Gasoline

After the 'too kool for skool' attitude of the biker bro's it was a breath of fresh air to meet someone who wanted to talk about their ride and what a ride, how's about a '55 Mercury Monterey? What a car, up there for me with the Tri-Chevy's as the ultimate '50's ride, (my ultimate though would be a little later, the '66 Galaxie 500, total '60's muscle car, oh for that lottery win...) I dreamt about cars like this, strange really for a daft Derbyshire lad, bought up on a diet of British Leyland's finest, old Mini's with rotted out floors, Angle-Boxes, Allegro's, (complete with square steering wheels, I shit you not!) Cortina's and the nearest thing to a Yank car, the venerable Dagenham Dustbin, the Ford Capri, no wonder I used to covet the American cars I saw in my mates-older-brothers 'Hotrod' magazine, (coincidentally, I had a look at a copy today in Barnes and Noble and it was a pale imitation of what it used to be) anyhoo, back to the plot, turns out the geezer is a founder member of the San Antonio Pushrods Car Club, a 60 plus member club dedicated to classic car's, hotrod's, custom's and drag racing, a really nice bloke, 'sit on the wing dude! you ain't going to bend it, it's real steel 'bro, you know what I'm sayin' yep, I know what your saying, loooong lake pipes running down the side of the sill and the coolest club plaque hanging off chains at the rear, little further on down the street and i found this bleached out '85 Lincoln Town Car, just so cool, paint on the bonnet down to the metal and with a light rust just starting to come through, it's the car version of a one night stand, you look back and regret it, but it still makes you smile.......

Fast Harley?

Just outside the old German town of Gruene we stop for something to eat, sitting eating lunch I spy a Harley dealership just up the road, well, be rude not to call in and have some sport, in amongst all the stock bikes was this big s+s engined drag bike, Buell front end, long swingarm and lower than a snakes belly, I tried to get some skinny on it but unfortunately all the employee's were too busy walking around trying to look cool and being far too important to actually answer a question regarding a bike, they could tell you all about the 'motor clothes 2013 range' however, which, just goes to show what a global brand Harley Davidson is because that's exactly how the dealerships in the U.K are too, shame really, when you think about Harley's racing success you would think that they would want to talk about it, anyhoo, let me tell you about my sandwich......

Johnny Cash - 'Ring of Fire'

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlj5vjp3Ko
Just click the link, I swear you will have this tune in your head for the next three day's! Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, baa.........

Jardine's

Jardine's, 7J salsa, black bean and corn and jalapeño verde, absolutely the best salsa in the world, except no substitutes, anyone fancy some Johnny Cash?

Gruene

Gruene, originally a German immigrant farmer community, established in the mid 1840's, the surrounding land was planted with cotton as the number one cash crop, the success of the cotton crop brought in around another 30 families, the small town blossomed until the depression and a disastrous boll weevil infestation which saw the settlers move out, the only business to survive being the Gruene Hall, the legendary music venue and the oldest dancehall in Texas, some of the artists who have graced this stage include (one of Hairy Larry's favourites, Lyle Lovett) Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis (hell yeah!) and Willie Nelson as well as being featured in loads of music videos, sorry I can't post a photo of it but, you know how the Loveless luck rolls, the day we visit, it's bloody shut, well worth a look and a true slice of Americana...

Jesus Built My Hotrod

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=yuk62WtK4sk&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dyuk62WtK4sk

'Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true, Jerry Lee Lewis was the Devil, Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet, all of a sudden I found myself in love with the World, so there was only one thing I could do, was, dinga ding dang my dang a long ling long ding dang a dong bong bing bong........ (Just hit the link, it'll all make sense y'all)

Location:Highway to Hell

Driving

Derbyshire, the most land locked county in England, if I turn left out of my house I can be standing on the beach on the east coast in two and a bit hours, (possibly less if I'm on the bike, I digress, once me and dangerous made it back from Cadwell park, early evening after watching the MZ racers competing in a Bemsee meeting in a stupid one hour and twenty minutes on the Ducati's, ahem) if I turn right I can be standing on the beach in Welsh Wales in three hours, go north and I can be at John 'O Groat's in just over five hours, heading south, I can be at the southern most tip of England at Land's End, Cornwall, in around six, I'm sorry, but when you are in America, that's nothing, Texan's drive further than that to pick up their groceries! I'm sorry to all our tree hugging friends out there who want to save the planet but, there's nothing like filling up the tank with gas and just hitting the pedal, there's a lot of stuff out there to see and you just ain't going to see it on your reclining bicycle with that daft little flag sticking up in the air to warn other road users of your presence, my advice is, get the biggest motor you can get, fill 'er up, get Ministry 'Jesus Built my Hotrod' on yer 8-track player and just go.......

Yesterday.

San Antonio, Texas, Riverwalk, Sunday, Water, Good Food, Kid's, Sunshine, Mariachi, The Love Of My life......

Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog (with white feet)

Well, there you go, after slagging off the ipad camera connection kit, a little digging reveal's it's actually my ancient Sony camera that's at fault, the memory card isn't compatible with the ipad, so, to make up for the lack of post's featuring my usually thought provoking, brilliantly composed photographs, (no hint of irony here is there regular readers), here's one of me sitting by the pool in the garden supping a cold Bud and getting bitten by the bloody mozzy's! Just to complete the look, i'm rocking the typical 'white English bloke on holiday, white foot-look' brilliant day today, we were up early door's to be greeted by thunder, lightning and heavy rainfall, typical Loveless luck that, Texas is in the middle of a drought and as soon as the Bailey's arrive we get an inch of rainfall in two hour's, breakfast, shower and head out in the Chevy for downtown San Antonio, the weather clears and by the time we find a parking lot near the Mexican Market the sun is starting to break through, the humidity is rising and it's getting hot, I proceed to freak out the parking lot employee, ' ey up youth, how's it going, bugger me its hot, reckon it's going to cracking the flag's today Mucker' he takes my five dollar's and looks at me like I'm an alien, which, when you think about it is what I am, we spend a pleasant few hour's perusing the stall's in the market, load's of Dia De Los Muertos sugar skull's, pottery, jewellery and artisan good's, it's a kaleidoscope of colour and almost overwhelming to take in, we walk Downtown and soon find the entrance to the famed Riverwalk, it's an amazing place, situated below streetlevel of a bustling modern city is a sanctuary of green, meandering path's follow the course of the river, originally built as a flood prevention scheme and styled on the canals of Venice, it's foliage and plant's tumble down towards the water's edge, but, when you look up, the glimpse of a modern cityscape grates upon the senses, not in an offensive way, rather than in disbelief that the two can compliment each other, we find a riverside restaurant, 'Rita's on the River', we order Coke's and get a serving of fresh tortilla chip's, homemade salsa and guacamole to accompany the drinks, be rude not to, we order three veggie and one chicken fajita's, they arrive, red hot, served on a cast iron dish, fresh salad, corn and flour tortillas, more guacamole and salsa, sour cream, finely chopped tomatoes, onion and coriander, the veggie fajita is literally dancing off the plate, an explosion of taste and texture, brown feathery rice, re-fried beans and sharp cheddar cheese, just sitting in the warm, (hot) sunshine, what more could you want? Ok then, how about a Mariarchi band? Yep, live and in the area, four dudes who looked like extras from a Tarantino movie but with the harmonys of angels, truly brilliant and all done with a sense of humour, replete we stroll on, we follow the signs for the Alamo, the Francescan Mission building, steeped in history is dwarfed amongst the modern city but it loses nothing when you consider the whole history of the place in relation to modern America...

Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vYNK8A_bXwA
Well, there you go, I thought I had the old iPad sorted, (old? I've only had it three week's) tonight, i tried to use my iPad camera connection kit, it doesn't work, bollock's, I've taken loads of photo's and can't post them, frustrating isn't the word, so, instead you will have to put up with the rambling's of a Derbyshire lad let loose in the wild's of Texas, Texas is big, bigger than a very big thing, apparently, according to mrs b, you can fit two England's into the state of Texas with room to spare, we had a ride out today, turned left onto I-35 and drove, and drove and drove, one of the best things about America is the radio stations, flicking around the dial reveals everything from Christian rock, through talk show's to urban, dance, Latino and good ol' boy country and western, here's a link to to a Johnny Cash track we heard today, the amazing 'dirty old egg sucking dog' never heard this song before, sorry I haven't got any photo's to go with it but, just hit the link, close your eye's and imagine, (that's what my old primary school teacher mr's crow used to say) ...............

Who Killed Bambi?

Your body clock is a strange thing, mine is so programmed to getting up at 0500 hrs that even on a weekend, or,when I'm on holiday, I wake up at the same time, so, let's get this straight, we are in Texas, that's six hour's behind uk time, so 0500 uk time is now 2300 hrs the day before, so, mrs b wakes me up at 0200 hrs by asking me if I'm awake! 0200hrs Texas time is equal to 0800 hrs uk time today, are you still following this? (There will be a test later) so effectively, I've had a lie-in, why is it then that I still feel slightly 'strange?' Chilled out day today, good to catch up with the kid's, that's the trouble with 'real life'it just get's in the way of everything that's important, spending time together, talking and having a laugh, Jack looked out of the window and spotted the deer's trying to pinch the Chevy, 'Dad, Bambi's trying to have the Suburban away!' I had to do what a dad had to do, I killed Bambi! (I didn't really, I would never hurt an animal, I just went outside with Jess and took some photo's)