Day Twelve - Amarillo
Everywhere we go I attempt to talk up "The Ride for Paul and Tabitha". While we were at the Harley shop in Santa Fe yesterday I was telling the story to two sales people. One of them took a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket and wanted to donate it. I asked him for his name and he wished to remain anonymous. I thanked him and gave him the URL of this blog. I would like to appologize to him for not mentioning this yesterday on the day that he contributed.
We got up early, packed, and headed out for Roswell. The road took us past Wayne's house and about 17 inches past that point, a heavy fog settled in. For about 20 miles we were dealing with visibility of around one eighth to one quarter of a mile. It lifted a little and for another 15 miles we just had spotty fog.
We had checked the weather channel and the internet for bad weather and confirmed that we were going to have some! There was a big storm cell just north of Roswell and another one even larger to the northeast of Roswell. We had to suit up for the smaller system while heading southeast on route 285.
Roswell is a real trip! There are pictures of aliens and space ships on the Wal-Mart, and just about every other business in town. The streetlights have "eyes" so that they look like aliens!! They really have a good time with this. Without the whole alien controversy, this place would just be another wide spot in the road in New Mexico. Because of it, a town of almost 50,000 has sprung up as a tourist metropolis.
We visited the Harley store and made our obligitory t-shirt purchases. It was time for lunch and one of the sales people at the Harley store told us that there was nowhere to eat for 90 miles northeast of here. Food seemed like a good idea.
We had lunch at a Chilis and then headed northeast on route 70 toward Texas. If you remember, this is where the larger storm cell was wandering around. Well, we found it! I remember a poem: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in which one of the stanzas is "Cannon to the left of them; cannon to the right of them; into the jaws of death rode the 600". This is about what we felt like. The sky was almost black. There were thunder storms and lightning strikes about 10 miles to either side of us and evidence of downpours ahead.
We suited up again and went through some of the most miserable weather yet. I thought that New Mexico was supposed to be HOT and DRY. All we have seen is COLD and WET! At least everywhere we have gone, the folks there have thanked us for bringing the rain!
Somehow we made it to route 60 and the Texas boarder. Now it was so hot we were boiling in our rain suits. We stopped to take them off and then crossed the border.
From this point to almost all the way to Amarillo there was nothing but cattle feed yards, fertilizer factories, and meat packing houses. I have never smelled such stench in my life!
There is a paper factory just outside Hopewell, VA and it is pretty rank, but it is like a walk in the gardenias compared to this part of Texas. I was seriously considering burning the clothes I was wearing.
Before we could get all of the way to Amarillo (come on....we were only 20 miles away!) here comes more rain. We had to stop in the middle of all of this stink and breathe through our mouths while putting our rainsuits on for the third or fourth time today. Heavy traffic, torrential downpour....so what else is new?
We stopped at the Harley shop and I spent some more of my kid's inheritance. Thankfully, the Harley shop is only a short distance from our hotel, so it was easy to get checked in, park the bikes, and stow our gear.
Having had enough rain for one day, we called a cab and went to dinner at a Japanese steak house. Great food, good atmosphere, very relaxing.
Tomorrow we plan to cover about 600 miles. If weather doesn't slow us down, this will be the most miles covered in one day yet. We are feeling the push to get home. The 600 miles should put us near Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rick sent us an email today. He is feeling much better. His insurance declared his motorcycle a total loss and he has already picked up his new 2007 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic in Cobalt Blue!! He sent us a picture of it!!!!
We got up early, packed, and headed out for Roswell. The road took us past Wayne's house and about 17 inches past that point, a heavy fog settled in. For about 20 miles we were dealing with visibility of around one eighth to one quarter of a mile. It lifted a little and for another 15 miles we just had spotty fog.
We had checked the weather channel and the internet for bad weather and confirmed that we were going to have some! There was a big storm cell just north of Roswell and another one even larger to the northeast of Roswell. We had to suit up for the smaller system while heading southeast on route 285.
Roswell is a real trip! There are pictures of aliens and space ships on the Wal-Mart, and just about every other business in town. The streetlights have "eyes" so that they look like aliens!! They really have a good time with this. Without the whole alien controversy, this place would just be another wide spot in the road in New Mexico. Because of it, a town of almost 50,000 has sprung up as a tourist metropolis.
We visited the Harley store and made our obligitory t-shirt purchases. It was time for lunch and one of the sales people at the Harley store told us that there was nowhere to eat for 90 miles northeast of here. Food seemed like a good idea.We had lunch at a Chilis and then headed northeast on route 70 toward Texas. If you remember, this is where the larger storm cell was wandering around. Well, we found it! I remember a poem: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in which one of the stanzas is "Cannon to the left of them; cannon to the right of them; into the jaws of death rode the 600". This is about what we felt like. The sky was almost black. There were thunder storms and lightning strikes about 10 miles to either side of us and evidence of downpours ahead.
We suited up again and went through some of the most miserable weather yet. I thought that New Mexico was supposed to be HOT and DRY. All we have seen is COLD and WET! At least everywhere we have gone, the folks there have thanked us for bringing the rain!Somehow we made it to route 60 and the Texas boarder. Now it was so hot we were boiling in our rain suits. We stopped to take them off and then crossed the border.
From this point to almost all the way to Amarillo there was nothing but cattle feed yards, fertilizer factories, and meat packing houses. I have never smelled such stench in my life!
There is a paper factory just outside Hopewell, VA and it is pretty rank, but it is like a walk in the gardenias compared to this part of Texas. I was seriously considering burning the clothes I was wearing.Before we could get all of the way to Amarillo (come on....we were only 20 miles away!) here comes more rain. We had to stop in the middle of all of this stink and breathe through our mouths while putting our rainsuits on for the third or fourth time today. Heavy traffic, torrential downpour....so what else is new?
We stopped at the Harley shop and I spent some more of my kid's inheritance. Thankfully, the Harley shop is only a short distance from our hotel, so it was easy to get checked in, park the bikes, and stow our gear.
Having had enough rain for one day, we called a cab and went to dinner at a Japanese steak house. Great food, good atmosphere, very relaxing.
Tomorrow we plan to cover about 600 miles. If weather doesn't slow us down, this will be the most miles covered in one day yet. We are feeling the push to get home. The 600 miles should put us near Little Rock, Arkansas.
Rick sent us an email today. He is feeling much better. His insurance declared his motorcycle a total loss and he has already picked up his new 2007 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic in Cobalt Blue!! He sent us a picture of it!!!!
posted by George at 11:43 PM
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