Good Morning from Breckenridge....Texas - that is...

Good morning from the Breckenridge Americas Best Value Inn and although the scene has changed, the routine remains the same - well kinda the same.... I called the front desk and asked when the ski lifts opened and the lady says "Huh?"... and then I remembered I was in Breckenridge.... Texas.

After the ride between Mineral Wells and Breckenridge I'm convinced that all they'd need is about 18" of snow and they could open a ski basin along Hwy 180. I must've done about 30 Black Diamonds between here and there....up a mile down a mile......don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining - I was thankful to be there....be in it...

In the 50 miles and 5 hours riding between the west exit of Mineral Wells and Breckenridge, I saw plenty of sunshine, 0 stores or commerical buildings of any kind, about 5 houses, 200 cows, 2 big dead hogs, 10 live deer, 28 cars and a vast expanse of open West Texas wilderness.... that's right.... that's it.... man - talking remote!

My mind kept wandering back to the early and mid 1800s when the rolling hills I was riding through would have been dotted with buffalo or the 1860s when cowboys would have been seen moving the herds of cattle.... this was a wild place and still is....

I could've taken a different route west out of Fort Worth but I wanted to see Lake Mineral Wells State Park and I'm glad I did..... I left there invigorated, enriched and renewed..... I rode yesterday better than I've ever ridden before - yeah my speed wasn't that great, but I was attacking the hills and leaning down over my handlebars on the downhills.... I was looking around and taking it in.....Man I felt powerful and alive!

I guess there is something in the water in Mineral Wells......

.....and then to fall off the cliff into the expanse of wild West Texas between Mineral Wells and Breckenridge..... well - let's just say.....

I found the Texas I'd always read about and..... I found my place in this world.