Departure Crew
Starting time today was set up for 6:15 am. KSU, which is what motorbikers call it, and it is Kick Stands Up. Contrary to everybody’s expectations, Don actually showed up on time, and we were off at sunrise. The departure possee was Don Taylor on his Triumph Street Triple, Mel Maresh on his BMW R1200R, me on the R1150GS, and Sandra on the Honda Element carrying the sag.
If this would have been a normal group of people, we should have uneventfully ridden the 600 miles, and arrived in Amarillo around 4 pm. But being the bozos that we are we got separated multiple times, partly because of GPSs and people, including me, assuming we were going some other way, and lack of conversation and planning. So, we made very slow progress between 6 am and noon.
Eventually we got it all together and things started proceeding as expected and we made good progress. The morning was overcast, which was a welcomed condition. It was like God’s hands providing a comforting shade for us. Never mind that the clouds were dark gray, but then again, who said that God’s hands have to be white?
This was all nice until we reached Fort Worth and started heading North West towards the Texas panhandle. The heat started doing its broiling duty. Simmering would be an understatement. But we rode comfortably surrounded by endless fields. Vultures were gliding in the warm currents, while crop dusters lazily flew their undulating patterns over us. One of them even blew a puff of dust over us, in a very calculated way. You could smell the pesticide in the air, and we were not sure if this was dis or a salute.
We rode into Amarillo at 7 pm. Twelve hours through towns named Alvarez, Venus, Quanah, and Claude. The latter, rumor has it in Sandra’s family, was named after my father in Law 🙂 This arduous day of riding commanded a great dinner. So we go picked up by the Big Texan trolley, not the Cadillac Limo with the longhorns on the hood, which we has expected, and got delivered to the mega house of steak. We had a great evening of fellowship, and of course more steak, medium rare, than most could ear..
But the most important part of the day was a combination of my friend Joe’s last words to me before I left, and thoughts I had last night. I was thinking that when I ride on my adventures, there is always this question as to whether it will start and run the whole day. However, I never have to worry, or even wonder, if God will be with me, at any moment of my life.
The above, was echoed by Joe, who said to me, just before leaving: “Remember you are not an orphan. You have a Father in heaven that will be with you always, and on this journey”.
Tomorrow, I riding with God to Denver.