Actually by the time I post this we should be in Moab… I was thinking that I must have a real obsession with Moab lately! It has been a destination that I have looked forward to so much. I know there are some great off road trails, great opportunities for photography and three million visitors a year which I am trying not to think about! Snow and red rocks should make for some great images of sunrises and sunsets … But right now, this is the story why we stopped in Lubbock, a T Shirt story and some new friends.

I hope no one is as bored as Spirit while in the shop "Sign Creations". This is how it went. It has been a couple months now that I started taking the steps to create a T Shirt and Mouse pad with Spirit’s picture on them. You probably know which one! Wearing his helmet and his goggles while giving me this attitude look. Notice always the eyes. I have been investigating all the different printing processes, different T shirt qualities, you name it! As the quality conscientious person I am it has not been easy! Silk screen printing was not going to work because I wanted his photo and not a design, heat transfer is not great, feels like a bit of plastic covering one’s chest and the printing itself left to be desired. Remained the last process called "direct to garment", where with $300 a liter paint bottles, the image is directly printed on the material. Remained another problem… the image itself, the colors, the contrast, brightness, as I ordering a few samples long distance, they never turned out to be a copy of the photo! Much frustration…

I had to find a way to be present to see the first sample… where to go? As we returned from Tybee Island, my mail had caught up with me and there was a box waiting. That box for some reason had taken two months to catch up with us! Inside was a printed T shirt with "the" picture that I had in mind!… printed with the "direct to garment" process and a business card, even though the picture itself needed some work, it was a beautiful job. I called Mike right away, finding out that their shop was only 100 miles off our route to Moab. Being a reader of the Blog, a couple months ago when he had seen that picture on the site, he had decided to print it and mail it thinking it would make a great T shirt for me to wear… without knowing that I actually was looking for a good T shirt printer! I call it… Karma. It just does not get any better. Even more with the fact that both father and son, and mother also, are motorcycle riders! Actually it does get better…

Mike and Nathan’s family live in Slaton where the City Park offers three nights of free camping, right next to the pool… baseball fields… all quiet in the winter. Another gift from Texas! Slaton is also the town where the oldest Bakery in this State is still in existence! The Slaton Bakery, 65 years in business. A coincidence, as a couple months ago, the owner’s son, Bryce Wilson, being also a reader of the Blog, send me much information about the area just in case I passed through… and honestly I had forgotten his location. But there we were… a complete package deal as we also met Bryce on Thursday evening after his brother Chad gave us a private tour of the Bakery and their "Slaton Bakery Book", filled with writings of fond memories, recipes, newspaper clippings and many pictures. Nothing could have been planned any better… as none of this was planned. Mike and Chad knew each other, but for a long time were not aware that they were each following our Journey. What a small world it is getting to be…

Mike of course all smiles at the thought of his fingers doing the picking… If ever in Slaton, do not miss stopping by the Bakery, if I have no regrets, well, you  should not either. It is right across the mural, you cannot miss it. Look for the parked cars and people in and out the door!

I had never seen a dough thermometer that big! I thought it was a meat thermometer at first. You know… Texas… Beef… Big… They also sell doggie treats, BBQ flavored mind me… and a complete collection of cookie jars!

We also managed to visit the Buddy Holly Center and what a big disappointment that was. It seems, as the story goes, that his wife is giving the town of Lubbock a real hard time about displaying Buddy’s memorabilia’s. No pictures allowed, and for that matter there was practically nothing to take shots at anyhow! A couple guitars, some generic pictures of him and his band, a couple letters regarding his first recording contract and that was it. The name of the Center was very misleading and that was it. Don’t waste your time and your $5 to get in!

But our first stop that day, the Wind Mill Museum, was a different story. Who would have known there would be a Wind Mill Museum and wind mills now have taken a totally different outlook when seeing one. Starting as far back as the early 1800’s, they were wonders of the land in all colors, shapes and designs all the way up to today’s huge turbo wind mills with blades of 70 to 110 feet long each! Mike and I spend much time reading all about them, they might look all the same but each had intricate differences in their designs and how they were put together.

Outside, inside, wind mills galore! Soon a new building will be up to house, you guessed it, more wind mills!

What an unexpected three great days we had in Lubbock and Slaton! That is the essence about living on the road, meeting some wonderful people and just letting time do its thing as the surprises are always around the corners. We left with a nice inventory of printed T Shirts, Mouse Pads, which we will link them to a new merchandise page as soon as it is ready, any day now.

Till next time…

We are always under deep appreciation toward the readers that have send in a contribution helping this website’s expenditures. For those who have not, continue enjoying the site, pictures, recipes, and if you feel it’s worth $1 a month, the contribution button is above, snail mail is below…

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

You be well and stay well…. Ara & Spirit

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 9:43 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 leave a response, or trackback from your own site.