Day 23

Everyone once in a while your faith in humanity is restored; today was one of those days for me. It started out as any other day of the trip so far, with the only exception being that I was getting up early because I was going to the Harley dealership in Odessa to get my bike serviced; I passed 50k miles the other day going through Big Bend. Anyways, I got a little lost on the way to the dealership, but ended up getting there a little before 9:00am. The people there at Legacy Harley Davidson were very accommodating, and were able to fit me into their schedule. So I spent the rest of the morning, and a better part of the afternoon hanging around their break room. Around lunch time, I asked the nice ladies working in the motor clothes department about a good place to eat. Turns out there was a little mom and pop place just down the road. So one of the ladies took it upon herself to set me up with a demo ride bike to go down the street for lunch. Sweet! Filled out a little bit of paper work and off I was on a brand new Dyna Street Bob! Nice ride by the way. Had a great lunch; some meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a pea salad. Then back to the dealership. They finished my bike, including washing it which was in dire need, and I headed out around 3:00pm. On my way out of Odessa, I stopped by Meteor Crater. Not much to see but a slight indentation in the ground about 75 yards in diameter. Took a couple of pictures for you to see. Then I was bound northwest towards Carlsbad Caverns. This is where things turned for the worst. First of all there was a very strong head wind, which sometimes gusted sideways; not fun. Also the speed limit was 75 so I was tacking pretty high. Anyways I was cruising right along when I came to an intersection where I had to stop, and the bike just sputtered out!? I was at 140 miles so far on the tank, and I normally hit the reserve around 165 to 185, so I didn’t think that I could be on the reserve already. Turns out I was. No worries I thought. There’s a little town on the map just 16 miles north of here. Just in case I take it easy and cruise along at 60 miles an hour so as not to guzzle what gas I have left. Well, our good friend ‘Murphy’ must have been watching me today, because wouldn’t you know it, the town was abandoned! I immediately got this knot in the pit of my stomach and just thought to myself “Oh #@%$!^&^*!!!!!” I looked at my map, but not another town within 40 miles of where I was; no way was I making it that far. I tried to flag down this truck that came by, but no such luck. So I decided there was nothing left to do but get my cell phone out, pray for reception, and call AAA; thanks to Shyla who got me a membership as a present! Luckily I have reception, and so I call AAA, and after some transferring to the Texas office, and a lot of holding, I finally get a hold of someone and explain my situation. As I’m about to get off the phone with this person, a truck pulls up to me and so I tell the gentleman behind the wheel my problem and he says no problem! He lives just up the road and will be back in about 10 minutes or so with some gas! Wow, I couldn’t have asked for more. Needless to say, I thank AAA but tell them their services will not be needed. Sure enough a few minutes later, Bob, as I later found out, and his son Decker (I hope I got the spelling right) and grandson pull back up with a 5 gallon gas can. Unfortunately, I flat out of cash so I can not repay Bob on the spot, not that he would have accepted I have the feeling. Anyways, we chit chat a bit, and tell him all about my trip. He offers me a beer to quench my thirst from the heat of the day, and tells me about what he used to do before he retired. Turns out, the lady in the first truck I tried to flag down was his daughter-in-law and she called him up to let him know about me because he owns the property on which this old abandoned store where I had pulled up to stood. Eventually, after getting Bob’s address, and thanking him several times, I decide it’s time to continue on. Feeling re-energized by this wonderful encounter I make it to Carlsbad caverns in no time at all, and get a camp site just outside the park. There’s a group of Boy Scouts camping out right by me too! Anyways, that’s about it. Started out pretty boring, then got very exciting in a not so good way, but in the end as Shakespeare would say “All’s well that end’s well.”

Here’s the couple pictures from today.