Day 23

Today was a relatively relaxing day. Tigger and I went to Great Sand Dunes National Park. This is one of those parks you hear very little about but it was fun to see. We rode over from Ted’s house and were back by noon.

My GPS had a stroke and died. All of a sudden it started shutting off and turning back on by itself. It gradually stayed off longer and longer and finally would not come back on at all. I did, of course, have a back up which I put in service. In addition, I had ordered a new one and it was at Ted’s house waiting when I got there.

When Tigger and I returned to Ted’s we had a lot to do. Wash clothes, clean up the bike, install the new GPS and spend time with Ted. My first priority, of course, was the GPS, but Ted could not stand my dirty bike in his meticulous garage for another minute. So, while I was setting up the GPS Ted cleaned and waxed my bike. He then gave me directions on how to clean it each night so that the dirt, grime and bugs would not build up so badly. Fat chance!

We did have time to catch up. They say you are lucky if you have five people you can truly call a friend. For me Ted is certainly one of them. We tend to be different in almost every aspect of our personalities but we have a great time together and he is a wonderful host. On the other hand, he still would not tell me about that undisclosed strenuous activity that caused his hernia.

I have the tendency to become somewhat obsessive about things such as this trip. Let’s face it, getting up at 3:00 AM to get an early start is not the action of a rational person. On the way home from Great Sand Dunes I had an epiphany. I have been checking my route and mileage against my original plan and our mileage is 1,200 more than I anticipated at this point. I have decided that we have two options. We can stick to the original route and not have time to relax and enjoy ourselves or modify the route somewhat and take it a little easier. We will likely not be able to visit all of the parks I had planned because there are forest fires near Redwood in California that could prevent us from going there. So there are a few parks we will miss. I will still get the stops needed for the Iron Butt designation and we will have more time to spend in the parks we really enjoy.