We woke up the next morning and RJ was swamped with work so we had unfortunately decided to stay back and work while everyone else had fun on the lake that morning. But Dad was begging us to go with them to try out the boat, and he said he’d buy me anything I wanted from Taco Bell. He had me at “burrito.” So we hopped in the truck and RJ worked in the car.
We all had a blast being back together again on the lake. We had a new boat and new board to try out and the wake was better than ever. RJ drove the boat and tested out all the features. We both had the best time.
All too soon, it was afternoon and RJ and I had to be dropped off so we could hit the capitol before it closed and RJ had to get back to work.
We rushed back to the house to put on our riding gear and off we went to the capitol. We made it about 30 minutes before the building closed for the day. The capitol building is no longer actually used for legislative purposes as everything has been moved next door and it has been turned into a museum.
This is the new building. The old capitol is behind this one, connected by a hallway.
We went straight to the gift shop to get our stamp and mug before they closed. While RJ was purchasing the mug, I walked across the hall to a little coffee shop to get myself a blended mocha.
There wasn’t much to see and the building was old and somewhat unkept. We knew why the lady at the Arkansas gift shop told us not to expect much. Its only saving grace was that it had kept some of the offices as they would have been back in the 1800’s so that was very neat to see. After taking a few pictures and looking through the museum, security started closing the place down.
From there, we drove to Taco Bell to wait for the rest of the family to get off the lake so we could eat supper together. Even though we knew we were going to get supper with the family, I was weak and accidentally ordered a quesarito, and then scarfed it down… whoops.
RJ was working while I started to look and plan the ride home. It was 850 miles from Phoenix to home – a rather long distance to drive in one day on a motorcycle. We started looking for potential places to stay in between, but the logistics didn’t seem to be working out.
RJ then looked at me and said, “what if we just did it all in one day?” I slapped his face for making such a brazen comment. Yet, I didn’t say no… I mean, we both were very eager to make it home, and we had already done 600+ miles before in South Dakota, so it seemed like 850 was in our reach. Then RJ thinks, heck, we are so close to 1000, what if we did a Saddle Sore!? Again, I slapped his sorry mug for making such a comment, but again, went along with his crazy idea. We had actually entertained this thought a week or two ago when we were in South Dakota, but it just seemed so far out of reach for us.
At this point, RJ was getting very excited at the possibility of doing a SaddleSore while I was praying that God would have mercy on my butt cheeks and change RJ’s mind. He messed with the route and was able to come up with a path that would take us 1000+ miles through the eastern side of California, through Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Mammoth Lake, Carson City, NV, then cut through the Sierra Nevadas to Quincy, and then down to Chico, CA for In ‘N Out (I mean, c’mon, we’re in California, gotta get In ‘N Out), and then up the mountain to home sweet home. By the time RJ finished planning the route, he was giddy with excitement.
By supper time we had it mostly planned out. We would leave very early in the morning and make it home that same night.
We drove to supper with the family and Mike and Angie who all thought we were crazy and Dad was pretty sure we wouldn’t make it. We set out to prove him wrong. And if you know me, I’m all about proving someone wrong (that’s why I’m still married).
After a great supper, RJ and I headed back to Mike and Angie’s to get a couple hours of sleep before heading for home early the next morning. We printed out documents for the Viland’s to sign as proof that we were really in Phoenix when we started our trip.
At 2 AM we woke up to start the long journey home. We weren’t sure ourselves that we would make it in one day. Sitting in a car for that long is a feat but sitting on a motorcycle means you have to have buns of steel and lots of Taylor Swift playing through your helmet at full volume to keep you going.
We topped off our gas tank, wrote down the mileage, kept our receipt and we were off.
Several hours later the sun was starting to rise as we made it to Blythe, CA at a Loves Gas station (we love Loves). We had finally crossed over into good ol’ California, even if it is SoCal :p. And since we were at Love’s we bought our obligatory falsa blanket. We laid it over RJ’s seat so he had a bit more of a cushion. We also made sure to stop every 100 miles or so and stretch in order to pace our butts through this ride. After Blythe, we rode through Joshua Tree National Park and then made our way to Death Valley. We actually saw more Joshua trees in the neighboring town than in the actual state park, but whatever, it was still beautiful in its own way.
It took us a few hours to make it to the western rim of Death Valley, but it for sure was worth it. I never thought there’d be so much to see in a place like Death Valley, but the mountains and small mining towns were so neat. As you climb out of Death Valley, there is this mountain face that is like red velvet! So beautiful, and it wasn’t even too hot in Death Valley. We stopped for another tank of gas right after Death Valley where we paid $4.48/gal.. yikes.
Five hundred eighty miles into our trip, we stopped for lunch at a burger joint in Lone Pine, CA and had chocolate cones for dessert. We took our sweet time in the small shack as we enjoyed our food and marveled at the feat that we were actually accomplishing.
The drive from Lone Pine, CA to Carson City, NV on the 395 was amazing. We’ve never had so much CA pride till we took this trip. The temperature was just right, the rivers were flowing swiftly, and the canyon roads were nice and twisty. We arrived into the south end of Carson City, NV in the afternoon to get gas. RJ went in to pay for the gas and came out all excited like a little school girl. He exclaims: “Dude, Emmy! They have 50c hot dogs!” He was beside himself. They were having a Memorial Day sale; RJ asked the lady behind the register if it was a joke or if the buns cost a dollar or something because he couldn’t believe it, but she assured him that it was just 50c for the full hot dog. Obviously, I did everything in my power to try and convince RJ that eating a 50c hot dog from gas station was a bad idea, but I don’t think anything short of Jesus would have been able to stop him.
He came back out of the gas station with the *last* hot dog in a partially frozen bun smothered in fake chili cheese, that fake nacho cheese, and a few mustard packets. I’ve never seen anyone so happy as they eat the stankiest of foods, but there he was, eating away.
After RJ finished up, we got back on the bike to drive the last 150 miles of the trip. We drove around Lake Tahoe and on into California again towards Quincy, CA.
The drive through the Sierra Nevadas were stunning. Even though we’ve driven through these mountains many times before, they didn’t cease to amaze us. And in the context of the already beautiful scenery we had seen that day, they still were impressive. RJ and I would talk through our headsets and discuss how we thought that this last bit of the drive was probably the best roads and most beautiful scenery we had seen during our entire 9000+ mile trip. We are so very blessed to live where we live.
Sure enough however, during this last 150 miles, RJ started complaining how his stomach hurt and that how he was about to have a shart attack… I lorded over him that he should’ve listened to me about not eating that cheapo hot dog, but he’s adamant that he’d eat it again.
At 9:30pm, we had made it through the Feather River canyon and pulled into the In ‘n Out parking lot in Chico. My sister Sam met us for burgers, fries and shakes (free loader). We also happened to run into our good friends, Bascal and Kelcey who were heading home from the fair.
Before heading up the hill to home, we pulled into a gas station in Chico where, I kid you not, the odometer ticked 1,000 miles on the dot! We couldn’t believe it! We took a few selfies, filled up on gas, and made our way up the hill for our final stretch.
We pulled into Fastrip about 30 minutes later, filled up on gas again so that we could get a receipt and then headed home.
That final ride on our home road was so welcoming and exciting. There’s nothing like the smell of Pine trees when you’ve been away for so long. We pulled into the driveway at 10:30, exhausted and so glad to be home, and our butts weren’t thrashed to boot!
RJ documented the time and mileage and had his sister Whitney who was house sitting, give her signature as proof that we completed 1,000+ miles.
Scooter greeted us crying and peeing everywhere. He was so excited to see us! RJ was sure that he would’ve been too stupid to remember us, but he was wrong. I gave Scooter a bath, took a shower, started a load of laundry and then crawled into bed. We didn’t realize how tired and sore we were until we got in bed and let our bones settle and crack as we sunk into our mattress. Scooter cuddled up next to me and fell fast asleep.
The SaddleSore was the most perfect way to end a wonderful adventure with my best friend, and I’ll never forget it. We made some incredible memories that we’ll have for the rest of our lives, or at least, until I’m senile and RJ dies of colon cancer. Can’t wait for the next one :).
UPDATE: We have received our certificates and patches!
Cheers!
em and rj