First off, thanks to many friends for many favors...  Dean & Jennifer, Larry & Tina, Franco (Radar), Cory, Tom & Terry for letting me spend time in your homes and for making me feel so welcome.  Same to family; Brian & Kate (as well as Bailey, and Livie - and don't forget Charlie).

Thank you also to Bob and Kathy for sharing the Blues, Tupelo Honey for sharing warmth and wisdom, Galen for sharing a trailer and some Elk Chili, Billy for sharing Marriott rewards points and giving me a night of luxury on the road, and Colleen for helping out a friend.

I'm retracing the steps of my trip to try not to forget anyone, but I am 100% certain that I have...  It is impossible to thank everyone enough for their support... 

But mostly, thank you to those of you who keep coming to these pages and especially those that reach out to share, opine, cajole, remind, challenge, or even agree...  I'd love to give each of you a big hug.

The 'Mountain Swing' of the road trip has been filled with amazing vistas, lonely back roads, chilly days and COLD nights, but mostly, it has been filled with an array of nature's beauty...  I sat here for a full two minutes trying to figure out how to end that sentence...  The sights of New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah have just been too magnificent, too indescribable, too unfathomably incredible for me to even attempt to put into words...  Yet, if I don't try, what will I write about tonight?

For the first time since I started this little venture, I don't have a clue what insights I want to share with you.  I'll start by sharing a few stories from the road, and perhaps those memories will help me to conjure up some profound observations or discoveries...

First of all, my poor bike (AKA My Faithful Companion or My Trusty Steed)...  I have abused the ever-loving crap out of her and she just keeps on going.  She has not let me down once on this trip.  (I only wish that I could say the same...)  Uh oh, you ask - what's happened now?  Well, think back to many weeks ago when I was traveling across the Florida panhandle...  Remember how I got my poor bike stuck in the sand and I had to work like a dog to dig her out?  You do?  Okay, now let's all focus our attention on this Tuesday afternoon just south of Hite, Utah. I'll wait while you Google Earth and get your bearings...   [Okay, I am certifiably crazy... I've been humming the theme from Jeopardy! - which, by the way I crushed last night in my motel room!!!!  I promise I only missed about 6 questions the whole night!!!!]

Okay, you may have located Hite by now...  I wondered if it was named after the author and sexologist Shere Hite, but I don't believe it was...

Okay, about 2 miles south of Hite, I crossed over Lake Powell while driving on US 95, Utah Scenic Byway...  I really wanted to go down to the water's edge and see the lake, so when I saw a sign that said "Lake Powell Boat Access" three miles thataway I couldn't resist.  Down the dirt road I went.  Yes, you know I love to ride down dirt roads.  Perhaps we can thank my brother, Danny, for that.  As I was nearing the water, another rider on an Enduro bike was about 100 yards ahead of me...  He went around a large mound to the left, and I chose the road less traveled by, and... promptly buried my poor steed in the sand about 200 yards down the trail....  HEAVY SIGH...   Well, being the independent and enterprising young man that I am, I immediately began to dig, and proceeded to move forward some 5 feet.  After another repetition of this foolishness, I walked over a ridge to a small trailer inhabited by my new friend, Denise, from Hilton, NY.  I will save you the Google Earth search, Hilton is West-Northwest of Rochester, NY, my home for 11 years while I toiled at the big yellow box (Kodak).  Denise loaned me a shovel and some wood, and after two failed attempts to extricate the beast with a tow strap, it was back to digging...  Just as I was rocking back and forth attempting to dislodge the 800 pound behemoth, I felt a hand on my shoulder.  Galen said, "You've almost got it, rock it some more and I'll give you a push."  Once was all it took.  I climbed out of the deep sand and ricocheted the bike from one shoulder of the trail to the other, looking for purchase on the harder sand edges...  It was Steve McQueen-esque stuff, I tell you! 

After gasping for air and drinking a water (thank you, Denise), Galen invited me back to his pad for a game of twister and a few cocktails.  Well, okay, that's not exactly true... He said, "You got anywhere special to be?"  [Sounds just like my friend, Bob, when we met in Clarksdale...]  I said, "Nope" or words to that effect.  Well, friends, I was tired and hungry and still a good hour's ride from civilization, and a free night in a trailer parked on a ledge over the Colorado River sounded like a damn fine time to me.  Of course, me, being all polite and appreciative and everything, said, "You got any food over there?  I'm starving!"  He laughed and said we'd be okay...  And we were, Galen shared three cans of Pepsi Zero with me, each laced with a couple of shots of rum, and for dinner, we ate Elk Chili that Galen had prepared.  Well, friends, we sat out by our fire  [Slight guilt trip here - Galen had gathered up the wood from under my motorcycle, stating - quite accurately - that if anyone else came ripping down that sand trail, the wood may unexpectedly fly up and tear up their undercarriage...  Of course, I think Denise and her husband planned to burn that wood, too..] and enjoyed an evening of stars, drinks, and Elk Chili like I've never experienced before... 

Now, Galen had one of those fancy trailers you've seen towed behind pickup trucks.  The rear of the unit is open, with a drop deck to roll up your vehicles... Galen had the Kawasaki enduro motorcycle previously featured in this entry, as well as a sweet little ATV which he used to tear around the countryside when he wasn't riding his Kawasaki...  The front of the trailer contained a bed, a shower, a terlit (that's hillybilly talk for toilet - Galen and I exchanges some hillbilly talk that night; for instance, he kept telling me about his adventures on his motor-sickle), a fridge, a stove, and a sink.  My bed was a recliner stretched out in the back of the trailer...  Now, under other circumstances, I would have slept like a baby, however...  (you just knew there had to be a 'however' when I said 'under normal circumstances', right?)

It could have been the fact that it was durn cold, or the fact that I had drunk all that Pepsi, but I'm thinking it probably had something to do with the 45MPH wind gusts that kept buffeting the trailer like it wanted to deposit us in the dang blang Colorado River that prevented me from sleeping.  I fully expected to hear my bike being driven to the rocks by one of those insane gusts!

I left that encampment the next morning a tired and hungry boy...  Galen insisted on feeding me breakfast, but I felt he'd done enough.  Besides, the night before, as I related my day's riding to Galen, and my excitement at seeing all the beautiful sights of Utah, he chuckled, held up his fingers about an inch apart, and said, "You've seen that much of it!"  We spent at least an hour going over topo maps, tourist maps, maps of Indian territory, BLM maps, AAA maps, maps to the stars homes! (sorry, got carried away there...),   I was anxious to go see it for myself.  After a tasty breakfast at the Red Rock Cafe in Hanksville, UT, I was down the road to adventure...  Still tired, but no longer hungry.

The rest of the day was a blur of reds, yellows, oranges, browns, and earth tones of all magnitudes.  I do love riding here in Utah.  I just wish they'd have paid their heating bills... 

Today, was Bryce Canyon National Park with it's breathtaking views and hoodoos galore.  I am told, however, that Zion is even more incredible...  Tomorrow, I leave for Zion, and I hope to camp out tomorrow night at Lava Point and explore more of the park on Saturday, before I begin my final push toward Cali.  Please, if everyone could hope for a cool (not cold), calm (not windy), comfortable sleeping conditions for me tomorrow, I'd appreciate it...  When I come out of the park Saturday evening, I'll head down the road to Mesquite, Nevada (which also means putting my dang helmet back on! Grrrrr) to crash at a hotel that has rooms for $24.  I've stopped there on my way to visit my son, Kenny, when he lived in Denver.  The plan the following night is to camp in Death Valley and go from there...  We shall see...

On the psychological, emotional, spiritual front, I am tired.  The time on the road has been invigorating, insightful, inspiring, incredible, indescribable, interesting, and incomparable...  It has also been a bit of a grind.  I suppose with an unlimited budget, heated grips, perhaps a windshield, and less cold it wouldn't be so exhausting, but it is what it is...

When I return to California in just a few days, I will be a new man; a changed man.  I've been trying to figure out whether I will be a more confident man.  How can one go through the experiences I've had - alone and independent - and not be a proud man; one sure of my ability to handle whatever life throws at me?  I'll try to take it in that direction, but self-belief begins on the inside.  Not with what you have or done, but what you are.  I guess I am still trying to answer that question after all - just who am I?

Looks like I've got work left to do...

Good night and much love to all...