Back to normal -- whatever that is...

Feeling better today - not so emotionally out of sorts. We went to Texarkana on Saturday to visit with a gentleman that has expressed an interest in putting the money people together for a potential new magazine. While that's in the works, I've decided to move forward with the online version and all the pertinant info on the ROBBO series will be there.

Saturday night we ended up camping at Talking Trees Campground which is near the Talimena Scenic Drive in Oklanowhere. When we arrived around 9pm, it turned out we were the only people there! Had the hot tub to ourselves and the tent wasn't bad. I didn't care much for the sleeping bags because they tapered towards the bottom and I like to be able to move my legs a bit. There was an interesting item called a Thermarest which took the place of an air mattress...that worked quite well. The only odd thing was that there is a railroad track behind the property and I think 3 trains went by that night. It was a bit eerie hearing it so close because it couldn't be seen and they were loooooong trains also. The next morning I kept hearing Aerosmith's "...train kept a rollin' all night long..."

I found it odd that others weren't camped there. Evidentally the Christian Motorcycle Association was having their annual gathering a bit closer to Mena, Arkansas -- which was only about 15 miles away...tons of bikers were all over the roads.

The next day, Sunday, we rode south and ended up visiting Michael's step-grandparents who he had not seen in 10 years. They used to ride all over the country and the grandmother was in the Motor Maids. We were there for a couple hours and they had some fantastic stories. I also met his aunt Carol who has built a very unique cabin behind her parents house. They have 36 acres so there was ample room for everyone.

Sunday was ridiculously cold -- a week earlier it was in the low 90's and then there we were in the low 40's -- not bad until you add in the 60mph wind chill factor for riding the bikes! We made it as far as Sherman and you would think we could have gone on home as it's only an hour or so north of Dallas but I was so damn cold I just couldn't do it. We stayed at a Comfort Suites and then left at a leisurely 10:00am on Monday morning.

We took some backroads home and stopped in Tioga at Clarks Outpost for BarBQ -- Tioga is the birthplace of Gene Autry and Clarks has been proclaimed the best barbq by chef Dean Fearing at The Mansion. It is quite good. Finally got home around 2pm.