Where did the last month go? I got home from my wandering and played hooky from this journal. I’ve had some time to think about the trip and to plan for the next one. In the interim I updated the look-and-feel of this website and asked you, the readers to participate in a survey about this blog. Many thanks to everyone who participated. The results can be viewed by clicking on the Survey Results” menu. One of the questions dealt with subscriptions. Many people didn’t know they could subscribe and wanted to. Please take a moment to enter your name and email address in the boxes to the right. You’ll receive a confirmation email. Please click on the link in the email to confirm your subscription.

The ride home from Panama City was one of the easiest I’ve had. We took back roads south of Tallahassee and missed all the traffic. Usually it rains on me somewhere along US-19 in Florida, but this time it did not. We stopped for lunch at the 19/98 Grill and Country Store in Fanning Springs. Jr and I weren’t in a big hurry, so we took time to enjoy the meal and the collection of John Wayne memorabilia. I clipped this picture from their website. I seem to neglect taking pictures on the last day of a trip. I must be in in horse-headed-for-the-barn state of mind.

When I got home I snapped a picture of the bike’s odometer to capture the total trip mileage – 5362 miles. I really enjoyed the experience. My mind is most at ease when I’m riding. “At ease” doesn’t mean “zoned out.” I naturally stay as alert as possible to traffic conditions, but there is plenty of time to let my mind wander from subject to subject. I come up with lots of good ideas when I travel (and forget about half of them by the time I get home.)

Coming Up Next

As the title suggests, I’m between travel journeys. This weekend Beth and I and a friend were supposed to go to Robbinsville, NC to ride the twisty roads up there, but the weather forecast was for 90% chance of thunderstorms on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We decided it wouldn’t be much fun to ride those roads in the rain. As I write this it looks as if the rain isn’t so bad as predicted.

The next adventure coming up is a big one. At the end of June Beth and I are going to head to Santa Fe and the Motor maids annual convention. We’ll tour some before the meeting. We’ll explore a bit of Route 66, Monument Valley, Petrified Forest, and Meteor Crater. We plan to stand on the corner in Winslow, AZ and ride the Devil’s Highway.

After the convention I have about 28 days to go exploring before Shark Week VI in Canmore, AB, in the Canadian Rockies. My plan is to use the time to ride to Alaska. It will be a different kind of adventure for me as I plan to camp along the way and not pre-arrange the overnight stops. You won’t want to miss my account of our travels, so please subscribe. The subscription service will send you an email each time I publish an entry here.