Emotions

January 1, 2011
Happy New Year to everyone and Happy Birthday to my sister Oneida - by chance it is also the day of my Daddy's birth. We still miss him.
This is a wrap-up of the blog to report that I arrived home in time for Christmas.
The evening before my flight, I did an on-line check in for the flight and discovered that I was allowed to check two bags in addition to my carry-on. Yahoo! Now I could take all my stuff with me. So I repacked.
Not wanting to take any chances on disruptions of the transportation systems through strikes or any other reason, I caught a taxi at 2:00 p.m. for the 30 minute ride to the airport for my 9:30 p.m. flight. I said my good-byes to Sandra, Javier and Julian at DakarMotos - they had taken good care of me. These good-byes are particularly hard because you know that the probability of ever seeing these new friends again are remote.

The Delta flight on a 767 departed on time and was a very smooth flight for the eleven hours to Atlanta. A three hour layover in Atlanta allowed plenty of time to retrieve the checked bags go through customs and recheck the bags to Huntsville. I was fortunate in customs as they waved me through although I had declared that I was bringing in items of more value than the $800.00 allowed.
The flight to Huntsville was a little bumpy. Hey, who cares after eleven weeks of fighting borders and winds, I think I could have ridden on the wings. I had coordinated with Angie to wait outside of the terminal and I would come straight to the car. To my big surprise, she, April, Van, and Thea (these are our daughter and grandchildren) were waiting in the terminal with big signs welcoming me home. Holding back tears, it was a race between both sides to embrace one another and tell how much we missed one another and how good it was to be home. It just doesn't get any much better than this.
After a bunch of hugs, tears, kisses, and photos we made our way to retrieve my baggage and then the trip home. On the way we stopped by our favorite quick food place - Pam's Truck Stop - for lunch. The place really is a hole-in-the-wall but has
 good food.

That evening I received an email from Sandra at DakarMotos informing me that Continental Airways would not allow my riding gear to be included on the pallet with the motorcycle. Sandra told me she instructed that the riding gear be removed because her priority was to get the bike home. She wanted my instructions on what to do with the riding gear. More emotions. The good news is that I had put my riding pants inside one of the saddlebags so it looked like I may have saved them and would only risk losing my helmet and riding jacket. I replied that I was too tired to think about it and that I would send instructions later. The next day I informed Sandra that she could give the riding jacket to someone who needed it since I had pretty much trashed it in a crash back in September and the ride through the Americas. I asked her to get me a price on shipping the helmet home since I would like to have it back depending on the cost versus buying a new one.
On Christmas Eve, our other daughter -Wendy- and her family, Craig, Thomas and Aubrey arrived at our house from Virginia for a week's visit across the holidays. It really doesn't get better than this - having the entire family together for the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas and were thankful for all of our good health. One day the boys spent the entire day continuing to work on the tree house we started back in the summer. This has becoming an engrossing project. What you won't do for your grandkids. IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME!

December 30th received a call from Continental that my bike was ready for pick up in Atlanta and that starting January 2nd there would be storage charges. Seeing that January 2nd was a Sunday and Saturday was Jan 1, I decided my only realistic day of driving to Atlanta would be December 30th. My good friend Mike Weyler rode with me to Atlanta and back. The retrieval of the bike was none eventful and the folks at Continental were very helpful. We loaded the bike, pallet and all into the bed on my truck and we were on our way. I was pleasantly surprised to see my helmet on the pallet. The riding jacket was gone and so was one of the two kermit bags (canvas storage bags) that I had attached to the top of my saddle bags. Guess someone needed it worse than I did. I cannot believe it was removed as being personal affects since the one on the other saddlebag was not removed. Oh well, the price of travelling to exotic cultures.

Yesterday, I reassembled the bike and rode it to fuel up. Had to get a ride in on the last day of the year. The first day of the year ride may have to be postponed as we have flash flooding warnings for the day.
In summary - in eleven weeks, I rode 14865 miles, did fifteen border crossing, endured a three-day cold, a seven day bout of jock itch, a four day bout of dysentery, chills and extreme fever, and five days of the most hellish winds I can imagine doing on a motorcycle. Maybe I am a better person for doing this, but the best part was all the nice people I met.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and may you receive countless blessings all year. Thanks to all for following this blog.