Resting in Nevada

Whew. What a ride. Just so we don't forget, those bikes in the picture are our trusty 'STEEDS' during this ride across America. They are BMW motorcycles, GS models. Murray's was 22 years old, and Nathalie's and mine were 4 and 5 years old respectivley. Murray rode the first two days, while Nathalie and I have made the full ride.

The size of this country hasn't changed but 3200 miles seems longer than anything I have figured. I guess the length of the ride is dependent on the soreness of the butt.

Really magnificant country. The ride through New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada reminds me of how ancient our land is. The country is sculpted out of glaciers and ancient seas that created the mesas, buttes, and ruggedness of the land.

Stopped in Albuquerque with a great friend: Ken Guthrie. He, like Jane Baker in Tulsa, were former Presidents of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). They were and remain very special people in my life. I was just thinking that if I had a reunion of all of the close friends that were elected leaders in the 3 associaitons I worked for, that they would all like each other. They are very special. Ken and Jane will remain in my heart as great folks.

Speaking of great folks, we haven't met a bad one yet...including the policemen that stopped us for going a tad too fast. :-) They were nice and helped us understand how to speed in the desert of New Mexico and not get caught. Go figure.

Stopped at 4 corners, the intersection of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.which is in the Navajo Nation. It is an anomoly of surveying....exactly four corners coming together.There is a permanent Navajo market that surrounds the memorial where hand crafts are sold.

Ate lunch at a place called Keyanta on US 160 in Northern Arizona. It too is Navajo. It didn't appear on the GPS, nor did it show any fuel stops for 75 miles. Was a bit nervous but then it appeared out of nowhere, little airport and all!. Had Frybread for the first time...kind of like a sopapilla. Nice folks. Saw a young boy in the corner of the restuarant who was put to work counting all of the change...little piles of nickels, dimes and quarters. Seemed like a very good thing to do...builds patience.

When we rode out of town there was, surprisingly, a Burger King. However the weird thing was that the billboard advertised that the Burger King had the biggest museum of artifacts and photos of the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.(http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/) Really amazing. Once through the town, it was nothing but 7000' high plains desert, beautiful monuments of stone, and open space.

Well, it is a day of changes today. Nathalie and her friend will move out ahead of me today. She has to get back a bit earlier than I do. I wish her well. She and her friend have been a great riding buddy. I meet up with Gordon Bartlett (from Australia) and Mark Mathieson (California) and we will ride a couple of more days through Death Valley and Yosemite. Finally San Francisco and the PBTF presentation. BTW, we are nearly at $5000!

More later.