Today we had fun – real riding fun. After the first stretch that is. The road from McKinney to Denton is actually a six-lane street with stop lights every mile, and a 65 mph speed limit. That was not fun. We tested the ABS brakes a few times. As soon as we got out of the Dallas area we were in the ranch land of North Texas. In addition to cattle, this land grows oil and gas wells and oil tanks. Past Denton, we re-discovered the joys of four-lane US highways. These “red roads,” as I call them, have light traffic. In Texas the speed limit was 75, so we made really good time.

The day was sunny and cool. We wore jacket liners before 10 am. It never got hot, which is uncommon for this time of year, and this evening was so pleasant we sat on the front porch and talked. The scenery along the ride was very interesting. The land is very dry and mostly flat with scrub brush and occasional outcroppings of trees. The land rises to the high plains. We gained about 2000 ft. of elevation.

We stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere. The picture of Beth is typical of her at the pump. The picture of the doll in the store is not typical. I never saw anything like it before and had to take a picture. Who would buy such a thing? I don’t want to know.

In a few weeks I’ll be going on the Gypsy Tour on the way to Shark Week III, the annual Road Glide meet-up. The Gypsy Tour is going to follow the old Route 66 from Oklahoma City to Flagstaff. We’ll pass through Shamrock, Texas. The town is ready for us – they put up banners on the light poles. (Ha)

In Canadian, Texas we paused at this now-closed butcher shop. Our host this evening lived in Canadian as a kid and visited the shop “before the old man died.” I like the graphic of where each cut of meat comes from.

We are in Hugoton, KS this evening visiting friends for the roadglide.org forum (an internet forum for Road Glide owners.) Neil and Heather Oliver were gracious enough to invite us to stay with them when they learned we were coming this way.