Friday, August 2, 2013

Four Legged Trouble

It is Tuesday morning, Da'mit is packed and we are ready to ride again. Up early we hit the road only to encounter indecisive trouble before we are out of town.

Slow down, will she cross in front of us or turn around to run the other way.

She decides she has the right of way, so I yield to her crossing. She acts calm so probably will not make any sudden changes in her direction of travel. Still I watch her until she is off the roadway. We have had no close encounters with wild game on the roadway so far on this trip, so for our last couple of days on the road is not the time to start playing chicken with wildlife.

Leaving Angel Fire, the sun slowly creeps across the timberline awakening a new day.

We take a little traveled gravel road over the mountains from Black Lake to Ocate, then to Wagon Mound. Before Wagon Mound we have another encounter with the four legged road hazards.

Can you see it on the roadway? It's a pronghorn antelope outside of a pasture. Which is unusual as they don't normally jump fences, unlike whitetail and mule deer.

It moves off into the tall grass, so we should be safe.

Now the pronghorn starts running ahead of us along the fence line ahead of us, looking for a way to escape a noisy contraption coming after it.

Not finding a hole in the fence, he cuts across the roadway directly in front of us. This is why one slows down when encountering wildlife along the sides of the road. They become nervous and unpredictable.

Cutting across, he enters the tall grass on the other side, and...

races along that fence line.

With one hand on the brake and the other on the clutch, we motor along slowly waiting and watching to see where he will go next. Pulling along side, he reverses direction and is now running away in the opposite direction behind us.

Motoring up we continue out journey across New Mexico: Wagon Mound - Roy and the grasslands, Logan and Clovis, finally crossing into Texas.

Arriving in Lubbock, we seek out the Ural dealer to say hello. Smokey owns Wildfire Motorcycles, a fast and upcoming Ural dealership in West Texas. We visit about Urals, Alaska and making a trip of a lifetime until their closing time.

As with most people I met around my age, we talk of our bucket lists. Making the time to finally start checking things off, or adding new items to it. Time waits for no man. Sometimes you just have to swing a leg over the saddle and do it. A sad delusion is thinking there will always be tomorrow, until one day you awake to find all your tomorrows are gone. If you are not living today, then when will you?

Was able to put another 80kms on Da'mit before landing in Post, Texas for the night. Now there might be some really great things to say about Post, Texas, but I was not able to find them tonight.

After getting a room at the "Deluxe Inn". Turned on the window AC unit to cool things off before retiring. Walked five blocks to the BBQ place, to be told they are closed on Tuesdays. Walked back, then walked to the supermarket next door hoping they had a deli department or fresh... something. Again disappointed.

Could see a McD's across the street but was hoping for something more family style. Walked back to the Inn. Uncovering Da'mit, we rode to the edge of town looking for a place to dine. The only place open was George's Diner. Sign outside said BBQ. Was hot and dry after the ride today, waitress informs me the town is dry. I.e. they do not sell cold beer, nor does anyone else in town. Okay, iced tea. Ordered the Sliced Brisket plate with potato salad and beans.

As anyone who has traveled in extremely hot dry weather knows, the last thing you want to eat in anything greasy or fatty. Pulling the bread aside that was covering the brisket, were three thick slices of the fattiest, most grease marbled pieces of meat you could imagine. Floating on top of the beans was another layer of grease. Sending the plate back, I asked for something lean, not fried. Waitress said that was all they had.

After yet another misadventure trying to find a meal in Post, resigned myself to eating at McD's. At least the grilled chicken wrap with fresh veggies was not dripping grease and fat. And the cold banana strawberry fruit smoothie satisfied my thirst.

Nite Da'mit,

Nite all.

 

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos, as always. I really like the one of the mist over the river. Great lighting. On my trip last year, the only 4 legged encounters were with black bear crossing the road along the Cassiar. A few deer watching from the edge of the clearing but they didn't head for the road. And the moose were all too busy eating to bother crossing the road.

    Almost home?

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  2. Richard, thanks for following along. Actually had fewer encounters with wild animals than expected. Was glad of that.
    Now at home, at last.

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