Dudley and Jennifer's 10,000 Mile Journey Blog

[Dudley]

D & J... Just got through looking at your albums on "Dudley & Jennifer's Most Excellent Adventure". I see Jen is busy on the back of the bike. Do you do any of the driving Jennifer? Do you guys have any type of comm. between the helmets? Unique hand signals?

Point and grunt and a couple of hand signals. Otherwise we yell above the wind and Spyder noise. And yes, it's good to be back West. Will be even better to be in the desert everyday. Soak in some of that "dry" heat!

[Rando]

Point and grunt and a couple of hand signals. Otherwise we yell above the wind and Spyder noise.

You would really enjoy having a SCALA bluetooth intercom!

[Kjen]

D & J... Just got through looking at your albums on "Dudley & Jennifer's Most Excellent Adventure". I see Jen is busy on the back of the bike. Do you do any of the driving Jennifer? Do you guys have any type of comm. between the helmets? Unique hand signals?

NOPE, haven't driven an inch, probably don't even remember how to turn it on! Very windy, sometimes a pain, but I don't mind being the passenger. No responsiblity and a 360 view cause I turn and wiggle around a lot. As for communication we've ridden together off/on due to kids for close to 29 years so point, grunt, thumbs and other gestures kind of habit. After this ride we sure don't need any helmet devices; kind of late for that! Really not much to talk about after a time. You see the weather, can imagine ones thoughts. Sometimes the mind wanders (gets lost and has to be corralled too) and I drift off to sleep. Hope Dudley doesn't do the same. If he has I haven't noticed and we are still rolling along. Still wearing a jacket and not quite warm yet. Wonderful to be "normal" time now. Shut down at 6 last night and bed by 10:30. Usually its hotel at 8 and bed after midnight.

[Kjen]

You would really enjoy having a SCALA bluetooth intercom!

Understood. Tried one in the parking lot meeting riders in MI and was cool. Kind of late for us now. Shouldn't be doing a trip this long again for a few years at least.

[q-brrr]

Thank you guys for all the pictures. My favorite from Glacier group was #48. The reflection on water was perfect. We are going to miss reading about your trip when you finally get home. Take another trip SOON!

[SpyderGirl]

Did I miss the link to the pictures somewhere?

Keep riding safe guys! Would love to say "hello" in person if you cruise by my way here in the bay area.

[madozier]

Did I miss the link to the pictures somewhere?

Keep riding safe guys! Would love to say "hello" in person if you cruise by my way here in the bay area.

Try this link it is KJEN's profile on the right you should see her photo albums.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/member.php?u=3878

[Kjen]

Thank you guys for all the pictures. My favorite from Glacier group was #48. The reflection on water was perfect. We are going to miss reading about your trip when you finally get home. Take another trip SOON!

Welllll, thank you much but, GO take your own trip, lol. Lots of fun, lots of memories, lots of money, lots of friends, lots of treesss.

[Kjen]

Did I miss the link to the pictures somewhere?

Keep riding safe guys! Would love to say "hello" in person if you cruise by my way here in the bay area.

Hi, saw someone sent you the link on my profile. There is also the ones on Dudleys profile. Those are since the beginning then we ran out of room (allowance) so I had to make some too.

[Kjen]

Made it to daughter #1s house; did 380 miles (hard miles) with nasty winds. NO rain but the promise sure was there. Clouds and sun and hills and water. Funny when we started along from Moses Lake going toward where the road would connect to take one to Mt Rainier it reminded me of Arizona (which I dearly love). Had to do with all the lava fields I would imagine. Didn't make it up to the top; too much cloud (fog) coverage and other riders commentaries; we met a few coming down from where we were headed.
Seemed like such a wasted day when we could have been warm and sitting in a nice house instead of meandering up a mountain full of tunnels of trees. Not that I minded, but umm, I've seen so many trees and mountains and water and......Every chance is a good excuse to ride for sure, but it was just over 60 degrees and the wind was terrible. We wore 2 jackets and toward the end we put on the Froggs; thankfully we never did get wet.
Can't do pictures tonight, will wait until Dudley plugs up my computer so I can put in the camera chip. This one is daughter Suzanne's computer. Trust me, the pictures from today have lots of fields, mountains, trees, clouds. All nice and worth seeing, but still............ Later, ya'll have a great evening. Not riding to SEE anything tomorrow, just staying still for a few days until we figure out what we want to do. Know its time to head for home because our nerves are beginning to wear and patience is a bit short on my part .

[glynnk]

Jen/Dudley---Ever since meeting you guys here in Houston to sign the banner, reading y'all's posts has become a nightly ritual for me. The pictures have added so much to the posts as well. When y'all get back home you're going to have a lot of disappointed fans not being able to read your daily adventures. Who knows how many other folks y'all have inspired to do something similar in the future. Jen, by the way, when did you graduate from Scott (Acadian) High School? I've got a neice that graduated from there in the 60's.

You guys have a wonderful stay with your family in Washington and have a safe ride home.

Glynn

[Dudley]

Jen/Dudley---Ever since meeting you guys here in Houston to sign the banner, reading y'all's posts has become a nightly ritual for me. The pictures have added so much to the posts as well. When y'all get back home you're going to have a lot of disappointed fans not being able to read your daily adventures. Who knows how many other folks y'all have inspired to do something similar in the future. Jen, by the way, when did you graduate from Scott (Acadian) High School? I've got a neice that graduated from there in the 60's.

You guys have a wonderful stay with your family in Washington and have a safe ride home.

Glynn

Hi Glynn, this is Jennifer on Dudleys name at the moment. I graduated from Acadiana High in 1976 ; I'm a bit younger than Dudley. Last name of Fontenot.

[Dudley]

Jennifer wrapped it all well again. I was just worn out when we got here. Disappointed about missing Mt Rainier, and all the extra driving for a bust. But, OH well, can't get it all. This is the first time, I think, we missed a point of interest. The weather has been almost perfect the whole trip, so for that we are thankful. Plan on meeting 2 Spyder ryders in the area before we leave for home, which will be Monday. With the Ft Lewis regs, I can't get on base with the Spyder...so, that's a bummer. Ryde safe, everyone.

[Don in E Texas]

..just wondering how many folks outside of LA and TX could pronounce "Fontenot".

Your travels/photo's, etc. have been viewed by a lot of folks - you have done a great job of showing your ride. Will make an interesting book (or two) once you return home and have time to rest.

Dudley's Avitar is priceless and should never be changed. All of us on the Forum will see his photo and be reminded of your great trip.

Only sad part --- you just don't seem to like trees......(we have 70 ac of forest land).

Ride safe and thanks for allowing us to come along on your journey.

don

[Dudley]

..just wondering how many folks outside of LA and TX could pronounce "Fontenot".

Your travels/photo's, etc. have been viewed by a lot of folks - you have done a great job of showing your ride. Will make an interesting book (or two) once you return home and have time to rest.

Dudley's Avitar is priceless and should never be changed. All of us on the Forum will see his photo and be reminded of your great trip.

Only sad part --- you just don't seem to like trees......(we have 70 ac of forest land).

Ride safe and thanks for allowing us to come along on your journey.

don

It's not that we don't like trees. They are beautiful in their own way. But for us, the desert scenery is home. This journey has been so wonderful, but it will be good to be home again.

[draboo]

Me and Ruby are giddy with anticipation for tommorow, Dudley.Really looking forward to meeting you and Jen.

[Kjen]

Spent the afternoon at Ft Lewis, WA with our girls today (2 daughters and 1 granddaughter). Nice just to sit and chat at random with no rushing about. Will show pics when I can get them up hopefully tomorrow. Looks like Dudley is set to plug mine up, who knows.
Not much of sun today but no rain . Nothing to report.

[Kjen]

..just wondering how many folks outside of LA and TX could pronounce "Fontenot".

Your travels/photo's, etc. have been viewed by a lot of folks - you have done a great job of showing your ride. Will make an interesting book (or two) once you return home and have time to rest.

Dudley's Avitar is priceless and should never be changed. All of us on the Forum will see his photo and be reminded of your great trip.

Only sad part --- you just don't seem to like trees......(we have 70 ac of forest land).

Ride safe and thanks for allowing us to come along on your journey.

don

Now Don, I didn't mean to give the wrong impression, I love trees, just in smaller quantities and further spaced out . Some time when I am working off of my computer I will put up a picture of our house area and its barreness (?). Wait, think the beginning photo of the trip shows some of that, not sure.
Anyway, bring on the trees, I'm not afraid.

[Kjen]

Just returned from meeting with Brad and Pat; Draboo I think, I'm not good at the screen name thing. Nice couple, she even got to drive! Usual comments and questions and stares going down the road. We had lovely weather to meet, I even got HOT. The sun shone, go figure. We talked a while in the parking lot, did the banner sign and picture and then went over to Wendy's to snack. Dudley and I are supposed to go to LaPalmera in a few hours so I hope there will still be time to get an appetite, sigh it was bad timing I shouldn't have eaten, lol.

[rubyredz]

We had a wonderful visit with Dudley and Jennifer this afternoon. Pics to follow.

[draboo]

Wonderful visit this afternoon. We had a great time.

[Big Arm]

Look bjt, ...... they unrolled the banner.....

[bjt]

[Dudley]

In a couple of hours or so, we will be leaving Seattle for home. Don't have anyone along I-5 that has expressed wanting to meet us and sign the banner, so unless we do, we are just going to ride home. Had to change both tail lights yesterday. That was a trip! With the I-7 GIVI bags set-up and the sport rack, it takes a lot of patience. BRP could have made it a bit easier by giving us more room to get to the bulb base to remove it without undoing any screws holding the lense. As it was, I could never find the second screw. Had to kind of twist the lense and have help to get the bulb base off. But, it's done...2 new bulbs. Got a 2-pack of 1157 bulbs from NAPA for less than $2...the OEM bulb is $12.95! I then decided to check the license plate bulb. It had a hole in it about the size of the tip of my pinky! So I changed it also. That was a lot easier than the others!

[Dudley]

We have stopped at Roseburg, OR for the evening...405 miles for the day. We were able to spend about 3 hours with our younger daughter and our granddaughter. Had a nice quiet time, and went to eat lunch. We left Seattle under dreary cloud cover, but no rain on us. Finely got sunshine just before Oregon state line. All in all, was a great day. Tomorrow we hope to leave a little earlier than usual and see how far we can go.
We had hoped to meet a Spyder Ryder from Lacey, WA, but couldn't connect.
If you have noticed, we have colored our last state traveled on this journey. In all, including, our home state of California, we have traveled into 34 states since June 21, 2009. Also traveled into were 3 Canadian Provinces.