If you are just joining in or forgot the situation, it might be good to review the blog post from yesterday. We’re getting an early start after packing our belongings into the truck we borrowed from the dealership. (Sean — I’m sorry if you got in trouble for loaning out the truck.) Our first stop today is at Enterprise in Clovis to pick up the rental car. We also made a quick stop at Donut City for a couple dozen of their finest donuts for the crew at High Plains Harley.

The rental car was ready and they even gave me a “free double upgrade”. I’m not sure how I accomplished that but I left the lot in an Impala instead of a battery powered hot wheels roadster. We managed to get the truck back to the dealership right around 9:30 and transferred our stuff from the truck to the Impala. I didn’t discuss the truck after I found out there might be repercussions for loaning this out.

I asked for an update on the status of the trike. I was told that Rick was “on it” and that it’s not a good idea to disturb Rick while he’s “in the zone”. Maybe his technique involves some kind of magic or secret elixirs. We headed for breakfast in order to stay out of the way. Breakfast was only 2 doors down the street at Cook’s Cafe. It was great.

After breakfast, I wanted to stick my nose in again just to see if Rick was still in the zone. He must have worked a magic incantation because the trike was going back together. I asked them to wash it for us. We were asked to come back in about 90 minutes. In order to kill some time we checked out the local mall. Typical of retail malls today, this one is slowly going under. This unfortunate delay in completion of the trike cost me another new pair of shoes for Jana. I have to admit they are cute shoes but how many pair of ………… never mind.

When I pulled back on the lot at the dealership, there it was, parked neatly in the shade. It was as clean as it’s been all summer. All that was left was to pay the ransom and ride off into the sunset. They were more than fair. After spending at least 10 hours working on my bike the dealership charged me for a new pump and 1.2 hours to install it. That was it. Yippee.

We said our goodbye’s and thank you’s to Sean, Rick, Zac, Garrett, Ben, Pat, Joe, Lester, and the motorclothes person whose name I didn’t get. This is a good bunch of people and very customer focused.

More good news at the car rental agency. Since I didn’t drive it more than 20 miles, they didn’t charge me for gas so I got off relatively cheap. I was relieved to be back on this beast. It was 2:30 in the afternoon Mountain time but 15 miles down the road it was 3:30. That’s a little late to put serious miles on especially after a trying day.

We were targeting Dumas, Texas (I know what that looks like but it’s one word not two and there is no B and only 1 S.) A funny thing happened on the way. I suddenly couldn’t keep the trike steering straight and it pulled itself into a local Dairy Queen. Please note that I didn’t really want to go but the trike wasn’t going any further unless ice cream was consumed. Oreo Cookie Blizzard – done.

I was not aware that for a short distance, Highway 60 marries up with Route 66. Right where this occurs is Magnolia Station. Across the street from that is Graham County courthouse which is another Route 66 Roadside Attraction both in Vega, TX.

We stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Dumas. Fortunately, there is a restaurant within walking distance. The Plaza serves good Mexican fare and some really good margaritas.

The trike is definitely fixed. We rode 150 miles in almost 100 degree heat without any sign of any issues. We’re about 1,000 miles from home. That’s still a little more than I want to tackle in one day (no Iron Butt award for me). We’ll see what tomorrow brings.