(click on thumbnail for full size image)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
And so comes to an end the Long Reach Long Rider fifth annual charity ride.
Dinner on Saturday night took place in the Grand Canyon North Rim lodge. The building is beautiful. The food and the service left a little to be desired. But it's early in the season and I'm sure they'll work things out back in the kitchen.
After dinner were the usual speeches and thanks and goodbyes and all that stuff. Then, just as we were finishing desert, Olivia, our server, brought out one more dish. It was a covered dish and it was placed in front of me. Inside was none other than Doug the duck! It seems that he was enough of a pain in the butt to his captors, and considering the fact that I was not going to negotiate, they decided to return him to me. He's seems to be in good shape. I am thrilled to have him back. He has taken his rightful place on the back of my bike.
Sunday morning and we all met for breakfast before we went our separate ways. It was good to see everyone and hang out one more time. Goodbyes in the parking lot were difficult. Rob and Scott left earlier with our gear and a promise to drop it off at our hotel. After breakfast Moe, Christine, Mark, Vickie, David and Brenda & I hit the road. We needed to be at Eagle Rider before 4:30 to drop off our rental bikes.
The ride was easy and uneventful until we got in I-15 at Hurricane. The temperature had been climbing as we came down the mountain into the valley. By the time we hit the highway it was in the upper 90's. It was a very sweaty 2 hour run into Las Vegas. But survive it we did. The AC in the hotel room never felt so good.
And that's that. I'm on a plane early in the am It's been great fun. We rode over 1,500 miles. We were in 5 national parks and one private canyon. We saw bald eagles, elk, a fox, a peregrine falcon, tons of deer..both mule deer and whitetail. We saw horse and mules and cattle by the score. (The jackasses were pretty much confined to 4 wheeled vehicles). The temperature ranged for 31 degrees to just under a hundred and out altitude of about 2,000 feet (Las Vegas) to over 10,000 feet (Lizard Head Pass).
And we raised a bunch of money. Just how much I do not know yet. I'll have a summary for you in a day or two. I hope you enjoyed this year's trip diary.
Thanks for your support.
Until next year...
Be well
Bill