Here is the latest picture of our dog Bubba.  Notice the lines, notice the power in his hind legs.  Notice the reach and drive of his stride.  Notice that it's bath day and he is hiding under the table.

      

OK so I have not been very good at posting into this blog on every leg of my journey. 

I am about as far north as I will go. I stayed Saturday night with my Sister (Healey) and her husband (Joe).

They treated me to a wonderful steak dinner and a relaxing afternoon.  But I digress I should tell you about how I got here.

I left Huntington Beach reasonably early on Sunday the day before Memorial day.  Drove to Sacramento.  Because I had a destination in mind I drove basically up I-5.  I know it's not a nice motorcycle road, but it's fast, it's strait, and it got me there.

Visiting with my kids and grand kids was wonderful.  I worked to develop a more open and relaxed relationship with my eldest son David.  I got to meet his lovely wife Mel.  I would probably screw up her name so I just wrote the nick name.  Names are not my strong suite.  David and Mel have two lovely daughters.  Eden and Kyden are two of the sweetest gems of children I have ever met.  OK maybe I am prejudiced but they are the two sweetest little girls I have ever met. 

Jonathan and I had a great time together.  We managed to spend a lot of time together in the sincere hope and effort to expand our growing friendship. 

All in all my relationship with my son's is growing into a real friendship.   Like all good friends I know when it's time to politely take my leave and allow my children to continue their lives and I moved on up the west coast. 

My original plan was to get up and the but crack of dawn on Wednesday morning.  I think Dawn beat me that day.  But Wednesday early in the day I did motor off for another destination.  Oregon this time.

NORTH, but not to Alaska.

Driving out of the Sacramento valley  is one of the most beautiful drives you can ever do.  Green rolling hills, sun at my back, it was awe inspiring.  There is a town in California called Weed.  NO that's not a joke. 

So I get to the rest area at Weed and it's covered in seagulls?  I don't know why, and it's windy as hell not to mention its clouding up.  I start driving out of weed and smack!.  Hit with the first few drops of rain.  Oh that's OK I am on a GoldWing it can take it. 

Yes IT can take it.  but I drove the rest of the way from Weed to Portland through rain.  Shit,

I got to my older Sisters house (Carla) and her husband (Bill) in a remarkably dry state.  considering the size of the drops that were ganging up on me. 

I got to spend the day driving around with my brother-in-law Bill while he went on both sales calls and delivered parts.  I learned a few things. 

Dairy Men (those who keep and milk the cows that provide milk for your cereal) are the hardest working men in the world.  They deserve the highest respect and... I learned why my brother-in-law Bill still sells tractors in a down economy.  He is the hardest working salesman servicing those Dairy men. He writes down what they need, keeps his promises and makes sure that when anybody thinks, wow I need a part for my tractor, they think of Bill.

But it was time for me to leave and head north again. 

This time my trip out of Newberg was not hampered by rain.  Just traffic I can deal with that.  So I putter north.  My plan is to meet Beau my Son-in-Law in a bar in Kirkland.  So I get about 20 miles away and ...  Yeah RAIN.  the heavens opened up on me again. 

When I got to Kirkland I was so drenched I stopped in an underground parking lot to just not be rained on.  Well Beau and I finally met and we managed to extend the already good friendship.  Beau is a good man and I admire that he is chasing his dream.  It's not everybody who can leave one career and venture forth into a completely different one.  Beau is to be admired.

Then on Saturday it was off to West Seattle to visit Healey and Joe.   This was probably one of the most relaxing afternoon days of my trip.  We went to breakfast and talked like old friends for a good couple of hours.  Then back to their lovely house and it was then the food coma hit.  Joe and I both fell asleep in their recliner chairs.  Domino remembered me.  Domino is Healey's Belgian Shepherd.  Joe showed me his bike and we laughed and watched movies together.  Then they BBQed steaks for dinner.  Healey and Joe are lucky to have each other they are a very nice couple. 

That brings us to Sunday morning,  Time for me to start my journey back and .....

Yes you guessed it....

It's raining with a 90% chance of rain in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland.  Basically the 200 miles back to Carla & Bill's will be driving through rain. 

I am really getting tired of rain.

Well Healey has cooked a breakfast and it's time for me to post this.  I will try to post once I get to Carla's this afternoon.

      

Ok Late night runs across the desert are always interesting. 

Left Scottsdale about 7:30 and took off.   My lovely wife is soooo understanding.  I am off on a Motorcycle Oddssey.  I had got up on Friday about 5 AM so I was pretty zonked out by 10 or 10:30 PM. The trouble is that by 10:30 I think I was still in Arizona. 


So I switched gears and started listening to the comedy stuff my wife bought me.  That and stopping a lot got me through. 

So every 100 or 80 miles I stopped and rested.  But eventually I did make it to Huntington Beach. 

No good pictures yet, but after I wax up TaRuk and then I'll shoot some pictures and post them.

Well that's all for now, more to come soon.

      

OK this is the baby animal report for the spring of 2K10.  I know that it takes the same number of letters to say 2K10 verses just 2010, but I like saying 2K10...



So this is one of the new breakfast club.  In some of the other photos you can see him (I looked it's a him) and see he is a baby.  For this shot I kneeled down and used the flash in low light for a great picture of him.  He is a bit more skittish than his mom and sister but he's very nice.  Typically they show up every morning.  We haven't named this one yet.




OK, now on to the baby owl pictures.  It's a little hard to tell because this isn't taken with my long telephoto lense.  This is the Mom and Dad watching me from Buck's house.  they are a bit nervious.




Because I got this close. 


This baby flew to the bush and has been hanging out for days.

But....

There are still two babies left in the nest.
See the eyes looking out at me.  I took this picture from the south side of the Saguaro they are nesting in.




Then on the NORTH side of the same Saguaro is this baby, also watching me.



Finally, the MOMMA got nervious and came to see what I was doing...

Check out her sitting on the tree behind the baby.

      

We made it back to Arizona.

Carla and Bill made it back to Oregon.

Healey is re-united with Joe up in Seattle.

Attached are a couple of pictures to help explain the week.

This was the shot on the way out.  Dancer was o - so - exciced.



This was my view on the way back... Following...




Then of course these guys met us on our porch this morning. 

      

This was done from my new little Robot.  Pretty cool.  Not that I can blog, but that I can blog from a Phone.  Someday I will have to finish that Pig vs. Chicken or Pilot vs. ATC post.  For now this is good. 

If Jamette would ever read these and reply or respond she would learn I did give her the account she asked for.

      

Well...
Today was a dirt day.  With all the horses that have been visiting us they have left future fertilizer.  The best way to get rid of it is to grind it up. 

So here are some pictures of Kathy playing on the ATV with the drag.    She sure looks like she is having fun doesn't she?  I never get tired of looking at that smile.


Kathy Kicking up a little dust.  Cough, cough...



You have to admire the concentration.



More fun on an ATV.



Not to be out done.  I had to go borrow Buck's tractor as well as his ATV and move something heavy.

      

Today’s adventure was a trip to the Zoo.  Not the greater Phoenix Zoo, but a small private zoo.   We saw hundreds of animals. 

The oddities in a zoo are many.  From the spider that’s 10 inches  (NOT Centimeters – but inches) in leg spread, to this cat just a mere two feet above my head.



I don’t know this Lion’s name but it should be Rufus… Rufus the Lion Hearted.  Why I don’t know he looks like a Rufus.


This is one of a series of about 20 images shot while these monkey’s chased this bird off their island.  Look at the intensity of this chase.  It went on a good 5 minutes on this small island until the NON-water bird jumped into the water to swim away.  Why it didn’t fly I don’t know.



I like stripped things.  While the Porkupine isn't striped, it fits in with the Zebra and Tiger.







Certainly the highlight of the day was the expressive faces of the Giraffes. 
We need ideas for captions of these but here is a start. 

I think this should have a title something like.
“Beer, it’s not just for breakfast any more.”


This is certainly
“The day the Giraffes went wild and became carnivorous, starting with Scott’s hand.”



I like this one but the title has got to be simply:
“Stoned Again.”


I think this is my favorite, look at the smile on Kathy’s face.



Well.  That's all the news that's fit to print.  Tonight anyway.  It's 10:30 and it's been a long day but....

"Here's looking at you kid!"

      

It is very hard to take a picture of something as magnificent and large as the Grand Canyon and post it to a BLOG.  Technologically it's eazy peazy, but how to convey the view, the awe-inspirering feelings.   That's the rub.  I am standing in most of these shots just a few feet from the edge.   The distance from rim to rim varies quite a bit.  In general I think you are looking at about 25 miles from where these images are taken to the other rim.

This was taken from a location called Cape Royal.  Probably one of my best shots showing the variations.  That small dead tree you see in the bottom of the image is growing on the ledge about 10 feet below me and about the same out.  Then it drops for hundreds of feet.




This too was taken from that same point.  However it's looking to a formation called "Angel's Window"    Yes we went out on that point as well.



This picture is looking between the first and Angels Window.  You can still see that little dead tree.




Last one from this point of view.


This was the view from the lodge.  It's called the Forever Lodge ( http://foreverlodging.com/lodging.cfm?PropertyKey=181 )
 
The image you will see in that link is the view in the picture below.

      

These two images are showing the view from the bridge, but also how wide it is.  This bridge was one of only 7 crossings of the colorado River within hundreds of miles.  So it was used by truckers and tourasts alike.  This is now a foot bridge but you can see how narrow it was. 

Also you can see the magnificent view of the beginings of the Canyon.   Looking north from the middle of the Lee's Ferry crossing Bridge.  (  Just Google Lee's Ferry Crossing or Bridge for more info.   ) 



Yes this was a two lane road for crossing the river.