The World According To Guitarguy

I could tell by the way the tiny hindu woman smiled at me from behind the bullet proof glass window, that maybe I wasn’t in the finer part of town ……………..but wait , I’m getting way ahead of todays story .

Let’s start at the beginning , shall we ?

My stay at the Best Western in Little Rock was quite refreshing . (they had high speed WiFi !)

Having filled my ever expanding stomach at the BBQ earlier that day , I had no want for supper, besides there was a bag of spicy peanuts in my glove box to tide me over till the next continental breakfast .

That evening, I performed my internet duties, writing blogs and filing pictures and such, then watched a few tv shows .

Don’t ask me what they were though, because I was in the nether world at the time , not from drugs or anything like that , just dog tired !

Morning came on too fast it seemed .

Never the less, I showered quickly, dressed and then went in search of the lost continental breakfast.

Another day another waffle .

I had my scoot packed up and ready in no time flat, but first needed to figure out how to get back on a westward heading.

This Motel was on an off shoot of an on ramp, that headed east only, with no turn around .

The friendly hindu manager gave me directions .

“You take two stop sign and den a left and den anudder left”.

I worked for me.

When I arrived at his motel last night , he told his check in girl to “Geev heem discount, cuz I like Harley guys” !

I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was a Honda, besides I might not have gotten my discount .

My trusty map told me when I last viewed it, that if I braved route 30 long enough there would be an exit (117) for rural route 5 to Hot Springs.

This road was beautiful !

Though it started out at 25 mph and heavily curved, it soon opened up to what seemed to be horse country.

Lots of little fenced in estates and green fields which smelled of what might have been honeysuckle .

Whatever it was , it added to the ambience of the ride .

There was an overlook that strayed from the road if you wanted to view things from a higher level.

I was curious and wound my way to the top, only to find large phallic symbols spray painted along the lane , like perverted arrow markers pointing one to god knows what awaiting at the top of the hill .

I found the parking area to have a multitude of similar pictographs and quite a few names and numbers of local girls, explaining different acts that they might wish to perform.

Ahhh the wonders of youth !

Unfortunately there was also broken glass up there, so I gingerly worked my way back down, then stopped to brush off any shards that might have worked their way into my new tires.

Route 5 led to the city of Hot Springs, right to the downtown area, which was surprisingly nice, and that’s from a guy who doesn’t care for the city life .

There seemed to be a lot of cultural activities going on downtown, but nothing interesting enough to make me want to stop and expand my horizons so to speak.

The route came to a T, which was the beginning of my leg west on route 270.

As most routes do after leaving a heavier populated area, the speed limit increases incrementally .

In this case it wound right up to 65 mph .

The road dissolved from four to two lanes and started to take on a wilder character.

Then it rose up and twisted into those tight cornered switch backs that we motorcyclist dream of !

You know you’ve made it into the wilderness, when you read “BEAR Xing” signs !

The trees grew smaller as the elevation rose and the next hour or two provided a very pleasant ride through the Ouachita National Forrest .

All good things must come to an end .

The end came for me when 270 entered Oklahoma .

The towns I passed through here all seemed old and tired looking to me, waiting for something exciting to happen, like maybe a circus or something to lighten things up a bit.

Maybe I should have brought my santa suit with me .

“Hi Kids, ! Just passing through” !

If I seem a little lackluster in my enthusiasm for the state of Oklahoma, it isn’t without good cause.

I remember my last tangle with the Oklahoma winds while riding the Pan Handle during my first cross country trek in 2004.

I caught a constant 40 mph crosswind for hours on end and had to lean my bike over into the wind just to keep from blowing off of the roadway !

Any speed over 45 mph would make the bike feel as if it would soon take flight !

The only cure was to head north.

I did so at the first desolate crossroads I came to so that I could at least get the winds to my back for a change.

I’m now on the other side of the state, sitting in a cheap motel that has a bullet proof glass partition in the office area and I’m wondering if I want to continue into the windy, hot, western plains any further, or to head north towards the Black Hills of South Dakota .

The temps are climbing and I’m not equipped to do any camping in case I can’t find a ready motel when I need one, that and the weather down in Texas seems to be setting up for some more rain.

I know what some of you are thinking,” WAAAAHHHHHH!! the scooterboy is cryin’ , maybe his mommy will come and take him home” !

Well , the best thing is to get a good nights sleep and mull things over in the morning .

I don’t believe there will be any continental breakfast at this joint .

Stay tuned………………….