Retired and Trippin

Today, instead of one Goldwing motorcycle and one Mustang, there were three Goldwings, one Harley Davidson and one Mustang. It was sunny and 41 degrees as we took off north on Hwy 77 but sun soon gave way to clouds. A brief stint on Hwy 54 took us to Hwy 177 northbound. We stopped for gas in Cottonwood Falls before traveling on to Council Grove, where we enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Hays House Restaurant. The fried chicken was LARRAPIN good! It was a chilly ride for the motorcyclists. They were all ready for a break and a meal. With full bellies our group traveled non-stop to our respective homes. The high temperature today was 53 and the sun only peaked out briefly.     miles traveled today;    282      TOTAL trip mileage: 3,060 To see all the photos taken today click on the following link;  Day 10 Photos It was a great spring break trip with Carl and Marge, topped off by an appearance at the end by Gary, Billy Boy and Rod.

It was sunny and 41 degrees when we departed Amarillo for Ponca City. Our route today was Hwy 60 eastbound, except for a little jog off course to check out the Great Salt Plains State Park and reservoir. We wanted to access the salt plain but it didn't appear that was possible without taking a gravel road, which we were not inclined to do. We could see a sliver of the salt plain, however, from the road to the park. We had a little snack picnic before traveling on to Ponca City. At our motel we met up with Gary, Bill and Rod, who came here to make the ride home with us tomorrow. It was good to see them and enjoy a dinner at Napoli's Italian Restaurant. I'd say I enjoyed watching an NCAA game with them too, but KU won, so I can't say that. The high temperature today was 63.      total miles today:     351      trip miles to date: 2,778 To see all the photos taken today click on the following link:  Day 9 Photos

A beautiful but cool morning. Sunny and 47 degrees. Today's route was simple; US Route 60 all the way from Socorro, NM to Amarillo, TX.  We traveled 367 miles and our high temperature was 74. It was also very windy for much of the day but it was at our back, which made for some fantastic gas mileage. Along the way we stopped to do the tourist thing at the Abo Ruins, which are part of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. We had a snack picnic lunch at a roadside park in Fort Sumner, NM. Our day concluded in Amarillo, TX with dinner at The Big Texan, which was LARRAPIN  good. Our generous traveling partners, Carl and Marge, treated us to dinner tonight for our birthdays! Our total trip mileage so far is 2,427 miles. To see all the photos taken today click on the following link:  Day 8 Photos

Before I provide the important information from today, Chris insists that I include this little insignificant event from this morning: Just before leaving our motel I noticed my wedding ring was missing. We went back to the room and searched it with no success. Chris wanted me to inform the front desk that I possibly lost my ring in the room and ask them to call if it were located. I refused, confident that the room had been searched so the ring most definitely was not there. So Chris spoke to the front desk before we left. Later in the day they called to advise the ring was located in the room. Win some and lose some. Anyway they will be mailing my ring to our home so all is well that ends well, especially when Chris is right. It was a cool 47 degrees but it was sunny when we rode away from Silver City, northbound on 180. The first 49 miles were backtracking from the evening before but it was a pretty route. We arrived at our first destination, the Catwalk National Recreation Tr...

We departed our motel in Mesa, AZ at 8:45 under clear skies with a temperature of 66. It started good . . . . but then I was leading today and got all mixed up with my directions and map reading so it took longer than it should have to locate Hwy 60 eastbound out of town. Then we wound up on the route from hell. Hwy 88 goes north and east out of Apache Junction and shows to be a scenic route up to Hwy 188 near Roosevelt. Hwy 188 then goes south and east back down to Hwy 60. When Carl and I were doing our route planning over a slab of ribs it looked like an interesting option. It started out slow due to traffic and speed limits. We stopped at the Canyon Lake Vista for some photos. Hwy 88 ended up getting very slow, rough, bumpy and dusty when the pavement ended. The last 20 plus miles were on unpaved road. The end result was a very slow start to the day. It was well past lunch time when we finally arrived back on pavement at Hwy 188. Chris noticed a sign saying food was availab...

Today at departure it was cloudy and 52 degrees. Arizona Route 89 took us southwest out of Prescott and into the mountains (or big hills?). It was a fun drive with many curves and good scenery. As we were descending the west side of the mountains we stopped at a scenic overlook for a photo. Highways 89 and 60 took us on into Surprise for the Royals vs A's spring training game. It was a beautiful day, at a beautiful park, with great company. We got to the park early enough that we could walk around and eat some lunch. Chris and I had Chuckies famous Iowa breaded pork tenderloins served from a trailer that displayed a Cedar County, Iowa license plate. They were LARRAPIN good! It made us think about our Iowa relatives. I enjoyed taking some action shots of Danny Duffy, Alex Gordon, Drew Butera, Cheslor Cuthbert and Kelvin Herrera. Perez, Escobar, and Moustakas did not play and were not seen. Duffy was the starting pitcher and he gave up 5 runs on 5 hits (including 2 hom...

We blew out of Holbrook, AZ at 9:00am. It was cloudy and 42 degrees. I-40 took us west a short distance to Winslow, AZ, where we stopped to get a few photos "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona." Our route continued westbound on I-40 to Flagstaff, where we turned south on I-17 and then 89A towards Sedona, AZ. As we started south on 89A from I-17 we were at a high enough elevation that there was still snow along the road. It was also 40 degrees. The ride through Oak Creek Canyon into Sedona was beautiful. Chris made an attempt to take photos from the car because we could not find a suitable place to stop but the photos don't do justice to the scenery. We found a parking area in Sedona and spent a little time wandering around, shopping and taking photos. The red rock formations surrounding the city were gorgeous. Eventually we enjoyed lunch at Sedona Pizza Company. After lunch we rode south on 179 to Bell Rock. The scenery along the way was beautiful....

We departed our motel in Santa Rosa, NM at 8:45am under cloudy skies with a temperature of 39 degrees. Our route was I-40 westbound. Rain and possibly snow were expected down the road. Somewhere between Santa Rosa and Albuquerque it started raining and the temperature dropped. Eventually it was 31 degrees with heavy snow. I felt sorry for Carl and Marge on their Goldwing. I was a little nervous for them too but, fortunately, the roads did not get slick. At Albuquerque the rain and snow stopped and the temperature increased to 40. Later, however, from around Grants, NM to Gallup, NM there was more rain (some of it hard) and snow but the temperature never dropped to freezing. After lunch in Gallup we continued west on I-40 and experienced more rain. We were pleased to finally see some blue sky and a little sun a ways into Arizona. Since the weather was finally cooperating we stopped at the Petrified National Forest National Park, which includes the Painted Desert. It was mostly su...

After a tasty and bountiful complimentary breakfast at the hotel we departed Liberal, KS at 9:00am. It was cloudy and 43 degrees. We traveled southwest to Hooker, OK for gas and then on to Guymon, for a Walmart shopping spree. It was 60 degrees so the top of the stang came down. When it's a little cool and the top is down the dome needs to be covered. BEAUTIFUL day!  From Guymon we turned westbound and back north a little, headed for Black Mesa State Park. At the park we saw a petrified "forest" which consisted of a few petrified logs. We intended to drive to the park's scenic view point, overlooking a lake, for some photos but the road there was of the rough rocky variety so we passed. Next stop was the Black Mesa Nature Preserve. Chris and I intended to hike to the highest point in Oklahoma (at 4,973 feet) but the trail was closed due to a wild fire in northeast New Mexico and they didn't want any hikers caught in a fire if the wind shifted. We tried ....

Today was departure day. It is the beginning of Spring break for our sister-in-law, Marge, so we (Chris, Marge, Carl and I) are off on a trip to Arizona. Carl and Marge are on their Honda Goldwing and Chris and I are piloting our Ford Mustang. We left Carl and Marge's home at 9:15. It was 45 degrees and sunny. We rode/drove southbound on I-35 through Emporia to the Matfield Green Service Area on the turnpike, where we took a break and refueled. It was 66 degrees so the top went down on the Mustang. We exited I-35 at Cassoday and went straight west to Newton. After gassing up in Newton we decided to eat lunch. In checking for potential dining spots we found out that Charlie's Restaurant was nearby. As you can see, it wasn't what you'd call fine dining, but the food was good. We continued westbound to just west of Hutchinson, where we turned southwest to Pratt. It was sweet cruising with the top down. Our next stop was in Greensburg, KS. After refueling we che...