Day 23, Flagstaff, AZ to Santa Clarita, Burbank, Ontario and North Hollywood, CA

Greetings and thank you to our faithful followers, friends and family,

   Today we departed Flagstaff at 7:00 a.m on the last day of our journey. It was only the second time that we donned jackets since leaving California some three weeks ago. We only needed them on the first morning of our trip and the last morning. Just passing Williams, AZ, after 30 minutes on the road we encountered a terrible roll-over single-car traffic accident on the shoulder. An person was being attended to by a deputy sheriff. Several other motorists had stopped, but no paramedics or ambulance had arrived yet.

   Descending down out of the cool pine covered mountains of Flagstaff we headed for Kingman, AZ, two hours away. Sadly, it appears that the dreaded Bark Beatles that we saw devastating the forests in Canada last year were doing the same thing to the pine trees in Flagstaff this year. Several were dead or dying. It seems there is no cure.

 Arriving in Kingman we opted for breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel restaurant and gassed up for the trek across the desert home. Passing the California state line near Needles, the temperature soared beyond the one hundred degree mark.

   California's budget reduction program has manifested itself in the closure of all of the highway rest stops, so when we arrived in Ludlow, CA, for gas, hydration and a comfort stop, the gas station/convenience store was overflowing with customers.

   Traveling by motorcycle is a wonderful way to see the country and I often say that every day is a good day to ride, some are just better than others. But, I have to admit, anything over about 95 degrees is pretty miserable, especially when you stop. We resorted to soaking our bandannas and shirts with water for some limited evaporation cooling. Sylvia packed her bandanna with ice. It was good for about 50 miles as the heat continued to climb. My outside temperature gauge buried itself at the top of the scale near 120 degrees and stayed there until I reached Victorville where it decreased to about 110 degrees.

  In Victorville, CA, we stopped for our final tank of gas, more water and to say our good byes after twenty three days together. It seemed odd to not say. "Where do you want to have dinner tonight." We departed for home in different directions.

   Our adventure took us a little more than 6,300 miles over 23 days. We purchased approximately 950 gallons of gas and 70 hotel rooms. We consumed about 160 meals, countless bottles of Gator Aide and a few adult beverages along the way.         

   In closing I want to say thank you to my traveling companions for your friendship, support, camaraderie, cooperation, laughs and willingness to change our plans as may have been necessary. I very much enjoyed traveling and sharing this great experience with each of you. I also want to personally thank you our faithful blog followers for your time, interest and comments.

It's all right here in the diaries, mostly true, most of the time.

Sincerely,

John and the Usual Suspects, left to right, Bill, Lane, Steve, Bob, John, Tim and Sylvia

Day 22, Amarillo, TX to Flagstaff, AZ 612 Miles

Greetings,

   It was a long tough day today my friends. Thirteen and a half hours on the road. Six hundred and twelve miles from Amarillo, TX to Flagstaff, AZ, with temperatures hovering around the century mark and against a 25 to 30 MPH head and/or crosswind. The majority of our Interstate cruising is done around 75 to 80 MPH, at or just above the posted speed limits; however, with the strong headwind sometimes it was all we could do to make 65 to 70 MPH. You just ran out of throttle. On occasion the cruise control would refuse to cooperate as if to say, "If you think it's so easy, do it yourself."

   Our travels today on Interstate 40, which generally overlays the old Route 66, took us through Tucumcari to Albuquerque, NM. In Albuquerque Bill, Steve, Tim and Sylvia and I stopped at the Harley-Davidson dealer where I changed out some well-worn spark plugs, while Bob and Lane went to the Hard Rock for another pin. We met later in Laguna, NM, on the Laguna Indian Reservation for lunch where we enjoyed the "World Famous," although I never heard of it, Laguna Burger. The Laguna Burger is comprised of a half a pound of fresh ground beef, never frozen, cheese, lettuce and tomato and grilled green chilies, plenty good.

   With the strong head wind, gas stops were frequent with low fuel warning lights blazing. Our average fuel consumption of around 40 MPG was significantly reduced to sometimes as low as 32 MPG. The advantage of frequent fuel stops was that they were also hydration stops. We consumed Gator Aide and water by the gallons on our journey. I was especially mindful after my episode with heat exhaustion in South Carolina.

   If I have not previously mentioned it, I want to thank and acknowledge Bob for purchasing me a cup/bottle holder for my handlebars while I was recuperating. I made good use of it on the trek home. Thanks again Bob.

   Our route west took us past the Petrified Forest and the Meteor Creator near Winslow, AZ, which several of us have already visited, and as I stated before we're on a mission to get home, no more sight seeing.

   Still bucking strong head winds, high heat and lots of traffic, especially semi-trucks, in the afternoon we managed to get separated on the highway. But, we all managed to find our favorite Motel Six in the Woodlands at Flagstaff and arrived within twenty minutes of one another. We generally stay there when in Flagstaff because it is reasonably priced, it has been recently remodeled and we enjoy eating at the Buffalo Hot Wings across the street. Today was no exception. Within the first ten minutes of entering the restaurant, we had devoured 50 hot wings, so we ordered 40 more. Only three remained, Sylvia's Blazing Hot variety. No takers.

   Tomorrow we will be on the road early and headed home. I think we are all looking forward to getting home and sleeping in our own beds after twenty three days on the road. I know I am.

Please stay tuned, just one more day.

John and the Usual Suspects
  

  

  

 

Day 21, Miami, OK to Amarillo, TX 442 Miles

Greetings friends,

   Our goal upon leaving Miami, OK, just S/W of Joplin, MO, is to get back home in the most expedient, yet safe, manner as possible. We are heading west on our old friend and frequent traveling companion, Interstate 40. We are done sightseeing and looking forward to getting home. Today we departed Miami, OK, at 6:30 a.m. under clear skies with temperatures in the mid-70's, headed for Amarillo, TX via Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK.

   Our journey west has brought us some good fortune, the unbearable humidity that we have suffered for the past two weeks was beginning to subside. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the heat. By the time we reached Tulsa, where we stopped at the Hard Rock Casino for Bob to collect another pin for his daughter, the temperature had risen to the mid-90's where it would stay all day. But, as they say out west, "It's a dry heat." They wouldn't say that if they saw the seat of my pants!

   Passing through Oklahoma City we considered stopping at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, but we had a lot of miles to make and driving through town during the lunch hour in the heat was just not an attractive option. We motored on.

   Entering the panhandle of Texas, one could not help but to make a comparison between the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee, Missouri and parts of Oklahoma with the stark contrast of the absolutely flat prairie lands of Texas approaching Amarillo. The highest thing in sight, beyond the top of my helmet, was a grain elevator.


   One of the interesting things about a road trip is the people you meet. We ran into a nice chap from England riding a well-worn, oil covered, seventies vintage Triumph "motorbike" with a Vetter fairing that he shipped to the US. He was taking a 9,000 mile solo tour around the country. He was also headed for LA, where he would ship his motorcycle back home again.


   We arrived in Amarillo to find that our Holiday Inn Expresses and Marriott affiliate hotels that we had been enjoying at very reasonable rates, thanks to our hotel guru Lane, were not available. We opted for a off-brand hotel from a coupon book and checked into $38.00 rooms, which we immediately upgraded to the newly refurbished $59.00 rooms with air conditioning that actually worked and you could make out the original color of the carpet.

   We split up for supper. Some of us opted for the Outback Steakhouse while the remainder enjoyed the Hofbreau Steaks restaurant, both withing walking distance.  No one was disappointed or went to bed hungry.

   Tomorrow, we're going to try to make Flagstaff, AZ, 612 miles to the west and get home the following day, Friday, July 1, 2011, God willing, the creek don't rise and the road gremlins don't find us.

Best regards from,

John and the Usual Suspects

      

Day 20, Memphis,TN to Joplin, MO 389 Miles

   We met for breakfast this morning and discussed our options. There was a severe weather warning for Memphis with thunderstorms and hail expected from the northwest within the next 15 minutes; travel was not recommended. We discussed lying low or or packing up and beating feet out of town ASAP. We opted to flee Memphis, post haste. As we entered the Interstate west, black threatening clouds filled the sky but no significant rain was falling. We rode about thirty miles and stopped for gas. Getting back on the Interstate we were immediately hit with vicious cross winds, rain and light hail. What a difference five minutes can make.

   Our original plan was to take a nice two lane country road directly N/W to Joplin, MO, but in checking the weather radar on Bill's GPS the wiser course was to proceed west and attempt to circumvent the storm cells to the south. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men. We rode into the one of worst thunderstorms that we have ever experienced. For the first time in all of my riding experience my waterproof gloves, rain suit and boots failed me. The rain got into everything; I was soaked. 

   As we continued, lightening began to crash down all around us and we decided that it was a good time to stop for breakfast. We found one of our favorite road-side restaurants, the Cracker Barrel, and stopped for a meal. After breakfast it was just sprinkling and most of the lightening was behind us. We suited up and were about to depart when suddenly the sky opened up and deluged us with a display of nature's force. Rain came down in torrents. The water was two inches deep in the parking lot. We delayed our departure. A customer walked by and said, "Good decision." We checked the weather radar and opted for the lesser of two evils, northbound was all yellow and red, severe weather, west was all green, just rain. We headed west. 

  After leaving the restaurant, the rain was so intense at times that we had to slow to a crawl and follow the taillights of the bike ahead of us, except for Lane, who was leading our group. He was trying to avoid the cars ahead and drivers who were not smart enough to even turn their headlights on in severe weather. It was quite an experience, one I would not want to repeat anytime soon. After another fifty miles of rain we finally passed out of the thunderstorms into clear sunny skies. The temperature increased dramatically.

   Our drive north to Joplin was some of the most scenic areas that we had been through on our journey. We pulled into Joplin, MO, and met Lane's stepdaughter Amanda and her husband Will. They led us on a driving tour of the tornado devastation area, some thirteen miles long and as wide as 15 blocks in some areas. Tragically, some 154 people lost their lives in that tornado.


   As we toured the devastation, we saw some unusual sights. At an elementary school that was totally demolished, one wall stood unaffected with books still sitting on a shelf. One of the hundreds of workers cleaning up the site told me that they saw a house where the roof and three walls were gone, yet a kitchen table set against the one remaining wall still had dishes on it with food on them. Nothing of the Walmart and Home Depot remained except for concrete slabs. The major hospital in the area had all of the windows blown out. Patients had to be moved to the adjacent parking lot and triaged.


   Will told us that more than 50% of the people who suffered the effects of the tornado had no insurance; they lost everything. We saw a few souls picking through the rubble searching for anything of value that remained. There were no cheerful faces. It looked as though an atomic bomb had gone off. It was a solemn and sobering sight, one we will soon not forget.

   After our tour we enjoyed a nice supper with Amanda and Will after an extraordinary long wait (many people have no kitchens to cook in or a bed to sleep in, all the hotels were booked) and we bid them farewell. We crossed the Missouri/Oklahoma border in the dark, our only night riding experience on the trip, and bedded down for the night.

   Tomorrow we're officially headed home with long miles ahead of us, destination Amarillo, TX.

John and the Usual Suspects
  

      

Day 19, Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN 212 Miles

Greetings my favorite Blogeees,

   This morning we returned our rental van and had the "free" breakfast at our Holiday Inn Express. We loaded up the bikes and departed Nashville for Memphis, TN. We had a nice morning ride under clear skies and arrived in Memphis before noon. We checked into the Springhill Suites hotel and parked in the designated motorcycle parking indicated by the hotel staff. It seemed an unlikely place in a parkway between two hotels, but that is where they told us to park. As we were unpacking we were advised that the Sheriff was downstairs preparing to cite our bikes for illegal parking.  Apparently, the city is fighting with the hotel over parking rights. Not wanting to get caught in the middle we moved.

   After settling in, we walked about a mile in 95 degree heat and 96 percent humidity to Gus's World Famous Chicken on Front Street. After a twenty minute wait we enjoyed some of the best fried chicken ever! If you visit Memphis, you might not see Graceland, but don't miss Gus's Chicken, it's outstanding.

   We discussed visiting Graceland, but most of us have already seen it and the remainder were not willing to get back on the bikes in the heat and humidity. After a leisurely afternoon in the hotel, we opted for an evening walk to Beale Street, which is blocked off to facilitate strolling down the middle of the street, beer in hand. The drinking establishments rock with blues music blaring onto the street, and adult beverages are available at walk-up windows along the route. The street is replete with blues clubs with hawkers on the sidewalk trying to entice you in. Probably the best blues we heard on the street was Big Sam's Band set up on the sidewalk between two clubs. Beale Street in Memphis is not unlike Bourbon Street in New Orleans, just shorter but just as dirty, yuch!

   After walking the length of the street two or three times looking for the perfect eating spot and not finding it we opted for a corner restaurant of which no one remembers the name. Guess it was not that memorable. We had an alright supper there but nothing to brag about.

Tomorrow we're off to Joplin, MO, to visit Lane's Step-daughter Amanda and her husband Will and to see the devastation wrought by the recent tornado. Stay tuned.

John and the Usual Suspects.