, almost everything she said - from the simplest words to the longest phrase - had to be repeated.

In the room I got out a AAA USA map and starred in the spots stayed and lines between them. It's a good record of where I've been.

I got an email from Doug Humes, a friend and brother of one of my students. He's a music buff and songwriter - he said that he was going to work on a tune with the title, “Lonesome Roads and Empty Highways”. That's the title I was bouncing around for a country and western tune back on Day 6. Now, having a song like that written because of these notes would sure be a fun spirit lifter!

By the end of the day I was a bit more tired than usual - I think yesterday was catching up to me, and I was up a little later writing than usual. Also, it was hotter during the day with no refreshing breaks from a rainstorm.

Note:
To view many of the photos from today and the whole trip, you can check out
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141. Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner.)