go on a motorcycle tour

Quite the ride! The most difficult stretches for me were the Mojave desert and Route 58 near San Luis Obispo. Both were long stretches without rest/gasoline stops.

A Caltrans man working to clear a landslide gave me his lapel pin yesterday. The Pacific at long last!

Red sandstone formations abound in Navajo country. These rocks weather well, and the fine soil blows readily in the wind. It grew extremely windy later in the day. I had to fight the South wind with a huge lean, and still got shoved over the white line once by an enormous and sudden gust.

Oak and cedar above the snow line.

The Cimarron Mountains (in the Sangre de Cristo) {in the Southern Rockies}

A state park ranger looked at the bike and said, ‘You found the perfect day to drive up the side of the volcano, and the perfect vehicle.’ I couldn’t have agreed more.

I LOOOOOVVVVEEE the prairies of Oklahoma! You can find pictures of the trip at http://360.yahoo.com/oriondown .. click on the blog.

At the oldest rest-station in Arkansas.. the Rotary Ann, so named because it was donated by the local Rotarians’ wives – the ‘Rotary Anns’.

There are beautiful mountains in Arkansas and Missouri. One area called the Mark Twain National Wilderness was so breathtakingly beautiful I can’t find words for it.

The gear has stayed on remarkably well. It’s lashed on with bungee chords and tie-downs, but I’d never expected it to be totally uninterested in coming off a few times :)