Author: happytrails2U blog

Sharing my journeys and observations of life. Abiding in a life-focused faith in Christ. Respecting and loving all others with compassion, knowing we are all broken in some way. Creating words into an expression of hope. Married since 1979 - in love with my…husband buddy/love. We have together, 2 daughters and 8 GRANDS.

Day 3 – A day of really GREAT Riding

 

Sunday, 5/8/2016image

 

Memaw and Papaw mastering the art of a selfie stick; day 1 and we WILL improve.

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We are in a small motel with a small cafe at a small town in Utah, after traveling in rain for the last couple hours of this day we fall short of 127 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah.

This morning we began our journey from Montrose, CO to the top of Grand Mesa an incredible ride with beautiful scenery that turned beastly on us when we peaked at the table of higher temperatures with once again snow today that had a bite to it.
Al – OUCH, what was that?
Me – it’s snow like hail. Let’s just call it snail. It’s snailing on us. (Our intercom conversation)
Next we were driving with low visibility on a slushy snow surface with big walls of snow drifts on either side of us. But yet beautiful scenery as we drove VERY carefully.

And then later another really extra beautiful red rock canyon drive, with me repeating over and over how much I loved the great curves and twist with 360 beauty all around us driving the depth of a gorgeous river cannon with sunshine and warmth. Words simply cannot express our enjoyment of this whole day as we road into Grand Junction and feasted on Wendy’s hamburgers, fries, frosty and soda.

Next we went on what I would call the opposite of the previous ride, in that we went from high on a table mountain ride and then rode low the bottom of a canyon drive, now we were headed to the near by Colorado National Monument, that my brother Curt S. suggestion. And thank you very much baby brother. WOW – what made this ride very significantly unique is that you are literally riding on the crest of this very large canyon edge through tunnels and really great curves. If I had not been acutely aware of my heavy packed luggage behind me, I would have not been able to resist the curve challenge, even with our luggage Al and I of course took to it as edgy as we knew to be safe and yet thrilled in every mile of indulgence.

Then we headed down I-70 towards Salt Lake City. I told Al it seemed to me this interstate with 80 miles per hour speed limit in actuality was like a US audubon. Very rapid moving traffic no slackers on this interstate. And yes we indulged on that too. I kept wondering if Al had sent our daughters a Gylmpse, this is the app our daughters like to use so they can see where we are. It shows us on a map of exactly where we are and ……..how fast we are going. A fast moving dot with the mileage per hour on it’s back. And yes we have received reprimands from our daughter Laurie.

And then the rains came and came and came; that slowed us down along with the fact that gas stations were no where to be found and my tank was dwindling to the point that we were now going 50 mph to preserve my fuel situation and also my intercom battery failed at the same time my fuel light started blinking and then in the rainy mist there appeared a station. All is well that ends well.

And here we stopped for the night.

Day 2 – Guymon, OK to Montrose, CO

Saturday, 5/7/2016

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Pool closed – we didn’t want to swim anyway

 

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2nd day

We left Guyman, OK. hoping to leave the flat prairie lands and constant winds behind making our way on into Colorado, but nope, we battled cross winds more than half the day. Very strong cross winds.

At one point I watched Al’s bike in front of me move several feet accross the lane at such a lean he seemed to lacked just inches of scraping pegs. And then the same gust would hit me. I hung back bracing for my turn, leaning in against the gusts just seconds behind. It seemed endless. When it’s just a couple hours, no sweat. We spent over 5 hours pushing against the prairies winds.

The semi-trucks coming from the opposite direction on this two lane repeatedly blasted my left foot off my mini boards (foot rest). Al could here me Yelp in his ear (intercom) each time so he began to warn me when a truck was coming. We will just call this the battle of the plains.

We took a well earned lunch break in a small town diner where a very friendly little ole gentleman/owner went table to table spreading great conversation and joy, he was very obviously a lover of people and life.

Not far past Pueblo the terrain began to change into canyons and mountains.

I had my playlist tunes playing volume up loudly through my stereo as we glide with curves and twist beside a rapid moving river – ‘ I finally found my hallaleluja’ , ‘good good good good good to be alive right about now’, and ‘I’m all about that base , no treble’, singing in Into my husbands inercommed ear, poor guy.

My tank was showing less than a quarter tank. Al’s tank holds a little more than mine. Ironically when we finally found a station, as we pulled up to this small generic stop in the middle of no where, we both realized we had made a stop at the same station a couple years ago on another cross country motorcycle trip to Breckinridge for some mountain riding.

Both of us layered up on that stop, as we often do with temperature changes. Preparing to climb in altitude and temperature with possibly rain.

On our way toward Gunnison while winding through the lower passes and meeting snow flurries a car coming towards us began blinking head lights to warn us, we both thought the warning was of heavy snow. But not much further there was a large group of deer on the road and on both sides. They looked at us like we were in their road. Beautiful site up so close, I laughed with pure joy. And later we also saw another large gathering of deer right beside us.

Heading toward Gunnison we road through Monarch pass with flurries of light snow and 37 degrees at the top. Not to bad, but I was ready to get back down for some warmth.

When we road into Gunnison and stopped to gas again, Al said, ‘you should go on inside and get some hot chocolate while I gas up.’ At this point it was around, 5:30pm.

We stood in side while I drank my hot chocolate with Al doing a weather watch on radar and us deciding do we stay or do we go ???? as we would be going through some tough weather with some more mountain passes getting us on down the road to Montrose our goal for the night. If we stayed it did not look any better in the morning and maybe even worse. We had originally been aiming for Grand Junction. Al ask how I felt and what I thought. And I was thinking lets get going. So we added rain gear to our layer. With under armor, jeans and rain pants and a 3 coat layer, and my throat coat added – off we went.

We made the next two passes with rain, sleet and snow coming at us and no other traffic but us traveling slowly in 37 degrees we rolled into Montrose around 8:30pm stopped at the first stop light together and Al looked over at me smiling and said, ‘I’m sorry’ and we sat there as we both just laughed. We made it.

His intercom battery had gone dead so we had been traveling through the mountain passes without communicating. I had plugged mine in and was charging it on board. We just did not consider it worth stopping for him to connect his charge.
We found some great Mexican food and then checked into the Motel 8 across the street.

Happy for a bed and warmth.

Constant wind gust beating us, rain, sleet, snow……….
We ARE both possibly hard core motorcycle adventure junkies. 🙂
Loving the journey.
And happy we share those journeys together, my buddy rider and me.

 

 

Day 1 – Here we go – Really

Friday, 5/6/2016

Yeah I am a big Fan of the animation ‘Up’. I made Al and I adventure pins years ago. So off we go mounting up and leaving ‘Happy Trails’ as we go.

We stopped in at our new local doughnut shop to begin the day and then went to see Pat W. at Circle of Life Hospice care on our way out of town through Bentonville. She was so excited and happy for us, she said, ‘you two go and leave everything behind and really enjoy your selves’. She wanted to see our bikes parked out side, so we took a picture and showed her. And we took a selfie of us all. Al prayed and we all hugged. Greg R. bless his heart, he is beside her always.

I could not resist taking a picture of her boxes of cards, our precious ‘Card Lady’ as we all know and Love her. 1000s of cards we have all received over the years, she never missed our birthday’s and anniversaries EVER.

 

Traveling the pan handle plains of Oklahoma with gust of winds most of the day got us 460 miles down the road and into Guyman, OK. for the evening. Many more miles to go.

The good news is that the scenery will soon become more beautiful as we enter into Colorado tomorrow and head towards Grand Junction area.

I am kind of gimpy and slow walking with my knee, mounting on the right side so I don’t put so much weight on my gimpy left knee. Funny though I center up my bike off the kick stand on the left and it doesn’t seem to bother it. With out our massive amount to luggage, it’s easy to pull up center, but all the added weight well… Al has to give me a shove sometimes when I park on too steep of ground. I had Dr’s orders for Physical Therapy ……and now I am thinking maybe I can just call cross country motorcycling – physical therapy and it will ALL be GOOD. 🙂

Healing in Great Progress

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Gracie, Elroy, Al and I all just chillin

This past week we have been on the recieving end of church providence. It is humbling to just say, thank you – you are so kind. More than so kind, you ARE our Christ given church family.

Al and I had our BIG plans (bucket list cross country motorcycle great adventure to the Pacific coast hwy 1 – tour ride) abruptly changed in a blink of an eye as I tumbled in a crumpled heap on the ground with what was sprained tendons and I could not get up and walk, one week ago.

So a week has passed with doctors orders of immobilization, rest, elevation and no weight on my left leg. With us confined in our home. God has proved he can and will change our well made plans and in that very process validate that his love and care is at work through his people.

Our beloved church family has been at our door everyday feeding us and administering church FAMILY love. God knew our greatest need before we left in desperation of escape was to see that assurance in action.

Al has left me alone very minimally most of the rest of the week, being a hover vigilante care giver. Today he has made a hospital visit, and a couple other meetings and a funeral this afternoon. This guy really needs a vacation ! I know the pace he keeps. Recent months have drained us both.

Today I have broken my strong bond with that dastardly walker. I have not had any lingering twinges of pain all day, just feeling a little stiff. Tomorrow morning I go to my return appointment to check my progress. And I am aggressively convincing Al that I believe we may go on our trip this week.

I am still enlisting prayers as it is with my left leg that I push my bike off its kick stand. I will continue to wear the brace and be very careful. I plan on giving it a test run tomorrow afternoon.

What is Church.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:12-17

God wraps it all up in a tidy bundle with his words there.

 

 

A long Good-bye

Well as many of you know Al and I have been detoured from our fantastic adventure bucket list trip that has been in the planning for close to a year.

I packed like a Ninja warrior on Monday and Tuesday. After going to Mercy clinic on Monday I was placed on an intense steroid pack to treat a knee that has been bothering me for a couple months.

Wednesday morning I decided to excercise and walk my field beside our house. Started down the hill on slippery grass and made a judgment call to, not. So I turned around to go back up the incline and in about my third step something snapped. I could not put weight on my weak knee at all and crawled backwards all the way back to my back door. NOT a pretty site. (Al was at the Honda dealership getting a new front tire on his bike for the trip.)

We spent the rest of the day at Mercy, x-ray, exam and immobilization instructions not to put weight on it for a week.

I Am Sad ! Al is taking Great care of me, in fact he is crowding my naturally free spirit. He tells me to stay put and then when his out of site I hop up to my speedy walker and see how fast I can make it go. It’s a cheap excuse of power and I would really like to be on my motorcycle miles down the road on our incredible journey. My most heroic moment has been while Al was out mowing – I watched a spider on the sealing long enough I could not stop myself from rolling up under it with my handy walker and equipped with the fly-swatter, balancing on my good leg, I slapped him down and then finished him off on his landing.

Thank you so much to our many caring church family and friends who have, called and texted.

For my Sister, Debbie who arrived as we got home from all day Mercy clinic visit and the search for a knee imobolizer that was unsuccessful. She brought me a walker, an ice pack, a cane and an imobolizer from a friend of hers. In addition to the crutches Al and I picked up.

Dana J. Over nite ordered us a special immobilizer from her pharmacy at a special discount. It’s like a straight jacket for my leg. Thank you Dana.

Coach, Matt E. brought me Ben and Jerry’s, Jimmy Fallon ice cream today, along with his expertise of athletic injury’s and good encouragements of speedy healing. I needed to hear his positive take.

Constructor, David R. Called and offered to build us a ramp.
Bless his heart. But because last year when he remodeled our house he built a back door that makes for great accessibility we told him that is working well for us.

Gina E. brought warm brownies which I promptly asked for Al to serve with ice cream and indulged.

I do believe that before I finish this lengthy blog, I may get the pony I have always wanted.

BJ of course got right on a meal train and she said she had an overwhelming response – millions of eager church family coming to our aid. WOW ! Tears. We ARE NOT going to starve after all. 🙂

I am an eternal optimist and am successfully convincing Al that I will be so good and I believe my knee will have a miraculous recovery within a week.

So my greatest need is prayer. And I KNOW how powerful our church family prayer warriors ARE.

PRAY !!!! Speedy recovery and that I don’t abuse my time of waiting patiently with this stupid walker and this stupid immobilizer.

And of course part of my optimism is in a belief that God’s timing is aways priority. He maybe protecting us from a bigger issue than my silly knee stuff.

NOT unpacking. Still hoping for a much needed departure.
I need a sturdy left leg to hold my 725 pound bike up.

 

 

 

Who Ya Gonna Call !

My 1st BLOG:
Is it smart to say that? No. I know it’s not. But ….. Honestly I can’t not say it.

I have been studying. Reading up. Reading blogs.

I am not a recipe geek, nor am I extravagantly green, vegan, organic or nutritionally trendy smart.

I am not politically cutting edge sharp or Bussiness sabe.

No huge agenda.

Just life and the Joys of the Journey.

I have read enough blogs to know about rants.

Don’t want to do that. Well, I might want to, but I won’t.

I might get stuck in a rant rut.

So.
My husband shows me as being – ICE 1 – as contact on his phone.
I Thought….. There is nothing endearing about that.

I said, “Why am I – ICE 1 – on your phone?
He says, “you put that there”.
I say, ” I did?” Smiling. ” why would I do such a thing”

I had absolutely no recall of this…

We were in AT&T reconciling his Android Samsung problems; actually Mr. Apple was making difficulties with his new android samsung phone – he was not receiving text messages at ALL from ALL iPhone family and friends. But that is another story. In fact that might be a RANT for another day.

He had been at their door since 3am ;
For me an early birthday iPhone 5.

Launch day – I had come along at 7am to the sight of him and all the others in their folding chairs waiting.

And now later, here we sat with technical-some-what support, getting all the bugs worked out. He was technically and physically exhausted as I held my new iPhone 5 and he his android having this conversation about me being -ICE 1 –
in front of these young ladies helping us.

He looked at me with zombie eyes, “you don’t remember”
I had no clue.

The next day he comes to me very patiently and says, “you came to me all concerned about something you had read on emergency contacts.”

How do I forget things like that? It was coming back to me now. Yes it was a huge concern. I googled ICE –

In Case of Emergency contact. And there it was. This was only a few months back; I had placed this system on his phone and mine.

Then my question is if I can’t remember this system, how would anybody in any emergency situation think to check my husbands ICE contact.

Spreading the word:

How To Set Up An ICE Contact On Your iPhone

Getting my stuff together !

I am Kim… I have memory issues and I am aging.