Luke's Cross Country Motorcycle Adventure : Day 1 Leaving Las Vegas

Well, the adventure begins,,, And as they say, the hardest mile of a trip is the first mile! AND the best laid plans of mice and men, most often go astray.... There was a plan to leave in the morning, but having to meet the banker, and the lawyer to finish my Will and Trust, and pack the bike, I didn't get on the road until 3:30. I had everything laid out on the table to bring, then took as much off the table as possible and I still have too much stuff. I'm going to repack here and mail stuff home, if I find anything I don't need.

It was a pretty hard ride down to Phoenix. Hot, and wind gusts 40-50 mph from 90 degrees on the right side. I rode with a mean lean until I passed 18 wheelers and rapidly had to get vertical. The bike is so heavy, it didn't really blow me around too much ;-)

Had a little scare around west Phoenix as I was merging onto I-10. I was holding a little over the posted 65mph speed limit, and this car runs right up on me in the single merge lane with his lights on Hi Beam. As soon a it widened up, I moved right and he came real close to me... Stupidly, I moved back behind him and let him taste "real lights" with my hi beams and the aux, 2,000,000 candlepower lights. He slams on his breaks and I had to jink right to miss him. He then pulls over into me forcing another lane change . . . He looked like a dad, with a teenage girl in the passenger seat, full of road rage. I ended up not passing him, but staying in his 4 o'clock position for the next 20 miles. I didn't want to pass him trapping him at my 6. After 15 minutes, he started getting worried that i was following him to his house (a great idea if I had time) and he turned on his emergency blinkers for the last 5 miles. An AZ Highway Patrol bike came up beside him and I tried to motion to the HP to pull him over, but couldn't communicate too well and the HP zoomed off. I had to take the next exit and lost the Blue Nissan Maxima AZ AFC1560. Wish I knew what to do about that. But I learned a very valuable lesson the first day of the trip. No matter how bad you think you are, a motorcycle is no match for a car!!! And if anyone gets you mad, be the Dao, the Way, grasshopper . . . Just like I teach the kids in class. Bend like the willow in the wind and stand back tall after the storm . . .

Got to Glenn and Kathleen Ruhl's house at 10:30ish. They had pulled a car out and let me ride right into their garage!!! Yay!!! I un-packed and Kathleen had a nice dinner of Trader Joe's taquitos with cheese and fresh guac. for dinner. Finally hit the rack at midnight... Here are some shots of the day: