September 3rd
We got an early start. I had a short devotional with MaryJo before I left the house. Randy and I met at the Circle K. A quick last-minute check and top off the gas. By 8:00am, then we were off! My starting mileage on the odometer is: 16,197.
A quick stop in Rienzi so Randy to get a picture of one of the Mississippi’s Tour of Honor sites that Randy needs. Instead of a quick photo and go, we walk around and read the various signs. <picture(s) from Randy>
We spend about 5 miles on US45, then make a turn onto MS30. Winding backroads through Holly Springs National Forest to Oxford. We stop for the Tour of Honor site south of Oxford. Relaxed a bit and were ready to hit the road again. <picture from Randy>
About 1pm, we pull into Trace-Way in Mathison for lunch. MaryJo and I have eaten lunch here on a previous ride. We have the option for the buffet or to order off the menu. Burgers and Philly Steak sandwiches for us.
After lunch, we make a quick stop at the Tour of Honor site at the Police Station in Mathison. Randy gets the required picture and we are on the road again. <picture from Randy>
A quick stop at the North Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery on US82 in Winona, MS. We both get out pictures here. Though it isn’t a primary Tour of honor site, it is a bonus site. I haven’t stopped here this year, so we both got pictures.
About 2 hours on US82 and we pull into Greenwood, MS. Many neat stories here; some good, some not as good. We get to the memorial for Randy to get his picture at the Tour of Honor site here. <pictures>
I do some checking on restaurants and hotels close by. The hotel I had planned to use for tonight was open, but they don’t have rooms available. Parking lot is totally empty! Oh well, we went to the site that I was using as a backup plan. Rivals Steak House was a short walk for supper. Great way to end the first day. A great burger and a couple of cold beers.
Today’s route on Spotwalla: click here
Randy is already talking about our trips for next year!
September 4th
This morning, we visited several sites in Arkansas; Star City and Little Rock. Nice back roads, but nothing really spectacular. We made a quick stop at Beebe for a Gold Star Memorial visit.
We saw an ad for Freddie’s and agreed that it would be the backup if the diner we had planned to visit for lunch ended up being closed. Being Labor Day, the diner was closed; so, Freddie’s it was! At lunch, we talked about the afternoon to Fort Smith and avoiding interstate. US-64 follows near I-40, so we could start on US-64 then get on I-40 if we wanted to make up some time. Looking over the map, I mentioned that there was no real reason to stop in Fort Smith; no memorials along the way. I suggested that we take the back roads to Fayetteville. Nice twisty roads, small town, but there was a chance we could get hit with some rain. We adjusted our plans and Fayetteville was now our target for the night. But first, we make a quick stop at the Tour of Honor site in Searcy.
About an hour in, the skies turn dark. We pulled over for Randy to get his rain gear and for me to zip up my gear. We hit a few spots of light rain, but the skies had serious dark spots. When we saw lightning and heard thunder, we pulled over to let the storm pass. We checked the weather radar and decided to wait it out for about 30 minutes. I made a hotel reservation for Fayetteville.
Once the skies cleared, we were quickly enjoying some beautiful roads! We pulled into the hotel about 6:30pm and we were exhausted. Serranos Mexican Grill and Cantina was our supper stop.
Got the route planned for tomorrow and loaded into the GPS. I know that I will be spending a lot of time listening to “RECALCULATING” once we get on Route 66; maybe I will just mute the GPS on the bike.
Already talking about options for the ride back. A ride through Vegas may be on the agenda. We will see what happens.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 5th
Short mileage, but long day.
We headed out from Fayetteville determined to stay off interstates; and we did it. Even with plenty of dark skies ahead of us, we managed to miss the rains.
First stop was Veteran Cemetery at Fort Gibson. Fairly easy access and we were in and out quickly. <pictures>
Next was the Tour of Honor site and Gold Star memorial in Broken Arrow. Since we wanted to stay off interstates and toll highways, this took about an hour longer; but the scenery was beautiful. <pictures>
If we had been willing to hop on the toll interstate, it would have taken less than 30 minutes to get to Happy Burgers in Sapulpa, but we enjoyed the 45 minutes going through towns. We were officially on Rt 66 as we neared Happy Burgers.
Was this the best burger we have ever had? Nope, but it was good. It was fresh and the fries were hand cut, not from a bag. We followed the signs which led us off the track that we wanted to take. I doubled back through town and got on the road I wanted to ride.
We got to the Heart of 66 Auto Museum less than 15 minutes after lunch. I had looked over their website and expected we would be in and out in about 15-20 minutes. Nope, we were there for over an hour. We may have even stayed longer if the curator hadn’t mentioned that the Seaba Motorcycle Museum was about an hour up the road and would be closed tomorrow. We were rolling.
The next hour was when it started getting hot. The temps were over 100 when we pulled into the parking lot of Seaba Motorcycle Museum. If the GPS had not given me warning, we would have ridden past. We stayed here for over an hour; both enjoying the motorcycles and enjoying the cool building. As we got ready to leave, we talked about how far we wanted to go today. We went through more drinks trying to stay hydrated.
I wanted to stop at Pops 66 and get a picture of the soda bottle out front. We decided to head there, get something cold to drink, and plot out where we would stay. We enjoyed Black Cherry Sodas while we decided to stay at the Sleep Inn in Edmond. I used points from other trips to give us a free night. Supper at the Mexican place next door was even better than last night, and the margarita was one of the best that I have had.
I had a scare since I couldn’t find my SpotX. I had put it in the front pocket of the cooler. Now I am trying to find the thumb-drive. I hope that I left it on the bike. I will check in the morning.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 6th
The thumb-drive was on the bike. I got the route loaded and everything was great.
We started the day on the interstate heading toward downtown Oklahoma City. We veered off and headed west before we go too close to the downtown traffic. We were soon back on Route 66.
Because we were heading out earlier today, we scrapped one of the museums (the one in Fort Reno, OK). We got the picture of the doughboy in El Reno and were on our way.
We spent the morning trying to take as little interstate as possible. A few stretches of Route 66 were actually part of I-40. We got a little side trip due to the GPS routing, but eventually got back on track. We stopped for an early lunch after visiting Lucille’s Gas Station.
We talked about a museum that was nearby, so off we went. There was a Huey in front of the museum and we planned to get that picture after we did a quick view of the museum. The “quick view” ended up being over an hour and a half. This meant that the other museums would have to be scrapped for today. That was okay with us since this particular museum was fantastic!
We spent most of the afternoon on the interstate. We visited the Tour of Honor memorial in Sayre, OK. and filled up the bikes after that stop. Our sights now set on Amarillo, TX for the night. I went ahead and made a hotel reservation so we would know that we had a place for the night.
Supper was at The Big Texan steak house. The service for the wait was awful. Almost to the point that we started to leave. I think a few years ago I would have just left. BUT, the food made up for the wait. Randy had a sirloin and I had a ribeye. We were both members of the “clean plate club.”
Tomorrow, we will head to Taos, NM. We will be there for a few days, then start our trip home. So far, we have 1300 miles on this trip. More to come!
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 7th
Today’s ride was AWESOME! Had a few challenging moments, but overall, it was great. The day started with a beautiful sunrise!
We started the day heading to visit the Cadillac Ranch. At the intersection to get to the Cadillac Ranch was a statue that we wanted to get a picture of it with the bikes. Once we made the turn, it was about a mile or so to the Cadillac Ranch. After doing the visit, Randy realized that he lost his seat cushion. When we had stopped at the statue, he put it behind his spare helmet. It blew out while we drove to the Cadillac Ranch. We rode back up to the statue, both of us looking on the shoulders of the road for the seat cushion. Once we got back to the statue, neither of us had any luck. I was going to turn and get back on the interstate; Randy made a U-turn to get back on the road we had planned. As we got about halfway back to the Cadillac Ranch, we saw the cushion off to the side of the road. I pointed at it and stopped. Randy stopped behind me and I ran to pick it up. He was happy to have it back!
First half of the day was mostly interstate. We rode to Tucumcari for the Tour of Honor site, then on to Santa Rosa. We spent a little time at the museum. It was okay, be both like the museum from yesterday. It had about 30 cars, half of them were available for sale. Most were out of my budget.
I had scoped out a restaurant less than two miles up the road. We pulled into the lot and it was empty. I checked the sign and it didn’t open until 4pm. We decided to just continue on the route and pull into a spot that looked promising. That we did! Comet II was on the right about a mile up the road. We pulled into the parking lot and headed inside. Randy got the enchiladas; I got a cheese burger. Burger was better than most of the previous burgers. Randy liked the enchiladas. Once finished, they treated us with dessert. It was a flan like warm custard with nutmeg. VERY good!
The stop for lunch was much longer than planned. But like all the other diversions, worth it. We talked with the owner. He is a veteran and had moved back to Santa Rosa to take care of his aging parents (his dad had been sitting at the counter with another friend).
Our next stop was the hotel for the meet-up. We gassed up as we got close to Las Vegas, NM then enjoyed some twisty roads with great scenery. As I would enter a curve, I would check the mirror for Randy. At one point, I checked as I started into some tight turns that required a lot of concentration. When I came out of the curves, Randy was not behind me. There was no place for me to pull off the road, so I just sat close to the edge with my flashers on. I tried to wave down a few cars until I finally got one who stopped. I asked if they had seen a bike down within the last mile or two. They asked what color bike. I said that Randy was on a red bike. The lady in the car said that they had passed a red bike on the side of the road, but no rider. They offered to go back to check on him. A few minutes later, I saw Randy. The car that was checking on him was behind him. He had a nature call and had to stop.
We got checked into the hotel and relaxed at the bar for a bit. Randy and I talked, very good conversation. We ordered burgers from the bar. They were the best so far. Ran into Blaine, he talked about his move from Nashville to Phoenix. He loves it in Phoenix and his health is improving since he goes swimming almost every day. We are talking about a ride tomorrow.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 8th
Randy keeps starting a movie that I haven’t seen, gets me interested, then we miss breakfast! Yeah, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.
Got a text from Blaine that he was going to head to Madrid to see Maggie’s Diner. It was the major location of the movie “Wild Hogs” and is a souvenir shop now. I call him and he was about a mile up the road stopped for gas and would wait for us to catch up. Blaine led the way, Randy in the middle, and I was in the rear.
I didn’t want Randy in the back. I didn’t want Blaine and me to run off without Randy. Or, something happen to Randy and we not notice it for a few miles. Me being in the rear also gave me a chance to view the scenery a little more.
Blaine led us to Madrid and we found Maggie’s Diner with an empty parking lot. We got parked and headed in. It was neat to just look around. I got a patch, a couple of magnets, and several stickers.
As we were ready to leave, the parking lot was now full. I wanted to go up the street to another gift shop to find a cookbook for MaryJo. No luck on the cookbook, but some of the bikes and the truck in the lot had left by the time we got back. I led to the Harley shop and the Tour of Honor event.
The road in Madrid led us less than a block from the dealership. The traffic picked up as we got close to Santa Fe, but not bad. We pulled into the parking lot with a few minutes to spare for the group photo. We went to help finish off the lunch of Frito Pie.
Blaine led us back to the hotel. We had one incident where a car was tailgating me as I was trying to pass a slower car. Once I was able to move over, they took off with Randy as their target. Sonn traffic was clear. Randy’s low fuel light began flash with over 200 miles on the tank, so a quick stop for him to get a splash of gas. Safely back at the hotel. I will fill up in the morning; I currently have a little over 240 on my tank with still a ¼ tank of gas according to the gauge.
Supper was fantastic! I got pictures and sent to MaryJo.
Relaxed and worked on the route home. I have a tentative route, but last day will have a LOT of miles. I will talk with Randy about a couple of options. We will get to Vegas and California, but Colorado and Utah may not be on the route.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 9th
Had four delays due to construction. Two different areas, but we had to pass through going back and forth. They added about 45 minutes to our travel times.
Randy and I had breakfast across the street from the hotel at Taos Java. Good coffee and the breakfast empanadas were fantastic.
We started the day riding to Angel Fire, NM. On the way, we found our first construction area. We saw the sign that warned of construction delays and suggested we seek alternate routes. The alternates would have delayed us getting to the memorial in time for the group pictures, so we kept on. As we neared the construction site, we kept seeing bikes coming in the opposite direction; some even had Tour of Honor decals. I started to worry that the road would be closed. Once we got to the construction zone, only one lane of traffic could pass at a time; the pilot vehicle would lead a group through the area, then repeat in the opposite direction. We waited about 10 to 15 minutes.
At the delay, we met a local guy who wanted to know more about the Tour of Honor. He followed us to the memorial and even got his picture taken with us.
We opted for the same route to head back. The other route would have taken us much longer and we might have been later to the banquet. The spot with the delay was quick for us heading back; as we pulled up, we made the group to get through.
We made it back from the memorial in time for the banquet. Good food and great time with other riders. This will be the last Ride to Meet. The Brooks brothers would rather have regional area or states do a meet up. They asked me to consider doing something for Alabama and Mississippi. I will think about it.
It was about 4pm when we got back to the room. Randy asked if we could go to the site in Colorado. He didn’t have to force me into that! I called Blaine to ask if he wanted to go with us; he said that he was heading home early in the morning and would pass this time. The ride was beautiful. This led to the area with delays on our way to and from the site in Alamosa, Colorado.
We got back to the hotel after dark. With no light “pollution,” the stars were so beautiful on the road. We could see lights from towns about 30 miles before we got to them; though there weren’t many towns.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 10th
Randy and I had breakfast across the street at Taos Java again. Their breakfast treats were fantastic. Truly a place that I want to visit again.
We rode to Albuquerque and visited a few sites in the park. We ran into another rider from the Tour of Honor, though he was in his car. He is the state sponsor for Georgia (Wes McCann) and was in Taos for the Ride to Meet. <pictures>
The ride through New Mexico and Arizona was windy! On the interstate, we were struggling at 5-10 mph below speed limit. We stopped in Laguna, NM for lunch. Another burger place on Route 66.
As we were just getting back on the interstate and had just crossed into Arizona, I got a call from Blaine. Well, it was Blaine’s phone. The lady on the other explained that the owner of the phone had been involved in a motorcycle accident. They found the phone and my number was the last call on his phone. I did my best to explain who he was and how to get in touch with his family. I couldn’t remember his wife’s name at the time. (That evening, I remembered it was Wilma.) I asked how badly was he hurt, the lady said pretty bad. I said I would try to get in touch with his family, or at least get some information.
We made it to Winslow, AZ. Randy and I were both excited to get our picture “standing on the corner.” <picture>
While in Winslow, I checked the phone and tried to call Blaine’s phone. It was now going directly to voicemail. I found Blaine’s wife on Facebook and sent her a message. I hoped that they had gotten in touch with her or that at least she had a way to know his location. (This is a reason that I had a tracker with me when I am on the bike. If something happens, MaryJo can find me.)
Over the next few days, I learned that Blaine was killed in the motorcycle accident. They medics had transported him from Holbrook area to Flagstaff to medivac him. He died before in the ambulance. He had turned off the interstate (I-40) and was heading to Phoenix on AZ-377. He passed a semi-truck, not sure if he clipped the truck he was passing or was clipped by a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Either way, his bike hit another vehicle and he lost control, being tossed off the road. The truck he was passing was able to stop in time to keep from hitting him.
We stopped for the night in Williams, AZ. I have scoped out this town since it is 1,520 miles from my house. Google says I could get there in 22 hours. Being shifted by one or two time zones (depends on whether in Daylight Savings Time or not since Arizona does not shift to Daylight Savings Time), I could use this for a Bun Burner 1,500 Iron Butt Ride.
We stopped at the Comfort Inn at the west side of town and walked to the Frontier BBQ and Beer Garden. BBQ for supper and we each had a nice tall beverage. No pictures, food was gone before we could take a picture. We got clothes washed for the trip home.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 11th
Started a few minutes later than planned, but we were rolling. Sun coming up made the ride even more beautiful. We spent about half of the day on the interstate.
A quick stop along US93 at about the 2-hour mark to stretch and drink water. The scenery even there was great.
We stopped at the visitor center near Lake Mead to get a view of the lake. Water levels are so far down that the intake is above the water level by several feet. We asked the ladies at the Visitor Center if they could recommend any places in Boulder City for lunch. They said there were several. Cornish Pasties was one that they both mentioned.
We got to Boulder City and stopped for a quick lunch. We parked a block from Cornish Pasties and walked over. We got a table outside and relaxed. Once we ordered, we were told that though the pasties were made fresh this morning, they would need to be heated about 20 minutes; much longer than expected. As we plotted the day, we decided to postpone the two sites in Boulder City until tomorrow. I made hotel reservations in Boulder City and we wouldn’t go to Pahrump.
Several sites that we thought about visiting that wouldn’t fit into our timeline, but we were going to visit Count’s Kustoms. We had some traffic in Las Vegas, but nothing too bad. We got to the showroom and we were in awe! Danny has some of his cars and other examples of the shop’s work on display. We found out that the crew had a signing session a few hours earlier. I teased Randy that his stomach caused us to miss Danny! We both got plenty of pictures. We also got some t-shirts. <pictures>
As we were loading things on Randy’s bike, Ryan (the painter) came out of the office and was walking across the parking lot. We got his attention and each got pictures. We saw a couple of the other guys from the show as we were leaving.
A little traffic as we headed back to Boulder City, but a quick shortcut reduced the trip by almost 10 minutes. Once checked into the room, I started working on tomorrow’s route and some other things while Randy got a nap.
Again, supper was good. We were expecting the Southwest Diner to be more of an old-style diner. It was more of a mom and pop. Food was good and decent price. The desserts looked fantastic, but neither of us had room for dessert.
I got in touch with Wilma’s (Blaine’s wife) and forwarded her information to a few others who she did not know how to contact, Robert Saunooke being one. She also gave me an update on the police report on the accident. Synopsis is that Blaine was passing a truck and clipped a car that was in the opposite lane, causing him to clip the truck. This sent his bike into a roll; the truck he was passing was able to stop to keep from running over Blaine. He was unconscious when the EMS arrived and he passed away while being transported to a waiting med-flight.
Blaine will be missed. A picture popped up on Robert’s timeline of the picture that Blaine, Jeff, and I had taken while we were on the ride three years ago today.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 12th
Long hot day. Visited three Tour of Honor sites and one cemetery. 429 miles. Three states. We got pictures of the California and Nevada signs. We officially rode in California.
After breakfast, okay, it was a breakfast bar and a small cup of OJ, we hit the road. As for the breakfast, they are starting to open the breakfast in a few weeks after not having the full breakfast for a couple of years.
We visited the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery for both the Veteran Cemetery bonus and one of the state Tour of Honor sites. I have gotten to the point where I am no longer in a rush. We have a few places that we want to visit on the way home, but I think that we will have plenty of time to visit them and still not to have to rush like I usually do. So, we relaxed and enjoyed looking around the cemetery and the Tour of Honor site. There were a few other memorials with the one we need to have a picture with. <pictures>
Leaving Boulder City, we headed to California. Not that we had any sites to see in California, we just wanted to ride into the state to be able to say that we had been there. We parked behind the “Welcome to California” sign. I noticed that it even had and “America’ Ultimate Long Distance Riders” sticker. We also managed to get a picture of the “Welcome to Nevada” sign. <pictures>
We crossed into Arizona and headed to Bullhead City. We rode into the park. Once in the park, the GPS was saying that we passed the memorial. We walked through the park and got a few other pictures. Then I looked for the specific memorial that we wanted for this town. Yep, we had passed it. It was the small marker at the entrance to the park. We got our pictures and decided it was time to eat. <pictures>
Randy and I have both gotten into the habit of looking for local places to eat. We spotted one a few blocks from the park and had a great lunch. Lunch was pretty good at Coyote Café, service was a little slow.
Over 200 miles to our target in Phoenix. We spent a lot of time on two lane roads with little traffic. We got to Phoenix and I decided to scrap going to the Arizona State Capitol. Several memorials on the grounds, but we didn’t want to handle the traffic. We headed to Casa Grande.
It was getting late as we were getting the pictures at the memorial in Casa Grande. I got the reservations for the hotel on the north side go Tucson, only about 50 miles away. It was still light, and would get there just after sunset. <pictures>
We pulled into the hotel, unloaded, walked next door to Cracker Barrel for supper, and were ready for bed. Other than a mix up on the reservations, but we got that resolved with a quick phone call.
Great day, not a lot of interstate riding, and the scenes were beautiful!
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 13th
Today was a blast! We were behind schedule since the time we hit the road. We hit construction in Tucson that put us further behind.
We eventually made it to Fort Huachuca to visit the Veteran Cemetery and the Gold Star memorial. We spent some time in the chapel and got a picture of one particular quilt that was on the wall. It was a flag with the Huachuca Mountains in the background. This was the view from the chapel! This was supposed to be a 10-15 minute stop; we were there for about 30-45 minutes. <pictures>
Our next stop was Tombstone. We parked next to the historic courthouse. We took the tour of the courthouse. They said that since we paid for the courthouse tour, the bikes could stay in the courthouse parking lot.
We had lunch at the OK Café. We each had a Buffalo burger. It was very good. We took a stroll through town. We noticed the skies were getting dark, so we decided to hit the road.
We were able to stay just ahead of the rain storm. The road would turn to the east just as it would start to sprinkle. We got to the museum at Rodeo, NM where there was a memorial. We met another couple who were turning into the storm. We spent a few minutes at the memorial while Randy put on his rain gear. We got the picture for the Tour of Honor, and we were on the road just as the rain started. <picture>
Once we were on the road, we had only a few minutes of hard rain. A few miles down the road, we hit an area where gravel had been spread on the road. The first few miles it was rough; there was a lot of gravel and it was very loose. The last 10 miles wasn’t as bad. There was some gravel, but we could find a path to ride.
Once we were able to get on the interstate, we were able to get ahead of the rain. We made it to the hotel while the dinner area and bar were still open. We had 30 minutes to get our drinks and food for supper. We made it!
I worked on the route until late, I still have more work to do on it. There aren’t many options for places to stay on the route that was my primary route.
Overall, each day I am happier that Randy came with me. If he had not been with me, I might not have spent as much time in the chapel and seen the quilt. I am sure that I would not have stopped in Tombstone; though we missed seeing Boothill Cemetery. More importantly, Randy is forcing me to take breaks. I have tended to have blinders on that keep me focused on the next site instead of the trip.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 14th
We got a late start because I had to finish up the route. I did some praying last night for guidance on the route. Last night I had worked on two options; this morning, a third option came up. It worked out great.
We started the day at the Veterans Park in Las Cruces, which was only a few miles from the hotel. We got pictures for the state memorial, a huey, and the Gold Star memorial. <pictures>
We spent all day on the interstate. We had some areas of construction, but we didn’t lose too much time. I had two options for tonight’s stop. As we got to the first option, I was already tired. I needed to stop. I explained to Randy and he was good with it.
Supper was at another Mexican restaurant. This one was a family restaurant. Supper was great!
The route for tomorrow and most of the route home is done!
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 15th
Overnight, a storm came through. I was sleeping well enough that I thought that MaryJo needed to check on Blue. When I realized where I was, I settled back to sleep, hoping that the rain would stop by the time we were ready to leave.
When we got up, the sun was out, though there were some clouds ahead of us. We agreed that we would stop at least every two hours. The plan was to leave at 8:00am. We were close, at least we were loading the bike at 8:00am. We rolled out about 8:15am.
We stopped about 10am for a stretch and a drink. That was a refreshing break and helped to keep us going. We got to the first stop of the day at noon. In Mineral Wells is the National Vietnam War Museum. There is a replica of “The Wall” which is in Washington, DC. This is the memorial that we were looking to find for the Tour of Honor. We also found the Huey and the War-Dog memorial. <pictures>
We stopped for lunch at Skinny’s Hamburgers in Weatherford. Another great hamburger. Though there was a line to place orders, it moved quickly. We got our food quickly, and it was great.
We headed to our next stop, Ennis, TX. We skirted Fort Worth, avoiding major traffic and only minor construction. We found the site. Randy went to use the restroom while I got the pictures we needed for the Tour of Honor and War-Dog memorials. <pictures>
When he got back, he noticed that there was an oil spot under his bike. We took some time to check that it was coming from his bike and not that he had just parked over an existing spot. As we talked, I told him a drop just fell from his bike. We called a couple of local shops. One didn’t even want to work on his bike. The other offered to at least take a look at the bike. We got the address in Waxahachie and headed to The Shop.
The owner looked over the bike and told Randy that he thinks it is the oil cooler. He doesn’t have the parts and would have to order them. The lines looked okay. Time to think about contingencies.
First option was that I would ask MaryJo to drive the truck to us in Waxahachie. Option two was for me to take off right away to pick up the truck and drive back to pick up Randy’s bike. Randy wanted to rent a truck and trailer to take the bike back. Though expensive, the wisest option was to get a truck here and take the bike back.
Randy called U-Haul, I called for a hotel room. We rode to the U-Haul store. If I had known where the store as located, I would have waited to get the hotel reservation. The hotel was only a few miles from the shop; the U-Haul was about 15 miles. We eventually got the bike loaded and Randy followed me back to the hotel.
MaryJo and I had talked earlier today that everything happens for a reason. I have gotten to know Randy and glad that we can now ride together. This trip has been fantastic, the best I can ever remember.
Randy and I talked about how God puts us where he needs us. I am glad that we saw the problem with Randy’s bike today when we could get a truck. What would have happened if the bike broke down tomorrow while we were in an isolated area?
Our plan for tomorrow is that I will follow Randy. He will set the pace in the truck with his bike on the trailer. We will see how tomorrow goes.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
September 16th
We got up this morning and it was different. Packing was much easier for one thing. Not that we packed more or less, it seemed like everything knew where it was supposed to go. Randy put the cooler in the cab of the van; this saved me a huge problem of tying it down. I will work on a new plan for that in the future.
Randy’s tooth was bothering him today. He only ate some yogurt. Last night he only ate about half of the salad. He wasn’t very hungry, and the tooth kept him from chewing or opening his mouth very wide.
I led to the gas station; Randy led after we gassed up. At about our two-hour mark, I called to suggest that we take a quick break. He pulled into the rest area and we stretched our legs and I got a drink.
We were focused on getting home; no sightseeing, no meandering, and as few back roads as possible. We just wanted to get home. We still took breaks every two hours in addition to our gas stops. Randy was able to get 300 miles on the tank in the van, I was getting over 200 on the bike.
The plug in the van for Randy’s phone did not charge it. His phone was about dead. I offered him my charging pack, but that was dead too! Because of that, I took the lead about 50 miles from West Memphis, AR. I was glad that I did. The signs weren’t very clear about the construction once I-55 crosses into Memphis. I led via I-40, then down I-240; this may have saved us 30 minutes or more plus the frustration.
Total ride today was 633 miles. I had stopped to top of the gas near the local Harley shop and pee. We decided to officially end our trip at that point. We had 5013 miles on this trip. I got in about 650 miles more than Randy since we had to load his bike on the trailer.
I am glad that Randy joined me. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating; he has helped me to slow down and not ride with blinders on. He has also helped me to keep a watch for new places. I am glad that we rode together.
Glad to be home.
Todays route on Spotwalla: click here
Entire trip on Spotwalla: click here