Blog53-go west young man
To which I say, what the hell for, the wind is blowing 900 miles an hour…..cant we go have another look at the east! This is Jeremiah,’s Round The World cycle trip, and we are taking the easy route! This blog entry begins in Lubbock with my niece Kipty who is a student at Texas Tech. There are dinners to be had, dinners to go out for and old friends to visit while we are in town……notice that there are no plans to miss any dinner no matter where we can get it.
New Mexico roads, known for thier sharp corners and curves!!
When Jeremiah was going to school in Amarillo for saddlemaking class, he and his brother Bill shared a house with 4 other fellows from various places in USA. One fellow was Darby Adams wbo used to hail from norther eastern Colorado but now lives in Lubbock with his wife Dalette. We managed to find a place on Fat Tuesday too find a nice steak, and the four of us had a great supper and a chance to renew old friendships that had been sitting idle. Yes, I know we were supposed to eat something rather Cajun, but the waiting lines were better than 75 minutes…….and we are fast food diners with zero patience for the waiting thingy.
Matt Humphreys in his engraving room.
Jeremiah took an afternoon to run out to Dickens TX, just 60 miles east of Lubbock, to visit with a very talented Texas Bit & Spurmaker, Matt Humphrey. What a great visit, and a fantastic shop for such a young maker. I can tell you that it was fun to visit with a fellow who loved equipment as much as I do. No secrets in my shop, and it seemed pretty much the same in Matt’s shop as well. The drive out to Dickens took me a little by surprise as well. You drop off the cap as its called, and drop off into the valley the houses the Rio Blanco river. The little west Texas hamlet of Crosbyton, sits atop the western rim of this pituresque canyon and houses the Rio Blanco Arkee’ilogical Museum. But surprise, the Museum is run by a couple Christians, so they helped me in understanding it from a Biblical perspective which really helped. If yer still stuck on first base along with Darwin, well there are enough unanswered questions yet to keep you and your ancestors hung up on some Galapagoan mystery. Always wanted a Saber Toothed Tiger skull…….there such a collosal mystery and folks have a tuff time thinking they were actually just melon eaters. Afterall, they cant open that mouth wide enuff to really bite you with strength. 9 foot wide early plains buffalo skulls, 6 foot long Newt skeletons and genuine Wooly Mammoth skulls and tusks are in abundance. I could have stayed longer and asked more questions, but ice cream was awaiting me with Kip in Lubbock……and besides that, I can ask Jesus when I get to heaven. One of the benefits of “believeing”.
Before I could leave the state of Texas, Jeremiah had to take care of 3 days work in Oklahoma. Jeremiah has some machining issues to work on and this small departure from the cycling trip was too allow JW to seek help in finding a solution. While Jeremiah was over in eastern Oklahoma it gave him a chance to visit two of his favorite people. That being, Bill and Sally Madole of Madole Spur fame. A great visit, seeing Bill working on his intricately fully engraved spurs, and Sally doing all that sawing so they can stay busy mounting spurs and work on that year long backorder timeline.
Bill & Sally Madole of Shawnee Oklahoma
The time came that Jim-Bob needed to get back to peddaling and heading for House NM. Packed the gear onto Shirly Surly on a crisp clear cool morning and headed north by northwest towards Clovis. The roads are mostly 4 lane with a wide shoulder so it was pretty easy going. The first day out from Lubbock on a loaded bike I done 107 miles, I felt like a real stud and called my wife to make sure she knew or remembered what a stud I was!!!!
Set my camp up west of Muleshoe, had a quick supper and rolled into bed on what turned out to be a cool night. The partial moon rose over the horizon as I closed my tablet up and quit reading for the night. A little off topic, but I am about to finish my thirteenth book since China departure. Rolling camp the next day I noticed that my tires were full of sand burrs and I spent better part of half an hour cleaning the burrs off before I could get started riding. My route for the day takes me thru Portales so I can visit with my friend and fellow artist bit and spur maker, Stewart Williamson. Ended up making it to Portales just in time for lunch with Stewart and his brother. Had a great visit, talked about all the usual things guys like us talk about……price of silver, latest in belt grinders, price of spurs, engraving and of course a little time was spent cussin not discussin O’Blamer and his administration.
Now heading out of Portales was a real effort, the wind had picked up substancially, it was a pure headwind of about 30 mile perhour. I worked like a dog to get 30 miles away from House NM. And then like an angel parting the clouds, my niece Kendra showed up and met me on the side of the road ferrying me without hesitation back to House. Been here since that day, except for a 3 day working break over in Oklahoma. Since the night that I have arrived, it has been foggy, snowing and freezing everyday, and this the 9th day since I arrived. Pretty sure that I would have gotten into trouble someplace along the road, sitting in my little tent watching my toes turn purple and fall off……wondering why I was dumb enough to leave a warm sanctuary. While here, I tried to help out as much as possible with feeding both sheep and cattle, chopping ice, helping my niece with her engraving and fabricafion whenever her 2 little kids allowed.
My older brother Niel, showed up to surprise me, he will be riding with me when Iam ready to head further west. Always fun to have company on the ride as we go. And my darling wife will be here tonight after having worked the Prescott Leather Show, stopping on her way to the Legends of Legacy Show in Dallas/Ft.Worth.
