Out of Texas, through Oklahoma & settled in at the KOA in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I was outside at my ice chest desk but the bugs here are SERIOUSLY HUNGRY and I was on the menu. Sitting here in the tent I’ve probably got 20 caterpillars on the outside. I was knocking them off as they dropped on but I’ll just do it in the morning. Wow, a bird just came and ate one of them off the top of the tent, maybe I won’t have that much work to do in the morning after all… I’m really glad I have such a nice tent trailer and that there is room for my chair in here.
Very nice night last night in Van Horn, cool but not too cold. I was on the road by 0830 and stopped 80 miles down the road for breakfast at McDonald’s in Ardmore, OK. On the way out I had an interesting conversation with a nice old man that really liked my cane. He said, “With a good sized walkin stick like that, you could whup a whole room full of smart asses.” He was very nice and would have loved to stand there and talk, but I told him I needed to get down the road – he tipped his had and walked away. Next time I’m going to sit down and have a nice long chat.
The ride out of Texas and most of the way through Oklahoma was pretty flat & straight but by the time I got into Arkansas everything got better. Very nice riding on US 70 so far. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow and I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do but I’ll most likely be doing it from inside a hotel room – hopefully before I get too wet. I have rain gear but would rather not break it out & I really don’t want to be tent camping in the rain.
Here’s my funny story for the day. At the Harley dealer in Los Cruises, New Mexico I bought a little short brimmed baseball cap that I was going to try to wear when riding. The sun shines down through the top of my sun glasses and I wanted to see if I could remedy that situation. The cap worked wonderfully but I had trouble keeping it on, especially above 60 mph and if there was a crosswind. I could feel it slipping off and grabbed it every time but once. Luckily, I was on a back road and there was little to no traffic so I went back and got it. I made myself a safety strap with a paper clip and some fishing line so I wouldn’t lose it again; and it’s a good thing I did. When it came off I was on a busy road (almost freeway) and there would have been no going back. I think the people behind me must have had a good laugh. It’s flapping in the wind back there and I’m reaching back trying to reel it in with one hand and can’t get it done. So, I put the cruise control on and used both hands. The line was long enough that I just stuffed the whole thing inside my vest until I could stop and put it back on. I guess I could have let it flap back there – that would have been interesting for the folks behind me too. I’ve got a couple pictures but I’m having trouble getting them out of my phone – tomorrow…..