The Trip Home

Sunday morning we packed up to leave the beautiful San Diego area. Amerivespa planned a beach party but the cops busted that up before it really got started due to no permit. They moved the festivities to Vespa Motorsport of San Diego. Someone told us about the changes before we left the hotel parking lot and we loaded up the scooters and headed towards the scooter shop.

Mike came by the Vespa shop and was amazed with all the scooters. We took this picture right before we hit the road. We headed towards 29 Palms for a night of rest before riding across the desert.
Monday morning we got up earlier than normal to beat the heat through the desert and get to higher elevation and cooler weather. I was looking forward to the one lane mountain roads that were on the way to Prescott, AZ but we were stopped by a road block. The area had been on fire for several days and it was 0% contained when we arrived. This also was the part of Arizona where the 19 firemen died along with some of the town's citizens. I took these picture around the road block. The white vehicles were coroners vans removing the bodies from the scene.

After speaking with the local residents, we took a detour on the freeway to Camp Verde, AZ. It was still very hot so we stopped for lunch at this bar-b-Que restaurant. Again, shade is very dense in parts Arizona.

Twenty minutes from Camp Verde, the temperature dropped 20 degrees as elevation increased. The next part of the ride was through an area that was dark during our first trip through on the day of our iron butt. At night it was obvious to notice the swoops, climbs, and descents of the roads but during the day the view was remarkable.

We arrived in Show Low, AZ to get a hotel for the night. At that time we decided the next day to head towards Amarillo to see a friend of Kitt's. We planned to ride up to Roswell, taking the scenic route through the mountains and head towards Amarillo from there. Tuesday morning we packed up to leave Show Low, AZ but before we could make it to Socorro, NM we had to pull over due to our first rain stop. While there, other bikers stopped and left as we waited the rain out.

While waiting, we noticed barn swallows nest under the gas station cover. Very small birds made these birds nest.

Crossing Mexico again were straight roads but I did get to see those satellites dishes that's trying to contact ET.

We did not make it to Roswell and decided to ride up to Albuquerque and bunk down for the night before heading to Amarillo. The next day, Wednesday, we made it to Amarillo that afternoon and took a trip out to Palo Duro Canyons (The Grand Canyons of Texas). I've never been to the real Grand Canyons (maybe next adventure on scooter) but Palo Duro Canyons seems to be no slouch. A wonderful place to visit and camp.

The next day we got up and after breakfast Kitt and I went our separate ways back to normal life. It was sort of a sad feeling because I knew the chances of doing something like this again would be slim. It is hard to find someone to ride around in town, being that most of us scooterist can be loners, but to have a friend like Kitt that actually wanted to try an adventure like this and have the time to do it, is hard to find. I made it to Arlington Thursday evening and the reality of coming home in the same physical condition I left was nothing but a blessing. 3,400 miles in nine day, not very sore at all, and stories my friends will have to listen to for a long time to come.

The experience of Amerivespa in beautiful San Diego, the feeling of riding for days and with more days to go, the people I meet, the smiles, the waves, car horn blowers saying high, the many times I stuck out my hand with two fingers at other riders, the look of the eyes from the people in the small Arizona town that lost friends and family in a fire, all those memories are something that I can't take for granted.