OldTroubador's blog post - Back at it again ;)

In case you haven't noticed, I've been MIA for about a week now. I had a really good reason, which I will get into in a bit.
I tried to put together an “end of run” report for everyone, but I'm as bored writing them as you probably are reading them LOL. Just to recap, I spent almost eight weeks on the road. The miles were not all that great this trip, although a couple of the runs were spectacular. The high point was getting to visit with Northern Star once again. The low point – the weather finally caught up with me this past trip. Icy highways in Kansas City, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and especially Louisiana. One of the last runs was a load from Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA – only 360 miles. Because of ice, and the lack of equipment for dealing with it, Louisiana closed the interstates for two days, turning a six hour trip into a 78 hour marathon going nowhere. The worst part, other than being scared out of what little mind I have, was that Saturday. As soon as the sun came out, it seemed like everyone hit the highway. Well, the highway had not been fully opened yet – an 18-mile long causeway was reduced to one lane and there were still accidents getting cleared from the night before. Anyway, it took me 5.5 hours to go 25 miles – average speed: 4.5454545..... miles per hour. By the way, the highway opened at 5:30 pm – about the time my chicken fried steak hit the table. Yeah, I wasn't going anywhere then.
The reason I took nearly a week off – you guessed it. My daughter. It was her 15th birthday last week. We spent the week hanging out, driving around looking at fishing spots for the summer, shopping, and her trying to convince me that One Direction was a good group. I wasn't buying it. We had a blast though and it was tough to leave.
So here I am, riding the Freebird again. Even though I was off the road for nearly a week, all the old sights and sounds and feels came rushing back in a few miles. The tires singing on the pavement, the turbocharger whistling a happy tune, the throaty growl of six huge cylinders pulling hard. The steering wheel dancing in my hand as I led the 10-speed through a Texas swing number. Traffic in the city, tight turns downtown, then the open road calling my name. I leaned hard on the accelerator and answered the call. Who knows where the road may lead? Then again, who cares? As long as there is fuel in the tanks, coffee in the thermos, and that ribbon of highway sliding past under my front bumper, I am in my element. I am happy.
In another six or eight weeks, it will be time to once again shut down for a spell. Maybe by then I will have new tales to tell, new experiences to share. One thing for certain – by then I will be ready to boogie back to Texas.