I haven't had Internet access and am borrowing a laptop to check in. Uploaded some photos to the gallery. Getting ready to go to the Coast for the day and hope to check in again later.

Here we are in Wyoming for the night in the Rock Springs KOA. The Popper camper is showing its age; aka falling apart. A challenge every time we put it up and fold it down.

We pulled into Dumas, TX, after six or so hours, tired, looking for a place to put up for the night. After driving around we settled on a parking lot that we thought was for a park. Between us and the train tracks was a cemetery, but it was the trains that woke us up several times. Then in the morning, the sounds of vehicles pulling in got us up and packing up before the sun. Outside, I saw a school bus and people parking their cars for the school across the street.

I think we will have a good night's sleep tonight.

Just when things are moving along smoothly, something snags and catches the wheel. Yesterday's allergy shots elicited a hyperimmune response and almost required an emergency room visit. Between ice packs and double doses of Benadryl, the reaction diminished and knocked me out to soundly sleep the night through. Needless to say, I didn't finish packing last night.

Everything is loaded and waiting for me to get home from work, change, stuff things in a compression sack and hop in the truck.

Most of today was spent cleaning and setting up the borrowed pop-up camper. After a good vacuuming, it was sprayed and cleaned, all the mattresses and cushions aired out in the sunlight, new wheels mounted, bearings greased, and jacks oiled.  After temperatures climbed into the three digits, it was time to go eat some barbeque for lunch. After that, all the camping gear was sorted out, repacked and strapped to the bikes.

The bikes and gear are ready to be loaded. All the assorted items except food and clothing for off the bikes will be added Sunday and Monday. Throw in a few folding chairs, an air mattress with blanket in the fold-down backseat of the truck, and we'll be ready to go next Tuesday afternoon.

Ed built and installed two wheel chocks in the bed of the F-250 and took it for a test drive. Isn't it a beaut?

Yesterday I finished editing, revising, and transferring the riding routes. They are now in both our GPS's. Parts of the routes are highlighted on National Forest Maps and in the Big Map. I wish there was a print function with the Ride with GPS website. But I understand the development team is working on that function, just not in time for me to use it. :(

All the routes thus far can be viewed from the Routes buttons on the navigation bar above.

No, it's not pop culture. It is a pop-up camper. Neighbor Brian offered us the use of his older pop-up camper. We checked it out this past weekend and it needs some thorough cleaning, but it will work for us. It's airing out now and I'll give it a final clean up next weekend. It will serve as accommodations on the road and while in Oregon at my daughter's home and for base camp in Central Oregon. Awesome! (Thanks, Brian!)

groupTexas has been swamped in triple digit heat for two weeks. We decided not to go camping in it. Instead, we loaded all our gear onto the small bikes in the dark and relative cool of the morning and rode north to meet with a group of riders for breakfast. Breakfast at the Blue Hanger, a small airport north of Fort Worth, is a weekly Saturday morning event: eat breakfast, drink coffee, chat and watch the airplanes. We were treated to a show while a group of six planes practiced their air choreography and I got to visit with fellow riders I haven't seen in quite a long time.

Meanwhile, I forgot to take photos of our bikes packed with all their gear.

This coming weekend we will be doing a dry run with all our gear on our bikes. Our plan is to ride as much gravel as possible to a state park that borders a lake and camp overnight. Given the three-digit temps and humidity, I probably will not wear the gear planned for Oregon. I also am excited to try out the new gadget: a Kodak zi8 pocket video camera. It won't do duty as a helmet cam, but capturing some video on our trips will be a fun experiment.

We've been planning on doing this since our trip to Big Bend over the winter holidays and finally did it. Yesterday Ed added a 1999 F-250 Super Duty 3/4 truck to replace his F-150. The much coveted 7.3L diesel engine will be an appreciated work horse and the relatively low mileage (73K) means it will be with us a long time. The long bed will accommodate our two little bikes comfortably with some room for gear and supplies. We will christen it on our Oregon trip, hopefully with a borrowed pop-up camper in tow.