Left out of Alliance on US385S at 7:00 a.m. (MST). Temperature on leaving was 40° with the wind chill showing at 35°. That was with a 7 mph wind from the NW. At 70 mph it was a lot colder. Fortunately, everything worked as it should. My Tourmaster jacket with the insert in was warm and toasty. Of course, the long underwear underneath my riding shirt and pants didn’t hurt either.
I bought some wind-resistant gloves through the National Geographic store a couple of years ago which are pretty darn good. My hands stayed warm though I could feel the very tips of my fingers getting cold after about thirty minutes of riding. They didn’t get any worse so I kept going.
At Bridgeport I took US26E toward Ogallala, NE. Stopped for a full breakfast in Bridgeport to give the sun at least a modicum of opportunity to warm things up a little. That worked pretty well. At Ogallala I got on I-80E for about 50 miles to North Platte, taking US83S there. Stayed on that to Garden City, KS taking US50E to Dodge City.
Saw this huge radar on US83S about twenty miles south of North Platte. I suspect it's an FAA site used in air traffic control but don't know. Kind of strange though, usually these alphabet agencies like to stick signs up announcing their ownership/presence. No sign of any kind around this guy. But, no one came out and shot me for shooting it.
Saw these three machines "parked" out beside a corn field. These are not cheap machines, but they're just sitting out there to rot.
I have seen an enormous amount of farmland and farming operations on this trip through the "grain belt" of the United States. My overall observation is things are good out there on the farm. I really don't want to hear how the farmer is being driven out of business, and can't make a go of it. Almost every single farm I've seen have nice middle-class homes, new cars and great equipment. So...can we stop subsidizing these guys? Especially the really big ones?
Just short of Dodge City is the Cimarron cut-off of the famous Sante Fe Trail. The north route stayed westward and went through Bent's Fort in Colorado to get to Santa Fe. The Cimarron route turned south at this point going through west Texas.
For 50 years heavy wagons made the 12-16 week trip passing this point.
I don't know if these were the "official" Santa Fe Trail wagon tracks or not. I just knew I wasn't walking any further out in that damned field.
File under good news: While standing out in the field my cell phone rang and it was Larrivee Guitars. For any who don't know the story, I broke my guitar on the Beartooth trip this summer ( See Day 7 of Beartooth Ride Blog ). To make a long story short, Larrivee has moved operations from British Columbia to Oxnard, California. I suspect, like most companies when they expand, they've had their growing pains, and quality, both in product and service, has suffered for it. They've been sitting on my guitar for about seven weeks without letting me know repair costs/scheduling, etc. I haven't said anything to them because 1) I've been traveling and wanted to be home whenever it shipped back to me, and 2) it's sort of like pissin' off the cook: you just don't want to do it. I really care about this instrument, and it's a special one, so I wanted them to work on it, though I'd have preferred one of the British Columbian specialists do the work. I've just sort of been biding my time hoping they'd wake up and contact me.
A couple of days before I sent an email requesting the exact status of the guitar. I tried to mask my disappointment and concern about their service and pointed out that I thought I'd demonstrated sufficient patience with this situation. They evidently agreed with me and, in the call in the middle of the field, they informed me they'd repaired the instrument and would ship it to me at no cost whatsoever. I can't wait to get it to see if the damage, or subsequent repair, had any effect on tonality.
Got into (not out of) Dodge about 6:00 p.m. After cleaning up I went downtown. Not much to see. They’ve “created” an old west town-like area around a “Boot Hill” I guess they’d like to charge me money to get in to see. It was closed when I got there and won’t be open when I leave in the morning so that ain’t gonna happen. Wouldn’t have happened if they’d been open either.
A little further down the street was this statue of Wyatt Earp.
Under the heading "Truth Sacrificed to Drama" notice that the gun he's drawing is the famous Buntline special. As if anyone could draw that monstrosity from anything but it's traveling case.
Also notice Betsy "had his back."
I have become a real fan of buffalo. I’ve always liked the buffalo burgers you can get out west, but tonight I had a buffalo sirloin steak. Tasted as good as good Nebraska beef steak but has less fat in it than a chicken breast. I know that Ted Turner has been on a tear trying to get the U.S. educated on eating buffalo, and owns several huge buffalo ranches, but it doesn’t seem to be working. It’s a good idea.
Major Betsy milestone passed upon pulling out of Alliance this morning: 40,000 miles.
And, as I've stated before, Betsy has been a great piece of machinery. I've had some problem with after-market add-ons, the exhaust breakdown in Ashville, NC on the Gettysburg Ride being the most major. But Kawasaki's part? No problems!! At all!! I love my Betsy. Now if I could just get Kawasaki to put that big motha-lovin' 2000cc engine in the Nomad package I'd be a happy boy.
My down day has put me in a bind for making it home in time for Saturday's tee time with the guys. But I can do it. Tomorrow: Home.
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