Tuesday, July 17, 2012

You Can't Stop the Beat

300 miles yesterday from Pueblo to Dodge City. 270 today from Dodge City to Norman, OK.  I'm almost home.  Lets discuss yesterday first.

It was hot, windy, and flat.  I rode three hundred miles on one road with no turns.  Now let's move on... wait,  I did actually have something fun happen yesterday.  I met another sidecarist on the road and we road together about 70 miles.  Know what?  When  he pulls into towns and slows down he stands on his pegs to stretch his legs out.  I totally do that!  Thought I was the only one.  Anyway he is out of California heading over to the BMWMOA rally.  His rig can be found on the Boxer Metal page on Facebook.  Just look for the album titled 1976 R90s Ural Sidecar.  For those of you who wonder, my older sidecar, Skylark is a R90/6 Ural sidecar.  I'm not cool enough to own a "S"

It was very cool.  The rest of the day was hot and miserable.

Today started out later than I would have liked.  I was just so exhausted from yesterday that it took me a while to get up this morning.  I popped my canal phones in my ears and took off towards Oklahoma and that's when the music gods got busy.  Today I pulled up my music on my Garmin and told it to sort by album and to not shuffle.  I like to do this sometimes.  I like to sample albums start to finish to get a better view of the entire body of work, the shape of the album if you will.  It's geeky, what can I say?  I started my day with A Hard Day's Night singing at the top of my lungs.  Nothing brightens up a boring road like The Beatles.  That was followed by Abbey Road, it was interesting to hear them at the beginning and end of their career back to back.  Then there was Rufus Wainwright's "All Days are Nights" and me bellowing out "Give me what I want and give it to me now.  Don't be such a holy cow!"  Yeah, I"m classy.  As I pulled into Woodward, OK (not exactly a thriving Metropolis of liberal thinking)  Greenday's American Idiot started.  I cracked up and almost fell of the bike laughing.  Sometimes, Garmin has a great sense of humor.  I rolled along through what I had from American Idiot.  The whole album isn't on my Garmin but I highly suggest you sit and listen to it start to finish.  It is an Album in the the oldest and best sense of the word.  If you don't understand what I mean by that go listen to it.  Or Abbey Road.  Or much of Pink Floyd, Or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.  Some things should be taken as a whole but I digress.  As I hit the rolling scrub brush of Oklahoma Johnny Cash came on and his American Albums kept me company though out a lot of my day.  He was the perfect musical accompaniment to the scrubby countryside of Oklahoma.  As I pull into El Reno for lunch I had Patty Griffith's "All Creatures of our God and King."  A hymn I have always found a great sense of the sacred in.  After lunch I had Joan Jett playing as I hit the interstate to head toward my hotel.  The symbolic moment there?  Her lovely rendition of the Theme from the Mary Tyler Moore show.  I thought it was rather pertinent to my trip, especially the second verse,

"How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving

Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all"


Then as I pull into the Hotel parking lot it was the Flatlander song "Thank God for the Road."  I was thinking, indeed Lord thank you for the road.  Thank you also for the end of the road and for the shower and the bed that are waiting for me inside.


Tomorrow I'm heading to McKinney, TX to see my brother, sister-in-law and my two nieces.  It's a short trip so I'm sleeping in, having breakfast, a long lunch in Denton...I'm curious to see what the gods of Garmin Road Music have in store for me tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. Almost back home! Sounds like you are having a great time!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your musical interludes. Sounds like its being a grand adventure.

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  3. I can't believe you cheated on us, your faithful and loving Feral Burro's. Seeing another man on the road, shame shame shame. "I gonna tell Albert chu seein' anudder man."...lol

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