Once again our plans changed… After visiting the Palo Duro Canyon, I’d figured we’d stop for the evening in Lubbock, TX… and get a pic of the Buddy Holley statue while we were in the hood. Heck, most folks don’t even know there is one there, so going there can’t be on too many bucket lists… I’ve seen it before, and it really isn’t a big deal anyway. Besides, the most recently updated weather forecast looked fair to partly miserable down that way; so, nothing else for sensible scooter riders to do but head in another direction, right? We did…
Clovis, NM, appeared to be out of the impact zone for some serious thunderstorms with predicted large hail and possibly a tornado, so that became our destination of choice. Lubbock did get hammered that evening, but we safely watched on TV what we would have had to endure had we not passed on the anticipated pilgrimage tribute to early Rock ‘n Roll… Just so you know, by the way, Waylon Jennings had been part of the early Holley band, but he later saw the light and became a C&W star… Oh well, in this line of work, or non-work really, you win some and you lose some…
The plains have their own special appeal, and to this nature-lover they are very much worth seeing and experiencing. I like them, of course, but I’ve always had a special reverence for and felt a magnetic draw towards the mountains… any mountains… all mountains. I can’t explain that, but there it is… different strokes for different folks, and that, boys and girls, is my particular stroke. Maybe it has something to do with my hillbilly roots…?
From Clovis we rode west another hour or two, and then… the roads became a little more up and down, first a right sweeper, then a left… Yep, we were definitely beginning to enter the hills, and now I was, at last, feeling that ol’ familiar supercharge getting underway! I do love the feeling I get whenever I enter ‘the zone’, and nothing brings that into sharper focus than hills, mountains, any elevation changes!
We rode on to Fort Sumner for the obligatory visit to the Billy The Kid story… Man, what times those must have been! Born into a world we didn’t create, don’t understand, and are powerless to change, we all struggle to make sense of it all, then to find our place where we fit-in, belong… a place where we can seek health, wealth, and happiness…
Meaning, too, and purpose are also things that cross our minds, and cause us to make choices one way or the other… amazingly brilliant, wise calls, stupendous, senseless blunders, and everything in between… Or, we just blindly stumble and bumble along like a rudderless ship on a stormy sea, reacting reflexively, responding mechanically, thoughtlessly to whatever random stimulus happens to crop up.
If we’re fortunate we have strong, positive role models, tutors, good examples around us to give us clues about life and appropriate or at least acceptable deportment. If not, we have a steeper hill to climb… What are the extent and consequences of pressure from peers and contemporaries exerted upon a child and later a developing adolescent?
Less was known, and certainly far less widely known back then, about the human condition, philosophy, behavior, and those things that influence them… Even the impact of the important roles of parenting and mentoring was largely under-appreciated in those times… Broad, general education was a privilege only for the few in Billy’s day…
And, I’m only talking about what might be going on with ‘ordinary’ or ‘normal’ folks… The causes of truly aberrant/deviant behavior are a whole ‘nuther kettle of fish! To this day, there is still much to be learned about all of that!
What exact role does pre-natal care, diet, habits, violence, activities, and a mother’s health throughout pregnancy play in the outcome of humans after they are born? Genetics? Knowledge of the normal diffusion and random variances in natural chemical composition and combinations within an embryo that can result in altered learning or decision-making skills still hold many mysteries yet to be examined…
Life is like a 50-yard dash, in some ways… Unfortunately, we don’t all get to start in the same place… Some get to start on the 40-yard line, while others must begin at the 60 or even the 70-yard line! Most of us, however, do start from the 48 to 52-yard line… The finish line, of course, is the same for all of us… Who ‘wins’ such races? Should the time it took to cross the finish line be the only factor considered or measure of success?
Our frame of reference and logic of life are largely based upon our own ‘standard equipment’, plus our education, experience, influences, observations, and interpretations of all of those… in our own time, in our own timeframe and environment. Attempting to judge others, especially those in a different time and place, is a fool’s errand, it seems to me, because we could never ‘walk a mile in their shoes…’ Figuring out what was going on with William Bonney is by definition a conundrum that will likely never be completely answered…
Not really Billy’s grave… His is actually in a nearby cemetery.
e85 pumps near me Gypsy biker boyz at the ‘Kid’ museum…
OK, enough history and social conduct study… time to go ride through some more hills! On our way from Fort Sumner to our lodging for the evening, Jerry and I had a Valk-sighting experience on the outskirts of Roswell… it was ridden by what appeared to be an earthling, too…
We pulled in to get some much-needed motion lotion, and there was a Red & Black Interstate! ‘Ed’ turned out to be a nice guy just out wandering around. We chatted for a while, and we did the usual VRCC missionary work… he’d just bought his and didn’t know anything about us… He didn’t strike me as a group kind of guy, though, so… who knows?
Ed & Jerry…
Following our visit to the shrine of an ‘outlaw’ and our close encounter with… in Roswell, we made our way down to Ruidoso for the evening… Nothing much happened in the way of mind-blowing events that produce thrillers and tales of daring-do… Just an easy, peaceful glide through the hills along backroads at a comfortable, leisurely pace… with much time for reflection and pondering… Yep, my kind of ride for sure!!!
DDT
