My first blog entry in two days of riding. Shameful. (Eric)

This is now our fifth trip and it is great to be back near Utah. I shouldn't be confident, but we are starting to get this down. George is not afraid of the freeway and rides confidentally on it when necessary. We don't overpack and there is actually room in our saddlebags. We have the right bikes -- new R1200GS BMW's and they just purr along.
We stopped in Kingman AZ last night after a trip to the Hoover Dam. What impresses me about the people we have met is just how hard off people are around here. Arizona has eliminated health care for adults who are poor and don't have children. Kingman is very poor. I talked to a woman in K Mart who showed me where to find George's deodorant and back brace. Two jobs; take home income of about 17k; she doesn't have a doctor and would not know what to do if she had a medical problem.
The bright, friendly motel clerk. Four kids; cannot afford them and sleeping on her manager's coach. There may be another story here, but it was not obvious. It seems so clear and apparent to me on this trip how many people there are who just aren't making it and how many of them are working hard. Fifty million Americans who are "food insecure" -- they don't know where they are going to eat tomorrow; or if they are.
But these issues are not discussed out here. The airways are flooded with anti gun control ads -- those background checks are a clear violation of the Second Amendment. The billboards -- get an advance (at 25 percent interest) on your next pay check.
This horrific inequality is about to catch up with us. It is simply "unsustainable."
Sorry for the diversion. I am really enjoying this trip. I was last at the Grand Canyon in 1987 when a client who ran a school for emotionally disturbed kids took me on a parent child trip down the Colorado river for seven days. Great trip -- when the kids were not trying to throw their parents into the 45 degree water. I never thought I would like seeing it all from above but I could stay here for days. There is a terrific walk around the canyon rim and I caught it as the sun was setting.
Lots of good times with George as always, including jokes about our deteriorating bodies. We did a video work out at the work out room of the Quality Inn. I discovered I could not do jumping jacks! Knees are in really bad shape and hurt so much I sometimes feel like I am 80. I am going to have to look at surgery when I get back as the PT just is not doing it. I hear so many people who are happy with their new knees. I want two!! But I can't see putting Celia through a double knee replacement. It may so sound strange, but I am not the best patient.
So we are off into the really remote areas of Northeast AZ and then back into Utah, where we will end up retracing some of the routes from our first grand excursion. We have come far.
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