Well, I made it home this afternoon. It was a great ride and trouble free, except for that little glitch with the electronic display that I ultimately fixed. But Hey! That was just a minor inconvenience. Yes the weather was a little iffy on a number of days and the wind was definitely a factor but you know, if we waited for the weather to be perfect all the time, there wouldn’t be a lot of days to ride. On a related noted, I talked to a guy on a Harley in the Safeway parking lot last night in Gunnison, Colorado. He said he rode down to the Big Bend country in Texas in February during a bit of a warm up they had. While down there, however, a cold snap moved back into the Gunnison valley and he wasn’t able to get home for 5 weeks. Said he had lots of good riding down there though. So it could’ve been worse for me, weather wise.

It was a really great ride. Did I mention that part yet? Here’s some thoughts I came home with. Some of you may appreciate them more than others.

It was the longest ride I’ve taken by myself. 2200 miles and change. It was really nice to just cruise along at my own pace, stopping when and where I wanted. No agenda, just banging my way down to San Antonio, Texas, looking for something to paint (I explained the results of those efforts in a previous post). That’s the good part. The bad part of the whole trip was that I didn’t have anybody to share it with, not while it was happening anyway. For that I feel a little bit sad as a result. Always nice share good times with the people who mean something to you and who enjoy the same type of activity. The other thing about going by yourself is that there is only one of you to set up camp, fix a meal, tear down camp, fix another meal, move into a motel room, unpack, pack up etc. etc. Everything you do besides ride, takes longer.

Part of what made the trip so great was the nice ride that Harley is. It is the fourth one I’ve had and by far the best one. A real nice riding machine. The performance, the handling, the balance, the seat, the little creature comforts. It was great. Easy to go down the road on. I can’t leave out my leather riding pants I got last summer. They were perfect for the windy and cooler temps. I was completely comfortable in them. Speaking of overall comfort, I have fallen in love with my new 3/4 helmet with a face shield. I’ve always worn a helmet since my early days riding when I rear ended a car. I wasn’t wearing a helmet then and I sure changed my mind after that. The best feature of that helmet is the face shield. It kept the wind off of my face and the wind was blowing. I’ve been wearing a little shorty half helmet for the most part but I’m sold on this 3/4 helmet. Most often a cool to cold wind was blowing and with my complete riding suit of leather jacket, wind stopper fleece, leather riding pants, face shield helmet and gore-tex winter gloves…I was comfy, all day long. It really made a huge difference. Maybe it’s because I have been going to the gym on a daily basis, but I wasn’t as fatigued at the end of the day as I have been on many other rides. I pretty much always felt fresh especially after a bit of a break. Some of the days were pushing 500 miles and most were over 300 miles. It was a good ride and I felt good.

I want to thank you good folks for tagging along. It was a pleasure having you. When I get the videos edited I’ll let you know so you can watch the ride along the way. They say that a picture is worth a 1000 words and that’s probably the case here too.

Until the next time…