Sue Sue

We all took off yesterday from San Diego with a little trepidation, worrying about the traffic in LA. As it turned out, it was no worse than some of the other freeway driving we'd experienced heading into Vegas. We had one close call when a large motor home hadn't secured their load and a deck chair flew out and went straight under Adam and Jo's bike in front of us. No damage fortunately and some very quick thinking by Adam. The seven lane freeways are amazing, we could do with some of these in Auckland! Overall, people on four wheels were great and we managed to get to the drop off point in one piece. Santa Monica is lovely and its nice to be back again since our visit in May. Due to our late arrival ... read more

We had a very hard ride into San Deigo yesterday. For some reason everyone struggled, even though it was only 190 miles. We did have much longer stretches between breaks, but the interstate roads probably got us. We went through San Bernadino through to San Deigo -what an amazing view riding into the city! Absolutely gorgeous harbour. Everyone was very sore and tired when we arrived. We are staying at a vey old and famous hotel - it has a ghost as well! We are in Coronado, which appears like it might be the St Heliers of the city even though it's a few miles and a bridge away from the city itself. We find it quite weird that the day before we were in the desert, and now we are surrounded in palm trees, sand ... read more

We left Las Vegas early and rode from one end of the strip to the other, which was cool. Over the trip the sheer number of bikes in one group has always attracted attention where ever we've been, and the ride down the strip was no different. It felt a bit like we were in a parade! It was desert and more desert for this ride - 250 miles of it from Nevada through to California. The heat was unbelievable, although no humidity which was a blessing in some ways. We would have drunk 10 litres each of fluid and still felt dry at the end of the day. We needed to wet down our jackets and head gear each break just to give us about 10 mins of relief when we took off. It dried ... read more

Purchased at the Harley shop! Very macho!... read more

A great day yesterday in the Grand Canyon, after having done it last by helicopter, being on the ground gave us a new perspective. Only 205 miles covered, and stopped by some amazing little souvenir shops (yes, more t shirts for David). We stayed in a tiny place called Seligman, which was just awesome. Some of the shops are done up in such a way that it was like stepping back in time. This place is another true Route 66 community - just fabulous. We all had dinner together at a tiny cafe; there was an amazing local singer who got us all going along with one of the South Africians on the tour who turns out to be a very well known musician in his country. Needless to say it was a HUGE night and ... read more

We've been off line the last couple of days as we've been in pretty remote areas with old hotels and no wi fi. We've done so much: visited the cadillac ranch with all the cars embedded in the ground, Madrid where the movie Wild Hogs was made (another t shirt!) then stayed in Gallup at a old hotel where movie stars from the 50's stayed. We were in the Susan Hayward room. Very basic, but lovely character. Temps have varied by up to 40 degrees farenhiet, we've had three relatively comfortable days in terms heat (early to mid 30's Celsius). We then had the best day so far, from New Mexico into the Arizona desert. Amazing riding, and just amazing landscape.Then on to Monument Valley which is absolutely mind blowing. I just can't describe how insignificant ... read more

Three hundred miles travelled today. Heading out of Texas we reached the midway point of the trip (in terms of miles) and had a brunch at a restored cafe there. It was just like stepping back in time to how we imagined the traditional 60's diner s would have been. It was fantastic! another t shirt for David! As we left Texas, where the land is so vast, flat and dry and the sky seems massive, we crossed the state line into New Mexico. What a ride! The mountainous and very rugged terrain was just amazing; one of our rest breaks was in the middle of it all and so isolated. You certainly wouldn't want to break down out there that's for sure. We had a fuel stop at Las Vegas, New Mexico; nothing like the ... read more

Absolutely amazing day yesterday, Harley museum, bridges, and fantastic ride. We are in tornado valley and saw a small twister off in the distance as we rode into Amarillo. We stopped at a visitor centre and there was a tornado shelter! We're now in Texas and the temps are still high, but the humidity has dropped, so it feels a little better. A small disclaimer on my last weather report, the extra 15 was a mix up between farenhiet and celcius - the right info is that the boys reckon its early 50 degrees Celsius on the bike. We are upping our fluids again today as we are heading towards the desert. There might be some sore heads today as we are staying at the most amazing place with a very popular steak house next door. ... read more

The truck stop we stayed in last night appears to have rooms that can be rented for the hour - it was an interesting place to stay. Cops on arrival trying to deal with a homeless lady (who cast a spell on the bikes this morning because God told her to) through to domestics in the hall. David and I both didnt have a great night sleep, so things were off to an average start first thing. The morning turned out fantastic though, there was good cloud cover and the temperature was down to late 30's (at least for the morning). Our first stop was at an amazing Harley shop (another t shirt!) which was great fun. We then rode further to some caverns that Jesse James hid in which were pretty awesome. The afternoon turned ... read more