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Embarking on an Ill Advised Trip
Sunday, March 6, 2005 Day Seven Ron's sister-in-law sent us on our way with a great classic American breakfast. Our first order of business, was to go to a nearby Cycle Gear in Mesa, AZ, and get me some decent rain gear. The crap rain gear that I picked up at Orchard Supply in LA went into the trash. After a full day of Interstate travel at high speed, it was also obvious that chaps were needed sooner rather than later. Yesterday saw 322 miles pass below me, and this would prove to be one of the shorter days on the Eastern bound leg of the trip, and the wind was beating me to death. Cycle Gear had a fine set of chaps for $109.00. Ron gave me a hand with his experienced expertise to cut them to length, and we hit the road. As the day progressed into early afternoon and the occasional scattered shower, Ron, riding point, pulled off at an exit somewhere in New Mexico. He said, Look at the weather ahead, Dude. Let's have lunch and see if it passes."
There was a gas station, and a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, so a giant hamburger, passing rain storm, and 40 minutes later, the weather ahead looked altogether different.
We could actually see the mountains in the distance now. I said, "Good call on the lunch stop." Over the next hour or so, we saw stretches of desert that were flooded by the rain storm that we managed to avoid. Sage brush desert scenery was beginning to wear on my psyche, but we finally reached a spot with a little different scene give us a visual break from the monotony of flat, high-desert.
The sky was beautiful, and most of the day's ride was uneventful and punctuated with only occasional scattered showers. In one of our dashes between storms, I was so busy admiring an amazing rainbow, that I almost crashed into Ron when he hit the brakes and swooped across the lane in front of me suddenly to pull off at an exit to take pictures.
That night me made it as far as Deming, New Mexico at around 9:30 PM. I was still good to go for another tankful of gas, but Ron was too cold to continue. With only 350 miles of road covered for the day, we put into a Super 8 for the night. I wasn't all that tired, so after a beer, I put on my swim trunks hoping to run into that tall leggy blonde that was in the lobby getting change for the laundry. I hung out in the hot tub, and swam a few laps until the pool closed at 10. Go to NEXT DAY'S STORY |
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