Palm Springs to Yuma....

And all the bits inbetween.......back now.....lunch is over. We left Palm Springs fully refreshed ready for a grand old sprint to Texas.....but first we rode through Joshua Tree Park, lovely, found Skull Rock and rode out again....talk about 'fly by tourism'. Back onto Highway 10 and onto a road, think it's the 95 that took us through more desert and hey ho, we landed back on Route 66. We've been bouncing on and off this road a lot. Stopped the first night on a campsite at Needles, boy it was hot, another short but pleasant stay. Next stop Gallup, we just jumped back onto the 40 here as we'd already been round this area earlier in our trip, we aimed to blast through it. Gallup came and went, only thing that happened there was my bike got 'stickered' in the night....lol....by 'The Infidels' Motorcycle Club.....thanks for thinking my bike was worthy guys.....you should have said 'Hi'.

We continued blasting down the 40 stopping to take a photo at the Texas sign. It was here we met Steven Churchwell......another biker who kindly stopped to make sure we were ok and not broken down and then took some photos for us.....Thank you Steven. At this point we are on route to The 'Cadillac Ranch'......it's just some cars nose down in a field but I wanted to see it.....a bit further down the 40 we stopped for petrol and to check directions....we knew we were near but not quite on the right road........Steven to the rescue again.....he'd stopped at the same service station for a break.......yey.....pointed us in the right direction.....Thanks again Steven...lol. The ranch was just like I said before....just some cars stuck in a field but you can graffiti them to your hearts content, the kids love it. Another box ticked then. Next stop Amarillo ish....not really but we were calling in on a canyon we'd heard about...Palo Duro Canyon to be precise. After seeing the Grand Canyon it's not quite as impressive but it was pretty and a nice ride round, you can camp there if there's space......unlucky for some.....we were told it was full.......more cheapo motels then.

Some interesting stuff coming up next....we rode to Fort Sumner to see the 'Real Billy The Kid's Grave'.......pretty cool seeing westerns come to life.......whilst rooting round we met Amaro Landin and his brother Joel......great chatting to you two.....hope you are both well xx And.....onto Roswell.

Roswell....aliens....spaceships.....all that stuff you know......great fun.....Chris was pleased we'd got there at a weekend and all the shops were shut...lol......but we did get some alien stickers......the UFO museum is actually really interesting.......and......whether you believe it or not.....'The Truth is Out There'........

Having thoroughly investigated the Roswell mystery we headed off for Carlsbad. We managed to get booked onto a campsite here quite early so once set up we rode out to 'Sitting Bull Falls'. What a gem of a spot this is....you can drive practically right up to it...short walk from the car park and a lovely waterfall with a pool at the bottom. We were about to de- robe and go swimming....it was so hot.....there was nobody here....bliss. Alas ruined......several snakes appeared in the pool....they were only keeping cool but not being well up on American snakes we really didn't know if they were poisonous or not so we opted to play safe...'pussies' and just sweated....lol. Next day after a good nights sleep we rode out to 'Carlsbad Caverns'. What a really cool place this is......amazing walking through the caves and the entrance into them...just ace. Apparently the caves have been used for several film locations. We really enjoyed it here and went back in the evening for the 'Bat Flight'. This is when you return before dusk, have a talk from one of the rangers and then as the light falls.....it starts....thousands of bats coming out of the entrance we'd walked down earlier.....awesome.

.'White Sands' was next on the 'to do' list. This is another National Park but there is also several military bases nearby so before you visit you have to check that there's no missile testing going on !!! It's a brilliant place....we rode right out onto the hard packed sand roads and went dune sledging with a piece of plastic we'd bought from Walmart for about $5........we gave it away to a family when we'd finished messing about. For those of you who've not seen it here's the link to our little video....sledging in the sands.

We were heading for Tucson next.....again after looking at the map we decided to go the long way round. This proved to be a great ride with cool stuff along the way. First up was the 'Three Rivers Petroglyph Site'....only a small place,,,,you can camp here by the way.....but loads of petroglyphs.....very interesting. On we went after a short walk round the site.....the road took us back over the top of the White Sands area and into the outskirts of the Gila Forrest. Apart from being really windy it was a good ride.....felt further than sat nav said though as we had to ride right round. At the top of forrest to the North East there is the a place called 'Datil'. I call this the place where ET phones home as there are 27 radio antennas searching for life on other planets......really !!!! Used for movie locations you may remember 'Contact' with Jodie Foster.

Moving on.....told ya we did fly by tourism.....we do stop to 'smell the roses' as well though...lol......anyway....moving on we ended up at a motel just past a place called Reserve. This was a tiny place....we had to book into the little motel via a phone on the wall....lovely rooms.....nice and quiet. The next morning we were packing up and I walked round the corner to pet some kittens and a man came out of the restaurant which we had thought closed....'Have you had some coffee Mam' he asked.....er no........'I'll bring you some round' and he did and we were invited to breakfast with the church.....how sweet they all were...we couldn't say no and the breakfast......was all vegetarian......wow......cooked pancakes on the bbq and flat veggie sausages like patties....all washed down with home made orange juice and more coffee....and they gave us a hug and packing up to take with us......amazing.....what lovely people. Thank you very much.

Next on the list a quick blast to Silver City......well we'd seen Billy the Kid's grave...we thought we might as well see where he grew up........parked up, quick walk round and off to Tucson. Booked into a travel lodge here just round the corner from Tucson Harley....handy because we needed new gloves and a new wallet for Chris. It was also a good position for visiting the Saguaro National Park which was just at the back. Went on a little sand off road here on Chris's bike....one ranger said 'Ooh.no don't go up there' and one ranger said we'd be fine.....we were fine.....lol......found some more petroglyphs and there's some great cacti round here.

Ever onwards we were now heading for San Diego for my Birthday and to see my best friend Melanie Banks....ooh can't wait. Stopped off in Yuma along the way and spied the border between the US and Mexico. Eventually we got to La Jolla....an area just outside San Diego and stopped at another Travel Lodge......just up from the beach....brilliant.....had a day's sunbathing, watched the surfers and finally caught up with Mel........so now three weeks of fun starts.......next post coming.....