We left Price,  Utah yesterday at 5am and arrived in Pagosa Springs, Colorado at my cousin’s place at around 1:30pm.  The sunrise was beautiful.  This picture was taken about 50 miles west of Moab, Utah.

My cousin, Neal’s place, is beautiful.  The thunderstorm rolled over the mountains right after we arrived.  What a beautiful place to proved a short respite from our trip.  We will rest today, head to Oklahoma tomorrow and then I’ll head on to Tennessee on Saturday.  So far, Dad and I have traveled over 3500 miles together.

We woke up this morning in Eureka, California and we are going to bed in Price, Utah. We rodethrough over 200 miles of smoke from the Northern California forest fires.  We stayed outside of Reno last night and there were several Firefighters who came in for rest.  They said the fire they had been fighting for over a week, was only 10% contained…keep these guys in your prayers.

A Utah Sunrise

Pictures from yesterday’s ride…Eureka California to Reno, Nevada.  Large Ponderosa pines, and the river were in the Sierra Mountains.  We rode beside this river for about 2 hours.  There must have been at least 100 miles of riding in the Ponderosa Pines, man they are beautiful.

Tomorrow we head to Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Ok, so the good news is my radar detector works great, the bad news is…Dad didn’t see my flashing head-lights.  We were in the process of passing (at a rapid speed, just below 3 digits) several slow moving vehicles (which should have been our first hint – they were all grouped up  behind the Utah State Trooper) before I could signal Dad he was on top of the trooper with me just behind him.  At that point we really didn’t have any choice except to pass around him.  He promptly turned on his pretty lights and pulled us over.  Mr. Trooper was very nice, he gave us a ticket for 5 miles per hour over the speed limit.  I about lost it when he looked at our bikes and said, ” you certainly have enough power there.”  Anyway, tomorrow is another day and another state.

We stopped in Redding, California to eat at Burger King for lunch today, and a very interesting thing happened.  Dad was sitting down to eat when an older gentleman come up and asked him if he was from Memphis (Dad was wearing his Memphis t-shirt).  I over heard the conversation and to the elderly gentleman that I was from the Memphis area.  When I asked him how he was connected to Memphis, he paused and began to tell the most amazing story.  The gentleman’s name was Robert Kelley.  Mr. Kelly asked me if the Memphis Bell (B-17 Bomber) was still on Mud Island.  He then said that he flew in the same bomber group as the Memphis Bell (91st Bomber Group).  On the 5th of September, 1944 his Bomber Group was flying over France when the plane he was flying was shot down by 5 M-109s, his tail was shot off and he had to bail.  He jumped from the tail of the plane and tried to deploy his parachute but nothing happened.  He then opened his parachute and was able to remove the pilotchute and throw it as hard as he could.  His shoot opened just in time for him to watch his plane spiral to earth while on fire.  He landed in Metz, France which was, at that time, German occupied.  Mr. Kelley’s mother immigrated from France so he was able to speak French fluently, and he  was able to hook up with the French underground within 15 minutes of hitting the ground.  He then made it to Paris, where he “celebrated” before turning himself in.  What a great story, what a great man.  Dad said the entire trip was worth it just to meet Mr. Kelley.

Original Poem penned by Katherine Lee Bates in 1895.  This poem is just as true now as then…

America. A Poem for July 4.

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought

By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife,

When once or twice, for man’s avail,

Men lavished precious life!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain,

The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

Till nobler men keep once again

Thy whiter jubilee!

As I rode through Northern California today I was reminded of the words to America the Beautiful…”America, America God shed His Grace on Thee…”  In the last 5 Days I have traveled through 7 states and over 2500 miles, felt the scorching heat of the desert, saw the largest tree and the tallest tree on earth, and felt the cool ocean mist –  I stand in awe when I consider the majesty of God’s creation.

Today, Dad and I traveled from Merced, California to Eureka, California; the temperature ranged from 101 degrees to 60 degrees.  We rode a section of Hwy 101 called the Redwood Highway, a 100 mile section of curving highway lined with Redwood trees.  It was an AWSOME motorcycle ride!

While the Redwood trees are not as large as the Giant Sequoias, they are taller, and no less impressive.  Northern California is beautiful!

Tomorrow we will take a 35 mile ride called the Avenue of Giants, I’ve been looking forward to this ride for a long time.

After riding the Avenue of Giants, we will head east and stay in Reno, NV tomorrow night.

I ‘ll have more pics of the Redwood trees to post tomorrow.

What a blessed people we are, not only do we have freedom but we have a wonderful place to live it out!

We started out in Bakersfield at the famous Zingo’s Cafe…what an amazing breakfast – huge helpings with a healthy dose of hospitality.

Then we headed north to the Sequoia National Forrest, about a 3 hour ride, the temperature went from 104 degrees at the base of the Sierra mountains to 72 degrees in the groves of the Sequoias…amazing,

The Sequoia seeds are tiny, about the size of your pinky’s finger nail, this jar contains approximately 91,000 seeds.  One tiny seed grows to be a giant – intelligent design at work?  I’d say at its’ best!

Next, we hiked in to see the largest tree on earth – we were both struck with awe!

We had planned to end our day at Fresno, but couldn’t find a hotel.  We drove from hotel to hotel (4 total) in 102 degree weather looking for a room, all rooms were sold out for the Fresno State v Nebraska game…we should have known.  So, we had to travel  north to Merced, Cali to find a room.  We are all settled in and Dad is falling asleep as I type this blog.

Tomorrow, on to the Redwood trees (Redwood trees are the tallest and Sequoias are the largest) north of San Francisco.

Keep the comments coming…Dad and I enjoy keeping in touch.

Yesterday was a day of extremes.  We started the day out a 48 degrees and rode the Mohave at 108 degrees.  These pictures were taken when we stopped to take off all our cold weather gear, we had no idea what we were in for.  We did make it all the way to Bakersfield, CA – tiered, hot and grumpy!  I-40 was very smooth and fast.

Dad and I  have ridden over 1500 miles in last two days and I’ve ridden over 2000 in the last 3 days.  The bikes are amazing – smooth, fast and comfortable…problem free so far.  Highlight of the day?…Dad smoked a corvette on I-40.  He amazes me, at 72 he still has the heart and enthusiasm of an 18 year old.  ;0)

Today we head to the Sequoia National Forrest to see the largest trees on earth…about a 2 hour ride from Bakersfield.

Thanks for all the prayers, keep the comments coming.  Dad and I enjoy reading your comments at the end of each day.

We headed out at 5:15am (central time) and made it to Gallup New Mexico at 5:20 pm (eastern standard time).  Roughly 13 hours of travel time, probably around 12 hours ride time…we made really good time.  The day started out with sprinkles, overcast till noon and partly cloudy when we arrived at Gallup.  Overall it was a pleasant day to ride. We dodged a fairly large thunderstorm in eastern New Mexico.  When we stopped to take off our rain gear I snapped a shot of monolithic mesa (see above).  Bikes ran great, these old bodies are holding up well…not bad for 12hours in the saddle.

Were settled in at Holiday Inn…Dad’s already asleep – just realized I forgot my earplugs!

We will leave in the morning and do our best to make it to Bakersfield CA…roughly a 11 hour ride.

Well…its begun, I rode the first 456 miles from Whiteville, TN to Sand Springs, OK.  I left around 4am and watched the sun rise in my rearview mirror as I drove west – it was beautiful.  The temp.  was around 76 degrees when I left and around 90 degrees when I arrived at Mom and Dad’s place.  I hit a small rain shower while driving through Tulsa, but over all it was a very pleasant ride.  Dad and I prepped the bikes this afternoon, we plan on leaving around 5am in the morning.  We are hoping to put in about 12hrs of ride time tomorrow, most of it headed west on I-40 – weather looks great 60s – 70s all the way to New Mexico.