It also appears that actor Robert Duvall is now a Ranger at Petrified Forest.

Thought he retired to Lake Havasu.

This just in. Short video of lovely Irina at the Belldini Fashions, catalog shoot today.

https://vine.co/v/blFKe6AxPiB

We need to adopt her as the official forum mascot.

Haha! She'd get a kick outta seeing that quote.

When I got up the next morning, My destination was Albuquerque, NM, where I had another internet Pal that wanted to have chow somewhere, So when I arrived, My bud AJ was waiting on His frt porch. We jumped in his car and went to a killer BBQ place in ABQ. I have no recollection of the name. The food was good and I really enjoyed talking to another internet pal I had never met. As it started getting around 8:00 PM or so, I set out on the search for a good place to stay, but the temperature was so nice, I decided to do some night riding.

Next think You know, I had covered another 100 miles, and decided to stay in Santa Rosa, NM....and I'm glad I did!

I found a Mom & Pop motor court style motel, for 37 bucks a night, and the room was nice! Anyways, the reason Santa Rosa was a great place to stay, was because of the Route 66 Auto Museum. It was really cool!

Here are some shots of it, and what was inside!

Their cool sign on a pole out frt.



The front of Their clean but nondescript building.



A perfect 392 Hemi on an engine stand.




A really nice example of a late flathead Ford, with Offy heads and intake.




A showroom new, Bultaco dirt bike with enclosed chain drive. Very cool!

A kickass 50 Ford Woodie Wagon, with a late model Mustang drivetrain.



A nice old Deuce with a Buick Nailhead V 8.



Not super sure about this, I'm thinking early 30s Packard, but it has a funny grill. Anyways, it's cool!



A perfectly restored, 50 Chevy truck. Man, this is nice!



A very nice La Salle, which was Cadillac's budget line of cars, back in the day. It's a nice one!



And, My favorite car in the place. A mint, 63 Buick Riviera, with the clamshell lights, and a 445 CI engine. Holy crap, I'd sell My Mom for that.

Anyone that has a mind to, go on twitter, and follow My Friend, Irina. She's a sweetheart. She is interactive with Her twitter followers. @IrinaVoronina on twitter . Tweet to her that Her freind Jamie suggested following Her. You'll make Me look good. LOL

The next morning, I got up early, with the intent to head toward The Dragon, but I was quite a ways away from there. I rode pretty hard that day, and almost passed Cadillac Ranch right the hell up!

I spent enough time at Cadillac Ranch to shoot some pix (all on My phone, by the way) and then got the hell outta there, cause I heard about bad weather ahead on I-40.

By the time I had made it to El Reno, Oklahoma, the sky had changed dramatically. Evidently, a huge F5 tornado had just passed through minutes before, so I weaved through the Semi Trucks at the exit for El Reno, and rented the last cabin at the KOA just off the highway.

Here is a shot of the tiny cabin. The air worked, and the bed was comfy, for 35 bucks.




Here is what the sky looked like, as it was getting dark.




Caught some lightning in this shot. I've always wanted to do that.

I holed up in El Reno for the night, and the next morning, I burn rubber for Memphis. Going to go to Graceland, and pay respects to the King. As I'm going up !-40, I see the devastation from the 2 1/2 mile wide tornado that ripped across the interstate, taking out semi tractors, and farms, and even ripped the cable safety barrier out of the median. Damn, it was a monster.

I make it to Memphis in time to see Graceland, and have a late lunch at Marlowe's BBQ, one of Elvis's favorite restaurants. The food was damn good.




Big ol mess of ribs and french fries, at Marlowe's.



Pecan pie, with ice cream, and whip cream for dessert. Hell yeah. That sh*t was awesome.



My lovely, and very sweet, tiny waitress, Destiny, at Marlowe's. Yep, that was Her real name. Parents wanted Her to be a stripper, I guess. I wanted to keep her.




Next stop, The Dragon, US Route 129. Oh Yeah.

Looks like My Photobucket account is out of bandwidth, and I still have a lot of pix to upload. I'll try to fix it, but not sure what to do yet.

Ahhh, it says My bandwidth limit will reset in 5 days. I can live with that.

Reuploaded My pictures to Flickr, and getting them back up, then I will post (in the words of Paul Harvey) "the rest of the story."

Well, My next stop was Deals Gap. So I left Memphis, and headed that way. I hit some bad weather after getting through Nashville, and it was after dark, so I didn't know it was even cloudy. I got drenched about 10 miles before I had planned to stop for the night. Luckily, on the Connie with a big ol Cee Bailey's shield, I didn't really get wet at all, and My boots and pant's were already waterproof. My Mesh jacket wasn't though, and the GOG Long Sleeve T Shirt I had on underneath wasn't even damp when I stopped. Nice save.

So I stopped for the night about 60 miles past Nashville, and got up early the next morning, and lit out for US 129. Hell Yeah.

Hell of a road. Here is a shot of Me riding in, by 129Slarer.com

I get to Deals Gap, and set up camp.



 Then I take a little walk around and shoot some pictures of the local flora and fauna.





Interesting little bike. A sharp eye will notice the turbo tucked up under the swing arm.



My campsite again, and You can see My laundry drying on the picnic table, before I put up My clothes line of 550 cord.



The sign at The Gap.

Around 6 or so, I have the Connie all unloaded, including My electronic gadgets. Then I go for a spin on 129.

More shots from Deals Gap.







And for the Harley Guys.

Spent a day and night there, and loaded up the next morning. It was time to go home. It was the 4th of June, and I left home on 10 May, plus, I was running low on food money, so it was time to wrap it up.




One more time to slay The Dragon though, and this time, fully loaded!













The gentleman on the cruiser was kind enough to get the hell outta the way on the previous corner. Fine fella.

One last pic of the Connie on 129, loaded for bear.



The big girl ran like a Swiss watch for the whole 5400 miles. My Michelin Pilot Road 3s were incredibly smooth and sticky. She handled like she was on rails. My electronic gadgets gave Me some trouble. My Razr MAXX HD doesn't have a very robust USB port, for charging, and it was kind of a PIA. My GPS power cable crapped out on My and I had to buy a USB cable at a Walmart to keep it charged. That was the worst of it though, that and getting sick in Colorado.

I got home at around 3:00 PM on 4 June. I'm only 300 miles from Deals Gap, here in Clarksville. I slept for 2 days.

Pretty cool video slideshow made from My pictures, by a buddy.

[https://vimeo.com/68262251

It also appears that actor Robert Duvall is now a Ranger at Petrified Forest.