Most Recent Blogs

Select from one of the recent blogs below. At the end of this blog is a list of all blogs by category.

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Bobby

Recent Articles

	Day 12, Jerome, AZ to Monument Valley Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix We left Jerome AZ and traveled to Sedona and the canyon north of town. We were here with my brother and his wife in 2016. This is a beautiful area.
	Day 11, Phoenix to Jerome, AZ Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix A week before Laurie was to fly out to meet me in Phoenix she went to her doctor for a normal checkup. She had a dark spot on her big toe that looked like she had stumped her toe but it never went away or grew out. Her doctor took one look and said the toe nail had to come off. Laurie protested that she was traveling soon and wanted to wait. But her doctor said it had to come off that day and she would be good to travel in a week.
	Day 9, Springerville, AZ to Phoenix Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix Today I picked up Laurie from the airport in Phoenix and I did not want to go to the motel in northern Phoenix first so I had plenty of time to kill. I needed a new front tire so I stopped at BTM in Show Low. They treated me right and had a great price for parts and service for 40 to Phoenix riders. I know George Bageant got a drive shaft there and they had the part in stock. Will definitely stop here again if I am in the area and need Gold Wing parts or service.
	Day 8, Moriarty NM to Springerville, AZ Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix Wow! What a day. I checked my weather app during the day and the wind gusts were in excess of 50 MPH and they were a cross wind. I had dust storms and fire smoke. Signs on I-40 warned of 0 visibility and advised drivers to now stop in the travel lanes. I had a tumble weed hit the windshield. So I am a little tired tonight.
	Day 7, Amarillo to Moriarty, NM Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix Slow day today. One segment of Old Route 66 I had planned to ride had a "Dead End" sign. And my drone did not cooperate to get footage of the gravel road out of Glenrio. But I hit some favorite spots. I always stop at Adrian, TX at the Route 66 Midpoint.
	Day 6, Route 66 El Reno OK to Amarillo TX Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix I'm still not feeling well and I did not get any killer photos. Last year I skipped out on the dinner at Pablo Doro Canyon and I was determined to go this year. I goofed and about the time I got to the canyon my fuel light came on. Uh oh! I figured I would be fine. Once in the canyon I caught up with another group and I assumed they knew where they were going. I was wrong.
	Day 5, Route 66 in Oklahoma Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix The photo above sums up this day. Extremely windy, very cold and just a crappy day in general. 41 to 43 ° does not sound very cold but without my heated gear, I don't think I could have handled the weather today. And I have a bad cold.
	Day 4, Dickson TN to Conway AR Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix The goal today was to simply get to Conway without getting drenched. The forecast was for strong winds and a 100% chance of rain by the afternoon. I left this morning at 6:30AM to beat the weather. I even got off I-40 in Memphis and rode US64 so I could travel slower and avoid the traffic when the rain hit.
	Day 3, Dickson, TN Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix My Mom spoiled me with some good home cooking. I had a great visit with the folks and got on the road about 7:00AM. I was riding through Menifee County when a sign caught my attention. I had all day to get to Dickson TN so I made a U turn and went back to check it out. While taking some photos a fellow parked across the road and approached me. I yelled "Howdy" and struck up a conversation.
	Day 2 NC to my Folks Travel > 2018 40 to Phoenix So many things tried to derail this trip. A major project at work kept me insanely busy for the last three months and prevented leisurely planning for the trip, boots proved to not be water proof, gloves were not warm enough at less than 30 °, electrical gremlins hit my new trailer, software problems at work kept me up until midnight last night, Laurie had a toenail ripped of by her doctor for testing that proved to be nothing, my WiFi internet router died at home, etc, etc, etc.
	Day 20, Dewey Readmore Books the Cat, Strong Winds and RV Troubles Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country This day was going ok until we discovered that both rear tires on our RV had severe wear on the inside. That could only mean the rear axle was bent. I check the suspension often when we are traveling and I had noticed no problem the last time I checked. I did not know if the tire wear happened slowly and therefore we could limp home or if the problem happened in the last day or so and hence we would not make it home. The left rear tire had worn off all the tread on the inside third of the tire.
	Day 19, Black Hills of South Dakota Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Laurie had never been to Mount Rushmore so we took US 16A through a couple of tunnels with grand views of Mount Rushmore. With no crowds this time of year we had no problems getting in and parking. Mount Rushmore was nice but we really enjoyed the Crazy Horse Memorial and spent several hours there. They have a very extensive museum.
	Day 17, More Yellowstone, Beautiful Vistas and Old Homestead Buildings Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Today we went back to Yellowstone under clear skies and moderate temperatures with no crowds. We spotted a wolf walking down the road like he owned it and late in the day we saw a moose. A couple of the roads in Yellowstone were closed because of snow so we could not make the traditional circle loop around the park.
	Day 16, Beautiful Big Sky Country and Yellowstone Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country Last night we stayed in a WalMart in Butte, Montana. We stayed in this same WalMart in 2012 during our last big trip with Tucker. It had a very nice view of the snow capped mountains. We were able to hit Hardee's (one of my favorite biscuit places) this morning and they had the loaded omelet biscuit which is no longer available in NC. Oh, it was good.
	Day 14, Snow Capped Peaks Travel > 2017 Autumn Cross Country As I said yesterday I was bummed that I did not get to drive to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park to see the snow capped mountains. But we could see some of them from the WalMart where we camped last night. We will just add Hurricane Ridge to our list of places to return to sometime (when I retire). I did not want to drive south and then north again through Seattle to get to the Cascades so we took the Port Townsend ferry to Coupeville. I had called the day before to make reservations. An 18 wheeler pulled in behind me on the ferry. It was a fun ride of about 30 minutes.