Petrified Forest !

Incredible National Park! Wonderful surprise! 

Tucumcari Tonight!

On the way to Tucumcari, New Mexico you'll see many billboards announcing "Tucumcari Tonight!" After a long day of riding, I'm completely ready to wind up our day.  We rode in on fumes...typical of our rides, gassed up and headed to the Blue Swalllow Motel. (More about the Blue Swallow later) 

Tucumcari is still hanging in there a wonderful respite for a tired traveler. The main drag is the original Route 66 again, gives you the feel of what it might have been like in the day.  Lots of motels call to you with promises of modern conveniences like refrigerated air,direct dial telephones and comfy beds.  Refrigerated air... A throwback to what was know as air conditioning!  There's even a motel boasting that Clint Eastwood stayed there.  

Tucumcari also is home to several murals - we found this one on the side of the local grocery store, Lowes, and snapped a few shots. We tried to take a timed picture of all of us and with only 10 seconds to run across the street, Randy didn't quite make it!  All in all this will be a favorite photo - all of us together riding Historic Route 66! 

Cadillac Ranch!

On Monday, June 6 we rode from Taos, New Mexico  to Cadillac Ranch about 350 miles winding through amazing countryside finding ourselves in the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas. Jumping off the back roads onto HWY 40 - we jetted a couple of miles east and off a frontage rode ...there it was!  I was excited to see this remarkable work of crazy art!  Yes, art... 10 Cadillacs, ranging from 1949-1963, all with the iconic tail fins, buried nose first into a huge farmers field. Originally installed in 1974 by the collective Ant Farm.  You can find more information about the installation, founders and why they moved the art by Googling "Cadillac Ranch" or look on Wikipedia.

We rode quite a distance out of our way to make this visit and I thought it was worth it!  It was exciting to see all those caddy's and they're all full of graffiti!  Bummed that we forgot to bring our own spray paint. 

At first glance, Stephanie was a little disappointed, thinking ""this is it?"  but after walking the 100 yards to the Cadillacs, getting up close and watching the people interact with the cars, turned the site into "art".  

Each car was graffiti spray painted, with their own unique style and personality.  Years of paint upon paint was layered, peeling and bubbled adding to the aged look and style of the Cadillacs.  Designs are difficult to describe - each car has it's own life and story upon story.  With all that paint, the cars were colorful especially against the brown dirt of the field. We agreed that it would look even better if the caddies were surrounded by a full vivid green cornfield. 

Would I go again?  Well, maybe not 150 miles out of my way...but if I was driving by...yes, I would stop for more pictures.  Should you go?  YES!  Cadillac Ranch is owned by a private trust and the oringal creator has passed away - there's no guarantee that it will be there in the future.  See it while you can and bring your own spray paint!  

Carl's Cafe & the Gang!

Background to foreground...

Randy & Cathleen, Ed and Stephanie, Kevin, Richard, Blake and Cecil.   We're all on Harley's except for a couple BMW's... And we graciously allowed them to ride with us.  I would have cropped them out but I figured it was good karma to include all of our friends! 

Route 66... Happy Harley Gurl is Back!

After a hiatus on my blog... It's time to return to share our journeys.  It's been a wild couple of years and we've had a few fun trips - I just failed to write about them. Great memories...just in my head!  

It's always exciting planning a road trip but this one is especially thrilling because in 2014 we decided that "someday" we'd do Route 66 and this year we are!  Woohoo!  

We left on Friday, June 3 and started our day at Carl's Cafe, which is our favorite local diner owned by our good friend Lisa Parker.  We try to start all our big trips with a hearty breakfast and lots of coffee!  Lisa is an incredible cook and her diner is the best in Salt Lake City!   We had a great send off with lots of friends - once I get the photo from Chris Butte - I'll post our group photo.    

Our Route 66 journey will take us through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.  Our first stop of the night will be Ouray, Colorado.  This trip includes, me and Randy, Ed and Stephanie, Kevin is riding single (we're missing Becky) and Richard.  We also spent a couple of days with Blake and Cecil who rode with us to Pagosa Springs. 

That's all for now... Breakfast and the Mother Road is calling me!