I awoke with a horrible whiskey fueled hangover and gradually made my way out of bed. It was just under 200 miles to Clinton. No-one I had spoken to the night before had heard of Clinton. I had asked if anyone had a better suggestion of a place between here and Amarillo but I got a repeated answer that after Oklahoma city there is nothing of interest until Texas. There was a suggestion to go to Dallas but looking at the map would have taken me to off route.
I set off accepting that tonight would be my pit stop night ahead of the July 4th weekend. I almost never arrived at Clinton.
For all of the adrenalin activities I have done and of all the stupid situations I have put myself in none have affected me more than being almost hit on a freeway in Oklahoma.
Now the bike is loud, I have to wear ear plugs otherwise I become partially deaf in the evening due also to the wind. With these in and the rumble of the engine and the beating of the wind I still easily heard the terrifying screech of tyres behind me. I say behind, it sounded almost on top of me. I instantly looked in the mirror and it was full of a red 4x4.
I can only say that at that close in the mirror I don't understand how he had not made contact. Accidents happen, near misses happen but this was me, on a motorbike a long way from home, with just a t-shirt and jeans and with other traffic around me that would not have had room to avoid me if I had fallen.
All I could do is shake my head. The driver if the 4x4 had slowed down so much he or she just faded into the distance.
I wasnt angry. I was just thankful to be alive. My whole life was in the reactions of his or her foot connecting with the brake pedal.
Shaken, I continued on my way to Clinton. The heat of this journey was becoming intense. It was over 100 degrees again today and every time I swept around a bend in the road I felt like a rotisery chicken.
I finally rode into Clinton and found a mid range motel. There was an outdoor pool which brought me down to a reasonable temperature. A quiet night in with some food from a local deli.
The weather channel showed storms behind me in Chicago and record heat in Oklahoma and Texas. I wonder how long my luck will last.
