Trip started on July 24, year of our Lord, 2004.   Bike is packed and ready to go.   This is the best the bike was to look for the next 2-1/2 weeks.   Left Stephenville, Texas about 11:00 Saturday, things looking real good.   Ran into a couple showers east of Abiline.   Nice!   No major problem!   Now, west of Abiline is where the rain really started.   Had to pull off the interstate due to visibility problems.   I couldn't see!   Luckily there was an abandoned service station that only had a slightly leaking roof.   This is also where I found out my rain jacket was ripped and was therefore determined to be useless.   Put on my denim jacket, and left when the rain stopped.   Back on the road again.   Another really heavy rain and another roof at some steel yard.   Soaked to the core.   Wrung out really wet and heavy denim jacket and put on chaps and leather coat.   I'm wet and cold by this time.   Constant showers, but nothing serious enough to make me pull off the road.   Obvious that I'm not going to dry out today.   Stopped in Monahans to fill up with gas and let another storm pass that was ahead of me.   Didn't help.   I rode through it anyway.   Almost bad enough to pull over but not quite.   So, at the end of the first day I arrive in Pecos and get a motel for the night.   Walk in to register and the clerk wants to know if I've been rained on.   Guess she couldn't see where I was dripping on her floor; or, she had a sick sense of humor. So a ride that I thought would be kinda boring turned out to be interesting.   It's never boring riding in the rain.   Of course it started raining again when I was unloading the bike.   What the hell, I'm wet anyway.   End of Day One  

Day Two  

Wake up in Pecos and it is raining.   Raining hard!   Use the dryer to dry clothes that I wore yesterday (day one).   Quits raining!   Load bike and start heading west.   On the road again.   Ten minutes out of Pecos and I'm wet again.   The rain stopping was just a ploy to get me on the road.   It worked.   Mission accomplished rain.   I will wear leather all day.   Dodge and ride through rain showers all day long. Texas Canyon (as seen from a Rest Area) in New Mexico.   Go Figure.   My sister-in-law wanted me to find some silver jewelry for her in New Mexico (really good buys, so she says).   So, I stopped in Las Cruces to look.   Couldn't locate any, but did find the Harley shop and bought me my first t-shirt of the trip.   As I neared Lordsburg, New Mexico, there appeared to be a bad storm in front of me. Thinking to myself that I could not stand to get wet one more time that day I stopped for the night.   Clerk at the motel said "judging by your ride you don't have a pet with you".   Are all motel clerks comedians?   End of Day Two.  

Day Three  

It's cool when I pull out Lordsburg and the weather is clear.   Desert aint so bad.   Pull in to Tucson about 11.   Shucked the leather (its getting warm) and put on my denim jacket.   Shucked the denim jacket just outside of Tucson.   Little did I know that it was to be a very warm day.   Saw this cactus outside of Eloy (only picture I took on this part of trip, was worried about overheating camera).   What was more interesting than the cactus was the $2 I paid for bottled water.   Nothing ahead of me but miles and miles of straight highway, cactus, heat, and Yuma.   It was hot, damn hot.   Filled up with gas in Yuma.   Should have stopped there.   But, NO, can still get a few miles in before dark.   Big mistake.   I didn't think I would survive the 60 miles to El Centro, California.   Almost didn't!   Partly because of the rest area just across the California border (skid-o-cans).   Whew!   Stink!   One hundred and Eleven degrees when I pulled into El Centro.   Sweated all over the motel office.   Turned a.c. on high and cooled off for about an hour before I ever started unpacking the bike.   I was totally drained.   End of Day Three.  

Day Four  

Hot when I leave El Centro.   No leather, no jacket.   Hoping today isn't a repeat of yesterday.   For a 100 miles or so it is a repeat.   Hit the mountains.   At last a change of scenery.   Nice hot ride up the eastern side of the mountains.   Nice cool ride down the western side.   In fact I pulled over and put my jacket on (it would be a week before I rode without a jacket again).   Would have bet money that I wouldn't have needed it today. Headed north to Julien, which took me through a National Forest.   Through Escondido, Oceanside, and then picked up Highway 1 in San Clemente.   Now I know why there isn't much information on Highway 1 around San Clemente.   Let me share this.   Highway 1 from San Clemente through Los Angles is nothing but stop lights.   What fun that was.   Got lost 3-4 times.   Even asked for directions a couple of times (which I hate doing).   Finally made it through L.A.   All afternoon getting through LA.   Reached Malibu at rush hour.   Knew I had to stop there and get my daughter a souvenier.   She wouldn't take no for an answer like my sister-in-law did about the silver.   Met a biker at the souvenier shop, riding an 04 Heritage Softail.   He commented on how much cleaner his bike was than mine.   I calmly explained about rain, heat, and the 1500 miles that his bike hadn't seen recently.   Picture north of Malibu

Finally I feel that the trip has really started.   Pulled into Oxnard, promply lost Highway 1 and got to know the town a lot better than I had ever planned on.   Ended up in Ventura for the night (taken from balcony of motel room).   Room was not inexpensive (already starting to bust the budget).   Dressed in chaps and leather jacket when I checked into motel, clerk asked if I was on a bike.   I told him no, just a leather fetish.   Another comic clerk. End of Day Four.  

Day Five  

Got to know Oxnard again.   Getting tired of this town.   Finally back on Highway 1.   Picture north of Ventura (notice the bright sunny day).   Notice people in water.   They are in wet suits, surfing.   So far I've seen two bikinis and they weren't wet and both in Los Angeles crossing a street.   It's cold.   Rest area north of Santa Barbara, notice the burned trees on the mountain.   Met a guy here wanting to know how far he was from Santa Barbara.   Not far, 40 miles or so, but if your heading north, you have already gone through it.   Last I saw of him was he was heading back south.   Couple of french fries short of a happy meal.   Anyway, the scenery is great.   Spend the night in Morro Bay.   Nice touristy town.   Think they are famous for the rock out in the harbor.   It was in Morro Bay that I learned never to trust anyone to direct you to a good place to eat.   I'm sure they mean well, but I just never got it right.   End of Day Five. 

Day Six  

Left Morro Bay and took a little side trip to Atascadero (east).   Over the mountains and through the woods. Found the Harley shop finally.   Was looking for a huge sign that could be seen for miles.   As it was so kindly explained to me, small franchise in a small town.   Couldn't afford the big sign.   2d shirt of the trip.   Back on Highway 1, north of Morro Bay, seals in the water.   Neat!   Never seen wild seals before.   Well except for this one woman...in a wet suit...years ago...but thats another story.   Met a retired couple at this location.   Gave me directions to a nice motel near Monterey.   Right on the beach they said, very reasonable.   Unfortunately they weren't sure what town it was in.   That made it difficult to find.   In fact, I didn't locate it.   They meant well, I think.   They asked if I had been to the Hearst Castle.   Said that I hadn't.   That I could catch that on the Travel Channel, more interested in scenery.   Neither cracked a smile.   Right after this conversation is when they gave me the directions.   Big Sur is next.   This was a beautiful ride.   Here I'm parked at a pullout, looking up at where I'm gonna be in a few minutes.   Very curvy roads.   More scenery.   Notice the sharp turn.   Pretty much wanted to stay close to the recommended speed.   Weather went from overcast to sunny to overcast, couldn't make up its mind.  At the bottom of the mountain you can see the road winding around, at the top of the mountain, clouds (or possibly what could be smoke from my cigarette).  Fog coming in over the Pacific.   Spent the night in Half Moon Bay.   By the time I got there, I was freezing.   I'm registering for a room, sniffling, and the clerk offers me a Kleenex.   I apologize and tell her how cold I am.   Asks where I've come from.   DUH, Ft. Worth.   She replies, Today?   She, also suggests that a face mask would help keep me warm.   I proudly tell her mine is safe at home.   End of Day Six.  

Day Seven  

It is drizzling rain as I prepare for the ride into San Francisco.   Great!   Always hard for me to get started when its wet out.   Finally get everything loaded and take off.   Nothing like wet roads and heavy traffic.   Actually ride out of the drizzle after a short while and the roads are dry.   Ask about 4 different people about the directions into San Francisco.   Figure after the problems that I've had with restruants that I would get more than one opinion.   Simple....stay on this road and you will see big sign that says Golden Gate Bridge.   Lo and behold, there was a big sign.   Nice crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, but to me it looks better on the Travel Channel. That is just me though.   Caught Highway 1 about a mile past the bridge.   The curves began.   Tight, tight curves for the rest of the day.   Bodega Bay.   Notice the sunny sky, like that all day long.   Some little village north of Bodega Bay.   Beach.   Beach.   Really didn't see a lot of scenery on this day.   To busy paying attention to the road.   Lot of the curves didn't have signs or suggested speeds.   I know why, they were all slow.   If you did see a curve sign, you had better really slow down.   Fog never did completely roll in, but it sure wanted to.   Made a 150 miles today and that was riding all day long.   Rarely, very rarely got above 50 mph.   Needed gas pretty badly outside of Ft. Bragg, $2.69 a gallon.   OUCH!   Finally reach Ft. Bragg and get a motel.   Once again I get a comedian for a clerk.   Here I learn that it will cost me $150 if I smoke in my non-smoking room; $150 if I park my bike in my room; and $150 if I sneak a pet into my room.   Nice place to eat next to the hotel, if you enjoy mediocre food.   End of Day Seven.  

Day Eight  

Another nice ride. Curvy road.   Is that blue sky? I was headed downhill at this point and had just passed a group of bikers (pedal type) headed up the hill.   After being parked for a few minutes, here came a lone biker.   He gasps, "how much further to the top."   I told him a mile.   I lied.   Seemed like he needed some encouragement.   Stopped in Eureka for another Harley shirt.   Then it was through the redwood forests.   Which was great.   Took a side trip through the Avenue of the Giants.   Spectacular!   I passed a couple that had pulled over and gotten out of their car and seemed to be enjoying the scenery.   I hope that the roar of 1450 cc's from my bike added a little bit to the pleasure they were having.   Stayed in Crescent City that night.   Washed clothes using the motel washer and dryer.   Everything was $1.25 ...washer ...dryer ...soap.   Amazing how many clothes can be stuffed into a washer.   End of Day Eight.  

Day Nine  

Remember, I've been in leather almost the entire trip.   Really getting tired of being cold.   Do my pre-flight on the bike and find out I have a burned out bulb on the right front blinker.   None of the auto parts places are open when I leave town.   It's Sunday, right?   Will pick up a bulb in Coos Bay, Oregon.   Stop at a rest area right after crossing the Oregon border.   Woman working there with tourist type information.   Very friendly.   Tells me what places to visit, etc.   I tell her that I only want to visit sunshine.   She assures me the weather is going to clear just 30 miles up the road, 40 miles max.   She lied!   Guess she felt like I needed some encouragement.   Pull into Harley shop in Coos Bay, buy a bulb and a t-shirt (I'm running out of room).   Ask the sales clerk where the best place to turn inland.   "Go to Reedsport and take Highway 38."   I have her repeat directions.   Was really hoping she wasn't lying.   She even told me about a biker bar in Elkton.   Found it.   No bikes and wasn't open anyway.   Highway 38 turned out to be a beautiful ride.   Soon there was sunshine.   By the time I reached I-5 it was warm enough to shuck some leather and ride in a t-shirt.   Nice.   Met an older couple at a rest stop on I-5 (I've never met a rest stop that I didn't like...except that first one in California).   They parked in the handicap parking.   When he got out of the car, he looked at the bike and said, "Wish I had gotten one of those when I had the chance."   Seems like every car in Oregon is on I-5 heading towards Portland.   Spend the night in Clackamas (suburb of Portland).   Couple of interesting tid bits.   One, there is no self-serve gas in Oregon.   No one wants to spill gas on a Harley so I got to run the hose myself.   Two, cigarettes cost me $5.25 a pack.   Did manage to get a really good meal in town.   Only thing was the portions were way to small.   It's always something.   End of Day Nine.  

Day Ten  

Catch I-84 out of Portland. This follows the Columbia River Gorge.   Another great ride.   This from a turnout area.   I pulled in, got my camera out and was taking some snapshots, when a van pulls in.   Out jump a bunch of inmates that start picking up trash.   I calmly walk back to the bike, lock it up and continue taking pictures.   If one makes a break for it, it wasn't going to be on my bike.   Couple of them gave me a thumbs up when I pulled out.   Wahkeena Falls.   Upper Multnomah Falls.   Lower Multnomah Falls.   Plaque.   Difficult to get all of Multnomah Falls in one shot.   Horsetail Falls.   It's a good ride all along the Columbia River along I-84.   Turn towards Kennewick, Washington and the ride becomes really boring.   Boring all the way through Washington.   Finally, east of Spokane, the scenery improves.   Reach Coeur d'Alene, Idaho late in the evening and get a motel.   As I'm unloading the bike I notice what appears to be smoke off in the distance.   Turns out to be dust blown by a thunderstorm.   We get a lot of wind, dust, and about 50 drops of rain which turn the bike into a mess.   End of Day Ten.  

Day Eleven  

Raining when I leave Coeur d'Alene.   Had wanted to explore downtown, but decided I had rather take my chances on a wet Interstate than wet city streets.   I-94 is a great ride.   More spectacular scenery.   Finally shuck my leather as the day warms up.   No sooner do I do that and storm clouds are brewing.   Had already missed several good chances to get wet.   Pull into the next rest stop, and a biker on a Road King asks if I'm going to get out the rain gear.   I tell him yes.   He says he is going to chance it.   About 20 miles down the road it turns out to have been an excellent decision on my part.   Ride into Belgrade, Montana and get a motel.   There is a Harley shop nearby, so I'm off to get another shirt.   Lo and behold, I walk in and there is that biker from the rest stop in rain gear.   I laugh and ask him when he had put it on.   He said he had put it on about a mile after leaving rest area.   Met 3 couples from England.   They had flown here (not Belgrade), rented a car and were driving to Rapid City, South Dakota to pick up 3 Harleys that they had rented. Saw very few bikes while I was out on the west coast.   Now they are everywhere.   About 10 of them at the motel that I'm staying at.   End of Day Eleven.  

Day Twelve  

Ride to Livingston, then catch Highway 89 to Yellowstone National Park.   Very nice ride.   Yellowstone River at a rest stop about 30 miles from the North Entrance.   Notice the sky, that gives an indication of what is about to come.   Starts raining just as I get into Yellowstone.   Rains for about 1/2 hour.   Pull into a shelter at a camp site.   Lo and behold, the biker on the Road King is there trying to stay dry.   He mentions something about we need to quit meeting like this.   I agree with him.   Turns out that he had just retired from the Air Force and was on a cross country trip.   Scenery   Scenery   Scenery   Scenery   Yellowstone is full of bikes.   Leave out of the East Entrance/Exit.   Construction on the road going out.   A mud slide had passed through recently and taken out part of the road.   Single lane traffic, lots of gravel on the road.   White knuckle time.   Back brake is squealing by the time I get to Cody, Wyoming.   Find a room at the most expensive Super 8 Motel in the country.   Picture from motel room window.   Clerk tells me that Bubba's Bar-B-Q is a good place to eat.   Excellent!   Met a really nice couple at Bubba's.   From the area and ride a Road King.   He really wanted a Heritage Softail, but the dealer talked him into the Road King.   I sympathised with him.   Pull the right saddlebag off of the bike to look at the brake.   Everything looks good, plenty of pad.   Another biker walks over to see what I'm doing.   He agrees that pads look o.k.   Then he says his brakes always squeal in this area, humidity or whatever.   I think that is kind of a cheesy excuse for the brake noise.   Decide I will have them looked at first chance I get.   This is also the first time that I have seen a motorcycle with a handicap sticker.   End of Day Twelve.  

Day Thirteen  

Call the local bike shop and find that they may be able to look at bike this afternoon or possibly in the morning.   I'm outa here.   Oh, by the way, Bubba's Bar-B-Q does a great breakfast.   Talk to the guy that gave me the advice about the brakes.   He was trailering his bike to Sturgis.   I say something about the only way to visit Sturgis is to RIDE.   He then said something about his arthritis wouldn't allow him to ride that far.   Need to remember keep my mouth shut in the future.   Good ride out of Cody.   By the time I get to Burlington the brakes have quit squealing, must have been the humidity or whatever.   Outside of Worland run into lots of road construction.   Single lane traffic in two different places.   Long wait for the spotter vehicle.   Lots of loose gravel.   I hate gravel.   Spend the night in Sundance, Wyoming.   The cafe I ate at really bragged on their homemade Thousand Island Dressing.   So I tried it.   KRAFT makes better.   End of Day Thirteen.  

Day Fourteen  

Off to visit Devils Tower.   A closer view of the Tower.   If you look closely you will see people, gives a bit of perspective.   When I came down from the lookout area, there was a guy looking at my bike.   Told him not to pay any attention to how dirty it was.   Said he had a Goldwing (I make the sign of the cross with my fingers) and that he had dropped it recently.   Wanted something a little closer to the ground.   A friend had told him to get a Heritage Softail.   He was totally amazed when I told him I had 31,000 miles on mine and hadn't had any problems.   The air-cooled engine worried him.   Believe they were all air-cooled at one time.   He was recently widowed and traveling around the country.   Went to his van and got a photo of himself during the 1940's on a Harley and a friend on an Indian.   I let him sit on the bike to see if he liked it.   Naturally he loved it.   Inside the park is a turnout that overlooks a prairie dog town.   Some biker chick walking around out among the prairie dogs.   Somehow that strikes me as really stupid.   Now its off to Sturgis.   Catch I-90 and ride it into Sturgis.   Sturgis is crowded.   Takes me about 45 minutes to get through town.   Register at Glencoe Campground.   Full Throttle Saloon is my first stop after setting up tent.   $4.25 for a 16 ounce Miller Lite.   Waitresses are cute.   Glencoe has a parade every evening.   Nice.   Nice.   End of Day Fourteen.  

Day Fifteen  

It's early, early in the morning and my air mattress isn't holding air.   Damn!   Hauled the thing for over 4,000 miles only to find out that it leaks air.   So it goes.   Up early and off to Mount Rushmore.   Nice Ride, scenic wise.   Roads are full of bikes.   The park has even set aside a special lane at the entrance for bikes.   You can see Rushmore, from a distance, on the way to the park and it didn't seem to impressive to me.   Very impressive from up close.   Highways are kinda scary.   Not afraid of the cars, it's the bikers that scare me.   I'm riding in the right side of the traffic lane and a woman passes me on the left.   I figure I'll put a stop to that and move over to the left side.   Then I get passed on the right.   This is stupid.   The woman that has passed me on the left is wearing a dress, white hose, and stilleto heels.   Looks hot!   Still can't help but think she is stupid though.   Hope she is very careful how she puts those shoes down on the pavement.   She is wearing a helmet.   Not very many of us are.   Way too many people riding like jerks.

Go downtown Sturgis.   Downtown is bike only parking.   Can't find a place to park.   Finally end up parking about 3 blocks from downtown near the courthouse.   Sidewalks are almost to crowded to walk on.   Can't find a place to sit at any bar I go into.   Everything is that crowded.   Head back to the Full Throttle Saloon and buy some more of that $4.25 beer.   Just barely beat a thunderstorm back to the campground.   Just make to the eating area shelter before the sky falls out.   Rain lasts for about an hour.   Roads are good inside the campground, so that wasn't a problem.   Head back to the tent wondering if its still standing.   It's still there and everything is still dry.   Lots of people weren't that lucky.   Glencoe has a store that sells beer for $12.00 a twelve pack, small bag of ice for $2.00, and small styrofoam coolers for $5.00.   Seems like every tent has a cooler.   The campground has made a fortune off of those coolers. End of Day Fifteen.  

Day Sixteen  

Fight the air mattress again.   Refill with air during the night.   Almost make it till morning till it needs air again.   Today is the official beginning of Bike Week and I decided sometime during the night that I have seen all that I want to see.   Donate the tent and air mattress to some local landfill (they end up in one of the trash cans).   Only takes 45 minutes or so to get through Sturgis, but its early.   It will get worse as the day wears on.   When I reach the off ramp for I-90, there is a biker down.   Paramedics are just arriving.   There is blood on the pavement and a cop has a towel to stop the bleeding from the bikers head.   Damn, dressed in leather from ankles to neck and no helmet.   That shook me up.   Get on I-90 east and there is a steady stream of bikes and trailers heading for Sturgis. Steady stream of bikes without a break for the 100 miles or so until I turn off on highway 83.   I'll ride 83 all the way to Abilene.   Meet a few bikes on the road that are heading north, but in every town where ever there is a "stop and rob" or a McDonald's there are groups of bikes northward bound.   It's a boring ride.   I now know what a feedlot operation is.   I just thought I knew before.   Stop in North Platte, Nebraska for the night.   End of Day Sixteen.  

Day Seventeen  

Run my bike to the local Harley shop to see if I can get an oil change.   They will do it for me.   Meet 3 guys here.   Two are from Dallas/Ft. Worth area.   Had a flat on one of their bikes about 50 miles south of North Platte.   A farmer loaned them his truck to haul the bike here to get the flat fixed.   As soon as the flat is fixed, they will return the truck and continue onto Sturgis.   The other guy is a soldier on 2 weeks leave from Iraq.   As soon as he got into town, he bought a Softail Custom.   Was waiting on the shop to complete his 1,000 mile checkup, then pick up his girlfriend and head to Sturgis.   I wish him luck.   A good time in Sturgis and a safe tour in Iraq.   All the scenery looks about the same.   Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, it looks all the same.   Got into a bit of a fuel scare in Oklahoma and Texas.   Low fuel light on, can't find any premium gas and fighting a strong headwind.   Finally settle for 1/2 tank of 89 octane.   Stop in Perryton, Texas for the night.   Order a chicken fried steak at the cafe next to the motel.   Waitress asks if I want regular chicken fried steak or homestyle.   I have to ask what the difference is, I'm clueless.   End of Day Seventeen.  

Day Eighteen  

I never thought I would brag on the scenery between Abilene and Stephenville, but its a welcome relief from the previous two days.   I'm home.   End of Trip.  

Summary  

It was a great trip.   5,500 miles.   Met some really nice people on the trip.   Never had a bit of problem with anyone or any kind of trouble.   I would do the trip again tomorrow if I had the vacation.   People ask if I got tired of riding?   Nope, I didn't.   I couldn't wait to get going the next morning.   I never dreaded having to ride.   After 18 days on the road and 5,500 miles, two days later the bike and I were headed south to Houston, Texas to visit my brother.   It's all about the ride.  

In Memory  

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost went unnoticed last week.   Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey," died peacefully at age 93.  

The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.   They put his left leg in.   And then the trouble started...