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.