Salads days come to an end with a thump!!!!!!!

We travelled from Twentynine Palms to Wildomar to have lunch with the lovely John & Fritzie and talk of our adventures.

Riding out of Twentynine Palms we rode through Joshua Tree National Park wow!!! amazing scenery and vegetation that changes dramatically as you drive through.

Beautiful Joshua Tree

A different perspective in Joshua Tree NP

just love this pic

different vegetation same NP

changes again

and again

and again

In Palm Springs we rented a car as we planned to sell our beautiful bike and to carry our bits and pieces from Wildomar to Anaheim.  It was very strange being enclosed in a vehicle after zooming around on our bike for 3 months.  It rained a little on our way so I was pleased to not be getting wet :P

After a lovely lunch of stuffed Salmon with John and Fritzie we made our way back to Anaheim along the freeways.  Crazy traffic!!!!

We arrived back in Anaheim late afternoon and it felt like we were coming home driving on familiar roads and going back to Abby's Anaheimer.  We washed the bike one last time and removed all evidence (ie stickers and scratches) of our odyssey.

Our adventure came to abrupt end the very next day when we took the bike over to Bert's Mega Mall where we sold it for a fair price.  We were both a little emotional at this point as that bike had become part of us.  We are glad to have several photos of our bike in some amazing places.

this photo was taken in the side of a shiny black truck as we passed it on our way down to meet John and Fritzie for the very first time :)

Our last night was spent with our new friends Mike and Jeanne at The Lazy Dog Cafe.  We had a wonderful time with them recounting some of our adventures.

Packing to go home was an adventure all on it's own and for a while we thought we wouldn't fit ha ha.  We spent our last day driving out to Huntington Beach to meet Therese Ann and her beautiful daughter Natalia.   We shared our packing dilemma with Therese Ann and she gave us a bag that was just what we needed!! an angel in disguise!
After visiting with Therese Ann and Natalia we drove out towards the airport and in a shopping centre carpark repacked using the bag Therese Ann had given us and we fit!! woohoo

We dropped off our rental car and made our way to the airport on the shuttle.  At the airport after checking in we went into the terminal to have some dinner.  Our last beers in the USA (Shock Top) cost us $11 each!!!!! Our flight was slightly delayed but we were on board and seated by 11pm sitting in the plane looking out over LA I couldn't help but be very emotional.  I really did not want to leave we had been having such an amazing time and I just did not want it to end.  We set our clocks to Sydney time and stayed awake until midnight (Sydney time about 3am LA time) and then slept until about 5am I think this helped us not really have any jet lag whatsoever oh and only drank water on the flight.

This has been more than a holiday for us it has been an adventure of a lifetime and not something that will be easily topped.  I am so thankful for the extraordinarily great working conditions/pay rates we have in Australia that have allowed us to do this 3 months odyssey while still being paid!!

California Dreaming

Saturday 2nd August
Breakfast was supplied by the hotel this morning.  We got a quick getaway by 8am.

Mostly rode along the I40 today but turned off to travel through the desert to Twenty Nine Palms.   We arrived at the hotel at 2:30pm and the room wasn't quite ready so we went to the Pizza Hut next door to the hotel for a beer and chicken wings mmm.  Our last full load of laundry today.  Tomorrow Joshua Tree National Park and hire a car so we can pick up our parcels from John & Fritzie.  Then back to Anaheim to sell the bike before we jump on the plane for home.  I can't believe it's nearly over we have had so much fun, done so many amazing things and met so many wonderful people.

Flatout on four corners

Friday 1st August
Happy Horses' birthday (Southern Hemisphere)
We had oatmeal for breaky mmm and then set off for Four Corners.  My coms have died .......again ...not happy Jan!!!
So we travel in silence the whole day I missed talking so much.
We get to four corners and I had been planning the whole time we were riding over there how I was going to put me in four states at once I finally decided on this..what do you think??

one slbow in New Mexico, one elbow in Utah, one leg in Arizona and one leg in Colorado

After that everyone wanted to lie like that ha ha
Then we rode over to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We walked up the tower and took more photos and then rode over to Williams we are staying on Route 66.  We had dinner in an Italian restaurant it was so nice to eat something diffrent than steak or burgers.  Williams has changed a little since we were here in 2000 we couldn't find the hotel we stayed in kids ha ha the one we are staying in is good.

tower Grand Canyon

South Rim

selfie en route

storm avoidance

Grand Canyon to Mexican Hat UT

Thursday 31st July
We rode out to Jacob Lake for breakfast this morning.  When we arrived at the gas station there were moths everywhere mostly dead but the ones that were alive were clinging to the pump hose and the bowser.  We went into the restaurant there for breakfast and ordered the special Breakfast Casserole a little strange to say the least, quite cheesy and served with fruit in a bowl and toast... of course.
Riding through the desert today was very hot.  We stopped at Maccas for lunch a nice cool place to sit and eat.
We drove through Monument Valley amazing absolutely amazing!!  We took soo many photos.
Tonight we went to a funny little restaurant just up the road from where we are staying.  Just as we were walking in the door a man started choking and I quickly went over to him as he banged his own body over the low brick wall near the bar and dislodged whatever it was.  When he finished he came over to thank me for coming to his aid even though I didn't lay a hand on him.  There were only 5 things on the menu a burger, an 8oz steak, 2 huge steaks and a veggie option all served with pinto beans, house salad (which turned out to be lettuce with dressing ha ha) and texas toast.  The meal was surprisingly good.  And all cooked over a swinging grill!!!

great grilling technique

Hurricane to North Rim Grand Canyon

Wednesday 30th July
We got up early to have a quick breakfast so we could get going early.  Yesterday when we rode through Zion the GoPro battery died so we are going to ride through there again this morning so we can film the ride again.  It means adding a little to our ride and we go through a time change so we thought it was going to mean a close shave for time to do the mule ride in the Grand Canyon.  But we stop in Arizona for petrol and find out time went back not forward huzzah!!! this means we will have plenty of time!
We finally remembered to post the brake pads back to LA and a house key we pinched from our SLC hosts John & Leslie oops.
We arrived at the North Rim and had some lunch after checking in for our mule ride.  We rode around the rim.  A 3 hour ride it was great fun but I now have a bit of a sore butt ha ha
We rode out to Point Imperial and Cape Royal this afternoon both spectacular viewpoints.
We had made reservations at the restaurant at the Lodge for dinner as soon as we sat down the difference between tonight and last night was like chalk and cheese.  The food and service were just lovely pity it was dark as the view from the restaurant was magnificent.

Grand Canyon from North Rim Lodge

our mules await

ride em cowboy

took this riding along

and this

and this LOL

Escalante - Hurricaine via Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park

Tuesday 29th July
Today I turn 50!!!! still cannot believe that I am half a century old, aiming to live a whole century sooo you heard it here first some of you will live to see that day woohoooo!!

We had a yummy breakfast of egg and cheese fritatta and blueberry coffee cake, no the cake wasn't coffee flavoured it was a coffee cake, you know, like a tea cake LOL anyway it was delicious and extremely filling.  We shared breakfast with a father and son who were travelling from Minnesota they had flown to Las Vegas and rented a car (a sports car!!!!) fun! we were telling them about all that we had done and the father pipes up and says "wouldn't it be easier to rent a car?" oh my I laughed hard!!!!

The weather looked good as we set off this morning. 
The two parks were completely different Bryce Canyon you ride along the ridge and stop at the lookouts and view the canyon below whereas Zion you ride through the canyon and it rises above you both extraordinarily beautiful but I must say Zion stole my heart sooo majestic and riding through it was amazing.

We arrive in Hurricane and it is so hot!!! thank goodness the hotel we have chosen has a pool.  We had a short swim and then showered.

We asked ther young man behind the desk of the hotel Jesse where was good to eat in town and he suggested a restaurant within walking distance called Baristas he had a menu there and it looked great........this was our most bizzarre dining experience this holiday so far bear with me as I share.....
We arrive and are met by the 'greeter' a young woman dressed very inappropriately for this job singlet top with bikini top underneath and the shortest denim shorts that left nothing to the imagination, she did not introduce herself and lead us to a table and put the menus on it.  A little while later she came back and asked if we were ready for drinks we said "we're ready to order!" so she took the menus and then said "Your server will be with you shortly!"  what the!!! then it got even more bizzarre the 'server' and unshaven man did not introduce himself and then pulled up a chair and sat at the table to take our order! he then barked at the young woman to bring back the beer list so we could order.  We said "no need for that we know what we want" so he took our food and drink orders.  We had to ask for water and when the beers came the server just 'dumped' the bottles on the table we had to ask for glasses and the young woman also 'dumped' them on the table as far from both of us as possible seemingly.  Then our meals were not served to us but put on the table and we had to move them in front of us. The whole time we were eating the male server was barking orders at the two young people who were obviously inexperienced and should not have been waiting tables until they had had a few lessons! then we wanted dessert but could not attract the servers attention when we finally did he says "so you want the bill?" and we replied "No we would like dessert please" he replied "oh I'll be with you soon" after about 10 minutes he yells over to the young woman can you get the bill for T2 pointing to us and I said "um we were wanting to order dessert??" he then came over and took our order.  Dessert was dumped on the table (we were sitting at a table for four sitting at the seats next to each other and she put it at one of the other places OMG!!!!!!!) what a birthday dinner this turned out to be!! having said ALLL that the food was REALLY good if we could have tipped the chef only, I would have, we left a very small tip.

my cards :))

birthday girl ha ha

SLC - Escalante

Monday 28th July
Blast off!!!!!!! 48 hours of celebrating my 50th birthday woooohoooo
Amazing scenery today, we got a little wet and then pulled into Cafe Diablo at Torrey for an awesome lunch.

mm my first ever Tequila Sunrise

chocolate stack with drunk monkey ice cream mmmmmm to share of course!

Then we continued along the road and rode along another scenic byway Highway 12 at one point riding along a road where the road drops away 1000ft on each side so you are riding along a ridge, crazy with no guard rails aaarrrrrrggghhhh!
We are staying in our last B&B tonight it's really really lovely and a great restaurant within walking distance for pizza salad and a pitcher of a great local beer mmmmm

our room there's another bed on the other side of the room LOL

wow storm coming??

mmmm beer

Sensational Salt Lake City

Thursday 24th July - Sunday 27th July
Countdown continues 4....3....2.....1
We left Vernal early to avoid the 24th of July holiday Parade (Utah holiday).  On our way we encountered some lightening it was pretty scarey.  We stopped in Park City just before SLC to find fuel as we were on reserve.  Park City is the wierdest place and it took us FOREVER to find fuel.  We finally found it and then got back on the 40 to ride towards the I80 for SLC just 2 miles down the road just off the highway was fuel!!! oh well LOL so we found the I80 and decided to find some food for lunch.  We found Chick-fil-a mmmmmm salad and got the GPS out so we could find John and Leslie's house and found that they were just 2 mins away!!!

We had a wonderful 4 nights with Leslie, Murphy (Golden retriever) and Oliver (Schnauzer) John was away at a conference in Madison Wisconsin.  Murphy is a sweetheart who walks around with a tennis ball in his mouth the entire time, sometimes two!!!  Ollie is Patrick (John & Leslie's son) & Maggie's dog and at first he was a little excitable nipping at our ankles and such but he did settle down.
We went for a run up near the University and then explored SLC with Leslie on Friday, visiting the cemetry to see the Christmas Box Angel and the Capitol building and Memory Park.  After another short run on Saturday morning we visited the massive Farmers Market and bought some fresh produce, new earrings for moi and lunch mmm spicy Jambalaya!  On the way there in the car Leslie showed us the mansion two doors down from her house and was telling us about her lovely neighbour who spends half his time in LA and half at this house because he's an actor and she nonchalantly was talking about him and said his name which I didn't really recognise so I asked what show he was on and she says oh a show called Modern Family she lives just down the road from Phil Dunphy!!!!!!!!!!!! I soooo wanted to meet him!!!  Then on Sunday we rode up Big Cottonwood Canyon, Emigration Canyon and visited Hogle Zoo.  We also caught up with the lovely SLC SOFT group.  Debbie Dye organised a birthday cake for me it was really yummy such a lovely surprise.  It was so wonderful catching up with Leslie.  She spoilt us rotten with great meals each night and birthday cake on our last night.....very sweet.

Elephant selfie

snuggling with this cutie

lovely Leslie

Boulder CO - Vernal UT

Wednesday 23rd July
Countdown continues 5....
We left Boulder on a lovely sunny morning and rode through the canyon on highway 6 and then joined the I70 after riding through the Eisenhower tunnel we joined highway 40 towards Dinosaur.  We then crossed the border into Utah wow the terrain was almost immediately different it was a pretty hot day.  We were quite wary about Vernal because it's another oil & gas town but it was NOTHING like Gillette WY or Limon CO.  The room was comfy and cool the only downer was having to ride to go out for dinner.  David has a cold and is not feeling very well.  I am hoping not to catch it and we have been very careful sharing drinks and such today.

Utah sign you can't see it!!? LOL

trying to stay cool with wet bandanas

Wonderful Wolperts

Monday 21st - Tuesday 22nd July
Countdown continues 8.....7
We left Monument and went for a ride through Estes National Park so pretty and more mountain passes.

Lunch today was at Sloopy's even though I thought our instructions said Sloppy's LOL We had some very nice fried chicken.

We were riding into Boulder and we turned on the GPS to find Bill and Jude's house.  We had taken a wrong turn due to me not being able to decipher the GPS directions properly!!  and had just got back on track and were waiting at a T intersection to turn left when a Mercedes motioned for us to go ahead we both shook our heads NO! so the driver proceeded forward and as he did I noticed it was Bill ha ha so I told David to follow that car!!

We spent the next two nights with Bill and Jude we had a wonderful time they have a gorgeous home.  Their daughter Kelsey and grandog Mufasa also came to visit for dinner on our first night it was so lovely to see Kels again and to meet Mufasa.  We also got to spend some time with Iya, Kam's service dog, who when he doesn't have his service vest on is just a goofball!!  He's a Bernese Mountain dog who thinks he is a lap dog ha ha.  Kam and her caregiver Kristie were away in Aspen going to day camp white water rafting and other such fun activities!!  So Iya was missing her heaps.

not Iya but very much like him!! just georgeous! can you imagine him jumping onto your lap?!

We ran about 4 kms on our second morning and did a little exploring in downtown Boulder. We took the bike to another car wash and gave it another squirt.  Comes up very shiny!! and it's way too much fun for just $2.50!!

Bill made and cooked some lovely buffalo burgers for dinner and we sat and chatted for ages making plans for next year ha ha!!!  Two big ass RV's doing the desert circuit through Utah yiihaaaaa!!!

Running in Boulder

riding home from the carwash