Archive for September, 2007

The Road of a Thousand Pictures… Texas

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

This road, #170, 66 miles or so between Terlingua and Presidio, can easily be called the “road of a thousand pictures”. One could walk it and just about take a shot every step of the way. Changing terrains, colors, the Rio Grande being the border between the USA and Mexico gives it also a nice feeling when looking at another country while riding and start thinking about the days when someone decided… this is mine and this is yours.

We tried to leave early, onetries to beat the heat right now, seems the two hours set back from the West Coast has still left its mark, it was not till about 10am I think! The rig has been awesome these past couple days as I have removed the sway bar. I had noticed the couple holes where it is held by some long bolts turning oval instead of round in such short mileage since it was fixed, there was some play, the sway bar should be disconnected on the dirt riding anyhow and removing it was a pleasant surprise. The rig as been easier to steer and is not pulling to the right anymore… I think I will just dispose of it and put up with a bit of the sway now that it is off! The fabricator of the rig, Jay Dauntless might have been correct when he insisted that the sway bar was most likely the cause of all my past problems… when I undid it, it literally snapped off, which means that it was controlling the bike’s and chair’s position in an unnatural way… less weight too! So that is done!

 I don’t know if the Google Earth map helps at all, a bit small for details, but that was the route along the Rio Grande. On another subject… as I have been asked “why am I working?”… “Am I going to settle here?”… “what is going on with the Journey?”… here are some answers, real simple actually in my mind!

It has been almost a year of moving around from Florida to California including a bit of Utah and finally to Washington State. It seems that it was a “WOW” chapter of travels, as being suddenly let free from a past life… and it was! As time has gone on, one thinks about what they are doing… and I came to the realization that we were just not experiencing the regions visited as much as we would like to.

A week here, a week there was barely touching the surface of the exploring and feelings. This past month, in Halfway, Oregon, some doors opened up as being there one month, we got to know some locals and many aspects of it, including many roads of the area. But still, as we left a couple weeks ago, I felt as we had not experienced it all… My first decision was then… where would we want to spend the winter. This area won over a few others. It is coming up, shorter days, colder weather, this here… is good!

 The next decision was to stop giving ourselves a time frame as to how long to stay in one place. I keep telling myself, the day I start getting bored… having nothing to learn anymore from the area, done with the roads, well, that will be the day we will move on… I just do not want a repeat of Halfway!

I have a profession that also allows me to work anywhere, or just about anywhere in the world and country! Unpredicted expenses have taken a toll on the budget, and even though I am the top paid cook here in town, the couple peanuts an hour they pay me will help toward the next move. Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 4pm to 10am… just enough to get a taste of it again! But it is not all about money, that is for sure.

LaKiva, which I will write about soon, is the local hang out… lounge and restaurant, and the thought of meeting many locals here with the ability at the same time to live away from it all has been very appealing. I find out many activities going on, such as the Miners Family reunion coming up at the end of this month (October that is…), with food, music, walk through the cemetery, historical talks… that fact goes hand in hand with filling the void I have been feeling by not being in a kitchen… well, I think this is all good.

More about the road to Presidio next time… sorry… ran out of space today.

Till then, you be well…

Ara & Spirit

————————————————-

You contributions more than ever are what is keeping this site alive. If reading it is worth $1 a month… the PayPal (contribution) button is above to the right… snail mail address is below. We always “thank you”.

Ara Gureghian

853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245

Naples, Florida 34108

———————————-