DAY
25, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013
Jan and I were roomies last night again. Our alarms sounded at the same time. We, both, had the same feelings of not
wanting to get up, knowing that this was our last day. We did get up; however, and did our
ritual. We got dressed, packed and took
a couple of our bags to our Motors. The
others were out with their Motors packing them and wiping them down. Jan and I went to the breakfast room and
served ourselves our breakfast. The
others followed suit. There was a table
for six and that is where we sat. Our
last day and our last breakfast together.
We might as well sit together. We
ate and talked…and ate some more. We had
to face the inevitable..it’s time to leave.
We finished packing our Motors and we rode to the lobby, lining up and
getting ready to leave. We left at 8:10
AM with Jan in the lead.
Chuck and Jan had discussed the route that Jan was going
to lead us through. We turn right out of
the parking lot and rode through the town of Cedar City and onto Highway 14, a
scenic road in the Dixie National Forest.
This road was one of those that we long to ride! It had twisties, up hills, down hills and
forest all around. We started and the
temperature was 64 degrees. We had all
put jackets on except for Ken. Ken don’t
need no stinking jacket, he’s a “wild man!”
As we rode, the temperature lowered to 52 degrees. We rode for 46 miles and stopped at a Chevron
gas station in Alton, UT at 9:01 AM. Jan
stopped, thinking that someone would be needing a pit stop. He was right!
We all needed it. After speaking
with the clerk inside the mini-mart, Jan told Chuck that he would not have
enough gas and we should all gas up. We
did. We also took off our jackets and
put them away. We left at 9:25 AM with
Ken in the lead.
Ken led us south with instructions to stop at Jacob Lake,
AZ for a pit stop. Ken led us and we
were riding quickly through the forest, lakes, rivers and some amazing
sights. We rode in and through Kanab. After going through Kanab, we crossed over
into Arizona. Yaaaaay! We are back Home, and, gained another
hour. After crossing into Arizona and
also riding through Fredonia, it was desolate!
We were in the Indian Reservation and not many trees or grass. The mountains; however, were beautiful! We continued and then stopped, after riding
80 miles, in Jacob Lake at 9:47 AM. We
parked our Motors and made a pit stop.
We didn’t see any lake there. I
think that it was just a sign to draw people there and NO LAKE! I didn’t see it. It must have been hiding! We left at 9:58 AM.
We rode south again.
We rode through the Navajo Nation.
We rode for 118 miles and stopped in Cameron, AZ at 11:41 AM. We gassed up and, while we were there, made a
pit stop. It was so much fun, that I made
a second pit stop. We got ready to leave
and Chuck suggested stopping in Flagstaff at a Subway for lunch. We left at 11:59 AM.
We continued through the Navajo Nation. It was getting a little warm. It got up to 93 degrees and when we got
closer to Flagstaff, it lowered to 88 degrees.
We rode into Flagstaff and after riding 52 miles, we stopped at 12:47 PM
at a Subway in a mini-mall on Route 66.
We ate our lunch. I had asked Jan
if he wanted us to stop with him in Camp Verde.
He told us that he could just ride onto the exit and head for home. We told him that we would stop and give him a
good send off. With it getting closer to
the end of our ride, the conversation in the Subway was hard to terminate. We left, reluctantly, at 1:29 PM.
I led the Group to I-40 and the two miles west to get on
I-17. You know, it sure felt good to
ride I-17 again! We headed south at
about 80 mph. We rode 59 miles to Camp
Verde and arrived at 2:17 PM. That was a
quick 59 miles! We stopped at a Chevron
gas station, made a pit stop and said our Goodbye’s to Jan. We left at 2:32 PM and Jan was still with
us. He exited a few miles away. See you later Jan!
We continued south towards Phoenix. At times, we got to 85 mph! You think that maybe we wanted to get
home? Yes, we were definitely ready to
go home. We finally entered
Phoenix. I checked the temperature and
it was 104 degrees. Welcome home! I exited at Happy Valley Road and went east
and stopped at my Daughter, Lori’s, Chiropractic office and got adjusted. My leg had been hurting a lot the past four
days because we were riding for long periods of time. The longer we rode, the more my leg
hurt. I limped into Lori’s office, she
adjusted me and my leg and I didn’t limp when I walked out! WOW! I
felt better. I left at 3:49 PM and
headed home.
I rode for 7 miles and arrived home at 4:01 PM. Laura and Connor were outside waiting for me
to arrive. That was a nice welcome. Laura welcomed me, as a wife would, and
Connor welcomed me by laughing at my beard and touching it, laughing some more. It was good to be home! By the way, Gabriel was inside the house with
his sister, Andie. Gabriel’s face lit up
when he saw me. He wouldn’t let me put
him down for a while. Also, my dogs were
very happy to see me!
Today, we rode for 435 miles. Of course, others will have a different total
for the day. You have to remember, this
is MY blog. I rode 435 miles today. If
they object, they can write their own blog and post their mileages! We rode through 28 different states. Some states we entered more than once. I had a total of 8,458 miles. I would have had more miles had I not been
down for a day. We met some great people
and some that we just wondered about. As
I have stated before, nothing in this Blog was written with any malicious
intent. I simply wrote what
happened. There are some things that I didn’t
post that really happened. Similar to
the Las Vegas saying, “What happens on the Ride, stays on the Ride!” Like I’ve said before, many people go out of
the country to vacation. Why don’t they
just stay here and visit the many wonderful sights that the good old U.S.A. has
to offer?
Many thanks go to Laura for allowing me to go on the Ride
and leaving her home with the two Grandsons.
Believe me, I will make it good!
Next year, I heard that we may go to the Southeastern
States. As you have read my Blog, thinks
can change! Who knows where we will end
up next. We shall see. So, until NEXT YEAR…
No comments:
Post a Comment