Great vacation

Back to work after a very cool 2 week vacation. Spent 10 days traveling through the desert on my iron horse.....ok iron and plastic. Rode my Concours 4115 miles in all. Rode first day to Tucumcari NM, then on to Kingman AZ with a short stop off in Winslow AZ. "Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see, the girl , my Lord, in a flat bed ford, turn around and take a look at me...." Yes I took it easy just as the Eagles did on that corner in Winslow.

Then it was on up to Vegas with a short stop off at Hoover Dam.

In Vegas I met up with a lovely young friend I had not seen since early 90s or so. She took me out to Red Rock one afternoon


and then over to a small park just above Lake Mead where we seen a few sheep.....


After a few days in Vegas, I took off through the desert again, this time going through the Mojave desert and up through Edwards Air Force base, over to Santa Maria. Somewhere a few miles from santa Maria on a small two lane blacktop a trailer tire on a semi blew out right as I met it and bits and pieces of the blown out tire slammed into me, cracking my faceshield on my helmet a bit.I continued on without it and finally found the Pacific Ocean at Pismo Beach.


After a short walk along Pismo, I again mounted my trusty steed and headed up famed Highway 1 towards this tiny cottage aka Hearst Mansion


Then just up the road near San Simeon i found this elephant seal colony which was very neat to see.


After leaving the behemouths behind i kept trudging northward and the fog really started rolling in as well as darkness. I finally rolled into Monterey CA before I stopped for the evening. I backtracked the next morning to get some beautiful shots of the Bixby Bridge

where I met a lovely young lady named Martha who was on an even longer voyage of her own from Boston and was over 7000 miles into her long summer vacation....i just HAD to add her on Facebook to keep track of her own adventures. (plus she lives very near Fenway which is a place im hoping to visit next summer ) After a lengthy chat with Ms Martha I headed back up toward Monterey where I stopped by Fishermans Wharf


and tried to see how high i could make my sugar level go with a 1 lb bag of fresh saltwater taffy (yummy btw). At this point I decided it was time to head back inland some and towards the jewel that is Yosemite.
I arrived later than I planned and didnt have a lot of time to spend there before the sun started settling and as I left out and climbed out of the Sierras the temp dropped a lot.....i finally lit in Mammoth Lake CA
where i was told as I checked into a local motel that I should not leave anything a bear might like on my bike. The bears wander through town each night after dark. Apparently I had a blonde moment as I walked across and down the street in the dark to get a pizza to bring back.....luckily God loves idiots and no bears were out yet lol.

I woke up next morning and headed down to Death Valley
(118 in case you were wondering) before heading back to spend a few more days with my friend Sandra in Vegas. As I left Vegas, I stopped at Meteor Crator AZ
After leaving this awesome spectacle I made it as far as Grants NM before a cold rain started hitting me. Leaving Grants the next morning I was determined to sleep in my own bed the next night but not before stopping by Palo Duro Canyon
south of Amarillo. This is the second largest canyon in the USA. Made it home around 2am on the 11th day after starting my adventure. 4115 miles on two wheels, hundreds of pictures and thousands of mental images I will never forget. God is great!! So thankful to live in the USA and able to travel as I please and see the awesome beauty God has bestowed upon this earth!!