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Page 4 of 20 The Vista Cruiser got its name for the extra window over the second seat - temporary home for me and my brothers. The window was part of the roof - I guess you could call it a "sun roof", but it was only about six inches wide. Anyway, while we waited for Dad to make the next pit stop, we would occasionally pass a train going in our direction. If the tracks were laid out just right, and the timing of the two machines was perfect - we would pull our arms down from our ears to our shoulder - the universal signal to "blow your horn". When the locomotive blasted its horn in response, we would laugh and cheer (they hadn't invented "high fives" yet). Those memories came rushing on the back of a 70 miles per hour wind while we cruised north on Highway 287. A long freight train was coming towards us on the left. As Dave and I glanced at it in mild fascination, Tom roared past us on his bike - making the same hand motion to BLOW YOUR HORN that we had made all those years ago. We quickly mimicked the motion. What a sight that must have been to that train engineer. Seventeen people pulling the horn string on the backs of fourteen motorcycles! Needless to say, the train horn blew as loud as I have ever heard it, and it kept reverberating in my head long after that locomotive had left us behind. We pulled into Amarillo that afternoon, road-weary and wind-blown, but well initiated in the spoken and unspoken ways of the group. A warm shower, a wonderful steak dinner (after all, this WAS Amarillo) and a still, (non-vibrating) mattress were the final touches to a great day. DAY 2 - REALITY SETS IN I began to realize this was not going to be a relaxing vacation when we had to be dressed, packed, checked-out of the hotel and on the motorcycle by 6:00 a.m. One day of early rising was fine - how many more would there be on this trip? It's not that I am a slug (my normal waking time on vacation is 8:00 - but who cares - you're on vacation). But out the door by 6:00 a.m.? I was determined to not be the griper in the group, so I put on my game face and smiled at the other zombies.
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