our motorcycle trip. part II.

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oh. i guess life has taken over. again. it's taken me so long to get to this second post of our trip, but i decided TODAY is THE day that it must happen. i mean...it's august already. my summer has like F.L.O.W.N. by. it's craziness. for real.

[this post will cover june 20-june 21, 2010]

i just spent a little over an hour on the above map, and it's not quite what i had hoped, but it's going to have to do. i cannot afford to spend any more time on it. :) it is not quite right on some of the roads we travelled, but you get the idea.

so...we had a yummy breakfast at a quaint little restaurant called the egg and i, i think?, with my cousin, shelly and her husband matthew, on Father's Day morning...we then treked off to the denver international airport, matt on motorcycle, me following behind in the truck. after navigating thru that GINORMOUS airport, we found an appropriate parking spot, tucked the parking ticket inside, and tucked the keys away on the outside, :), and we were off.

my man was IN his glory. what more could he ask for. his three FAVORITE things in life: a) his motorcycle, b) out WEST, and c) me of course!  ;)

we drove thru Colorado Springs, home of Focus on the Family...{ i love their programming by the way...although we did not stop}, and drove thru Garden of the Gods...so cool...{most of my pics from here are on the flip...which i did put together a way cool movie of our trip...someday i may post it? :) } then thru woodland park divide and cripple creek...this is where we ate lunch...

these people had just re-located this cajun restaurant from new orleans. good food. quaint town. donkeys roaming the streets, casinos lining this desolate street...really not much around. a mining town of some sorts. then thru buena vista, poncha springs, and gunnison- where we strolled thru the streets window shopping and splurged on some expensive ice cream cones. they were $4.80 each. yikes. :) we then proceeded to montrose, where we originally thought we would spend the night, but since we both still felt good, we continued on to Ridgway, CO.

we stayed at a "green" adobe style lodge. the hostess forgot to mention it was so green that there was no air conditioning, but it actually was fine. it got freezing cold during the night, we could actually see our breath in the morning when we went for a walk...

most of the shops were closed, which was a bummer, because they looked really fun, and infact, the only place open to eat, was an authentic mexican place...so that's what we had. kaden called on THIS night crying. i was devestated, so i cried of course too. i think matt was in disbelief...he knew it would be hard on me, and the kids...but this was only sunday...we had a long way to go. :) there's nothing really like being halfway across the country and hearing your little man on the other end sobbing. it just broke my heart. i knew in my mind that he was having fun, and i also knew bedtime was going to be the most traumatic, but still...

monday morning we woke up at 5:45 am...you wonder how we travelled 3450 miles in 8 days of riding, it's because my husband hates to sleep. for real. it's really i guess a good trait, MOST of the time. :)

met some lady who wanted me to see her baby goat. turns out she's going to go to the supreme court fighting for her right to have chickens in town...oh my. totally eccentric lady. anyway, left ridgway, co after breakfast, and proceeded on to telluride, co...fabulous, rich and famous ski resort...we just missed the big blue grass festival, and allison krauss, big downer, but what are ya gonna do?, drove thru rico, co, and then cortez, where we met up with matt's brother, mark, for lunch. mexican of course. :) that was kinda fun.

i left off before about matt doing something to the kickstand while unloading...well, it needed to be welded, so we tugged along behind mark to his first client  he had to visit, and helped ourselves to his welding equipment. what a riot.

we continued on thru the "four corners" (i believe that's of: CO, UT, NM and AZ). but the monument was baricaded off, so we met more people on motorcycles, and continued on thru kayenta, AZ arriving at our final destination for the evening of: Tuba City, AZ.

Rode thru the deserts of Arizona this day, where the temp. ranged from 110-115 degrees. Rode thru our first dust storms, which wasn't too much fun, but this should hopefully be the first and last of that. We did see smoke from the wildfires burning in Flagstaff, AZ, which was wild.

We met a gorgeous couple from Israel at our hotel, who were also touring on motorcycles. they were on their honeymoon, will be for a couple months. we chatted in the lobby for a couple  hours. it was pretty amazing. this man's grandfather survived the holocaust, and her grandfather had been a spy...crazy stories. made me once again thankful for my blessed heritage.

we had eaten mcflurries for lunch. it was so hot, we weren't really hungry. every rest stop/restaurant around was manned by Indians. Lots of road side stands set up selling beautiful pottery and jewelry. made me sad...i wonder about their families they are trying to provide for, and whether they gamble all their money away, at these casinos that are in the middle of NO WHERE.

and from my journal, " ...anyway...we feel great. i really must have a great seat. my butt does not hurt at all. we are having so much fun. no responsibilities, and it's so fun to see matt TOTALLY in his element. it's been a long day of riding. it's 11:11 p.m. and i am beat! xoxo. mis."