Conway, AR – Valley Mills, TX
Moving Time= 8:03
477 aching miles

It was a loooooong day in the saddle. All interstate. And I resented the 23 miles the GPS made me go East to go South only to go West again. Evidently the devils in the GPS thought that would ultimately help me get there faster. I really didn’t make too many stops, an early lunch for the infamous corndog (yummy but greasy)

and later for a to-go salad from Applebee’s. I needed to make miles.

I got impatient with a trafic-re-route and thought “heck, I ride a dual sport, I’ll use this re-route on the GPS”

but wound up in front of a locked gate. So I got back into the traffic lineup, which ended up making me skirt Dallas at rush hour.

Finally, after 475 butt breaking miles I reached “downtown” Valley Mills, where I called Carolyn and she gave me directions to the house. She said she’d ride the mule out to the road to meet me as it would be difficult to see her road after dark.

Carolyn leading me down her 1/2 mile driveway.

I remember her leading me in and thinking, “man, someone must do a LOT of mowing!”. Here’s a pic of us riding in in the daytime.

Carolyn and her husand Andy (Ficklin) run “Camels on the Creek”, a Texas Ranch that caters to dual sport enthusiasts. Carolyn herself rides a KLR 650 with the *sweetest* cammo paint job you’ll ever want to see. It wins awards at bike shows.

Carolyn and I met this summer — we were both “Dirty Dozen” riders, fundraisers on the Women’s Motorcyclist Foundation’s “Adventure for the Cure”. Twelve of us (plus a good handfuul of other volunteers) came together to raise over $45,000 for breast and ovarian cancer cures. So if you were wondering how I got the idea to make this ride a charity ride, that’s it. I was SO inspired by the other riders, and in particular Gin Shear and Sue Slate (Women’s Motorcyclist Foundation), that I decided to keep right on fundraising.

If anyone is traveling through the Waco area of texas and wants to stay with them, you can make reservations by calling Carolyn at 254-744-9632 or emailing them at CamelsOnTheCreek@gmail.com

There’s tons of dual sporting in the area, but let me tell you the paved roads are pretty awesome as well. It’s not the flat part of Texas we all dread when crossing the country. Just be forewarned: there’s a 1/2 mile of county maintained gravel road beforre you reach the ranch. Reservations Only.

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