On the road again....

Well, for once I beat a deadline!  I wanted to make sure that I was on the road before June 18th and I made it!  I actually left home on June 12.

My daughter, Kala, had put a post up on facebook that said she was needing a babysitter for my grandson Jackson.  She had a lot of replies from well-wishers, or people that lived far away and had good intentions, but no solid offers.

I posted to Kala that I could maybe do it for her and it all worked out!

I spent 2 glorious days watching Jackson all by myself.  We had a blast and he gave me a really good workout!  I slept like a baby all 3 nights I was there.

I left Kansas City on the 15th around 8:00 AM and finally stopped for the night in Clayton, NM.  I camped out, pitched a tent...and by the time it was up...it was dark.  I took a shower, shaved, flossed and brushed and went to bed feeling like a million bucks.

The one downer of the day was my evening meal.

I've made a half-hazard commitment to myself that I am going to try to avoid fast food or franchise restaurants as much as possible on this trip.  In the past, I've had so many great meals at mom & pop type restaurants, and also met great people under those circumstances.
I'm sorry to say that neither was the case with my first meal at a local restaurant.  It was a Mexican food place....and I don't know if I just ordered the wrong thing...or if all the food was crappy.  I ordered what would basically be a nacho-supreme....and it pretty much sucked.  :)  It was drowning in a cheese sauce that wasn't very good....and by the time I had eaten a few of the nachos everything... .& I mean EVERYTHING was soaked and soggy...and gross...  and the help wasn't anything to brag about either....  So much for the first shot at my little experiment...

I got a fairly good night of sleep.  I was up a couple of times, due to the hard ground and me not bringing my bed roll to lay on.  I had it set out, but it has a little leak in it and it just took up too much room.  If I end up doing a lot more camping, I'll probably buy another one...  Probably will do that for sure by the time I get to Sturgis.

I was on the road shortly after 6:00 AM  It was pretty cold out and really foggy in spots, but I made good time and kept comfortable with my chaps on and my XFRG waterproof coat.  Around 8:30ish I went by a place called Gladstone Mercantile.  Looked like a really cool little shop and on the sign it said they had restrooms.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the "OPEN" sign lit up in the window, on a Sunday morning, so I pulled in the 2nd driveway.

It WAS a cool little store with all kinds of unique items and lots and lots of antiques.  I saw they had a single dining room table in one part of the store, so I asked if they served food.  I was surprised again when the gal said, "yes" so I asked her what they had for breakfasts.... since I didn't see a menu on the table.  She looked in the back room (at her mother I think) and said, "Would a breakfast burrito be OK?"
I said, "Sounds great to me!"
Turns out they didn't even have menus....
Now that's the kind of place I just knew I was going to get some good food.... and I wasn't disappointed.  The mother came out and asked me if I liked green chili peppers... and I immediately told her that there probably wasn't anything she could put in that burrito that I wouldn't like.

It was an awesome burrito, topped with some homemade hot sauce/salsa.

Needless to say, the 2nd part of my eating at mom and pop type placed worked out wonderfully.... and it only cost me $4.00  You just can't beat a deal or a meal....like that.

After eating, I hit the road pretty hard and ended up putting around 550 miles on.  I rode through probably 60 degree temps in the morning, 100+ temps in the afternoon, and got rained on twice.  It felt great!  (except for the hard little pelting on my slightly sunburnt head. 

As a side note, I did take the same road through Sante Fe, NM that I took a couple of years ago when I had that 'experience' with Reggie.  I was trying to make sure I didn't miss going by his place to see if he still had those ugly starving horses, but somehow I missed it.  I can't hardly imagine that those horses are still alive.  I'm thinking Reggie probably ended up butchering them so he'd finally have something besides a single pitcher of lemonade in his refrigerator.  (If you all don't know what I'm talking about here, you have to check back to some older blogs where I go into detail about my experience with Reggie)

I stopped outside of Albuquerque, NM to call my dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day before I would lose service again for the rest of the day.  My phone was dead, so I had to take the charger and go to a gas station restroom to plug it in and talk.  I got a few funny looks from people going in and out of the restroom, but that's OK.  :)  I had a nice conversation with dad.... (and mom)

Got back on the road and made good time all the way to Springerville, AZ where I am camped out in a cabin in an RV park.  Got a wonderful $20 deal (no tax and I didn't even have to register) because I paid in cash.

Was referred to a family restaurant by the nice lady behind the desk.  I did end up going there and had an absolutely wonderful 8 layer burrito.....along with an ice cold 16 oz Coors Light.  Another great experience with a non-franchise restaurant....

My motorcycle has been running wonderfully, (knock on wood) although it seems like I've put an awful lot of gas in it lately!  I think I've put about 1500 miles on since leaving home.  I'm taking a little longer route than I'd have to, so I can enjoy some roads that seem to be made for riding motorcycle through them.

Tomorrow I'll go through Salt River Canyon.  This is something I've wanted to do on the bike, since the first time I went through it in a 4 wheeled vehicle.  Tomorrow will almost be 100% great curvy, up and down roads...  I'm looking forward to it.  I will end up in a weekly apartment somewhere in the Phoenix area by the time I go to bed tomorrow night. 

Then by Tuesday hopefully, it'll be time to get some great poker playin' in.  I'm looking forward to that and I'm feeling really good about it....

Not a single headache yet this summer (knock on wood twice) so that might be a big part of why I'm feeling so good about this trip....  (If you don't know what I'm talking about here....read up on some older posts again)  :)

Had kind of a weird father's day since I wasn't home.  JD left me a phone message that I wasn't able to get yet, because I don't have phone service...  (I will tomorrow though)  I opened a very nice card from Heather and her family....as well as one from the grandkids with Jozilyn's own hand printed signature.  Heather always does such a great job of finding good sappy cards....  I think I've saved almost all of them....  They're nice to read sometimes when things ain't going so great...
I basically celebrated the day early with Kala and her family when I was in Kansas City and.... I think all of the kids and Christine had a nice little post on facebook.
So....it was weird.... but it was good....  Thanks to all them people mentioned for making me feel special!

Now... I'm POOPED!  It's around 10:00 where I'm at I think.... but my 'puter says it 12:00....and that's more like how I feel....
Sleepin' on a bed tonight in my cabin.... so should be a VERY good night's sleep....

Speaking of sleeping... gotta tell one more little story....
I'm sure you all remember Sabrina...  :)
Well, tonight I was offered by a gal at a motel I was checking out (before I found out how much it cost) to "bunk up" with her....  and her girlfriend....  lol
We'd visited for about exactly 1 minute....before that offer was made...
We never got to the point of exchanging names....  
WHERE do these people come from?

Well... these 2 were from Texas....   lol

Good Night!