July 5. Rapid City, SD

We stayed the night last night in Cheyenne, WY, and ate at a place called The Albany. A nice little all around food place that had a greast Prime Rib at a real reasonable price. We left Cheyenne and headed towards Rapid City, South Dakota to visit Mt Rushmore. I can say a few things about southwest Wyoming. I did not like it at all. The entire area is like a desert with grass, the local people refer to this area as "the prairie." That is about the best description I can give. The roads are long and desolate and the wind is unbelievably strong. The roads across the prairie are long, flat and straight, with few turns. The speed limit on the back roads is 65 mph. We were making great time on the interstate when we saw smoke in the distance. We didn't think much about it and turned onto our road to cross the prairie. We started moving closer to the smoke and then we realized that a horrible car crash had ocurred on this desolate back road. At least once person lost their life when their vehicle collided head on with an 18 wheeler. The car then burst into flames. We are located a LONG way away from anything and anyone, much less any medical help. Emergency personnel finally arrived and the small roadway was closed and would not reopen for about 4 hours. I then rerouted our original route and it would add more than a 100 miles to our day. But we all agreed that based on the situation we were fortunate that we had the opportunity to take the detour. There are very few paved roads that pass thru the prairie. We drove 143 miles and did not see a gas station, convienience store, police car....nothing!

We made it thru the prairie and our new path gave us the opportunity to visit Jewel Cave National Monument. Not a lot to see there, so we got a park stamp and continued on our way. I really enjoyed riding in South Dakota, great roads and nice people. When we left Wyoming and entered South Dakota, it was like a line in the sand between the two states. the landscape made an immediate change. We then rode the Needles highway and Iron Mountain Road. Two very good roads that you travel thru one way tunnels that are bored thru solid rock and are only 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall. We also traveled on "pig tail" bridges. The best to describe a pig tail bridge is, imagine a wooden bridge that spirals down on top of itself to get down a steep grade in a hurry. On the last tunnel we went thru, you could see Mount Rushmore in the distance. Pretty neat. Before we got to Mount Rushmore, we visited the Crazy Horse Monument. Crazy Horse is not a National or State park, but is instead privately owned. We did not pay to enter and simply turned around and exited. You can take all the pictures you need from the road. I wasn't real impressed with this monument. Maybe if I had paid the entrance fee and actually visited it, I would have liked it more and understood it better. Man I wished I would have paid more attention in school.

While we were traveling towards Mount Rushmore, we acutally had to stop and let a herd of buffalo cross the road. Those are some large animals. We had to convince Wolfie to NOT play the howling on his bike. Who knows what kinda of stampede that would have caused.

Kim and I decided to stay in Rapid City, SD, for the night before heading to a few more places before heading home. Wolfie, Juanita, Bo and Cindy decided to make the additional 50 mile one way drive to Sturgis and stay the night. We will meet up with them at 9:00 tomorrow and start heading towards home.

Later...................

As Scott has stated, our stay in Ouray was really cool. The little town is completely surrounded by huge mountains, including the streaks of snow at the tops. What is so very spectacular is that the mountains jut up at the perimeter just behind the last building in that portion of the town, which hems the little town in, as if it were held hostage by these huge giants. Over half way up one of these giants some brave soul has implanted an American flag, that waves freely at all that will look up and search the huge mountain. The little town is full of tourists year round, and everyone we met was very nice. At supper, we met a gentleman that we met two days before hundreds of miles away. He told us that three years ago. he purchased an RV and made that his home and tows his bike around visiting places of interest. He said he no longer has a "home". What a life! At Ouray, in every direction you look there is a huge mountain and you wonder how you will make your way past these tremendous peaks. The answer of course is you follow the river. Most of the roads through here follow a gushing, tumbling, and rolling mountain stream much as they do in the Smokey's. We took a lot of time exploring the Black Canyon in Colorado. This is a State Park is is amazing. The unique spires of dark minerals and soil that spear up at the sky throughout this canyon are beathtaking. After stopping for an hour or so to stare at this dark and medievil looking, very deep, canyon, Scott led us around the road that skirts, very closely, to the rim of the canyon. It was amazing! As Scott has stated in the previous blog, the Interstate from Vale to our night spot of Dillion is more fun to be on than most 2 lane roads in Alabama. The 4 lane interstate is routed closely along the Colorado river and a railroad through spectacular mountains, that cause you to tilt your head so far back to see the tops that it is unsafe, (ask me how I know). This interstate is more curvey than the Skyway in Tn. and the speed limit is 75 in most places. There are tunnels for the Interstate, and tunnels for the trains through solid rock. At one point the opposing traffic is on a bridge over your head going through a tunnel way up above you. The curves nice curves go on an on and you find yourself in a daze from the enjoyment of leaning the bike hard in one direction and flipping it hard to the other direct at 75 or 80 mph! What a rush!

We will be heading further into the Rockies today, and Wolfie has checked the temps along the route so that we can be prepared....well, really so that Lizard will not be too cold, thats his real reason. He says we will be experiencing middle to high 50's along the way, so I guess today will be a long sleeve day with our liners on our jackets and maybe even some fleece. Of course for Lizard, this will mean full heated gear! Cant wait for the ride to start, lots of amazing things to see, hear, and smell...and of course taste! Got to get ready now to go. We miss our other friends on this one!

July 3, Silverthorne, Colorado

Got up a little earlier this morning to try to make up for some lost time due to yesterdays events. When we stayed at the Matterhorn in Ouray last night, we made a discovery that was real pleasant. None of the rooms have A/C. At first this was disappointing, but when the sun went down, so did the temperature. We opened the window and the room did cool down some, but not a whole lot.

We left Ouray and the ride was also pleasant with some sweeping turns that kept the girls at ease. We stopped in Crawford, Colorado, for lunch at a no name place and the food was really good. It seems that the out of the way no name places have the best food and best service.

We continued on towards Glenwood Springs, Colorado, (our original final destination yesterday) and met our first traffic problem. A lot of road work that slowed us down for about 30 minutes. Last night we got together and rearranged our routes and driving schedule for the lost time from yesterday and agreed to stay the night in Silverthorne/Dillon, Colorado. Based on the upcoming 4th of July Holiday and the possible lack of available rooms, we made some advance reservations for the next two days in Dillon, CO and Cheyenne, WY.

While in Glenwood Springs we pulled in for gas and antifreeze started pouring out from underneath my bike. The bike wasn't running hot and I paniced thinking the worse. I reached down and the antifreeze wasn't even warm and there was nothing wet under my bike????? Everybody else came to the conclusion that it wasn't coming from my bike, but not me. When I looked down the antifreeze was running downhill from under my bike??? We drove on the bike never ran hot.

Anyway, we got on interstate 70 in Gleenwood Springs and headed for Dillon. This interstate ride is unbelievable. If Alabama interstates were this scenic, we would never ride back roads. Simply beautiful. We arrived at the hotel sight unseen, after all we made the reservation over the phone after an internet search, and we got lucky. A beautiful hotel with a view of the lower rockies. The rest of the group went out to eat, but Kim and I decided to just relax in the room, eat a couple of sandwiches and get a good night sleep.

Tomorrow we are going over the rockies and will stay in Cheyenne, WY.

Later.......................

July 2. Ouray, Colorado

We got up this morning to a beautiful scenery of nothing but these huge mountains. Just unbelievable. We then visited Mesa Verde National Park and this is a must for anyone. An Indian society lived in the alcove of mountains. We visited a place similar to this a couple of days ago but this visit was different. We actually got to walk into the dwelling and see how this group of indians lived in the year 1200. They were a very resourceful group of people. The ride into Mesa Verde is absolutely incredible. Curves and curves and curves. Motorcycle bliss.

On the way from Mesa Verde to Durango, CO, the temperature was a pleasant 80 degrees. Then all of a suddenthe temperature dropped to 52 degrees in a matter of minutes. We should have know something was up, but we drove on. That was a mistake. We first encountered rain, then all of a sudden it started hailing, and there was no where to stop. We all had on the correct riding gear except for Bo. He only had on a shirt and a leather vest and he paid for that decision. The hail hit his bare arms and left abotu 20 or 30 red bumps that looked like bee stings. Ouch, to say the least. We found refuge in a mailbox facility that was for some housing area and was covered. After about 25 minutes we headed on into Durango. We found a nice place to eat and returned to our bikes to discover that all three of us has received parking tickets from the local police. It appears that we had parked in an area that required a parking permit, but no signs were in the area where we parked. We all figured it was a $15.00 tip to the city of Durango from a few southern cruisers.

When we first pulled into the parking lot, I put the kickstand down and jumped off the bike. I must have been been parked at some weird angle because, once again, the bike tumbled over. No damage and we just picked her up, again, and went to lunch.

Durango is an old western town that had a lot of "cowboy" roots. However, now the town has become a tourist trap and is too comercial in my opinion. The streets are very busy, traffic is everywhere and there is no where to park. And the locals are rude to say the least. The old west charm that I was so looking forward to was not there. I would not visit this town again unless I had to pass thru it to go somewhere else.

We left Durango on hwy 550 and headed towards Silverton. Now Silverton is a neat little town that does have the old west feel and look and is a very quite and relaxing town. We left Silverton and headed to Ouray, CO, and this road is really unbelievable, but not for the faint at heart. The road has NO guardrails and NO shoulders at all. I mean none. And the drop is about 3000 feet straight down from the edge of the concrete. Scary. Lots of great views with snow on mountain tops and many, many beautiful waterfalls.

We did not make our final destination of Glenwood Sorings, Colorado, because of the extended visit at Mesa Verde, the hail storm and narrow mountain highways. Instead we stayed the night in a small little town named Ouray, nestled in the bottom of a canyon. Simply a breath taking place and a must for everyone. We were all glad that todays events made us have to stay in this little town.

We ate supper at a little place called the Outlaw restaurant. Very expensive, but great steaks. I think there is a tourist menu with prices and a locals menu with much lower prices.

It is late and I need to get some sleep.

Later.........................

Day 4. Cortez, Colorado

Got up and left a little later than we wanted to, but this is a vacation. Because of the hotel room fiasco, we had to double back to the Grand Canyon to continue on our way to Cortez, Colorado. But when we got the the Grand Canyon, we were all glad we had to revisit the area. We pulled into the parking lot, me leading the way, and I thought I had found us a better place to park. I promtly whipped the wing, trailer and all around in a text book u-turn. I turned my head into the turn, looked where I was going and kept my feet on the pegs. Perfect execution. Until I saw the do not enter sign and changed course. Mistake. I suddenly stopped and Kim did just like she was suppose to do and sat still. I dropped the wing, trailer and all, in front of about a million people. Boy did I fell stupid. Kim came tumbling off and stood up and looked at me. Bo jumped off and helped me lift her back up, the bike not Kim, and no damage was done, other than to my pride. Meanwhile, some jerk in a car was blowing his horn and tryin to get around me, like dropping my bike was the whole plan.

We looked at the Grand Canyon and Wow. Unbelievable. We looked down at birds soaring high in the canyon. This is a must visit in everyones life. We stopped at the main overlook at the visitors center and it is a great view. However, we were headed out of the east entrance of the park and dropped into on overlook called Lipan. This has to be the best view in the park. You have a great view of the river from way above. Wolfie and I went past the fence, that you are not suppose to cross, and we sat on the edge of the canyon and just looked. For a few moments, it was just Wolfie and I looking at this wonder of nature and neither one of us ruined the moment by saying anything. Truly one of the most amazing views and fleeting moments in my life. Thanks to anyone or anything that made it possible.

On our way to Cortez I had planned for us to stop at Navajo National Monument, also in the middle of the desert, but on the way, because of time constraints, we decided not to. While traveling closer to the monument, Bo talked the group into stopping anyway. It was also a stop that I am glad we made. In the year 1200, Indians built their homes into an Alcove in the side of a huge canyon, then they simply disappeared for no known reason. Another spot well worth the visit.

We then got back on the road headed towards Colorado and the drive and scenery was again unbelievable. I'm tired and running out of descriptive words without being too repetative.

We attempted to visit 4 corners, the only place in the United States with four states touch other. I must have paid attention in school on the day we talked about this, because I remember being told, "CANU remember the 4 states?" CANU--Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah--CANU. When we arrive it was closed??? No, not the states, I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, but the entrance to the monument. Evidently, some organization or individual owns the land where the states touch and have erected a monument. We were about 30 minutes late. Had we not visited the Navajo National Monument, we would have made it in time. However, the Navajo monument was probably a better choice anyway.

We found a hotel in Cortez and went to eat at a Dennys at 10:30 at night. This was interesting to say the least. While we were there a waiter was having some kind of rif with the cooking staff and the cooks starting throwing dishes at him!! We thought it was humorous and I think it made the cooks even more mad. In true Alabama fashion, we sat right thru it all, laughed and ate. We already had our food.

We ended the night doing laundry and posting pictures.

One more thing, we all got rooms and were eager to update pictures and blogs, but was told by the young lady at the front desk that the Wi-Fi has hotspots. Some of the rooms have wireless internet and some do not. Out of three rooms, Cindy's, of all people, is the only room among that has internet. So Wolfie and I sat by the pool, close to the server, and posted pics and updated stuff. Another relaxing moment.

We have traveled over 2,100 miles since this past Saturday, traveled in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, and I have to say this has indeed been the trip of a lifetime, so far. Tomorrow we spend the entire day riding twisties in Colorado and visiting old cowboy towns like Durango and Silverton, after visiting Mesa Verde National Park, more Indian dwellings in mountains, first thing in the morning.

More updates later..........


PS......None of us miss work yet!!!

I almost hate to post anything here, because Scott and Kim were the originators of the blog...but I dont hate it enough to give me our room, the only room out of the three that has internet access (hahahahah). I believe if there is a blog out there its needs some blog material so here goes anyway. Our Monday we find ourselves leaving Alburquerque about 9:00 AM. Everyone is rested and in great spirits, how else can you be, if your biking your way with friends to the Western US? The riding that we are doing so far has been Interstate 40 and is pretty simple, just point the handlebars and sit back and be amazed what passes by your vision. I was very happy to see such little traffic in Alburquerque on Monday morning, after all, most everyone was reporting to work except for us! We were able to manuever around the fairly large city with very little problem, the GPS warning us all at the same time of the route (thanks to Scott for giving us all the route for our GPSs). The country side was great and you never get tire of looking because everything is so very much different our here. We went to our first destination of the day which was a State Park area that has saved many drawings or rather etchings by early Indians of the area. It was facinating to find these etchings contained on boulders piled high upon themselves, but the boulders were not boulders but volcanic rocks that are strewn all over the area from some ancient volcanic eruption. We walked up trails in these hills and could actually touch these etching from old, scatched into the rock by someone many, many years ago, wanting to leave somthing behind for others to see, and he did. The next stop that I remember, its hard to keep everything in the time line, you can imagine the brain overload from all the sights and experiences, was the Continental Divide. We read where, at this location on the earth, water poured on one side with flow north and water poured on the other side will pour south..or is it east and west..I'll have to look at some of the pictures to know for sure (apparently, Im not smarter than a 5th grader!) This is also located on our Route 66 which is parallel to I-40, we got some neat photos there. Then on to Hubbell Trading Post which is the oldest continuiously operated Navajo trading post in the world. It has been in operation since the middle 1800's and it authentic and wonderful to visit. I will also always remember passing through the painted desert. I always thought this was a beautiful place, but Im sorry..the place that we believe is the painted desert reminded me of one thing and one thing only. Now I have never seen hell before, and I certainly hope that is an experience I miss, but this place has got to be close to it. The very dirt of the earth changes to a gray looking mineral type of soil. I dont exactly know what brimstone is but this has got to be close to it. It is like being in a mineral pit of some sort with piles of this stuff here and there. The temperature had not reached 93 in our entire ride out here and we found it very hot, in fact on our way back through this hellhole of a place it reached 100 degrees on our Wing thermometers. We collectively call this area "hell" from this day forward. To be fair, the clay looking cliffs around this place were pleasing, each with horizontal stripes of several different colors which is where the name originates but the heat and ugliness of the other areas would make it the last place on earth that I would want to live..or even stay for more than an hour.

We made it to the Grand Canyon in Arizona in time to see the last 10 inches or so of sky resting between the earth and the beautiful golden sun disappear, we saw the sun slowing sink beneath the rim of the Grand Canyon, an almost once in a lifetime chance from someone from the Southeast US. The Canyon itself is awe inspiring and you cannot imagine the feeling that you get when you step up to the edge. There is nothing like it that I have ever seen in my 53 years. I thought the Smokey Mountains were beautiful, sorry Smokey, the west had got you beat by far! You will never believe the distance both deep and wide that you are staring at..mouth open in astonishment. It is almost reverence. If I die tomorrow, Im so very glad I got to see this amazing place. A goal of mine has been reached here, and I am numb from the beauty and immense scope of it. It is late and I need to leave something for Scott to write about, sorry Scott..I am overjoyed with our trip so far and have to tell everyone!!!

Day 3. Grand Canyon.

Once again this is posted a day late because we stayed at a hotel with no internet. More on that later.

Today we visited Petroglyph National Monument in Alburquerque, New Mexico before starting our day. Not a very big historic site, but pretty interesting anyway. Many, many years ago an indian civilization carved primitive pictures into lava rocks. At first glance it appears that the designs were drawn on the rocks, but instead they were actually carved into the rocks. It's hard to belive that the drawings have stayed undisturbed for so many years. We continued on thru the desert still on the interstate and the scenery is really undescribeable. All the wide open spaces in a view that seems so pretty, but is really a harsh and unforgiving environment. We got off the interstate in Gallup, New Mexico, and had a little lunch at Cracker Barrel of all places. I know, drive 1500 miles to eat at a Cracker Barrel. We also crossed the continental divide. This was also a geography lesson for me. Water that falls on the east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean and water that falls on the west side of the divide flows into the Pacific Ocean. Bo did not belive the theory and he and Wolfie were going to drain some body fluids on each side of the line just to disprove it. They chose otherwise for unknown reasons. We stayed off the interstate and drove thru the uninhabited desert. I mean the real desert. No one lives out here, other than the occasional structure that seems to be seldom visited and has no utilities. Out in the middle of the large barren area is a place called the Hubbell Trading Post, also a National Historic Site. Contrary to a history lesson from Bo, this place has nothing to do with the Hubbell telescope. Anyway, this is an old indian trading post that many travelers visited this place to, you guessed it, trade. Many indians traveled great distances to trade here. One more interesting fact is that the original building is still in operation and locals still trade here. We then continued on trying to make our final destination for the day, the Grand Canyon. We stopped for a break in the desert in a little town in the bottom of Keams Canyon. We found a store that served hand dipped ice cream that advertised 28 flavors, but they only had 12??? This place is only occupied by Indians. While I was eating a chocolate chip ice cream cone, a couple of young Indian kids, age 3 and 4 walked up and ask me my name. I told her Scott then ask her what her name was. For some stupid Alabama reason, I expected her to say something like Soneshia, Running Water, or Wings of an Angel, but instead she simply said Crystal and the little boy replied Chris. None with any type of accent. I guess I was expecting an Indian accent, whatever that is.

Before we reached the Grand Canyon, we drove thru the Painted Desert. I was a little disappointed in the Painted Desert. Not what I thought it would be. Pretty, but it should not be a sole reason for visiting the area. Oh by the way, we found the heat. It is HOT! Like, Bo renamed the place Hell. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to live here. Maybe it was free land, but is still not enough reason for me to live here.

There was a rumor that we (America) never really landed on the moon, that it was filmed in the desert and it was all fake. I'm still straddling the fence on that theory, but after seeing the painted desert, I can see how someone could come up with the theory. This place looks like the moon, craters and all.

We made it to the Grand Canyon and watched the sunset. Beautiful, is all I can say. This is a must that everyone must see in their life. One hint, use the east entrance. No traffic and a great entrance road. After the sunset we coud not find a hotel anywhere. We had to drive an additional 30 miles to find a hotel. Well, we found one and paid $85.00 a night and got ripped off, but it was late and we needed a place to stay. We ate sandwiches for a late supper and called it a night. Write more tomorrow.

Man what a trip this has been so far! The ride from Pell City to Oklahoma City was not near as exhausting as I thought it would be. I really thought that we would be exhausted on the 750 + mile first day jog, in fact I thought the girls would demand we stop short of our target. Everyone was great with the millions of white divider lines that zipped past our bikes that first day! The scenery was not really much to look at though, but we knew as much before we started out. I really enjoyed the ride and could have ridden on through the night, but would have probably slept too much the next day! The Federal Trade Center was a great stop the first thing the next morning. To think that there are selfish idiots out there like this one that destroyed this building and the lifes of so many in a few seconds is discouraging. The Tree of Remembrance was what I liked the best of this memorial. That old tree is over 100 years old and was the only living thing in the area that remained both standing and alive. They had started to cut down the old burnt tree with its knarled and damaged limbs littered with parts from the once nearby automobiles that were sitting idle in the parking lot next to the building. Thankfully they did not get around to cutting her down since there was so much to be done. They noticed new sprout beginning to grow from it and not only left it there but dug up the thick layer of asphalt that once choked its root system so that the very cars whose parts were stuck in it could park waiting for their drivers that would never return. After loosening up the ground around its massive roots they build a huge concrete deck well up over its roots but around the base of it, complete with an automatic watering systems and regularing feed and tend to this old rugged tree like a patient in the recovery room. What once was a ugly tree that was never given a thought, except to shade the interior of parked cars is now one of the most important and cared for trees in the nation. They collect the seeds from this old girl and send to them to nurseries to grow and give them out to people on certain days at the base of the old tree. They are also available to purchase by website. Its seems that there is hope for all of us with this lesson. No matter what you have done in the past or how unimportant your life has been to date, your lot in life may change in the wink of an eye and it could actually be you that resonates and builds the strength of those around you.

Yes, our second day of travel was superfantastic and is hard to put in word. It as so humbling to go through Oklahoma and Texas, because you can see nothing but vast grasslands that are as level as a football field yet go on and on and on forever! You seem so small in the midst of all this. It is really strange, because while once living many years in extreme south Alabama, which is flat, for some reason you just cant see the edge of the world like you can in Oklahoma and Texas. To imagine the days of the buffalo and the only manner of transportation was horse or foot compounds the vastness of the open range. Our trip this day also took us past the huge windmill farms where by these giant several story 2 armed windmills slowing but continuously turned generating electricty for so many people. I never tired of looking at these unusual monstrosities, like aliens from another world. We rode for miles and miles in amazement of this strange and thought provoking region of the country and was finally getting use to seeing the grasslands that stretch forever with only a few deserted homesteads and hundreds of the old fashioned windmills some still pumping water up to small ponds for thousands of cows and horses, when, all at once the world as we have come to know it changed to a wierd landscape with only scrub brush and these hill that come from nowhere that somehow are as flat as a tabletop. It was as if we were insects in a yard and someone mowed our world and cut off every mountain top level. This started just a very few miles east of New Mexico on Interstate 40 and continued for miles and miles and we had to get used to the strange landscape all over again. We are ahead of the plan by a few miles and are now in Albequirque (sorry I dont have time to check the spelling, we are getting ready for our 3rd exciting day out west) I did not get a chance to mention the Old Route 66 road we took through Groom Tx where things remain much as they one did, or our stop at the Cadillac Ranch where the several very old Cadallics half planted in the ground, front bumper skyward as corn plants would be. I could not believe that there was a continuous line of people actually trudging out 100 yards into a field to see this oddity. The custom is to take a can of spray paint and paint whatever you desire on this metal plants of old. Thanks to Kim and Scott and later Wolfie and Juanita, who dug around in a dumpster to come up with some half-used cans of paint, we all painted our own remembrances there.

Well its time to get ready for more exploring of this country. I cant wait until we get on the bikes again in a few minutes.

Day 2. New Mexico!

We arrived at the hotel in Alburquerque, NM at about 10:15 PM after riding 530 miles today. We got ready to leave and Bo locked his bike keys and trailer keys in the trailer (again). He employed Wolfie and a bobby pin and he picked the lock in about 2 minutes. Signs of a mis-spent youth. When we left Oklahoma City, we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. I know most people know what this memorial symbolizes but in case you don't, it is a memorial dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing. When a troubled and confused young man named Timothy McVay created a bomb out of ammonium nitrate(fertilizer)and gasoline, then placed the mixture in a rented Ryder truck and parked outside the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He lit a fuse and then ran like a coward. The memorial is a real emotional experience and is worth a visit if you are in the area. The trip from Oklahoma thru Texas was real flat, very few turns, not curves and some trees. The interstate is not real pleasing but you can travel a lot of miles to get to a destination. The landscape in this area was real strange. We were about 7 miles from the New Mexico state line on I-40 and we crested a small hill. All of a sudden the landscape was like something out of a western. Open land and flat mountian tops. I have never seen anything like it in person. I was truly awestruck. Talk about being in the middle of no where. There was nothing, I mean nothing out there but wide open spaces. You travel many, many miles between exits, rest stops and very few gas stations. I have never paid more attention to a gas guage in all of my life. I can guarantee you it would not be a pleasant place to run out of gas or break down. The landscape looked like a desert, but instead of sand there was short sage brush everywhere. The price of gas was another surprise. It is cheaper here than in Alabama. About $3.80 every where we stop.

We stopped to eat supper and the group decided to drive a little further than planned. Once again another surprise came up. The weather today was great. Never got over 82 degrees. However, in the open plains when night comes, the temperature drops fast, really fast. It got down to 60 degrees on our extended mileage! Another thing we did not expect was the elevation change. We were 7000 feet above sea level and it didn't seem like it at all. I guess it gradually went up after Oklahoma.

We have traveled a total of 1308 miles in the past two days. Tomorrow we head further east and will drive thru the painted desert and visit the Grand Canyon, where we will stay the night. Tomorrow we plan to travel 400 miles.

It is past time for me to get some sleep. Later................

June 28, 2008. Departure day

I am posting this a day late because of computer problems at the hotel. We left as planned at 5:00 am and hit the road without delay. We didn't get much sleep, down at 11:30 and up at 4:00 and woke up about every hour. Just excited I guess. We met Bo and Cindy in Pell City and then met Wolfie and Juanita in Moody about 20 minutes later. We jumped on the road and headed towards Oklahoma. One thing that all of us discovered was that the gas mileage dropped considerably when we were pulling trailers. It went from about 42 down to 33! While in Arkansas and Oklahoma we encountered someone speaking an amazing amount of really fast spanish on the CB. He was talking so fast we couldn't even talk on the radio and he went on for about 30 minutes and it seemed like he didn't even take a breath! We all stopped at a Burger King in Wynne, AR and used their concrete tables to make sandwiches for lunch. It was a well needed break and a well needed sandwich. The weather was really not that bad. We had rain for about 30 minutes, but we just put on our rain gear and kept on going. It is actually cooler here than in Alabama. The high in Oklahoma was about 86 degrees. We arrived late, around 9:00 PM, in Oklahoma City and found a hotel after riding 750 miles the first day. We ran into a little challenge when we tried to find a room because there was some kinda dog show in town and all the rooms were booked. The girls briefly talked about shaving Wolfie for the show, but it never got that far.

It was a great day of riding and tomorrow we are off to New Mexico.

New pads front & rear

Thanks to really good friends that know how to do stuff, my Goldwing ride now has new brake pads front and rear (2 front sets and 1 rear set = $137.00 for the parts). She now has 6 brand new spark plugs ($18.48), and a new CB antenna ($132.00) Whew! I think she is ready! It sure was nice of Rodney, JR and Chuck to lay hands on my ride! Nicer friends can not be found anywhere. Thanks to Scott for helping me earlier with my short in my MP3 Player/XM satelite and helping me change out the engine and diff oils and filter. Thank goodness I dont have to do anything by myself! Now all we have to do is pack tomorrow after work and get a good nights rest, then we point um west and leave our home, pets, and most of our freinds behind. Gee this is getting sad.

Almost 1 week before Westerward Ho'ing

Trying to make sure the Wing is ready and maintenance free for this trip. There is nothing worse than using scarce vacation days in the middle of a trip at a high priced garage getting raped by someone you dont even know! Its bad enough getting hosed by a what you thought was a friend (old Bessies Cycle Barn installing my car tire on the wheel -$50.00!!!!!!!!!!!!) but to take it from a foreigner in a far off place (geographically speaking) is even worse! Oil is changed, wheel bearings checked on the trailer, we decided that I need some front brake pads and it would not hurt to change out my brake fluid..front brakes dont stop like they used to. I got some new sparky plugs and need to get those in too. I only wish we had a few more good friends going with us! I think everyone is afraid of the first day long ride...come on guys..it will actually be fun, heck with only 300 more miles we could all get an Iron Butt patch along with the vacation!