Just Trying To Get Ready

Well, Well, Well.

Welcome back all you lovers of pork products. Yep, it's me again, the one, the only, that little pink porker that leaves you reeling from the feeling. Pig.

I trust that you all had a nice Fourth of July this year. Lots of BBQ (Beef only please), beer and fireworks. If you had one or more of the above mentioned then you had a better Fourth than I did. Oh I guess my 4^th was OK, It's just that Ray did stock up on beer for the holiday, problem was he hid it where I couldn't get to it. Oh well, all hope was not lost, I just moseyed across the street to the neighbors house and crashed their party. I'm not welcome over at their house so I had to hide under the table and sneak a beer when no one was looking. Enough of that. Today's blog has to deal more on the route 66 trip.

One my last blog, I told you of some history about route 66. I know, I know, it was probably a little boring. Sorry if it was, but it gave us some background on which to start from. OK here's the deal. Next spring, sometime in April, Ray & I are going to make a trip to the panhandle of Texas. Route 66 ran through Amarillo and several other small Texas towns

Now I know that someone out there just said “next spring WTF, go now” Hold on there cowboy we have a few problems to solve first. First problem is the bike is not ready to make a long distance haul. Ray doesn't have saddle bags or suitcases to mount on the bike. We have no way of carrying a change of clothes or even tools. (I don't know about Ray, but I don't wear 2 day old underwear) On long distant trips, you have to have the right gear. Not over loaded but not under prepared. Second problem, Schedule, Summer is too hot to enjoy the trip. In the fall we are going to NASCAR races in Fort Worth. Winter has the holidays and cold weather. So that leaves the spring time. Third and most important problem, Money. I hate to admit it but we're a little short on cash. Work has been a little slow this year and not too many people are getting their bikes cleaned. I have noticed that lately, people have not been spending a whole lot of money out there. It will cost us on the average of $135.00 per day to go. That includes gas, oil, motel, food, ect. Now if Ray really went cheap and I didn't drink beer on the trip, we could get that amount down. However, it would be wise to prepare for the worse and hope for the best. If any of you fine folks out there have any suggestions, please let the Pig know.

Now Ray has already started on a set of saddle bags and a faring for the bike. He could have gone out and bought them. But he has some half-baked, hair-brain idea that he can build some kind of a custom set himself. (This should be real interesting to see what he comes up with). I'll give more details and updates as he progresses. We might just have a good laugh over it.

My job, meanwhile, is to start securing some old maps with the route on it, look up current maps. I will need to find fuel depots, motels and places to eat. I may try to find some campsites, If we did that instead of motels, the trip might be more interesting. Ray said something this morning about a movie called “Easy Rider” He told me to find it and watch it. He informed me that it's a movie about two hippie bikers that made a similar trip from LA to New Orleans and that they may have traveled some of the same road to make that film. COOL HUH?

Well, we have a lot to do between now and next April. I'll get back with you real soon with more updates. Ride hard or stay home.

Pig