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Surf Session and SaddleSore1000

By on Jul 23, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

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...

Santa Fe, Friends and Family

By on Jul 21, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

As we neared Santa Fe, we weren’t quite sure what to expect.  The lady running the gift shop in Arkansas had told us that the Santa Fe and Phoenix capitols weren’t anything much and we should lower our expectations.  They had been lowered, but as we drove down town and noticed all the Pueblo style houses and the cobblestone streets, we fell in love with the little town. We found the capitol building in no time at all.  Fun fact: Santa Fe is the only round capitol building.  The place was empty, give or take a few people wandering around.  We got our stamp at the information desk then walked around looking at the beautiful quilt display. I love quilting but these quilts were so intricately hand stitched and looked like they took hours upon hours of work. After marveling at the detailed work, we walked over to the House of Representatives chamber.  They had just recessed for...

Austin Texas and FAMILY (Part II)

By on Jul 19, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

May 21, Jessie turned 12. Of course, we had to celebrate, so we met up at Steak ‘n Shake. In addition to her birthday, we also just hadn’t seen RJ’s family in 4-5 weeks, and we both had been on our own epic road trips and couldn’t wait to share with each other. And if you know the Garcia’s, there’s no better place to celebrate and share stories than a Steak ‘n Shake. We definitely have a love/hate relationship with this place. We hate the poor service, mysterious food, and messed up orders, but we love all the crazy memories and stories that come from eating at a Steak ‘n Shake. This time was no different; the service was pretty terrible as expected, food was sub par, but yet some how delicious.We all laughed and took turns sharing stories about the crazy events that transpired on both our trips all the while some of us ate our somewhat...

Austin Texas and FAMILY (Part I)

By on Jul 17, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

After a disturbing nights sleep we were on our way to the Texas capital, in the same clothes we had wore the day before because I hadn’t bothered to find a laundromat to do any laundry. (This trip really tested my patience, my sanity, my love for my husband, and my morals. I am not one to wear dirty laundry or sleep in a trashy motel but hey, marriage. And compromise.) We made the two and a half hour drive from Houston to Austin where we hit stop and go traffic. Everyone knows that s.a.g. traffic sucks but when you’re on a motorcycle it’s even worse. It was 92* and humid as well. We were dying in our riding gear! We finally made it to the capital grounds after some time but couldn’t find a parking spot. It didn’t help that it was graduation weekend and lots of people were in town for graduation ceremonies and dinners. After several loops around the block,...

Nasty Motel

By on Jul 15, 2017 in Adventure & Travel, Life | 0 comments

Recap: In the previous blog, we drove from New Orleans to Baton Rouge where we sat inside a McDonalds for four hours. Eventually, we made our way towards Austin, TX. We had planned to drive all the way to Austin but due to work, we were only in Houston by 9:30pm. We debated whether to drive another three hours in the dark to Austin or find a campsite or hotel in Houston. Since, we were already on a longer stint than our normal weekend trips, we weren’t fond of the idea of setting up a tent in the dark and having to pack up again. Needless to say, we were in the market for a cheap motel. After a quick search on yelp, we found one on the outskirts of town for about fifty bucks. We knew it wasn’t going to be anything great but it would give us a place to sleep for the night. As we were pulling into the motel, RJ noticed an adjacent establishment that advertised an entire $5...

Expensive Mugs and Fine Dining

By on Jul 13, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 0 comments

We woke up the following morning with a few bugs crawling on us since we hadn’t set up the tent the night before. There was a bit of tension in the air from last night’s marital discourse regarding where to place the sleeping mats. I started rolling up the sleeping bags and deflating the sleeping mats while RJ struck up a conversation with our campsite neighbor whom we had noticed the previous night sleeping sans tent.  The man was from Minnesota and was on a guys-only trip with a few of his buddies. He asked about our bike, where we were from, and where we were going.  He and RJ got to talking about motorcycles and RJ discovered he owned a bike as well.  After adding each other on Facebook, told us to contact him if we ever make our way to Minnesota so he could ride with us and show us around. I had finished packing so I grabbed my clothes for the day and walked over to...

Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana

By on Jul 13, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 1 comment

We geared up and set our GPS for Baton Rouge.We rode through gorgeous green country, lots of soybean fields and trees lining the road. Sprawling estates enhanced the beauty of Southern Mississippi and continued into Louisiana.Stretching 34 floors into the Louisiana sky, the tallest capitol building was easy to spot from miles away.We parked beside Capitol Lake and walked through the side garden to the entrance.It was bustling inside: people everywhere, from legislators and senators to tourists. We climbed the stairs to the second floor where we got our stamp from the information desk.RJ and I sat in on the House of Reps for a little while and listened to the agenda and bills to be passed. After listening to the committees and realizing nothing too exciting was happening, we decided to venture to the observation deck, 27 stories up.I was not about to walk up all...

Jackson, Mississippi

By on Jun 26, 2017 in Adventure & Travel | 1 comment

We woke up beside the Mayes Lake in LeFluer’s Bluff State Park, Mississippi. It was already getting hot and muggy at 7am so we packed everything up as fast as we could. RJ headed to the bathroom for his morning tinkle where he ended up making a friend with a dude who was also on a motorcycle trip. That boy has gotta learn to stop talking to strangers when he pees. Once he finished telling me all about his new friend, we headed over to the Jackson Capitol building. It was a short and unmemorable drive to the landmark. By this point in our adventure, we’ve lowered all expectations for parking near the capitol building; however, we were fortunate in this instance. After finishing our usual routine of removing our gear, evaluating the possibility of being ransacked by passersby, and then consequently locking up our helmets, we headed towards the capitol. From the outside, the...