Last Entry- Marco

Well, we've been home for a week and consumed with all the things that a month away will consume you with; work, weeds, fixing things and paying missed bills.  I did want to capture some final thoughts here before they fade away into hazy memories.

The simplest thoughts- what a great ride!  I absolutely loved being on a bike for a complex variety of reasons.  The sights and smells are so real on a bike, you are in the scene, not watching it.  But it is the isolation of your own thoughts and the voices that are sometimes too soft to hear in all the hustle and bustle of a normal day that are the most enjoyable.  A short calculation here is in order- 4000 miles at an average of 60 MPH is roughly 70 hours of essentially uninterrupted thought in 30 days.  Doesn't happen any other way.

The things that go through your mind change from the earliest days to the later days of the ride.  Early on, thoughts are those you need to go through to release yourself from the daily grind you just left behind.  There is a transition into more philosophical and metaphysical thought as the miles pass.  Thoughts of accomplishments and failures, roads not taken (to plagiarize a phrase), roads taken that did not go where you anticipated.  Thoughts of what could have been, what was that shouldn't have been and what is.

In the final week or so of the trip, I didn't notice the miles anymore.  I did notice a sense of peace, serenity and a calmness I had felt before but could not remember when.  A realization that of the all the lives I could be living, I was living the one I wanted to live.  That I had made choices that were right, not at the moment of choice, but at the realization of the unforeseeable at the moment of choice. 

I am so thankful for my family and friends, those I traveled with, those I saw on the way and those who have followed these adventures.  I realized that it is my love for them and theirs for me that is the real substance of a happy life. 

There were so many experiences in the past when I felt something was missing.  I was moving too fast then to see that it wasn't missing, it was only missed.  And surprisingly, traveling at 60+ MPH, I was able to slow down and see the present and to some extent the past.  It is a comfortable and comforting realization.  I highly recommend it to you.

So, while cryptic, that is what I found on this trip.  An inner peace I pray won't fade.  But if it does, I'll just have to do it again!  Thanks for following and commenting. 

Nolan, thanks for agreeing to come with us.  I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we enjoyed having you along.  You are one strong and brave young man.  We can all learn from you. 

Shiny side up!   ....Marco

Day 32 - Tony

Today I woke up and had breakfast, then we set off. After riding for a little while we stopped at Starbucks. Then we drove for a few hours. Finally we got out of the mountains. It started to rain. Then we finally got back home.

Mom and Dad unpacked while I played and Tina went to Anna's house and played there. Then we went to Anna's house to pick up Brownie and Georgina. Then I decide to go back so I could play
with Anna and her friend and Tina. tina and Anna played littlest pet shop while me and Anna's friend played pinball.

We went back to the house and Tina picked up Raindrop from Ty's (Josie's brother) house. Ten we went back home and I played for z few hours. Then we had dinner and went to bed.

Day 32 - Tina

We started off the day by packing up most of the stuff and loading it on the bikes and then we got on the bikes and rode off into the mountains headed home. It was supposed to be really beautiful but It was just a whole lot of trees for a really long time and some mountain peaks, and more trees and more tress and some more mountain peaks.

(I asked Tina what was really beautiful and she said maybe valleys and waterfalls and lakes and rivers.
Why not trees and mountain peaks?
Because I've seen them all of my life.
Does that mean because you see something all the time it loses its beauty?
Sometimes. What makes something beautiful is when you don't normally see something and then you go and see it and its really cool and unusual.
But I see you, Tina, every day and you are still beautiful to me.
But that is because you (mom) are really close to that one thing, but trees sometimes are kind of all the same. It's just like when you go out to collect rocks by the lakeshore - suppose they are all round and blue and similar sizes. The first few are really cool, but then it's like I want to find something really different and unusual.)

About halfway through I was just about sick of seeing trees and we stopped at Starbucks to get something to drink. We finally got out of the mountains and it felt like we had been on the road for at least seven hours. It started a little bit to rain. I was glad to be out of the mountains.

When we got home we unpacked and we went over to our friend Anna's house to pick up our guinea pigs and played with her for a little. Then we went over to our friend Josie's house to pick up Raindrop (guinea pig) because she'd asked us to take care of him while she was away.

Then went back home, played for a lot, and got ready for bed. Tony and I had a sleepover and went to bed in the morning literally because it was four minutes after midnight. When we finally got to sleep it was 2:26

Day 30- Marco

Fun day relaxing at the  Mountain House.  Fer and the kids went to the lodge to work-out and play games, while I went to the hardware store to buy a hose and cleaning supplies and cleaned the bikes.  Amazing how hard it is to removed toasted bugs from Harley exhaust pipes.  We went to the Seven Trails Grill, listened to music and had a wonderful dinner.  Drank a little too much, but we were walking so no problem.  Don't think you can get a WUI (walking under the influence) but I was a prime candidate.  Kids did marshmallows and chocolate over the fire pit while I slept on the deck, or so I am told.  One more day of blogging so hope to get everyone's final thoughts. 

Trusted steeds- ridden hard and put away wet (and clean!)

Note that the photos below are some re-runs from Ripley's that we never incorporated.  For your enjoyment...

Tina from our Ripley's visit

Tony from our Ripley's visit- now the tweets will have some company!

Day 29- Marco

Another long day of riding, well over 300 miles.  Today was the first time Tina asked 'are we there yet...'  Arrived at our Mountain Home for a bottle of champagne and a gorgeous sunset, dinner on the patio and a discussion of the trip.  Seems everyone wants to blog something over the next few days about the best parts, what they learned and saw, what they liked and didn't like.  Fer had a great idea that we should produce the blog into a book and then send copies to all the wonderful friends we visited and spent time with.  We are already talking about the next trip.  Suggestions include flying to Germany, buying BMWs and touring Europe for a month.  I sure hope the money tree blooms next spring!  Look for our final blogs over the next few days.  Don't have plans for the rest of the weekend, but work starts again on Tuesday.

Fer, Tina, Tony and Nolan back in Colorado- Me too, behind the camera!

A toast to a safe and wonderful trip- memories of a life time

Beautiful sunset from the deck of the Mountain Home- Happy Trails

Day 28- Marco

Long ride today through mostly rural western Wyoming.  It sure is nice to have the wind at your back.  We checked into our last hotel tonight.  Lot's of thoughts about the trip; places passed and not seen, time together and a new appreciation of what our country is about.  Some of that appreciation is good but there are parts that are somewhat depressing.  There is a lot of poverty, and lost and unfulfilled dreams in the partially deserted towns we passed.  But also a lot of hope and joy in the people we have met along the way.  It seems that being in close personal touch with the parts of the country we have visited makes all the non-sense in Washington seem just that.  This is a great country with great people and somehow we have selected an elected leadership that can't seem to agree to move forward in the best interests of the country.  It is baffling.  When did we become a country of idealogues that cannot stand that someone has a different opinion?  Where facts are superfluous to a point of view?  Things to ponder on our last long ride tomorrow.

Checking in to our last hotel for a while after a long  riding day

Day 27 - Tony

I don't know what to write.

We rode off and went to Craters of the Moon. It looked really cool and had a lot of shinny rocks. We stopped at the visitor center. We rode on the highway for a really long time. All you saw was grass and trees. Then we went to the Portnuef Brewing Company for dinner. It had GREAT food! I had steamed shrimp with rice and then I had a root beer for dessert. It was great!

Then we checked into the hotel. mom and Dad thought it was terrible. I thought so too because it didn't have an elevator so we couldn't bring the luggage cart up the stairs and we had to carry all the luggage on the bike up in our room. Our room smelled bad. Then I got ready for bed and went to bed.

I miss having playdates and I hope that I get to see my guinea pig soon.