Finish Line!

We had a short ride today and put the tool bag to use about a mile from the house. Tom needed to tighten the shifter. We made it to the house to find this awesome finish line sign made by my super creative neighbor & friend Denette. Denette & Jack even surprised us with yummy groceries for dinner & breakfast. So nice not to have to shop today! We were welcomed home by our friend & neighbor Susan also; who was the most awesome mail gatherer & stacker!Bonnie stopped to say Hi,too. We love our neighbors! Our trip was an amazing 2 months and 3 days. Tomkatrides breakdown Gas,food & lodging: $$$$ New helmet,boots & biker clothing:$$$ Speeding tickets & bail bonds: 0$ Entrance Fees to National Parks: 0$ Visits with family & friends, new friends we made, 1,600 plus blog views, traveling back and forth over 3 time zones, and other TOMKAT adventures :PRICELESS

Almost Home!

We rode 439 miles today. Half of which was in the rain. It was light and stayed cool so it was not bad with our rain gear on.It cleared up when we went over the Mobile,Alabama Bay. It was great seeing the Gulf shore. We beeped the horn when we crossed over into Florida at the Pensacola Welcome Center. It is home to the Navy Blue Angels. It was cool to see this at the welcome center.We went over the Escambia Bay and we saw the USS Alabama Battleship and more Gulf views. We are enjoying our last "vacation" night in Quincy,Florida. It will be a few hour ride to finish up our 10,000 mile bike trip!

Somewhere East turns out to be Clinton,Mississippi

After a really nice visit with my sister Carol & brother in law Joey.We then had a great ride from Melissa,Texas to Clinton,Mississippi. We rode thru Louisiana over the Mississippi River. There were miles of cotton Fields ready to be harvested.At the Louisiana Welcome center a women yelled to me when I was getting on the bike, "you go mama & ride that hog!" In Talulah,LA a young male cashier asked when we stopped for gas "Are you riding on that bike?" I said "you betcha!" He. Said "wow that's great!" I told him I was going out yelling & screaming & my husband is not ready to hand me my shawl. There was then a chorus behind me "you go girl! yeah! " That was a fun stop.I guess Louisiana loves old lady biker chicks! Lol! We rode 425mi. Today. We have a long day tomorrow to get to the Florida border. We will then finish our journey on Tuesday!In place of taking a photo, I thought this would be a good time for this!

Melissa,Texas: Great visit with Carol & Joey

After leaving Amarillo,Texas we headed to Melissa,Texas to spend a couple of days with my "big" sister Carol and brother in law Joey. We had a fabulous couple of days catching up. We were given some great tours of their areas. We checked out the historic area of McKinney,with a very cute old downtown area. We were treated to a yummy dinner at Square Burger. There is building going on everywhere since the area is growing rapidly. We also toured Croation Village which is an affluent Section built out of Stone and has an amazing tower. We went to a Container Store which I was happy to learn I could order online! After touring several shopping areas we were treated again to an amazing meal at Bonefish Grille.Carol & Joey surprised me with an early birthday celebration. We had lots of fun catching up & being sister's!It will be hard to leave in the morning but we are anxious to get home after our long journey. This was the best respite after so many hundreds of miles. We look forward to their visit to Florida. Next stop....somewhere East!

Santa Fe,NM to Amarillo, Texas

Yesterday we enjoyed Canyon Rd. In Santa Fe. It was so interesting and inspiring, the galleries were all so unique.We then headed up into the mountains to Taos.We explored for a few hours,took pictures & had a wonderful New Mexican cuisine lunch.We loved seeing all the pueblo style buildings and red peppers outside drying. We even stopped for a photo op along side the Rio Grande River. We have to say we have been pretty lucky with weather so far.Our trip to Amarillo was cool, then warm & breezy. We continued to see smaller mountain ranges and many large ranches. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch and had to spray paint "TomKat" on one of the cars! Fun! After walking a few hundred yards back in 90+ degrees we made a great decision to have a Dairy Queen Blizzard supper! We continue to head south & East. Tomorrow we will stop for some "big sister"& brother in-law time :-)

Wild Ride to Santa Fe

We rode out of Colorado thru Mesa Verde & San Juan Mountains. Stopping in Durango , where we shipped the rest of our camping supplies and enjoyed the historic downtown. We then rode thru several different Indian Reservations. When we got to Aztec,NM we hit rain & wind for a bit then just gusty winds! Needed to hold onto the face shield so I didn't go airborne! We were able to enjoy the Sandia mountains as we approached Albuquerque,NM and onto Santa Fe.It was also surprisingly cold which we did not expect.Our sweatshirts & rain gear kept us toasty. We were pretty worn out by the time we reached Santa Fe. We were able to rest a bit, then met up with an old friend from CT, Jeanne Webb,who now lives in the area. Had a wonderful dinner and visit near the plaza. We will explore this area & Taos tomorrow.

Moab,Utah to Cortez,Colorado

Yesterday we slept in then mailed some of our camping stuff. We then ate a great breakfast at. "Eklactacal" It was as far out as the name! After fueling ourselves, we headed over to the Arches National Park. We rode to most vista points, a few we needed to walk to. We even had fun trying to take a selfie even though the sun was too brightAfter having enough we headed to Cortez. Compared to our recent rides this one was short. We needed our sweatshirts it was so cool. We enjoyed riding thru all the farms and getting to our last campground of this trip. We enjoyed this cabin, it even had a TV. We were in early enough to enjoy a deer & her babies. I was able to get picks with camera, Tom was not able to zoom in enough on the iPad so he took pics of me taking pics. Off to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bryce Canyon & Scenic Byway

It was slow leaving the KOA this morning, since the temps were in the 40's! We took the time to do laundry and relax.We rode out to Route 12 scenic byway.We stopped first at Red Rock Dixie National Forest.We then hit all the views at Bryce Canyon. Tom & I both agreed this scenic road was probably the most scenic one we traveled thus far.There was one area where there were cliffs on both sides of the road at about 9,000 ft.I believe I yelled out a "Holy Shit". So many small National Parks on this road, some I had never heard of. Capitol Reef National Park, I had never heard of and it had some of the most amazing rock formations. It was a very long trip on the bike, but we were never bored with the scenery constantly changing.We made a pit stop at this cool store built into the side of the mountain. Arrived in Moab late,but had a nice air conditioned cabin waiting for us...ahhhh!

Zion National Park & Panguich, Utah

Saturday:We headed out from our campground And hoped to package and Mail home about 30 lbs. of camping stuff...but we then realized it was Saturday! No big deal, it will get sent out Monday. We have upgraded to cabins or hotels the rest of the trip. Mostly because I have turned into a Princess!lol!. Seriously, we are doing longer runs and the heat is now a factor. We are enjoying a KOA Cabin in Panguich, Utah now. Very clean with a big queen & bunks. Swing out front. We are now in mountain time again. We had a long run today, we experienced so many fabulous Views all along our Planned route. The first area we stopped and explored was the Desert View Watchtower. The views of Indian Art inside, architecture and Canyon views outside made this a very beautiful stop in the Canyon. It was a beautiful sunny cool morning that we enjoyed until we reached the Navajo Reservation. The temps then climbed to the 90'sThere were many ladies displaying their art & jewelry. I was able to make a great connection with a Navajo Business owner. Look forward to working with her. Some of the Navajo Art is amazing and inspiring. The sand art and horse hair pottery Are a few of my favorites. I like a lot of their findings. We rode over Lake Powell Dam and along side the Lake up the mountain to Zion going thru Glen Canyon and Mount Carmel Scenic Byway. The views were just amazing.

Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon

Temperatures cooled down after we went past the Hoover Dam and scenery Became much greener. We stopped at a place where this guy makes art out of large rusty metal pieces. r6jeD3wOR_A/VfT1ZZf6Z9I/AAAAAAAAE8Y/ny1zTIlgBEE/s1600/15%2B-%2B1" imageanchor="1" >The Grand Canyon was amazing.The color palette and river ribbon thru the canyon is so different at every view point. We stopped at several view points on & off the different tour buses. You need to take the buses now to several areas since they do not let you bring your vehicle in most areas. WiFi not so much. Pictures later. Head to Zion tomorrow.

Hot,Hot,Hot & Vegas Baby!

Yesterday was a long hot ride south. The thermometer reach over 100 degrees. This area is in such a drought, I feel bad for the farmers. We passed thousands of acres & miles of pistachio,cashew & almond nuts, plus apricots, peaches & avocados. Prior to getting to Lake Isabella we went through the Sequoia National Forest. There were many twists and turns going thru the mountain range. The Kern River that is well known for it's white river rafting is barely a flowing river with no rain. Tom enjoyed the cool pool at the campsite and a nice sunset. I liked the spider net they had for the kids. We really enjoyed our air conditioned cabin and met a couple in the cabin next to us also on bikes, that spend half the year in St. Augustine! Our ride this morning took us thru more of the Sequoia National Park areas where we saw many Joshua trees, which were pretty cool. The next leg took us thru the Mojave Desert and the temps topped out at an awesome 108 degrees. We drank a lot of water and slathered on tons of sunscreen. I sort of felt like bacon at times. Tom said more than once "What a shithole!" There were so many little areas abandoned & defaced along the way.The most impressive scenery was the desert itself. We arrived in Las Vegas dusty, hot & tired. But we showered & enjoyed our night with a nice dinner and some successful slots. Vegas Baby! Early night for this damsel.....more desert tomorrow as we make our way to Grand Canyon and another time change!