The Cajuns down in Louisiana said they were hosting a Swamp Ride --- Oh that sounds like fun! Put in our vacation requests and impatiently wait for October 20th to rolll around! -- neither of us have had a vacation and we were long over due for an Adventure.
Loaded up the valks and headed out -- Wednesday morning. But of course --- it had to rain! We live in Arizona and seldom get any -- but sure enough let Kendall and I plan to go somewhere and sure enough --- RAIN!
Didn't get much --- just some sprinkles leaving town -- didn't last but about 20 miles or so. Took our favorite route up through Superior into Globe - across Salt River Canyon into Show Low.
From there we headed north up to Holbrook where we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Romo's. Great little mexican restaurant we took the Cajuns to back when they came through with us.
Then we headed east on I-40 over to New Mexico -- but of course we ran into RAIN! Missing a MAJOR hail storm outside of Gallup before we got into Grants --- riding through the remnants was enough for us!
Shuffled on down to Albuquerque and up I-25 to Las Vegas, NM --- rode in the rain off and on all day -- was really lucky and managed to just miss the majority of it. Found a nice room for the night and settled in. Super booming thunderstorm rolled through overnight leaving everything soaked the next morning!
Nonetheless we saddled up and headed north - clouds so low you could almost reach up and touch them! Continued to rain on us -- stopped at a little place in Springer NM - one of those unique spots where they tell you to "pump your gas then pay" --- Whoa -- that doesn't happen much!
We headed east to cut across over into Oklahoma. Seemed no matter which way we went -- the storm followed or we followed it --- no matter day 2 and we're still riding in the rain!
Didn't deter us much -- we have our rain gear -- and kept right on sliding down the highway! We crossed over into Kansas in a little place called Elkhart. You guessed it --- still raining!
Kendall had a plan --- he wanted to make a couple stops along the way.
First stop sounded like home --- but certainly didn't look like home!
--- all I can say ---- is no one but Kendall would have his own grave yard! LOL
Had an awesome ride when it wasn't raining ---- had a beautiful sunset just as we left "Kendall"
Stayed the night in Dodge City, KS --- didn't get to hang around and see much --- we have an agenda!
Got up and out this morning --- only to find we didn't have to worry about riding in the rain -- because the clouds were so low we were riding IN the clouds! Everything was moist and the sky was sitting on the ground --- haven't seen fog like that in a long time!
Once we got out of Dodge City headed east on US50 the fog cleared up and it was a very nice ride!
Found a nice little rest stop along the way
Stopped in Hutchinson for a bite to eat --- which turned out to be a bad idea --- just outside of Hutchinson we got caught up in the worse storm yet --- down pour -- raining so hard couldn't hardly see the highway and for the first time my gloves and face mask got soaked not to mention my feet!
Stopped for gas in Emporia and then on over to Olathe were we had the honor of enjoying Willow and Motomama's company for dinner
They had two of their beautiful grand babies with them.
They introduced us to Oklahoma Joe's BBQ --- good dinner and great company! (Thanks again Carl & Lori --- it was a pleasure to see you both & meet the babies)
That brings us to our current spot --- Bethany Missouri. We're just outside of Iowa and will see RJ first thing tomorrow. He called me a bit ago on our way up and said looks good for his release from the hospital. Not sure if we'll catch up to him there or at his house --- but I'll be sure and update everyone after we get to see him.
All total we've got about 1500 miles in 3 days. Not bad for a couple desert rats riding around in the rain!
