Gallup...

Hi everyone. I thought I would put up a few words. It was rough out there today. The rain was real bad and not the kind of weather boardtrack bikes like. With no front fender and limited brakes, I threw in the towel at the halfway point. 102 miles. The ride on route 66 was great as I was alone for over 40 miles and never saw another car, just one freight train and the engineer gave me a honk. Then the rain came. I got sideways 3 times and after making it to the lunch stop, the officials pulled us together to let us know a portion of the course had washed out and they were going to re-route us. Dave Kafton and I decided this was not the day we wanted to die. It was real smart. The weather took a turn for the worse and it got scary out there. One of the sidecar sweep riders was nearly rearended on I-40 and the car went into the ditch to avoid him. Dieter from Germany had catastophic failure of his front fork as both legs snapped and he skidded over 260 feet. Unbelievably, he sustained only minor road rash. I am picking my battles and we have some huge hills coming up and my bike is made for the flats. My body isn't made for any of this and I am pretty beat up. I have 1655 miles to this point and if it were all to end tommorow, I would feel pretty good about what I accomplished. Guys are still working on their bikes under the front awning of the hotel trying to dry out magnetos and carbs. My bike is ready and I am off to get some sleep.

...on the way to Albuquerque