I've lost count how many times I've heard that the last four weeks.

Typically it's followed closely by, "Where have you been?"  Both of those questions are difficult to answer on this trip.  Difficult because to honestly answer them would take too long.  To answer them in a short manner sounds like we're being rude, "Everywhere..."  What we are doing is difficult to explain to someone who's never left the county in which they were born.  Even harder to explain is, "Why?"  Yesterday we stopped for fuel and beverages in Dexter, Missouri.  While we were in the store one of the ladies behind the counter noticed the Montana license plate on the bike and asked, "Did you ride that bike all the way from Montana?"  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she couldn't believe what she was witnessing.  "Sort of," I began my answer, "but it's a little more complicated than that.  First we went through Maine and Florida then we rode here."  She got a look on her face like I had just shoved a dog turd under her nose.  That look morphed into something along the lines of, "What a jerk!"  Then she turned around and ignored me for the rest of the time we were in there.  I don't know if she thought I was lying to her or if the thought of what I just told her blew a fuse in her brain.  She's not the only one...  Don't get me wrong.  A lot of the people we talk to are enthralled by what we are doing.  They want to hear everything.  Others are mildly amused (especially the ones that hang around long enough for us to tell them how we are homeless) but for the most part people just don't seem to be able to comprehend what we are doing.

We made pretty good time crossing Missouri on US Highway 60.  Missouri knows how a US Highway is supposed to work (are you listening FLORIDA??!!)  It's not quite the "Limited Access" afforded by Interstate Highways and the speed limits are a bit slower.  There are cross roads, road side businesses, and the very rare traffic light.  However, it's nothing like the stop-and-go, traffic-light-every-block, low-speed-limit garbage that is US Highway 1 though southern Florida or US Highway 319 along the Gulf Coast.  There should be a law...  If you have more than one traffic light for every 5 miles of roadway on a US Highway, you should lose all of your Federal Highway Funds, your borders should be walled off, and you should be used as a toxic waste dump.  Okay...  Maybe the last two might seem a bit extreme but when you're melting in the Florida sun because the US Highway you are on is thirty miles of six lane downtown streets you have a lot of time to think of things like this.

We're gonna chill out here for a day in Azle, Texas before moving on west.  Gotta get a day or so of rest before we strike out on our Bun Burner 1500 next week.  We're going from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Las Vegas, Nevada via Wyoming and Salt Lake City.

-Are We There Yet?

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