Graduation is over and we are now on our way east. Plenty of hot desert to ride through. We are vigorously hydrating and spritzing ourselves all along the way. This is a great way to tolerate the heat during the ride. The desert has large mirages and plenty of swirling dust devils to witness. Today we made our way to Lordsburg, New Mexico. We got one dealer dot on our way here from The H-D in Tuscon, Arizona.
It was so great to meet you both...we had lots of fun while you were here! Can't wait to come visit you someday! :) Good luck surviving the heat on your way back...we'll be thinking about you.
ReplyDeleteHey guys, Hope all is well. I'm sure you are having the time of your life!!!! Love Mary
ReplyDeleteWho knew!! I finally got here!!!! Mary
ReplyDeleteJuly 21, 2009, Tuesday
ReplyDelete400 miles
Today we got up by the alarm-clock at 4:30 AM in Lordsburg, NM. We had nasty coffee, packed the bike and hit the road while it was still dark. It was neat riding before the dawn of day. It was also refreshingly cool with the temperature in the 60’s. We stopped for gas and rode toward Deming, NM where we stopped for breakfast at Denny’s. We saw some odd things along the way. One carload of people had a trailer full of house wares which was barely covered with a tarp and the two men were trying to bind the whole kit-and-caboodle up with a rope and a teddy bear! Go figure that one out. Then another SUV with a boat-load of kids had the family pet dog in a crate which was tied to the trailer hitch luggage rack! The dog was a Beagle pup and I felt so sorry for the little guy being out in the heat behind the vehicle next to the exhaust. Some people just think strangely, don’t you think?
We enjoyed the trip across New Mexico and the weather was partly cloudy and the temperatures were in the 80-90’s. Hooray for that! We arrived at Las Cruces, NM and Art scored his first dealer dot at 9 AM. We boogied down the road to El Paso, TX where he got another at the H-D there. We fueled up and headed to Roswell, NM. The desert in NM was filled with green plants which we enjoyed seeing as opposed to the desert in AZ. The relief from the heat was so nice as well. However, we endured bolts of lightning all around us in the mountains as we traveled in the valley towards Roswell. They were fantastic to watch in broad daylight. We also had another encounter with the border patrol in NM on the way to Roswell. Seems they were searching for illegal aliens and profiling certain vehicles and peoples. We were not asked anything more than if we were United States citizens. Thank God for that simple question.
Along the way we were climbing a grade up the mountain to Roswell. It varied between six and eight percent. The bike started losing power and we figured we got nasty gas in El Paso so we stopped and added some octane booster and soon we were powering up the mountain again. Note to self: sometimes the label says one thing but man gives you another in the package. Art stopped to water the roadside plants and out from behind a tree there came a mother Angus Cow who had just given birth to her calf! What timing. She had her ear pierced and the calf did not. The calf was walking wobbly and inquisitive to Art’s activity. The mother cow let out a matronly ‘moo’ and the baby calf stopped in its tracks. Surely investigating human activity was more interesting than a walking lesson at that point!
We arrived in Roswell and went straight to the H-D dealer for Art’s dot. We took some fun pictures of their alien scenario in the motorcycle showroom. The staff gave us a discount card for the Inn across the street and we went for dinner in the town of Roswell. There were green aliens decorating buildings here and there and even a UFO History Museum! The street lights are the stereotypical alien eyes on globes. It seems the community has downplayed the alien story somewhat so we just checked-in to the Inn and relaxed for the day.
July 22, 2009- Wednesday
ReplyDelete331 miles
Today we got up and enjoyed a continental breakfast at the Inn. After chatting with another couple from Oklahoma we went back to the room to add a layer of waterproofing to our boots as we were headed for a rainy day of riding in cooler temperatures. Believe it or not we actually looked forward to it after the blistering heat of AZ.
The scenery was enriched with wet green all around and the intersections we passed through were flash flooded from the rains. There was about one foot of water we rode through in the southeastern corner of NM. Towns like Artesia and Carlsbad were hit pretty hard because they were dry as a bone before the rain and over the night. We were splashed by passing cars and trucks but that is what happens on a bike! Some motorists made a conscious effort to slow down near us but some whom were busy talking on their cell phones, fiddling with the stereo, drinking a latte, and beating their kids in the back seat at the same time, had no clue we were there nor that it was raining!!! Can I get an AMEN for that?!!!
By the time we made it to I-10 we were both in the zone. We just leaned back and let the miles fly by with the speed limit of 80 permitted. We found a little spot for the night in Ozona, TX, checked in and did some laundry. Great day!
Great sunrise. If rain is all you incounter, Amen!!
ReplyDeleteJuly 23, 2009- Thursday
ReplyDelete310 miles
Today we started out in our rain gear as the skies looked threatening. We rode in the cool morning air and enjoyed that at the wonderful speed limit of 80 miles per hour! We stopped at two H-D's so Art picked up two dealer dots. The first was at Boerne, TX H-D and the next was at Caliente, HD in San Antonio TX. While in San Antonio Art called his son Kevin and arranged for us to meet in West George, TX. We treated them to a room for a night and dinner and breakfast for their birthdays.
We found a nice place at the Best Western Hotel and the kids showed-up and we chatted for a while. Art decided to take a nap so I went online to check email. We are hanging out to wait to go to dinner and first we will check out the Happy Hour in the hotel lobby at 5:30 PM.
We did a little experiment with the bike to see if we would run out of gas twice. Now you might ask why in the world we would do that. Well, it was a spontaneous thought and since we had gone as far as needing 5.8 gallons once in North Dakota we wanted to see if we could get rid of the bad gas in the tank so we kept on riding. I assure you we had plenty water and were near enough to a town that if we did run out of gas, it was not far from us. We finally got gas and Art filled the tank to 6.0 gallons! That is the max the tank would take. So the last fill-up was with 93 octane and we realized the difference in the power made by the engine. So if your engine requires high octane fuel, use it. Sometimes we found we were in the position to need octane booster because of the supply of fuel in the area in which we were riding through. Having fuel injector cleaner was a good remedy while we were in the mountains on the way to Roswell, NM. Life lessons teach the best.
Welcome, Mary!!! What a great feeling to have you following along with us. You would absolutely love all the riding we are doing. Everybody waves and talks to us and is interested in the journey. Hope all is well at home for your summer. We have tons of pictures to share when we get home.
ReplyDeleteYou should have a show and tell when you get home.I'll bring a dessert. Got caught in the rain today and still can't get my feet warm. I can just imagine how you must have felt. Have a safe trip home. Love, Candy p.s. Roxy said woof.
ReplyDeleteJuly 25, 2009- Saturday
ReplyDelete317 miles
Today we woke-up and had coffee, packed up the bike and headed east for New Orleans. We made stops in several cities so Art picked up a total of six dots. The current count of dots is 97. We contacted our friends in Biloxi and they invited us to stay with them for a couple of days and we accepted. We rode over to their house, after meeting them at the McDonalds at exit 38 off I-10 in Mississippi. After enjoying meeting for the first time after years of emailing each other, we rode over to their house. Dan rides a yellow Trike powered with a VW engine and Theresa rides a H-D Deluxe. We went to a Cajun restaurant for dinner and then for a tour of the Biloxi Beach area. We viewed the remains of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We rode over the new bridge the city built as an evacuation. We see that there are many casinos and entertainment service businesses that have rebuilt themselves. The community lost all the beach front old time plantations. The crime is that the national news service gave all the press time to New Orleans for the hurricane and completely neglected most of the gulf coast. We were honored to have the tour.
Heeeeeey Youuuuu Guysssssss!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI see that all is still well with you, Thank God for that.
CONGRATULATIONS, PROFESSOR PASTORIUS!!!!! Yistrdey u cudn't evin spel professor and tuday u is one...lol.
Sandy and I got in last night around 2 AM. We had a great time. Went out to Tahoe and stayed in a little cabin for a couple of days. That's the first time we've been in the Sierra Nevadas, they are beautiful. It was funny being in the end of July and still seeing snow on the tops of the mountains.
While we were out there we did some gambling. I lost $40...no big thing.
Hey Michelle...I hope you kicked that little aliens ass. But then again it looks like your enjoying it.
Well guys, signing off for know but you'll hear from us again real soon.
Ted and Sandy
July 26, 2009- Sunday
ReplyDelete183 miles
Today we all got up and had coffee on the front porch, just like home. We had a group of seven on assorted bikes and we rode the scenic route to New Orleans. We rode right to the Voo-Doo H-D shop and bought T-shirts and pins. I also bought a bottle of HOT sauce for Kent. Tomorrow we plan on sending some stuff home. I emailed Rick and Renee to watch out for the box so they could take out their T-shirts when it arrives.
We had lunch at the Times Bar and Grill in Slidell, LA. It was built inside an old train station. The food was great. I had a roast beef Po Boy with onion rings. Art had a Times Burger which was so big he could not finish it! On the way home we rode through the rain which made Arts’ vision blurred to the point that I had to take off his glasses and dry them so he could see. Then suddenly, the rain stopped and it was hot and steamy. We came home to watch the race at the Brickyard. We plan to go to dinner someplace special after the race.
July 27th, 2009
ReplyDelete344 miles
Today we traveled through Alabama and into Florida. Mother Nature blessed us with partly cloudy skies and an afternoon shower to cool us off. We relaxed in Tallahassee for the evening. We had dinner at the Cross Creek Restaurant and the chef is a nationally ranked bodybuilder. He prepared a delicious and nutritious dinner for us. We had his homemade Hummingbird Cake for dessert. Heading south in the morning.
Welcome home Ted and Sandy!
Hey guys! Sounds like your doing great there! Make it down to Key West yet :)
ReplyDeleteSo Art.. I found more water saturday when I was out playing in the Jeep. Got hit with a monsoon and we were rolling out the road from Crown King in two feet of water.... the Jeep powered through it!
Ride safe!
July 28, 2009- Tuesday
ReplyDelete407 miles
Today we traveled from Tallahassee to a little south of Port Charlotte, FL. Art got some dealer dots and we got stopped by a heavy downpour in south Florida. We pulled over under an overpass and the visibility was near zero! We waited about 20 minutes then proceeded on our way.
The bike has over 15,000 miles on it so we have to arrange for another service somewhere nearby. Our choices are Fort Myers, Naples, and Homestead H-D. We will call in the morning and see who can accommodate us.
Hey Bryan, we got hammered by the hard thunder and lightening storms while on our way south on RT 75. Did you see it on the news? We were the ones under the bridge waiting it out! We made it through too!
Say HI to Tiffany and Trooper and the little one too!
July 29, 2009- Wednesday
ReplyDelete344 miles
Today we traveled to Key West, FL. We took the scenic route down RT 41 South and stopped at the Fort Myers H-D dealer where Art picked-up a dealer dot. We asked them if they could do our 15,000 mile service and the service attendant said they may be able to squeeze us in with the first available tech. That was not promising enough so we called the Naples H-D.
Robbie answered the service phone and said he could take us in and he looked forward to us coming down. We jumped on the bike and rode down to the Naples dealer and Robbie met us at the service door. We were processed and serviced immediately. In the two hours that we waited we were given refreshments, a tour of the whole dealership and met everyone that worked there. John, the service manager, gave us the tour along with Scott the owner. Scott was incognito and was introduced to us as the janitor. The technician servicing our bike was Alan and the shop was air conditioned. Amy was the merchandise manager and we suggested to her to see if she could carry money belts for long distance travelers. She loved the idea.
The owner furnished a total body fitness center in the dealership as a benefit for the employees. It was one way he showed he cares about their health and that he values them. They have locker rooms and showers as well. I shared my Masters story with him and he was thrilled about the nice relationship I developed with the Tri-State HOG Chapter during my practicum. We even toured the attic where they have additional new and used bikes in inventory. We met every single person in every single room in the dealership. We viewed their QA report and had the opportunity to write an evaluation of our experience there. At the end of our tour Art revealed to John, Scott, and Robbie that he was in fact, a Harley Davidson Advisory Panel member. They were shocked and even said they could not believe it. But the fact is true and we shared a variety of dealer experiences with them and they were simply floored! They disappeared while we settled our tab in the service department. When we were about to depart, they returned to shake our hands and thank us for the opportunity to have given us the tour. They explained that while they were away momentarily they had a telephone conference call with other managers of South Florida Harley dealers and shared their experience of giving us the tour. They revealed who we were and they all knew we were in their stores but they did not know that Art was on the Advisory Panel. The service experience for customers is targeted as a quality improvement area. They now had the most powerful piece of evidence that all dealers could learn from: friendly, prompt service that always says yes. In two hours we had our dealer dot, paid our bill and were pulling out of the driveway.
We headed out to RT 75 then over to RT 41, a.k.a. Alligator Alley. The temperature started out in the low 90s. The sky got dark and it began to rain with bolts of lightning all around us. We stopped and put on our rain gear. The temperature cooled off into the 80s. This happened twice. We kept on riding and passed many Indian communities along the way. We did not see any alligators, darn!
At Homestead we made our way to a bank and got a bit more cash and headed down RT 1 South to Key West. We thanked our lucky stars for the cloudy conditions as it kept the temperature in the 80s. Much reconstruction of the roadway is going on right now. The DOT is making a two lane highway into a four lane highway. This improvement is much needed and the community of the Florida Keys is thriving and much improved from the hurricane damage of the recent years. Everything looks face-lifted and new.
We arrived in Key West around 6:45PM and made our way to the beachside Courtyard Marriott Hotel. We checked-in for a couple days and went to dinner at the Bayside Café. It feels like home here as we have both been here numerous times in our lifetime.
July 30, 2009- Thursday
ReplyDelete14 miles
Today we woke up and had a lovely breakfast in the Marriot Hotel where we are staying. We mounted-up on the bike and rode to the Key West Southernmost Point in the United States. We took our picture with the bike there. We forgot to get a photo with our flag. So later before dinner, we rode back and took out the flag and got some nice pictures of the final corner in our journey.
Art took a nice long nap during the day. I hung-out at the pool. The water was refreshing and I watched many children playing in the water and I thought how nice it was to see children playing in the pool without any toys, technology, and gizmos. They played pretend games using their imagination and sometimes only used a couple of leaves that fell off some of the surrounding tropical trees. Memories of my own childhood days drifted through my mind. My whole community belonged to the neighborhood swim club and we played all summer at the pool from morning till evening.
I ate a humble lunch and chatted with some guests at the pool. Then about 4:00 PM Art came out to the pool and we all swam around together. Art and I decided to go rinse off and ride down to the Buoy again and this time, remember the flag pictures! We ran into another H-D motorcycle enthusiast and his girlfriend and the conversation was about long distance riding. He told us of a ride next June 2010 from Key West to Anchorage, AK. The ride is a race where the winner takes all: $500,000 in Alaskan gold! That will be very interesting to follow.
We ate dinner at TGI Fridays. Then back at the hotel we took pictures of each other on the boardwalk behind the room. It is very tropical at the hotel and easy to relax there.
Everyone, be sure to enjoy all the stages of the journey by clicking onto the chronological Blog Archive which is on the right had side of this Blog under the Followers.
ReplyDeleteThe Four Corners Journey is now complete and we are going on vacation! Yes, vacation! Thank you all for participating with us along the way. Your comments, thoughts, and prayers has made it easier to travel.
Thank you,
Art and Michele
One final note. The very day we completed our journey, Bruce Rossmeyer of Daytona Harley Davidson lost his life on the way to Sturgis. We stopped by the store in Ormond Beach, Destination Harley Davidson and the employees were sad but working as usual because it is what Bruce would have wanted them to do.
ReplyDeleteRest in Peace, Bruce. He was in fact, a big long distance Harley motorcycle enthusiast.
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ReplyDeleteHey Guys, whats this about you being done when you hit Key West....Arnt you going to ride home? Or just retiring down there in the Keys?
ReplyDelete