Incredible gifted weather yesterday, one of those you know being winter time, a bit windy still but nothing as the day before. I wanted to go back to the Visitor Center at the Observatory and do the loop, counter clock wise, 118 and then south on 166 back here. I think you would all riding, driving truly enjoy that loop… great road… from wide sweepers and a bit narrower ones… does not have quite the scenic aspect of Big Bend, very few areas will, lets face it, but the sights will never let you down!
So, as I see some snow at the higher elevations, I remembered Mike’s snowman… I have to give the man credit, he is the original one with that idea… but I wanted my own! Of course Spirit is not that thrilled with it, protective of his car he is probably thinking… “get this thing out of here buddy!’.

As I reach the intersection of 118 and 166, the map showed the road being a scenic road toward Kent, and why not push north another 30 miles or so. Scenic?… yes, but the road is pretty straight… we are humming, the wind still against us, great scenario as I know it will be behind me on the way back. And suddenly over the hill I see Hwy 10!… Wow… a busy freeway… and artery of this country… business as usual… noise… truck… campers… Had been so long since I had seen one! We stop… never thought I would stop to look at a Freeway!… All kind of thoughts go through my mind… It represents a life I have left behind… a path I do not care to step on anymore.

And we arrived in Kent… but where is Kent?… have you ever heard of a one Gas Station town?
This is it… no more… no less… A big parking area… 2 public bathrooms with a line of people in front of each… and people fixing their vehicles… this bus was broken down, the SUV towed behind was broken down… So was the one next to it and the one in front of it!… all missing wheels and who knows what else!… It just seemed a bit odd to me…
But they do have a Post Office behind the Station, and found out later, catering to the Ranchers in the area…

So we gas up anyhow, and head back on 118, I need to get out of there!
Back to 166 which this time I make the turn, incredibly nice road again with Mt Livermore ahead of us, standing 8382 feet tall and rugged unlike the rest of the scenery… Did I mention there was no traffic… none what so ever… Spirit is riding alone in this one… just trying to make excuses about how smart it was to leave my rig alone while I take this picture… I had miles of view for incoming traffic… just in case… no panic!

And as we are riding somehow the wildlife becomes alive… as I forgot to mention, and I had just received and E Mail yesterday warning me about it, hat I almost clipped a deer. Of course out of nowhere, his coat blending in with the side of the road vegetation, there he was on collision course. All I saw suddenly where the horns, maybe a six pointer and the rear legs ready to bolt out… not even a chance for me to get my hand off the throttle… even less to slow down… my mental scenario actually always being to go for it… hoping that the forward crash bars do their job.

This has happened before… and I honestly believe that the sound of my exhaust, a Lazer exhaust installed 100K ago with its chip, kind of a little louder by now, scares them and makes then turn around, as this one did… as many others have done in the past. That is my belief… truly!
It was a close call… the engine did not have time to loose a beat… but, I did slow down a bit…
as more wildlife appeared right and left…

We made it back to the Town of Fort Davis… a bit early, my friends Jerry and Nelda had their Bookstore open, as also their mobile bookstore in the form of a 1933 Ford pick up truck was there… with V8 engine I might add… all restored by Jerry… Quite an attraction… the original… Bronco? Quite a hang out in this town of 1500… a retired NASA employee stopped by with interesting stories, 40 years of being in charge of the Cosmonauts suit safety… I bet he could write a book on his own life and specially work!… A rider from San Antonio stops, Dion, he has been reading my Blog and noticed the rig in front of the store and thought… that might be me! A timeless afternoon…

Jerry, Nalda and I decide to have dinner together… I truly enjoy their conversations.. He is not a rider… he found my Blog through a Google search and was very instrumental E Mailing me all kinds of information needed to stay here… and not miss all the attractions offered! And this is what I love about my present life… so many have already come forward leading me to so many different paths of their hometown!… How can you not! I got to ride in the truck on the way to a local restaurant where I broke all the rules… A Blue Cheese Burger with Bacon and curly French Fries!!! Don’t ask me if I like it… Oh!… it was so good… better than that… So back to healthier eating today… at least for a few days!
Time to get out… confront the weather… feed my buddy…
Till next time… you be well…

Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 6th, 2007 at 8:50 am and is filed under travel, spirituality, pit bull, sidecar, motorcycle, cooking, photography, riding, homeless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.