Nancy Webb...Pat Bonetar

Well, the cold got me at 0200 this morning when I woke up shivering. Unable to get back to sleep on the freezing concrete floor, even though I had on all of my gear including my helmet, so I sorted out my stuff and left Marfa at 0230.

I spent the next 4.5 hours being kept awake by all the animals on the back roads of southwest Texas while we were all being watched by the beautiful moon. Here we go, pretty much in order:
- Whitetail deer bedded down at the edge of the road, I mean, ALL of the roads, that jumped and ran every time they heard me.
- A badger that stopped in the middle of my lane to stare at me after I completely stopped.
- A fox that literally bounced across the road.
- The ubiquitous raccoon.
- The cute little butt of a cottontail rabbit. Well, cute when there was one. Not so cute when there are 20 running across the road like teenage boys calling each other chicken.
- The two young deer who forgot they were deer and crossed the road like squirrels...or like cottontails.
- The long ears and gangly legs of the jackrabbit (was hoping to see a jackalope, but no luck).
- A couple of meandering elk that I completely stopped for, as you do.
- A huge owl that scared the crap out of me when he took off from a pole then flew beside me for a few seconds.
- A tree. I mean, the largest elk I have ever seen that I mistook for a tree until I did a second take. Massive bull about 20 yards off the road standing stock still by a fence. Like I said, tree.

I made it through all of Mother Nature, then almost got taken out by a very large Husky-like dog who was on me before I even saw him and who I just managed to throttle past. Man, what a morning.

Remember how I said I started this morning at 0230? I have a rule, one that I broke today: Never ride between 0200 and 0400. That's when my brain and body slow down the most. I broke it 1) because I was too cold and there was nowhere else to go, and 2) the time zone changes. At 0200 in Marfa, it was really midnight in Cali where I've been for pretty much a month. Both of those rationales along with the roadside menagerie kept me wide awake. Until...

I've always known how easy it is to fall asleep on a motorcycle ever since I started riding on the back in 1999. But it's not the falling asleep that's scary. The scary bit is waking up while you're drifting into the other lane on the side of the mountain. That gets your attention. Very fortunate for me, I didn't jump or jerk when I woke up, and there was no oncoming traffic. The little bumpy bits in the yellow paint really work. Anyway, no crashing and I made it into the town about 10 miles later where I stopped. Very very lucky. And, barring emergency necessities, I will NEVER break my 0200-0400 rule again.

The rest of the day was fighting traffic and collecting my stops. I am now ordering Door dash and will soon catch up on my sleep.

So long [for now], and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

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