DAYS 73 - 76 THE TRIP HOME

When I got to the airport Friday afternoon I had my bags wrapped.  I had been told by a local that it really keeps the workers from getting into your luggage and stealing stuff.  For $12.50 per bag I figured it was cheap insurance - it worked.

I forgot to mention that I found a stick of salami I had forgot about during final packing; I decided to leave it behind.

The 10 hour flight to D.C. was cramped since I was in the "packed like a sardine" area but on the next flight I was moved to the very front of the economy area so I had lots of leg room on the 6 hour flight to San Francisco.

What we didn't find out until Monday morning was that the bikes flew to Houston but were put on a truck to San Fran.  Fortunately they showed up at 1:00 PM and we were able to get them cleared thru customs without them even inspecting them - we should have loaded them with Cuban Cigars - Ha.  We got to Joes' place around 6:00 PM.  What was funny was that even though we were driving in rush hour traffic it didn't seem that way after the crazy drivers we had encountered along the way.

I left Joes' Tuesday morning in 45 degree temps, turned up my electric jacket liner and headed for Las Vegas.  I finally got home at 5:00 PM after a nice ride on good roads shared with sane drivers. 

This is a picture of the GPS when the bike was sitting in my garage.  12,892.5 miles with 288 hours and 55 minutes of riding time.

Was it worth 2 and 1/2 months of my life?  Absolutely.  Would I do it again?  I doubt it - there are too many other places in the world I haven't seen.  I saw some beautiful country, sad living conditions, different ways of life, used up at least a few of my 9 lives, rode higher than some planes can fly, met some really nice people and showed a number of people along the way that 2 guys aged 67 & 73 can still enjoy life.

I have to say that I am really glad that Joe wanted to do this trip for a 3rd time because it would have been much harder without his knowledge from his first two trips. Thanks Joe!

I take no credit for the following quote but I do believe it is a fitting way to end this segment of my blog - Thanks for riding along with me.

The purpose of life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave with a well-preserved body, but rather to Slide in Sideways, completely used up, yelling and screaming, what a ride!