1 Year, 2 KLRs, and a whole lot of open road...: January 20th-21st, 2010 pt.2

Sundown. Not a fan of riding in the dark. We have 3 rules we try to follow when it comes to riding; it’s kept us in good shape thus far. Rule #1: Never ride at night. For obvious reasons. Rule #2: Never exceed the speed limit. Super annoying for people that have to follow us when we're on the freeway; some might even say it increases the risks for not going with the flow of traffic, but we prefer to have the ability to stop sooner than later by not exceeding the speed limit. It also promotes less wear on the bike. Rule #3: Don't keep a deadline. As soon as you start pushing for mileage, fatigue sets in and you become less aware of your surroundings. Besides, you miss out on a lot of things if you just blow by it. Where's the fun in that? The only exception to rule #3 is when you're in an urban setting. More street lights. More visibility. Less animals coming out of the woodwork. Boxermoose invited us over to his place in Houston, TX to spend a night or two. We pull into the driveway in the evening and receive a warm welcome from Boxermoose and his family out on his lawn. We step into their house and right away we notice a slew of Canadian paraphernalia all over. Now we've already established that Americans are nice and we've really appreciated everyone's hospitality, but this...this might be a tad over the top? We find out later they ARE Canadians. That explains everything.

Casa Boxermoose

Some members of the family

Boxermoose rode to Alaska on a previous trip with a few of his friends and gave us some tips on what to expect when we get there. Alaska...seems so far from now. I know for a fact that when we get there, I'll look back on today and think geez that went by so fast.

Getting spooked by Boxermoose's son. He had a lot of cool toys and costumes.

The next day Amanda and I explored Houston. I noticed the chain to my bike was a bit slack so I tightened it. Rode around the block to make sure everything was good and noticed a clicking noise coming from the chain. Too tight. I loosen it up a bit and the clicking noise was gone. I hope I didn't mess it up.

Our first stop was at The Menil Collection; an art gallery. I’m forgetting something; I know I did. Darn it! I forgot the camera back at the house. This is the only picture we got. The Health Museum was lots of fun.

Boxermoose and his wife decided to celebrate my birthday ahead of time and took us to Joe's Crab Shack in Kemah, TX. Once again I left the camera back at the house. We also had a chance to take a little stroll on Kemah Boardwalk to let our food digest. Texans sure know how to load up the plate!

This photo was taken back at the house. I was so full you can see my belly bursting at the seams. Wonder why I'm dressed up like a bird? Amanda managed to secretly inform the waiter that my birthday was coming up so at the end of our meal the waiter puts me on the spot and gets me to flap around the restaurant like a bird while everyone sang happy birthday. I hate being put on the spot!