Friday October 18 - Zombie Airport

OK, my flights today did not go well..
Being a tightwad, I bought the cheapest flight home I could find which means I ended up with 4 flights (a new record). If you took a probability course along the way, you might guess that the chances of something going wrong increase with the number of flights.
Hotel was fine and sure enough I asked the nice lady at the front desk for a shuttle and she called someone. While I waited I re-hydrated with juice and coffee at the conti bar, and a local guy picked me up and whisked me to the airport. My first flight was at 8:30 and I was there by 6:30, no lines, so plenty of time to read, people watch, drink coffee. First flight Tucson to Chicago went fine, nice chatting with a young college student going to a neuroscience conference. Second flight (Chicago to Laguardia) not so good. Had a nice chat with a crazy NYC woman while we sat on the runway for an hour getting to the bottom of why NYC people dress in black and lean finance. Got to NYC too late to catch my NYC to Philly flight so I found an American Airlines desk and asked them what was next and the not nice lady told me I was out of luck and I would have to buy a new ticket for the next morning to get home. What!! Your crummy airline made me late! So after arguing with her for 15 minutes, I called Deb and she tried to buy me a ticket (easier on a laptop than crummy wifi on a cellphone) using frequent flyer miles, but the website would not let her pay, so she gave me the info and I went back to the AA desk. A new nice young man was there and he tried getting the ticket from his end and they said I had to call an 800 number to complete the sale, which I did, which ended up in auto-bot hell because the computer thought I was already on the plane (the one I just missed) so did not seem to understand why I wanted another flight. Meanwhile Deb was calling American Airlines to try and push it from her end and the bad lady ended her shift. The next thing I knew, the nice young man handed me two boarding passes for the next morning at 6am, no charge. What??

5636 miles

So by then it seemed silly to get a room so what the heck, lets sleep in the airport tonight. I went to my gate for the next morning and started one of the two books I had brought (and never had time to read on the trip) and watched the airport slow down as the last incoming flights trickled to a stop around 12:30 am. Around 1:00 am I realized that I was pretty much the only person there except the cleaning folks and one woman from Colombia in the same situation as I was in. Around this time a friendly TSA guy came and told us we had to leave. What?? And go where, out on the street? No, you can go to the food court. What? There is a food court this time of night? So me and the Colombian woman left the terminal and sure enough the big central food court was open and about 100 other stranded zombies were there. What a non-festive place. Most were trying to sleep, cranky kids, people crashed on the floor, drooped over tables, talking in their sleep. The one bright spot was the cheery woman running the Au Bon Pain place who told me they were open 24/7 with coffee, juice, pastries (best to keep those zombie stomachs full). So Friday night in the zombie airport.
My book soaked the time up and around 4:00 am security re-opened, I got all my stuff x-rayed again and my next flight left promptly at 6:00 am to Philly. I slept all the way, got the last flight to Burlington and slept all the way on that one. Deb was waiting, got my bag from normal baggage claim (how did they figure that out?) and home and straight to bed. 4 hours sleep and off to a party (with coconut creme pie for my birthday cake, yum), home and bed.
The adventure after the adventure ends.

Thursday October 17 - Globe AZ to Tucson AZ

Excellent day and the last one. Motel 6 has coffee and the guy running was very nice. Ran it for 14 years, came from Malaysia, seems proud of his motel and it actually shows in how well maintained it is. Unusual for low end motels. The girl last night at the desk was Apache and had just moved off "the res" to work at the motel. She said there was just an annual Apache get together in town last weekend.
I had plenty of time today, but a lot of moving parts. I went across the street for Micky D's Egg McMuffin for breakfast and two Beemer guys from Colorado were there in full gear and nice new GSS1250's. They were a little taken aback that I had ridden all the way from VT. They had been out a week and were heading back to CO.

I had one missing link which was getting from the storage place to the hotel. I tried setting up and Uber account but ran into password hell so bagged it and decided to just walk it. I sent Uber a message telling them the problem. The a quick trip up to Roosevelt AZ where the Theodore Roosevelt Lake is. I assume it is water for Phoenix, but the road up there is beautiful and it was of course a beautiful day (another one). Lots of twisties and lovely views and no traffic and 70's. The turn around and head back toward Phoenix. As I hit the valley floor, the temperature shot up to the mid 90's and stayed there for the rest of the day. Cut south before I got to the city stuff and found

a mix of nothing scrub/desert and some large cotton fields and hay growing (thanks to irrigation). I tripped onto the spot where Tom Mix died in a car accident in 1940. Sounds like quite a character, living large. I stopped an hour north of Tucson and had a long leisurely coffee break. Uber fixed my account and I finished filling everything out, I made a reservation at the hotel near the airport (with shuttle service). So All I had to do was check at the motel after 3, leave everything I was taking home at the motel and load everything that was going to stay in storage on the bike, ride the bike to the storage place, roll it into the 5x8, oil the chain one last time, lock it up, talk to the nice ladies in the storage place office. A customer in the office used to drive for Uber so explained how it all. I waited on the corner watching the little Uber app car and talked to an older man who was waiting for a truck to show up with some steel. He was a welder and spoke little english, but told me all the different kinds of welding he did (heli-arc, tig, stick, etc). He said years ago he working on California welding up the Exxon Valdez tanker (before it crashed). So I successfully did my first Uber (I know, it's not that hard but, I can check that box..) The Uber guy did it part time and was very pleasant.
So another trip comes to an end. The Kawasaki X300 is awesome. It has been in all 48 lower states. Total miles was 5636 and averaged 332 miles per travelling day. I ended up with too much time but used it doing a big loop around Arizona. Time to go home..

Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 41247
Odometer end of day = 41456
Miles today = 209
Miles on trip to date = 5636
Travel days = 17
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 332

Wednesday October 16 - Benson AZ to Globe AZ

Busy day. First stop was the Tucson Kawasaki dealer, nice big shop, so they are good with me coming back in March and doing a service, maybe a new front tire before I head back east. The I headed for Biosphere 2. A not so nice little bee decided to hop a ride in my helmet and stung me in the ear so I did the classic pull to the side of the road (I10 interstate) while whacking the side of my helmet. I could not find him and feared the worse (he hid down in my shirt somewhere), but he soon came crawling out of my helmet and wandered off down the side of my tank bag. Back into traffic and part way to Biosphere 2 I decided to backtrack back to get the storage place figured out and to find a motel with airport shuttle Friday morning. Storage guys were very friendly and helpful. Sugars out to $38 a month with $25 setup, so pretty reasonable. Nice nice folks.
Then down the street to a motel close to the airport (I can almost walk to it from the storage place), and good to go there. Feels good to have that all setup.

Now, off to the Biosphere north of Tucson. Univ of Arizona now owns it and they have a nice 1-1/2 hr tour of the insides, even the mechanical rooms underneath it (thing fans, pumps, tanks, vents, computers, etc). Good tour for an engineer. Then north another 100 miles to Globe. The temps were in the 90's today but dropped 15-20 degrees as the sun set and I came down the mountain and into Globe. I have stayed in Globe before so I knew a good Mexican place I could walk to. Irene's did not disappoint with an $8 Fajita special and a cold beer. I am pooped and I think it is time to go home.

Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 41033
Odometer end of day = 41247
Miles today = 214
Miles on trip to date = 5427
Travel days = 16
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 339

Tuesday October 15 - Silver City NM to Benson AZ

It was 45 when I got up. I watched some kind of bug crawl across the floor this morning, just to say "Good Morning!". Gotta start working on some better hotels..
All they had this morning was coffee (or rather something brown) so I packed up early and went down the street to a McDonald's and had some breakfast there. Deb called so we caught up while I sipped my coffee. Next door to a gas station where I checked the tire pressure (perfect) and added a little oil since I had noticed it dropping a bit the last week. Not surprised because I have been working this bike pretty hard day after day. I put it in storage in two days and then pick it back up next March when I get a service, oil and maybe a new front tire.
The ride down out of the mountains was very pleasant with almost no traffic. Nice mix of conifers and sage brush. The at Lordsburg I head west on I10, which I was on not that many days ago. Since I got ahead, I am ending up doing a giant loop around Arizona and New Mexico and then back to Tucson. I was originally going to cut the corner down through Rodeo on Rt 80, but when G-Maps said 90 miles to the

next turn, I decided it was a little too desolate and I might have better roads if I crossed the first mountain range that I could see to the west. So back on I10 for another bit and off at Wilcox and then due south. From here down to the Mexican border it was you usual dry grassland but then I started running into big irrigated ag crops and a gigantic dairy which looked like a factory. They were cutting corn and hay down here so they must have gotten water from somewhere. All kinds of signs about flooding so they must get it during the monsoon season and it gets stored in the aquifer somehow.

I hit Douglas which is a much bigger town than I had imagined. The north to Bisbee and a lunch stop at Jimmy's hot dog stand (Deb will remember it). Has not changed a bit. Then a lap through Bisbee (nothing has changed there) and\ then on to Sierra Vista. Sierra Vista is also a good sized town (bigger than Douglas) and there is a military base nearby which feeds it. Then north to Benson where it is laundry night. I caught some sox halfway to the dumpster this morning..
Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 40737
Odometer end of day = 41033
Miles today = 296
Miles on trip to date = 5213
Travel days = 15
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 348

Monday October 14 - Flagstaff AZ to Silver City NM

 

It was mid 30's when I woke up this morning, but the temperature rises pretty quickly out here once the sun comes up. I walked the 1/2 mile to my favorite coffee shop, Macy's European Coffee House. I got a large cup and sat in quiet bliss for half an hour. Light traffic in Macy's, students are already in class. The walk back warmed me up a bit and by the time I got packed and handed in the key, it was already 50 degrees. Today I am aiming for Silver City NM. I have been there before a couple times and it is just a bit over 300 miles, and it will be warm tomorrow morning. One last run through Flagstaff (seems bigger and busier than last trip) and then back on Rt 40 east. I gassed up a couple times today since places are fairly far apart, so any opportunity I can get. Interstate to Holbrook and then south on Rt 180, which I spent the rest of the day on. Today was a day of contrasts with interstate followed by open empty grasslands followed by big mountain sweepers. I thought it was going to be just flat and dry all day but not so.
I got gas in Holbrook and a guy who passed me twice this morning on a Triumph twin. We chatted for a half hour. He is a motorcycle mechanic for Los Angeles Police Dept and the have a fleet of police motorcycles. I told him my early dream was

to be a motorcycle mechanic, but he says it's a competitive job market. He is in a good spot where he is and these days the Police Dept has fleet contracts and they go back and forth between Harley's, BMW's, and bigger Japanese bikes. The used bike get sold to Mexico and when the Mexicans wear them out, they go further south. He says they have Harleys down there pushing 300K miles. He is going from LA to Texas on his Triumph. Nice guy.
After a couple hours of riding across horizon to horizon empty grass/desert, I stopped in Springerville AZ for coffee and next door was an auto parts store, so I bought a can of Fix-A-Flat for some piece of mind. If I did not bring a spare tube or tire irons this trip, so I'll go for the piece of mind. A woman from Columbia (South America) and her mother or aunt chatted me up in the parking lot. She belongs to a large motorcycle club in Columbia and they do tours in Central and South America. She showed me pictures of their last tour to Mexico. Big bikes!
I was expecting more empty grassland, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned to a long steady climb over a 8800' pass and then over the Continental Divide. Lots of

coniferous trees with the accompanying scents. Wonderful wonderful afternoon. I stopped in Alpine which looks like a pretty healthy mountain town, albeit remote. Felt like being in the Rockies.
Then a long decent into Silver City and a hotel. Chatted with a guy riding with his wife from Florida to Texas (the long way). He was retired and had been through a few large bikes. His wife loves riding on the back so he was a little envious of my small bike.
Found a local place with a bar, beer, Cobb salad and Green Bay football game. Chatted up a construction guy who had been in town 10 months building a retirement complex in town. All in all a surprisingly nice day. Not sure where tomorrow.

Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 40415
Odometer end of day = 40737
Miles today = 322
Miles on trip to date = 4917
Travel days = 14
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 351

Sunday October 13 - Needles CA to Flagstaff AZ

I looked at what parks I could make it to without freezing and Utah was a bit too cold, but Grand Canyon looked to be the perfect destination today. It was pretty warm when I left Needles and I took a different route back toward Arizona than yesterday coming in. Temperatures were great topping out in the upper 70's today. Again, there was more traffic than I thought, which was ok. Not too much. There are more people living up here in these remote towns than there used to be. My first time through there was 1976 with my buddy Pete on a couple beat bikes. We came through Needles way back and and rode across here at night because it was going to be too hot during the day. We slept at picnic areas back then (poor, dumb and broke) but it was an adventure.
Rt 40 goes right through Needles so it was directly onto Rt 40 from the motel (after some so so coffee).

Nice cool clear day and stopped in Kingman for more coffee and gas. I have been pretty careful with gas since there are stretches with none. I did notice gas in California was over $4 per gallon and tonight in Flagstaff it is above $3 per gallon. I assume CA has high taxes, not sure what's up with AZ. Lowest gas I have seen this trip is $2.15 or so down south.
The turn to Grand Canyon is a little confusing because there are three exits labeled Grand Canyon. Topped off the tank again so I could make it all the way to the park and then back out the east side and to Flagstaff without a stop. Good thing I did because the eastern entrance has not much for services (Indian reservations).

Used the Senior Park Pass ($30 cha-ching) and there were more people than I anticipated for this time of year. But it was a beautiful day and people were in good spirits. I parked the bike and stipped to shorts and a t-shirt (and boots) so I looked like a hiker. Grand Canyon always overwhelms you when you see it. Gigantic and beautiful, especially today with clear sunny weather. Lots of foreign tourists and lots of retired folks. I took lots of group pics for folks which is always appreciated. I took and hour and hiked the Rim Trail a half hour one way and then a half hour plus the other way. Felt good to hike. Back on woth the bike dudus and headed out the east entrance to the park. The landscape was open and beautiful and the sun dropped fast so that by the time I got to Flagstaff, it was dark and cold. Dinner down the street at a pub type place which ad great burgers and good local beer. Good day!

Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 40073
Odometer end of day = 40415
Miles today = 342
Miles on trip to date = 4595
Travel days = 13
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 353

Saturday October 12 - Casa Grande AZ to Needles CA

Double events today. I made it to Nevada so I can now say this bike has been to all of the lower 48 states in the US. And the Odometer rolled over 40,000 miles today. Kinda early start since Arizona is an extra hour late (3 hrs from home). After seeing the Phoenix Bypass sign yesterday and talking to the waitress last night about Phoenix traffic (even on Saturday), I headed the few miles back south and took 8 west 60 miles to the Rt 85 bypass. It seemed way out of the way so I might have been ok riding through Phoenix, but it turned out to be a good road with lots of cactus and

rock formation to look at. The east on Rt10 and then what turned out to be a real nice road north (Rt93) to Rt10. I love the Arizona rock formations and cactus. I smelled sage and or mesquite all day. The roads were a little busy which puts my mind at ease when riding solo. I do need to start packing water. The bike ran flawlessly again and I did the math in my head and I could buy 4 or 5 of these X300's for what I would have to pay to replace my BMW R100RT. And this bike is far easier to maneuver and I can go up goat paths and I can pick this bike up and it fist my "go slow" philosophy that drives other riders nuts. Looks like solo trips for me from here on out.
I rode through Kingman AZ which my daughter Hannah and I had stopped in some years back. We ended up in the historic part of town and never realized there was a bigger more modern part of town. This part of Arizona is more developed than I had thought, which gave me a nice feeling (I am sure there are Kawasaki shops around).
Then Rt 68 over a beautiful mountain range and a long decent down the other side to the Colorado River and into Nevada. Laughlin, NV is a casino / gambling town, very flashy like a small Las Vegas (yuck). Bullhead City is on the east shore ov the river and has no casinos but appears to take some overflow people (shops, restaurants, hotels). There are also a lot of fancy housing developments here and the views are tremendous. I wandered around some hillside building lots and took in some nice views. The Colorado River is not that big here and I saw irrigation going on (green fields of frsh mowed and baled hay). Never did figure out how they divvy the water up..
Due south to Needles and called it quits. The good Mexican restaurant was slowed (TripAdvisor#1) and the #2 place was a Jack-In-The-Box, which tells you something, so I found a small Mexican place (not on TripAdvisor) which was pretty good. Good day. Not sure where to go tomorrow since my mission is done.
Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 39725
Odometer end of day = 40073
Miles today = 348
Miles on trip to date = 4253
Travel days = 12
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 354

Friday October 11 Las Cruces NM to Casa Grande AZ

Lazy morning so did not get started until 9:00. So-so conti breakfast (toast & coffee), you get what you pay for. I usually stay at Super 8 motels since they are fairly inexpensive and reasonably clean (with a few exceptions). Lot of "working folks" stay there so I run into some great people. Got the headlight swapped out last night and today I need to fix my cutting board kickstand foot I added so the bike doesn't sink in soft stuff (like the sand at White Dunes Natl Park yesterday). I stopped at a hardware store down the street and bought 30 cents worth of hardware to fix the foot. It fell off yesterday when I stopped at the giant pistachio. I noticed they were selling 20 lb bags of pinto beans at

the hardware store so I asked what they were used for. They said folks freeze them and then cook them. Never seen food sold at a hardware store? Back on I-10 and the plan was to cut further south to avoid the cold blast coming south, but it was 50F mid-morning and slowly warmed up to 70F by noon. So I stayed north on I-10 at 60-65 in the right lane. Very comfy and feels safer than the normal two laner (but not as interesting). But I need to get to Nevada. By the time I got to Tucson, it was 92 degrees and I found the storage place near the airport. The nice woman working there had me pull the bike into and empty 5X10 and I reserved one for next Thursday. $37 per month so can't beat that. I was originally going to stay in Tucson, but realized that Arizona was an hour different than the other states so I headed north an hour toward Phoenix. Other than a couple small side trips it was interstate all day, which is working for me this trip (over in the right lane). Cold draft and big salad next door. Nevada tomorrow.

Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 39381
Odometer end of day = 39725
Miles today = 344
Miles on trip to date = 3905
Travel days = 11
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 355

Thursday Oct 10 Amarillo TX to Las Cruces NM

This cold front coming down from the Northwest is moving fast. After checking the long term forecasts, I scratched the idea of Midland TX and instead set my sites on Las Cruces NM. The projected temp down there in the morning was ridable (48) instead of 38 in Midland. The motel was great, breakfast was toast and coffee. I put my rainsuit over for warmth, and extra layer underneath and my rain overgloves and heavier BMW gloves. It was 41 degrees when I started just as the sun popped up and it stayed 41 for the next hour or two. Coffee/gas stop in Tucumcari NM and hugged the hot coffee cup to thaw my fingers out.

Over the next hour the temperature got up to 55 deg and the wind was heavy from the north. Lots more wind turbines, and just before Santa Rosa the temperature jumped 15 degrees seemingly instantly, and the wind came from the south. As I turned south on Rt 54 on the east side of the Sandia Mtns, the wind changed from a cold side wind to a warm headwind. I stopped and removed layers since it was getting warm, and another gas stop in Carrizozo.

Quick stop at Sand Dunes National Monument (free with Senior Park Pass) and then the last hour into Las Cruces straight to the Kawasaki shop to talk about the headlight. The service guy was outside and he said I should be able to do it, but it is hard to see what is going on in there. I found a motel around the corner, unloaded, quick shower (I was swaeting with the 88 degree temps in Las Cruces), and then changed the headlight. I had asked the Facebook group about changing the bulb and a few folks had done it without dismantling the plastic cowling, so I slid my phone up inside all the plastic and took a few "selfies" of the headlight and after 15 minutes or so, I had a new headlight installed. Washed up and then around the corner to a Mexican place with $3 pints. Long day with a lot of wind. The little Kawasaki really grunted on those hills but it did it's thing. Tomorrow I have to skim the Mexican border so I don't freeze. Tired tonight.
Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 38957
Odometer end of day = 39381
Miles today = 424
Miles on trip to date = 3561
Travel days = 10
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 356

Wednesday Oct 9 - Tulsa OK to Amarillo TX

Overcast this morning and warm (60F). The motel last night was pretty bad, neighborhood was bad, local restaurants were bad. I tried to get coffee at 6:30 but the guy was walking around in his pajamas just starting to set up with the lights off. I came back at 7:00 to luke warm coffee, bread for toast wrapped in saran wrap, watered down OJ, yuck. Had some coffee and juice and packed up, looks like McDonalds for breakfast. I skipped the rain gear but it soon started so stopped beside the road and suited up. My rain stuff is great. I stay bone dry no matter how hard it rains. It did not rain that hard. It did not last long and by the time I got past Oklahoma City, it was clear skies again. Yesterday and today I used the Oklahoma turnpike, which has weird toll booth. Real pain in the keister especially on a bike with rain gear. You keep having to stop and give them money. At one tollbooth it was exact change only and there is a bill changer in case you do not have enough quarters. The wind was howling so getting a dollar bill into it was almost impossible. A woman in front of me also gave up and was trying to knock on the office door to pay them directly but nobody came out. She said they said they would send her a bill based on the licence plate but she was from Europe. I pulled off beyond the tollbooth, found $1.50 in change and walked back to the tollbooth and threw the money in. Grrrrr.
I have seen signs for the Trail of Tears the last couple of days. Andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee Indians to move west to Oklahoma. Ugly stuff.

I had a wicked head-wind and the little 300cc engine really struggled up the hills with a headwind on the extra sized windshield. I guess that is the price you pay for a smaller bike. I still wouldn't swap back to a bigger bike. Lots of wind turbines all day so I guess Oklahoma and Texas are ok with them. They were cranking today. I must have seen a thousand between Tulsa and Amarillo. I noticed that the low beam headlight was out. I found a shop in Amarillo and they had a replacement. I tried replacing it at the motel tonight but it is tricky so I'll stop in the morning and see if they can do it. A little too much pulling and flexing for my taste. Dinner next door at an awesome little diner (Malcolm's). Turkey club, but no beer. A huge cold front is coming down from the northwest so I am heading south tomorrow and then west to New Mexico and Arizona the next couple of days.
Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 38578
Odometer end of day = 38957
Miles today = 379
Miles on trip to date = 3137
Travel days = 9
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 348

Tuesday Oct 8 - Mexico MO to Tulsa OK

I ticked off 3 more states today that the X300 (motorcycle) has not been in. Only one left (Nevada) before I can say this bike has been in all 48 states. It was 46 this morning at dawn and I had a long chat with one of the railroad workers who live in this motel. There were 4 or 5 of them and they were having a good time together. Sounds like they were working on the rail beds and welding rails. They can now just butt two rails together and arc weld them. Much much easier than the previous method that uses magnesium and some special molds and materials. They do them all the time and hope over time to weld everything.
The plan was to go southwest and just scrape through Kansas, then south to Arkansas and then west to Oklahoma, three state the X300 has not been in. It warmed up into the 60's and 70's so perfect with one extra layer underneath. I got kind of tired of Missouri since the landscape is not too exciting. The northern part has big flat fields like Iowa but the rest is kind of all over the place. The small towns are really hurting and some of the 10-20K population towns seem pretty tidy. Joplin MO was actually surprisingly ok, and I crossed into Kansas right next to Joplin. Then south through a kinda pretty curvy set of roads and lots of roller coaster like whoop-dee-dos, kinda fun. As I hit the southeast corner of Missouri and into Arkansas it got kinda creepy, like the kind of place you would not want to be stranded. No cell service, lots of giant barns with signs that said "Farm #21" and the like. No activity, fans running, no cars. Creepy. When I got to Oklahoma I saw signs about stopping the chicken farm pollution in Arkansas from coming into Oklahoma, so it was chickens. Creepy. Then straight west to Tulsa into the sunset. I grabbed the first motel I found and it is not so nice. The kid running the front desk is a computer science major (sophomore) and was cramming for an HTML/CSS exam tomorrow, so he seemed legit. Walked down the street and found a salad bar for dinner. No beer tonight. Nice weather, not much to look at, west tomorrow, maybe Amarillo TX.
Odometer beginning of trip = 35820
Odometer beginning of day = 38165
Odometer end of day = 38578
Miles today = 413
Miles on trip to date = 2758
Travel days = 8
Zero days = 2
Average miles per traveling day = 344

Monday Oct 7 - Anna IL to Mexico MO (via Iowa)

Last night I found a hole in the heavy rain and walked down the street to the Mexican restaurant. Taco salad which was so-so, but the beer tasted good.
Iowa is out of the way but I have plenty of time until I need to be in Tucson, so a direct bee-line north to Iowa. It was 50-55 this morning and the bike sat in the rain all night so I had to warm it up and towel off all the water. The sky was clear so the rain is gone and the sun came out and dried and warmed everything up. No extra layers and the lighter weight gloves. I had toast and coffee before leaving and set the gps to Keokuk Iowa which is the closest point in Iowa. Very relaxing day in the saddle. This bike is so smooth and it fits me really well. I can easily stand on the pegs so I get to stretch dozens of times a day. The after market windshield is set just right and those goofy orange duct tape mirror wings drop the noise quite a bit. I wear safety glasses (with reading glass inserts) and no shield

so I get a face full of air all day. I followed the Mississippi river to St Louis and then got lost because google maps stopped talking to me. The dashboard compass is my backup and once I got the GPS reset and got out of the 5-6 lane traffic through St Louis, it was clear sailing to Keokuk. Northern Missouri starts picking up the big corn and soy crops I usually associate with Iowa, and the combines were working here and there. I stopped for gas in Crystal City and an older woman talked my ear off about the history of the area, and I did not mind it a bit. She said they mined lead and for a while made lead shot by dropping it off towers into the river. Weird. Gotta look it up. Every little town seems to have some business that put it on the map. I have noticed that more and more of the small town are looking harder up. Not sure the answer..
My original plan was to stay in Keokuk, but I was running early so I found a motel a couple hours south west and decide to ride right into the sunset. Those last two hours were beautiful and I saw a few combines working. You can tell where they are because there is a cloud of dust wherever they are running. Google wound me through some nice skinny two lane roads which bobbed and weaved through small gullies and little knobs.
Nice hotel in Mexico MO with a diner across the street. Good day and another sunny day tomorrow.
Odometer beginning of day = 37722
Odometer end of day = 38165
Miles today = 443

Sunday Oct 6 - Chattanooga TN to Anna IL

Today's theme was rain. I said my goodbyes to Gregg and his fun, busy family. Wonderful household with 4 generations under the roof. Reminded me of our farm growing up. I learned a few things from Bonnie about genealogy which I will work on when I get home.
It was not raining when I left and after gassing up around the corner I decided to just put on the rain gear early. Of course it did not rain until around mid-day, and then it really came down. My rain setup is great and stay nice and dry even when it pours. Traffic was well behaved and my new "trick" is to get on the highway and ride at 60 mph. I always have a wide open road in front of me and people pass me safely. I set Google for St Louis and decided to get as far as I could. I am trying to get to Iowa, then Kansas, then Arkansas and then Oklahoma. Then there is only one state left to get to with the bike and it will have been in every state in the lower 48.
Google re-routed me around a big crash and as I headed due west on a small two laner, I saw the big black bank ahead so found a motel 22 mailes later in Anna, IL. Also crossed a time zone somewhere. I took a side trip to the town of Paduka, KY and it turned out to be not worthwhile. Sounded like a neat town, and while they are working on it, it was kinds run down. Sorry Paduka, keep working on it.
There is a great Mexican restaurant a few blocks away but it is pouring rain so I gotta wait for a break and hoof it down there. Iowa tomorrow!

Saturday Oct 5 - Day off in Chattanooga

Gregg and I did more catching up on all his projects, and Bonnie and I compared notes on genealogy, which she has done a lot of. Gregg and I took a ride into town and I got the nickel tour of Chattanooga. We walked along the Tennessee River which the city has capitalized on and there seemed to be outdoor festivals in a couple different places in town with Bluegrass playing and art, crafts, vendors and kids activities. A very hopping place. It seems this is about how far south you go if you do not want to see snow. It gets a little hot here but not as hot as south of here. We had lunch overlooking the park. Then back to Gregg's house stopping for some craft beers on the way back.They have an enormous amount of local breweries here. Feels just like home. Gregg & Bonnie's daughter, and family came back after being gone for the weekend and I enjoyed getting to know them a bit as well.
Looks like tomorrow I head north-west toward Iowa and I may run into some rain, first this trip.

Friday Oct 4 - Georgetown KY to Chattanooga TN

Very exciting day today. Toyota plant tour this morning. Some toast and a couple cups of not bad coffee. I also topped it off with a couple glasses of juice since hydration has been a problem the last couple days what with long hours in the saddle and this heavy motorcycle jacket on 90+ days.
Goodbye to the awesome folks at the motel front desk then a few miles down the street to the Toyota plant. A huge tour bus of folks from a Christian tour group beat me in, but it turned out fine since they all went ahead. Toyota has always made Camry's also make Avalons. They recently added a couple Lexus high end cars and are just this month starting to build RAV4 Hybrids here. I did notice some battery packs under the back seat of some of the cars which must be the hybrids. They run you through the plant in small open cars, 16 per car. There were probably 50 people total and like a few years ago when my brother and I did the tour here, you see raw steel rolls get turned into nice finished cars, one every minute. Great tour. These guys do lean right!
Then back out and south on 75 toward Tennessee. It was extremely dry here in Kentucky and all those beautiful grass lawns and pastures were completely burned. As I got into TN, it got a but greener in the mountains but got drier as I got in to southern Tennessee. Google maps took me right to Gregg's front door and we ran out for a quick errand and then a long night of catching up. They moved here a year ago and chose a nice town to retire in with some of their kids and grand kids nearby. The Tennessee River runs right through here and there is a huge TVA dam here which I assume makes power. Slept like a log after my third 97 degree day.

Thursday Oct 3 - Morgantown WV to Georgetown KY

Another hot day hitting 97 degrees again, just like yesterday. I setup another tour at Toyota at the Georgetown KY plant for Friday morning so it's off to Georgetown today. I started by taking back roads but it got so twisted up and confusing with construction and dead-ends in Ohio, I gave up and asked Google to take highways. But it turned out I ended up on 2 and 4 lane open access roads so all was good. Crossed the Ohio river and spent the afternoon in Ohio in the rolling hills of southern Ohio. Things are really dry here. Crop wise there is only corn left drying and some soy that looks ready to go. No equipment in the fields (darn). I hope to see some big ag harvesting going on this trip.
I cut back southwest and re-crossed the Ohio river into Kentucky. The roads are in great shape and I had then to myself. Again really dry with bone dry river beds at one point. I found a motel a couple miles from the plant. I asked the motel desk folks where to get a piece of coconut creme pie and they called around town and found the last piece at a pace called Fava's. I changed and rode downtown (Georgetown), found Fava's and those stinkers already paid for it. Random acts of kindness for sure.
Walked across the street for a beer and a salad, then back to the ranch
Odometer end of day = 37087
Miles today = 338

Wednesday Oct 2 - Stroudsburg PA to Morgantown WV via Delaware

Slept like a baby since yesterday was the first long day. A little sore but not bad. Usual crappy Super 8 conti breakfast, and bad coffee so I hit the starter at 8:15. I told Google to get me to Delaware and it took me on highways all the way down through PA. A couple of 10-20 minutes jams (accidents) but I pulled into Delaware at 11:15, found a place to pull off and punched in West Virginia. I ended up spending the rest of the day in Maryland, and what surprise it was. My go to stereotype for MD is suburbs, but it has the same beautiful rolling mountains and gaps that West Virginia has. What I did not count on was it hitting 97 degrees and I spent most of the day above 90 in my heavier motorcycle gear. The mesh jacket is hanging in the garage. Met lots of nice folks who all were surprised I was riding all the way to Arizona,which is kinda normal. A couple who were Harley folks, very pleasant, just got back from Laconia. Another guy riding a Harley lookalike to his new house (he is moving) then flying back and riding his Triumph to the new home.
Ended the day in Morgantown WV at just under 90 degrees. Big salad and cold beer for dinner across the street.
Odometer tonight = 36749
Miles today = 397

Tuesday Oct 1 - Vernon to Stroudsburg PA

My brother made pancakes and we looked at the radar and there was rain moving down over the top of us so I decided to wait for it to pass over and then chase it down to Rhode Island. I read some of my book and about 10:30 decided to head out. I did not get wet all day but the road was wet from the rain in front of me. Google took me on some great wiggly, lonely roads the 2 hours down to Rhode Island. Did a quick call in to AER for work (from beside the road), and then headed for Pennsylvania. Google took me on all the back roads which was great, but it was a couple iles on one road and then 5 miles anpther, and then 3 on the next, etc. I saw a sign for I84 and checked the map and it was 2 hours and change to get to PA on the

interstate and 5 hours+ to keep wiggling the back roads, so I decided to do the interstate. about 3 hours later I ended up in PA and stopped to check the motel situation.

My app crashed so I checked around on Google maps and Stroudsburg had a Super 8 and hour away. I pulled in just before the sunset and spent a delightful hour in the Delaware Water Gap park. Too tired to ride anywhere for dinner so I walked next door and got a decent BLT and a cold beer and chatted with a couple electrical contractors who were in town putting in a new shopping center. Rhode Island and Pennsylvania today, hopefully Delaware and West Virginia tomorrow.

Odometer tonight = 36352
Miles today = 323

Monday Sept 30 - Westminster VT to Vernon VT

My nephew Troy and his wife have moved back east from Colorado and Dick said they could use some help moving. Perfect chance to catch up with them since I have not seen them in a couple years. They were not closing until late morning so I spent the morning riding down to Putney and visiting Reed, Kathy and Marissa. Reed just finished planting his winter wheat and we had a cup of coffee and caught up. Kathy just got back from Ireland so we compared notes. Back to Westminster to see how the closing went and then off to Walpole NH with Dick's pickup and trailer to help moving. We got all the big stuffed moved in two trrips and back to Westminster for a late lunch/early supper. I called my brother Dave to see if I cold stay the night down there and rode the 45 minutes or so down to Vernon. Looks like some rain is coming in tomorrow, but if I plan things right, I should be able to skirt around the worse of it.
Odometer = 36029
Miles today = Not much

Sunday Sept 29 - Starksboro VT to Westminster VT

I finished packing in the morning and as usual started to add things I did not need so did one last check of my list and deemed it close enough. I rode over to Port Henry NY to pickup our EasyPass (lets you go through tool booth automatically), as I would probably be scooting down through the New York City area.
The theme is to finish as many of the lower 48 states as I can. This bike has been in all but about 12 of the lower 48 between my son Jacob's ride in 2017 and my ride last summer (2018). Off the top of my head I think I need Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Nevada. I can hit all but two of those on my way to Arizona and if I have time, and the weather is ok, I may be able to jump up to Iowa.
I have a flight home on October 19th from Tucson and the plan is to store the bike in Tucson and then pick it up again in March when Deb and I go to Bisbee for a month next March.
Today is a short ride down to southern Vermont to catch up with my brothers before I go. I called Dick and Lori and they said I was welcome to stay the night. After I got there we went to see my nephew Todd who lives at the end of a road that gives out remote house a run for it's money as far as being out there. Back to D&L's, football game, scotch and bed. Nice catch up day.

Starting Odometer = 35820

Miles Sunday & Monday = 209

Tues May 30 - Dingle Peninsula

Breakfast at the Abbey Lodge and then in the car ride to do the loop around the Dingle Peninsula. The Ring of Kerry is the famous one, but the locals say the Dingle loop is the best, and less busy.
First stop was Inch Strand which is a weird spit of land that almost crosses the bay. It is one giant sandy beach and in the high season they surf there by the looks. It was somewhere close to low tide so the beach was easy to walk.
We stopped in Dingle which is wicked quaint and walked around. These little towns are soooo cute. And the Irish folks are very friendly and have a wonderful sense of humor. And almost no chain / franchise anything. Each little town has it's own coffee shop and pub.
Then on to Slea Head loop which is a small road that runs the perimeter of the peninsula. Back to Dingle and split a fish and Chips for lunch and chatted up the guy running the stand. He started 15 years ago with just a little coffee shack and added the fish & Chips a few years back.

Business is good with he tourist season getting longer every year.
Back to Kalarney, dinner at Sceal Eile, ice cream at Murphy's, which is a big local chain (ice cream was so-so). We had a long chat with a local on the street while a local comedic musician serenaded the street with anti-Trump songs. Sounds like they do not like their government much either, and they think ours if just crazy. I'll stay out of politics..

Mon Apr 29 - Gap of Dunloe

Dinner at 8 and Deb set up a taxi to take us to Kate Kearney’s Cottage which is the starr of a mountain pass called the Gap of Dunloe. It is 11km to walk over to the other side and catch a boat back to Kalarney. You can also have a guy with a two wheeled cart and a horse take you over, but we walked. It was really really windy, head wind of course, left over from the big storm the day before. We did not get wet, but the wind was ferocious. It took us about 3 hours to get to the boat landing and what a lovely three hours it was. Drop dead gorgeous views everywhere. A few bicyclists, a handfull of other hikers and a handful of cars going over the gap. Lots of sheep of course.

We had coffee and tea while waiting for "the lads" to get the boats ready to go. There were three boats that all leave at 2pm. They are the only ones that go this far up into the lakes and they hold 10-12 people each. A father and son run it with a third guy (looked to be an uncle or something). Their family have been running these boats since the 1930's or something and they were a riot. We laughed the entire 1.5 hr trip back to Castle Ross. Awesome, awesome guys.
The father gave a lift back to the hotel and we drove to nearby Kenmare to a place called Davitt’s. Long philosophical chat with the musicians as they set up. We stayed through the first part of their set and then headed home. We parked the car and walked into town for a couple pints and more music at the Grand. Walked back to the hotel and crashed.

We were told that they just started a zero alcohol policy with driving which means if they detect any alcohol, you are fined or taken in. The reaction is lots of people do not drive if they have had just one, and some kind watch it closer. They seem to all think it's a good idea, but as one guy said "but we're Irish".

Sun Apr 28 Kilkenny to Kalarney

We only stayed one night in Kelkenny. Breakfast at the Zuni Hotel (very nice) and then headed toward Kalarney on more back roads (Google set to no highways, no tolls). First stop was Rock of Cashel which is another ancient ruin, church, fort. A very witty Irishman gave a nice guided tour. He claims if you can reach your arms around the Cross of Saint Patrick, it will cure flatulence. I'll report back..
We continued on to Kilarney and got dinner at Quinlan's which is a popular fish & chips place right downtown. Kilarney has about 14,ooo folks in it and like all the towns here, most everyone lives in the village, not sprawled out like home (thanks to the car). Lovely to walk to everything you need. We are staying the next three nights here at the Abbey Lodge which has really nice people working there. Tourism is a big part of their business and we are here as it just gets going so "everyone is fresh" as one guy put it later in the week. They are not sick of tourists yet.

After dinner we walked to the Castle Ross which was a half hour walk. Another castle with lots of history (which I can't remember now). While it would be great to research things more before you go on a trip like this, questions you never though of come up while you are here. So lots of research after the trip, since we are always too pooped to do it each night. Deb has a list.
A local old guy on his bike gave us directions through the town forest which is a series of trails back to town, very busy with walkers and bikers. We came out downtown and stopped at The Grand Pub for pints and music. Chatted up a couple from California. Pleasant evening all around.

Sat Apr 27 - Dublin to Kilkenny

Wicked good sleep and if I hadn't set my alarm, we would have gotten up who knows when. Jetlag is a drag. We were suppossed to meet a friend's daughter but she had train problems so we missed her. But we had some great coffe and met some great folks at he 9th Degree coffee shop down the street. We checked out of the hotel by 10:30 and drove to Glendalough, which was an old monastery where a guy named Kevin (later Saint Kevin) lived a hermit life, meditated, probably fasted (not much up there for eats..) and started a monastic community (which kind of ended the hermet thing). Today there is a Saint Kevin Ice Cream truck up there so he has come a long way.
Ok, funnies aside, this is a beautiful spot. And really old. And Ireland has done a nice job protecting it and keeping it neat and tidy. Being from the states, it hurts my head that there is this much history here. Thousands of years.
We took lots of pics here and then continued on to Kilkenny. Google maps did an awesome job of sending us down tiny back roads.
A brief summary of the roads here. The M roads are the big 4 lane roads and we told Google not to send us down there. Next are the N roads which are two lane, pretty skinny and speed limit of 100 kph (62 mph). The R roads are next down and are really really skinny and sometimes the center line disappears and you have to "call it" when someone comes the other way as to whether you are going to stop and let the other guy pass, slow way down and wiggle past, or just pray and go for it. And last on the list are the L roads which are all paced but mostly single lane roads with pulloffs (mostly) so when someone comes the other way, one of you finds a pulloff and waits for the other guy to go by. It all seems to work, but it required real focus, all the time.

We continued on to Kilkenny, checked into the Zuni hotel, shuffled the car around to the correct car park, and found a pub which was supposed to have live music, but the musician either did not show up or the owner cancelled. Still had a great meal and one of the funniest waiter's yet. Great guy, lots of fun, big tip. Another great local beer (Kilkenny) and Deb found a new favorite cider.
We spent the rest of the night strolling around Kilkenny getting our bearings. Lots of wedding related parties going on. These people know how to have fun!

Thurs&Fri Apr 25&26 - Boston to Dublin

Our flight was 9:30 at night so we spent the morning taking garbage (romantic eh?) to Williston since our town garbage is every other week and between schedules and mud season we were a little overdue and di not want to leave it another week or two. So loaded the RAV with our luggage (and garbage) and stopped first in Williston ($20 worth!) and then south to go to Lebanon NH where we would get the bus to Boston. We do not like driving to Boston and the Darmouth Coach does a great job, nicely run outfit. We stopped for lunch at Red Hen Bakery in Middlesex (never been before) and it was great. Then a search around Lebanon for ice cream (we are on vacation you know) and finally found some in the Home Depot parking lot??
Bus was right on time and whisked us to the airport, right to the terminal. Those guys are great.
We had a few hours until our plane and between people watching and a couple of good books managed to kill the time nicely. We flew Delta, six hour flight direct to Dublin, and we got a real meal for dinner and a light breakfast even, just like in the 1970's! Nice job Delta.
We landed in Dublin, went through the non-EU customs que, got the luggage, then a Mazda 3, black with the steering wheel on the wrong side. A little larger car than I had hoped for (I would rent a go-cart if I could get one). The EuroCar guy was great. I slept some on the airplane but Deb did not get much sleep. I had downloaded Ireland on my offline Google Maps so we just punched in the hotel and Deb and the nice Google lady got us through pretty heavy traffic right to the hotel. Thank God for Google!!

I have driven on the wrong side before in Scotland years ago but starting in Dublin traffic as a warmup was completely crazy. Shift with the wrong hand, 6 speed manual, digital everything (and no idea what all those numbers on the dash was for), mirror in the wrong place, No tach and a quiet engine so no idea what gear I was in or supposed to be in (I found the tach two days later). Bu, no bumps or bruises and safe landing at the hotel. We decided to have an hour nap and then go hit the city.
After the nap we woke (Friday Apr 26), we walked, got our bearings and went to the Little Museum which was a quick and comedic history of Dublin. I still do not understand the history of Ireland / Northern Ireland / England and who dislikes who and who did what to who when, and it turns out, most of the people I talked to were not too clear either. More research required later.

Lunch at Tang which was kinda earth crunchy (just like home) but good stuff. Salads and wrap kinda things (that should narrow it down). The another little nap, and then we went to the Old Store House which had live music and Irish dancing (a young woman who danced and then sat at the bar over and over.). Guinness stew and shepard's pie, good hardy Irish fare. And pints of cider for the lady and good Irish beer for me. They have quite a lot of variety (and Guinness of course).
Finally it was late enough to really go to sleep for the night (Friday night).