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A Songfactor's Musical Ride


Ken

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9 Days on the road, 8700kms, at times, 140 degree heat. Absolutely wonderful.

I've been bad

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I've been good

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Dallas, Texas

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Hollywood

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Spent some time Standin' on a corner, in Winslow, Arizona

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I'm told a band called the Doors used to be the house band here

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Found myself out in the West, Texas town of El Paso

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Where I fell in love with a Mexican girl. Night time would find me in

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Marty Robbins' song mentions the back door of Rosa's Cantina.

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There isn't one.

It also mentions that the gunfighter that he is on the hill overlooking El Paso, he can see Rosa's Cantina below.

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There is one.

I found myself on this ride.

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Found myself just about a mile from Texarkana, but my GPS told me the Louisiana border was almost 30 miles away.

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Went to see some friends on Beale Street

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And paid my respects to a couple of Kings.

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I found a place where there was a church house gin house, a little school house out house. On the U.S. 19

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Hey, the people keep the city clean. They call it Nutbush

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Ah, Nutbush. Nutbush City. Nutbush City limits. 25 is the speed limit, motorcycles not allowed in it. (Speed limit has been raised to 30 and the cops never hassled me about my Harley.)

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I've been on Highway 66, the Blues Highway, the highway to Hell, but up until then, I'd never been on this one

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They tell me this is the Church Miss Tina used to sing at

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I wound up travelling some of the back field roads I'm sure Tina would have walked

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Went over a bump on the uneven road, and it was the first time during the entire trip I heard the little bell my family had given me to keep me safe, tinkle.

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I took that as a sign that it was time to leave. Told the GPS to take me home

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9 days, some sketchy motels, a newfound dislike for Tom Bodett (Wake up call: This is Tom Bodett. The moon is down, the sun is up, and you should be too. This is your wake up call. Hey Tommy? It's 4:30AM. The G.D. moon is still full.)

Until next time....

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Looks like a wonderful tour. One day when the kids are grown up and if I still have my faculties I'd love to do something similar. Music and gastronomy would do it...

Gotta watch those back roads of Essex - loud Vauxhall Novas and dogging wherever you park!!!

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Looks like a wonderful tour. One day when the kids are grown up and if I still have my faculties I'd love to do something similar. Music and gastronomy would do it...

Gotta watch those back roads of Essex - loud Vauxhall Novas and dogging wherever you park!!!

If you say so, Diggsy! If you say so! ;);););)

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Only some of the roads were evocative. Death Valley was...... Hot, eerie, at times terrifying, at times stunning. I had a big truck 15 to 7 feet behind me for 60 miles or better. At first I was amused, thinking of Spielberg's "Duel". 20 minutes of that and it becomes somewhat less amusing. *Zero* traffic out there. 2 lanes, the guy could have passed whenever he liked. 75MPH, and a truck grille in your sideview mirror. I was glad after 45 minutes or so when he went past.

Death Valley, front of the bike looking back..

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Back looking front

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And one from the side

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Shut the bike off to have a bottle of water (it was 125+ out there.) Halfway through the bottle and the creepy thought, "What if the damn thing doesn't start again?" creeps in. Fun. But it did.

I was surprised in Texas to see that this was all there was to the border between Mexico and the U.S.

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Texas was total culture shock. Going into a McDonalds for breakfast and they are walking around with white Stetsons, cowboy boots, and a cannon strapped to their hips. They're walking past me with ginormous Colts, Glocks, Smith and Wessons, and there is the children's ball-crawl pit right there. 3 feet from my Egg McMuffin is something that could put a hole in me the size of a shoebox.

And I found Jesus in Texas. He's even got a phone number....

n5fmsk.jpg As much as I kid about the Yosemite Sams with the guns, they were truly pleasant people...

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Cool as all get out!

I thought the same thing sitting in the parking lot of a Denny's after breakfast just outside Abilene when, in the grip of a bad idea, I sang out "The stars at NIGHT, are big and BRIGHT!"

(pause) (then from the lot in the back around the corner) clapclapclapclap "Deep in the heeeeart, of Texaaaaas". I laughed almost all the way to the Arkansas border.

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Beale Street looks a little disappointing, but Nutbush is just how I imagined it.

When I finally made it to that corner in Winslow Arizona, it was nightfall, and I had to move on, so no visual evidence. You planned that one much better than I did.

If you do it again, come through Connecticut - we'll see if that church where The Five Satins recorded "In The Still Of The Nite" is still standing. :afro:

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Texas was total culture shock. Going into a McDonalds for breakfast and they are walking around with white Stetsons, cowboy boots, and a cannon strapped to their hips. They're walking past me with ginormous Colts, Glocks, Smith and Wessons, and there is the children's ball-crawl pit right there. 3 feet from my Egg McMuffin is something that could put a hole in me the size of a shoebox. As much as I kid about the Yosemite Sams with the guns, they were truly pleasant people...

Not to mention... thanks to all the armed citizens in Texas...

911 operators in the Lone Star State get more rest there than anywhere in America Ken...

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