Editor's Note: The following is the second of a three-part series chronicling Kyle Petty as he rides a motorcycle to the first four races of the season, with two scheduled trips to Phoenix in between. Part 2 sheds light on Ken Schrader's view as the two motored past the Rio Grande.
• Part 1: Petty on circuitous route via motorcycle to race sites

To ride nearly 3,000 miles across the United States in four days, as Kyle Petty and Ken Schrader did following the recent Daytona 500, bespeaks a true free spirit -- especially when you do it on motorcycles, as the two men did.

"Sometimes when you get in a place, like when we were riding along the Rio Grande, you can actually forget about some of the other stuff," Schrader said last weekend, in the garage area at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Like I told [Petty] when we stopped to take some pictures, 'What's wrong with us? We got busses and airplanes and a few bucks and these motorcycles -- why in the hell are we going to a Cup race every weekend?'

"And then I said, 'Oh, that's right -- that's how we got this stuff.' You know what I mean? I am just a huge, huge fan of this country because there are so many neat things here -- you just don't need to go out [of the country] to see other things."

For Petty, the trip was the first leg of a journey of about 7,000 miles over three weeks that would include 'cycle rides to the second through fourth venues of the season, plus two side trips to Phoenix, Ariz.

For Schrader, whose racing depth and exploits make him a true American hero to a range of people that eclipses those familiar with motorsports, the journey was more than just a chance to bury the bitter memory of a tire gone bad that cost the BAM Racing Dodge pilot a chance at his 24th Daytona 500.

It was a chance to see more of America for the guy who races in dozens and dozens of short track events on dirt and paved ovals in every corner of North America. And Schrader welcomed it. No, make that, he thrived on his first trip across virtually the entire country.

"That's it -- the wind in your face and the freedom and relaxation that people talk about, and just to get away and forget about all the stuff you shouldn't be forgetting about," Schrader said.

"When I went to Daytona [for Speedweeks], I didn't know if I was going or not, but as it kept getting closer, I kept making up my mind, and I bought a couple bags I needed."

Schrader has done parts of three of the 13 editions of Kyle Petty's Charity Ride Across America that have been held, typically riding Monday-Wednesday and "maybe some part of Thursday before I went racing over the weekend," Schrader said.

"Kyle had a half-[butted] route picked out, and Don Tilley told us a road he wanted us to take," Schrader said. "Kyle's [charity] ride, as organized as it is, is really fun. And it's unbelievable how neat it is and how good they pull it off.

"But shoving off with a couple bucks in your pocket and a credit card is kinda neat, too, because it's like, 'OK, when we get tired we're gonna stop -- we ain't got a clue.'

"It was a lot of fun and it was the first time [going cross-country]. Being on Kyle's ride, I'd left Fontana [Calif.] and got off [the ride] in St. Louis, before. But I can truly say [now] that I've rode across country. I didn't make it to L.A., but percentage-wise, it's almost there."

After initially discussing Daytona to California with Petty at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway test in January, Schrader opted to go only from Fontana, following the Auto Club 500, to Las Vegas.

Petty went with Schrader to Vegas and then detoured to Phoenix for the Victory Invitational, a charity golf tournament for the Victory Junction Gang Camp, before heading back to Vegas for last weekend's UAW-Dodge 400. Then it was back to Phoenix for two days of Sprint Cup testing before Petty headed on to Atlanta, site of this weekend's NASCAR tripleheader including Sunday's Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500.

Anyone who's ever been a kid in this country would imagine, on a trip like Petty and Schrader made, that you'd have to sit around at least one campfire on the way. (Continued)