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Today started with final goodbyes to my family as we packed up the bikes with the Cortech
by Tour Master sport saddlebags, tail pack’s and tank bag’s and began our ride.
I got my last hugs and kisses from Carin and the kids as they sent us on our way to our first
planned stop in Quartzsite Arizona.
The ride itself was quite uneventful. To be very honest, I hope that I get to say that every
day pertaining to the ride!
We passed some of the famous wind farms as we rode through the windy area just before Palm
Springs. There are what seems to be thousands of all different size wind-mills in this area that are used to produce electricity.
We rode the bikes up to Yucca valley and had breakfast at the Route 62 Café where they have
a vintage gas pump from the days of 13cent gasoline! Now, I can remember as far back as 35cents a gallon but that is as old
as I get!
We got to Twenty-Nine Palms and stopped for gassing up for 100 miles of no service where we
had a chance to fill and use our First Gear Bota-Bladders. We filled them with water although Mike thought that filling his
with Bud-Light would be a good idea. After showing him a view of our ride for the next 150 or so miles, he was pretty happy
that I talked him out of it! The bladders fit perfectly into the back protector location of the Jackets.
Oh, and did I mention that it a bit warm? The temperature topped out at 108 for the day! Not
too awful bad for a transformed desert rat like myself but Mike felt it was “like riding in a blast furnace!”
Boy, is he gonna be surprised as we continue our ride through Arizona!
As we rode along Rt. 62 in the high desert, we came across quite a sight. In the middle of
nowhere along the highway there is a tree. Not just any tree mind you but a tree that has sneakers and clothing draped all
over it! Mainly sneakers with writing of the donating owners names cover this tree but there is also just about every
piece of clothing that you can think of on it as well!
Our first thought was that we could use a pair of sneakers each. While climbing around on
it, Mike found a pair of bowling shoes just his size! Then I thought that we could add to the articles by putting a brand
new HRCA t-shirt on the tree after I put our names and (of course) our web address on it!
Mike put a “Honda Ride Red” Sticker on the tree and we felt that our contribution
was through. If anyone out there has the story on why this tree has all these items on it, please fess up! We sure would like
to know!
We made our way to Vidal Junction and instead of getting gas there (like we should), I told
Mike that we had plenty of gas and to continue on our way. Well, we had about 40 miles of fuel left in our tanks with 39 miles
to ride! I apparently misjudged our need for fuel and we JUST made it to fill up. I had about one tenth of a gallon of gas
remaining while Mike had about three tenths. I wont make that mistake again as I’m sure I’ll be hearing about
this for at least a week or so! Turns out that Mike is getting about 5 miles per gallon better than I am. I’m sure that
it’s because I’m carrying all the weight while he insists that it’s my heavy throttle hand that makes the
difference. Mike does a better job of tucking while climbing the hills and that’s something that I’ll work on
tomorrow. Both bikes have about 600 miles since the oil was changed and both are about 4 ounces down, This is exceptional
considering that these engines are as old as they are, use the air outside to cool them (instead of the liquid cooled bikes
of today) combined with the heat of the desert not to mention the 60+lbs of luggage we packed for this trip including clothing,
tools, this laptop and spares!
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| Mike pulling away as I look for reserve |
We got to our destination of the day, Quartzsite Arizona and got settled in at the Hotel.
Our
travels for the day took us 270 miles and we felt fine after that one even with the heat. That takes us to a total so far
to 410 miles which is about 10% of the total distance of our planned journey.
Tomorrow, we head for Sedona!
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| One state down only12 to go!!!! |
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