Day 22 – 6/12 – On the road at 7 AM for the long ride to the house, 599 miles from Raton, NM to Glen Rose, our longest ride in one day ever. Temperatures at the start were in the low 60ies but decreased steadily as we headed east with a strong cold wind from the south. At one point as we past over some high plains the temperature got down into the forties and the clouds almost touched the ground, awesome. As we got into Texas the sky's cleared and the temps gradually went up into the 90ies. Hot, hot, hot, we probably drank a gallon of Gatorade each! Dalhart, Amarillo, Childress, Wichita Falls, Jacksboro flew by and each town was a little bit hotter. We got to the house about 8:30PM, fourteen hours – we're ready for a Saddle Sore 1000 (See IronButt.com).
Twentytwo days without rain or any problems with the bikes, we really were blessed. The Honda GL 1800 Goldwing is a great machine. My bike shows 4752 mile for our trip while Carol's is showing 4604, 148 miles difference, not sure why that is. I do know that my speedometer indicates about 8% higher speed then what is shown on the GPS. I believe the GPS to be accurate and that's what I used to judge my speed.
It was fun practicing being retired, I think I like it! May take it up full time soon. We saw some great natural wonders, shared our experience with some great friends and family and I had the best riding companion any one could ask for, it definitely was a great adventure. We are starting to plan our next adventure, maybe to the east coast, can hardly wait!

PS – What 22 days on the road will do - The first night at home I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, while there I thought to myself, “ Look at that, they have the same bath mat here as we do at home”.... maybe 22 days IS too long.

Steve failed to mention the wind as we left Raton, it was so strong that my cigarette case just flew right out of my bag and he had to stop and take his glasses off because they were trying to leave his face.
When we got to Texas, I had to start wondering why we live here, it was sooooo hot!! I did have a great time and now I am beginning to think that I really could do an Iron Butt. We'll see. It is good to be back home – except for the cooking, and laundry and all that domestic stuff that I'll have to start doing again, UGH! Carol