Retired and Trippin

Chris and I fully anticipated riding in the rain today.  This was based on weather reports from the past two days.  When we woke up in Great Bend, KS it was mostly cloudy and cool but as the morning progressed blue clear skies invaded from the south. We departed Great Bend at 9:30 am.  It was 50 degrees under blue clear skies.  We rode home via Hwys 56, 156 and I-70.  As we rode north towards I-70 we watched the blue clear skies push the dark clouds north.  We were under clear to mostly clear skies all day.  What a great surprise! We took a break at a rest area on I-70 between Abilene and Junction City and we gassed up and had lunch at the Maple Hill exit off of I-70.  We arrived home at 2:15 pm.  The high temperature of the day was 61.  We rode 258 miles.  No pictures were taken today. Another trip is over.  We rode 2,400 miles and had a fantastic time – looking forward to the next one.

We left our motel in Trinidad, CO at 8:00 am.  It was cloudy and 43 degrees.  We rode 125 miles non-stop to Springfield, CO where we gassed up and took a break.  From Trinidad, CO to Kim, CO (65 miles +) we only saw 6 other vehicles. We then rode 160 miles non-stop to Dodge City, KS via Hwy 160, 144, and 56.  In Dodge we had lunch at Wendy’s.  The bowl of Chili tasted real good.  While eating lunch we learned that Granddaughter Jenna scored a hat trick in her soccer game today.  Way to go Jenna! Just north and east of Dodge on Hwy 56 we rode past a wind farm near Spearville, KS. We continued east and north on Hwy 56 to Larned, KS.  When leaving Larned I noticed the front wheel/tire was not handling well.  I checked the air pressure and found it to be extremely low.  I checked for punctures and found none.  I aired up the tire and headed for Great Bend where I checked air pressure again.  It was low again.  Inspection reveled that the rubber at the base of the valve stem was crack

We left Santa Fe at 9:00 am riding north on I-25.  It was 54 degrees.  We rode 133 miles to Springer, NM, where we stopped for gas and a butt break.  We continued north to Raton, NM and had lunch at K-Bob’s Restaurant.  It was a good lunch with a great “salad wagon”.  While there, we got a call from Molly and Grandson, Ben.  It was quite a treat. We took our full bellies and rode east on Hwy 64 out of Raton.  At Capulin, NM we rode north on Hwy 325 to Capulin, NM National Monument.  The Capulin Volcano is believed to have erupted 60,000 years ago.  There are numerous hills in the region that are old volcanoes but this is unique in that the cone shape with a crater is well preserved.  A road led up to the rim with beautiful views of the surrounding land. Chris and I walked a trail around the rim of the crater.  It was a mile long hike with significant elevation changes. We rode north on Hwy 325 to Folsom, NM and then Hwy 72 west to Raton.  It was a beautiful ride but Hwy 72 was

We awoke to a cool morning in Capitan, NM under mostly sunny skies and started the day with breakfast at Smokey Bear’s Restaurant, right across the parking lot from our motel room. I was getting a bit shaggy so I stopped in at a barber shop and got a fresh hair cut from Roy.  Roy was a Harley rider and we talked motorcycle riding.  The hair cut cost a whopping $7. We then visited the Smokey Bear Historical Park.  We learned that the fictional Smokey the Bear was created in 1944 to persuade people to prevent forest fires.  Then, in 1950, there was a forest fire neat Capitan, NM.  Fire fighters found a 2 month old bear cub with burned paws clinging to a tree.  The cub was taken to Santa Fe for treatment and then to the national zoo in Washington D.C. where he became the first living Smokey the Bear.  When Smokey died in 1976 he was buried at this historical site in Capitan, NM. We departed Capitan, NM at 10:30 am.  It was 73 degrees and the wind was back.  Hwy 380 took us west out

We started the day with another run to Carlsbad Caverns.  We had tickets to a guided tour of the Kings Palace that started at 10:00 so we were on the road by 8:45 am.  It was sunny, 72 degrees and not nearly as windy as the two prior days.  According to the weather folks it was supposed to reach 95 in Carlsbad today.  It was a nice 25 mile ride to the caverns and the tour was enjoyable.  In addition to Kings Palace we also saw the Queen’s chambers, both of which we could not see on our self guided tour the day before. Around noon we took off north on Highways 62 and 285 through Artesia, NM to Roswell, NM.  The temperature actually dropped (85 to 82) during the ride from Carlsbad to Roswell.  The city of Roswell has been associated with aliens since an alien craft was said to have crashed near there in 1947 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident ).  The city is still cashing in on that association.  The International UFO Museum and Research Center is located in Roswell (

Today was for sightseeing.  We left the motel  around 8:30.  It was already 72 degrees and headed for a high of 91.  The wind was blowing hard for the third day in a row.  We rode south and west out of Carlsbad on Hwy 62 to the turn off for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The ride up to the visitor center was more scenic than what we’d seen up to that time. Chris and I took a self-guided tour of the “Big Room” of Carlsbad Caverns.  We rode the elevator down 750 feet and started our tour.  It was a very large and beautiful cavern.  Afterwards I walked down through the natural entrance, which they said was 80 stories down by a winding paved path.  I came back up the elevator! We had lunch at Whites City Restaurant, which was at the intersection where we turned off Hwy 62 to ride up to the caverns. From Whites City Restaurant we rode to Sitting Bull Falls.  Part of this trip was over rather rough county road with numerous cattle crossing grates.  The area around Sitting Bull Falls

We departed Plainview, TX at 8:30 am.  It was 55 degrees under blue clear skies.  While viewing the map this morning I noticed that there was a Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock.  Since we were headed for Lubbock we decided to check it out. We stopped in downtown Lubbock and talked to a “Marshall” about where the Buddy Holly statue was.  He said it used to be near the city’s civic center but it was moved to another location and he was not sure it was erected yet.  He gave us directions to the civic center.  We parked there and walked for about 30 minutes for some exercise.  Employees of the civic center told us where the statue was erected but they said it was covered until sometime in June, when they were having an official unveiling.  We were told the Buddy Holly Center (museum) was across the street from the statue but it was closed on Mondays.  We found the statue (waiting to be unveiled) and the closed museum.Then we rode out of town south and west on Highway 62. We rode into New

The Greensburg Inn did not provide a complimentary continental breakfast so we made do with food from our cooler.  We then departed Greensburg, KS at 9:30 am.  It was 55 degrees and partly sunny. We rode south on Hwy 183, which turned into Hwy 1 and took us into Oklahoma, where the road became Hwy 34.  We turned west on Hwy 64 and rode into Buffalo, OK.  A cool looking sign at the edge of town inspired us to stop and take a photo. The photo is taken in honor of my father, Bob, who is also known as Buffalo Bob or just Buff.  We gassed up in Buffalo and then Chris posed in front of Buffalo’s modest city hall building for another picture. Just before reaching the pan handle of Oklahoma we turned south on Hwy 283.  In Shattuck we saw a cool looking Windmill Park. Just south of Shattuck we turned west onto Hwy 60.  This highway took us into Texas.  Just across the state line we came across a modest looking café associated with an even more modest looking motel in Higgins, TX.  The sig

We departed home in Shawnee, KS at 12:40 pm.  It was 50 degrees under blue clear skies.  We would have left in the morning but it was 36 degrees when we got up. We rode south on I-35 to Emporia, where we refueled, and then it was on to Wichita.  We had an early supper at Jimmie’s Diner on Rock Road with a very good friend, Joe. Chris and I first met Joe and his wife, Donna, back in 1973 when I was attending Wichita State University.  Joe and Donna lived in the same married housing as us.  Back then, Joe and I worked a summer job as painters.  He rode an old BSA and I rode an old Triumph.  We’d have fun riding (and occasionally racing) to and from work.  Now Joe rides a 2001 BMW R1200.  We had a good time catching up with Joe over a good meal. From Wichita we rode west on Hwy 54 to Kingman (my parents once lived here), where we gassed up at a Casey’s.  Then it was on to Greensburg, KS, where we arrived at 8:00 pm.  We bunked down for the night at the Greensburg Inn. The high tempera