31 March….up and at’em this morning… at the Mercedes dealer in Daytona beach for a minor recall….trying to get everything thing done before I head Friday afternoon…will probably spend the first night on the road at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee…nice and quiet there…the past two months have been nice with family and friends…I do love being on the road though…freedom and quietness are two thing I like 😊
4 April…happy Easter Sunday to everyone…starting my third day on the road…it’s been an enjoyable but boring drive so far..van is running great and towing the new little trailer is a breeze…averaging around 17 mpg in the wind…not bad…my grand experiment with a coffee grinder and specialty coffee beans has come to an end…gonna go back to my regular Folgers Original ground coffee…I like the taste…you can tell I’m not a coffee expert…spent last night at a Cracker Barrel off I-65 south of Birmingham…nice and quiet…woke this morning to a bird chirping away at a bug on the windshield wiper…cute little thing…if I’d had my 22 out I’d’a blown it to hell…I was sleeping good till then…but…I had fun as I quietly turned the ignition switch on and activated the wiper…flung the bird in the air and it flew away…my excitement for the day I suppose…hope so…I like things calm when I travel.
I’m headed to my friend Rocky’s place in Meno OK…always great to see him and his family…nice down to earth folks…the kids are way above average :)…and ride their own motorcycles so there’s hope for the future of the world…it’s less then 800 miles and I have three days to get there…did I mention I LOVE traveling slow…gonna like the next 3 days.. 🙂
Being on the road gives me time to think.
Most of us, if we’re fortunate, will live about 80 years, or 700,800 hours. We spend about one third of our lives sleeping so we really only have 467,200 hours to actually do anything.
The first 6 years we’ll be awake for 35,040 hours. Those hours will be spent seeing the world around us for the first time…smelling, tasting, hearing, and feeling new things. That leaves us 432,160 hours awake.
At 6 we’ll be in school for the next 12 years (70,080 hours awake), then another 4 years in college, (23,360 hours awake). That now leaves us with 338,320 hours awake to enjoy our lives.
We get a job and for the next 45 years we work hard to earn money to buy things (retire at 67). Most of the things are not needed…they’re only for showing off. That’s 262,800 hours awake. Now we have 75,520 hours left awake to live.
For the next 13 years we spend about 14 hours a day doing things with and for other people. That’s 66,430 waking hours. That leaved us 9090 hours awake to be by ourselves, to do the things we want to do, and to just relax.
9090 hours awake is only 568 days.
So after growing up and working all our lives we have less than two years left for ourselves….
7 April…had great night at Rocky and Leannas’ casa in Meno OK…wonderful dinner and conversation after…always look forward to stopping by for a visit when I go back and forth across the country…thanks again!
Left this morning around 0730…destination was to be the Clayton Lakes State Park but I was feeling good and wanted to put a few more miles in…I finally stopped at the Sierra Grande Rest Area on Hwy 64…it’s right about halfway between Clayton MN and Trinidad CO…super place to overnight…from here it’s about 425 miles to Monticello…may stop one more time before I get there…we will see.
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They even have a horse corral for those traveling with their animals…pretty neat…never seen that at a rest area.
Still have one of my favorite things with me…
One of the reasons I stopped here was the winds had just about killed me…30 to 50 mph head and crosswinds all day…spent most of the day with the overdrive turned off in the van and using only 4th gear…the engine monitor said in that gear (2400 rpms) the engine was working very easy and right in the middle of the high torque range…perfect…I’m only traveling around 57 mph anyway so it was all good…even with all the headwinds I still averaged around 17 mpg pulling the trailer.
If all goes to plan I’ll be meeting my buddy Anthony in Monticello Saturday…I have all his wheels and tires from the buggy for him and it’ll be good get all that weight out of the trailer.
Around 1830 this evening I made a small pot of pasta for dinner…a few more trucks were starting to pull in near me so I moved down to the very north end of the huge parking area…found a nice secluded spot with a nice view over the grasslands…a cuppa coffee with the side door open was really nice…wind has stopped and temps are dropping…peaceful now…I’m right by the train tracks but I don’t mind…I love seeing trains go by and if they wake me up in the night I just listen then go right back to sleep…all is good in the world.
Have I mentioned that I love being on the road?
8 April…After a LONG day on the road I’m finally in Monticello…all set up at one of my favorite boondocking places…the overlook in the Abajo Mountains….temps are falling into the 30’s tonight…wind is still blowing…had pancakes for dinner and a nice walk around the area…will be set up here until Saturday…gonna take the little bike out for a putt tomorrow…the weather should be nice and crisp…reactivated my DISH Network subscription…now I can watch Forensic Files and The First 48 :)…I’ve not had any rain on the trip so far…amazing…still lots of snow around the overlook.
Gonna be an interesting sunset tonight
9 April….nice sunrise this morning…one cuppa and all is well in the world…took the little bike out for a spin today…not a problem up and down the mountain roads…lazy all day…meeting Anthony in Monticello tomorrow to give him his wheels and tires…probably lunch at PJ’s…good burgers!…temp here up I the mountains will be in the upper 20’s in the morning…love it…
10 April….got lots done today…met Anthony and gave him his wheels…did laundry…got fuel…propane tanks topped off…washed the van and trailer at the self serve place…and had a great lunch with Anthony at PJ’s…good burgers!
As I was taking a walk waiting for my clothes to dry I spotted this…I want whoever lives here for neighbors 🙂
Get set back up at the overlook and took the fire breathing little bike out for a putt.
Well poo that didn’t go as planned…there’s a ditch under the snow…not a problem though as the bike only weighs about 8 pounds…easy to pull out.
12 April…ahh this is the life…stealth camping in the parking lot of the Hyatt Place in Moab…my sister and her husband are out here from South Carolina doing a bit of sightseeing…we met up for a few days before they head home…they’re staying here at the Hyatt and gave me their parking placard to put on the dash of the van…with the blackout curtains up nobody can see I’m in the van…I’ll be here till Wednesday…today we drove the La Sal Mountain Loop and went out to Canyonlands NP…beautiful weather and relaxing day…they’re going for a jet boat tour on the Colorado River in the morning and I’m gonna sleep in!
Me and my sister Debbe at the Castle Valley overlook on the La Sal Loop Road today.
14 April….Happy Birthday to my favorite girl in the whole world!
My sister Debbe and her husband Scott went on a jet boat tour on the Colorado River from Moab to Deadhorse Point and back yesterday…they said it was beautiful.
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