Dinner at Big B BBQ

At the request of the desk clerk at our hotel, we had dinner at Big B BBQ .  This is our server Stephanie. Stephanie was great AND rides bikes too!!!! Service was great and food was wonderful!!!!

Our Last Night on the Road

Sharlene and Jerry settling up the total hotel bill...I just sat quietly in the corner and watched the show!!!

A Note from Ken

A ride such as the one we've been on for the last month translates into a LOT of hotel stays. We have had some very good AND bad experiences (don't even ask me about the Best Western in Grants Pass, Oregon...I wouldn't stay there again if the gave me the deed to the place!)

Last night we stopped in to the Comfort Suites in Olive Branch, Mississippi. This particular stay turned into our most enjoyable off all! We were greeted by Yolanda and immediately knew we had a winner! She was courteous and extremely friendly. We had been riding in hot, stick weather all day and Yolanda provide us with a nice little "goody bag" consisting of ICE COLD water, cookies and mint. What a nice touch!!! Our brother Jerry, who is always the jokester, discovered that he had finally met his match. When he asked for the Senior rate, she promptly stated that she would need to see proof (she was kidding, of course)! For the first time in a very long while, Jerry was speechless. After a brief time, Yolanda admitted that she was kidding and everyone had a good laugh.

Our suite was great, and the pool was clean and refreshing (right up till the storm rolled in)! During our stay, we not only met Yolanda but other members of the staff as well. Michelle and Barbara were at the desk the following morning to insure that breakfast was hot and fresh.

If ever in this area, we recommend a stay at Comfort Suites in Olive Branch, Mississippi!

P.S. To Michelle and Barbara...I forgot to get a pic of you two before leaving. If you will send one, I will post it here.

Sharlene with our new friend, Yolanda

Can you say H U M I D I T Y ?

You know you're in the South when you walk outside and feel wet and it's not raining. We started out today from Van Buren, AR, the temperature wasn't bad till about 1:30. At that point it was hot even when you're cruising at 70 ish down the highway...just don't stop unless it's in the shade. I 40 between Little Rock and Memphis has road work that will result in long stop and go traffic for 12 miles. Then we encountered a semi that just sort of fell off the side of the road. It appeared that no one had serious injuries as we went by not long after the fire trucks and medic's got there. Had we taken a longer lunch we would have been in another long wait while they picked up the semi. We hit perfect timing into Memphis just before rush hour. We enjoyed the hotel pool until the thunder storm rolled in. Ken and Jerry were measuring the distance of lightning strikes to the thunder sounds, so we could enjoy every last minute in the pool. Before we exited the pool area a wind gust blew a table and umbrella into the pool. Lucky for us we had already run to the store for dinner and beer to enjoy in our room. It looks like we will pull into Jacksonville by Saturday or Sunday at the latest. 
If you are reading this make a comment. We love to hear what you think or have to say about our ride!

A view of the storm from our hotel room

Strong winds blew a table and umbrella into the pool

Time to go...storm is on the way!

Caught this crop duster as we were leaving a Taco Bell in Arkansas

A Few Pics

Sharlene after applying her "desert"air conditioning...

Route 66

The gas at this little station on Route 66 was very reasonable!!!!

One of the many rest areas we frequented

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo

Chaparall Motorsports in San Bernardino

This place in Santa Rosa only had TWO problems...the food was GOOD and PLENTIFUL...just the ticket for an afternoon ride in 100+ weather!

Heading out of Gallup,NM

Only at a Texas rest area will you find a BBQ grill like this!

This is our server, Chelsea with Sharlene. We stopped in for dinner at  Big Jakes Cattle Co. The name says it all! The food was wonderful and service was great! If ever in Van Buren, AR we recommend a stop here! Not only is the food good, the place is almost a John Wayne museum! 

Enjoying the nice weather and casual ride home!

As we began our ride home we visited the motorcycle heaven store, Chapparral Motorsports in San Bernardino, California. Wow! What a selection and helpful staff. They have everything you can think of and all the brands plus a ton of bikes. I had to sit on a few just to be dreaming of all the way back to Jacksonville, FL. I'm personally not sold on the trikes but I will tell you right now those touring Can Ams look pretty nice. The desert riding was warm but no where near the temperature that we experienced last year. I'm still using my husbands best trick of a wet T shirt and jeans too. On one of the gas stops I found a cool water hose and allowed him to spay me down. I'm still not sure who had more fun with that event. (Husbands note...I had more fun!) It made for some very comfortable riding for oh...about 30 minutes, then dry as a bone. We have also been working on our tan's and practicing sunblock applications 3 times a day. The route along I 40 mingles with the Route 66, it's fun to see some of the older buildings. We have stayed at Kingman, AZ , Gallup, NM , and Tucumcari, NM. The high desert is an area that is quite unique with beautiful mountains, the colors are brilliant and sunsets are wonderful and bring a chill to the air. It was sad to see homeless people begging in the hotel and restaurant areas. The business try to head that off but alas there is only so much you can do. It brings us to ponder how the system of community, churches, and other means have failed these people or does it boil down to the people themselves... We need to help our folks here at home in the USA before going abroad.

Off we head into our great state of Texas and warmer temps! Somewhere along the ride, brother Jerry strained his back and better judgement says to keep the daily mileage down some until he is feeling better. It does make for extra breaks for water and stretching which is good for Ken and I too. No worries as there isn't really a need to push ourselves harder. We will get home when we get home and continue to enjoy the ride. That's what it is really all about.

Last Day of the 4 Corner's

Yesterday was an easy start to the last day of the 4 Corner's Ride. We departed the Firebaugh/Colinga area to San Ysidro. T shirt weather is always a great ride day although it did get a bit cool over the Grapevine. Down into the LA traffic which isn't anything complicated just intense here and there. Our brother Jerry is not fond of any city traffic however fully operational front and back brakes would make it better(his rear brake was a little shaky). As we headed down the coast, sweat shirts were comfortable. One thing I learned on that stop was always double check where you put things you take off. My favorite gel padded bicycle gloves now live along I 5 near  Camp Pendleton. We hit the San Ysidro post office after closing time and that made for easy photo documentation. Last year we had to circle a couple of times and waited for just the right parking slot for  photos. Yea! We are done... now the ride back to Jacksonville, FL to gather our RV and head back to Texas for a quick stop. We love this long ride for some strange reason, perhaps for the challenge but mostly because we love to ride. The wonderful people that we meet along the way is just one other dynamic coupled with the scenery of our Great Country. We will continue to blog our ride back to Jacksonville and our continued travels. So, it was great fun and oh! I think we will be continuing our new tradition of riding the 4 Corner's every year but, I think the True X is next.

P.S. Just for "record keeping" purposes, we will be changing the 4 Corner Tour states visited map back to our original "total" states visited on two wheels.

San Ysidro!!! The "Finish Line"

San Ysidro!

Sharlene after 7,000 + miles...and ready to go again!!!

Our Brother, Jerry. How he withstood the rigors and stress of this ride on a GOLDWING is beyond me!!! LOL

You just can't find burgers like this in Texas! We now have a couple of In-N-Out but they are just not the same as what we were accustomed to when we lived in Ca.

Here we come SoCal !

California here we come not where we started from. Couldn't resist that one as it's a song my Dad used to sing. I wish he had lived long enough to see me and we take this ride. It would have been something he would have loved to do. I think of him every day on any long distance ride. We left Oregon in rain gear knowing it would be our last use of it until we make the right hand turn in California to head back to Jacksonville, FL. The rain gear was needed and we made it through the Oregon mountain passes slick roads and all. Temps were still a bit cold until we dropped into Redding, as you may have already seen Ken soaking up the cement heat and I still think he was actually napping too. That's OK as we had some heavy eyes by this point.Why is it we get so sleepy after lunch? We have full tummies, maybe dressed a little to warm and the drone of the bike engines equals nap time. Good thing I ride my own bike as I would be tempted to take a nap on the back of the bike. I'm sure no one does that right? LOL We hit 5 o'clock traffic in Sacramento but it went very smoothly, as compared to other large cities we have been through. Our intent was to ride as far as possible today so down I-5 we go, eventually ending the day at the Firebaugh/Coalinga Best Western for a MUCH NEEDED good nights sleep! This is our last day of the official ride so here we come SoCal!

Pics

Mt. Shasta

Saw this at a Taco Bell in Mt. Shasta. Not sure what it means but I couldn't resist a pic!

Just rode out another rainstorm. I now know why dogs like doing this!

Unpacking near Coalinga

Gosh! End of Day 16

Wow! We are just 2 or 3 days from finishing our ride, it's kind of sad. These long days of riding give you lots and lots of thinking and planning time. Such as what you would do differently or what you want to ride it on next time. Lol, at least that's what it's been for us in the past. The ride through the Cascades was so much more different than last year. It was overcast but not a drop of rain, however it was a little chilly. It was a 45 minute wait going north over the Mt. Vernon bridge and no wait on the south bound just not at highway speeds. The trick at this point is to make sure you take the non-truck detour as WDOT gives you 2 detour options. We made that mistake going north but our new friends at the visitor center for Blaine suggested we take exit 230 non truck on the return and it worked like a charm. Speaking of the visitor center, stop by if you can, they will give you a Blaine pin and a certificate signed by the mayor providing additional proof that you were there. We survived the Seattle traffic and I think we only had to blow our horns a few times to avoid being hit by oblivions. No rain gear was needed that day as we rolled into south Tacoma. Today we started out by fixing Jerry's brake line with Home Depot supplies, as I swear the boys can fix anything. They still feel bad about not having enough time to fix Mack's landing gear in Bozeman. Leaving town we had light rain and traffic was smooth sailing into Oregon and our last city traffic until LA/San Diego area. South of Salem we hit a patch of heavy rain and hail, thank goodness for overpasses! I was thinking, ouch that rain hurts as I looked for quick cover, as it was my turn to be ride captain for the moment. As we peeked out from the overpass we thought it was clear to leave. One last cloud burst as we pulled out dang..should have waited another 5 minutes. We stopped for gas near the Monaco RV headquarters and ran into a fellow going north on a Honda NT700. We enjoyed a quick conversation and a look at his bike. Still gives us food for thought on the next bike purchase. Going through Grants Pass it was cold...at least when you'reBozmanBozman still a bit wet. Looking forward to a cool start in the morning and increased heat as we roll into California!

More Pics

Split brake line on the Goldwing and the only place open is Home Depot....you just do what ya gotta do!  Back on the road AND with rear brakes!

Gas and  waiting out ONE MORE RAINSTORM!

Blaine!!! One more checkpoint and we are ready to start planning for next years ride!!!

Dinner at Elmers in Grants Pass. Or. We had a very nice chat with our server Meghan. Meghan is one of those young people that makes us older folks feel that there is hope for our future society! Meghan and I had a nice little chat about investing and retirement options. Very refreshing to see young folks thinking about their future!

Over 5K down and a few more to go!

Well, it is hard to keep the blog completely updated as we did last year. What a challenge this ride is with a time limit of 21 days. We rode from Oshawa, Canada to Battle Creek, MI  in warm weather at last and so dry as compared to last week. When leaving Battle Creek, we thought we would run into some rain but were able to skirt the terrible storms around the Chicago area to I 80. As we ran through Iowa we kept hearing about the the tornado warnings for Eastern Iowa that we had just passed through. The winds were very strong and I would have to say my hands and arms were tired by the time we stopped at Grinnell, Iowa for the night. Jacquie was a pleasure to deal with when checking in. She makes a mean Rhubarb pie and happily shared some with us as we checked in. We headed on to I 29 and stopped for lunch and gas and as we were finishing we discovered that a storm was heading our way. I told the boys, let's go and I mean right now! I don't want to put rain gear on, haha if I don't have to. We ran fast and hard to the past Sioux City and into South Dakota. We had the cold down burst and gusty winds pushing us along. We stayed in Mitchell, SD for the night and were warned by several people about watching out for the many deer along the way. We did see a few but most of them were lying on the road already. We blew through South Dakota, stopping at Wall Drug for lunch. You have to experience it as there is nothing like it. My darling husband couldn't resist helping me pick out some Black Hills gold gems while there. He is just the greatest guy in the whole world. Lucky me to have a motorcycle riding fool for a best friend/husband. On to Montana, it's one of the best parts of the ride as far as I'm concerned. Antelope all over the place,the mountains are beautiful which also makes for some fun riding. Not just those long flat roads, yuk. For those of you couples out there that ride together, food for thought... isn't it funny that you can ride down the same road and yet don't see the same things. Clear weather and cool mornings but warm afternoons made it possible to shed the coats. Soon we will not need these or the rain boots again. We passed through Idaho and entered Washington today for another spectacular ride. We will make Blaine tomorrow midday and make our u-turn down I 5 for the last of the for corners. My second favorite part of the ride is tomorrow over the Cascades  Even better is the weather forecast for tomorrow... clear, only slight mountain showers and Seattle is clear??? Really!!!

Pics

Gas stop in Missoula, Mt.

This Ashley at  our hotel in Wenatchee

After a long days ride, a good dinner and a VERY cold beverage is always nice! This is Harlee from The Prospecter Pies in Wenatchee. Harlee is like a ball of energy and is always on the run! She made certain that we were happy AND provided the cold beverages!

Sharlene and Jerry doing more trip planning...how did we do this without electronic gadgets!?!?!?!

Somewhere in Idaho

Idaho

Brother Jerry and his Goldwing...man he has it rough!!!

She did this last year every time we stopped!!

This is a Flxible Bus(yes the spelling is weird) This bus has always fascinated  us. What a shame to see it reduced to being a diner!

More Pics

Packing for another days' ride...somewhere in ???

Gassing up...again! We do this four times daily! times two bikes...

This is Mack and LaVee from Bozeman...they are wonderful folks! We could have chatted for hours but alas, 400 more miles were yet to be ridden for the day! Sharlene and I are already planning a trip back to this area...hopefully we will get a chance to visit these wonderful folks again!

This 1929 Ford arrived as we were fueling in Big Timber...

Back in the USA

Our ride through the Canadian Providences were cold,wet and beautiful. Canada is the cleanest country ever. We wore all of the cold weather gear we had that wasn't wet. We did find a great deal on some glove liners in Madawaska before we took off. We entered Canada in Edmonton, NB and entered the US at Port Huron,MI. The boarder crossings were very easy and pretty quick. The only line was entering the US for about 15 minutes. The roads in Canada were very good, with heavy traffic around the major cities of Montreal and Toronto. Our overnight stops were in Drummondville and Oshawa. We became accustomed to seeing Quest (west in french), Fin (means finished road construction) and tried to remember to say Merci (thank you). It felt like we were at the top of the world up there, like the sky was at the curve of the earth. Sounds crazy but it just feels different up there. There was a noticeable change in weather when driving South in Michigan. It felt so good to be shedding rain suits, layers of clothing and rain boots. As we dropped on to I 80 today we skirted bad weather but left it all behind us. Literally there were tornadoes and severe winds. We have covered 3814 miles so far and looking forward to clearer skies and warmer weather.

More Pics

Somewhere in Canada...I'm cold, wet, and tired...leave me alone for 5 minutes!

My friend Tricia from McDonalds

Finally! Back in the United States!

This is Jacquie from the Comfort Inn in Grinnell, Ia. Jacquie  checked us into a wonderful room, gave us a great rate and even shared her rhubarb pie...now that is service!!!! She even let us park the bikes under cover at the office.  This lady is definitely a "people person"! If you are ever in this area, I would suggest a stay here!!!