Issue: June 2, 2005 June 9, 2005 June 16, 2005 June 23, 2005




by Wanda Nichols

  Last time we heard from the FUN Riders was after they visited 32 states by traveling 13,499 miles around the perimeter of the continental United States on their Honda Gold Wing Motor Trike in 54 days.

Well folks, Bobby and Dixie Taylor are off again! This time the 60-something couple will visit 11 states that include seven (Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas) they have yet to see, that is on three wheels. Beginning of course, in Texas, they will travel west through New Mexico, Arizona, then turn northwest into Nevada before heading east into Utah, Colorado, north to Wyoming and South Dakota, then south through Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. And we're going with them! Via e-mail, that is.
     During their last trip, the FUN Riders (Feeding Underprivileged Neighbors) had prearranged to make their food drops to Gold Wing Road Rider Association (GWRRA) members throughout their trip. This trip, however they plan to make drops at churches along the way. Before leaving Brownsboro a food drop was made to Calvary Baptist Church to help with their summer food program.
    On Saturday, May 28, at 7:00 a.m., the FUN Riders left their Echo Lake home in Brownsboro anxious to get started on their trip. Before the day was over they rode as far as Hobbs, New Mexico. "Helmet hair" came into play after the couple stopped for lunch and Dixie had left her helmet, helmet bonnet and gloves in the rain.
    "Each time we stopped after that I looked like a drowned rat when I took my helmet off," Dixie said in an e-mail. "Talk about helmet hair! Of course Bobby stayed his beautiful self with that "to die for" wavy hair that he has so much of."
   Traveling farther west, the FUN Riders began to see the red dirt farms with all their tiny cotton plants just beginning to surface on the rows.

   "You could see plowed fields as far as the eye could see," Dixie said. "Bobby and I started talking about when our parents lived in West Texas during the oil boom, mine in Lamesa and his in Tampa and our mothers would tell about the washing they would do, hang out their wash and then all of a sudden a huge sand storm would come and ruin their wash and they would have to start all over again. And they call those 'the good old days???'"
   After leaving Hobbs, NM Sunday morning, the FUN Riders enjoyed the landscape dotted with oil well pumps, cactus, wild flowers, sage brush and green tumbleweeds.
   "Everything in this beautiful desert is in full bloom and it was just so pretty," Dixie said, "I've never seen so many oil wells in one area. Bobby actually drilled some of those wells."
   One area the FUN Riders rode by was

was covered with thousands and thousands of oak trees covered with acorns.
   "These trees are full grown and are no more than 10 to 12 inches tall," Dixie said. "It is known to be the largest oak forest in the world. They are so small and thick, they actually looking like ground cover. They were as far as you can see on both sides of the highway."
   A food drop was made at the Gateway Church of Christ in Ruidoso, New Mexico. While riding to Socorro, NM, where they spent Sunday night, the FUN Riders rode through "The Valley of Fires."
   "This is an area where millions of years ago a huge volcano erupted and today the ground is covered with black lava rock," Dixie said. "Colorful flowering cactus grows all in the huge rocks."
   Stay tuned next week to learn more about Bobby and Dixie's adventures on the road.

The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman June 2, 2005
Issue: June 2, 2005 June 9, 2005 June 16, 2005 June 23, 2005