November 25th 2023 – San Antonio, TX

The weather forecast threatened rain around noon. We decided to get an early start.
It starts spitting just as we pull up in front of My Loves Diner in Kaufman.
The rain was pouring down as we had lunch. We worked on the computers, shared a huge chunk of chocolate cake and enjoyed several cups of coffee to postpone our departure. Louis, one of the regulars, engaged us in conversation. We learned that the diner used to be a hotel that often hosted the infamous Bonnie and Clyde.
Eventually the rain stopped. It stayed mostly dry the rest of the way to Joshua where we have been invited to stay with Robert, one of the regulars from a Super Tenere forum I used to frequent.
It was a pleasure to finally meet him and his lovely wife Valeria.
Robert had been kind enough to let us use his address for delivery of things Katrine and I needed.
The guestroom greeted us with several boxes.
One from Denmark with prescription drugs for Katrine.
Another from Mosko Moto. I had informed them about the wear issues we experienced and subsequently sent them pictures of my solution to the problem. In return they shipped us a new set of foam for Katrine’s luggage, free of charge. This was not the first time I have received service above and beyond from Mosko Moto.
There was also a big box with new shoes for Katrines bike,
Last but not least there was a box from Homer back in Corinth. Against all odds he had managed to source a new chain slider for my bike.
We let it all be for now and enjoyed a cozy evening with our hosts.

After breakfast it was time for work.
Robert kept me company in the garage. First job was to fit new rubber to Katrines bike.
Getting the tires I want for the bikes can be a challenge. Often I have to make do with whatever I can get. This time I had managed to get my hands on a set from my short-list: Mitas E07+. If I wasn’t so pleased with the Trailmax Mission on my own bike, I would have been a little jealous of Katrine for getting to try out these tires.
Robert was itching to lend me a hand, but I’ve come to prefer changing tires on my own – that or have some else doing it entirely.
To get the wheels off the bike I need to get them off the ground first.
If I have access to a good scissors jack or similar I might use that, but I’ve come to appreciate the method where I use a strap to tilt the bike – all I need for that is an anchor point. It’s a very stable and secure solution.
In this case I used the spare wheel on Robert’s Jeep as anchor point.

The new tires were fitted, balanced and back on the bike before lunch.

While I had been working on her bike, Katrine had replaced the foam on her R80 harness and sorted out her medication. She has asthma and Addison’s disease. Correctly medicated, she functions well but her meds are vital to her. She needs to plan ahead to make sure she doesn’t run out. Up until now the best solution has been to have a friend from Denmark collect what she needs and ship it to her.

After lunch I replaced the chain slider on my bike. The old one was worn almost half way through as a result of too much chain slack combined with lots of engine braking. My preference is to run motorcycle chains on the loose side of the indicated specs, but apparently I had been overgenerous with the slack. I corrected it as soon as I noticed excessive wear on the slider.

With the work done Valeria offered us to take her brand new Miata for a spin.
Back on The Blue Ridge Parkway I had mentioned to Katrine how nice it would be to experience it in an open car. We then discussed which car to choose. A Miata was on my shortlist even though I’ve never driven one. Now I had my chance.
It was even nicer than I had expected.
The engine pulled much better than the specs indicated. The manual transmission was precise and butter smooth – the suspension nice and tight. The whole package felt refined and extremely well balanced.

Back from the ride, Robert offered that we could take his Wrangler for a spin as well.
It was a really nice car and more in line with what we could find purpose for, but even with its powerful engine and demanding appearance, the driving experience fell short compared with the Miata.

Our hosts invited us to a Mexican restaurant in the evening. They also extended an invitation to their next door neighbor who joined us.

It was cold and windy the next day. We enjoyed a relaxed morning with Robert and Valeria before hitting the road. Luckily we have a tail wind most of the time as we move towards Austin.
I had received a message the same morning from Luke @lm002e to let us know that he would be happy to host us.
He wasn’t home when we arrived, but had left a key for us.

There was a Rudy’s Bar-B-Q nearby. It allowed us to spend one of the gift cards we had left from our wedding last year.
Back then we were in the process of getting rid of all our worldly belongings, and had asked our guests not to give us any physical gifts. Instead we received experiences with the givers before leaving Denmark or gift cards to restaurants in the US.
We thought about our friends back in Denmark while we gorged on brisket.

It was close to midnight before Luke got home. Katrine was fast asleep. I had waited up to say hello. We talked for a couple of hours before calling it a day.

It turned out that Luke was a paramedic like me. He had a 24 hour shift the next day and invited me to come and visit the station where he worked. Katrine had some practical stuff she needed to do, so I just tagged along on my bike when Luke left for work at Westlake Fire Department in the morning.

It was fun to see how similar our working conditions were. There were differences in procedure and equipment, but for the most part it felt like walking into a station back home surrounded by my old colleagues – even the jokes and banter were the same.
I spent a couple of hours at the station before returning to Luke’s house.

He would be going to New Mexico to celebrate Thanksgiving the following day when he got off from work and offered us to stay at his house for as long as we wanted. I discussed it with Katrine when I got back and we decided to stay for 2 more nights. It would allow us to catch up on things and look out for Anakin, Lukes cat, while he was away.

When I told Luke that we would be staying until after Thanksgiving, he invited us to participate in the Thanksgiving dinner at the station. He had checked with his colleagues and they would love to have us – especially if we brought a Danish dish.
Katrine went shopping and we made a shitload of frikadeller (Danish meatballs).

We left for the station around noon and arrived in time to get frikadellerne heated before dinner.
We received a warm welcome at the station. Several of the firefighters including district chief Heath Nobles had invited their families over. Everyone brought a dish. It was the first time Katrine and I participated at a Thanksgiving dinner. We got to taste a wide variety of delicious traditional dishes – just to name some of them: Turkey with stuffing, spiral-cut honey glazed ham, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, scallop potatoes, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, cowboy caviar, creme bean casserole, rolls with cinnamon butter, banana pudding, sopapilla cheesecake and a generous selection of pies.
Frikadellerne were a big success. There was only one left after dinner and it disappeared before the platter reached the kitchen.

Just as dinner was over the ambulance returned to the station. The paramedics grabbed a plate each and retreated to their quarters where Katrine and I had stored our riding gear. We introduced ourselves and were soon deep in conversation with Katie and Adam while they ate.
I can’t imagine a better first Thanksgiving experience.
A big thanks goes out to Luke for giving us this opportunity and to his colleagues for making us feel welcome and part of the community.

It was late in the afternoon before we returned to Luke’s place.
While we stayed there we made good use of his Concept 2 Rower. An opportunity like that is not to be missed – and with the amount of food we had been eating we really needed the exercise!

Next stop was San Antonio – a relatively short ride from Austin.
En route we stopped for lunch at another Rudy’s to spend the remainder of our gift card.

Before leaving Austin we booked 3 nights (Friday to Monday) at a cheap motel in San Antonio.
The plan for the weekend is that today, Saturday, we’ll spend all day in our room working on our ride reports while it’s raining outside. Tomorrow when the weather should be fair again we’ll explore downtown San Antonio. We have heard many good things about the city.