Questo parte ho scritto 17 Luglio dalla mia memoria. Lo provero' scrivere l'italiano stasera.
Thursday July 16, Giovedi 16 Luglio
Away I go again, Linda too
Finally Linda is free to go with me. We will meet Clint and Charleen Saturday at a campground by Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. My plan is to ride to Pueblo Colorado and stay at the KOA campground. With side trips it should be about a 350 mile day. I don't want to do a long day on Linda's first day out. At the Colorado information center we see a relief map of the state and notice there is a nice state park and campground JUST EAST of Pueblo so we decide we will stay there. We will go east on Highway 50 through La Junta and then to the campground. But first we go to Bishop's Castle 25 miles west west of Colorado City, not 25 miles north like the state information says. Bishop's Castle is a rock building being built entirely by one man without help. He has many signs there about his political beliefs and his problems with the state of Colorado. The building is 160 feet tall and is quite interesting. You can search the internet for Bishop's Castle and read more about him and his castle.
Then we went on to Pueblo and proceeded east on Highway 50 searching for the state campground. After 10-15 miles we see a sign stating that it is 49 more miles to La Junta. And I see on the GPS that Highway 50 does not in fact go directly east but rather southeast. We want to go northeast to Sidney, Nebraska. This state campground will take us too far out of the way. The GPS tells us to take a highway just north of us so I do. Then I search for a motel with the GPS's toolset. Sure enough there is the Trapper's Inn in Ordway about 50 miles away. That is farther than I wanted to go but it is in the right direction so we continue on. But there is not and has never been a motel there so we continue on, next stop Limon which is about 75 more miles straight north. Finally after a 550 mile day we arrive at Limon, get a motel and go to Dennys for dinner and we each drink 3 large glasses of ice water. Then it is back to the motel, a shower and an early bedtime. I apologize profusely to Linda for the extra long day. At least the next 2 days SHOULD be fairly short days.
Bishop's Castle
Monday, Tuesday July 6,7 Lunedi, Martedi, 6,7 Luglio
Westward bound on Route 66
Deane is staying with Norm a few more days so I left alone to meet Clint, Charleen, Ken, Christine, Bob and Kerry for the ride back to Albuquerque. We took a couple of side roads so that we could ride on the old Route 66. At one point I noticed that the old road was beside us and overgrown with weeds and finally decided that I had to ride on it so everybody followed me. We had to weave in and out of bushes and hanging tree branches. It was great fun and interesting to think that I had been on this road in 1952 when our family moved from Illinois to California. We stayed the night in Amarillo, Texas and had dinner at a restaurant that sells a 72 ounce steak for $72. It is free if you can eat the entire meal in less than one hour. None of us attempted it.
Tuesday we continued west on I-40 but split up about 100 miles from Albuquerque as I had a 1 PM appointment. We all met that evening for dinner at Sadies, our favorite New Mexican food restaurant. Clint and Charleen will stay at the house tomorrow to do some maintenance while the others continue on to the Grand Canyon.
The OLD Route 66
Sunday July 5 Domenica 5 Luglio
Woolaroc
Norm took us to Woolaroc today. It is a nature preserve and museum created by one of the early oil company founders, Frank Phillips. He was quite the philanthropist as well as a lover of the outdoors. This is a must see site. There are many types of animals roaming free on the site. There were many newborn deer walking back and forth across the streets as well as bison, elk, goats, llamas and others. There was a multi-room museum and each room depicted a different era in the history of Oklahoma.
Tomorrow it is time to return home. I make plans to meet Clint and Charleen in the morning with the other 2 Australian couples for the return to Albuquerque.
Saturday July 4 Sabato 4 Luglio
Jack rides another trike
We returned to WingDing as today would be riding exhibitions of difficult maneuvers, stunts and other daring feats. Unfortunately it was raining heavily and these events were canceled.
Clint was in need of a new front tire. The tire machine people were selling tires and then changing the tires with their machine as a demonstration. I asked them if I could change Clint's tire. I did but still decided that their machine was not quite what I wanted. I guess that I will return from WingDing without a bunch of expensive goodies. But Clint and Charleen did buy new rainsuits so at least some of us helped support the show vendors.
Finally the rain subsided and I went outside to a trike vendor and was allowed to test their trike. They sell a kit to convert a Goldwing from a motorcycle with 2 wheels to a trike. Eventually one becomes old enough or suffers an injury that prevents them from riding a 900 pound motorcycle. A trike conversion is an alternative that allows one to keep riding. I am glad that I am not yet in need as I did not care for the three wheels. If and when my time comes I will try a motorcycle with a sidecar.
Friday July 3 Venerdi 3 Luglio
Jack rides a trike
And away we went to see the great WingDing show. Across from the exhibition center is a Honda shop where Deane left his bike to have the tire replaced. We went to the show and found parking places. It looks like it will rain and that turned out to be true. One of the first things we saw was a large version of a child's tricycle. It belonged to a lady who was a member of a tricycle drill team. They travel the country performing exhibitions for charity. She let me ride the trike which was interesting but not my preferred way of travel.
The show is full of vendors selling motorcycle items but also there are lots of vendors selling all types of non motorcycle merchandise such as kitchen tools. I assumed that I would find something to spend money on such as a more comfortable seat but happily for Linda I did not find a seat I liked so I bought nothing and saved $500+. I did test ride a Goldwing with an expensive suspension system. I have modified my suspension system and wanted to make a comparison. I decided that mine was just as good so I saved $1200. I also looked at a tire changing machine but it was not really what I wanted. I saved $900 by not purchasing it.
Later in the day someone asks me for help with their wrist watch. It was Clint and Charleen. We made introductions to Norm and then toured the show together. Later we all went to dinner together and then everyone returned to their accommodations for the night.
Thursday July 2 Giovedi 2 Luglio
And yet another tire problem
Today we are off to Tulsa where we will stay with Deane's friend Norm and will attend the big Goldwing riders conference called WingDing. Yesterday we toured the local area of Kansas with Deane's brother. We are searching for a restored home of a rancher who was ahead of his time in the way he built the home and ran his ranch. Deane had seen it at one time but does not remember where it was. After a while I forgot about finding this house and was just enjoying the scenery. Then I saw a sign for a historical site and turned into the parking lot. Sure enough it was the house that Deane remembered. Naturally we took the tour which was quite interesting. The tour guide told us to also stop in a small town not far off of our route to see the courthouse and jail. We did that and were quite impressed with the 2 cell jail as it was quite sturdy and had no heat or air conditioning. I doubt that they had many repeat prisoners.
I was in the lead riding south and noticed in my mirrors that Deane was stopping on the side of the road. I pulled over as well but I was ½ mile ahead. After waiting for a few minutes I decided that it was something more serious than changing jackets and I returned. It was easy to notice the flat rear tire on Deane's bike. We checked it out and found a 1/4” hole in the tire. We both carry repair kits so we installed a plug and continued on. After 25-35 miles the plug came out so we installed 2 plugs together. This got us to Norm's house on the outskirts of Tulsa. Deane had never seen this house so Norm gave us a tour of the house but mainly showed us his workshop in a special, large building behind the house. Very impressive. Then it was out to dinner and finally a good night's sleep with dreams of flat tires.
Kansas Jail
Deane fixing his flat tire
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