Three Days and We Gone!

The final days are coming to an end.  We are going over the final checklists; the motorcycle has had EVERYTHING go wrong with it this month; looking over the fuel/food/sleep stops; and lastly, we want to thank all of you that have shown so much love and support.  The Turley family is excited to begin this adventure with so much promise and each and everyone of you all deserve a big THANK YOU!

There will be a couple of ways to track us.  If you are Facebook friends with me, then you will be getting updates there.  If you are a subscriber to this blog, then you will see amazing things here.  If you are a little more adventurous, then you can go to this Google map:KE0AOY HAM RADIO BEACON

Once you are at the page there is a field marked "Track Callsign".  In that field type: KE0AOY

Then you will be able to see my last or current position.  You may have the ability to click "Track in street view" which will give you a Google view of the area.

 
Hannah can barely sleep as we get closer and closer to leaving. I told her that if she can't sleep the night before then when I am awake... we leave.  Every mile I am not under the heat of the Sun is a mile I will take.

Elvis SINGS, SINGS, SINGS!!!

Elvis will be performing the honors for Hannah and I; Elvis will also be singing.  Now here is the hardest decision that Hannah and I have to make concerning our wedding... what songs should we have him sing?  There are so many songs that the late King of Rock and Roll left us to choose from that it is turning out to be really, really, difficult.  After all, do we have Elvis sing love songs?  Maybe something inappropriate perhaps?

  

Hannah has been listening to Elvis on YouTube; trying to get more familiar with Elvis music.  Elvis in her mind is exactly what we are using him for; doing weddings in a drive though in Las Vegas.  

The venue, A Little White Wedding Chapel, has been home to many, many famous weddings.  Here is a link to a list of just some of the famous people that have said their vows and came before us.

Famous Couples from A Little White Wedding Capel

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddy Prince Jr.

Patty Duke (1st and 3rd)

Rita Hayworth & Dick Haymes

Joan Collins & Peter Holms

                                                                               

Stone Cold & Steve Austin

So it is that we will be in good company in adding "The Turleys" to this already prestigious list of famous people that have said, "I do" in the tunnel of love.

Episode 1- the videos of our lives

Ok, so maybe it isn't as deep as the video of our lives; it is a visual of where we were at any given time and place.  In this modern world of cameras being everywhere and 99% of all videos being shot as poorly as the events that they are trying to capture turn out to be, I want a good video diary of this adventure.  So I am playing with the Ipad I got for my birthday and experimenting with the video editor.  Here is episode 1, Sam and I work on the motorcycle to get it road ready.

We replaced the timing belts, switched up some wiring, and adjusted the clutch.  We still need to change the oil and swap out the speedo cable.

My Birthday and 84 days to go!!!

Well, bachelor party plans have been handed over to the grand master of such things and we continue to march down that road to the departure date.  There have been questions as to when we are leaving; our date for heading out of town is June 1, 2014 and we come back into town two weeks later.  For my birthday I got an Ipad so that I can post video and pictures along the way without hauling a laptop with us.  We have figured out all the hotel stops and cost which has been fun; the hardest to get nailed down is the Wigwam Village #6 in Arizona along the old Route 66 highway.

There are these concrete and steel "tee-pees" that dot the property and offer almost no frills of the technological age.  No wi-fi, old a/c machines that reportedly are for decoration only, and no ice machine. The rooms are round and are small.  It is at its worse, a bit of America's bygone age of road trip glory; at its best it is another item checked off the ol' bucket list.

Speaking of desert roadside awesomeness,  there is the food that we will be eating.  I know I talked a little about this in another post, but there is so much of it over two weeks.  One of the places that I really look forward to eating at is the famous Road Kill Cafe in Seligman, AZ.

The entire length of the southern part of our journey takes us past so many great little eateries that appear in films and are talked about in the corners of road trip legends.  Many of them boast of "free if you can eat it" deals.  Like the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, TX. The challenge there is the 72 oz steak.  

The days are still ticking away and I can feel the road under me and the sun on my skin as we head out West.  The desert sands under my boots will be a great home coming; I am originally from Utah for those who didn't know.  It's been too long since I have seen the rocks and barren wastelands of my home state.

It's a GAS!

So my dear friend Sam and I sat down and calculated the fuel stop points.  We only adjusted one days worth of travel to make the last stretch to Silver Dollar City a little easier.  This will make it possible to stop into Joplin MO and see my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins, whom I don't get to see nearly enough; also I get to introduce them to Hannah as Mrs. Turley.

To my family in Joplin, I hope to organize a quick meeting with everyone there.  We figured the gas and budget and everything is still well within our limits.  I have been joking with Hannah that it's good that we are doing a lot hiking as the food we will be eating will be road food for two weeks.  I don't think she has ever done that and it will be interesting to see how she handles it.

Check out roadfood.com

We do get to spend some time resting along the way; taking in the nature of environments that we don't have in Kansas.  The dry, hot desert sands.  The mountains and rocks will give Hannah a playground she has never had the opportunity to play around.  She is so excited to see the vistas of the Utah Arches national park

Discover Moab

The days are clicking away and the calender days until we leave get fewer and fewer.  Tonight Hannah is working on her riding outfit that he intends to wear.

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Radiation King and Queen

Promotional photo from "Lucy Hunts Uranium".  Seriously, Lucy and Desi go looking for uranium.

Hannah has a tremendous fear of nuclear explosions and radiation; it has seriously kept her up at times, especially when Fukushima happened.  A luck would have it, just before the disaster, I bought Hannah a old Civil Defense Survey meter and some radiation badges.  When the fallout finally reached Kansas, we were seeing the fallout on our survey meter and badges.  This started a little hobby and interest in radioactive materials that Hannah used to learn about and understand the object of her fear.  Since we are traveling through some of the country's radioactive sites, we decided to use it to explore the radiation that was left behind by America's nuclear early years.

CD-715 survey meter and badges

The first step was to acquire some actual Geiger counters.  The survey meter we had was good for Gamma radiation in fairly large quantities, but not good for looking for little traces.  It's low level readings are higher than the highest levels on the Geiger counter.  A survey meter measures in roentgens per hour (R/h) and Geiger counters measure in milliroentgens per hour (mR/h).   So, I started looking for equipment that would fit the bill and our budget.  The American made civil defense models are expensive; for the reason that they are of American historical importance, and that they look really cool.  They are also expensive with good examples costing over $200 a piece.  I discovered the Soviet models were very affordable, if a person could find one.  It seems that the Soviet DP-5V kits are all over the eastern bloc countries like Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.

The DP-5V kit with extension wand, car adaptor, and carry case 

The Polish models were not complete and in questionable working order; a person of Polish origin apparently can't figure out how to test it.  The Russians want too much for them and the shipping is outrageous.  The Bulgarians seemed to have the right stuff, but couldn't seem to be bothered to answer their emails.  The Ukrainians were helpful, knew how to test the gear, could answer questions about the equipment, and the price was right.  I saved the money and sent off my order... then the truce collapsed and the fighting really heated up.  I sent a message to the company expressing my concern about their safety and encouraging them in their fight.  After a time of no contact, a message came across my email that thanked me for the support in their fight and informing me that they managed to get my order out.  Denis at www.sovtube.com has been nothing but friendly and helpful; I recommend him and his shop for all of your nuclear needs.

So we are going to be deploying the Soviet surplus DP-5V Geiger counters when we arrive in Moab, UT.  In Moab there are abandoned Uranium mines all over the place.  We are hoping to gather some fine examples of Uranium ore to  bring home with us.

Abandoned Uranium Mine in Moab, UT

Our second nuclear site is going to be North of Albuquerque, NM in a little place called Bayo Canyon.  Before they detonated the first atomic bomb they needed to test models of the bomb that were atomic in nature, but would not result in an atomic explosion.  These "test models" were essentially what we would call a dirty bomb today.  Some radioactive material and high explosives detonated in a little valley outside of Los Alamos, NM.  The site is open to the public and is a popular hiking and picnicking area, it is also completely covered in radioactive bomb fragments.  You aren't allowed to cut down the trees or use the wood in the area for a fire; everything is peppered with radioactive material and if burned put off radioactive smoke.  We are hoping to find some bomb fragments for the collection here while hiking.  Below is a marker on a concrete slab that they put the used radioactive big chunks in for safe keeping at Bayo Canyon; it gives the date when the area will be safe for general use.

Yes, it says do not open until 2142 AD

I love this aspect of our trip; it illustrates that Hannah and I are not afraid of anything.  We do not fear nature or mutants, we are visiting several sites that have been described as very "Hills Have Eyes" like.  We have our CCWs if we come across any cannibal mutants.

"The Hills Have Eyes"  He was the mayor of town... or the village idiot.

"How it Started" or "How Hannah Got Her Ring"

Some of you may already know this; a lot of people don't who might be reading our blog.  Hannah has an allergy to metal and cannot wear jewelry; the rivets in jeans can cause a small rash.  When a young woman is to be married and cannot wear any kind of conventional ring it can cause quite the conundrum.  So we decided that we would get tattoo rings as a symbol of our marriage.  That was until we went to Silver Dollar City, Missouri.   We went to SDC with another couple and while the girls were looking at baskets or something my friend Big Joe and I went to watch the blacksmith work.

http://www.silverdollarcity.com/

Joe and I were looking though the wares that the blacksmith had out and we saw a basket of rings made out of nails.  They were something like a couple of bucks and we each had one sized to our fingers.  The girls thought they were silly, that is until they got to looking at them.  That night Hannah kept going on about wanting to get one.  After some discussion about the fact she can't wear metal, I told her that it was only a couple of dollars and if she wanted one we would just get her one.  The next day we went straight to the blacksmith and had her fitted;  she didn't know that I was going to use this opportunity to propose to her and make it official.

To Hannah's delight I proposed to her in the square at Silver Dollar City and she got her ring; we thought that she would start to break out and have to keep it in her pocket.  However, much to our surprise, she didn't break out!  Turns out that she can wear iron as jewelry!   Also, this meant that Hannah got to finally wear a ring after all this time.  That is the short story of how Hannah found out what kind of metal she can wear and in the process got herself engaged in the bargain.

http://www.casabonitadenver.com/

I have decided to to highlight a place that I want to stop into and go into some of it's history and today's location is Casa Bonita Mexican restaurant. Casa Bonita was featured in an episode of South Park (Season 7 Episode 11) and was opened in Lakewood, CO in 1974 and has been a staple in family fun eating.  For those of you that don't know about it, think Showbiz pizza with a Mexican theme.  A lot of people will question the wisdom of eating cheap Mexican while on a motorcycle trip; not to worry, we won't be far from our first stop; Frisco, CO.

See the town here:  http://www.townoffrisco.com