Tour bus drivers and I guess just about anyone who has enough disrespect to start making noises at 5:30 am and not actually do anything about it till 7:00am are not on my Christmas list. The fact that two tour buses were parked next to our camping site should have been noticed and a new site selected. An oversight I hope to never make again. So at 5:30 am I awoke to the sound of large diesel engines combusting diesel fuel which sent my senses into wake up mode. Irritated but awake I guess it was time to get around. We stumbled around packing tents, sleeping bags and all the remaining items strewn about the tents. The bikes were loaded and it was time to partake of the most important meal of the day...breakfast. Choosing a local Cafe named "Cafe" we were seated in the backroom of the restaurant. The family seated in the same room was having a good morning and the kids were running around quite a bit. It seems we sat for a while but to a good end, the timing worked out fairly well. The breakfast was a typical eggs, bacon, and toast affair with water to drink. Nothing outstanding but it was a good meal. As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed an elderly lady pushing her french toast to the side while commenting to the waitress about the horrible taste and how no one should ever mess up french toast. I looked at the lady behind the register in a puzzled expression when she commented that Mrs. ___ comes in twice a day in the morning and orders the same thing everyday. She eats the first meal of french toast with the expression of a child whose favorite meal was french toast but only received it on Saturday morning. The second meal of french toast always gets returned to the kitchen as being horrible. It's a real "groundhog day" scenario. As I left I wondered if the cafe owner was charging her for both meals and how unreasonable that would be if they knew she was going to return the second one anyway.
In Cimarron, NM there are a number of historical signs on the south side of the highway giving a short history of the areas notorious citizens during the late 1800's. After reading all of the signs we rode back to the old part of town and went to the Old Mill which has been converted to a private museum. A very enlightening collection of memorabilia. If ever in Cimarron please search the old part of town for the historical goldmine preserved in its building and area grounds.
We left the Cimarron area headed to Raton. There really isn't much to see along the highway so we'll continue southeast out of Raton headed towards Clayton, NM. Approaching the town of Capulin, NM and glancing to the north we noticed a large mountain stretching to the sky out of the plains of New Mexico. A place of discovery, welcome to Capulin Monument. An inactive volcano with all the conveniences of a national monument. The visitor center collects your hard earned money but has a really great bookstore. I had found a book I really thought would be interesting but the lady in front of me was determined to not let me purchase the book in anything resembling a timely manner. She kept talking to the lady behind the register about being a teacher and always looking for material to help make her class interesting. Then extolled on the lack of interesting subject matter available to her in this day and age... Just as it appeared she was ready to yield her position at the register she asked her daughter if she had picked anything out for purchase. The young lady said she wasn't aware of the option to purchase anything and that she would like to find something especially if she could spend some of her own money making the purchase of her choice. Ms. Teacher said well hurry up and pick something, turned to the register worker and began meandering about something else to do with her family vacation and how she had planned this and it was such an interesting place. Lady please just let me get my one book and you can talk forever. After two or three consultations with her mother the young lady settled on something, the purchases were completed and outside they went for family pictures. I'm really glad they were having such a great time but she didn't seem to value the people around her and had no respect for our time. The famous H.A. Sonny Barger had a quote seemingly appropriate in this instance, "I will treat you better than you treat me or I will treat you much worse than you treat me." Isn't that similar to "do unto others as they..."
Finally escaping the gift store we made our way to the top of the volcano on a park department paved road. Once at the top the view was very entrancing. You can see the lava flows and the distances the rocks and lava were launched into the atmosphere with the annoyance of gravity drawing them back to the surface of the planet. Looking north from the parking/observation area allowed us to look into the crater of the volcano and observe the vent hole where it all came to a disturbing end. The trail to the vent must not have been as appealing as the mile walk around the rim since Glen chose the rim trail for exploration. We chose the steepest route to the top because it seemed to be the shortest route. The views were great but the most interesting thing of the walk turned out to be what the ranger said was "an event of lady bugs". As we went around the top of the volcano the number of ladybugs attached to the bushes, trees and trail numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Just a guess but it seemed impossible to walk very carefully on the trail without stepping on one or two but you had to be careful to limit it to one or two at a time. They grouped together on the trunks of the bushes and trees in such large groups you would have to look really hard to decide it wasn't a fungus growing on the tree. It really resembled a skittles commercial but it was ladybugs. A true first in my life at __ years young!
We left Capulin Monument headed to Clayton, NM. We put on the rain gear anticipating rain before we got to Clayton. We weren't wrong! It rained and rained. My rainsuit leaked and it was time for lunch. I found a subway on the south end of town. We slogged in discarded our rain gear and drenched the floor seats and surrounding area. The most entertaining meal of the trip happened at this particular moment. As measured as most subways are when they put all the ingredients of a sandwich together, the young lady preparing Jim's sandwich was distracted to the point of producing his sandwich with three times as many veggies and dressing as I have ever seen on a subway sandwich.
Deciding the rain had moved out of our path we departed for Boise City, Ok.
Glen's sister was scheduled for a doctor's appointment tomorrow and he wanted to get to Tulsa in time to visit with her before the appointment so I felt like we needed to make it to Woodward before we shut down for the night. To save Jim an embarrassing moment we'll just say we made it to Woodward after dark passing one motel on the northwest side of town stopping at the next motel we passed. No rooms! But... she also owned the motel we passed and they had one room available. I rushed out the door hollered at Jim and Glen that I'm headed for the motel we just passed and to meet me there. I had just finished signing the receipt when two other people came in looking for a room, great timing but not much room to spare! Jim decided to stay in the room while Glen and I headed for Braum's for food and ice cream! Dinner finished, we headed back to the room for a comfortable nights sleep.
We ventured out of the hotel around 9:30am and went to McDonalds for breakfast. We pulled out of McDonalds headed east on 412. about two blocks east of McDonalds on the north side of the rode is one of the premier chopper/bagger builders in the entire country. We pulled into Covington's parking lot about 10 minutes early. Jim wouldn't go inside but Glen and I didn't have a choise. It was like kids in a candy store. Very nice assortment of custom motorcycles and accessories were on display for our perusal. The guy behind the counter let us in early and offered a nice morning conversation. After purchasing a t-shirt it was time to go. I have been trying to get a t-shirt from Covington's for many years. I either couldn't park the semi in his lot or they were closed on the numerous trips to my sister in laws house. Scored this time though!
We rode east into the sun. We turned south on a two lane highway just east of Billings,OK but Jim wasn't interested in going south since the house was to the north. My goal was to bring all three of us to Skiatook which was approximately halfway between Glens destination and Jim's house. Glen and I went on to Skiatook where he turned south on highway 75 and I turned North for the final few miles to the house.
I've had a month to reflect on our experience and have made a few conclusions. 99 percent of the places we went on this trip I had been before. I had as much fun on this trip as any trip I have ever taken. My summation would be its not the destination or the view. It's not the monuments or the scenery. It's not even the people you meet on the journey. The best part of a journey is being able to share it with friends or family that mean the world to you. It's about the time we all spend together. It's about being friends for a lifetime, good or bad moments don't matter. The matter of the matter is friends matter.
Looking forward to our next adventure! There's talk of the Great Smoky Mountains or a Mississippi River excursion or Speed Week at Bonneville Salt Flats or ...
Saddle up! Let's Ride!
Glen thanks for the participation and the memories! Jim you're welcome to join us any time but it's tents and sleeping bags that add to the adventure, hope that makes you laugh!
I'll edit for proofreading and spell checking later, sorry!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep it clean...