By JB “Paco” Brostrom, MWAi – Paco?! Really, you’re the first to the bike… AGAIN!? Now we know the reason. Seems his hard candy had not been consumed in his sleep. He did have an odd urge to smoke a cigarette.
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Even Gordito made it to the lobby in time for us to pack our bikes in the dark and get on our way. Slaw didn’t get much sleep as he was arguing with himself all night about politics. The hotel clerk warned us about animals on the road this time of day after we told him our route.
We began the day with about 500 miles under our belts with a 600 mile day ahead. Down the mountain we began and… the clerk was correct. It felt a little bit like Frogger accept the animals crossing the road, or standing in the middle of the road and staring, were very large elk; moms, dads and juniors. Even juniors were large enough to win a battle with a Harley. This went on for 40 miles! We stopped or slowed considerably for Elk, bovine, equine, and rather large birds of prey that were a little slow getting off road kill. As we get to the bottom of the mountain heading due East into the rising sun the potential road kill became rabbits. It was like the rabbit version of Hitchcock’s Birds movie. For these we didn’t slow as that would have been more dangerous. I think only Slaw slayed one of the bunnies.
Our next stop was Hope, NM. You can’t say there is no Hope for New Mexico. This is a severely under-inhabited village. We stopped and used the concrete driveway of the closed up Fire Station to park the bikes and remove the cold weather gear. Slaw dropped is wallet behind the building… but he still hasn’t yet pee’d. We believe he has become a Stealth Urine-ator.
Next stop was Lovington, NM for fuel. As we roamed the two isles of the convenience store for a reasonable facsimile of breakfast, someone I-Spied a small donut shop. We made our way across the parking lot and walked into another wonderful road story. The Asian lady behind the counter was also the owner. Turns out she is Korean. She opened a donut shop in Lovington because the only other donut shop was “crap”. “Fake style donuts there. We use all buttermilk. Others only some or no buttermilk… crap.” These were GREAT donuts. She did everything but pull up a chair and eat with us. She noticed Slaw burning his thumbs on the iPhone and implored him to post wonderful things about her donuts on Facebook… “but only if you like them. If you don’t like… don’t post!”
She told us to stay safe and said she would pray for us. She then corralled the other customers to pray for us as well.
The next stop should have been Post Tx. Since we had 50 miles of fuel and Clairemont TX was 30 miles Papa made the decision to press on. It was a fantastic decision with on exception… Clairemont TX is a dead town. No fuel… no nothing! Mo worries. We’re in Texas where most of our fuel comes from… right? We pressed on route 380 until the right turn to Aspermont TX. A Clairemont-ish town, Jayton was to our left but… we literally didn’t have the fuel to try and fail. We stopped on the side of the road. Papa has the most fuel efficient bike with about 19 miles to empty. Slaw had a bout 11. Gordito and Paco were no longer registering numbers rather warnings of low fuel. Papa went solo back into Jayton. First I noticed a closed up independent station with no credit card self-service. I continued further into town. I saw a young woman standing on the side of the road smoking a cigarette.
I pulled up and asked how close was the nearest fuel station. I swear the following is completely factual. This woman turned back toward the house and (picture Wedding Crashers) hollard at the top of her lungs: “Maaaaa! Maaaaa! Is the Co-op open on Sunday!” (I thought she was asking for meatloaf) Around the corner came Ma, Pa, baby brother and big brother. Turns out the Co-op just across the street has a single pump with a “credit card thingy” that can be used when it is closed. Ma then asked if I had a credit card? I assured her I did and that myself and three others will be might grateful for the Co-op credit card thingy. I called Gordito and the three of them came roaring in a few minutes later. The technology on the credit card thingy was circa 1984 but we all got a few gallons of fuel so we could make it to Aspermont and fuel up properly. Crisis averted!
We pressed on but just before Rule, TX Gordito hollered in my ear that he need a bio break. No one can say that Texas doesn’t Rule! Slaw took the opportunity to use the restroom and fix his makeup because he still hasn’t voided his bladder.
We continued on 380 across the top of Texas noticing the openness of the road was closing rapidly as we begin to approach the Metroplex. Last fuel stop of the day was in Decatur. It was an uneventful stop other than the second group of bikers fueling up told us they were heading, eventually, to Richmond VA. I told them we would be there on Thursday afternoon. Small world!
Soon we merged onto I 35 South and quickly the I 35E wing and made our way through he concrete jungle to our hotel in Plano. Thanks for the accommodations Mr. James D’Emidio and Muratec. The Muratec team treated us to dinner as well.
We had time to shower and email before the Muratec team transported us to the restaurant. It was there we official initiated the Probees. Or in true biker form we: Patched them in! The initiation required them to sing, at the restaurant, their high school fight song… or college… or the Star Spangled Banner if all else failed. You can find these initiation performances elsewhere on Facebook.
Loan Star’s was good. Bert’s was.. efforted. Then GQ stood up and with arm gestures sang Rocky Top as sung by and good Volunteer.
You’ll remember David Clearman (GQ) of Muratec from last year. GQ was joined by Mike Christensen (Loan Star) of Muratec as well. The final member of our team, Mark Albert (Bert) was also patched in. Mr. James D’Emidio was also awarded his patched vest due to his valued personal and professional friendship as well as his generous donations to our cause. Patriots Pack will ride 7 strong tomorrow but we carry many hundreds with us… or the many hundreds carry us with them!
GQ rode over 500 miles today to join the ranks. Bert flew in from Iowa and joined his pre-delivered steed. Mike hails from the area. Paco, Papa, Gordito and Slaw each rode 620 miles. Many miles, many stories, and this is just the beginning. We will all sleep well tonight.