Couchsurfing!! :)

Entering the wild west there is a lot to be reported.  Fort Smith was the first place where I was a couch surfer (.com)  What a great thing!   Annie and Alyssa are students of the college there.  They also grew up close to town so they had lots of stories of the town, most of which included escaping! :)  There was talk of New York City and Hawaii.   Wherever they land there will be adventures to be had. 

Fort Smith was the gateway to the wild west and it still looks like it, on a grand scale.  A big wide street that you can just imagine horses and buggies barreling through.  

After Fort Smith I rode the i40 to Oklahoma city.  Windy and lots of trucks.  Can't blame the wind for blowing so hard there cause there is nothing to get in its way.  So windy at times it was blowing the snot straight out of my nose!!  For real.  Like a fellow rider said you can see 7 miles straight......the curvature of the earth.  Nothing to get in the way.  Kinda like Saskatchewan in that way. 

 Oklahoma city is a sprawling wide city that is supposedly the largest per square foot in the US.  Not sure if that is right on but it is definitely wide and tall. 

 My second couchsurfing was at a fine and sweet couple living in the north part of the city.  Luis and Kevin Got me in the house and within seconds I had a cup of hot jasmine tea, and a protein drink!  They really understood the traveller life and offered their laundry machines.  Kinda wish now I had taken them up on that but there will be another koa in my future soon I can feel it.  It is so easy to bring 4 t shirts and wear one?  I get a favorite outfit that seems to work and everything else gets ignored.  That is the only thing i packed a little on the heavy side.......clothes.  My Ukulele has not seen too much of the light of day or night but i did wright one little song so maybe there will be others.   

Here my trip heads further south in order to get out of the cold.  Luis suggested going to Las Cruces, there is a white sands national monument that looks pretty amazing.  I will have to post more pics when I go through.   

Two nights ago i got into Amarillo just as it was getting dark and not wanting to venture into the desert in the dark looking for a camp site I got a cheap motel.  Cheapest yet, $30.   There ended up being giant cockroaches about a inch and half at least.......I saw my first in the bathroom and thought shit.....but I can live with it.......until I grabbed a pillow to rest my head on and another ambled out from under.  I say ambled because they did not seem in the best of spirits.  It really took a lot for them to scurry and i dont know what that means but man I started packing up and went back to the office demanding my money back..........no refund............the lady was serious, a tough lady.   After a little yelling I realized she was not going to budge and the bullet proof glass started to make a little more sense.  I stood outside trying to decide what to to do next and  ended up back in the room sleeping curled up at the bottom of the bed in my sleeping bag.  Which brings me to yesterday.  I was up and out at 6am and was on the freezing road till i found Juanita's, a little Mexican tortilla breakfast place.  Yummmmmmm.   Just holding that burrito in my hands was heaven.  I hung out there and waited for the weather to warm.  By the time i got on the road it was beautiful and the riding weather was the best i have had all trip.  I have more to say but my coffee is done and i want to  find a place to stay well before dark tonight.  White Sands here i come!! 

I must say that I am loving the gathering of more daylight hours as I travel west.......like little gifts every time i pass through a time zone.  With the clocks falling back its nice to feel time is on your side. 

 I'll leave you for now, in New Mexico, The Land of Enchantment. 

 Till later.