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!