September 27, 2009
I'm HOME! I finally finished my road trip and am now sitting comfortably on my comfy couch in Sacramento!
I'll be working to fill in the massive gaps in the blog entries...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
3,000 miles to home...
I've got a pretty good idea of my route home now and I'm not sure there's a straight line in it at all ;)
I'm just outside of Santa Fe, NM now and will head to Denver, CO for a couple of days. From there I'll go check out Salt Lake City, UT before heading down to the Grand Canyon and Scottsdale, AZ.
Here's the rough map:
and a rough schedule:
9/11 - Stop in Denver, CO
9/12-13 - Explore Denver and surrounding areas, meet with the Denver 250 crew.
9/15 - Stop in Salt Lake City, UT
9/16 - Explore SLC
9/19 - Stop at the Grand Canyon
9/20 - Stop in Scottsdale, AZ
9/21-24 - Figure out a route to get to California and hopefully meet sdebaca.
9/24 - Stop in Sequoia National Park or Kings Canyon
9/25 - Stop in Yosemite National Park
9/28 - Arrive back in Sacramento?
I'm just outside of Santa Fe, NM now and will head to Denver, CO for a couple of days. From there I'll go check out Salt Lake City, UT before heading down to the Grand Canyon and Scottsdale, AZ.
Here's the rough map:
and a rough schedule:9/11 - Stop in Denver, CO
9/12-13 - Explore Denver and surrounding areas, meet with the Denver 250 crew.
9/15 - Stop in Salt Lake City, UT
9/16 - Explore SLC
9/19 - Stop at the Grand Canyon
9/20 - Stop in Scottsdale, AZ
9/21-24 - Figure out a route to get to California and hopefully meet sdebaca.
9/24 - Stop in Sequoia National Park or Kings Canyon
9/25 - Stop in Yosemite National Park
9/28 - Arrive back in Sacramento?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Climbing a mountain in the Flatland
September 2, 2009 - Day 84 - Oklahoma City, OK to Coppell, TX
The jaunt from Oklahoma City to Coppell is an easy one, a couple hours straight down I-35, unless you're on a motorcycle and trying to find the "good" roads of the area. Then it turns into day long adventure.
To start the day off I wanted to have breakfast with geekonabike (Mike) out in Weatherford, OK before he had to get in to work. Being a little over an hour away from OKC I had to leave at 6:30 a.m. to get there in time. Out of 84 days spent on the road, this was the earliest I'd gotten up and on the road. Hopefully it stays that way. I was able to see a gorgeous sunrise in my mirrors.
Making it to Weatherford I met up with Mike and had a great time eating and chatting away at the only "diner" in town. Making our way out we snapped a semi artistic photo of us.
Mike had suggested that I stop by the local air and space museum that was more of a tribute to a local astronaut. It sounded interesting and it was close so off I went. Getting to the parking lot there was a plane and space capsule on display and by the door was a large, maybe life-sized, statue of the legend himself.
This did seem a bit "tribute-ish" but I was hoping the museum would make up for it. I wander the couple of feet over to the door and cringe at the minor entrance fee but mentally accept it for helping out the sciences. Now I know that I'm there at a weird time, a Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. the week after school has gone into session, but when I walked up to the doors and saw the 9 a.m. opening time I didn't expect the doors to be locked. I stared in the locked door hoping to see someone, anyone walking by to figure out what's going on but there wasn't a soul in the building. There was some activity in the attached airfield and hangars. A little miffed I took off, though not before getting the photo op with the plane and space capsule.
Back on the road I set off to see an anomaly for this area, a something not flat. A miracle for sure, Red Rock Canyon is a big hole in the ground that is unbelievably pretty. As is typical of canyons you could drive right by it and not know it was there, especially since this blended in with the local flatness. Less than a quarter mile off the main road, the park road dives down nearly 100 feet and red rock walls rise up to surround you.
There was a pond just down the road that beckoned me to take a break from the hard ride that I had coming in, all 30 miles of highway. So I stopped and sat for a bit enjoying the peacefulness and tranquility of the area. It helped that the entire time I was there I saw three other people, all in different parts of the park.
The next destination for the day was nothing new. I've been saying that I'm going here for ages but now I'm actually going there. It's nice to have something realized in life.
There's not much to Nowhere. The entire town is made up of two buildings and what looked to be an RV storage park. It was rather amusing that, while 20 feet from the middle of Nowhere, I was honked at for parking the bike at the edge of the road. Apparently it's not just a big city thing.
From here I made my way south and stopped for lunch at the world famous Meer's Store and Restaurant. The location is unique to say the least as is the building itself. Multiple additions, settling foundation, and uneven floors make this seem like a house from hell but when you pay to go in it just adds character, I guess. There was a short line once inside but I wasn't too worried, it just gave me more time to look at the random decor.
Well, after looking at the decor for over an hour I was getting hungry, tired, and mad. It turns out there was a tour bus full of people in there taking up the majority of seats. Once they all cleared out we were able to go in. The burgers they serve are very big in diameter, seven inches, and are served in quarters to make it easier to eat.
The waitress brought out two of these and asked if I was going to eat both. Having only ordered one I was a bit miffed. I let that go and moved on to the single burger that I ordered. While the burger is very big around it is as flat as a McDonald's burger and wasn't too filling, even with that large bun. I'm not sure if it was the wait that killed it for me or the service but I was a bit of a sour grape by this time and didn't really enjoy the meal. So, if you are hungry and drive past this place go ahead and stop in, but that's only because there's nothing around for the next 20 miles. Other than that I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for this place.
The next destination for the day was Witchita Wildlife refuge and Mt. Scott, the only mountain in Oklahoma. The stars of the refuge are the wild buffalo, prairie dogs, and Texas longhorns. The land in the refuge is very pretty too.
Driving in a few miles I came across a small herd of longhorns and snapped some pictures from a safe distance. I didn't want this day to turn into a running of the bulls. Another couple miles into the park I came across the prairie dog habitat and stopped to check them out. There were tons of them in the field and by the railing. As soon as I got off the bike all of the dogs by the railing bolted for their holes. After sitting there for a few minutes some of the dogs decided to come check me out and one got within 10 feet of me. He would've come closer but the wind picked up and scared him away.
I was itching to climb a mountain again so I left the prairie dogs to their sunbathing and went in search of some altitude. I didn't have to drive far to get over 1,000 feet above the surrounding land.
Even at this elevation the weather was still warming up so I got back on the bike and on my way. Standing around in motorcycle gear in the heat is not fun at all. On the road again, my bike was steered towards this AWESOME little town near the Texas/Oklahoma border.
I passed up the photo ops for the Ryan police department and Ryan Cemetery due to the heat but just know that they're there.
The rest of the ride was a quick blast down more secondary highways all the way into Coppell. I started the day in OKC in the low 60s and in Ryan it was over 100! I was glad to get to a house with A/C.
Pictures
The jaunt from Oklahoma City to Coppell is an easy one, a couple hours straight down I-35, unless you're on a motorcycle and trying to find the "good" roads of the area. Then it turns into day long adventure.
To start the day off I wanted to have breakfast with geekonabike (Mike) out in Weatherford, OK before he had to get in to work. Being a little over an hour away from OKC I had to leave at 6:30 a.m. to get there in time. Out of 84 days spent on the road, this was the earliest I'd gotten up and on the road. Hopefully it stays that way. I was able to see a gorgeous sunrise in my mirrors.
Making it to Weatherford I met up with Mike and had a great time eating and chatting away at the only "diner" in town. Making our way out we snapped a semi artistic photo of us.
Mike had suggested that I stop by the local air and space museum that was more of a tribute to a local astronaut. It sounded interesting and it was close so off I went. Getting to the parking lot there was a plane and space capsule on display and by the door was a large, maybe life-sized, statue of the legend himself.
This did seem a bit "tribute-ish" but I was hoping the museum would make up for it. I wander the couple of feet over to the door and cringe at the minor entrance fee but mentally accept it for helping out the sciences. Now I know that I'm there at a weird time, a Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. the week after school has gone into session, but when I walked up to the doors and saw the 9 a.m. opening time I didn't expect the doors to be locked. I stared in the locked door hoping to see someone, anyone walking by to figure out what's going on but there wasn't a soul in the building. There was some activity in the attached airfield and hangars. A little miffed I took off, though not before getting the photo op with the plane and space capsule.
Back on the road I set off to see an anomaly for this area, a something not flat. A miracle for sure, Red Rock Canyon is a big hole in the ground that is unbelievably pretty. As is typical of canyons you could drive right by it and not know it was there, especially since this blended in with the local flatness. Less than a quarter mile off the main road, the park road dives down nearly 100 feet and red rock walls rise up to surround you.
There was a pond just down the road that beckoned me to take a break from the hard ride that I had coming in, all 30 miles of highway. So I stopped and sat for a bit enjoying the peacefulness and tranquility of the area. It helped that the entire time I was there I saw three other people, all in different parts of the park.
The next destination for the day was nothing new. I've been saying that I'm going here for ages but now I'm actually going there. It's nice to have something realized in life.There's not much to Nowhere. The entire town is made up of two buildings and what looked to be an RV storage park. It was rather amusing that, while 20 feet from the middle of Nowhere, I was honked at for parking the bike at the edge of the road. Apparently it's not just a big city thing.
From here I made my way south and stopped for lunch at the world famous Meer's Store and Restaurant. The location is unique to say the least as is the building itself. Multiple additions, settling foundation, and uneven floors make this seem like a house from hell but when you pay to go in it just adds character, I guess. There was a short line once inside but I wasn't too worried, it just gave me more time to look at the random decor.
Well, after looking at the decor for over an hour I was getting hungry, tired, and mad. It turns out there was a tour bus full of people in there taking up the majority of seats. Once they all cleared out we were able to go in. The burgers they serve are very big in diameter, seven inches, and are served in quarters to make it easier to eat.
The waitress brought out two of these and asked if I was going to eat both. Having only ordered one I was a bit miffed. I let that go and moved on to the single burger that I ordered. While the burger is very big around it is as flat as a McDonald's burger and wasn't too filling, even with that large bun. I'm not sure if it was the wait that killed it for me or the service but I was a bit of a sour grape by this time and didn't really enjoy the meal. So, if you are hungry and drive past this place go ahead and stop in, but that's only because there's nothing around for the next 20 miles. Other than that I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for this place.
The next destination for the day was Witchita Wildlife refuge and Mt. Scott, the only mountain in Oklahoma. The stars of the refuge are the wild buffalo, prairie dogs, and Texas longhorns. The land in the refuge is very pretty too.
Driving in a few miles I came across a small herd of longhorns and snapped some pictures from a safe distance. I didn't want this day to turn into a running of the bulls. Another couple miles into the park I came across the prairie dog habitat and stopped to check them out. There were tons of them in the field and by the railing. As soon as I got off the bike all of the dogs by the railing bolted for their holes. After sitting there for a few minutes some of the dogs decided to come check me out and one got within 10 feet of me. He would've come closer but the wind picked up and scared him away.
I was itching to climb a mountain again so I left the prairie dogs to their sunbathing and went in search of some altitude. I didn't have to drive far to get over 1,000 feet above the surrounding land.
Even at this elevation the weather was still warming up so I got back on the bike and on my way. Standing around in motorcycle gear in the heat is not fun at all. On the road again, my bike was steered towards this AWESOME little town near the Texas/Oklahoma border.
I passed up the photo ops for the Ryan police department and Ryan Cemetery due to the heat but just know that they're there.
The rest of the ride was a quick blast down more secondary highways all the way into Coppell. I started the day in OKC in the low 60s and in Ryan it was over 100! I was glad to get to a house with A/C.
Pictures
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
