A good day?

It’s crazy how everything can go so well and it can still be a rough day.

I got up early this morning to see the nieces and nephews off to school and to say goodbye before I left. It was hard to leave. I had a really good time and I feel like I got to know my brother and his family a lot better. If nothing else goes right this trip, I can still chalk it up as a success because of that visit.

Not wanting to experience big city morning traffic, I plotted my route north through Texas to take me on back roads. Good call.

I found a wonderful, flowing back road that took me straight to the fabled historical western town of Luckenbach. I was too early to experience the real feel of the town but that typically involves lots of people and crowds so I was ok with that loss. I did wander around and look at some of the old memorabilia they have lying around.

Next I headed over to Fredericksburg, the boyhood home of Admiral Chester Nimitz. It’s also the location of the Museum of the South Pacific in WW2. I spent 2 plus hours there. I didn’t learn anything new but the artifacts and vehicles were well worth my time. Very interesting and highly recommended if you are in the area.

After that I had a lunch of leftover pancakes that I’d snagged from my brothers fridge. Still good. He more than made up for the dismal failures I had experienced in Silver City NM.

Time to get down to business. I took off north on highway 16. A backcountry highway with an extremely high speed limit, in places 75mph. Occasionally you’d slow down to go through an old ranch town but that was about it. I left the rolling hill country behind and entered flat Texas. It was still beautiful. A lot of ranches and tree lined streets. There was plenty to keep my eyes and my mind busy.

But it slowly crept up over 100 degrees. That can just mess with you and beat you down.

There were times where I just felt overwhelmed, lonely and tired. I half seriously contemplated looking at a map to find my quickest route home. For about the next half hour I talked myself into finishing the day and to see how I felt.

I only went 344.1 miles today and I’m happy with that. I found a nice RV park with shade and a shower about 25 miles shy of the border with Oklahoma. I’ve taken a shower and set up camp. I feel better.

I think I’ve decided that while it’s hot, I’ll just do shorter days. The issue with that is, what do I do? Being bored costs money. I only have so much battery on my phone. I guess I’ll need a book. And a better chair. My $70, super nice, compact chair, broke on night 3. Don’t tell my wife.

Tomorrow I’ll alter my route a bit to take some more time during the day. I’ll stop by two Harley dealerships for poker chips. The second is in Paris Texas, the location of a certain YouTubers famous motorcycle. I’m not star struck but his journey was an inspiration for mine.

That same guy now owns a campground in Moyers OK that I’ll make it to pretty early tomorrow. I’ll camp there. By then I will be heading into the Ozarks for some amazing riding and certainly lower temperatures.

I’ll just keep pushing on. Today was a good day.

Thanks for still following along.