Bike Trip Journal
Number 5
e are entering into the home stretch now...
23rd: We are still in a campground (Isleta Lakes & Rec Area) in Albuquerque, NM. We woke up this morning at sunrise, as usual. I went to take a shower, but, they were out of order! After being on the road, a shower is very much needed, so, I got my soap, found a faucet and washed my hair, face, and as much as I could under the spigot. Ah, the adventure! Danny was going to get a picture, but the battery in my camera had died. I decided to take a restful morning, walk around the lake and have some time in prayer. As I came back to take down the tent, I found ants everywhere!!! Danny asked what time it was and I realized that we had changed time zones from Flagstaff and needed to go ASAP to get to a church service north of Albuquerque. After church, we headed east to Amarillo. We were going about 90mph a good bit of the way. All of a sudden Danny pulled off the interstate and into a gas station - he had been nailed with bird poop on his glasses and said it stunk. Hehehehe. Bad cross winds again caused a battle for us. As we got to Amarillo, I found the north/ south interstate and headed back south to the campground we had previously stayed in on Lake Thunderbird. We drove a few miles and pulled off trying to find something familiar. Thinking a convenience store employee might help, we tried the first one we came to. I went in and asked, but NO ONE had ever heard of Lake Thunderbird!?! I tried looking at a map and it was not where we had left it. Time to get out my journal and re-read about Lake Thunderbird. Oops! It is south of Oklahoma City, NOT Amarillo! CRAP!!! Hehehehe Owell, that is typical of me (many of you understand exactly what I mean). Once we got back to I-40, we got our bearings since we had stayed in Ok. City as we were heading west. We decided to go back again to the KOA campground we had been in before. Danny decided to go swimming before supper and nearly froze as the water evaporated so fast off of him. Got to bed by 10.
24th: - What a night! I woke up at 3:45 to the singing of lots of birds, trains not too far off and at 5:45 a jet took off at an airport near the campground!! Good grief! We decided this morning instead of skipping breakfast as usual, we would get a GOOD breakfast. So, we found a breakfast bar at a Flying J truck stop for $6.59. Then our regular Wal Mart stop - this time for a camera battery. As we entered OK., we pulled into a rural, aren’t they all? gas station. It only had diesel and 86 octane gas. We used the 86 octane and hoped the bikes would run ok on it.
We have been watching my back tire get balder and balder since Flagstaff. By the time we got to Ok City, it was time to get a new tire. We got into town around 4pm. I tried to call a bunch of bike shops and wonder of wonder, they were all closed since it was a Monday (the day most bikes shops close). We decided to go to Lake Thunderbird (yes it IS south of here!!!) and try to find a tire in the morning. I went to write down the phone numbers of the bike shops in the area and saw a number for The Motorcycle Tire Store. I called and they were open! I asked for a Dunlop Elite and he said he had a better tire (Avon) for $122.00 plus $15.00 to install it. The Dunlop tire would have cost about $150. (I think) not installed. Supposedly this tire is a 20,000 mile tire. I got 12, 000 on my old tire and that is good. I asked if they could install one for me today and they said sure!!! When we got there, I talked to a customer that had the Avon tires on his bike and loved them. He also rode a V-Star and was excited to see what I had done to my bike (changed the seat and put an external oil filter on it.) The dealer had a real problem getting the wheel on & off, but finally after 3 of them working on it and a lot of cussing, they got finished. Only one problem… they would not take a credit card, only cash! Fortunately, Danny had the cash for me to borrow. We THEN went to lake Thunderbird. It is quite pretty and looks like rural GA! Along with all the vegetation, comes the humidity. It does not usually bother me, but after being out west, I really feel my jeans sticking to my legs. Oh, on the way to OK City, we saw an irrigated cornfield and after being in AZ, the corn looked SO GREEN. As we went to sleep that night, I noticed that the crickets were so LOUD.
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