190: Don't fence me in!

We just went 37 miles today, about what we would go on a typical Tuesday or Thursday morning ride with our friends back home. It was a beautiful day. Roger said at one point, "this is almost perfect conditions for riding."  I asked him, "what is wrong with it?"  And he said, "nothing. I guess it is perfect"!

Before we finished our ride, we angled a bit further south, and the winds turned around a bit, so we did finish with a little bit of a headwind. But that was a minor complaint.

We enjoyed watching for some additional Burma Shave signs. I've included their rhymes below.

The sunlight on the train cars make a great pattern on the landscape

Other activities that we use to pass the time include counting the train cars as they go by. This is a very, very busy train corridor. We believe these trains are coming through the Cajon Pass, and then heading up toward Chicago or LA. It is not unusual to have two passing at the same time.

Sometimes we count the number of posts in a fence in a mile. That is how I learned that they are typically on a 16 foot center. Sometimes Roger will just tell me something like, 'Well, in that gear we pedal 400 times to go a mile.'   So that tells me what he's been doing for the past mile!

Descending to Peach Springs

And of course, there are always songs popping into my head. Today the wide open spaces brought one to mind: 'Don't Fence Me In.'

The day's report: Seligman to Peach Springs, 37.2 miles/9099 to date

And here's our route

Here's some of the Burma Shave signs we enjoyed today!

Slow down Pa

Sakes alive

Ma missed signs

Four and five

If daisies are

Your favorite flower

Keep pushing up

The miles per hour

 "Cattle crossing"

Means go slow

That old bull

Is some cow's beau

Thirty days

Has September 

April, June

And the offender

You can drive

A mile a minute

But there is no 

Future in it

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love . . . 

Written in 1934, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

Wide open skies