BIG BEND 2009
  
 

Day 01

February 25

  
 

I've had a bad case of the 'road itch' for a while, so I am really looking forward to this ride. Unlike my usual forays out West, I'll be camping for most of this one. So Frost is loaded a bit heavier than usual with my camping and cooking gear. But it should be a fairly easy day of about 600 miles on the slab down to Coppell, Texas north of Dallas where Ken Hendrix has graciously offered to put us up coming and going. And as I figure, Andy shows up a little earlier which suits me just fine!

 
   
 

It's in the low 30s, so we are both suited up in our heated gear. Andy already had a Gerbing vest so I let him use my 'extra' Widder heated gloves for good measure. I tell him -

"There's a Cracker Barrel just before we get into Memphis we can do breakfast. It'll keep us out of the Memphis morning rush hour."

Andy is flexible and a good friend - two highly valuable qualities when you are on the road and especially in view of what happens later in the day. It's only a few miles to I40 from the Holler, so soon we are clicking off the mile markers on the mother road. This particular Cracker Barrel near Lakeland is a little convoluted to get to, but there's also a gas station on the way in so we make use of it. I always like to make a fuel stop and food stop together if I can cause once I'm rolling I just hate to stop.

  
 
 
 

We're thinking that Andy's new Suzuki V-Strom should have about the same range as my ST1100, so we hope this makes refueling stops pretty simple. As I get Frost topped off, I yell over to him -

'I'm gonna go get us a table. See you there!"

So I'm off to the land of pig meat and hen fruit. The restaurant is not as crowded as I expected, so I get us a large table with a good view of the bikes. I've never had much stolen from my bikes as I travel, but I still like to keep them in view when I can.

  
 
 
 

It feels good to get out of the cold for a while and I make good use of the fireplace. The heated gear is working fine, but nothing like a good fire to get your bones really warmed up. Andy pulls in soon, and I wave him over as I head to our table. We order our grub then talk about this trip and our upcoming 'Wild West Ride'. Andy, Dave Whitley from Scotland and I are going to see as much of the West as we can cram into a little more than 2 weeks. So this will be a good test as to how the fuel capacities stack up in actual use before the long ride. Breakfast comes and is quickly dispatched as only two country boys with a fond appreciation of eggs and such can do. Andy gets the check as he tells me -

"You got the last one best I remember."

"But Andy, you're indigent and out of work!" I protest.

We both laugh, but he pays the tab anyway. He got 'Chinasized' right out of his job a while back after many years of service like so many other folks in the current economy. With the paying business done, we're back out into the cold. Andy has added some plastic 'wind breakers' to his V-Strom that are proving very effective on keeping his lower body protected. We know that one of the challenges of this trip is trying to deal with the various extremes in temperatures we will encounter. We will probably be removing layers as the day progresses and we get closer to Texas.

 
 
 
  Back out on I40 we buzz through Memphis with no trouble and make our way to Little Rock. Soon we hit the bypass to I30 round Little Rock on our way to Texarkana. One thing I really notice today is the annoying habit of truckers - they pull out into the left lane to pass and they don't have enough 'get up' to get around. Then the trucks will run along side by side for what seems like miles, creating all kinds of backwash and turbulence - not to mention traveling at less than the speed limit. Traffic stacks up behind them before finally one or the other flashes his headlights to cut back over. Today this seems to be frequent occurrence instead of the exception and makes life a little more dangerous for us on motorcycles. The worse place for a motorcyclist to be is in a crowd of cars and being blown around by the prop wash of a couple of semis. We just hang back a little bit and keep all our senses in good working order and manage to avoid becoming a hood ornament or a roadside marker.  
 
 
  Just south of Little Rock on I30, we pull off at Benton for our next fuel stop. It's time to 'reevaluate' our gear as the temps are starting to rise. We pack away our heated gear, knowing it's only going to get warmer in Dallas.  
 
 
 

Soon we're back on the road making good time. With another quick fuel stop near Mount Vernon, Texas, we are ready to face the incredible Dallas traffic. Ken has warned us that it gets pretty crazy on the way to his house, but he was being kind. We can't keep close together because cars keep cutting in between us as we leave I30 and head up the I635 loop. As traffic finally comes to a complete standstill, I jump over into the HOV lane and Andy follows. We start making great time - until we come to the I35E split. No signs that we see warn us that you cannot get to I635 from the HOV lane. I make a kamikaze dash across to I635 but the traffic cuts Andy off and he is forced to go down I35E to the south. He pulls of and I pull of but there ain't no way to get there from here. I don't have enough room to turn Frost around on the shoulder, so I start backwalking the ST1100 to try to get back to the ramp he took. About 3/4s of way down, he takes off, deciding he'd figure something out. I know I can't catch him now in the heavy traffic, so I just park to contemplate my next move. I have a piece of paper with Ken's contact information for Andy - but it is still in my pocket. He usually doesn't carry a cell phone, so I forgot to get his number. I say to myself -

"Good job of planning there, Leroy."

The striking thing is we are only about 5 miles from the exit to Ken's house. As I scan the surrounding ramps, I see Andy pass below me on I35E north. I wave and shout to him, but it's hopeless in the racket.

  
 
 
  Assuming he is coming back down I35E to I635, I notice that the ramp is beyond me. Since sitting on this bridge in heavy traffic is not conducive to my longevity, I mount up and move to just west of the north ramp.  
 
 
 

The good news is that he's okay and I'm okay - the bad news is I have no direct way of connecting with him. I give Ken a call to let him know what's going on and that I will be staying put for a while to see what happens. I determine that I will stay here for an hour to see if he finds his way in this direction. If not, I'll head on for Ken's house and try to reconnect from there. While I'm waiting, I call my house - but nothing but the answering machine responds. Then I call his house - but nothing but the answering machine responds. So I wait ........ and wait ..... and wait ..... A couple of people stop to make sure I'm okay, and I let them know I'm waiting for a friend. I do thank them for stopping and showing concern. Finally I pull the trigger and head for Ken's house. At this point, I figure Andy is either holed up in a motel room or headed on for West Texas. After an exciting adventure ride through a closed road, I pull into Ken's garage way later than I intended. When I explain to Ken what happened, he knows the exact spot.

"What a malfunction junction that is" I tell him.

I figure I'll try again later to reach Andy's wife so Ken asks me -

"Are you hungry?"

"Yep, it's been a long time since breakfast."

So he hauls my tired body over to Anamia's Tex-Mex where I promptly devour lots of good stuff and drink about a gallon of ice tea. When we get back to his house, I finally connect with my wife and Andy's wife and we swap phone numbers. Now with his cell number in hand, I keep dialing until we connect. His first question to me is -

'Hey, do you hire out for guided tours?"

and we both laugh. We've got a lot of life's interesting experiences together, so this one just goes down on the list. Ken and I offer to come and get him, but he's already checked into a motel room. As it turns out, he's only about 6 miles away on the main road that runs near Ken's house. We decide I'll come and get him around 6:30 in the morning and we'll resume where we left off. With that bit of business taken care of, Ken gives me excellent instructions as to how to avoid most of the morning traffic on our way out of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro-plex. Tired and bit frustrated because of my lack of thinking ahead about getting separated, I hit the sack and drift off into a deep sleep. Tomorrow's another day, Scarlet ....