Day 11 Del Rio - San Antonio (225 miles)

We went to the Alamo, rode one of the twisted Sisters (the best riding road in West Texas) and had a cup of coffee in Bandera, the Cowboy capital of the world. It was cold today, 55° to 60°, and a lot of tough riding along single lane highways so we were shattered by the time we arrived in San Antonio. This is all an excuse to say that I am uninspired today and will try to be more detailed tomorrow when we pass through Houston.

The journey is now blending one day to the next, more soon listeners..............

Day 10 Fort Stockton - Del Rio (210 miles)

Wow, what a day. I'm not quite sure where to begin; the fantastic riding road, passing through 2000 miles, Nutting riding his bike into the back of our gun range host's truck or shooting a 357 Magnum (probably the most powerful handgun in the world). Overall though, it was possibly the best day we've had so far. We set out from Fort Stockton on a wonderfully sweeping road and for 65 miles until Sanderson, we saw 4 cars pass us in the opposite direction and we passed no cars going the same direction as us. The key to today was to ensure we filled up with gas whenever we could because we didn't want to get stuck out here amongst the biggest ranches in the US. The King Ranch is supposedly the biggest at 1,000,000 acres with 5,000,000 head of cattle just to give you idea of the scale. We stopped briefly to photograph the moment we went through 2000 miles of road ridden, which is further than driving from London to Athens. Bow legs are about 1000 miles away!!

We arrived in Del Rio at lunchtime as Nutting had organised a meeting with our new best friend, Roger Litton. He is a 72 year old, walking, talking all American hero. A former pilot (although he does still sometimes fly for ranch owners) who parachutes, runs 2 miles every day and now wants to take up snow skiing. He is also the President of the Del Rio Gun Club and had invited us to share the range with him. We needed no second invitation, so we met up on the outskirts of town and after a brief introduction we agreed to follow him to the range. Halfway there Nutting is so busy looking at trucks the same size as a medium sized house, he has failed to notice that Roger has now stopped. He brakes too late, given that the bike is now laden down with about 3 tonnes of cowboy paraphenalia, and very gently slides into the back of Roger's truck. Fortunately there's no serious damage to either 'Nutting/Roy Rogers' or 'Trigger'. Roger is more concerned about Nutting more than his truck, Nutting is more concerned about 'Trigger' and I'm laughing so hard, I forgot to take a photo, dam!

A 357 Magnum on a Sunday in Texas. Does it get any better? We shot a few other hand guns, but we were only really there for the Magnum and it didn't disappoint. So, a little in there for everyone today and I didn't even go into the fact that the lovely Massimo finally got home safely after flight cancellations, Nutting's girlfriend quit her job and both my eldest son's front teeth have dropped out but most importantly it is my wife's birthday tomorrow and I'm not there to celebrate it with her, so Happy Birthday my darling and may the next 29 years be as kind to you as the first 29 xxxx!!!

Off to San Antonio and some civilisation tomorrow and hopefully less excitement! More soon listeners...............................

Day 9 Las Cruces - Fort Stockton (310 miles)

Well, here we are in the lone star state! Sunny Texas, which to be honest looks alot like New Mexico. Although as we left NM, I was riding behind the Nut adopting my huskey position, when I thought I could smell the consequences of the rather spicey Mexican meal we had last night coming from in front of me. The smell continued for about 3 miles before I was somewhat relieved when we saw the source. It shouldn't have been a surprise given where we were, but we then passed about 4 miles of nothing but dairy herds. I don't know how many head of cattle there were, but I'm guessing tens of thousands. America doesn't do small.

El Paso was a big disappointment so we drove on to Von Horn for lunch. Here we found Chuy's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the middle of a very depressing, essentially ghost town, but, as above, if all they sell is either diesel or fried chicken or maybe it's all in one meal, then frankly it doesn't stand much chance of survival. However, we did meet some other bikers that were interested to hear Nutting bang on about the trip and how he was a 'Vet' (soldier in the widest possible sense rather than an animal whisperer version) and on his way to Miami. They were charming and wanted a photo of us with them rather than the other way round for a change. There's still a strong bond between bikers and this was a good example. Good chat, a few laughs, some stories and a photo as evidence. As an example, we pulled up the other day for 5 mins to take a photo on the side of the Interstate and 3 different bikers stopped to ask if we were ok. Can you imagine a motorist doing that? I doubt it.

We arrived in Fort Stockton and having checked in to the absolutely NOT Quality Inn and worked out we had about an hour to have a look around this historical town before dinner. Once we did that, we tried to think of something else to do with the other 55mins that remained. I went out to call Karin and by the time I came back into the room, there was my travelling companion, who has now morphed into Roy Rogers, standing naked in the room with nothing but his gun belt, guns and stetson on. I've never seen the film, but I'm assuming there's a similar scene in Bareback Mountain or whatever it's called. I suspect I may find it difficult to sleep tonight.

Anway, after a delicious dinner at K Bobs tonight it's off to Del Rio tomorrow. Question is, do we go to church as it's Sunday or a Gun Range and shoot virtually every hand gun known to men? Tune in tomorrow listeners for the answer. More soon...............................

Day 8 Tuscon - Las Cruces (330 miles)

A number of firsts today:

1. Got caught in a dust storm in the desert - not very tasty

2. My first Taco Bell/KFC combo for lunch - absolutely disgusting

3. Riding a motorbike with 50mph cross winds - a little frightening

4. Seeing a grow man totally over excited about a cowboy town - completely hysterical

We decided fairly early on to take a 50 mile round trip to go and see Tombstone, the scene of the famous shootout at the OK Corral, as both Williams are big Cowboy fans. We were up at 6.30am and arrived at Tombstone at about 9am. Amongst other things, Americans really look after their heritage and are very proud of their comparatively short history and Tombstone is no exception. The main street is almost authentic and various members of the local community continue to walk around in period costume, which actually looked quite cool. Anyway, Nutting went completely Cowboy mad. First came the Stetson, closely followed by a tassled jacket, a belt and holsters, 2 x hand guns, bullets and at that point I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the shop before he bought a horse, ranch and some deputies. I have never seen a grown man get so excited about a period of history before. Nutting was running around photographing everything and everyone, telephoning people letting them know where he was and throwing money at anyone who had the word 'Authentic' in the title of the shop. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stay for the 2pm re-enactment of the gun fight, so at least it gives Nutting a reason to go back!

A long day in the saddle as we passed into New Mexico and proper Cowboy country, but what boring countryside. Impressive that it's so big and barren, but thank god for ipod! In these dust bowls, the wind picks up and gusts to the point where our bikes were at virtually 45%. To get a break, we'd pull up next door to 18 wheelers and just sit behind their rig for a restbite before pushing on. First of our 2 big days are now over, thank goodness. The fact that we have to fill up the hogs fairly frequently is no bad thing. We arrived in to Las Cruces, another a typical US border town, and checked in to the Pack 'em Inn or Squeeze 'em Inn or whatever it's called for another mediocre night's sleep. Nutting wants to have Mexican food tonight, only on the condition that I can leave the window open!!

Off to Fort Stockton tomorrow, another 300+ mile day, so better charge the ipod. More soon listeners........................

Day 7 Scottsdale - Tuscon (120 miles)

This trip is turning into a bit of a groundhog day:

• Wake up in a low budget hotel with a totally inappropriate name such as The Quality Inn. They should be sued under the trade descriptions act because there is nothing remotely quality about their Inn at all.
• Roll over and see Nutting squeezing himself into some ridiculously tight pair of underpants made by Calvin Klein I believe. Way too much detail first thing in the morning but it they can squeeze sausage meat into sausages, then nutting and his underpants shouldn't be as impossible as I first thought.
• Pack up our kit and head down for a complimentary "continental breakfast" which, without fail consists of; coffee, 2 eggs (your choice of cooking), sausage or bacon, some fried potato and a piece of orange for garnish. Why? How does a slice of orange enhance an already disappointing meal.
• Check out of reception, ask for directions, pack the bags onto the bikes, fill up with fuel, reset the milometer and head south through the desert again..............

The only difference to this morning was bidding a fond farewell to Massimo. A couple of times today I caught myself looking in the rear view mirror at missing the sight of the red barron flying up the freeway behind us, camera in hand taking video as he goes. So then it was just the 2 of us. The journey today was a short one on I10 to Tuscon, passing through more cowboy country. Dusty, windy and still very hot. We arrived in Tuscon, checked in to another budget hotel and then headed off to the Pima Air and Space Museum. On the way we passed the "Boneyard". This is where the US military send all planes going out of commission for 'regeration'. A truly amazing sight of row upon row of old military planes. We loved the museum, as you can see above, so much so that we completely forgot to have lunch. Maybe some of the people we've seen on this trip should take our lead!

Off for dinner and a movie tonight, before 2x 300+mile days on Friday and Saturday. That's 100 miles more than London to Edinburgh. Giddy up pardner!! Given the heat and current hard boiled egg situation, we're not particularly looking forward to the next couple of days as muchas we've enjoyed the recent ones. Still, onwards and upwards, or as they say at Pima, chocks away. Ground hog day #8, here we come. More soon listeners..........................

Day 6 Kingman - Scottsdale/Pheonix (215 miles)

There are a few things that I would like to highlight today:

1. Today is Veterens Day in the US and Remembrance Day in the UK, which brings into the focus why we're doing this trip. Not only for ourselves but also for our charity Help for Heroes. If you have already given, thank you. We are currently over £3000. For those that haven't donated yet, thank you in advance!

2. If anyone recommends a film called the Box, avoid it like the plague. Words cannot describe how bad it is.

3. If you ever find yourself in Wickenburg, Az, can I recommend you stop in at 'Nana's Coffee Shop' and ask for Kelsey (see Kelsey with the riders above). Not only is their banana cake to die for, there friendly and helpful service is worth the trip itself. Thanks Kelsey!!

4. The final and saddest news is that Massimo leaves us tomorrow (lucky b*stard) to head back to sunny Switzerland. Massimo has been a true friend to both Williams and an excellent travelling companion since we arrived in San Fran. Given that English isn't his mother tongue, he coped remarkably well with us both and was always full of energy and ideas, although not all of them great to be fair! He was also the trip's official photographer, so will miss him on many levels but as a genuine all round nice guy, Massimo is up there with the best. Safe trip back Mass and see you in a couple of weeks!

The day itself was fairly uneventful other than the fact that the temperature has now risen to 92 degrees, which is not great when the bike engine temperature is over 100°, so we are now all proud owners of 2 hard boiled eggs each, if you get my drift. We're out for a final supper with Massimo tonight and then off to Tuscon tomorrow with the hope that temperatures drop a little! More soon listeners.................................

Day 5 Las Vegas - Kingman (100 miles)

As we left Vegas I couldn't help but think, if we dropped a bomb on the place, we would reduce the obesity problem in the US by about 10%. Nutting didn't want to leave he felt so thin. Massimo ordered a bowl of fruit and the waitress paniced as no one had ordered that since 1998! I was standing in the breakfast queue at Starbucks at wanted to say to the couple in front of me; "not only do you not need breakfast, you stop eating all together for a month". Seriously though, and without turning this blog into a social commentry, America is turning into a parody of itself. The size of the food is in proportion to those eating it. The hotels in Vegas now actually provide electralised carts for people who are too fat to walk. They are currently running out of carts!

The neon lights behind us we headed to the Hoover Dam, which is an example of everything great about the US. We took a quick trip over the dam in a helicopter. A truly inspiring piece of engineering. Having seen every 'dam' souvenir there was, we left and headed to Kingman on Route 66. We arrived through the desert and found Big D's for lunch. The perfect burger and some very friendly waitresses (see above). Kingman was part of the inspiration behind the Disney film "Cars". Stuck in time architecturally, until you turn the corner and then there's just a long road of nothing but, no surprises, fast food restaurants!

Off to see a film tonight, once we worked out we lost an hour once we passed from Nevada to Arizona. Kingman is a dull place, trust me. Let's hope Phoenix is better tomorrow!! More soon........................

Tried to download a video for you all, just hope it works!!