Remember the Alamo

Sunday April 29

Got up early and took advantage of the facilities at the hotel. I washed a load of clothes and used the fitness center while waiting. Checkout time is 12:00 PM so I'm not in a great hurry.

Packed up and loaded all my “stuff” on the motorcycle. While loading I realized I had forgotten to bring along the kitchen sink. My bad.

All packed and ready to go, I decided to swing by the Alamo to get a closer look. There's just no parking near that place unless you want to pay a fortune. While looking, I did see a city lot that charged by 30 minute blocks. Great. The only problem was no motorcycles allowed. While absorbing that disappointment, I noticed a guy on a motorcycle in the corner of the lot. Since this was an unattended lot, I decided to squeeze past the opening in the ticket gate and park next to him; he obviously had done this before. I struck up a conversation about what else, motorcycles. While chatting, the rest of the gang showed up. They seemed like nice biker hooligans, so I accepted their offer to watch my bike while I visited the Alamo. Upon my return, my bike was still there and so was the gang.

East Side!

The Alamo was pretty good. I enjoyed touring the grounds and reading the historical displays.

On the road again about 3:00PM ...

The skies are overcast, the temperature is pleasant and there's a tailwind today. I'm flying along effortlessly and the speed limits west of San Antonio on I-10 are getting higher as I go along. Ultimately, the limit is 80 which of course implies just a bit less than 90 if you want to avoid performance awards. The FJR is functioning amazingly well considering the bulk of “stuff” I've got piled onto the thing.  

West of San Antonio on I-10, I'm into the hill country of Texas. It's quite striking with all the rolling hills and cuts in those hills for the highway. There are no houses or much sign of civilization anywhere in site as far as the eye can see.

Cut

My destination for the day is Carlsbad NM so I decide to take the “scenic” route and get off I-10 onto state road 137. That was a mistake. I later learned from a soon-to-be acquaintance, I-10 has better views. This two lane road is wider than most with a pullover lane, which the Texas drivers are most courteous in doing when you pass them. The speed limit is 70 and you can see for miles and miles... except for that one hill that I topped going just a bit over the "upper" limit which didn't go unnoticed by the oncoming Texas trooper. His lights flashed on immediately and I pulled over for the ceremony. Thankfully, I only got an honorary award which doesn't require any donations on my part.

Thanks for the Memories

There's less than a couple of hours of day left so I query the trooper about hotels and he informs me that the closest ones are in Midland Texas. I thought Midland was about 25 miles away at that time. It turns out it was more than 100 miles along some of the most deserted roads I've ever driven. Nothing but scrub and oil wells. There was only one small town with a gas station that I encountered for the whole 100 miles.

West Texas

I must say the sunset was spectacular against the vast scrub plain. I wish I could have taken a picture but there was no good place to pull over and I was getting a little concerned about riding in that wilderness in the dark.

Finally, I come to a four-lane road and see light in the distance. Good thing cause my gas is getting low. I stop at the first gas station just in case there's no others. Turns out that this was Midland and there were several stations and “grand” hotels. I struck up a conversation with one of the employees who was taking an outside smoke break. She gave me directions to where the hotels were and told me her life's story -- she wasn't that young so this took a while. When I finally did get away, I took her directions and found the hotel strip along I-40.

I whipped out the old smart phone to check the prices and reviews. Why, the West Texas Inn was reasonably priced and got good reviews on "Hotels.com" so in I went to sign up. I should have been a little suspicious of the quality with the "Absolutely No Refunds" sign prominently displayed over the check-in desk. It was late and I was just too tired. It will have to do.