Ok, we are in Rocky Ford, CO and about to head to Childress, Tx.....sleep over, then home to Burleson. Not a lot of choices on how to get there from here but let's take a look on Google Maps since we have wifi in this little one horse town....
There, looks like CR101 will save us about 45 miles to Amarillo.....gotta take it right? Hmmm, it's not on the Garmin Rooster got for his Ultra just for this trip......hmmm, where did it go?? Not to worry, let's just eat a good breakfast, gas up and ask someone. And so we did just that. Full tummies, full tanks but the attendant had never heard of CR101. Well, maybe the attendant was new around here. Off we go.......Rooster sees the turn, signals to me to ok or no-k. I signal "YES" let's do it....so we turn down CR101. Great choice for about 25 miles, then whoops...........dirt and gravel.........
6 miles of dirt and gravel.........and I'm ok with that but it had rained the night before and we started running into slipper spots........then it became just MUD. Oh let me correct myself.......red dirt is not dirt, it's CLAY!! Water and Clay are very very slippery. With a little fishtail here and a little fishtail there.......here a slip and there a slide. Rooster pulled to a stop and said "it's time to turn around". Yep, now we know why it wasn't on the Garmin for the motorcycle....this is not a motorcycle friendly road. Rooster insisted I stay still, he turned his bike around and slipping the whole way. Then he got on my bike to turn my Red Angel around. Now he's following me while I slip and slide along. I take the first serious turn in a mud hole and start to fishtail, with a counter here and a counter there, I almost had when my hand hit my rocker throttle.....gas it big time........THUD! I was in the MUD on my left side. Thank God for Engine Guards, kept the bike off my leg. But I hear Rooster sliding towards me and I curl up in a ball yelling out "Oh God! Oh God!". He stopped but I can smell his front tire right by my head........a little too close for me. He still assures me, "Honey I wasn't gonna hit ya"! I'm sure he would have laid it down first but in the mud, it's so unpredictable. Rooster hopped off his bike and helped me to my feet, he also righted my Red Angel for me. I was shaking like dog pooping peach seeds......I made sure to thank the big guy in the sky. What a cool Dude my God is to take care of me all the time.
It could've been so much worse.......but my Red Angel and I were just a little muddy......well, a lot muddy. But let me tell ya, it's much softer landing in mud than on pavement so I'm not complaining on bit.
We left a mark where we landed.........now if you can blow this pic up really big.......look right in the center of the muddy mess I made and maybe you can see my BIKE KEY!! Yep somehow in the whirl of the squirreling around and pounding the ground, my key came off my jeans where I have snapped my keys for 17 years without a single mishap, till now. I didn't realize my key was gone til we were long gone from here. Speaking of being long gone from here........I still had to sit for a while when we got back on dry land to ponder my thoughts of gratitude.
As you can see if we had really gotten hurt, we were alone.......except for a few horses and cows.
We lost about 2 hours off our trip trying to save 45 miles taking this little shortcut.....he he he....first clue not to do it.....shortcut......he he he
There was some slight damage to my bike. The engine guard was bent so my road peg was not in the right place. Rooster bent it back some and adjusted it for me as best he could but the rest of the trip I was whappy jawed......you know, crooked. Nothing is cheap on a Harley so that little dump cost $209.00 to replace the engine guard. No complaints tho......I am happy to have a bent engine guard and not a bent leg.
Got to Childress, Tx around 6ish that evening. HOTTER than HECK. Tired, ready for a shower and let's go sit in the hot tub. Oh yeah, now that's living right.
Remember I lost my bike key in the mud hole so how am I going to get a good nights sleep thinking someone could just ride off on my Red Angel? Here's how......my Rooster is so security minded in everything he does, he brought the cable that we can lock our bikes together with. YEA!! Now if you know anything about Childress, Tx, you know in August it is very dry and very hot. There are tumble weeds that blow around but there are also little mini tumbling thingies. When we got up the next morning this is what we found around our bikes. Looked like we had been here forever.
Childress, Tx can keep their dry, hot, mini tumble weed thingies......we're off for Burleson, Tx. Homeward bound with nothing special to look at from here to there. Flat and nothingness till we pass thru a city. Who cares about seeing cities when thoughts of Tucumcari, Nm and Pagosa Springs, Co and The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Natl Park and Glacier Park and Canada and Sturgis, SD, and the Black Hills all dance in my head as I ride along in the extreme heat with my cool hydration vest on.........but the thoughts dance on and the miles click along. Before you know it we have come to 35W at the North end of Fort Worth and as usual it's clogged with big trucks and cars. It's around 1pm and the sun is baking us. It's over 100 out but with the asphalt and the vehicles stuck in the traffic feels like 120. We swish between cars to make our way to Loop 820 to skirt around the back way to HOME!! 4500 miles of smiles and memories. What an amazing trip. Now I've done it.......been as far West, as far East, as far South and as far North as I can go on my bike. Cool! What next? I'm sure there's another Rosey Road for us to discover together. YEE HAW!!
Big Texas Hugs,
Rosey and Rooster
