Date: 24/07
City Modesto, California
Miles ridden: 135
Cumulative miles: 9371
It was time to leave Monterey and to go back to Modesto for my next physio session. The bike had a couple of more bags attached since we only had one bike and accumulated more stuff during our stay. Wombat and Val managed to reduce their luggage over the time, we only seem to be able to increase it 🙂
The way back was nice, particularly after we told the GPS to avoid highways. At one stage, it took us over a pass on a curvy road with a less than average surface and only so wide that 2 cars could just pass each other. We were hoping that the oncoming cars stuck to their lane when they came around the next corner. Did I mention that I’m a terrible pillion passenger?!? ….
After we survived the pass, we passed the Santa Luis Reservoir; we stopped there for a short while and had a look at the exhibition. We learned a bit about the California water schema. This allowed for most of the agriculture in California. The reservoir is also used for recreational purposes; the right picture shows some people at the beach – your screen is clean, the small dots on the picture are umbrellas.
We arrived in Modesto safely and arriving at the hotel was like Christmas. We got plenty of boxes with all the stuff that we had ordered before we left, none of the orders had been sent back, the staff in the Ramada Inn are just great.
The parcels contained both our helmets, my new motorcycle jacket, a replacement helmet camera and two safe pack nets. We tried all the new toys; Sigrid was happy particular with the build in sun visor. She was asking me to pose with all the gear on. What a great idea! Of course, it /was/ 100F outside. But I did, and after a while it got really hot on my feet, so I started to jump around.
I actually quite like the heat. In Modesto we had around 100F, which is 22F more than in Monterey. We noticed the change as soon we passed the mountain range. At this temperature we were looking forward to getting into the pool. With all the scars healed, I jumped into the pool. It felt great! It looks like the hand has improved heaps over the last couple of days, more movement and less swollen, only the up/down wrist movement is still restricted.
Date: 25/07
City: Modesto, California
Miles ridden: 10
Cumulative miles: 9381
This morning we went to the physio, and I got measured. Looks like my strength in the left hand is half way there, flexibility of the wrist is not there yet, the wrist is still just as swollen as it was the first time at the physio. Bummer! But the fingers and the back of the hand are nearly back to normal. I hope we get the swelling down in the next week. We also got Sigrids credit card back from Target. Did I mentioned that Sigrid noticed yesterday that she lost her card? *sigh* Enough said…… We needed new brackets to fit the communication equipment to our new helmet, which ordered a while ago and stored with my bike in the workshop. So we went back to pick them up. Chris – the mechanic – was just working on my bike, it was nearly finished. I was happy that the bracket for the side panniers had arrived, so he could replace everything and nothing had to be mailed later on. I was over the moon -but didn’t take any pictures … :/
Date: 26/07
City: Modesto, California
Miles ridden: 9
Cumulative miles: 9390
The next day I fitted the bracket for the communication equipment to the helmet. To do that you have to pull the helmet apart, which is not a problem. Putting is back together, however, is is :D.
Judy and Lou, friends of Sue and Bobs (the couple who invited us to stay with them for a couple of days) invited us for dinner. We had a lovely evening with great food and great conversation. We left quite late at night and we realised that we didn’t take any pictures again.
Date: 27/07 – 30/07
City: Modesto, California
Miles ridden: 29
Cumulative miles: 9419
Next day we went back to the physio, this time I remembered to take pictures. So there is Jolene and Lori, they don’t look tough, but they know where it hurts :D.
There was a new toy for me to use, a ‘dare you’ machine. I dare you to put your arm into this machine. It is a big squarish looking machine with sleeves hanging out. So I put the arm in, Lori closed the sleeve around my arm -was that to prevent the blood from spilling out too far when the arm comes off?! I just hoped that the machine wasn’t related to the fancy food disposer with the swirling blades. In the end it was much more pleasant than expected; the machine made warm beach sand swirl around the hand. During the next hour I went to the usual routines, which included pretending to pull a clutch and polishing the office interior. Lori promised, when I pass the test, I’m allowed to do the windows next time J
And I played with the ball. To get the swelling down, I tried that at every possible place, even in front of Target J
On our way back, we passed by the George Lucas plaza with a sculpture showing a scene out of George Lucas first movie, American Graffiti. George Lucas is from Modesto and the movie plays in Modesto as well.
By the time we left, the weather started to get warm again (around 100F), so we decided to get back to the motel and have our pool/hot tub session 🙂
A couple of days later we went back to Judy just to take some pictures. But before we started, I had to get my left motorcycle glove on, without a splint (previously I used Dirks glove, which was much thinner). It took a bit of effort but it worked in the end.
When we arrived at Judy’s and Lou’s house, we decided to take the picture first, otherwise we’ll forget again. It ended up that we started chatting again and Sigrid had a look at some computer issue. So we ended up having dinner together at a Mexican restaurant where Vally – their daughter – with her family joined us. It was once more a really enjoyable evening.
