State 42 of 50  

    Texas

Capital: Austin

Population: 20,851,000 (ranked 2nd of 50 states)

Area: 696,000 km² (ranked 2nd of 50 states)

Projected Route

Below is my theoretical route. The map will be overlaid with my actual route once completed.

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Ride Report

Scroll down below the route map for this state's ride report and photos

Ride Report

I made it to Texas before Hurricane Ike and that was that goal achieved. Texas also meant the second of two scheduled services on the bike in Dallas. The last was years ago it seems in Milwaukee.

I rode across Texas firstly on the inter-state getting from the border of Louisiana to Dallas. Riding into Dallas during rush hour morning commuter traffic was a nightmare and I'll be happy to admit I was completely out of my comfort zone. I slipped into the HOV lane, this time signposted for motorcycles, but what I didn't realise was that once in this lane (hard up against the inner median with 7 other lanes outside you) you can't get out. It is a 'managed HOV lane' and you can't just ping off at any exit as normal. In fact there are barriers to stop you exiting this lane. That meant my GPS threw a hissy fit as I kept ignoring it's pleas to take exits. "Do it yourself then" it seemed to say and stopped working.

That afternoon I was happy to finally get out of Dallas but that was no easy feat either. The rush hour seems to start at 2:00pm.

The panhandle of Texas offered up some roadkill variations which naturally feature below. Warning: don't view the photos until you're dinner's gone down. The weather, while not Ike-ish, was overcast and moody. I camped in a forest park but in Texas forests mean trees a metre in height so it was like camping in a rose garden.

They say that Texans go on holiday to Colorado and Coloradans do not go on holiday to Texas. I can now sort of understand why.

A friendlky 'no hard feelings' gesture to Ike who lost the race to landfall in Texas.

Not a qualitu picture but this was on TV showing Ike over the Gulf about to slam into southern Texas.

This shows the projected path of the bad weather after Ike hits. That drove my decision to do a couple of big riding days to get out of it.

This is a feeder motorway to the big freeways in Dallas.

The bike gets a going over. In this service I got the tyres, sprockets, chain, oil filter, airfilter & brake pads replaced plus a general lube up and oil change.

This is the old air filter showing some passengers.

A detour in Dallas to see the famous Southfork Ranch, now a tourist attraction.

If you ever watched 'Dallas' in the eighties this will be a familiar sight.

Another near miss with Bambi.

In the cactus as usual.

My first cactus experience. Good idea to take the bike up close to those spikes wasn't it?

Now this is the mecca for Texan BBQ in Jacksboro. It's called Dairylands and all the locals eat their BBQ there.

You stay away if you're a vegetarian. This is a BBQ platter with BBQ chicken, beef slices, ribs, coleslaw, beans, a pickle, toast, coke and a flannel to wipe your hands & face afterwards.

And these boys are the architects of the BBQ.

We return to running quiz of "Name That Roadkill". Is this (a) a badger (b) a possum (c) a skunk (d) a racoon? Hint: it smelt bad.

I was riding through Olney. Olney is a town in north Texas famous for its owls. In fact Olney comes from 'olnus' the latin for owl. Their claim to fame is that they have the last remaining owl in the nearly extinct species called the Texan Yellow-Eyed Owl. Suddenly there was a bump and a shower of fetahers. I pulled over and saw this.

I placed the unfortunate owl on my screen for a better look. Then the awful thought occurred to me. Surely this couldn't be the last remaining Texan Yellow-Eyed Owl? I prayed that its eyes weren't yellow. I lifted up its head and looked.

Oops. I rode away from Olney fast. I threw the owl in a ditch.

When was the last time you saw pumps like these?

I chose some backroads to get off the highways. The weather was moody.

Say pardner, you want to stand on this side of the fence and take that picture? Well, do you boy?

Another junction, another decision.

Texas was flat & straight, straight & flat.

The road surfaces gave me a bit of trouble.

Flat & straight, straight & flat.

It even looked flatter & straighter in my mirrors.

Roadkill quiz #3: What's this? Kids, you may be upset looking at this. That'll teach you for surfing into my web site without asking your parents first.

Did I mention Texas was fairly flat & straight?

Their small towns were a little on the austere side I thought.

Tucked in behind another oversize load. These guys do crank along though.

Hey you, boy. What chew doin boy?

There is a male horse and a female horse in this picture. But dang, which is which?

This the Red River. I think it's THE Red River.