Oranges

Tuesday, June 21st.

What a gorgeous day to wake up to!  It was perfect!  I jumped on the bike and quickly passed through Alabama and into Florida!  I can taste the third corner, Key West.  My mouth salivates at the thought of it!  I can also taste oranges.  hhhhmmmmm.....

I drove 317 miles to the state's capital Tallahasee and stopped for the night.  The next day I rode the 219 miles to Land O' Lakes, Florida.  Not so much because I like butter, but because this is where my Aunt Colleen, Uncle Ray, and my two cousins, Emma, 5, and Julia, 4, live.  Ray and Colleen feel more like cousins because we are so close in age.  Great to see them again! 

Friday I met my Uncle Jack in Homossasa Springs, an hour north of Tampa, with plans to go out on the Gulf of Mexico on his boat.  The weather was calling for thunderstorms, so we just took the boat out on the Crystal River, and relaxed for a couple of hours, jumping in the aptly named crystal clear water of the Crystal River.  As I rode back to my Aunt Colleen's house, I got hit with those thunderstorms, and am starting to think I should just abandon all other form of clothing, and keep my rain gear on permanently.

Saturday Ray had a Harley booked to rent.  Of course, it was raining when we woke up, excited for a nice little Saturday ride.  The weather cleared by the time we were ready for the day's ride, after a little photo session with my cousin's sitting on our Harleys.  We cruised around central Florida, and stopped at a little Italian place in a remote part of Florida for some lunch.  Ray and I were pleasantly surprised at how delicious the enormous calzone we were served was!  Part of the pleasure of riding is finding little treats like this, in off the beaten path places you might not find if you were in your car, heading for a specific destination.   Once again, the rain wanted to join the party and we got soaked as we made our way back to Ray's house.

Thanks so much to Ray, Colleen, Jack, Emma, and Julia!  Good times in the Tampa area!

Ghost Rider

Saturday, June 18th.

My cousin, Brad, from Cleveland, happened to be visiting his uncle an hour north of Houston.  Because I was so close, and it was random we were both in Texas at the same time, he invited me to his uncle's house for a night.  His uncle, Pete, has a gorgeous house on Lake Conroe.  After the short 148 mile drive there, Pete cooked us up some burgers and dogs, and we ate outside facing the beautiful lake.  We did a little night swimming in the neighbors pool, and called it a day.

                                                   Pete's dog rides a Harley

In the morning, after some kayaking on the lake, I thanked Pete for his hospitality, interesting stories from his 30 year career as a pilot, and headed for Louisiana!

It was a bittersweet ride to Louisiana.  It was Sunday, June 19th, Father's day.  The joy at reaching Louisiana was fighting the sadness of Father's day.  After all the miles I've ridden, it's starting to feel like the home stretch.  I made it a short day of riding, and stopped in Lake Charles after only 166 miles. 

Monday morning I woke up to an overcast day, which soon became thunderstorms.  I stopped and put my rain gear on, then the sun would come out.  So I'd take my rain gear off, and get back on the road.  Then it would storm again.  It continued like this all morning.  When I was ready to ride it would start raining.  When I'd stop because of the rain, it would become sunny.  It was like the clouds didn't want me riding, and when I'd attempt to get on the highway, they would spit on me!

Again, thoughts of quitting entered my mind as I drove 20 mile in two hours because of thunderstorms.  But I forged on, and the afternoon was humid, but it didn't rain very much. 

I was also remined of the contrasts in America.  I'd spent 6 days in Texas, where it was very dry.  In Louisiana, however, right next door to Texas, I'm surrounded by swamp!  In the afternoon I crossed the border into Mississippi.  Ever see Mississippi burning?  No, I don't mean the movie.  On either side of the highway Mississippi was burning.  Smoke engulfed the highway, and fire crews were working to put out a fire.  I wouldn't call it a forest fire, but the ground was smoldering on either side of the highway, in an area about the size of a football field.  Odd considering I had just driven through swamp land.  Riding through the smoke I felt like Ghost Rider!

After 284 miles, I stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi, a place that has bad memories from a road trip gone bad 3 years ago.  But that's another story.

Austin

Thursday, June 16th.

The ride to Austin was uneventful.  Hot, and of course, windy.

It was nice to see another familiar face in Austin.  My friend Mike has a house he rents with his bandmate/friend, and they were nice enough to put up for my time in Austin.  We went out that night and met up with another friend of ours who lives in Austin.  Friday, I went to Cowboy Harley and got another oil change.  After I got back, Mike came home from work and took me to the Barton Springs, where the water is always 67 degrees Farenheit.  We took a refreshing swim.  That night we had a chilled night at a very cool outdoor bar.  Austin, stay cool. 

Yeeeehaaaaawwwwww!!!!!

Monday, June 13th.

The morning started out great, but as it wore into the afternoon, the wind picked up and I struggled.  Near the Texas border, the New Mexico landscape started to flatten, and as I crossed into Texas, the landscape became flat and brown, and it was hot!

To imagine riding a motorcycle through Texas:
Close your eyes.  Picture the color light brown as far as the eye can see all around you.  Now imagine a dragon is breathing fire on you.  Even the wind is hot!

Flat, dry, hot, and windy.  Each mile seems like an eternity.

I stopped in Childress after 293 torturous miles, and made a bad hotel choice.  My room had flies in it.  I went to the front desk and said there were several flies in my room, expecting the receptionist to give me another room.  Her response was, "Oh, you want the Raid then?"  Uh, apparently flies in the room are not so unusual, and they have Raid on hand to give to guests to take care of the fly problem. 

The next day I got up to find another windy day.  I have a friend in Forth Worth, 227 miles from Childress.  I fought the wind the whole way, and was relieved to finally arrive at my friend Liz's apartment.  She was out of town, back the next day, but left me a key with the leasing office of her apartment complex.  I got the key, went into Liz's apartment, cranked the A/C, and spent the rest of the day drinking water and cooling off! 

On Wednesday, Liz came back from her business trip and we had planned on spending the day at the pool.  But, I went to breakfast in the morning before Liz got back, and left the battery on on my bike.  Before pool time, I had some errands to run and sat on my bike to find the battery dead.  Instead of pool time, I had the bike put on a flat bed truck, and taken to a Harley dealership.  Bob, in charge of service, charged up the battery for me, and didn't charge me!  Thanks Bob!  No charge for the charging!

When I got back, Liz and I hit the town of Forth Worth.  Some good Mexican food followed by a few tasty beers!  Thanks so much Liz for the hospitality!

The Big Bad Wolf

Sunday, June 12th.

The first half of the day was perfection.  Almost perfection.  At a gas station I got of my bike and forgot to put the kickstand down.  Embarrassingly, I had to pick the bike back up and put the stand down.  Other than that, the sun was shining, the roads were smooth, and New Mexico provided scenery that allowed me to see thousands of years in the past, layer by layer, in rock formations. 

The second half of the day was not so good.  I met the big bad wolf,  who huffed and puffed, and almost knocked me off my bike.  The wind picked up, and made driving difficult.  As I was driving on a two lane road, I got hit by the strongest gust of wind to date, and it carried with it lots of dust.  A truck was behind me when I got hit with the gust that covered me in dust and moved me from near the shoulder to the center line.  I consider myself lucky that there were no oncoming cars, and that I was able to stay on the bike.  I slowed down and let the truck pass, so I could catch my breath and calm down.  The image of the dust wind wall still haunts me. 

High winds the rest of the day didn't allow me to get as far as I would've liked, and I stopped for the day in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, after 323 miles. 

Three Warnings

Saturday, June 11th.

I had about 350 miles left until I reached the monument.  My first trip through Utah was not a pleasant one, because of the weather.  This time, however, was much better, and not at all boring.  The rock formation scenery did not disappoint.  With clear blue skies, and warm to hot temperatures, it was much more enjoyable allowing my eyes quick glances to the left and right as Clyde and I sped along.  I was given a warning to watch my speed by an elderly man dripping with blood from his forehead on the side of the road.  He looked like he lost control of his car, and had smashed into a rock just off the shoulder of the road.  There were plenty of people tending to him, so I didn't stop.  I hoped that his injuries were not severe, and was thankful of his warning of what could happen out here if you weren't careful. 

I stopped for gas several miles later.  A man complimented me on my bike and asked where I was from.  He said that I should be careful.  Lots of gangs in the southwest and that I should be aware of that and avoid them or I'd get ripped off.  At this point in the trip, I wasn't too worried about anything of that nature.  So it's good to be reminded bad things can happen and not to be too relaxed.  It was my second "warning" of the day. 

A bit more cautious, I continued to the Four Corners Monument.  It's in a very remote area, and after driving down some roads where I've never felt more alone, I reached the Four Corners Monument USA! 

The monument where "visitors can simultaneously straddle the territory of four states" is maintained as a tourist attraction by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department. Unlike many other attractions based on political boundaries, such as the Berlin Wall, it is an example of a political boundary as a tourist destination for the sake of itself.  The monument consists of a granite disk embedded with a smaller bronze disk around the point, surrounded by smaller, appropriately located state seals and flags representing both the states and tribal nations of the area. Circling the point, with two words in each state, the disk reads, "Four states here meet in freedom under God." Around the monument, local Navajo and Ute artisans sell souvenirs and food.  The big thing here is to lay with one arm in Utah, one in Colorado, one leg in Arizona, and one leg in New Mexico.

 

Just a few days ago, I had heard about this monument, and now I was there!  Because it was the Four Corners Monument, and I was on a Four Corners trip, this is the only place I felt compelled to buy a souvenir.  I went up to a souvenir stand run by a very sweet woman, picked out a t-shirt, paid her, and walked away.  That's exactly what I did.  I walked away, and forgot to take my t-shirt with me.  Fortunately, as I got to my where my bike was parked, I heard a woman, yelling, "sir, sir!"  And the woman had chased me down to give me what I had purchased, and then stupidly left without!

I drove a few more miles to Farmington, New Mexico and got a room for the night.  A man was being arrested in the hotel parking lot for what looked like a DUI.  Third warning of the day.  Don't drink and drive. 

Tomorrow, Texas!

Snake (River) Bite!

Friday, June 10th. 

It was another beautiful day of riding through Idaho as I headed toward Utah.  It seems the prevalent thing in Idaho, besides potatoes, is Snake river.  I stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho, had some lunch, and then went to Shoshone Falls.  It's like a mini Grand Canyon, with water falls.  After a quick peak, I continued on to drive through Utah a second time on this trip.  What a drive.  As you drive on the highway, look left.  Snow-capped mountains.  Look right.  Snow-capped mountains.  I drove through Salt Lake City, and stopped just outside Provo for the night.  What was the view from my hotel room?  Snow-capped mountains!