Old Marathon Rd loop, Texas

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

The wind is rocking us tonight, something fierce, seriously thinking about taking down the Radio arm from the Dish. I still remember when it blew away a couple times in Nevada. 4 tie downs are holding it now, a few weeks ago the Dish moved on its own about four feet! Stubbornness is a terrible thing!

Maybe we have been here too long, some thoughts about moving have started to build up in my mind. In 4 days we will be here two months! Maybe we are getting too comfortable here and by the same token these are some of the happiest times we have had. There is not one aspect about this area we could complain about… Specially being here on Roger’s land, we could not ask for more. Sure, the choice of groceries is not the greatest, but the stores are trying. Today for the first time we stopped at the “Natural Health Food Store”, it really was not that much pricier than the others and the choice was better and different. I have been having some nice greens drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixed in with an Indian dipping sauce mixture made of Mango, Chili and Cilantro… topped with some real nice Feta Cheese! I even bought some starter in a box to make some Thai Tom Ka Gai, my favorite coconut ginger soup… with noodles too! I think I have not been cooking enough, maybe to wrapped up in the start up of printing Postcards and making “Spirited Treats”… Tonight I walked away from it all, we bounced around a lot in today’s ride… we both got a bit tired… I cooked instead. Of course now I am writing!!!

It has always been in my blood to travel. While I was raised in France, one set of grand parents lived in Cairo, Egypt, the other set lived in Syria. Being Armenian we have been scattered all over this World… and still are. I remember, pre-war, how much I enjoyed seeing through Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa new roads, mountains, beaches, customs and foods different in every region because my family also traveled constantly. There is something about “new grounds” for me, seeing “something” for the first time, there is an excitement unlike the second time or third. And then again, the proof as we are here for the second time, there is so much one misses the first go around. Complex!… isn’t it? As long as I am aware of it, well, I can deal with it.

Maybe it is the new Moon coming up, maybe just a phase… we still have so many places to discover… many “new grounds”!!! Maybe it is this article that I read tonight on how dog food, and for that matter also, how cat food is made… I had thought about pasting the article here, but if I could not finish reading it myself, it grossed me out, I don’t think you could either! At the same time everyone should be aware of it’s facts. I have been aware of it for a long time… I mostly cook for Spirit, I have slacked off sometimes, this was again a reminder. Maybe I will publish the article, one in many, in the magazine instead of here with a warning about its content. It is not a hoax… I call it “greed”!

It came about to me again as I am looking into treat recipes… natural, no preservatives, baked to order… there are some ingredients to stay away from, many allergies dogs have and I needed a refresher course. There is to top it all such a debate regarding their food consumption, some going as far as saying that they are animals, so they should and could just eat anything!
Sometimes the Internet just has too much information and at the same time… not enough of what we really need.

But back to the ride! It was a fine ride… the scenery is not comparable with the Park, River Drive or Pinto Canyon, but, surprisingly its difficulty was! What an irony that I expected Pinto Canyon to be a difficult ride turning out to be an easy one, and today going through Terlingua Ranch and then Old Marathon Rd itself turning out to be of much more difficulty. The main reason was the deep sand which I think, if I remember well, was absent last year, and no… there are no pictures of the deep sand!!!

 

As long as we are rolling… we move on, but we slowed down in one curve and the rear tire… so yes, wrong tire I know… started spinning totally loosing its grip. It happened actually many times, this one time however I thought we were done, immobilized for the time being! Again from the time we got off Hwy 118 all the way back to Panther Junction in the Park we only came across one car, and that was on the black top. We are looking into an emergency beacon type called “Spot”, more about that later.

We took a little detour on a road called “Dagger Flat Auto trail”, dirt with surprisingly again more sand than expected, thinking… Grand ma’s Buick might just not make it through there! We checked out “Dog Canyon”… it has to be a good hike with such a name, but of course Spirit would have to be boarded, how ironic! We looked at the start of Old Ore Rd which I am suppose to be riding on a loaned 250cc next month, along with River Rd… I suppose much Advil will help that day… and then on back to camp through Panther Junction. It surprised me to find out as I was drawing the map above, after the ride… (oh! well…) that we had covered about 200 miles… not that it matters!!!

Tomorrow we will get ready to spend the weekend in Alpine… we are taking my sleeping bag and bevy bag, Spirit‘s blanket, his food… I have this notion to sleep somewhere behind the train station! Unless of course throughout the evening of the Open Gallery Night someone invites us to spend the night! What an adventure… right?  Maybe Spirit will soften someone’s heart to harbor "us"… as… we are a package deal!

Till next time, thanks for being here…

Ara & Spirit

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Ara Gureghian   853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245   Naples, Fl 34108

 

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2 Responses to “Old Marathon Rd loop, Texas”

  1. Ring Huggins Says:

    Hey Ara, Great entry. I am just back from the fishing trip…got any good ways to cook Bass? Mike and I slaughtered them and not had so much fun since the hogs at mah little brother. Peace, Ring

  2. Ginny Says:

    Nice post Ara. You really make the areas you are traveling in come alive. One day I will get to the Big Bend area…

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