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Published: August 11th 2014
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A JOINT BLOG EFFORT Y'ALL We were commenting over breakfast today how much fun we had at the rodeo last night, two-bit as it was. Man, there was AAAAAALLLLLLOOOOOTTTTT of testosterone in that barn last night. Not to worry cowboy, this cowgirl has her own pony tied up outside, her steel steed Suzuki, fueled up and rearing to go. Good thing, because we got into an all out battle of the wills with the wind along route 90. I conceded, allowing her to slam me from side to side in the lane at times, whipping my head back and causing me to hang onto the handlebars for dear life.
Many a little critter lost its life through the night, laying splatted in the middle of the road or for the bigger deer and hares, spread in bits and pieces across the width of the lane. Ugh. It all made for a feeding frenzy for countless greedy voracious vultures circling overhead, impatiently awaiting their opportunity to swoop in and grab their righteous share. My Mum's blood nieces would do well here.
We managed to dodge another massive thunderstorm this morning, other than its wind. It was our longest day
on the bikes, travelling 590 kms over 8 1/2 hours. If only we had bigger, smoother cruisers, we could easily cut the travelling time to two thirds what we are dealing with. Plus have the ability to keep up with traffic, lessening the probability of idiot drivers on my butt. We've never talked about it until now, and maybe Ian doesn't think I notice, but I do. You see, on some occasions, drivers will cut between both of us, especially on the two laned roads where we are already travelling at 60 mph, as they can only pass on a dotted centreline. They pass Ian, then sit on my tail until they can pass again. It's extremely unnerving having some maniac following so closely behind (at times, no more than a car length) on a road riddled with pot holes, grooves, ridges over which the bike wiggles and wobbles. They just have no concept of how dangerous their tailgating is. So Ian, I've noticed of late, sees these guys flying up behind him, and he will fall into stagger formation like a trusted wingman so they can't get between us, forcing them to pass us both at the same time.
He has no issues with waving off anyone that is too close to him. I really do appreciate his protective gestures. Thanks ACE!
In some ways the scenery, mostly ranges and rolling grassy hills, was a little disappointing. We chose this route because on the map, it tagged along the meandering Rio Grande river, the defining border between Texas and Mexico. We saw the river once, from a bridge into the Amistad Recreation area, never to be seen again the rest of the day. Border patrol vehicles passed us as always and during a picnic stop off route 90 near , one officer drove slowly past us into the stop area, I smiled and waved and he proceeded on, down the hill to a small bridge over some small river to check out any illegals hiding therein. As if this state doesn't have enough monitoring to do, we passed two bright yellow signs on the road warning us that "Hitchhikers may be escaped inmates". The thought that immediately came to mind was "Jesus, let's get the fuck out of here" (sorry for the profanity, but that's what I was thinking at the time - blame it on the heat,
humidity and exhaustion) and no kidding, about half a mile further down the road was another sign that reminded us "This is God's country, please don't drive like hell through it" ! Oh dear... This perhaps is a good time to hand it over to Ian....
"Texas….this used to be the "Lone Star State” but not any more……because we’re here.
Helli is feeling bad for me because I’m color blind…….I’ve been singing “The Purple Rose of Texas” into my intercom all day long. We have made it to San Antonio. It was a long ride today, over 500 k’s. San Antonio is famous for not making New York salsa!!!!! It's starting to feel like we are a long way from home. We are now closing in on the Atlantic and looking forward to seeing the ocean again. Any ocean will do. I must say that the people here are very friendly and polite. We are greeted with a ”yes sir” or “yes ma’am” everywhere we go. The downside to this state though is they drive like maniacs. We are back to the problem of tail gating and impatient drivers. The speed limit on the secondary highways is 75
mph, I think that is the minimum! We are trying to keep our speed down to stay comfortable around 65. This is not an issue as there has been so little traffic but we are sometimes caught off guard by cars catching us so quickly. I am sure over 100 at times is not unusual. From El Paso to Alpine and now to San Antonio several things have struck me as different. Bail bondsman offices every few blocks, loan offices by the dozens (offering cash for your car’s pink slip), tortillas for breakfast in all the hotels and finally prices listed in dollars and pesos. Along all the highways here, the U.S. border patrol has cleared and cut gravel roads on each side. There are thousands of miles of pathways about 15 feet wide so they can drive along slowly while they search the bushes and scrub. We believe they are also looking for any disturbance of the dirt or footprints as they drive, or breaks in the barbed wire fence. Early in the morning for the first 3 or 4 hours on the road we counted more border patrol vehicles than cars on the road. It was not uncommon
to drive for 10 minutes without any traffic. When we took our first break for a road side coffee we had driven over 130 k’s and only passed 6 oncoming cars. There was more road kill than that, as Helli has talked about!
To close, we are here in San Antonio about to go walkabout, and will look forward to sharing our experiences here with you tomorrow. Thanks again for tuning in! We miss you all.
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