More Rain - No More Tents

My cruise control quit working in Kansas, so after riding a few hundred miles holding the throttle. I decided to stop and have it fixed. I stopped at a shop in Washington, KS . Cowboys Motorcycle Repair.

He worked on it 2 ours with no luck, but he did let me camp in his back yard for the night. More thunder storms all night and still raining in the morning.

I met another rider at the shop who was also a truck driver that hauled into So. Cal. The picture is of James and Carol on his chopper.


Sunday it was raining when I got to St. Joseph, MO. and the NASCAR race was going to be on TV so I went into a motel. The first thing was a nice long soak in a tub of hot water. You can't imagine how good that felt after sleeping on the hard cold ground for 6 nights They let me park under the canopy so I didn't even have to cover the bike. It was a super good race, with a real unusual ending. The first 2 lead cars ran out of gas on the last lap with Mark Martin the 3rd place car winning the race.



I have been stopping at all my favorite restaurants, Cracker Barrel, Pizza Hut, Bob Evans.

I have been stopping at motels since last Sunday. That one night spoiled me. I have been using the Super 8 motels, but Thursday night I stayed in a Motel 6. It is not near as nice as Super 8, but was a lot cheaper.


Last night right afer I checked in, 3 Honda Goldwings pulled in and they were all pulling trailers. Not the camping type, these were for hauling their luggage. You ought to see what they pulled out of those trailers, everything but the kitchen sink. Talk about spoiled.


I hope everyone is having a good summer.

Snow in the Mountains

I left Canyon de Chelle in the morning (after stopping for breakfast) and headed for Silverton, CO.


I wanted to find Camp Hale where my older brother trained as a ski trooper in WW2. I rode in the rain most of the way to Durango and from Cortez to Durango it came down hard. I was going up Hwy 550 to Silverton when I found out that they had 3 inches of snow in Silverton, so I went into the Haviland Lake campground and set up camp.

I walked around the area and saw some kids playing with a snake. They said it was a harmless water snake. OK.


Mama duck was on the lake with 10 ducklings. It was a real cold night and I didn't sleep to good with all the rain and thunder & lightning.


Thankfully it had cleared by morning so I packed up and headed for Pagosa Springs and Wolf Creek Pass. It was a real nice ride going up the pass and there was snow on the sides of the rode at the summit.



I decided to stay South of Denver because of the severe weather in that area, and headed across toward Kansas from Walsenburg, CO. Not much to see going across Kansas except grain elevators.


I stopped for the night in an RV park at Oakley, KS. where I met Arlien Steiner. She was on her way to Denver to visit Barbara Brown and then to Susanville, CA. to visit relatives.

Canyon De Chelle

After I set up my tent at Canyon De Chelle, I went over to the visitors center to book a tour through the canyon. The last tour of the day had already left, so I booked one for the next morning at 9:00am. I was walking around doing the tourist thing and met Rob and his very pretty wife Deborah. They were also riding a Harley and were staying at the motel. They were from New York city and were relocating to Taos, NM.

I met them again the next morning at the restaurant and Deborah invited me to sit with them. They were a very interesting couple and I really enjoyed talking with them.


I took the 1/2 day tour of the canyon and was sure glad I didn't take the all day. 4 hours of bouncing around in the back of a converted pickup was enough for me. It was an interesting trip with views of a lot of old Indian ruins and petroglyphs. Some places on the sides of the rock walls you can see where they have cut foot holds in the rocks for climbing.

The Indians live in the Canyon in the summer time and grow crops and raise cattle, then they move out on top of the rims in the winter. The tour guide ( Dave) said that it was so they would be closer to the stores and schools.








Wildlife? Oh, maybe not.


After the tour I wandered around the campground for a while visiting with the other campers. I met the campground host ( Jack) and after finding out that he was a single person I told him about the Loners On Wheels RV club ( He was too old for WINS, sorry Sharon) I gave him their WEB site as all my membership applications were back in the motor home. He was very interested in the Club. I also told him about the Slabs for winter camping.

I'm on the Road!!

I left the "Los Amigos" camp in Show Low at 7:00 am after having breakfast with Patricia, Judy and Jon. Patricia made cinnamon rolls. Delicious. I rode up to the end of the street and there was Joy Hopkins, Don Riddle and Tom Lewis waiting to say their goodbyes They wished me a safe journey and I rode away toward the highway.



The 5 miles out on the dirt road wasn't too dusty at this time of the morning. I got on Hwy 61 and turned East to go to the Petrified Forest Nat. Monument. I stopped at the museum and did some looking around at all the petrified wood. You are not allowed to pick up any wood at the preserve. They said how many tons are taken every year, but I don't remember the number. When I was here with my family in 1957 we picked up a few pieces, but it was legal then.


Not far from the visiters center I came across a ranger cleaning one of the kiosk glass. There was an old car there that I guess is one that didn't make it years ago.

Next I rode the 28 mile loop thru the park to the Painted Desert. I took a couple of the hikes there, and met a couple of guys riding Harleys. Both named John. One was from Spain and the other from England. They had rented the bikes in Chicago and were riding to California.

After a little sightseeing I left for Canyon De Chelle. (Pronounced d'shay) I arrived about 1:30 and set up my camp.



Gotta have my coffee!!


I'll tell you about my tour of Canyon De Chelle in my next blog. Bye for now.

Show Low Adventures

I am leaving Monday morning to head East so I thought I had better put something on my blog.

I helped Jon Tremelan put up a small log cabin after I got to Show Low.

Buck Owens, Tony, Jon, Andy & I worked the weekend and got most of the logs up. We had to use a crane to get the highest ones. Those 16ft by 8 inch logs are heavy.

Andy Parmlee was our supervisor.

Tony, Jon and I worked another week putting the rafters and roof on and the cabin really looks nice.

We had our first poker game and dinner inside shortly after it was finished. [Check out the poker table.]


The Los Amigos, ( Judy, Patricia, Jon & I) cooked our second annual Mothers day breakfast with 24 people there. Buck Owens gave each of the ladies a red rose.

Marlene had a special Sunday happy hour at her place celebrating Norwegian Independence Day with a special treat that she cooked up. Sweet Almond Treat.

A day at the casino.


When I wasn't needed any more at the cabin, I started working on the 1 1/4 acre lot that I bought next door to Los Amigos. I flagged the driveway & RV pads and then hired a tractor to spread 11 loads of cinders. After the driveway was in , I started trimming the Juniper bushes. I have 11 piles of brush waiting to be burned when I get back from my trip.



Patricia's little Dachshound walks with me every morning at 6:00. She sniffs out all the jack rabbits.

Marty O. was the first to visit and park on my lot.

Here's Jon snoozing on his newly completed porch.

I have been practicing how to load my bike for the trip and this morning I am finished except for last minute items.


This is a night shot of my rig with the 12volt rope lights that Dale Ann bought me for Christmas.

Any questions call me at 909 229 9704. Hope to see you down the road.