Summer Road Trip Summary

I find myself back in sunny Arizona, and thought maybe I would give you all kind of a trip 'summary' of the last trip.... since I haven't blogged since I left for home in August.

On the way home, I ended up going to California and Montana to visit a couple of the best friends I had in high school.  I had an absolutely wonderful time in both places.  In CA, my friend, Rick & I went out for lunch and then just relaxed for the rest of the day, had a couple of beers and pizza in the afternoon, played a couple games of cards with his youngest daughter and wife in the evening....and I headed out the next morning for Las Vegas.

I did get a parking ticket while at Rick's house, due to a little feud between him and his neighbor.  Upon arriving at Rick's house, I discovered that I needed a new battery in my bike, so we proceeded to find one, and while we were gone, his neighbor called the po-po and told them I was parked in the sidewalk.  His oldest daughter did a great job of trying to explain that I was from Iowa...or somewhere in the Midwest, and I probably didn't know that you couldn't park on the sidewalk.  It was to no avail though...  I found the ticket on my windshield when we got back.

I did end up getting a good laugh though, when Rick texted me a picture a week or two after I was home with the caption, "What comes around....Goes around" accompanied by a photo of his neighbor's truck partially parked in the sidewalk.  The inference was that the police had again been called, to issue this guy a ticket....

Upon leaving California, I headed for Las Vegas and spent app 3 or 4 days there.  I ended up staying on the strip in a place called "The Quads".  I wouldn't recommend it....and I wouldn't stay there again.  There's major remodeling going on, the rooms were not very clean, and it was just basically an old hotel.

To illustrate, I'll give you one little example of the condition of my room. 
Every morning, I would awaken to some gurgling in my bathroom sink....  This gurgling was the precursor to my sink being filled with some nasty, nasty, looking water....  It would eventually go back down the drain, but it would leave a totally disgusting black film over everything.....

Yeah..... I don't think I'll stay there again.....

I left Las Vegas and headed for Montana to visit my friend Tony and his wife, Rachel...
It took a couple of days to get there, but it was well worth the little detour.

Rachel & I went out for a steak dinner, with their oldest daughter the first night I arrived, because Tony wasn't going to be home from work until later in the evening.  That was an awesome meal, that was followed up by an equally great steak meal the next evening, in Tony & Rachel's backyard.
Between those 2 meals, Tony & I went canoeing down one of the many rivers in Montana.  That brought back some good memories, because we used to do that quite regularly on the Big Sioux river that borders Iowa and SD, when we were kids.

The trip was a 100% success.  I not only had a ball, but I was fortunate enough that the poker part of it went great also.

I left Tony & Rachel's house and made really good time all the way to (and almost through) Wyoming.  However, I was unfortunate enough to get caught in a bad storm with 70 mph winds, hard rain, and hail.  This is not a fun experience on a motorcycle.
Once it started hailing pretty good, I was forced to pull over along the interstate, get off the bike, and just try to protect myself as much as I could.  I basically felt like the cows I could see out in a pasture...just getting pounded by the rain and hail.

Another biker and his female companion also pulled up behind me....  There were also cars and other vehicles pulling over.  After about 5-10 minutes, I heard a car horn that beeped a few times, and turned around to see a woman motioning me to join her in her vehicle.  It didn't take me long to oblige...  I got in there to find the biker and his girl already in there.

The woman says to me, "I felt sorry for you out there, but there wasn't a chance in hell of you getting in my vehicle, until I saw this woman with the other biker."
I could understand her position....'cuz I probably did look pretty rugged....after being on the road for a few days....
I was very appreciative that she did end up letting me in the vehicle....and getting me out of the weather. 
I'm sure by the time she got home, she probably needed a shop vacuum to get all of the water off from her floor....
It was a pretty darn nice vehicle too....

By the time this experience was done with, I felt like I'd been beat up....
My lip was swollen, my face hurt, and my body was achy from being pounded by the hail.

I rode in and out of rain for several hours after that.  I was wet, sore, and ready to get home....
I was so ready to get home, that I just kept on riding until I got there.
I arrived home around 5:00 AM after putting more than 900 miles on the bike that last day....

So....just a few statistics and other notable things about the trip....
I ended up playing 29 sessions of poker and winning in 25 of them.
I had only 4 losses for the trip...so I was very pleased with the way that all turned out.

I put between 8000 and 9000 miles on the bike...with no major problems.
As already noted, I did have to put a new battery in....and the only other thing that happened was that the spring for my kickstand broke.  Not that big of a deal....

I saw a couple of things while on the road that I thought were notable.
In Kansas, there was 2 "scenic" areas where you could pull off from the highway.
That's not that peculiar in and of itself, but that fact that the scenic view was of 100's of wind towers did seem a little bit strange to me.
I don't know about you all.... but to me a wind tower or 100's of them, isn't really that scenic.  I think it looks more like a 'stain' on the horizon than anything.
When I think of a great scenic view, it consists of pure nature at it's best....with no signs of human life... such as electric poles, cell phone towers, wind towers, etc....

Another weird experience happened while I was coming into Las Vegas. 
I actually had to swerve and switch lanes on my motorcycle in order to avoid a wheel and a tire rolling down the interstate....with no vehicle attached.
It didn't take long to see the vehicle that wheel & tire belonged to.....(in my rearview mirror) sitting kind of funny.... along the right side of the interstate.

There was definitely a point in time that I remember as being the most 'scared' at any time on the trip.
This was a day when I had left my room to go play poker at the Bellagio.  I took only the money I thought I'd need with me, and left the rest in my room.  That did amount to quite a little stack of $100 bills.... that was left in the room.
When I left for the day, I happened to see the cleaning lady, and I made a point of telling her that I did NOT need any room service.  She asked if I had the 'Do Not Disturb' sign out on my door and I assured her that I had.
I proceeded to go play poker for the day and was gone app 7 -8 hours.

After getting back to the hotel and arriving on the 5th floor, my heart started racing, after I exited the elevator and thought I saw.... way, way, down at the end of the hall....the door to my room wide open.
I started moving a little faster and my heart was really racing as I could see for a fact, that my room door was indeed, open for anyone and/or everyone to come and go freely.

I  made it to the door, went in, and closed the door behind me.
Nothing looked out of place.
First thing I did was go the place where I had left all the money.  I was SO relieved to see that it was all still there.

After thinking about this experience, I have come to the conclusion that I must've left the room to talk to the cleaning lady, and not shut the door behind me.  I must've planned on going back in the room for something.  I didn't....and instead just went to the elevator....

I suppose when people saw a wide open door, they just assumed that someone was in the room....
and therefore didn't go in.....

So anyways.... it was a big relief to see that all of my hard work over the prior 6 weeks hadn't gone to waste and ended up in somebody else's pocket!

One of the things I had planned on doing if I did end up meeting my lofty poker goals that I'd set for myself before leaving, was to get my niece Jade tickets to see Taylor Swift in ST Paul, for her birthday.  I was able to ultimately do that and she was overjoyed to find them in her birthday card on August 10th.
She & I enjoyed a very nice day together on Sept 7th when we went to see the show together.  I told her, she could invite anyone, if she wanted too...so it was nice of her to want to go with me....  And I must say.... It was a pretty darn good show....

To try and bring this pretty long blog post to an end....I'll quickly fill you on the last week or so....

My daughter Kala and her husband Scott, had their new baby boy (Maverick Davis) on Oct 17th (I ~think~) in Kansas City, so I left on the bike on the 18th, while my wife Christine, drove the truck down with Jade.  We had a couple of nice days in KC visiting the family and holding the new baby, etc.... before I left for AZ.

My plan is to fly back to MN in Nov and then Christine and I will drive the truck back here after Christmas.  There's a guy here in AZ that's nice enough to store the bike for me until I get back.  This will be really nice to have the bike out here during the winter....

Since arriving in town, I've played poker twice and won both times.
The first day was a bigger win than any of the wins that I had during the entire trip this past summer.
It was a really good way to start the trip.

Now that I've got a little extra time on my hands....since I don't play poker ALL the time.... I may be able to blog again in the very near future....
Until then....