Back In The Saddle Again.

Well, after my short detour...I'm back on the road. I've got 13 states left to ride and I'm excited to get rolling. This was an interesting day, I actually didn't sleep last night and had a bunch of stuff to wrap up today before I got out of town. So I ended up not leaving until 4:30 in the afternoon. If you've never driven west in the flat Texas plains at sunset you missing a real experience. I got to say good bye to my two grandkids and started north on 35 to Denton, then west on 380 and north west on 287 to Amarillo. This is a very familiar route because for years we would go to Pagosa Springs, Colorado to stay at my in laws time share there. Although it's not a pretty drive, I have many fond memories of traveling these roads. One great spot is passing through Hardeman County. I've stopped here many times with my family and taken pictures, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity tonight.



As I traveled later into the evening I began to see some clouds building out in the distance. When I was about 60 miles from Amarillo the most spectacular lightening show started. It was not the kind of lightening that shoots across the sky, this was the kind that looks like explosions of light, like the finally at a really good 4th of July fireworks show. When it would lightening, it was behind these huge thunderheads, so it cast the most eerie shadows and shapes across the sky. I wish there was a way to capture it, but I know there is not. As I got closer to Amarillo I drove under the main section of lightening. The wind picked up and the temperature instantly dropped. I was getting a little worried that I wasn't going to find a hotel before it started to storm. I got on Interstate 40 and began to look for a place to stay. Nothing looked very good, but it was getting really gusty. I finally saw a sign for a hotel that looked ok and just then it started to rain. I pulled off the exit and under the entrance canopy and the sky opened up. After I check in and was unloading my bike it began to hail. God was good to get me here before the storm!

Tomorrow we head west to start our exploration of the magnificent western part of our country. Are you ready to ride along with me? By tomorrow evening I should be able to hook back up with DeeDee and Robert and our friends from Europe. Well, it's been a long day and I'm going to try to sleep. Blessings to you and good night.