Wandering Retirees

Petrified Forest National Park and Grand Canyon National Park

What a day! We covered about 300 miles today on a round about route from Gallup, NM to Grand Canyon Village, AZ on the south rim. We first stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in AZ off Route 40. Taking some good advice, we stopped in the Visitors’ Center and approached Park Ranger Richard Ullman (Ranger Rick) for some advice. What we got was a veritable “data dump” (his words) on what to see in the park. And since he was stationed at the south rim of the Canyon for 12 years, he had so much to tell and advise us about both parks. He is such an enthusiastic representative! He reminds me of Ken Hartman and John Filippini. We followed the park road to several scenic lookouts, including Kachina Point with a view of the painted desert, the Route 66 stop with a 1932 Studebaker permanently parked in the sand, and Blue Mesa with its stunning view of Billings Gap and the desert resting places of many, many petrified trees. Our first “wow” of the day. We met a couple along the way, Menno and Lucie, from the Netherlands who were also on holiday in the Southwest. Interestingly, they were traveling in comfort in a rented RV. (In our experience, 90% of all RVs are rented by Germans on foreign tours, but I digress.) We earned some cred when they saw we were traveling by motorcycle starting in NJ. Have to hold up the reputation of the side!
We left the Park in the south by Route 180 toward Flagstaff and ended up in Winslow.

I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona with one special woman on my mind.

Had a great time mugging on the corner with others of the same mind. The corner is at 2nd and Warner and has a couple of bronze musician statues. There’s also a Great Wall to lean against. (See the accompanying pictures for a distinguished example.) It’s a façade, by the way. We then went to lunch at La Posada, at Ranger Rick’s suggestion, and had another meal to write home about. Connie had a lamb stew and I had a fried bread with lamb and salsa that leapt off our plates into our mouths. Lunch was so good and so generously proportioned that a siesta would have gone down well. The restaurant is a small part of a great old hotel first built by the Santa Fe Railroad to serve its customers in the heyday of rail travel. It had fallen into disrepair and was slated for demolition. But some intrepid investors took a chance and recreated its splendor as a hotel, restaurant and historic site. It’s fully modern, even having electric Tesla car hookups. It’s truly beautiful. So go stand on the corner and have some lunch.

Then off to the Grand Canyon, one of the focal points of our planning. We took US Route 89 north to the east entrance of the park. (Again, thanks to Ranger Rick.) coming in that way meant very little traffic and no wait to enter the park or village. The south entrance is much more heavily travelled. We stopped at Navajo Point for our first look of the Canyon; it took our breath away. Wow just doesn’t do it. The Colorado River was the tiniest ribbon of water about a mile beneath us flowing to the west. The grandeur of the Canyon walls and rock formations extending miles on either side eludes the power of description. We tried to wrap our minds around the sight of layers of beautiful sedimentary rock that were revealed over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Nature won that round: we were and remain awed.

We made our way to the village and checked into our cute little cabin. Connie’s magical planning made this possible. (It’s a duplex, if you can imagine.) It is comfortable and very nice, and located about 200 feet from the head of Bright Angel Trail. We unloaded our bags and took a stroll along the rim to see the sunset. We walked about a ½ mile over all, but stopped every few yards or so to stare in wonder of this sublime act of creation. (Tim, we think you can relate.)

We wound up settling at a beautiful scenic outlook to enjoy the waning moments of daylight. We met two wonderful young folks traveling from Norway. Chris and Anna both work with the same company in Norway that focuses on civil engineering projects (as best as I can relate). Chris is an American ex-pat from Minnesota, and Anna is a native of Poland. We had a great time sharing he pleasures of our travel experiences. They are on a 3 week holiday and we found their enthusiasm and kindness so engaging.

Okay. There is so much more to tell. But all the words in the world’s vocabularies cannot adequately describe what we are experiencing. You will just have to come to this wonder of the world and experience it for yourself. You will congratulate yourself for your wisdom.

Tomorrow we’re up we’ll before the crack of dawn to take a hike down the South Kaibob Trail to … wait for it … Ooh Ahh Point, to see the sun rise. Jersey prepared us for this how? So more tomorrow.

Finally a post on time. Rode 314 miles today to Gallup, NM, just on the edge of the Navajo reservation. We have ridden over 2,600 miles total so far. Beautiful countryside with red and white sandstone formations, buttes, cliffs, mountains and rolling hills. Gallup is over 6,400 feet above sea level and is cool and dry. Today’s high was 76F and tonight the temp will drop to 39F. We passed a mountain west of Albuquerque that had snow still on the summit. I’d never thought of NM as being so high above sea level. Turns out that northern NM is on the Colorado Plateau (which includes Northern Arizona, Southern Utah, and Southern Colorado – the four corner states). Learning all the time. 

Back to this morning (stream of consciousness) on the way out of Tucumcari (pronounced “Too-cum-carry”) we stopped by the newly renovated train station. It’s beautiful, though not yet open to the public. We learned that the city was a way-point for the Southern Pacific and the Rock Island railroads, and the Union Pacific line as well. Well blow me down!  Didn’t know the UP reached so far. Fellow Rail Baron fanatics will be amazed, I’m sure. The Burlington Northern line is also prominent here. We passed dozens of mile long trains along I-40 bearing the Burlington and Union Pacific logos. Thought you’d be thrilled to know.

Not a lot else to tell. (the state of our derrières will not be discussed) Tomorrow we head to Winslow, AZ and on to Grand Canyon Village on the south rim of the canyon. So looking forward to it. We hope you are all well. And we’re so pleased you look in from time to time to see how we’re doing. Now we wish you good luck and good night…

As advertised, we set out early and rode about 460 miles over 11 hours from Ft Worth, TX to Tucumcari, NM, a long, sometimes boring/sometimes exciting day. Ft Worth was once an important stop on the Chisholm Trail, and thought of as the Gateway to the West. It can be hard to imagine covered wagons traversing ground now covered by 8 lanes of concrete, and arterials the size if a NJ city, but you can if you try. We’ve covered about 2,300 miles so far.  
After double checking the weather, we left Bill and Jane Hadley’s home and headed north toward Wichita Falls and I-40 for points west. We stopped for fuel and some food in a old, small town called Henrietta, home of Stewart’s Sweet Shop located across from CityHall. Ms. Brenda Estridge, a patron, showed us pictures from when it was originally a boot manufactory, making custom cowboy boots for the discriminating Texan. When the boot makers moved to different digs, the shop became a café and bakery. Cookies and other pastries are in prominent view and promise gustatory delight. Mr. Pete Langford, (photo attached) is a distinguished looking transplant from Nokoma, about 20 miles to the south. He made our acquaintance and kindly bade us welcome, asking after our welfare and where we were from. Once again, we arrived as strangers and were graciously made welcome by Mr. Langford, Ms. Estridge and her sister, and the staff. They could have chosen to treat us as customers only but did not; we found kindness and grace. In addition they have our thanks for a delicious and filling meal. 

For most of the rest of the day, we pushed on through the Texas panhandle, headed to Amarillo and beyond to Tucumcari. The weather continued to be on our minds with threats of thunderstorms and hail beset us behind and before. With a warning from another biker in Claude, TX, we knew hail was imminent. We raced north to Amarillo to find shelter.  We made it in time to shelter in relative comfort under an overhang at the Comfort Inn in Amarillo (thanks!) as pea sized hail pelted the area. Connie, the weather maven, gets full marks for getting us to shelter in time.

The rest of the way to the New Mexico border was kind of boring, frankly.  It was so vast and flat.  There were some big feed lots for cattle going to market and we held our noses and felt sorry for the animals. A lot of wind turbines, which is surprising for a state known for oil. That was about it until we hit the NM border where the land immediately became undulating with little mesas and lots of scrub. It is beautiful! A little foretaste of what is to come.

Today we head to Gallup, NM with Grand Canyon Village the day after. But first, we’re going to visit the refurbished train station here in Tucumcari. Very exciting! Really.
 

An editorial correction. The two firefighters we met in Knoxville were not named Don and Vaughn. They were and remain Tommy and Kenny as they will surely tell you. I apologize for them both. (I have no idea how my brain heard mixed up their names. Comments are not welcome.).

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Sorry for the delay, but we have just spent a delightful couple of full days with cousin Bill and Jane just outside Ft. Worth. They have been gracious hosts in every way. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful folks to put us up (put up with us?).
Cousin Rick and Janey joined us today for a fabulous supper of Texas ribs, brisket and sausage. It’s food to write home about.

The ride in from the east on I-30 was eye opening. It’s true, everything is big – really big, in Texas. We passed through 8 lane interchanges covering an area roughly the size of Hoboken, some with ramps crossing 80 feet above us. Amazing. A lot of pickups, all white or black. Turn signals are definitely seldom used options, too. Makes riding a careful enterprise.

Tomorrow we set out very early toward Tucumcari, NM, about 440 miles away. This will be one of our longest travel days, getting us closer to the Grand Canyon. This will test our endurance some, especially our posteriors. There may be some whining along the way. Connie has promised to be understanding. We’re looking forward seeing the renovated train station in Tucumcari, which is important for the silly reason that it is a destination city in the game, Rail Baron. Can’t resist.

Well, off to finish packing and to bed. More soon. Be well!

We had great weather and a nice ride into Texas.  We stayed up late enjoying our visit with my second cousins, Bill and Jane.  Hence, no post.  More to follow from the traveling story teller (Hank) later today.   Meanwhile, have a great day!  – Connie

Writing from Hot Springs, Arkansas at the end of a fun day. We rode about 225 miles from Cabot, AR mostly by back roads, our favorite kind of route. (If you look at our Spot map, you’ll see a rather convoluted track that avoided Little Rock, but not the National Park Hot Springs Nat’l Park and it’s neat roads.) After 5 days of mostly interstates, it was a welcome day.Early on, we stopped to check our location (and restore feeling to our butts) in front of a repair garage under construction. A man came toward us to find if we needed help. His name is Ron Davis and he took time from rebuilding this shop for his son’s business in Mayflower. Turns out this area was wiped clean by a killer tornado a few years back and the property (pad and land; no building) became available. He impressed us as a kind, hard-working man who enjoyed meeting us as much as we enjoyed his company. Ron, like so many folks we’ve met, was friendly and happy to be of help. He suggested a fun route and shared generously of his knowledge of the area. He also said nice things about our planned trip, which we found endearing.

A couple of hours later, we stopped to rest in a country church parking lot. The church was in Walnut Grove, AR, and, like so many, had a cemetery along side. We walked among the plots for a few minutes and noticed the entire cemetery was beautifully maintained, with nice, even expensive, monuments and flowers marking each grave. A few families were richly represented. We noticed markers for Bates, Fischer, Murders (you read that right) and Battleberry. There were others, of course. But it is clear that generations, from at least the late 1800’s, have visited and beautifully tended these family plots. We noted two brothers from the Bates family, who fought on opposing sides of the Civil War, but were killed in battle but returned home to be buried side-by-side. We found that moving. From what we saw of the area, folks don’t have a lot of money, but where, and who they are, matters to them. Memories matter. And they follow through generation after generation.

We arrived in Hot Springs and are staying in a little family owned Alpine Inn. Turns out the owners are Scottish (Glasgow) and very welcoming. Hot Springs was once famous for having geothermal spas that attracted some impressive people. FDR came here several times to recuperate and refresh during his presidency (though he also died here in early 1945 before his 4th term was completed). Al Capone and other gangsters of that era spent time here for R & R, though they held a perpetual truce while in town. This is also the birthplace of President Bill Clinton.  

Tomorrow it’s on to Ft. Worth to visit family. Looking forward to arriving. More later.

We left Dickson, TN this morning in clear but chilly weather (about 45 degrees) headed to Cabot, AR, a little over 300 miles to the west. The day stayed beautiful and warmed into the 80’s by mid-afternoon. Had to tuck away our fleeces and loosen our coats to take advantage of the moving air.
Western Tennessee is much flatter than the eastern part of the state. A lot of sprawling farms and the earth is so green. Just beautiful. Passing by Memphis, we crossed the big, muddy Mississippi into Arkansas which has gotten so much rain lately. Heavily agricultural, we saw mile after mile of farm fields under water, especially near the White River. Some homes and other buildings were also flooded. It’s amazing how resilient and tough farmers are to work their land no matter how nature behaves. I realize I take for granted what it takes to get food to the shelves of Wegman’s.

Cabot is about 25 miles north of Little Rock, and seems to depend mostly on agriculture and some local small colleges for its business. Folks are friendly enough and seem mostly working class. They do not walk anywhere, which kind of makes sense because there are no sidewalks. And little enough shoulder to the roads. We discovered this on our stroll to the local Kroger’s to buy fixings for our supper and sandwiches for tomorrow. (We also wound up with a Kroger’s member card. Not sure how that happened.) Passing drivers looked at us as though we were aliens landed from the moon. (We’re only from Jersey!) Nevertheless, our shopping was successfully completed. We just finished our supper and are contentedly sipping an adult beverage.

Tomorrow, we’re headed to Hot Springs, where a lot of famous people (and many who aren’t) have vacationed for the thermal baths. More tomorrow.

A sporting good store in Memphis, really.

Left Knoxville this morning and ran into cold, wet and very windy weather. We watched the temperature dip from 54F when we started out to 47F at noon.  Brrrr.  We had to slow way down to be safe so did not make Jackson, TN as we’d hoped. Spending a warm-up evening in Dickson, TN, a suburb to the west of Nashville. We only covered about 225 miles, so we have some make up tomorrow to keep on schedule. Our goal is to arrive in Ft. Worth, TX on Monday, with a little exploration around Hot Springs, AR and the nearby Ouachita National Forest along the way. The weather promises to be a bit warmer and less windy, so we are hopeful. 
We ran across a couple of bikers this morning in Knoxville. Vaughn and Don are fire fighters from Newport News, VA out on a vacation. While we were telling tales and saying nice things about our respective rides, Connie and I noticed an extra rider, a moose no less, strapped on each of their bikes. Come to find out the moose is named Tommy and he’s the mascot of the Newport News Fire Department. And Tommy goes wherever his firefighters go. We got a lot of pleasure from it. And we wish the Don and Vaughn a safe ride home.

That’s all for now. Have a good night.

We are spending the day in Knoxville waiting out a strong storm front. For today’s blog, we thought we share some of the more mundane practicalities of traveling on a motorcycle for a long trip.

We’re often ask what and how we pack for a long trip. The short answers are: not much and very thoughtfully. On the bike, we have two side cases over the back wheel; one top case that sits behind the passenger; a “tank” bag that sits on the gas tank; and a waterproof bag we have strapped to the top.

We, mostly Connie, have had to reorder our thinking about what is essential. So through trial and error over the past 10 years, we’ve done well at getting the list rather short. It may look like a long list, but it’s really not much. (See the pic)

The clothes list has become shorter every year … and this year in particular when we purchased clothes people wear hiking and backpacking. This means the clothing weighs little and packs small. It also means that it’s not made to be put in the dryer, as is evidenced by our room decor. 😀
We also have to think about weight in the individual cases. We pack our clothes and rugged sandals in the side cases with all the miscellaneous in the top case. Water bottles and tools are in the tank bag. Light weight fleeces and hiking poles are in the waterproof bag.

Another practical matter: if you’d like to see a multi day view on our live tracking map, you can change the display. Visit the site. In the upper left hand corner, click “2017 X-Country”. From the drop down menu, chose “adjustments.” Choose as many days as you’d like to see and the click “update map.
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Long day on the road. We covered 355 miles in about 7 hours to Knoxville, Tennessee. Had something of a late start after trying to find a solution to securing an extra bag to the top of our rear storage compartment. Ended up tying it off using a “Rube Goldberg” concoction of straps. It worked – the bag stayed with us. But getting it off for the night was a chore and a half. The cool look we try to convey was spoiled some by the sweating, grunting and flurry of naughty words. (A violation of procedures on all three counts.) Clearly this will be a work in progress. Otherwise the bike (Trixy) performed flawlessly. 
Did I mention it was a long day? We stopped several times for fuel, refreshment, and (surprise) conversation with a number of friendly and inquisitive folks. The people we met in western Virginia and Tennessee are so polite and solicitous. Willing to ooh and ahh at our story and share of their own travels. Getting a coffee involves a whole host of pleasantries and salutations from the moment you place your order till the barista places the welcome cup in your hand. I note that, being from Jersey, it’s a challenge to maintain focus on the niceties when caffeine is at stake. Clearly I require cultural reprogramming, or decompression or something to adjust to the more relaxed social mores.

We’re staying in Knoxville an extra day due to coming inclement weather. So Friday is our next travel day, probably heading to Arkansas. For the moment, we are gorging on tasty victuals picked up from the Kroger’s nearby. 

Signing off for now. The chips are calling.