5th Street Diner, 500 Central Avenue, corner of Central Avenue and 5th Street South, across from the 501 Plaza, Great Falls, Montana
Hours: Monday to Saturday 0800 – 1430, Sunday 0900 – 1400
Located in the old Woolworth’s building, it’s the lunch counter section of the former store. It’s been open for seven years. Friendly staff cooked and served me breakfast even though breakfast hours were over. I liked the atmosphere so much I bought a cap.
Eat at the counter or at a table.
She worked in a truck stop near Norco. The truckers would come in and tell her jokes and she’d pass them on with a hearty laugh and a huge smile. They ordered lunch or dinner or coffee and pie. Thirty-five cents for coffee and pie. A good tip was ten or fifteen cents then.
One of the truckers took a liking to her. He was forever asking the cook all about her, especially the perfume that she wore. Turns out it was Arpége, and he eventually showed up with a small bottle. They started dating after that.
She had a daughter — two or three years old then — but he took the two of them in, no questions asked, and for 23 years they were together.
They both loved to dance. One night, after a turn around the dance floor and while walking back to their table, he went down and never got up.
She tells the story to this day. How he first noticed her. How they met. How he took the two of them in.
She wore a red rose pinned to her white blouse. It matched the color of her apron. Throughout the region she was known as the rose of the valley.
Alice is 82 now, but she talks of it as though it were only yesterday.
Main Street Grill, 155 N. Main Street, Cedar City, Utah. Located by the Best Western.
Hours: 0600 to 1400, 7 days a week
Eat at the green-tiled counter or at a table. Friendly staff. Basic breakfast food, well-cooked.
A huge weight lifted from my shoulders at about 30 miles north on the way to Barstow. I was smiling for a while to be sure. Closure is my answer as to why. Everything just fell into place like the final piece to a jigsaw puzzle. No regrets. No problems. No more pretending mini-crises in someone’s life were important to me. I was free!
For me that’s the best feeling ever, because I know a new adventure awaits down the road. I never know how many miles I will travel or how long it will take, but just knowing that I have my freedom again is my answer to everything.
This is only the second time that I’ve had the bike in the back of my truck. It ties down easily and rides great with no movement whatsoever. It’s nice not to have to worry about her in the back.
Now, if only other drivers were as great at paying attention to the road, I’d be ecstatic. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
Cars are stopped on the grades half in the driving lane. Cars are going 30 miles an hour with their flashers on when they could be traveling along on the side of the road on a paved shoulder. Cars cut in front. Cars put on the brakes for no reason. It’s a madhouse out there.
I did 400 miles today in the comfort of my truck, but earlier in the day a bike rider wasn’t so fortunate. Ahead of me I noticed a cloud of dust, and cars slowing down rapidly. A rider that had passed me a few minutes previously had just been in an accident and gone down. I’m not sure what happened since I didn’t see it, but his full face helmet was behind him some distance. The bike was ahead of him. And he was somewhere in between on the right side of the number two lane, on his back, unmoving.
I said a few words out loud and drove on by, since there were cars stopped and people on cell phones. One more vehicle would only add to the confusion.
I wonder how he is.
It’s all done but the driving.
My furniture has gone to a good home where I know people who will enjoy it as much as I have. What little remains will be loaded onto my truck after the bike is on board tomorrow morning.
I’ve had a great time here, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve met some fantastic people. I’ve ridden to some great scenery. I’ve experienced love one more time. I’ve had lots of laughs. Now I’m wondering if I can top the experience, although topping it isn’t what I’m looking to do.
The past eight months have been hard on me. Yes, I know I’m more fortunate than most, for I’ve waited out winter up north with a three thousand mile ride down and back up the Baja and across to the Mexican mainland. I’ve taken another three thousand mile ride to Tulsa to see friends and returned, and I’ve been back and forth to Phoenix countless times.
I’m looking forward to the trip, but I’m having a certain amount of trepidation at the event. I’ve been out of the country for almost six years, although with sporadic visits in between. I don’t know where I’m going to be living. I want to find a job to keep me from becoming bored again. I want to be a regular person again, with a regular job with regular hours and regular days off. Is that too regular? I think it’s starting to sound that way to me.
Tomorrow I will say goodbye to someone special who I’ve known for the entire time I’ve been here. I didn’t get to know her well until the last three years or so. She is a wonderful woman — all serious to my silly side — and has been fantastic company for me.
The trek north begins one last time.