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.