Phoenix

Last night was an easy one. Justine lent me her appartment even though she is in San Diego. What a terrific gesture. But I will see her at the Padres game tomorrow night. Tonight is with Greg, who works for the Diamondbacks, and got us row 2 seats down the left field line. We went to Alice Cooper's Cooperstown, and then to Four Peaks Brewery/Pub. It's amazing these non-red sox teams and fan base. If you walk 10 feet from the parks, you will have no problem finding a seat at every bar - try and experience that in Boston in a 10-mile radius. 36,000 fans in the park and 3.6M fans in every pub surrounding Fenway.



Despite 60 coats of sunblock, I still managed to blister in the sun after Dallas. Since then I have been riding in a long sleeve shirt at all times - even 104 degrees. After the game today, I rode 13 miles to Greg's house in a short sleeve, and blistered some more on my right arm.

Your lawn wont die because grass refuses to grow. Its so hot that even water doesnt visit AZ. The cows produce powdered milk.

Trip: 402. Total: 4060

Weather started off nice this morning - 70F. But 102F is pushing it. Dry heat still is heat, and it feels like a blowtorch on my face

I'm ya huckleberry. - Law don't come 'round here lawdog.

Info center

Free internet at a roadside info center. Good thing because they didnt know where the Diamondbacks play. It's on the same street as my destination but quite a ways up. AZ is in mountain time, except during daylights savings, so I am really in pacific time. I just gained another hour!!

I may stop off at Tombstone because it's one of my favorite movies. About 25 miles off the main highway. Then I get to explore Phoenix more than the other cities because I am here for two nights. Next stop after this: San Diego - my theoretical half way point.

100 miles straight with one small turn, and 50 mile views in every direction - not fun on a motorcycle but cavern hills were worth riding

Carlsbad cavern, 140 miles out of my way, was well worth it. 740' Underground and the size of 14 football fields. Though i disliked the travel to & from

Well that was a 60 dollar mistake. 30 For gas cap, 30 for overnight to replace floor model part. But my bike wont blow up now.

Off to a wonderful start. While filling gas i realized i left my gas cap in waco - 90 Miles ago. No wonder i could smell it. Improvise with plastic/ elec tape

Deep in the heart of Texas

(Guest Blogger : Mandy)
Tom arrived in San Antonio today, racing along I-10 to beat the storm that has yet to arrive.

Directed Gibson to Stubbs in Austin for lunch. He realized just a bit ago that he has some of their BBQ sauce in his fridge at home. MMmmmm. Fingerlicking! The sauce, that is.

Heading out to Geeks Who Drink shortly, but first, images of the past few days. Tom will update with stories later.

Sadly its only 97 in dallas. I will not miss the south west weather even when its snowing in MA.

Trip: 464. Total: 2208. Time to quit for the night. Pictures will be coming

Just got caught in a small shower but dry off quickly n the sun. Stopped by gibson, tn and made it to memphis. Hope to find gibson guitar factory

Off to find Gibson guitar plant in memphis. Good to be back on the road again

Long Day

Haven't had a PC for a while - only mobile updates. Today was a long ride of about 430 miles. I left Atlanta around 9am and was supposed to stay in Knoxville. I was making good time, so I went the extra 175 miles to Glasgow, KY. I spent the majority of the morning on some of the best roads in the country. Some of the finest riding I've experienced in my motorcycle career. Thank you upstate Georgia and nice weather. Staying in a hotel/lodge for the next three nights, but I'm anxious to ride around tomorrow as long as the weather stays awesome.

Watched Braves get slammed 9-0 in their own house by Rockies. Started to rain on 2-mile walk back to hotel at night. Not as scary as people said

Made it to georgia. 100 miles to atlanta to see the braves at turner field. Hope to sleep better tonight.

Moved on to greensboro for the night instead. Too many miles today and no internet to update photos. Plan to climb chimney rock on way to atlanta

Day3 - Roaming

I spent the majority of the day walking along the Mall in D.C.. I played tourist and visited all the monuments, waved to the president ('s house), and said hi to my namesake on the $2 bill. Then went to the National's game with Emily and Adam. To sum up the fan base down here I heard this on the metro, "Are you going to the game, too? To watch them get their asses whooped...again?" A whopping 12,000 people in attendance, which is 7,000 more fans than the former Expos had. But tickets were on $10, and we saw plenty of Sox fans there. Off to Gibsonville, NC on another beautiful day.

Switch rides for a change

In exchange for taking half the family around by motorcycle, Keith took me for a ride in his corvette birthday present. Carol rented him one for the day, and the two of them spent most of the day riding around DC area.

States

I forgot to mention that I saw 4 state borders today. PA, DE, MD, VA. Probably wont happen again on this trip because all the upcoming states are so large. My brother wanted me to take a photo of every state sign, but that's a lot of stopping. I was on the highway most of time today, so no stopping for me.

Day2 - Arrival

Thanks to my hosts at this stop: Keith, Carol, Elizabeth & Adam. A lot of highway driving today, so it felt good to finally pull off in Fairfax, VA. Lot's of traffic around the D.C. area, but I had come just a bit earlier than rush hour so I didn't see the worst of it. Adam and Carol wanted to try riding around the block a few times.

NJ was terrible. Rt 1 is the price i payed to avoid tolls. Philly was smooth - could almost reach out and touch Ealgles stadium

GPS

Fixed my GPS entry method so it doesnt look like I spent the night under water. :)

Day2 - Departure

The next leg is similar distance. Off to Fairfax, VA. However I have to go through Newark, Philly, and Baltimore. Should be fun. And if i can handle Bronx, it should be easy. Getting a later start today from yesterday.

Day1

Arrived safely in NJ. It only rained the first hour of my 5 hour ride. Then it started to sprinkle the minute I shut my bike off. Lots of cross wind on the GW bridge today. With 5 top layers I wasn't too cold - I only had to turn the heated grips on once. Thanks to my hosts at this stop: Jon and Stacy, N. Arlington, NJ.

Rain wasnt so bad - kinda windy tho. At the CT border. Temp dropped to low 50s

I was less than excited to wake up to the sound of rain, and when I turned on the radio I hear Led Zeppelin's D'Yer Maker, "You don't have to go...please don't go." It's really about a woman who leaves a man, so I'll pay no attention to it :) Rain is coming down heavy; I'll depart as soon as it lets up. Riding in the rain isn't all that bad, though. It's getting the motivation to start in the rain that's worse.

Spoiler Addition

Last minute addition of a spoiler with a three-function LED insert (running light, brake light, blinkers). This puts lights up higher on the bike so people following can more easily see me. It took a few hours to do it right - had to be careful routing wires near the trunk hinge so as to not pinch them when it shuts - but it will greatly add to the safety of my trip. Two additions before this one were fog lights up front, and a drivers backrest.

"Only" 300 miles this past weekend. Trying to get to 2,000 before my journey even begins so I can do an oil change. Back roads are so pretty in north-central MA. Didn't see much traffic out there, so the curvy roads were pleasant. Stopped off at a lookout point for the Quabbin Reservoir. On the way back I met a fellow Gold Winger. His 1995 has 130,000 miles on it, and he's never even taken a cross-country trip.

Test ride out to western mass. Beautiful day but treacherously windy on highways. Back roads are perfect. Landscape full of sawdust from last ice storm

My Ride

[From Honda.com] Every model lineup has its superstar, the one that really showcases what a company can do when they set their mind to it.  That's the Honda Gold Wing, where power, sporting performance and long-range luxury converge harmoniously to create the greatest touring bike ever made. It all starts with an amazing 1832cc 6-cylinder engine, and from there Honda's high-tech wizardry takes long-distance touring comfort and convenience to levels other companies have only dreamed of.

The model I chose has all the performance options: Tire Pressure Monitoring System, heated grips, a heated seat and passenger backrest, foot-level warm-air ducts, GPS navigation package, XM Radio with real-time traffic, Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS), and even an industry's first motorcycle airbag.

It's pretty much a two-wheeled Accord with a permanet sun-roof, but after so many miles on the road I'll take every luxury item they make.  The color is Navy Blue Metallic, and I had to drive to Pennsylvania to find the color/model I wanted.

Where's TomG

This spring I will be driving around the country on a 2009 Honda Goldwing.  The original plan was just to drive to Kentucky for a friend's wedding, but why stop there?  I will be leaving 5/16 from Massachusetts and returning 6/23.  Along the way I plan to stop off at 11 baseball parks, adding to the 16 I have already been to.  Proposed route is shown.