Pre Christmas part 3

   May started with warm temperatures for a change, so things got moving around our house and out at the farm. A couple years back I spent some time restoring a 1979 Honda that really had not been running very well. I got a cheap carb for it and it started first kick, so that project is done as far as I can go. Jan and I are running around southern Minnesota following our grand kids track and soccer events. We got the news that Mom had been selected to be the queen at Pleasant View this year, we were all surprised to say the least. It was a short lived reign as she passed away on the 20th barely a week later. You can refer back to my first post this Christmas for more details. Prior to that time, Jan and I drove to Dayton, Ohio to visit the Air Force Museum. The Memphis Belle, a WWII B-17 had been totally restored and was being unveiled to the public at the time I was there. I am sure that she did not look that good the day she rolled off of the assembly line. After the 20th we were spending a lot of time getting ready for Mom's funeral by making arrangements with the funeral director, checking with the bank in Ormsby and cleaning out her room at the rest home. The day of the funeral it managed to get above 90 degrees, so there was not a lot of lingering at the cemetery. The next day I was over to Preston State Cemetery on a PGR mission and it was over 100 so that was pretty brutal too. The hot weather brought in bad storms, so Jan and I helped at the farm picking up debris.
   June, I am almost half way through. I took a run out to Wyoming that was haunted by extreme hail storms that I, for the most part avoided. I spent some time sitting east of New Underwood waiting for a storm that had baseball sized hail to pass off to the north-east, but I did hit heavy rain and some hail passing through Sturgis. The next morning I rode west into Wyoming, one of my favorite rides, early morning west from Spearfish to Buffalo, clear and fresh. West of Gillette seeing the snow in the Big Horns come into view. I did the loop up to Dayton, over the mountains, back to Ten Sleep, and Buffalo for the night. Another morning ride to Kaycee and Wright, to Newcastle and Rapid City for the night, and sweat out another bad storm. While I was gone they had almost 5 inches of rain around home. I did make the airshow at Granite Falls again. What a boost for a WWII aircraft enthusiast, several P-51 Mustangs, P-38, P-40s, etc., all flying. We had lots of rain and warm temps, and trips to assorted locations to see the Theobald boys soccer games. I had another PGR mission to Preston again, and a check of Mom's empty house revealed a bad sump pump, so I ended up replacing that and had Phil bring a de-humidifier along when he came down. It was so damp in the basement that the doors wouldn't close. By the end of the month we rolled the trailer out and towed it down to Lanesboro for the 4th weekend. That pretty much sums up that month.
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Pre Christmas Post part 2

   I have been busy out in my shop the last week or so, getting about four coats of paint on the ceiling and changing out all of the lighting. The fixtures that I took down were salvaged from the central office at the phone company when we went to a digital switch back in 1990. Anyhow it has been a project, all of the things that a person accumulates over the past 30 years plus the bikes had to come out of there plus covering the carpet with plastic, lets us just say, I'm glad it's almost done. Anyhow, now I can get back to putting the rest of the year down on paper, so to speak.
   March was next. Things were pretty quiet until the 5th, when we had rain, snow, hail and lightning in the same storm. one of those wet snows that are like trying to move wet cement with a scoop shovel. I was working on the carbs on  94 Ducati and helping Eli with his 64 Falcon project. Jan and I were attending basketball games for Sam and Gus at assorted locations in southern Minnesota, and Leah's 12th birthday party. It looks as if the temperatures hung just above freezing most of the month, so on the 24th we got another dump of 8 to 10 inches of the wet stuff again. I may have waited for warmer weather on that one. On almost the last day of the month it got up to 48 degrees, the warmest day of 2018 so far. Only a few years ago I rode to the Black Hills in the middle of March. Just to show how much it can vary around here.
     April started out with more snow and cold temps. I have been getting out to the rest home to visit with Mom and look at her mail. I needed to pay bills and things for her and with brother Phil's help get her to doctor appointments. Not to change the subject, but we just received news that Phil's father-in-law and Laura's father just passed away. This must be a bad time of the year for deaths to occur for more than one reason, it's the Christmas season for starters and in the back of your mind you knew this would happen sooner or later, it's just that it wasn't supposed to happen now. About a year ago now our brother-in-law Steve Johnson passed away after fighting health problems for some time. I covered that last year December I believe. Anyhow back to April. I actually got a couple bikes out of the garage on the 12th,it was 50 degrees!! Almost the next day we had a two day snow that dumped 18 inches of the wet stuff again. Between snowstorms Jan and I managed to get out to the farm, me helping with the Falcon, and Jan with the goats, and doctor appointments for the both of us. We ran to Rochester for the boys basketball, got the Mustang out of the garage, and took the GS to Sioux City for servicing. Eli and I went to a parts expo at Sherburn hoping to find some new old parts for his Falcon, but no luck on that front. At that time I headed south for my first bike trip and ended up in Osceola Iowa with the idea that I was going farther south and then east. One look at the weather channel the next day threw cold water on that idea, so I went over to Council Bluffs and home again. It seems that trips to the south early in the year will usually run into bad weather of some kind. Last year I did manage to get as far as Louisiana and back up through Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. The weather turned on me from that point until I reached home in 35 degree temps. Oh did I mention by this time we did have a 70 degree day?

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2018 Pre-Christmas post

  I have really been slow on getting out any kind of posts this year. I think that being on Facebook has kind of taken away some of the fun in putting things out there for "fans" to read, plus the fact I actually have to sit down and peck out the words on the keyboard. So anyhow, I have been on a few bike trips this year, not as long as I have gone on and not as many Patriot Guard missions to ride to either, which is not a bad thing come to think of it. As far as photos go, I have found over the last few years that I am not Ansel Adams when it comes to landscape photography, so I just don't shoot many any more.
  The last few years have seen the departure of three women in our family. My sister Kathy in 2015, my Mother-in-law Bernice in 2017 and my Mom this May 20th. I have long been thinking about a blog about my Mom's passing and have not gotten around to it till now. I got a call from the rest home here in town in the evening, that Mom was unresponsive with no blood pressure or pulse. She had returned to her room after having supper. They asked if I wanted her taken to the ER or not. I was a little taken aback by the casualness, but I guess they handle these situations a lot out there. I said I suppose she should be taken out to the ER, so I drove out to see what was going on. By the time she got to the ER she was back with us, talking to the doctor etc.. Next the helicopter dropped in. I never did find out why that was called for as she has a do not resuscitate directive, but we never got a bill for it. I called Jan to come out to keep me company while they were running some more tests, but it looked as if she was doing better all of the time. After a while it looked as if they would be keeping her overnight for observation, so Jan headed home, but before Jan got out of the parking lot the doctor was back saying that suddenly she was fading fast, so Jan came back and we moved Mom into a different room to keep her company while she was making the transition from this life to the next stage. Death is not so hard to witness when you know that they are ready and have been for some time, and Mom made the jump to the next stage late in the evening of May 20th at the age of 97. Jan and I were both touching her at the time, I put my hand on her forehead and said the Benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you, that one. So I have been with both of my parents when they are passing on, and actually I recommend the experience as it really brings home the reality of death. Jan has been with both of her parents too, so we are aware of it and are trying to get all of our ducks in a row so to speak for our kids. Our Moms both had things pretty well taken care of years ago, and with my sister Kathy's death a couple years ago we wanted to leave  little legal work undone. Mom was as sharp as a tack right up until the end and we would talk politics or whatever was on her mind. I have been somewhat surprised by how much I think about her now that she is gone. I guess it is the idea that someone that has always been there, isn't anymore. Anyone that had known her might not be surprised at one of her last words, "whatever". So those were the last few hours of Bernita C. Kuehl, the first woman that I ever loved. The funeral was at the Trimont Covenant church on a date that saw farmers rushing to get crops into the ground after a cold damp spring, so attendance was a little low. She was interred next to my Dad and sister Kathy at Cedar Hill cemetery west of Trimont.
   As I am writing this her home has finally been sold after being on sale for over a year. The fact that the street has been torn up since last Spring with a major construction project did not help. So pretty soon we will be able to wrap this up and move on with things more pleasant.
   I suppose that I should get back to the usual Christmas letter format, so I'll start with January first. The weather ranged from a -24 to a +45 during the month and some of the time within days of each other. Jan and I did managed to get out between snow storms and cold snaps to Rochester for doctor appointments, family get togethers and assorted locations for basketball games for the Sam and Gus. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary.
   February pretty much more of the same, although paging through my notebook I notice a trend that has been growing over the years- a lot more doctors appointments to be met and traveled to. Jan and I helping Eli and Lindsey while he has been recovering from a torn shoulder among our visits. The weather, always a subject in this part of the world, was somewhat more cooperative, so that we could make a couple basketball tournaments. Later that month Jan had back surgery in Maple Grove to help with back pain that had bothered for some time. That turned into a three day stay at the hospital. I did spent the nights curled up on a kind of couch in her room. Funny thing , I slept better there than I usually do at home in our king size bed. Maybe it 's the humanitarian in me, keeping her company in a strange room. We eased on home and she went right back to bed for a while. That was a lot more painful than she and I expected. I've also been running out to the rest home to see Mom once in a while, plus a care conference here and there. Jan and I did pick out a love seat for her at Hanska furniture for her room that was a hit at the home, the aids all wanted to try it out. I also have been fooling around with bike maintenance and Eli's 64 Falcon project car.
    I'm going to stop here and pick it up with March in the near future before this blog gets too long, so stay tuned.

2017 Christmas letter part II

  Well I am back to finish off this years report on our activities. It is after Christmas and almost New Years as I peck away at this while it is snowing outdoors and near zero to boot. Tomorrow Jan and I will be traveling to Wadena to the funeral of our brother-in-law Steve Johnson, assuming the roads are not too bad. Jan plans on staying with her sister Paula for a few days while I return home for a check up in Rochester next week. Winter in this part of the country is always filled with uncertainties when plans are made in advance. Actually this is more of an audit of our lives during the year as opposed to an actual Christmas letter.
  I believe that I left off before in June so July would be next. We were still in Lanesboro with the trailer. I had brought along our new Bonneville and managed to get some riding in over in Wisconsin and the local area. Did I mention the goats before? Jan is out at Eli and Lindsey's farm looking after them most days, her younger goats as opposed to the older one at home. We did get to a soccer game, a check up at Mayo, and me to a PGR mission. Jan was called over to the home to sit with her Mom who was now on hospice care. Jan spent the day and night with her as she made the transition from this life of joy and pain to the next one that promises to be much better. Bernice Emma Thielhorn joins her husband Fred Leroy who passed away in 2000. She was 92 years old and had been in failing health for the last few years. She left behind her daughters, my wife Jan and Paula Johnson. A man could not have asked for better in laws than Fritz and Bernice. I don't think that I will ever forget church in Alpha and "dinner" at her place afterwards with fried chicken, sweet corn, milk gravy and boiled potatoes, you get the picture? Anyhow, pretty much a life well lived for a farm girl from rural Minnesota that married her sweetheart when he returned from The War, raised two daughters, accepted two sons-in-law welcomed five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Our daughter Rachel flew home for her funeral and later in the month we picked up her daughter Annika, who came for a week long stay. On a subject that everybody our age starts to get accustomed to are doctor visits for our selves and our parents assuming they are still with us. Thank goodness that does it for July. The first part of August found us driving to the Cities to meet the rest of Annika's family, home from Washington, D.C.. I did spend some time putzing with assorted bikes during this time too. My brother Phil and I took our Mom to the doctor one morning for a check up, she has been falling a lot lately, and by noon she was a resident at the rest home here in town. She is there to this day. In the interim I sold her car, and Jan and I cleaned out her house and got it on the market. It would be nice if it sold soon so that problem would be out of our hair, so to speak. On the 21st Jan and I drove down to the former Fairmont Army Air Field outside Fairmont, Nebraska along with half the drivers in the upper Midwest I think. From Omaha west it was bumper to bumper creeping down I-80. I was afraid that we would not get to the site I wanted to set up in and have to get off and head south trying to get into the path of totality. We did make it to the Air Field in time and parked next to some serious watchers with lots of gear. This is an experience that never fails to awe anyone that sees it. The two that I have seen before, we were the only people visible in any direction but not this time! Anything else that month was anti-climactic. So on to September. After Labor Day I rode west again with the GS out across Wyoming into northern Utah with idea of going as far as eastern Nevada, but the smoke from forest fires was so bad the visibility was under a mile in places and it was getting warm. From Logan south to Salt Lake City you couldn't even see the lake, so I detoured into northern Colorado and made my way home. The grandkids are keeping us running to soccer and volleyball games, and Jan and I are cleaning up Mom's house and taking care of her goats too. Football has started so we hosted a game at our place on a warm and sunny Sunday. Jan and I drove up to Wadena to spend a night with Paula and Steve and stopped at Leah's soccer game in Gibbon on the way home. My two brothers Phil and Paul and I took our Mom out for lunch for her birthday on the 29th, she's 97. October started with a lot of rain and cooling temperatures. I was helping Eli with some power trouble for the shop and he scored a 351 and transmission for the 64 Falcon he got from a friend, it's a work in progress. About that time Jan and I headed east for the DeFors house in Burke, Virginia. It's always about a two and a half day trip going out due to the fact I don't want to end a long day on the road in that kind of traffic on a two day trip, coming home showing up here tired is not such a big deal. Rachel, Jan and I did get down to the Vietnam Wall one day. I have been there several times but it never fails to impress, as I know a couple of names on the Wall. We stayed about a week and went home to more cleaning at Mom's house and a birthday party for Sam at his house in Rochester. We had some of our cedar siding replaced on the east and west ends of the house as it was looking tough in a few spots. I guess that is not bad life for the product which is 5/8 inch rough sawn cedar plywood that was first put up in 1975. I did get my Mom's car sold about as soon as I put it out in the driveway with a for sale sign, one less thing to think about. Jan and I were back and forth to the farm, Jan with goat trouble and me helping out with things. We are into November now and the weather cooled off naturally. We are still following our grandkiddos around to assorted activities, luckily gas is staying down somewhat. I did have a couple bikes out when there was a small window of nice weather. Jan has been seeing doctors at New Ulm for assorted pains, and we were to Rochester for Thanksgiving at the Theobalds. It did stay nice enough to be able to vacuum up leaves yet. December saw us moving Mom's stuff into a storage unit that I lined up the end of November. The house is essentially empty now and ready to put on the market. which I did a week later. I did make it to a couple of PGR missions after that. One in Fairmont for a USAF pilot who had flown B-52s, B-57s in VN among several types during his career. Jan and I were back to Rochester for Sam and Gus' Christmas program and I caught a PGR mission in Byron the next day. I spent some time in Eli's shop trying to get that old Falcon apart, with some success. On the 22nd we received word that our brother in law Steve Johnson had passed away. Christmas eve found us at St. Pauls' for Leah and Aaron's program. We had Christmas on Christmas day at the farm with both of my brothers and their wives, two of our children and their families. Just missing the DeFors this year as they stayed in the D.C. area. I don't blame them the weather has really turned brutally cold and some snow now too. Jan and I drove up to Wadena for Steve's funeral on Saturday in below zero temperatures. The entire funeral was indoors at their church and he was cremated so no burial is planned. They are going to spread his ashes at his golf course from an "urn" that looks like a red and white fishing bobber. We all got together at their house with the bobber in the middle of the table and it is very cool how not uncomfortable it was to have him right there. Anyhow, the next morning I did manage to get the truck started at -27, dropped Jan off at her sister's house and headed home. So that pretty much ties things up on this end. I know that I have probably skipped over a lot of details in this edition but there is a limit on how much detail I want on the web. I know that you all will just be dying to see the next chapter sometime in the new year. Have a happy New Year.
                             Pete 1-1-18  

2017 Kuehl's Christmas letter part 1

    I have spent the last several months trying to get up the ambition to do some blogs since my last one in June. I think that I put another 5000 miles on the GS since that note but who's counting. So this will start my usual rambling narrative of the past year, although I am going to cut back on the rambling some. January, what can I say but the weather was on and off nasty, freezing rain, snow and cold, and bad roads. Jan and I were following Sam around for his basketball games in the Rochester area and also Leah and Aaron for their basketball games. Jan has been out at the farm helping out as I have at times also. I also started on a model of a Ducati Panigale 1199. I spent a lot of time on this one and if you look back in my blogs you can see the end result. I may include a photo. Jan also runs over to Windom to visit her Mom at the home on a regular basis. A trip to the dentist made another trip to Rochester required, he found a suspicious spot, so I had another biopsy done at Rochester. It must have been ok because I don't see any other notes. February started out with Jan and I on the road east bound again headed for Burke, Virginia. Hans' work has been taking him to Hawaii and this time he was taking Rachel along, so we were watching their gang for the coming week. We did some touring in that area, which is rich with Civil war sites among other things. We did manage to see Josiah play some basketball too, thank God for gps, I don't know how you navigate in that part of the world without it. Actually, the only place that I do use gps is in cities that I am unfamiliar with. About the time we returned home we had a spell of 60 degree weather followed by 4or 5 inches of snow one day. Mother Nature is such a teaser. Almost the whole gang met at a goat farm in Lakeville to look at goats, naturally Jan bought one and Lindsey got one too, so begins another story line. We spent some time out at the farm getting the goat shed ready for occupancy, with some lights that Eli scored from an acquaintance of his, also working on getting some wiring done in his shop. The last day of the month I was back in a doctor's office getting ready for some heart imaging and a stress test. March was more time out at the farm doing some more wiring and fixing some of the wiring and working on the Panigale model in the evenings. We were back to Rochester for basketball over the weekend and work at the farm getting ready for the goats arrival. The weather was teasing again so I did get a bike or two out of the garage for some exercise. The 6th saw 70 degree start with a finish of rain, hail, a couple tornados and snow, for crying in the soup! It must have been the year for it but I replaced batteries in Jan's car and 4 motorcycles in March. We spent the next weekend in Buffalo watching Sam's 4th grade team take the state title, they were undefeated for the season. And Jan and I drove home in snow that got worse the closer we got to St. James. I had an echocardiogram later in the month to finish up the latest round of tests, and finally got the all clear results, PTL. Brother Phil and I made the run to Rush City to Dennis Kirk for parts and a stop at Cambridge for burgers again. We think we have been making the trip up there for maybe 30 years. April began with a dead battery on the GS, it turned out an accessory I mounted over the winter had a very low current flow that sucked the battery down over several days. I found a lead that is only hot when the engine is running and fixed that one. Eli, Lindsey, Leah, Jan and I drove up to Lakeville to pick up the girls two goats. While we were gone the little goat Lindsey had gotten from the neighbors died somehow, very, very sad. Rachel, Joe and Annie drove here from Burke to spend a couple days. Jan's goat got sick and needed to go to the vets sitting on her lap wrapped in a blanket. Several injections later she recovered. I drove my Mom to an eye doctor appointment in Mankato, she is getting injections in one eye to help with macular degeneration. I traded our R1200RT of on a new Triumph Bonneville at Belle Plain just before taking off on another bucket list trip. This time I am trying to complete a trip south that I have attempted twice before. Eventually I did make it to Louisiana, jump the Mississippi into Mississippi and head north through Memphis, Kentucky and Illinois before the bad weather caught up with me, but then if you scroll back through my blogs you can read about that trip in detail. May started with a long bus trip to the Cities with my granddaughter Leah. It was pretty fun with stops around the capitol and a Twins game, that they won with 7 home runs. I brought our new Bonneville home and got busy breaking it in. We got the trailer out and loaded up for a weekend at Jackson of all places with a group of Jan's ex job friends. I managed to repair my 25 year old Honda mower that fell apart while mowing. Thank God for You tube videos on repair procedures. Also, Jan and I are following grandkids various activities in the area. In the meantime Jan is spending quite some time with her young goats as opposed to me, her old goat. Around my birthday I headed out on another bucket list ride, heading for Arizona ultimately. Down through Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and to Kayenta, Arizona, which is south of Monument Valley. For the most part the weather co operated this time with fair skies and moderate temperatures. The return trip was up through Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. So now I have ridden in every state west of the Mississippi and a few east of it too. June began with more doctor appointments, for Jan this time, one of her knees is giving her trouble. The main drawback to getting older, that body that you have been taking for granted is now looking for some payback and repair work. And now that grandkids are into soccer too. So more road trips in the area, and this includes some Patriot Guard missions too. Jan and I have doing some paneling in the basement to finish another area that has been hanging fire for an extended length of time. We have been spending more time out at the farm our family of children and grand children, and prior to the mosquito invasion we had some good times there. Jan's goat who was born with some identity issues had some surgery and is now officially Olivia. It seems as if the summer just keeps getting more busy all of the time, luckily the price of gas is staying down so it is not such a drag on our enthusiasm to run here and there. By the end of June I was getting our trailer out for our run to Lanesboro for the 4th of July campout. So I will take a break here and finish up with the last half of 2017 later on, as who knows what the rest of this year might bring? What with two finger typing and having to run upstairs and ask Jan how to spell some words,

it takes awhile to grind this out. It seems odd that the computer will flag misspelled words but not give you a list of possible correct spelling, must be windows 10.

Another Bucket List Post

  Well, folks I am at it again. With my latest bike trip I managed to check off the last state west of the Mississippi that I had not ridden in. This Spring I have managed to get to the last two states I needed  to get to, Louisiana and Arizona, so I can die happy, so to speak. The first night was in Salina, Kansas. The ride south and west of there that morning was so beautiful, clear skies, green foliage, and one town that impressed me with it's cleanliness and order. The town was Lindsborg, home of a small Lutheran college, very pleasant area. Later on the slog west across the high plains I passed through a small town and caught a historical marker calling out Burdett, Kansas as the discoverer of Pluto's home town, Clyde Tombaugh. At that point I followed a string of parked coal cars on an abandoned rail line next to the highway. This went on for 15 miles to the next town with breaks for road crossings etc.. I have seen parked rail cars like this all over the country, kind of an indicator of the rail business and the economy in general. Eastern Colorado was next, and this is not the part of Colorado that most people visualize when they think of Colorado, like the John Denver vision. Trinidad for the second night is right next to the real mountains and the next morning I went west and north out of there on Colorado highway 12. That was the reason I had headed to that part of the state in the first place. It turned out that it was a good choice, quiet roads and little traffic in the morning and the mountains were snow covered. The third photo from the top is of West Spanish Peak. Over into the San Luis Valley to Antonito, home of the Cumbres and Toltec scenic railway. Jan and I rode that one a couple years ago and spent two nights in Antonito, a narrow gauge rail ride well worth the price of admission. Anyhow, to Chama, New Mexico for lunch and Bloomfield for the night. I missed a turn in Shiprock the next morning that took me out of town quite a ways, but I did get a shot of Shiprock which is the bottom photo. To my surprise the weather stayed so nice and cool and quiet all of the way to Kayenta, Arizona, where I stopped for lunch at MacDonalds. Kayenta is just south of Monument Valley and this stop was filled with Europeans, mostly French I think. I can only imagine their horror at those disgusting American eating places. I don't know but that was the cleanest MacDonalds that I have been in in a long time. All native workers because you are on a Navaho reservation there. Out to the north towards Utah and Monument Valley next. I did mount my GoPro and record my ride through the area, the bottom photo is from there. I tried to upload some video to this blog but it won't take it, says it is too big. There are not too many parts of Utah that are not scenic and the ride up to Monticello fit the bill. Then back across south western Colorado to Delores, up passed Ophir, Telluride, to Ridgeway for the night. The second photo is from the back yard of the motel in Ridgeway taken the next morning. Jan and I have stayed there a couple of times, and Phil and Eli and I have spent time there too. It's always been a great place to hang your hat. Get home-itus was setting in the next day as I wound through some of the best roads around. Up to Delta, over McClure pass, Glenwood Canyon and north Towards Steamboat Springs. I stopped for gas and some lunch in Yampa, a big slice of pizza and a coke on a picnic table in the yard. A young lady spotted my Minnesota plate and asked me where I was from, said around 40 miles south west of Mankato, she had gone to MSU. I asked where she was from, and she was from Waconia! Small world, Jan and I had spent several years there when we were first married. I know that I have mentioned this before, but when you are on a bike people just want to talk to you, something that almost never happens in a car. Up until this point I had not seen a drop of rain, but near Steamboat it got really black and I saw some lightning. Turning east over Rabbit Ears pass I thought that I might escape my wet fate, but it looked nasty to the north so I stopped and struggled into my rain gear. Just north of Walden I did run into some rain, but all the way to Laramie the rain had already passed by. After riding my favorite Wyoming 34 over to Wheatland I called it a night. The last day was a long- 700 mile run- home with lunch at Rapid City and the long haul down I-90. I got talking to a couple of brothers from out west and he saw the USAF hat I was wearing and we did the usual, where, when, which bases, which aircraft etc.. When I told him Electronic warfare and B-52Ds he was really surprised, as that was his career field too. We compared AFSCs, and both agreed that neither one of us had ever run across another ECM troop before, and I have been out over 50 years. We stood around in the lot at Murdo and talked B-52s ecm gear etc., etc. until his brother called a halt. If you have ever been around a couple of B-52 freaks before you would know this could go on for hours, kind of like my brother and I with muscle cars. These two brothers had been on the road all over the USA for most of the month of May. I was home by 8:30 or so ready to call it a long day. I turned the GS over to 20,000 miles out in South Dakota somewhere, so I am having a good riding year so far. A lot of the time I feel like I am running out of time, like we all are, and riding is one of the skill sets that needs be sharp if you want to live to ripe old age. So, as usual, leave a note if you will and we'll meet in the future somewhere.

The ongoing Bucket LIst quest

   A few weeks ago I saw a window in the weather to the south and took a chance that I could beat the odds and dodge the bad stuff again. I loaded up and headed south again for destinations I have tried to reach before, like Arkansas and Louisiana. It was a nice ride through Iowa with clear skies and a tail wind to Indianola for the night. Day two was spent crossing Missouri from north to south on some off the interstate highways. A lot of small towns in that state are in pretty bad shape, with lots of homes in such bad shape it was hard to tell if they were occupied or not, not the town I would like to call home I guess. The ride was nice though through pretty country down to Springfield and around Branson to Harrison, Arkansas. For some reason once you get into southern Missouri and Arkansas things look more prosperous and better cared for. I can see why retirees sometimes head down to Arkansas. It was in the 80s and sunny, beautiful countryside and roads especially, at least the couple of days I was there. Shortly after I made the round trip things got real ugly in that area, with heavy rains with washed out roads, and interstates under water. It seems like I heard that Branson was talking about evacuating, and I had just been there. I ran a road up through the Ozarks with my GoPro recording about an hours worth of riding.  Anyhow, a really nice ride down to the Little Rock area, and then the grind down to the Louisiana state line. I had driven down that same road in 1963, 54 years ago on my way home from tech school in Biloxi, with several guys headed home too. From there I headed over into Mississippi and up to Clarksdale for the night. That area really is the Mississippi delta country and it is flat with a lot of agriculture. The next morning was up to Memphis. I have been trying to download one of my GoPro segments, but it  is evidently to large, so if anyone needs to see it you need to be in front of the laptop. Man, do I hate Windows 10!! So anyhow Memphis was kind of a traffic snarl especially when you are trying to read a map in 3 or 4 lanes of traffic at 60 per. Amazingly enough I got through the whole city without getting lost once! I did see a sign for Graceland but ignored it. I had been watching the weather every day and could see that the crap was on the way from the west, so I kept hitting the road as much as I could. Western Tennessee was a lot like parts of Arkansas, flat and then wooded. I managed to clip the end of Kentucky to add another state to my list and rolled over the Ohio river into Cairo, Illinois. Wow, is the city in bad, bad shape, the miles long main street did not have more than a few open businesses, so I was glad to make my way out of that area and head north into Illinois. About this time I started to get a little moisture coming down, and called it a day in Marion, lucky for me it absolutely poured that night while I holed up in the motel. I left there the next morning with every stitch of clothing that I had along on me. The crap from the west was arriving to be sure. From then on up to Springfield, over to Hannibal, Missouri and up to Iowa City,  fighting the cold and a stiff head wind. I spent that night in Iowa City and cruised home the next day in 4 or 5 hours. Oh ya it was like 35 above most of the last day. So I added 3 more states to my list, and with Louisiana I only have more to visit to have every state west of the Mississippi, which I plan on trying to get to in the next week or two. That would be Arizona. Since I returned, Jan and I had our trailer out last weekend, it was beautiful, this weekend not so much. It is 45 degrees here and has rained all day. My lawn is going wild and it's too wet to mow, gonna need a sickle mower soon. Oh ya, I traded our R1200 RT BMW in on a new t120Triumph Bonneville on the 4th. So no pictures this time.