Wednesday night and we are now officially done with our adventure.

We drove along the highway behind a oversize load with a windmill part.  The most exciting thing we saw today was a track full of boxcars-and not moving...for a long time as there were weeds growing all around!  This lasted for miles and had a break whereever there was a driveway or road.

We travelled through Kansas, stopping in McPherson for lunch.  We ate at the Main Street Cafe.  It is a busy cafe and gift shop on Main Street.  I enjoyed a turkey sandwich with avacodo, spinach, and cream cheese while Kevin had a roast beef wrap.  To top it off I enjoyed a piece of homemade coconut cream pie.  The crust was light and flaky, the filling was creamy (but not enough) topped with equally creamy whipped cream (a bit too much compared to the filling amount).  Kevin had a piece of carrot cake,  as he puts it, "not the best but okay".

After lunch we went to the local antiques store, Antiques and Rare Finds.  We found a few items but a
bit too pricey for our interest today.  The gentleman who owns the place, Mark, is very passionate
about his items and loves to tell the stories associated with them.

We  ended up stopping  in Lincoln at the Aardvark Antique Mall.  I was on a hunt for a special piece to go in my kitchen.  I found a few small items but not "the" piece I wanted to.  Kevin walked out empty handed.

Having no groceries at home, we decided to eat before getting home.  We chose a local Omaha place that is new to us but very popular, Azteca.  It was delicious but filled us up more than needed!

At homework were greeted first by or precious Kit and Kat kitties. We were all so happy to reunite!  Before we ever got inside, we heard Desi and Abby saying hello!  Now here we are watching tv with cats happy on our laps!  Ah, the comfort of home!

Tonight we stopped in Garden City, Kansas for the evening.  We spent the day driving across New Mexico, hitting a bit of Texas and Oklahoma before ending up in Kansas.

We stopped in Tucumcari, New Mexico at Ken's ice cream on the historical Route 66.  We enjoyed a Reuben sandwich with curly fries topped off with a two scoop cup of ice cream.   Better to fate take you then a plan!

We saw the red bluffs of New Mexico, the wide open ranges in Texas, fields in Oklahoma, and the feed lots of Kansas.  The air was thick with the dust of harvesting.  Makes us thankful for the rich soil of home!

We did stop at a lovely antique store in Dalhart, Texas to stretch our legs.  While there was some beautiful things, there was nothing to fit us today.

One more day and our adventure is complete.

We are now on our way home!  We said good bye to Pawn Shop Paul as he gets a ride from his friend John to the airport.  Kevin and I have chosen the southern route to avoid any major California traffic. We are taking I-8 across the edge of California into Arizona.  It is both incredible and so desolate!

Mountains of rock...

Turns into sand dunes...

We have driven all day until Gallup, New Mexico.  The hotel we are staying at is so cool!  Okay, minus having to figure out how to keep the tv on!  

We stopped for lunch in Gila Bend, Arizona at Sopfia's Mexican Food.  I say it was the most authentic (but what do I know!) tex mex food yet.  I had a burrito and Kevin had gorditos.  Let's just say, we had enough that lasted us the whole day!  The ladies there were very nice.

It was a windy day driving through the desert!  I am so glad we and the riders never had to experience this, it was a sand storm out there!  I also have noticed and have the opinion that I prefer the Sonoran desert more so than the Mohave desert.  There is more vegetation in the Sonoran, which includes the cactus that you think about in a desert.  

As a post note, I want to add that the wonderful Italian resteraunt that we attended in Palm Desert was Cafe Italia.  

Greetings from I-8 in Southern California, Calexico is just south of where we are now.  We went from     mountains of rock to sea level where there are mountains of hay!  I think they have more than Kansas!

Let me catch you up.  After my last entry we ate at a lovely Italian restaurant next to our hotel.  It was a small quaint place.  The atmosphere was intimate and friendly.  The food was as wonderful as the staff!  This a place who has singing waiters!  We were surprisingly entertained with songs from Beauty and the Beast!

Before we ate, Kevin and Paul had a bit of maintain to do on the Indian but not much.  We were in good shape for the last day.

Sunday morning was a pleasant morning, about 70 degrees and sunny.  There were some bikes at the finally starting gate that haven't been running most of the race, or that even had any intention of riding further than out of the gate!  It is only a short 101 miles but any mile can take a rider and I am excited and a bit anxious as I know my Indian is so close to covering every mile!

Paul and I have a route that is about 150 miles as we are diverted to the interstate to Carlsbad, California.  It is on this ride we have seen our last "field" together.  There is a field of about 3000 windmills of small and large sizes!  We see a field of solar panels as well.  As we travelled across the states, we have seen fields of palm trees, dead tour buses, coke machines, pallets, and hay bales as well as the usual fields.

We were able to find our hotel without problem.  It is only 11:00 and too early to check in so we head to the adjoining hotel grill.  As it turns out, Paul ends our journey together on a high note.  First off he
gets to sit on a big bench seat and then has a delicious ahi tuna tostada!  I have to agree, it was pretty
delicious!  I on the other hand, had a boring Caesar salad!  By the time we got done and got our check it was time to head to the finish line.

While some of the support teams used the uber system to get a ride, Paul and I took our motovan.  We ended up finding a spot just a block away from our destination, the visitor center.  We got there about 30 minutes prior to the expected arrival.  I am so impressed with the number of people who are already there!  The first one there is the sadly wrecked one from Nebraska, there on display.

The riders slowly start coming in, a few at first then a bigger group and then staggered until they are all in!  Those who left just to turn around, started a short ways from the finish so they too could ride in with the group.  The desert took a few out today but all got swept up to be able to make the final show for the crowd.  I am proud to say my Indian successfully completed every mile!  This includes
the day when they were given an out due to rain, but nope he rode them all!

There was champagne sprayed and drank!  There was cheering and hugging as friends and family met the riders.  Some had their children and wives welcome them in from all over the country.  We got to share our kazoos with some of them.  Sometimes we had to show them how to use it.

The riders congratulated each other as they went around and introduced their loved ones to each other.  It is bittersweet as this amazing journey ends and the people we have had the pleasure to spent three weeks together, now go our separate ways back to our routine lives. 

We ended the evening with a banquet dinner to give out awards, give special recognition to some of the riders, and to announce each rider that participated in this incredible feat for the machines and their riders. 

While this was not the scenic tour I thought I would I, it was so much more!  The people I met and got to know for this short time is more priceless than I imaged.  Getting to see a glimpse of the country from side to side gives me ideas of where to spend more travel adventures, or as the Europeans say, where to go for my next holiday! 

In case you are wondering, #97 finished in 12th place!  Out of the 92 bikes that started there were less than 20 who were able to complete every mile.  The top bunch of bikes were mostly Henderson's and 

there was one Harley Davidson ( whose rider is 74 years old and has been riding this particular bike 

for 40 years!).  Kevin was the top finishing Indian!  I say this with a bit of sadness because one of the people I am glad to have met had a 4 mile deduction on the 14th day.  If he would have had the part he needed to fix on the road, he could have made all the miles as it took him only two minutes to repair. He has a beautiful blue Indian!

I missed a photo opportunity last night from the lake of the sunset!  My phone and camera were in the room as I took a walk out to the shore!

This morning was perfect as we left Lake Havasu.  I did end up running interference for a group of riders on their way  out of town.  There was a long stretch of no passing or short passing areas so I just kept a steady distance, enough to protect them from crazy drivers!  This lasted about 25 miles!  I'm sure the drivers behind me hated me, but I hope the riders appreciated it.

Paul and I ended up on route 92 through the desert for quite some time time!  If you ask us, it was a lot of nothing!  When Kevin came in he expressed how beautiful he thought it was!  Talk about perspective!

We arrived in Palm Desert about 11:00 thinking there was no way we were getting in, surprise!  We 

were checked in and looking for lunch in no time!  We found lunch at an eatery in another hotel.  It was a huge club sandwich with awesome fries (I restrained and ate only a bit more than half!).  The calamari was less than to be desired (thank goodness it ended up free!).  

There was now free time time and no errands to run!  It is Pool Time!  Not wanting to burn I made it short, only 75 minutes.  By the time I got back to the room and showered, it was time for the bikes to come in.  

Here we are in California and there is a gentleman who tells Kevin he so appreciates his blog and videos on the Indian!  And then he tells me thank you for my blog!  (Yeah!  I'm being read!). More kazoos are handed out  and I apologize to the parents! 

Tomorrow is the big finish with 101 miles to go!  Please wish my Indian well as she /he has finished every mile so far!  

We have finished day thirteen again with all the miles complete!  As of now, my Indian is in 14th place!  This has not been without some difficulties to the other riders. Turns out there was a misunderstanding that caused the first place rider to get a penalty which sent him to 21st place.  Others have had bike problems costing them miles.  Kevin keeps chugging along in second gear most of the time which leaves him a bit frustrated yet he gets the day done in time!

Yesterday we left Williams, Arizona with a beautiful clear sky!  It was a chilly start at 43 degrees but the end of the day will be in the 80's in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

As we got out on the road it was terribly windy!  Of coups we were sent on the interstate while the riders got to enjoy the historic Route 66.  I learned later by some riders talking there are still a number of the Burma Shave signs along the route.  Evidently if you have seen the movie "The Fastest 

Indian" they have a scene about them.  Well let me tell you, there was nothing like that on I 40!  

Needless to say, Paul and I had a boring ride most of the way.  I did think the was one section as we cut through the mountains that was amazing.  

As we neared Lake Havasu, Paul told me the story of the town.  It was founded in 1964, the founder bought the London Bridge in 1968 AR a public auction, and it was completed in 1971.  

Here it is, in it's new home!  And when you view it up close, every brick has a number on it to assure it is placed correctly.  

Here is a view of the lake from one of the public areas.  Palm trees on a lake!  How tropical!  

We went to the town park area where the bikes came in, what a great crowd!  Kevin had some friends form Phoenix drive up to see him!  Thank you Chuck and Tina, as well as Warren.  We were given a nice taco dinner buffet here as well.  The crowd was wonderful,  and yes a few more parents are cursing us for the kazoos!

We found out one of our fellow Nebraska riders got in an accident today.  Thankfully all is well!  The rider is a bit banged up and the bike is in rideable but we are so thankful nothing worse.  We are happy to say they plan to continue on this hard journey.  

Everyday I am proud and more so thankful of my Indian's progress.  The boys have been able to put just a few adjustments into the bike at the end of the day without long hours.  

Tonight I once again got to have a bit of my favorite time, social hour!  I was fully intending on going to the room until I stopped to talk to another team. (hard to believe!).   Very nice gentlemen, I love this time of day! 

Good evening from a very windy and chilly Williams, AZ.  Forgive me for not posting last night.  Apparently the slow internet and tired eyes were not a good match for blogging!

We left Durango on Wednesday morning in the rain and continued to go in and out of it all day.  It did hold off while we went through the Four Corners.  I was able to take some photos before the sprinkles started again.

Paul was excited about the long straight stretches of highway!  He races his NXS and figured this would be the perfect road.  We did not, however, race our motovan!  The scenery slowly changed from the high dessert mountains and cliffs to more red rock as we continued into Arizona .

This is an attempt to give you some appreciation of the drive today.

There wasn't too much to stop and see until we got closer to Page,Arizona.  I noticed a lot of cars and people transport vehicles for some antelope creek canyon.  Further down the road I saw what looked like a line of ants going down a long flight of stairs.  I didn't really give it any more thought until later.

We got to Page too early to check into the hotel.  Paul and I took this time to run our daily errands and grab some lunch.  ( Nothing worth mentioning unfortunately.). We got checked in and waited for Kevin to arrive, by this time it was a very pleasant day/evening.

Kevin and another rider, Ryan coming in together.  As the riders settled into working on their bikes, there were a number of people stopping to look, take photos, and ask questions.  We had two separate couples from Germany stop by, one from Ontario, a man from Oregon and his friend from San Francisco, and a few locals.  It was at this time the gentleman from Ontario showe me photos of Antelope Canyon. Oh my goodness!  It is spectacular!  We do not have the time to go to it now but it is definitely on my list to come back to!  I recommend you checking it out for yourselves as well.

So here is the sign for yesterday, we found it in the toilet facilities at the Four Corners.  It was an outhouse type bathroom, not a port-a-potty!

Okay, so we left Page this morning with some cloud cover but overall not too bad-except for the wind!  It has blown ALL day!  We had the chance to stop by the Grand Canyon but it turned into a rainy day on top of all the wind.  All this with a temperature of about 55 all day.  Paul and I did take some short stops at a few scenic overlooks.  One such stop was a bit uncomfortable as we had a "local tour guide" come talk to us and gave me a quick setting advisement on my camera.  As he had my camera(gasp!) I kept thinking of how to take him down if needed!  No need, all is well!

The road is full of signs about animals but we never saw any.  As we neared Flagstaff we came across the Coconino National Forest.  As a few rays of light peeked through the clouds the mountainside lit up with the fall color!  

We arrived in Williams by 10:45!  Far too early to check in.  We drove up and down the streets 

(there's only two main streets and they are each one way!) to find our hotel and check out the eating 

choices.  I am happy to say, today was a good eats day!  We went to the Historical Brewing Barrel & Bottle for lunch.  It was very tasty!  We each had one of their homemade pastrami sandwiches.  It was on rye bread, ground mustard, sauerkraut, and cheese accompanied with homemade herbed French fries. They brew their beer and make wine as well.  So, rainy day sounded like a wine tasting day!  The staff was very friendly and the atmosphere pleasing.

As I mentioned before, we had the chance to stop at the Grand Canyon, and so did the riders.  It was raining and windy and so most of them just rode through and got in early.  By the time it was time to check in, the rain had stopped, but the wind prevails! 

Kevin came in finishing all his miles again today!  He had a stop at lunch where there was a little boy and his dad.  He even let the little boy sit on the Indian!

It was somewhere during the day when there was no rain Kevin could have really used it!  He had his rain gear on which is a bit poofier than usual and nylon.  Nylon and hot exhaust do not make good together as you can see here:

Yep, it burned a hole after actually having a fire on his pants!  He said he was going down the road 30mph while hitting to get it out!  All is well, don't worry.  They guys had a couple hours of work tonight before we went for supper.  

Once again, a great food night!  We ended up at Station 66 Italian Bistro.  Wood fired pizza, homemade wood fired Mac and cheese, and grandma's lasagna- so delicious! The lasagna was the winner as we each shared bites to sample all.  

As I close this edition, the wind is still howling! Hopefully it blows it self out by the morning!