BREAK!

(day 35-day 50)

1 week into my break. It's nice to be home & relax. My fingers are so tight, the muscles really from holding the throttle of the bike for the past 34 days. I have to spend every day stretching them so I can bend my fingers again. Lots of pain. I even got a therapy ball to help get those muscles moving.

I also spent 6 days being sick. head-aches, body-aches, chills, fevers, cold sweats. I even lost about 10 pounds. I guess this trip finally caught up with me and my immune system was down. On a bright note, at least I was not out on the road and feeling ill like this. That would have really sucked. So thank god my body timed this one perfect.

I finally got to clean the bike. What a great feeling to be able to see your reflection in the chrome again. She's now being serviced at the local honda dealer here in Albuquerque. 12k service, new front tire, fork seals, all fluids, air filter. I spent a good $1,000 in maintanence in the past month and a half. 9,563 miles is A LOT of miles in that time. And this was all well needed maintanence for the bike. I must say she runs and looks like new again. I even ordered the 2 parts that had fallen off during my travels. So she's back to being A-OK again.

I've also re-routed some of my trip. Combining leg 2 and 3. It seems Mexico is out since there is still a lot of talk of it being unsafe for American tourists. So I'm going to leave Albuquerque and head SouthEast to Roswell, which I hear is all desert but the inner X-file in me has to go there. Then I'll ride East to Texas where I'll get to go behind the scenes at the Forth Worth Zoo. THAT'S very exciting! From there instead of heading South to Mexico like I originally planned, I will trek up North to Oklahoma City, and hop on old famous and scenic route 66. That goes right to California To LA I believe, right to the Pacific Coast, where I will be able to pick up my "leg 3" of my North American journey. It also allows me to stop back into Albuquerque and spend time with Ashley for the weekend, then jump back on the road to continue my trip come Monday morning again.

This leg of my trip is a good 9,000 miles as well and I expect to put on the same wear & tear again.

I also picked up Neil Pearts book called "ghost rider" so far this is an AMAZING read. He's the drummer for the rock band rush for those of you who didnt know. in short, he lost his daughter in a car crash, and then his wife to cancer, all in about a year. Struck with grief he then told his band he had to "take a break and wasnt sure if he was ever coming back" He jumped on his BMW motorbike and road around the world. Hitting most of the places I went to. Its an amazing and heart-felt read.

So...it's friday night here in Albuquerque, and tonight I think is a chill night at home with Ashley and then Her and I are going on a 2 day motorbike trip up to Taos (also in NM) for the weekend. Should be a great trip, where we'll get to go though Santa Fe, see a ghost town, the Rio Grande Gorge, among a few other cool places along the way. We'll even pass through Madrid, which was where they shot that movie "wild hogs" The best part will just be having her on the back of the bike with me which is how I wish my whole giant trip was going.

in the immortal words of Christopher McCandles. His last words:

"Happiness only real when shared"