So what drove me to do this? For me this trip was simply about doing something that most people think is “crazy” or “impossible”. It’s amazing to me how people beat themselves down and convince themselves that they can’t do this or that. And I wonder if it’s laziness or fear that keeps people from getting off their butts and doing the things they’ve always wanted to do. I’m 42 years old now and when I tell people I’m playing a gig, or riding a long ride, or whatever, there’s one thing I see and that’s a longing for something more exciting than what they have. Yet, even though that little spark resides in people, they suppress it. The thing they feel compelled to do is “irresponsible” or “dangerous” or whatever. Bah!!!!

I believe we were put here to experience life and to create relationships with our God and with our fellow man. No, I don’t believe life is one big bike ride, it’s not all about adventure, but it is about not pissing away the time God has given us sitting in front of the TV. I went on this trip to see a bit of the world, to see what people are REALLY like and I’m telling you, that freaking box you plant yourself in front of for hours a day is a sorry, lame and sad substitute for actually getting out there and seeing the world for yourself. It’s a gorgeous, beautiful and VAST world that I saw out there and I’ve not even scratched the surface!

I do have some regrets about this trip though. I regret that I did not have enough time. Time to take the back roads and stop at all the oddball and interesting places that are off the beaten path. Time to visit my friends that live all around the country. Time to just meet more new people and hear about their life stories.

Despite that though, this trip was immensely enjoyable because of the relationships that were fostered among friends and family. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this trip it’s that it’s important not to let too much time pass before getting face time with people who are important to you.

So I was going to pass on all this great knowledge about riding gear and preparation and planning and all that crap. But honestly, the best advice I can give to anyone, biker or not, who’s reading this and wanting to go visit somebody or see a place; Turn that darn TV OFF, get your lazy butt off the couch and GO! Seriously, time is trickling away, and you can’t get it back.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our little trip. Tomorrow this blog will return to it’s usual boring fare of what I’m eating for dinner, how hard work was, or what the weather is like…

…until my next ride anyway. ;-)

Utah is a beautiful place. I would say that to me it’s one of the most beautiful places on our entire trip. The ruggedness of it, the texture, and the colors are just amazing. It’s like landing on another planet almost, and the times I’ve been through it I have just sat there and wondered about the forces that created such odd and beautiful formations. One could easily spend a few weeks in Utah alone just exploring and taking it all in.

We blasted across the state as fast as we could. We had over 500 miles to cover, our longest ride day yet, and it was expected to be 112 degrees in Las Vegas. We did make a few picture stops because you just can’t ride past all that beauty without getting a picture, but we made them quick. We finally slowed down a bit at a rest stop before crossing the Arizona border. The weather was still relatively comfortable but we knew once we got back on the bikes we’d be literally riding into Hell.

And this is where I heard that question I’d heard at least a dozen times on my trip; “Boy you must be hot in that jacket!”. I’m just talking about it now so you non-bikers don’t ask it and look stupid. Here’s the deal folks, motorcycle clothing is a compromise between comfort and safety. Generally, the more comfortable the clothing, the less safe it is. I’ve chosen the classic motorcycle jacket for several reasons. First, it’s not all that hot. Really. The leather keeps the sun off my skin and it’s got vents to let air in when I’m moving. Secondly, yet most importantly, if I were to hit the pavement, which could be several hundred degrees hot in the sun, at 70mph, all of my skin would be torn completely off my body. Now I ask you, don’t you think it’s worth it to be a little hot in a jacket? I do.

Anyway, we got back on the bikes and started toward Vegas and the desert. Folks, it was HOT. By the time we got to Vegas it was 104 I think, which is better than 112, but not by much. At one point I had pulled out a water bottle and was squirting myself while riding and thinking what a smart guy I was, until the water in the bottle heated up to 100 degrees and then it was like squirting jacuzzi tub water on myself. Awful. The good thing was that we only had about 2 hours of really hot weather to ride through. Our plan to leave early had at least saved us from any hot riding through Utah and the worst of Vegas. We pulled onto Fremont Street, checked into our hotel and then went looking for a beer.

We ended up going to a bar called Mickey Fynn’s where my old bass player Rich from South of Shaw was playing. We had a few beers and listened to his new band for a bit, then we went strolling down Fremont street. They had a Styx cover band playing that was really good so we kicked it and listened to Mr. Roboto, Blue Collar Man, and a few other old rockers.

At one point we noticed that there was some dude in the crowd dressed like Prince. Weird. Then we saw a dude dressed like Paul Stanley, except he was the sorriest looking Paul Stanley I’d ever seen. His costume was lame looking and all baggy on him, he had a bad wig on, and dude, if you’re going to do Paul Stanley, you had better have some super manly chest hair. This guy was a loser. And then his loser buddy who was dressed like Brett Michaels strutted up. Apparently a Brett Michaels costume just consists of jeans, a cowboy hat and tons of eyeliner. Apparently these idiots were taking money for pictures with vacationers. Holy crap. Vegas is the only place in the world where people actually pay to take pictures with a bad copy of a famous person. Lame.

However, Vegas is Vegas, and it was fun just people watching. We decided to hit the sack early and hit the road at the break of dawn again the next day. We didn’t quite get off before sun up though since I had been watching my diet and I had not yet had a scrumptious plate of Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs. So we had a killer breakfast and then we hit the road.

The ride back to Fresno was uneventful as expected and we rolled up to my house in good time. We had our daily cigar and some of my home made American Biker Ale and then Robert headed home to hang out with his kid who he hadn’t seen in two weeks. It was a great end to a fantastic adventure. Robert, thanks bro for riding it with me. It simply would not have been the same without you.

I’ll wrap up this blog series in my next post.

Kansas was not nearly as miserable as I expected. It’s not as flat. It’s not as ugly. It is though every bit as boring. Unless you take into account the little town that touts the worlds largest prairie dog, which I suspect is an actual dog, or maybe a cow, then it’s a barn full o’ fun!!

The eastern part of Kansas is actually quite pretty. Basically rolling green hills for miles and miles. The western part is flat as a pancake and is nothing but corn fields. Still, I liked it. But then again, I love farmland. To me farmland means hard work, simple values, and great food. Plain and simple.

We stayed the night in a little town and then the next day we ventured into Colorado and the Rocky mountains. Now, the first thing you hit when you roll into Colorado from the east is Denver and folks, I was not impressed. Denver is not a mountain town, in fact it’s a lot like Fresno in that it’s as flat as a pancake and sits at the base of a mountain range. It’s not as hot as Fresno though, but every bit as smoggy.

So we blazed through Denver and into the mountains and the return trip suddenly got really enjoyable again. The Rocky’s are full of super fancy resorts and snow capped mountains. It’s also the home of Buffalo Bill’s grave! We had to stop and check it out since I had heard of Buffalo Bill but I really had no idea who he was. Turns out he was a buffalo hunter, surprised? He went on to become a scout for the army at the time when they were busy kicking the indians off their land. After that he went into show business and started a traveling circus and wild-west show. he was pretty successful, but made some sour choices along the way and ended up dying fairly broke, but hey, I bet he had a lot of great stories to tell.

As we headed west we cut through this fantastic canyon, and friends, it was breathtaking. I don’t even know how you build a road through something so rugged. It was amazing. I just wish I could have pulled over and took some pictures. It was the best part of Colorado for me and once again I made a mental note to return some day.

We ended up in Grand Junction which is a neat little town. I was kind of freaked out because the week before I left on our trip I saw a TV show about some dude who murdered his wife in Grand Junction, but as usual, TV is nothing like real life and the people of Grand Junction were super nice. While at the hotel we discovered they had a live band coming in so we retired to the pool area to have our customary beer and cigar and watch the band.

The band was three dudes, told old codgers on harmonica and rhythm guitar and a young kid on lead and they were playing some wicked blues. Man, I thought these guys were awesome. Now that I’m old and out of the club scene, I think I could see myself playing in a band like that. They were just tearing it up and having a great time.

During the breaks they had a young gal come up and play some guitar and sing and she was really good too! 15 years old and she was singing and playing like nobody’s business. She’s going to be really good in 5 years or so. The only downside was when she called her somewhat haggard mom up to sing with her. Now I think it’s great that she has a good relationship with her momma, but please, this is a rock and roll show, not the family sing along hour. Bokay?

Anyway, good times were had by all and we slept like babies as we prepared ourselves for the longest ride day of the trip. 520 miles to Las Vegas Nevada.

The little one is soooo cute. I wish I could have spent more time hanging with her. As soon as she started getting used to me we had to go which sucked, but she’s such a sweetheart. While out to dinner my niece’s husband Matt would start to quietly clap and as soon as the little one heard that she would start dancing in her seat and doing this little shoulder move that was just the cutest thing. She was the star of the restaurant.

The second day we had off we decided to head into downtown Nashville and see some sights. I had a few friends I wanted to hook up with but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time. One thing that was really cool though was that we visited Andrew Jackson’s home. My daughter said she learned more about history in that visit than she did in 4 years of high school. If you ever get a chance to go, check it out.

Tennessee as a whole is chock full of history. They’ve had three (I think) Tennessee residents become president and Tennessee was a major player in early American politics. It’s a fantastic place if you can handle the absolutely awful humidity! I’m sure one can used to anything though if you live there for long enough. I’m still kind of freaked out that it rains in the summer there. I’m such a Californian.

So after our two days off, Robert and I packed up the bikes and headed north. We blazed across Kentucky and stopped in a quaint little town called Paducah which is on the Ohio river (somebody correct me if I get my rivers mixed up, there’s so many out there!). Paducah is a neat little town. All brick buildings and mom and pop shops. The surrounding area is full of machine shops and small business and then further out is all farming. I really liked our ride though and I’ve made a mental note to someday return and explore.

We crossed Kentucky and headed into Illinois and then came across a problem. The highway was being worked on and so we could either endure long delays (in record heat and humidity) or head west on a minor highway. We decided to take the detour. The only problem was that I missed the detour signs that led us back to the highway and we ended up cutting across rural Illinois. We didn’t mind though. Once again we were surrounded by beautiful green farmland for as far as the eye could see. Every 40 miles or so we’d come across a tiny little town, cruise through main street, and then back into more farmland. Folks, this is what America really is about. This detour was fantastic and if I had to run cross country again, and had more time, I would have mapped our trip avoiding the interstates altogether.

It’s kind of funny too how these little towns try and generate a little extra cash. They all come up with gimmicks to get you to stop. One town touted itself as the home of Popeye. Yes Popeye. As we cruised through town characters from the Popeye cartoons were everywhere. We didn’t stop. ha! Another town was called Metropolis even though it had a population of probably 5, and had Superman crap everywhere. Pretty funny.

We eventually hit the interstate just south of St. Louis and encountered what was the worst section of our trip. Missouri sucks, my friends. My brother jokingly said the state name should be pronounced “misery” and he was right. It was ungodly hot. at least high 90′s. Now my Fresno neighbors are probably sitting there laughing since as I type this is nearly 100 here in Fresno. However, humidity is the important factor here. Our humidity here in Fresno is probably about 15% right now. In Missouri it was more like 98%. This means that you sweat like a pig from the heat, but because the air is so moist, your sweat never evaporates. It just sits on your skin, which means you can’t cool off. I swear it was the most miserable 4 or 5 hours on the bike I’ve ever experienced.

To top it off, we stayed in a little college town called Columbia which happened to be the most God awful little town I have ever seen. Maybe it was just the exit we got off on, but the motel was beaten down and dirty. Robert noticed a hypodermic needle and rubber strap in the street on the way to dinner. It was just awful. We both slept with one eye open thinking somebody was going to break into our room and shank us in our sleep or steal the bikes.

We awoke to find our throats untouched and our bikes safe. We didn’t waste any time though getting packed up and hitting the road. That’s one place I hope never to see again.

The next 8 hours would take us across Missouri and into the home of Dorothy and Toto; Kansas.

First, it was awesome seeing my mom and dad. They are both turning 70 this year so they are getting up there. My mom has also started having some medical issues so it was just great to throw my arms around both of them and give them big hugs.

My parents crack me up. My mom is the rock and a lifetime Christian. My old man is a grumpy old guy and not ashamed to say exactly what’s on his mind at any given time. I have no idea how they became a couple because their temperaments are so different. All I can gather was that my mom was the sweet, pure girl who fell in love with a bad boy. It’s worked for them. They’ve been married for 50 years now. I hope I someday can say the same.

Now, my friend Jennifer asked me if we saw any vampires while on the road, so I have to share this little story. My parents have two spare rooms that my nieces were sleeping in when they lived there. By the luck of the draw Robert got the bedroom the youngest one had been using before she went to live with her dad. That room happened to be plastered with Twilight and Justin Beiber posters. So yes Jennifer, Robert did see some vampires. I’m sure he’s still seeing them in his dreams.

Alright so the road to West Virginia cuts through the western corner of Virginia which butts up to the Atlantic so that qualifies us for having travelled from one end of the country to the other!!! Woo hoo! We pulled into Lewisburg feeling very accomplished!! How many people can say they left the couch long enough to venture all the way across the country? And do it on a motorcycle no less? Yes, we rock.

OK enough bragging. The scenery in the Virginias is among the most beautiful we saw on our trip. It’s SO green and the land is packed with trees. You know, if you listen to the environmentalists you would think the entire country is a barren wasteland but that could not be further from the truth. There’s nothing but open land out there, and it’s ALL BEAUTIFUL! We live on the most plush piece of Earth I have ever seen. Even in the middle of coal mining country, the land is breathtakingly beautiful. People, don’t let the media fool you, get out there and see what the world is like for yourself. You will be surprised.

One thing that continually amazed me is how every state but California has impeccably clean rest-stops and Virginia’s were the best. The stuctures were brick and looked like country estates. The grass was perfectly mowed, the stops were bathed in large beautiful trees, nice white wood benches to sit on. It was amazing and actually a pleasure to stop.

The town we stayed at in West Virginia was awesome as well, with quaint little restaurants and pubs, a park with great water features that kids could run through, and a HUGE women’s college that was built over a hundred years ago that was STUNNING. What’s great about this part of the country is that there is history everywhere. We came across a civil war cemetery where 95 confederate soldiers were buried as well as tons of church buildings and houses that had to be standing for over a century.

I was able to visit my sister while in West Virginia as well and that’s really the only reason I was there. For those who don’t know us, my sister is in federal prison. I’d rather not talk about why she’s there on this blog, but I have not seen her in nearly two years and it was fantastic to get to sit with her for a full day and just chat. She looked great and was in great spirits. My sister and I were close in age growing up. Our brothers were already out of the house by the time we hit Jr. high so my sister and I, though we fought like cats and dogs, always had a special connection. I love her dearly and I thank God for the opportunity to visit her, even in less than desirable conditions.

Now I just have to share the fact that according to my sister, the other women in the prison facility were quite smitten with Robert and I. Now, it could just be that they hadn’t seen a man in quite a while, but I prefer to think that I’m just THAT DARN SEXY. Yeah, I just wrote that. Deal with it.

So with our visit done and sightseeing out of the way, we got on the bikes and took the same route back through the Smoky Mountains back to Tennessee. I would have loved to stay and experience more of Virginia but there was just not enough time. Someday I’ll venture back and really soak up all the history back there.

The ride was an easy one and before we knew it we were coming up on Memphis. Memphis is a huge music town mainly because Elvis is buried here. There’s blues clubs everywhere, the Gibson guitar company has offices here. It sits right on the monstrous Mississippi river (we just don’t have rivers like that in Cali) and as you come over the bridge the first thing you see is a giant pyramid! Yes a pyramid. I have no idea what a pyramid is doing in Memphis but honestly, it’s freaking ugly.

Since we couldn’t have our beer the night before we drove downtown to find a place I looked up on my iPhone; The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium. The place has over 100 beers ON TAP! It was quite phenomenal let me tell you. It was here that I discovered Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, probably one of the greatest beers I’ve ever tasted. Another cool thing about this place was that there were platters (or saucers I guess) all over the walls with people’s names on them. If you drink every single beer they sell, they put your name on a platter and stick it on the wall. That’s something like 250 beers and many people had done it several times over. A few guys had hit the 10x mark! That’s a lot of beer drinking! Since we were only there for an hour I told the gal at the bar I’d give it a shot, but alas they only let you count 3 per day toward your total. Rats.

We left Memphis in good spirits and in a few hours we had reached Nasvhille… right at rush hour. It was HOT, and HUMID, and we were stuck in traffic. It was awful. However, being on a motorcycle has it’s advantages and so I led the way between lanes and began smiling as we passed right by all those poor saps in their big gas gusslers. That did not go over very well and we were starting to get honks and fists waving at us. What the heck is wrong with these people? It’s not my fault they are too lame to ride motorcycles! However, after getting to my parents house and checking the traffic laws, it’s very illegal to split lanes in Tennessee, unlike California. Alright Nashvillains, I will excuse you for being so rude.

We would take the next day off from riding at my parents house in order to rest and also to fix the bikes. I had lost my left grip in Arkansas and Robert had a shorted out taillight. We got up early and made the repairs and then 24 hours later it was back on the bikes. We were heading to West Virginia and the far end of our trip!

A few things we saw before we got out of Texas; A giant cross in the middle of a field that was nearly 200 feet tall. Biggest cross I had ever seen! Amazing. Also, we noticed the the rest stops on the way from Amarillo to the Oaklahoma border were massive. I mean, these things were destinations in and of themselves. Everything is truly bigger in Texas.

The ride across Oklahoma was uneventful. Nothing really there, but it is very beautiful. Lush green farmland for as far as you can see in every direction. We did end up hitting rain though. We saw a storm raging in the distance and so we stopped and put our rain covers on our bags and zipped up our jacket vents. Then we revved up and headed into the black clouds.

It was pretty intense. Lightning going off, and rain coming down HARD. Within seconds I was drenched and that’s where I realized my rain suit which I left at home would have been nice. Of course I was covered in leather so most of me stayed dry, but when wearing chaps your whole pelvic region is exposed and so within about 20 seconds I felt like I was sitting in a puddle. The good thing is that summer storms are not cold, and that makes the water a lot more tolerable. Since the storm was coming at us and we were headed into it, we managed to break through it in just about 20 minutes and it was sunny and hot on the other side. In fact the transition was like hitting a hot brick wall it was so abrupt, so we dried out rather quickly.

We continued on into Arkansas and began looking for a hotel to stay in. We pulled into a little town called Clarksville and took a trip through town by accident (stupid GPS) but it was interesting. I’m amazed at how such small towns can have so many churches. In a big city like Fresno where churches struggle to fill half the seats it’s amazing to see these small towns with church after church after church, many of them very large. I get the feeling that EVERYONE in the south goes to church.

We also discovered after checking into our room that we had landed in a “dry county”. What that means is that there is no liquor sold anywhere in the county. The nearest liquor store was 20 miles away in the next county so we were out of luck on our daily beer and cigar. I love my beer, but a 40 minute roundtrip after riding for 10 hours straight was not going to happen.

So this may sound like such a straight laced little town right? All these churches and no beer. Yet they had the typical giant adult store right at the freeway offramp. We also discovered that you can buy slim-jims (a slim jim is a device for breaking into cars) and switch blade knives at the corner market. So beer is a deadly sin, but carjacking equipment is OK? I just don’t get it.

The next day we got up early and hit the road for Tennessee and my parents place. My girls were flying into Nashville to meet us so I was pretty excited. It would also be nice to see my family and actually have a house to relax in instead of a hotel.

The only downside is that it was starting to get hot, and very, very humid.

This is an account of our trip.

To briefly recap, I decided in 2006 that I wanted to ride my motorcycle across the entire United States. I wanted to see America. I knew I could not stop at every little hole in the wall and tourist spot because the most time I could take off work would be two weeks and America is WIDE! But I figured it would still be awesome, even if I just rode straight across and straight back.

Over the next few years I would have to postpone the trip for various reasons. Some personal, some financial. But this year everything fell into place. I had the money, I had the time, and I had a buddy who wanted to ride with me. So we put it on the calendar and on July 3rd 2010, we set off on our bikes to see what America looked like up close and personal.

Our first night was to be spent in a little town in Arizona called Kingman. There’s really nothing in Kingman, it just happened to be the right distance away. It’s an interesting place though because it sits right on the old Route 66, so they play that up quite a bit. There’s a lot of desert riding on the way from Fresno to Kingman. Personally I like the desert. It’s a hot, somewhat hostile environment, but at the same time, it’s peaceful and actually quite pretty in very subtle ways. It reminds me of watching westerns with my pops as a kid and I do my best thinking while sailing through the beautiful desolation of the desert. It’s interesting because the desert is one of the few places where you will encounter literally nothing but dirt and cactus for hundreds of miles and every so often you’ll see a trailer out there by itself. I always wonder what possesses those people to live in a trailer out in the middle of the desert and how they even survive?

Anyway, we got there in good time and the lady at the hotel was a sweetheart. She directed us to some places to eat and told us about a car show that was going on. We ended up hitting a rib joint downtown and talking a bit with a nice old lady who I think was the owner. She wanted to know where we were going and what we were doing out on the road. That’s one neat thing about being on a motorcycle, everyone wants to know where you’re headed. When you tell them you’re heading across the country, they are always amazed and you can tell they would love to do something like that, but then there’s that something that keeps them from really considering it.

After dinner we headed out to hang with the locals at the car show. It was quite interesting to say the least. In this tiny town of Kingman, hundreds of people had come out to listen to some bands, drink beer, and watch cars do burn outs. Yes that’s right. They had a burn out contest. What happens in a burn out contest is that anyone can bring any car and do a burn out. You pull into this blocked off area and they chock your front wheels so the car can’t go anywhere. The back wheels are on thick metal plates and watered down with a hose. Then they tell you to punch it and you hit the gas. if your car is powerful enough the back wheels start to spin and smoke starts pouring from the wheel wells. It’s quite a sight to see and hear. The crowd got a huge kick out of it and was cheering like crazy the bigger the smoke cloud got. One guy had special tires that put out colored smoke! Yes, these people take their burnouts seriously.

The next morning we ate breakfast and had a nice conversation with the lady at the front desk. Turns out she had been planning to move to Texas and has land out there but came to Kingman to take care of her sick mom. After her mom died, she got ripped off when she was trying to sell the estate and had to stay because she was broke. Now she’s working two jobs and just trying to save enough money to someday move to Texas. A sad story, but she was so upbeat and positive about her situation. She’s a survivor.

In the parking lot I started talking to another gentleman who was in Kingman looking to buy a house. He was an older guy from California who had gotten a settlement on a workers comp claim and was looking to relocate. An interesting old codger that’s for sure. Said his wife was always taking off for weeks at a time and he wasn’t sure if he wanted her to move with him. Wow.

A few other interesting notes about life outside of California. First, we would discover that none of the states in our southern route would require you to wear a helmet on a motorcycle, and so nobody does (except us). Also, in Arizona it’s pretty common for folks to be carrying guns. Gas prices drop by 50 cents as soon as you cross the California state line and the highway speed limit goes up to 75mph. Lastly, a LOT of Arizona along I-40 is made up of forests, is very cool, and is quite beautiful. Not the oppressively hot environment you hear about from people who live in Phoenix.

So that was our time spent in Arizona. From there we headed East to our next stop which would be Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Thanks to my good friend and brother in Christ, Robert Clark for taking on this adventure with me. It’s been one heck of a ride!

Epic Ride 2010 Ride Map

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Last time Robert and I rode we were gone 5 days and our daily distance covered was not that demanding. This time we’re riding for 13 days and are going to average 450 miles a day. On top of that, it’s going to be HOT as we cross the desert southwest, and hot & humid as we enter the south. And then there’s the fact that I’m spending 16 days, 24 hours a day, with another dude. That alone is enough to make any trip miserable.

This is really all part of the adventure though. My riding partner is a good dude so if he can put up with me, I know we’ll be just fine. The only real things that are worrying me at this point are my health and the health of the bike.

It’s important to eat right while on the road. The wind rushing past you on a bike in 100 degree weather will dry you out in a heartbeat so drinking lots of water is a must. But also it’s important to eat right. Last trip I had chicken fried steak every single day for breakfast. Oh, it was SO GOOD. But I gained 10 pounds and felt like falling asleep every day by lunch. This time my plan is to stick with healthy foods as much as possible. I do plan on enjoying some of the local cuisine. There’s no way in hell I’m going to sit in a Texas steak house and order a tofu burger with sprouts and avocados. But, I’m not also going to do chicken fried steak every day.

I’m also going to try and cut back on the beer. Robert and I have a sort of tradition of having a beer and cigar at the end of each riding day, but I’ll have to limit the brew a bit this trip. It might not be easy. To me, beer is one of the greatest things ever given to us by God. But overdoing it can dehydrate you and cause restless sleep not to mention make you fat as heck. And I do NOT want to be sleepy and facing 400 miles of riding. I kinda don’t want to be fat either.

The health of the bike; well, that I’m just going to have to put in God’s hands. I’ve done all I can do to get the girl ready and now I just have to trust that she’ll take me where I want to go with no troubles. We’re really catching a break with the weather. Looks like the entire way across the desert should see temps below 100°. That’s a huge relief since we’re both riding air cooled bikes.

So that’s about it. I’m going to have trouble sleeping as the ride gets closer. These are exciting times!