Day 6. An easy day with only 182 miles. (So far 2,296 miles total). Rode Tucumcari NM to Santa Fe Nm via Las Vegas NM. 100 miles of ranches and Mesas. Rain for the first hour then mist. The whole trip has been cool mornings and up in the mid 70s during the day. Tonight and tomorrow night I stay in Santa Fe anmazing adobe style house with a central courtyard.

 Storm clouds so I found cover in an old gas station. Still got wet.

 Two hour delay and then on my way

 Day 5. 423 miles today. 2,114 so far. 173 miles to Santa Fe tomorrow via Las Vegas NM. Pretty country. Big storm stopped me for a couple of hours. I normally start riding at 7am and get a couple of hundred miles under my belt before lunch.  Finding good food is hard. Most is trucker food is cheap and plenty of it. Tonight I'm heading to a steak place across the road. Will try and sleep in tomorrow but there is always the "call of the road". Today the speed limit was 75 and not a lot of traffic but a lot of trucks. Some road work but no delays. Also noticed there were no dead animals along the road as there is up north.

 Big Texan where the gang will spend the first night of our trip

A waiter. Food was OK but wondering singers were a little strange.

 Off to main road to Las Vegas NM

 Straight but bumpy road

 Dam in the middle of no where.

 Not a lot of water but plenty of boats stored near the dam

The wide open plains. I stopped by an Antelope but by the time I got out my phone it ran off.

Day 4. 330 miles today in mostly pouring rain. Now I have covered 1,688 miles with over just 600 to go. I'm just short of Oklahoma City.  "I can hear Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae singing now. "You're doing fine Oklahoma". No pictures today because I felt like a drowned rat. Met a Harley rider from Manhattan at a rest stop. We chatted for a while then headed off in different directions into the rain.

Day 3. 404 miles today. Staying in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thinking of visiting Bill Clinton's museum but think I will pass. Roads are pretty bad compared to Tennessee. Drivers are worse too.  Stopped at the Loretta Lynn restaurant with an "ll you can eat" breakfast that was uneatable. Well I can write that off my bucket list. Staff had great accents but that is all. The sign was bigger than the dining area. The wifi didn't work and the waitress did not care. (Loretta was famous country and western singer as in the movie - Coal miner's daughter.)

With such a large sign I expected a better restaurant.

 The restaurant was small. Mainly a gift shop.

 My son compared my Harley to an old tractor. I proved him wrong.

Every place has a big something

Day 2.   538 miles today. 952 miles so far this trip. Just short of Nashville TN. A little rain and cold to start. Took a photo of the best looking bike in the parking lot. Also almost at 40,000 miles. The speed limit here is 75 so everyone does 75 or 80. The house is in Bowling Green Kentucky. I stayed there 39 years ago with Jim and Shirley Thurmond.

Gas station in the middle of somewhere. Took twenty minutes to fill because of a faulty pump.

"nice bike" followed by applause.

Bowling Green Kentucky home of Jim & Shirley Thurmond circa 1978

Day 1. 413 miles

 From home to Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. A little bit of rain but good roads and light traffic. Tomorrow I'm targeting Bowling Green Kentucky.

Puffin Across America Continued

The (not so) Wild Hogs trip 2017

Previous motorcycle rides have included the famous ride across America, Nova Scotia & PEI, Skyline Drive Virginia and Florida. Last year I did not go on the ride and decided to make up for it this year.

This year we are heading to Albuquerque New Mexico. The rest of the group will fly out and ship their bikes out and just ride home. I have decided to ride out the 2,136 miles (3,438 kilometers) by myself and ride back with the gang. Total trip over 4,000 miles (7,000 kilometers)

I plan to go via Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and finally New Mexico. I have planned five days out by myself - riding when I want to, stopping when I need to and if it gets too hot I might try and take a rest in air conditioned comfort during the heat of the day and ride early morning and later in the day.

On the return trip there will be seven rough, tough bikers via Route 66 which was made famous by the old TV show. The stops on the return trip are:

Albuquerque, NM
Amarillo TX	286
Oklahoma City, OK	260
Springfield MO	285
St Louis, MO	215
Indianapolis, IN	242
Zanesville PA	242
Meadville, PA	204
Syracuse NY	271

Total miles return Trip 2,005 miles

The Trip out starting 3rd August

The Trip home starting 12th August

 The full Route 66 - we will start in New Mexico and swing off before Chicago