Greetings from Austin, TX!

The short version is that the bike had a mechanical problem on Saturday about an hour out of San Antonio — it's fine, but I needed to order a couple of parts.  Due to the Memorial Day weekend, the BMW shop in San Antonio can't order the parts until tomorrow morning and thus they can't fix the bike until Wednesday morning.

Fortunately, my bestest friend from high school, Moni, lives in Austin, so I've been crashing with her and her husband, 2 cats, and 2 dogs.  I'm in seventh heaven — a few days off of the bike, tons of wireless internet access, animals to snuggle with, and time to catch up with Moni!

I was pretty grumpy on Saturday afternoon when this happened but I'm pretty OK with it now.  Things happen on the road and the bike will be OK and we'll be moving again shortly.  It also becam much easier to deal with these little monkey wrenches when Moni was able to get me a 90-minute massage with her masseuse this afternoon.  ;)

Here are a few photos of the trip so far.  I'm having a great time and have met some really neat people.  I can't believe I've only been on the road for 9 days and still have a month to go!

The Beemer shooting for stardom in Hollywood:

Posing with saguaros outside of Phoenix, AZ:

Riding along the Apache Trail with my Women on Wheels friend Jodie:

Gila National Forest, New Mexico:

The awesome road leading to/from Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico:

Camping at Balmorhea State Park in Texas:

Visiting the Hobby-Eberly telescope at McDonald Observatory in the Fort Davis mountains, Texas:

Texas bluebonnets:

And that's pretty much where I am.  :) The pics with Moni and her family are still on the camera, so you're safe (for now!) from photos with adorable cats and big floppy doggies.  

I'll update with some more pics again when I meet up with Peter in Florida.