Day 4, Amarillo to Dallas
Thu 13 Jun 2024
411 miles
After a visit to Palo Duro canyon, a long hot ride through dull country, finishing with in ever-present congestion and construction and concrete flyovers that define Dallas.
Met up with Larry for breakfast down at the hotel lobby. Hotel breakfasts are always filled with the crankiest cheapest people, all nodding in agreement to the FoxNews blaring from the corner of the room.
Today's breakfast room performance was provided by a woman I named 'Bite Me', a large framed woman with a sleeveless button down shirt, with "Bite Me" tattooed on her upper arm in exquisite script. Larry and I listened to her at the hotel breakfast since she was fulminating in front of TV, where a blond Foxy actress was mouthing on about high gas prices in Fox's favorite city, San Francisco.
Bite Me woman suddenly announced to the breakfast room that "California sucks! I'm moving back to Kennsaw (or something like that) Georgia. I spent 32 years in Tulare and it was hot and she is right--gas is soooo expensive there!"
Uh, first off Bite Me you're not in California and don't have to get gas there no more. And second of all, it took you three decades to realize that you don't like California? Woman, you're just bitter and angry and at this point in your late 50s you're definitely used up. Hope you find whatever you're looking for in Georgia, but I doubt it. I did walk by her and say "Sad human" out loud and she heard me and looked up with a "Whaaaaa?" expression. Poor angry creature.
So anyways, I bid a kinda teary farewell to my ride wife Larry and we both got on the road right at sunrise.
I wanted to briefly see Palo Duro State Park--yep, scenic, though a lot of erosion from recent rains had closed the trail system and the ranger at the entrance gate said "watch out for a lot of sand on the road, a few motorcycles have gone down". Thanks, I guess? Went to the overlook/visitor center, snapped a few piccies, then felt like I had to get on the road to take advantage of the cool 72 degree weather. Not much to see on the route the Garmin took me down--south on empty and useless I-27 (feels like an interstate built because LBJ wanted it), east on Texas 86.
Stopped for gas just off I-27 in a windy fly-blown town named Tulia and (once again) none of the card readers on the pumps worked. Guy behind the counter took my card and asked me where I was from then immediately went to "bet you like our cheap gas! you all pay $3 a gallon in just tax! So expensive there! I'd rather live here in Texas where it's cheap!" I thought about saying "cheap is just another word for 'low rent' but held my tongue and just responded with "at least Calfornia gas isn't watered down with bullshit ethanol that eats your fuel lines up" and he surprisingly said "yep" (truth be told, CA gas does have ethanol but I'm getting pretty tired of the Fox News watchers complain about gas prices in a location where they never want to visit, much less buy gas there)
A bit down the road on US 287 in Quanah, another gas stop, and an older late 50s guy asked where i was from. I said "the Central California coast" and he said the one time he visited it was beautiful. I asked him about what saw and he saw the Cowboys do summer practice in Thousand Oaks. He did say he went to the beach nearby but it was really chilly. Ayep. At least there wasn't a discussion about gas prices.
The temperature had climbed up to 95 and I was wetting my cooling towel (worn under my mesh jacket, it really works well with the airflow through the jacket) and I thought I needed some AC time by the time I hit Wichita Falls so stopped at a Starbucks. Annoyingly, despite the large parking lot, it was a grab-and-go location, though there was a shady outdoor table. I stood inside next to the sugar and pink/green/yellow stuff, and watched a trickle of other customers ask "where's the seating?" Uh Starbucks you're failing your brand and disappointing customers with NO SEATING. Don't lure us in with the promise of a relaxing stop... at least call it Starbucks Express or something catchy.
And then the last hour was just gross. The caffeine has dissipated, I was tired and irritable, and I already knew I wanted to avoid the various toll roads in Dallas (they don't work with my E-Zpass) and I just am not familiar with the choke points of Dallas's mesh of freeways and expressways and collector/frontage roads. Hit the Outer Rim of Dallas near Denton and cut across on some east-west road, then dropped down I-35 and got tangled up in construction. After a few miscues where TxDOT routed a couple of lanes onto those odd collector roads I just kinda gave up and let the Garmin route me the fastest way (with the Avoid Toll Roads toggled on) to my destination at Preston and Northwest Highway. Got blasted by a Southwest jet engine up at the end of the Love Field runway waiting in a traffic line to turn left (fun watching the thermometer on my dash go from 98 to 115, was wondering if I was just gonna keel over then and there and die), and finally found my buddy's place.
Drank two liters of Gatorade from the fridge (ugh, did not want to chug down the 100 degree liquid in my top case; yes Scott I'll get you replacements), turned the AC to 72, and ahhhhhh relaxed and fell asleep at 7:30... looking forward to friendly Texans rather than the irksome folks I ran into today... and Dallas drivers sure are in a hurry to get to that next stop light/traffic jam for whatever reason.
As for lessons learned today: ride as early as you can, and keep your edge. Motorcycling isn't just balance and coordination, but knowing when you're getting woozy and need a break from the heat so you can focus on the traffic--and enjoy the scenery as it rolls by. Not that there was much scenery for most of the day, which made interactions with the locals more prominent, but hey, Texas. The Dallas natives will certainly be more welcoming.