Day 1: The Trip Begins...Again.

A few days ago Mr. Kevin came to our house.  He is riding with Dad and I this year, so he stayed with us at the house until today.  We got everything loaded on (including all three of my cameras/camcorders) and said goodbye.  We prayed briefly for safety on the road and that things would go well at home, too.

Then we were off.  We had waited to leave until eight because the temperature was twenty degrees colder at six, but when we did get on the road it was still cold.  The temperature itself wasn't so bad, but we were on motorcycles, which meant a lot of windchill.  I figured out right away what I had forgotten to take.  Gloves.  My hands felt so cold, but there was nothing to do.

We stopped in Avondale, just a few minutes West of our house, to make sure we had enough gas for the ride.  From there, we went through Pueblo and got on I-25.  We traveled for a while just fine, but the it got colder.  Dad only had fingerless gloves on, and he didn't want to put his winter gloves on until our next fuel stop.  The only thing for us to do was to tough through it.

Finally, we made it to Trinidad and stopped.  Dad was barely able to use the gas pump, but after he did we went inside and got coffee.  We stayed for a half hour, but our hands were numb for most of that time.  We were all glad for the break.

Reluctantly we pulled ourselves away from the indoors and took off again.  Dad had his winter gloves on now, but it turned out he didn't need them much.  The weather got warmer the further South we went.  Soon it was almost hot.

We crossed into New Mexico and made it to Albuquerque, where we stopped again for gas.  But we weren't expecting to recognize anyone.  When we pulled in, I recognised DC, who has been on the Run for several years, and two others.  They were going the same route we were, so we just rode together for the rest of the day.

Someone else on a motorcycle with a large bag strapped to the back of his bike tried following us.  He had a bright greenish-yellow safety vest, so I guessed that was a road guard.  However, we were going pretty fast and he just couldn't keep up, so he eventually fell out of site.  For a while, though, it seemed like we were leading our own run!

We finally stopped in Gallup, where we found a hotel to stay in.  I was glad that we ate at Denny's for dinner after a long and hard day of riding.  We talked a while before heading off to our rooms again.  We had covered 500 miles today and the plan is to go 300 miles tomorrow, then 200 miles the day after to get us to Rancho Cucamunga, CA, where the Run begins.  We should have a couple days to rest there before the Run begins.  As always, I can't wait!