Day 1 – Jude cannot get an Internet connection at his hotel in Brownfield tonight. He will catch up tomorrow.
Day 1– I learned a couple of things today, maybe more. The summary of today’s lessons is that if you’re going to go through all the trouble to make detailed travel plans (and not everyone does,) you probably should stick with them because you probably needed them in the first place. I’ll get to the lessons themselves shortly.

At the last minute before I left yesterday morning, I decided I didn’t want to go through Austin so I plotted another course that would take me on a more northerly course at first, and away from the big city of Austin. I didn’t plan this, but it just so happened that this route would put me in Lexington about the time that Snow’s BBQ (voted #1 in Texas by several magazines,) opened up at 8AM. So guess what was for breakfast?


Smoked brisket, coleslaw, potato salad, charro beans, pickles, onion and bread. And a big ol’ glass of sweet tea. I didn’t need to eat again until night time.
So, breakfast being done, I was off again. Not a lot of eye candy in this part of the country, other than some nice architecture in Georgetown, but I didn’t take any pictures here. However, the day was not without its own thrills, of a sort. Now on to the day’s lessons.
Lesson number one: There’s always time to stop and look at The Map. See, I’ve always been of a mind that, time sitting still is time wasted. I’ve always been a gas ‘n go kind of guy. I don’t smoke, so I don’t need smoke breaks. I can fill up and be gone in under five minutes. If I need something from inside the store, it’s fifteen minutes tops. I make my cheat sheet every morning so I don’t have to pull over and look at The Map. Sometimes I do, just to get oriented and to look at distances, but most of the time, not. So according to my cheat sheet, I was to take 183 out of Georgetown all the way to Early, TX where I was to take 67 to Coleman. So, I got to Early, fueled up and hopped on 67. Now, I’m going to the Pacific Northwest, right. So it’s generally safe to assume that I’m either gonna be going North, or I’m gonna be going West, right? Lesson number two: North is not always north. I hopped on 67 North and after about 30 miles I thought, “Hmmm, something doesn’t seem right. Where are the towns I’m supposed to be seeing? Where’s Brownwood? Where’s Santa Anna? But I was on by-God 67 N and that’s what my cheat sheet said. PNW, right? North and West, right? Finally, after about 105-110 miles, I was seeing TCU flags flying all over the place. I thought maybe it was high time to consult The Map. It wouldn’t take long, I could put my mind at ease with the knowledge that I was indeed on the right course, (North and West, right?) and I just happened to be in an area with a disproportionate number of TCU fans. I saw a picnic area with a nice big shade tree and pulled over. I opened up my new 2010 Rand McNalley Atlas and started tracing the towns I had passed through… Comanche, Dublin, Stephenville, which I had just passed about 40 miles back. Wait a minute! I was going north alright… NORTHEAST!!!! I was about forty miles short of Ft. Worth. Maybe farther, but a helluva lot closer than I had ever planned to be on this trip. I was actually supposed to leave out of Early on 67 SOUTH! Soooo…. I said to hell with the scenic route and caught the Interstate. I lost about 3-1/2 hours and burned an extra tank of fuel. I left the house with 80,074.0 on the clock and ended the day at my planned destination of Brownview, TX with 80,766.9 for a total of 692.9 miles on the day.
I’ve always wanted to see the Llano Estacado — maybe not as dramatic or interesting as the mountains in the west, but I’ve always been interested to see the escarpments where the depths of the earth have thrust their way to the surface. I began to see the escarpments in the distance, getting closer little be little as is the case in flat country where you can see for miles and miles. As I got closer I started seeing features at the upper edge of the escarpments that did not belong there. You can’t really see it in this picture, but I could see it from this distance.

What’s this? Hundreds and hundreds of cell phone towers? I was outraged. How could anyone allow the stark beauty of this natural wonder be ruined in such a fashion? Where were the treehuggers when you really needed them? But as I got closer I became even more outraged. They weren’t cell phone towers, they were freaking windmills!!!! The treehuggers that had ruined the Llano Estacado!

The Llano Estacado before the treehuggers:

The Llano Estacado after the the treehuggers:

They are kind of graceful in their slow turnings, though. Kind of like… synchronized swimmers. Yeah, that’s it, synchronized swimmers. That sounds like it would be right up a treehugger’s alley.
Day 2 –Today was a good day, though not without its lessons. I slept a little late, 7:00, packed up and headed out of Brownview. Here’s a shot of downtown heading out:

More of the Llano Estacado today. I’ll post some pictures, but I know there’s only so much flat land you can stand to look at.

Behind the bike here you can see pretty much what I looked at for most of the day.

I made a rare Rest Area stop to put on some more sunscreen and make a couple of load adjustments… and I stepped carefully while there.

Now, on to today’s lesson. Having never been out west, I’ve kept in mind the numerous warnings I’ve heard and read to take every opportunity to fill your tank when in the desert areas such as AZ, NV, CA… The Llano Estacado is no desert, but is apparently no less desolate. Not much out there but cactus, windmills and oil pumps… oh, and I guess rattlesnakes, but I didn’t meet any of them. I was not expecting to go for stretches of over 100 miles and see absolutely no store or gas station of any kind. I left out of Brownfield and rolled into Roswell with a little less than half a tank of gas. I think it’s something like 95 miles from Roswell to Vaughn, but I never dreamed that there would be absolutely nothing in between. I hit reserve at 201 miles on the trip meter, just before I passed a sign that said, “Vaughn-40”. I knew my reserve was good for about 20 miles, maybe more if I rode easy, and I knew there was no way I was making it to Vaughn on this gas. I pulled over and fired up the VZ Navigator on my phone to see if there might be a gas station a few miles down one of the crossroads I’d been seeing, but there was no service in the area. So I rode at about 60 and finally ran out of gas 12 miles south of Vaughn. I didn’t bother trying to wring every foot I could out of it — when it started sputtering I just pulled it over and shut it down. I had purposely stayed well ahead of a big RV that I’d played leap frog with for a while, thinking they must have a generator on board and therefore a gas can with gas. I got off the bike and took out my notebook and made a sign:

Disregard the smaller writing, that came later and you’ll understand by the end of the story. So I stood on the side of the road like an idiot, waving my sign at passersby and gesturing to my gas tank. Almost immediately a truck turned around (no small feat considering the turnarounds are about 1/4 mile apart,) but alas, he had no gas or gas can, and he went on his way. But this encouraged me and caused me to think that maybe the locals were concerned about motorists being stranded in the desert and would be quick to lend assistance. And hark! Here cometh yon RV, like a knight on a white horse. And behold! The RV moveth not into the left hand lane as some other cowardly knaves have done. Nay, he moveth boldly forward in the right hand lane, because he means to pull over and lend a poor soul assistance. Naaaaah, he blew past me like I was some homeless guy on a street corner in LA. After about 15 minutes of watching cars go by someone else stopped. This fella didn’t have a gas can either, but he said he would go into Vaughn and get one. He said it with the air of resignation of someone who really has no choice but to perform the task, and I knew he was just the kind of guy that didn’t have a choice. It was in his power to resolve the problem, and he had to do it whether he wanted to or not. He wasn’t about to just drive on by like it wasn’t his problem. He was a man from another time, when people felt responsibility just a bit sharper than most do now. I introduced myself before he drove off and he told me his name was Bob Bogan and he was traveling with his daughter Stacy. He asked me if I had a cell phone number and I told him I could give it to him, but there was no service in this area which I knew because I was trying to call AAA when he drove up. Stacy said she didn’t have service either, so off they went. I told Mr. Bogan that I would be right here when he got back. He kind of laughed and I told that what I meant was that I would not try to flag anyone else down. There was no way I was going to let him go through all of that and then not be there when he got back. So they drove off, and I waited. It was hot, but I guess it was what they call “dry heat,” because there was a stiff breeze, and it was a hot breeze, and the sun was beating down, but it was not uncomfortable. In fact I stood on the side of that road for a total of about one hour, but I don’t think I ever broke a sweat. Here was my view for that hour:
North:

East:

South:

and West:

Not much happenin’ on the Llano Estacado. I did check out the local fauna:

Could this be the legendary prickly pear of western novel fame? A quick Google search proves that it’s not, but I thought at the time that it might be, and I fought an urge to try eating one of the red bulbs. No need though, I had plenty of water on the bike. At least I got that part of desert survival right. Actually, it’s possible that this could be a type of prickly pear cactus called Cholla, but I’m not sure.
After being gone about 40 minutes, I saw Mr Bogan and Stacy coming back. I gotta tell you, I choked up just little when I saw them, because he was driving with his flashers on. This led me to think that he must have been driving fast in order to get back quickly. Was it because he was concerned about me standing in the heat? I have to think so. I told him that I knew that he had to buy that gas can and that I wanted to pay for it, the gas, his gas and his time. We put the gas in the tank and I said “that gas can is going to stink up your truck,” (it was an SUV,) and he told me that I was now the proud owner of a new gas can. Do you know that man wouldn’t even let me pay for the gas for the bike? He wouldn’t take a dime from me. Not that I’m surprised. Like I said before, I had already sized Mr. Bogan up as the kind of man that does these things out of a sense of duty, not because it makes them feel good to do it or because it makes them happy. I once got my truck stuck in the sand, and I walked across the street to house to ask for help. The guy was happy to pull my truck out with his tractor, and he was also happy to take the $20 dollars that I offered him. I once ran out of gas on my bike in front of another guy’s house and he was happy to let me buy a quart of gas off of him with my last two dollars cash so I could get home. Mr. Bogan didn’t seem like was happy to do all that, it was just something he had to do, and he wouldn’t dream of taking a dime for helping a stranger, no matter how much it put him out or how much it cost him. His is a dying breed. While he was gone I wrote down my name and contact information, and the address to this blog. I knew that he wouldn’t take my money. When I offered it he put up his hand, turned his back and walked back to his truck. I followed him back and gave him the piece of paper and explained about the travel journal I was keeping online. I asked him if I could take his picture and told him that I would post it, which he said was fine. Here is Mr. Bob Bogan and his daughter Stacy, and I hope I’m spelling his name right.

I hope you had a great Father’s Day with your daughter. Oh, and by the way. I don’t really have any use for a gas can, and I really don’t want to ride around with it strapped to my bike. But it is, and I will, to remind me and in appreciation of your kindness.
I’ve got more pictures from today, but since I had to do two days’ posting, it’s well after midnight and I’m going to bed. I’ll catch it all up tomorrow.
Day 3 – Today went well and I took way too many pictures. Too many to upload, edit and post tonight. Sorry but I have to take break and rest tonight. I’m at Marble Canyon and I want to get up real early and spend a bit of time checking out the Grand Canyon before I zoom over to Death Valley Junction.