I really haven't done a "big" bike trip in a couple of years.  The last one was in 2010 when I did Route 66.  Last year our "summer" was a grand total of 18 days here in the Pacific Northwest, and so I only had one overnight trip in July, and did a small trip in Florida last fall.  I've been itching for a nice long ride for over a year.As we speak the bike is on a truck heading to the Gulf Coast of Texas.   It cost me a little over $400 to ship her, which is slightly more than my air fare.   I'll pick it up in Houston next Monday the 14th, and then head towards Galveston (where I may pretend to be Glenn Campbell and stand on the beach and sing...and then again maybe not).   I'll turn East and head into Louisiana, and then North to Mississippi, back across and through Arkansas and Oklahoma.  In Oklahoma City I'll check the weather and figure out which way to head back towards the Northwest.   If the weather looks good through the mountains, I may head up and across Nebraska and Wyoming into Utah and home that way.  If not, I'll stay South and come home through Arizona and California.   All in all I should be back home by the first of June.

A friend asked me the other day if I'd had my route all mapped out.  I just laughed and said, "nope -- I just fly by the seat of my pants -- I know a general direction and I go".   Like they say, young bikers pick a destination and go, old bikers pick a direction and go.   That's the best part.   I should be back in the first week of June.   And yes, I'll be writing and posting on here and on Facebook.

And speaking of adventures, Diego, my little guy who lives next door and I got to go for a short ride on a friend's motorcycle the other day.  I don't know who was more excited, me or him.   I've been wanting to do this since they moved in five years ago.  Unfortunately, the occasion that caused this to finally happen was they are moving to San Diego this weekend.   We had to wait until his Dad and grandparents left, but his Mom and Diego were excited and put on his bike helmet and he climbed up on back of a friends bike that's stored in my garage as it has two seats (my other two bikes have solo seats and the main one is in TX now).  He was warned to keep his feet on the pegs and to always hold on.   He cant reach all the way around my ample belly, but he did good and hung on as we roared out of the driveway. 

We went around the neighborhood and down to the beach, he waved at his friends and we all had a great time.   Mom was supposed to take pics as we left, but took a video instead, so I don't have anything to post.  However, this is the first photo of him when he was three playing biker with me in the driveway -- you can see why i wanted to take him for a ride.   Well we did, and I'll miss him and his family.Now back to finishing up the endless list of chores and work projects I need to do before hitting the road next week.