Day 18
Sunday 23rd August
The day started off overcast and average, and as we set off late morning our path was soon blocked by a massive train.
Keen to keep moving we rode up to the next crossing only to find another one blocking the way. They were so bloody long that they went on as far as the eye could see in both directions, and didn’t seem to be making any sign of getting out of the way anytime soon.
We decided to ride back and about a mile later we finally came to the end of the other one, and crossed over the tracks only to look back over our shoulders to see them moving. Typical.
We continued on our way down straight dirt and gravel roads, and soon came across a little tortoise crossing the road.
They’re so cute and Ed couldn’t help but pick him up and move him on to the verge, concerned that he was going to get run over.
We soon found ourselves at a bridge and decided to do a ride by as it looked really cool, but as I turned round on the bridge I managed to blip the throttle and rode straight in to the side of it crashing in a heap.
Ed found this not only funny but rather unbelievable, and was left wondering why I didn’t just let off the throttle and stop. The throttle isn’t exactly very smooth when operated through the front brake lever, and I instantly went to my default answer that the throttle had got stuck on. Of course it was fine when Ed checked it, but I still stuck to my original excuse that it got stuck on and I’m not just a bit of an idiot.
The sun eventually came out and everything came to life, just in time as the scenery changed. A ride through some woodland lead us to a wetlands area, where I counted more than five herons all hoping for a fish or two. I really loved the area, it was a nice change to what we’d been riding through the past few days.
The next change of scenery was to elevated fields, which I thoroughly enjoyed riding through. Nothing spectacular per say but my kind of scenery, probably because it reminded me of home.
At one point it looked like we could have been in Devon in England, and I imagined that the horizon to my left was a cliff, and the sea was at the bottom of it.
It was another afternoon of contentment, enjoying the simple scenery and the birds of prey that flew overhead. Cattle roamed freely across the trail, and on several occasions I got a bit nervous checking behind me thinking that a cow was going to be chasing me down the road. Silly I know but I once had an incident in Australia that’s left me rather wary of them!
We eventually arrived in the town of Ponca, where we headed straight to a motorcycle shop where Ed had got my piston sent to. It was there that we met Terry, who was absolutely lovely and had really done us a favour lettings us get the piston sent to him. We also grabbed a couple of spark plugs just in case, and made our way over to a cheap campground for the night.
