EPILOUGE

EPILOUGE - July 6th, 2008

Hi Everyone,

A big thank you to all of you who read this blog and posted comments along the way. It was very helpful to know that there were people supporting us in this way.

I would also like to thank Karen, Shannon, Matt, Rory and little Findley for their support in this endeavor.

It was an incredible ride with lots of adventure and wonderful sights to see. Karen was a real trooper and we made a great team working together on routes, destinations, loading and unloading the bike, etc. Karen never once complained and in fact has exclaimed that this was one of the best vacations we have ever had! I’ll second that!

I remember feeling a bit apprehensive before leaving not knowing what to expect and how I would deal with the different cultures and people I would encounter along the way. It wasn’t long into the trip before I realized that my fears in this regard were unfounded and the only things I really had to worry about was keeping the bike upright and finding a place to sleep at the end of each day.

All the other travelers and locals I talked to throughout the trip were friendly, helpful and very interested in the ride that Karen and I were doing. There were a few times I got the comment “You’re a long way from home”, and at the time, we were!

Our favorite sights and areas were:

Southern Utah around Bryce, Capitol Reef and Moab.
Nashville
Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in N.C. and VA

Gettysburg, PA
Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Upper Peninsula, MI
Wall Drug, Deadwood, Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, all in SD.

I have already been asked if I would do it again. The answer is a resounding YES! Although, I would go to some different states further south like Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, etc. And, I would definitely return to Southern Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and South Dakota, among other places.

There is so much to see and do in the US! Get out there and hit the road!

Now, onto the statistics.

Total Miles Ridden: 9,204.5

Number of states visited (not counting WA): Dave - 21, Karen 12. We also were in the Canadian Provence of Ontario for 2 days.
Total Driving Time: 163 hours
Average Speed: 56.4
Number of Fill-ups: 67 – approx.
Total Gallons of Gas: 221 – approx.
Average Cost of Gallon of Gas: $3.95 – keep in mind that I started over a month ago and the price of gas kept going up while during the trip.
Total Cost for Gas: $905.00 - approx.

In regards to the stats for fuel, I use approximately because while the numbers are accurate, I did lose (only), a couple of receipts for fill-ups. The numbers you see above are the minimums.


The other numbers are directly from the GPS and those are accurate.

As regards to the Maximum Speed you seen in the picture, I forgot to tell the story about that earlier in the trip.

When I was going through Salt Lake City I stopped in at Honda World (http://www.hondaworldslc.com), a large Goldwing dealer and had them temporarily install a turbocharger on my bike.

I then went out to Bonneville Salt flats and ran several 2 mile time trials across the lake. It took nearly all of the 2 miles to get up to that max speed of 238 MPH and it took almost another 2 miles to come to a stop. That’s why I had to have new brakes and tires installed when I got to Chapel Hill, NC. My previous top speed on a motorcycle was 150MPH on the race track on my FZ1. Attaining a top speed of 238 MPH was a real thrill!

You’re probably thinking, “Where will Dave go next?” Stay tuned ‘cause I got the wanderlust bug now!!

Lastly, let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks again to everyone and have a wonderful summer!

Love,
Dave and Karen

Monday June 30 and Tuesday July 1

Hi everyone,

MONDAY

On Monday morning we left Billings by about 7:30AM and rode a straight line on I-90 headed to Coeur d'Alene. There was some pretty scenery on the way but it goes by quick at 80-MPH. Not much else to report on this leg of the trip.

We did stop in Wallace, ID and had a huckleberry shake and that was quite good. It was hot there, over 90, so it was a refreshing break. There is store in town that has a load of old coin operated games like pinball, some old slot machines, etc. Some date back to the 40's, If you're into any of that, it's a good place to stop.

We ended this day in Coeur d'Alene at 502 miles. It was hot but we gained an hour's time when we crossed the state line and into Pacific Daylight Time. That gave some extra time to relax before heading to dinner.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday we left town at 7:00AM to beat the heat we might encounter in Eastern Washington. After nearly 100 miles we stopped in Ritzville for breakfast at Perkins. We gassed up headed out to cross the Palouse.

For the last couple of days I was thinking that I really did not want to end the ride going all the way home on I-90 but there didn't seem to be a lot of variation to choose from. While we were riding I was looking at the GPS and saw Hwy 281 headed north into the town of Quincy.

That road would take us to Wenatchee and then onto Hwy 2, Stevens Pass. At least this way I could get one more twisty road before ending the trip.

With all of the riding I have done in Eastern Washington, I had never been through the town of Quincy. In the middle of town the hwy changes to 28 headed north to Wenatchee. It was a real nice road up to Rock Island Dam. Through east Wenatchee then onto Hwy 2 and up and over the pass.

As it turned out, it wasn't all that hot and by the time we got over the pass into western Washinton, it was very comfortable.

We made it a priority to stop at the hospital to visit Geneo and Heide before we pulled into our garage, ending our exciting and adventurous ride around the USA.

Read my last blog for this trip, EPILOGUE. I'll include my final thoughts about the trip and include some statistics about gas, mileages, etc.

Take care,

Dave and Karen

Sunday June 29

Hi everyone,

We were packing up our stuff and getting ready to leave Deadwood when we learned that our friend Geneo (58), suffered a major stroke early this morning. He was having emergency surgery to relieve the blood clot and we were told he might not make it through the surgery.

At that point we wanted to get home as quickly as possible so we scrapped the plan to go to Sturgis and to just get on I-90 and go as fast as we safely could to get home quickly. We were still about 1200 miles away.

We didn't want to miss Devil's Tower so we made a quick side trip there and went to the visitor center at the base of the tower. At our stop, Karen talked with Geneo's wife Heide and learned that Geneo made it out of the surgery and was doing well. However, at the time, there was no way to tell the extent of the damage that might have been caused by the stroke.

Karen and I decided that the best course of action was to still head home quickly but the pressure was off and we rode the remainder of the day until we arrived in Billings, MT. This day's mileage was about 425.

We were thinking about Geneo and Heide all day and were in constant contact with Heide throughout the day to keep updated on Geneo's condition.

On Monday the plan is to put in a long 500 mile day and get to Coeur d'Alene, ID. That way we will only have about 350 miles on Tuesday to ride to get home.

Dave and Karen

Saturday June, 28

Hi everyone,

This post is for Saturday. We have a layover day to explore the area.

Pictures for today are posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080629

We slept in this morning and finally got on the road about 11:00AM. We headed south out of Deadwood towards Custer. After about 45 miles we came across the Crazy Horse Memorial and we turned in to see what it was about.

Wow, what a project that is! We spent over an hour there and watched a movie about the man who started the "sculpture" back in about 1948. It is an amazing thing to see. It is much, much larger than Mt. Rushmore. So large in fact that all of the heads at Rushmore could fit into Crazy Horse's head alone. It was very interesting and informative to learn about the history of the memorial and to see how a moutain is carved up.

We left there and continued on the road all the way south to the end of the Wind Cave National Park. We encountered herds of Bison, Antelope, Prairie Dogs and Mule Deer. At the end of the road we turned around and rode it back north to get to Rushmore. By now it was late in the afternoon and the wind had been blowing hard all day! We got onto Hwy 16, the Iron Mountain Road. This is one of the twistiest roads I have ever been on. There were many 15MPH hair-pin turns, corkscrews turns where you feel like you're going down a drain and all the while you are climbing up or down a mountain pass. It was very challenging and a delight to ride!

At Rushmore, we spent about an hour walking around, viewing the sculptures and taking pictures. I lost my favorite hat there and was really bummed about that!

We got back on the road and headed back north to Deadwood. We arrived back at the hotel at 7:00PM and were really tired. We had to quickly clean up and walk the mile to town to eat some dinner. Although we only rode 180 miles for the day, it was a very full day of sight seeing and well worth the effort.

Sunday we are going to go to Sturgis for breakfast and then head out on a back road to go see the Devil's Tower in Wyoming before hitting I-90 west.

Friday June 27

Pictures for today are posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/FridayJune28

and here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080627

Hi everyone,

There was a huge thunder storm that woke us up about 3:30 this morning. I was nervous about this activity and what we might encounter on our ride today. However, when we got up from our 6:30 wake up call, it was dry and mostly clear. We gassed up and hit I-90 before 8:00AM today.

We rode for many hours and for quite awhile we dodged the rain clouds we saw all around us. However our luck ran out and we ran into moderate rain for about 30 minutes. We finally got to an off ramp in Chamberlain, SD and donned our rain gear once again. We waited a few mintues as the rain abated some. We took off and crossed Lake Francis Case on the Missouri River. In just a few miles we got off the freeway to get some breakfast at Al's Oasis in Oacama, SD . The food was really good and we got into a conversation with a couple of guys from New Jersey who had never been out west before. It was interesting to hear their experiences of seeing the vast open lands in SD, etc.

We had a good breakfast and as I was checking the bill before paying I realized that the price of the coffee was only a nickel! That was cool!

Also, we started seeing signs for Wall Drug in MN, at least 300 miles before reaching the town of Wall.

We left our rain suits on when we left the Oasis but as luck would have it, it never rained again and we drove into clear blue skies across SD. After a short while, we stopped and removed the rain grear once again.

The 30 minutes of rain on this day is the only bad weather we will have had for over 4,000 miles of travel on the motorcycle. What luck!

The wind was extremely violent and relentless today and it was a long, tough ride due to the high speeds and dodging the semis. The wind was blowing the prairie grass and it looked like waves on the ocean. Everything is green and lush. I had no idea that SD looked like this!

Finally, we started seeing signs for the Badlands. We exited and rode to the park entrance and paid the $10 to ride the loop road.

The Badlands are badddasss!! Wow!! Beautiful!!

We finished the loop and rode into Wall to see Wall Drug. We had our $.05 coffee and a fresh made $1 donut before walking around the entire series of stores. What a place that is!

Once again we jumped on I-90 and headed towards Rapid City, Sturgis and Deadwood beyond. The ride from Sturgis to Deadwood is a very nice and twisty canyon road that climbs some elevation to the town of Deadwood.

After checking in and getting to our room, we quickly cleaned up and walked the mile or so into town for dinner. We had heard about the restaurant called Jakes which is owned by Kevin Costner. We had dinner there both having the filet mignon. It was very good and the restaurant is the only 4 star in the town. Afterwards, we gambled all of $20 in his casino, quickly losing it in a slot machine.

We walked back through town and to our hotel where we finally got to bed at about 10:00PM. That was a long day!

Dave and Karen

Thursday June 26

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not having made posts for the last several days. We have been running long and hard the last 4 days. When we finally do get into our room at night, it is too late to start being creative, writing, posting pictures, etc.

However, I am writing this recap on Sunday night so I will try and touch on the highlights since last Thursday.

For Thursday June, 26 -

We rode into Oshkosh late in the day and got a room at a crummy Travelodge and made arrangements for a 6:30AM wake up call.

I did the route for the next day letting the GPS software auto-route the ride to Sioux Falls. While I was reviewing the route that the GPS created, I saw some nice secondary roads just south of I-90 so I re-routed as much of the ride as I could to these other roads. The result was that we were able to travel 170 miles on back roads through very scenic farm and ranch land, small towns and the crossing of the Mississippi River before getting onto I-90 for the remaining 300 miles to Sioux Falls.

Once we got onto I-90, it was real fast and kinda boring. We did run into a few drizzles on the way and I thought we would hit some rain so we pulled into a gas station and donned our rain- gear, as you can see in the picture. Of course, it never rained and we boiled in these suits for over an hour before stopping in Blue Earth, MN to take them off and cool down with a Dairy Queen ice creme cone. The Jolly Green Giant lives in Blue Earth and stands right next to the DQ we happened on.

We rolled into Sioux Falls about 6:00pm and checked into our room.

While we were checking in we met another couple, Joe and Jan who were riding a triked Goldwing, the same year as ours. We invited them to join us for dinner and we went to a closeby place where I had a nice fried chicken dinner. Joe and Jan had been on an extended ride out to California and were returning to their home in Minnesota. They were very nice and it was a nice break to have company for dinner.

We retired for the night and got back on the road early the next day, heading for the Badlands and Deadwood.

Pictures from today are posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080626Thursday

Dave and Karen

She made me do it!

Wednesday June, 25th.

Total trip mileage is 6950.

Karen wanted a long, hard ride today. So, I strapped on my helmet and did my best. We ended the day in Oshkosh, WI, 540 miles from our starting point of Sudbury, Ontario. It was a very long day but the ride turned out to be more scenic than I thought it would be.

We left Sudbury about 7:40AM and headed east. We rode along Georgian Bay on Lake Huron and stopped for breakfast in a town called Bruce Mines, located on Lake Huron. Bruce Mines gets its name from the fact that that this is the location of the first copper mine in Canada.

We continued on to Sault St. Marie and crossed the large International Bridge and back into the US. This bridge crosses where Lake Superior and Lake Huron connect. It is a very tall bridge! We turned west right after crossing and later found ourselves riding through Hiawatha National Forrest. We are in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP), looking at Lake Michigan to our left. We follow the shore line, although it looks more like a coast line due to the size of the lake, for many, many miles. The UP is densely wooded and dotted with lots of lakes, rivers and streams. It is a wild and beautiful area.

After many hours, we finally cross into Wisconsin. We are still riding the shore of Lake Michigan as we head south towards Green Bay. We want to make Oshkosh because it is near the connecting roads that will get us to I-90 for the next day’s ride to Sioux Falls, SD.

It is rush hour now and riding through Green Bay, Appleton and Neehna is trying. The drivers tailgate each other at 70 miles an hour and it is scary to watch. We finally make it to Oshkosh and find a Travelodge to spend the night in. We decided that we would start getting an earlier start in the mornings so we arrange for a 6:30AM wakeup call. That call is coming soon so we get to bed and fall asleep at an early hour.

Dave and Karen

Still heading north!

June 24th.

I mistakenly told you yesterday the trip mileage was 6500 and in reality it was 6000. With today’s miles, the trip total is 6350.

Here are the photos we took yesterday, in and around Niagara Falls. http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080623

I’ll get you caught up on the last few days.

On Sunday we left our hotel in Hershey, PA and went to Hershey’s Chocolate World. It is a giant retail outlet where you can buy anything and everything related to Hershey Chocolate. In addition, there are some small attractions and we took in a couple of them. One was a 3D movie/live actor presentation that was very entertaining and fun to see. The million and one kids that were there especially loved it. We also took the simulated people mover factory tour. It explained all about how Mr. Hershey invented chocolate and revolutionized the candy making process. We ate a bunch of samples then hit the road to Niagara Falls.

We rode through the remainder of PA in Dutch Country then entered the hill country which brought us to the New York State line. At about 7:00PM, we arrived in Niagara Falls. We made a big mistake and stayed on the US side of the falls. Canada is where you want to be. That’s where all the views and attractions are. However, on Monday we took a 8 hour tour on a bus and visited all the major attractions in the area. It was a long day but we took in quite a bit of the area. It was fun and enlightening.

This morning we left Niagara Falls and headed north. We wanted to see some of Canada and the lakes region so we headed up to Sudbury, Ontario. We arrived at about 5:00PM and had to scurry around for a room. We found one at a Holiday Inn in the center of town, I think. Anyway, we are getting ready to go to eat dinner.

Karen has done a stellar job of taking pictures from the bike and she has a few that we’ll post later tonight.

Tomorrow we are truly heading west and going to shoot for Green Bay, WI. It’s a far piece but we want to start making some good distance west so we can spend a couple of day in South Dakota exploring the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, etc. The next few days are going to be pretty bland so I unless there is something extra odinary to report, I may not post until we get to SD.

Take care,

Dave and Karen

Almost over the falls...

Hi everyone,

As it turned out, it wasn't a rubber suit and it wasn't a plastic barrel. Instead it was a cheesy blue poncho and a wooden barrel, just like in the old days!

Here are the photos from yesterday in Hershey, PA and last night after we arrived in Niagara Falls:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080622

I will post the photos from today, later.

Tomorrow we head north into Canada.

Dave and Karen

Over the falls!

Total trip mileage is 6500.

We hit a major milestone yesterday when we arrived in Niagara Falls at about 7:00pm last night.

I don't have time to write a full recap of yesterday's ride because I have signed up for an excursion where I can do a barrel ride over the falls. It starts in an hour so I have to get ready. Basically, you take a boat ride to near the edge of the falls and get in a large heavy duty plastic barrel and they send you over the Horseshoe Falls. There's another boat that picks you up downstream. Karen was against this but I convinced her it was very safe because I am strapped into the barrel and also have an oxygen tank to breath with. The prep takes longer than the fall in the water but it is still a couple hundred feet to fall. They will be taking a video of me going over the falls and if I can post it here, I will. Gotta go and get my rubber suit on. More later.

Dave

Meandering is an understatement

Hi Everyone,

Total trip mileage is 5700. Today's miles were about 250.

You might think we don't want to go home. That's what I was thinking as we were driving over 150 miles east!. Karen had a desire to visit Hershey, PA. Well, since Gettyburg is on the way and Intercourse, PA is only a litte bit further east, that's we did.

We left Front Royal a tad after 9:00AM and headed northeast. We were on a secondary road and about 2 hours after our start we landed at the Gettysburg National Military Park. It was warm so we took off our motorcycle outer wear and locked it to the bike. It was very busy there but it is Saturday and the weather was warm and wonderful. We had an early lunch in the cafeteria then looked into our options for touring the battlefield. We decied to walk as the tour buses were sold out and took more time than we thought we wanted to spend there.

I found the experience of walking on these grounds suprisingly emotional. Even though it was a long time ago, I thought about the carnage, suffering and death that occured on this major battleground. Gettysburg was the furthest north the Confederate army was able to pentrate before being pushed back in a battle that raged for many days. At the end of the first day of the battle, the fields were littered with over 8,000 wounded, dead and captured soldiers. It was enlightening and very interesting. If you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit here. Take a tour bus though. We only covered a very small area of the 26 miles of road that meanders through the park.

After leaving the park and we rode through the town of Gettysburg and found it to be a cute, busy and engaging tourist trap. Escaping the traffic and we headed east to Lancaster, PA and Intercourse, PA, beyond.

It was late last night when I programmed the GPS and had routed us through the middle of the city of Lancaster. What we found was a scene that was quite interesting. We came upon many blocks of row houses. People were sitting on their "stoops" visiting with neighbors, etc. There were many shops, stores and restaurants in these neighborhoods. It was something that I had only previously seen in old movies that might have taken place in some borough in New York or some place like that. But here we were riding right through the middle of these people's lives.

After sloughing our way through Lancaster we finally found the countryside we were looking for. The closer we got to Intercourse the more scenic it became. The farms are large and the buildings are all well kept. We saw Amish in their horse-drawn buggies and Menonites peddling bicycles. That part was really cool to see. The countryside is beautiful. We continued east for awhile then turned north and finally west towards Hershey.

Fortunately, we had made reservations at the Comfort Inn in Hershey and rolled into the parking lot at about 6:00PM. The rooms are expensive here but that's because of Hershey Park and Chocolate Town.

Tomorrow morning we are going to visit Chocolate Town and ride through the small downtown area of Hershey before heading north. We will try to make Niagara Falls tomorrow but it's at least an 8 hour ride so I am not sure we will make it tomorrow. Whenever we do get there, we would like to have a layover day there and spend some time looking around the town and of course the falls.

Take care,

Dave and Karen

Deer, Bear and Snakes, oh my!

This is for yesterday, June 20. Total trip mileage, about 5450.

Photos for today are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080620

The hotel in Roanoke is situated next to the Roanoke airport and Karen thought for just a second about the idea of taking a plane home, instead of the bike. Actually, she never really considered it at all, but I did!

We got on the road at about 8:15 and headed north out of town to catch the next entrance to the BRP. We had just a short distance to go and once we got back on the Parkway we felt we were home again. It seems like no matter where you enter the Parkway, the road quickly climbs to elevation. The views are always spectacular and at the same time a bit intimidating when rounding curves on the bike, seeing just empty space with no barrier between you and the valley far below.

The Parkway is pristine. It is well maintained and the road surface is very good most of the time. The best part is there is little to no traffic and we pretty much had the road to ourselves most all of the time. However, riding the Parkway requires a great deal of effort and concentration. While you might think this is what we motorcyclists live for, you would be mostly correct, but after nearly 600 miles of this type of riding, it takes its toll on the body and the brain. The curves only stop when you are off the bike resting or refueling.

After a while, we crossed the state line into Virginia. Not much changed but we started seeing a whole bunch more deer right away and the trees on each side of the highway formed a canopy over the road. Karen took lots of pictures while rocking out to Led Zeplin’s Stairway to heaven. This section and Skyline Drive were teeming with deer.

We took a side trip to visit the Natural Bridge in VA. This is designated as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. You can read about it here: http://www.naturalbridgeva.com/. We walked down 137 steps then took a path to the bridge. When I came around the corner and saw it for the first time, I was amazed at how large it really is. It rises higher than Niagara Falls! We walked the remainder of the path and saw some scaly creatures sunning themselves on a rock wall that bordered the path. We also looked into the Saltpeter cave and thought about how inventive people are to be able to take bird and bat crap and make gunpowder. We spent at least a couple of hours there then hit the road again.


I opted to take a nice secondary road, Hwy 501 north for a ways then took a jog back onto the BRP. At Rockfish gap, the BRP ends and Skyline Drive begins. The Shenandoah National Forest begins here also and continues for just over 100 miles where it terminates at the town of Front Royal. A highlight of this part of the Drive was that Karen saw a black bear eating foliage on the side of the road but the bummer was, the camera wasn’t out.

We completed the Drive and stayed the night in Front Royal arriving too late to get a room in our favorite motel chain and had to resort to staying in a Super 8 motel, much to Karen’s intense dislike of this type of accommodations. We found the Mountain Soul BBQ joint nearby and enjoyed some very good pork and chicken BBQ. We then walked to the center of town and were entertained by an orchestral concert in the park. It was quaint and very small town sort of thing you only imagine. Remind me to tell you about the “frozen custard”.

We walked back to the motel where we fell into bed and that ended the day.

June 21 - heading for the chocolate

Hi everyone,

It was too late last night to write the blog so I will post it tonight with pictures. We had a long riding day, in hours, yesterday and we visited the Natural Bridge in VA.

Today we are going to Gettysburg, Intercourse and Hershey, PA where we are spending the night. We'll be up to our ears in chocloate!

More later

Dave and Karen

June 19th to VA.

June 19, Riding Day 15 – Total Trip Mileage is 5237. Today’s mileage is about 225.

We got a late start from Boone and stopped at a Bank of America to get some cash on the way out of town. I second guessed my own GPS programming and we missed going to the Mast General Store in Boone. It was opened sometime in the late 1800’s. Traffic is heavy in that town and I wasn’t about to go backward to get to the store.

We got on the road and headed south to Blowing Rock. It is both a town and an attraction of the same name. The town is small but quaint and upscale. Many of the homes in the surrounding area are worth well over a million dollars. They are really nice! We stopped for coffee at a small shop and sat for a bit in the patio that fronts the main street. Not really much going on in town. We got up and walked the other side of the street the 3 blocks back to the where the bike was parked. I pulled into an adjacent Exxon gas station and filled up the bike. There was a deli in the station so we ordered deli sandwiches to go figuring we would stop somewhere on the parkway and have a picnic lunch.

We got on the road for a very brief few miles before we turned off to go see the actual “Blowing Rock”. If you want to read the legend, go here: http://theblowingrock.com/ . It turned out to be a privately run attraction that was mildly interesting. The views were killer though. Look at the pictures and you’ll see why. It cost $6.00 each to get in so we stayed as long as we could to get our money’s worth, about 15 minutes is all it took as there is not much to see.

We took off and headed south again to a road that I had picked out the night before that looked interesting. This was Hwy 182 and I call it the Yadkin Valley River Road. It starts out somewhat tight and twisty and after about halfway it opens up to a nice 2 lane country road with broad sweepers and beautiful farm lands. We stopped at a park on the Yadkin River and had our picnic lunch. The weather was very good today, in the mid to high 70’s. It was very pleasant at the lake and after our repast we got back on the road to Wilkesboro where we turned north then west then north again. I hit another secondary road, Hwy 16 and it was a very nice 2 lane motorcycle road that wound its way up the side of a mountain and eventually dumped us back onto the BRP.

View today's photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080619

By now it was way after 1:00PM and we hadn’t even gone 100 miles yet! We stayed on the parkway except for one gas and one pit stop. We crossed the state line into Virginia, and I was unaware of this as I missed the welcome sign. We saw a lot of deer on or near the road and I had to pay close attention to this little fact.
Since towns along this stretch of the parkway are very limited, we decided to go all the way to Roanoke, VA. We rolled in at 5:00PM and the temperature was 82 degrees. We secured a room near the airport, got situated, ate dinner for free at Applebee’s and here I am, writing this at 9:15PM.

Yesterday's Ride, June 18

Yesterday’s Ride, Wednesday June 18th. Mileage for the day, 210.

We hit the road about 9:15 and headed west (not south as I stated the day before), for about 6 miles and entered The Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), at last. I for one was immediately impressed by the quality of the road and the beautifully manicured grass on both sides of the road. We quickly ascended to an elevation over 5,000 feet. Once you are on the parkway, it is all at elevation and you are always looking way down on one side of the road or the other.

The weather was perfect albeit just a tad cool. As we climbed, the temp dropped but it never became necessary to add any clothing. The first stop we made was at the Yellow Face overlook, at an elevation of over 6,000 feet. The parkway has numerous overlooks that are right off the road with easy off/on access. You can pull over anywhere and see incredible views of the forests below. The woods are very thick, dense, green and wild. The mountains are truly smoky, as the name implies.

A bit later we stopped at Pisgah Mountain Inn. I had a bad cup of coffee and we talked with another couple, from Montreal, who were biking as well. We knew that later in the day we would have to get off the parkway due to a road closure. The man we talked with told us about a different route to get around the detour, one that included a very tight and twisty road that we eventually took to get us back on the parkway.

As we approached Ashville, we had to get on I-40 eastbound, as part of the detour. This was my 3rd time on this stretch of I-40! We stopped in a small town and had a late breakfast at a Denny’s and also gassed up the bike. We took off and once more humped over Black Mountain to an exit that would take us to Hwy 80, the twisty road that the other biker guy told us about. After doing a couple of DUT’s (Dave U-Turns), we found Hwy 80. It turned out to be extremely tight and twisty, in fact a bit too much as there were a number of turns that I had to make in 1st gear! That is tight! At the same time, the road is steeply inclined to add to the excitement. It’s tough on a 2-up, fully loaded Goldwing to push it through corners like that, one after another. Anyway, we finally made it back onto the parkway and continued north.

We stopped at Linville Falls and walked the 1 mile trail to the top. We took pictures, took in the views and started down. We stopped at another lookout and did the same thing there. We headed down, got ourselves loaded on the bike and headed out.

There weren’t a lot of choices as far as towns and places to stay so we decided to go all the way to Boone, NC. We arrived after 6:00PM and secured the last room (handicapped; they always save those for the last of the day), and went to dinner at a diner right next door to where we were staying. It was a short mileage day but a long one nonetheless.

June 18 BRP, finally!

Total trip mileage is 5011 miles. Whoo hoo!

Hey everyone,

It's too late to write a blog tonight but here are the pics from today. I'll caption them later.

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/June18

We had an awesome day on the BRP and there is more to come tomorrow.

I'll fill in the details at the end of the day tomorrow, if I have the time.

Take care,

Dave and Karen

Near disaster avoided

The top photo is Maggie Valley looking East just before dusk.

The other is the BBQ diner in Mocksville, NC.

June 17 – Riding Day 13

Total trip mileage is - 4810.

Photos from our visit with Allan and Barb and photos from the ride today are located here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080617Day13


Last Friday was the 13th and at the time I was glad I wasn’t riding on the “bad luck” day of the year. However, today was our 13th riding day and we did run into some bad luck. I’ll start by saying it could have been much worse so we are lucky on the account that nothing horrible happened.


As a quick forward to what you are about to read, last week I had a major service performed on the bike plus new front brakes and both tires replaced.


We started out from my brother’s house just minutes after 8:00AM, as planned. I elected to take a secondary highway south of I-40 and I am glad I did. After about an hour of riding I started hearing a noise from the front of the bike, around the front tire. At first it was a light clicking and soon turned into a louder thumping noise. I pulled into a fast food restaurant parking lot and checked the front of the bike. I found the front fender was loose because the mechanic had installed the wrong size bolt into one of the bolt holes that hold the fender on. I fixed this and took off but soon the noise got worse and I pulled off again, this time in a town called Ashboro, NC.


I looked the front of the bike over again and then tilted the front tire to the right so I could get a good look at the left side. I saw right away that the lower bolt that holds the brake caliper on had worked itself loose and was gone. The brake caliper was hanging from the upper bolt only. The mechanic obviously forgot to torque the bolt to proper spec and it fell out! This could have been a very dangerous situation and luckily nothing real bad happened. To now make a long story shorter, I located a Honda dealer about a mile from our location and after about a 2 hour delay we were on the road again.


I would like to publicly thank Cycle Center in Ashboro, NC for going above and beyond in excellent customer service and getting us back on the road in very short order.


We continued on our journey and stopped in Mocksville, NC for a great BBQ sandwich lunch in a small local restaurant. Check out the photos of this and the town.


We then finally had to confront I-40 again and headed west until the exit for Maggie Valley. We arrived at about 4:00PM and all is good. Good that is except for the fact that the 2 hour delay prevented us from visiting the Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum, once again. Oh well, I will have to visit them in Prescott, AZ once they get situated there next year.

The weather today was perfect! It was a warm but not hot. It is sunny and almost no humidity. It is cooling down a bit and as we will be in the mountains tomorrow, it should be very pleasant.


Tomorrow, we ride a bit south then enter the Blue Ridge Parkway heading north. We are stating at the very bottom of the Parkway and will ride it all the way to Front Royal, VA, where it ends. The day's activities include a hike at a place called Linville Falls and then end our day in Boone, NC. This will be a short riding day and we plan on taking our time and fully enjoy all the area has to offer.


Take care,
Dave and Karen

On the road again... music please.

Where's Willie Nelson when you need him.

Hi Everyone,

We have had a very relaxing time over the last 5 days with Allan and Barb, and have very much enjoyed our time here. It was especially helpful to me and gave me the break I needed so I could rest, visit and eat lots of good food. We also were able to visit with our nephew Adam and his bride Kathleen, on father's day.

Tomorrow bright and early I along with my beautiful, sexy motorcycle grandma start part 2 of our trip back home. We plan on heading out about 8:00AM and ride west back to Maggie Valley for tomorrow night. It will be a short riding day (about 260 miles), but will position us just a short distance from the southern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP).

Wheels Through Time, located in Maggie Valley, is an antique motorcycle and automobile museum located about 1/2 mile from the motel we will be staying in.

From their website:
A consummate collection of over 250 rare antique American Motorcycles and Automobiles. Equally as astounding is the memorabilia collection that unites the "art of the motorcycle" with the generation of Americans that enjoyed a lifestyle peculiar to the "American Mainstream."

I hope we will have time to visit this museum once we arrive in Maggie Valley as they are moving the entire operation at the end of this year to Prescott, AZ.

We'll start posting pictures when we get some new ones to show you.

Take care,

Dave and Karen

Yeah! Chapel Hill!!

Hi Everyone,

Total trip milegae is 4553. Thursday's mileage was about 260.

Well, I made it to Allan and Barb's house by about 2:30 in the afternoon, yesterday. After having a cool drink, Allan and I unloaded the bike and I once again climbed on board and followed Allan to Triangle Cycles to drop her off for new shoes, binders and fluids.

Allan and I then went to a local coffee shop where we ran into one of Allan's neighbor's. We sat and chatted for awhile and then headed back to the house so I could clean up and change into shorts.

It is real hot here with high temps, high humidity and massive amounts of smoke in the air from a wildfire some 100 miles to the east.

After awhile, Barb got home from work and we went out for Mexican food, came back to the house, waited awhile then headed off to the airport to pickup Karen. Her flight was on time and it was great to be reunited with her. We grabbed some food for her at a local watering hole then went home to bed as it had been a long day for both of us.

Today, Friday the 13th, is laundry day as well as starting to sort through all of our stuff and deciding what to bring along for the return trip and what stuff to ship home. Also, once I get the bike back, I have a couple of minor repairs to make plus clean her up for the next part of the adventure.

No pics today as it was pretty much a straight shot on I-40 all day. The good news is, it was dry and warm, whoo hoo!

Take care,
Dave

Supplemental - June 12

Hi everyone,

Pictures from the last couple of days are posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080611

It is 7:45AM EST and I am getting ready to leave for Chapel Hill. I have to make time today to get the bike into the shop for service and tires. That means I have to take I-40, again. Ugh!

It's about 260 miles from Maggie Valley so it will take me that better part of the day to get to Allan and Barb's house. There I will unload the bike and ride it to the dealership.

Karen arrives tonight and I miss her a great deal so it will be good to see her and start planning our route back home.

More later.

Take care,
Dave

Heaven and Hell - part of the adventure

June 11.

Total trip mileage is 4296.

Let’s start at 3:15AM back at the “resort”. I mean the Punkin Motorcycle Campground and Resort. It’s 3:15 in the morning and one of the 6 or 8 dogs that are resident here decided to come to my cabin and start a bark fest. I shooed him away and he meandered to the other end of the compound and is barking over there. Then, he comes back. Ok, I break out the earplugs and sleep off and on until after 8 in the morning. I pack up, anxious to hit the “Tail of the Dragon”.

The roads around here are built for motorcycling. Beautiful surfaces, perfect cambers and lots of twists and turns make these very desirable for riding. I pass the Punkin store that I stopped at last night knowing that in just a few miles from here, I’ll be in the Gap (Deal’s Gap) and am excited at this prospect. I do stop a couple of times to snap some photos of the lake and dam on my right side.

Then all of a sudden, I realize I have arrived. I yell to myself, “I’m on the Tail, I’m in the Gap!!” I take my time as the road becomes more technical with sharper and more frequent twists and turns. It starts getting really tight but there is a large mower somewhere ahead of me and has churned all sorts of grass and other debris onto the roadway. I am grinning and anxious to find some clear roadway. Some of the curves are hairpins and others are less severe but all of them are challenging. I finally pass the mower and get a clean road. I add a bit of throttle through the turns but am wary because of not being familiar with the road. The camber is perfect and the 20MPH hairpins dip and angle as I power through each of them. Then, it’s over. I see the Welcome to North Carolina and realize that I just finished “The Dragon”. I pull over and snap some pics. I wait for a few minutes and remount, turn around and start my second run.
This time, I press it harder, but safely :). There is no debris on this side of the road so it is easier to push harder through the turns. I am sweating profusely due to the heat and my nerves. I concentrate and fall back on my track training; brake hard, downshift and throttle through the turn. It works well and I am having a blast. I finally reach the turnaround point and stop for a breather. There are a dozen or more bikes at the overlook and I start a conversation with a local couple who ride Kawasaki’s; she a 750 and he a Z1000, orange of course. After I snap some pics I mount up, turn around and start my 3rd run on the Dragon.

Same debris on the roadway and more cars now as I reach the end of my run and this time keep going until I run into Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort. I stop, buy coffee, a hat and a Tshirt. I am now complete.

After awhile, I ride onto Bryson City about 40 miles to the southeast. I stop for lunch and have a nice blackened tuna and rice meal with more coffee. I want to ride through The Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I ride through the town of Cherokee where I see Native Americans with full headdress banging drums and chanting while tourists watch. There are many Indians with headdresses hawking something for sale. I finally enter the park and get in line with all the cars going from one end to the other. I am patient and am enjoying the scenery. Beautiful forest, streams and smoky mountains in the distance. I summit the road at 5,000 feet and start down. This is another tight, twisty and technical road with a steep decline. I am finally down and arrive in Gatlinburg, TN. This town is exactly the type of place I try to avoid at all times. Think of a Country Western Themed Levenworth (WA), on Steroids! It is busy, crowded and filled with all sorts of shops and restaurants. It goes on and on…

I am on Highway 321 and I see storm clouds, lightning and hear thunder off in the distance. It starts to rain. I pull off at a gas station and wait awhile. I put on my rain suit even though this storm cell seems to have passed. I continue on and have picked up 4 other bikers in line behinde me. After a short while I turn onto Foothills Parkway East and it is pouring rain. I reach the end of the Parkway, I turn onto my nemesis, Highway 40, again. I press on leading the other bikers into what becomes a struggle for survival in keeping the bike on the road. The storm unleashes everything it has on me. I cannot see as my visor has fogged up, rain is running inside my helmet wetting my face and head. The lightning and thunder is right on top of me. The roadway is flooded and the rain falls harder and heavier further obscuring my vision. It’s getting worse and I cannot see well enough to continue. I find an off ramp and pull off and to the side of the ramp. The other bikes go past me and turn left to get under the underpass and I follow. There is a tow truck towing a wrecked Hummer waiting underneath. There are cars there also because they know that soon giant hail will fall and damage the paint of their vehicles. We squish the bikes together to keep them out of the rain. The thunder is loud as are the wheels of the trucks passing over us on the highway above. It does not let up. Wind is blowing rain through the underpass and I do what I can to stay out of the wet. More lightning, more rain, more thunder. A state trooper shows up then leaves within a few minutes. There are other cars on either side of the underpass waiting out the storm.

After about 30-40 minutes, it looks like it is diminishing and the 5 bikes decide to make a break and get to Maggie Valley, 13 miles to the south. I take the tail position in the line of bikes this time and let them lead because that is where the group of 4 are staying and they will know when to exit. As soon as we get fully onto the highway, it starts all over again. Lightning right on top of me with accompanying thunder, torrential rain, flooded highway and I can’t see a thing. Same as before but somehow, we make the 13 miles and exit the freeway. It is dry here. Just like that. Like what I just went through never happened. Nobody in this town will appreciate what just happened to me because it hasn’t even rained here all day long.

I fall off my bike and kiss the driest, sweetest ground of the day. Ok, I didn’t really do that but I felt like it. I ride through town and back again before selecting my motel for the night. I check in and start to dry out all of the wet stuff from today’s adventure.
And that’s what it is, an adventure and today’s trials will make for a good story…

Take care,

Dave

I am posting this on June 11 as I did not have internet yesterday. Read on and you'll see why.

June 10 – 10 days on the road.

My GPS reads just over 4,000 miles total mileage. Today’s mileage is over 400. I rode from East Memphis to near the NC state line and am in the middle of nowhere as I sit typing this. But let me digress.

As I left Memphis this morning, after the tremendous thunder and lightning storm of last night, I was thinking that this is one of the best mornings weather wise that I have had in many days. It was about 72 degrees as I rolled out of the parking lot at about 8:20AM. Later of course, it became hot and humid.

I had spent some time this morning plotting a route along the Tennessee / Alabama border so that I could avoid interstate 40. The route would take me through Chattanooga then turn north to a small town by the name of Tallassee.

Ok, I admit it, I am a hypocrite! On the spur of the moment I decided that seeing Nashville was more important than staying off the interstate. I hopped on 40 and headed due east for 200 miles. A mere 3 ½ hours later, I was in the heart of Nashville’s downtown tourist section. I secured the bike and found a place to eat so I had lunch before going on a short walk around town. It was really fun to be there and see BB King’s Blues Club, the Charlie Daniels museum and the general downtown area of Nashville. I popped into a couple of the shops but nothing struck my fancy. After a total of about 1 1/4 hours in Nashville, I loaded up and took off.
I had decided that I wanted to get as close to the Smoky Mountains as possible and stage up for a run on Deal’s Gap, otherwise known as “The Tail of the Dragon”. If you are a motorcycle rider you probably have heard of this. What makes this road so special is that in 11 miles, there are 311 curves, twists and turns. It is a popular destination for motorcyclists from all over the world. This is one road that I did not want to miss. I rode and rode and rode and almost without realizing it I landed at the north end of entrance to The Dragon. However, I also found myself in the middle of nowhere, almost literally. I stopped at the Punkin Motorcycle Center which is a store that carries all sorts of MC related clothing, and accessories all relating to The Dragon. I hope that I can get my T-shirt tomorrow before hitting The Tail.

When I pulled up to the Punkin Store, I asked a lady, standing in the parking lot talking with another worman, if there was any lodging in the area. She happened to be the owner of the Punkin Motorcycle Campground and Resort located a mile back up the road I had just come down. The word resort is a bit of a stretch of imagination and I am now situated in a very rustic, very small cabin that consists of a bed, a tiny kitchenette area, a tiny bathroom and a loft with a ladder that I refuse to climb up even though the air conditioner is located up there. It is hot and humid. There are snakes in the trees and I listened in on a conversation between 2 locals, about the recent motorcycle rally held here, the likes of which almost had me blushing. This is one of the most unique situations I have found myself in, in a long time. I hope that I can get some sleep tonight. I will need to explain more about this area at a later date.

I crossed the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers today. I stopped briefly at Tellico Lake.
Tomorrow, I plan on riding around this area and possibly through the Great Smoky Mountain National park.

Take care,
Dave

Make up your own title for this day

The picture of the deer is on road 16 eastbound. The other is the Ozark National forrest.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to name this day, “Sows ear/silk purse”, but 2/3 of the way through the day I changed my mind and decided that really it “Was One Helluva Day” but in reality, it is a day of platitudes.

As planned, I received my 6:00AM wake-up call and when I looked out the window saw that it had rained during the night. At the time, it was not raining so I packed up the bike and set out under an ever-darkening sky; and I mean dark. Within minutes I was in the midst of a deluge, a real “gully-washer”, as they say. It was extremely dark and I couldn’t see with my visor down and I couldn’t really see with my visor up but the latter was the lesser of the two evils. I managed to get 5 miles from the motel and had to pull into a covered bank drive-through. The streets were already flooded and it was dumping hard. I didn’t know what to do. I had ridden right into this storm and the way I had routed out of town was in the middle of this mess. It’s only 7:30 in the morning and I stand around for a while longer until it somewhat tapers off. By now it a steady rain and it’s light enough to see. I program the GPS to take me back to the motel. I figured that I could dry out there, wait for the weather to, hopefully, get better and put
a new plan in place.

I made it back to the motel and grabbed another cup of coffee and a doughnut and asked for a key to my room as I had left the original in the room when I departed, not planning on returning. I was dismayed at being sent back to the barn and was restless to figure out a plan and hit the road. It started raining hard again so I covered the bike once more and grabbed the map. I decided that I would need to head south to get out this the storm line. After awhile, I repacked the soaking wet bike cover, and myself, and hopped on the freeway to Ft. Smith, 50 miles to the south. After about 20 miles, it stopped raining and the road was mostly dry. I continued on south and then took I-40 East towards Little Rock, AR. I figured I would just stay on the freeway and try and make as much distance to the east towards Memphis and beyond to Nashville. However, it was not to be. As I approached Russellville, I saw on the GPS a road that I had originally routed just to the north of where I was. I was not enjoying the freeway and decided to take a detour. You should be saying “oh, oh” to yourself right now. I rode about 30 miles north on Highway 7 into the Ozark National Forrest. My plan was to turn east on road 16. Road 16 turned out to be a very challenging and fun road except that it took me a couple of hours to complete it. Then I had to turn south and ride 30 miles to I-40, again. The good news is that it was dry the entire time. By now it’s mid-afternoon and I decide I need to make tracks to at least Memphis for the night. Now you should be saying to yourself, “well as least he’ll be safer on the freeway”. NOT!

I-40 is trucker hell! The freeway is 2 lanes filled with every type of truck imaginable and all they want to do is pass each other. In the meantime, I am trying to avoid getting squished, squashed, mashed or otherwise mutilated. It’s a “tough row to hoe”, as they say. In the midst of all this a trucker accident occurred so I am sitting on the freeway, in full gear, in 90 degree heat surrounded by 18 wheelers, in a 2 mile backup. I finally clear all that and ride on until I need gas. I pull off at Palestine to a BP but they don’t have any gas. I have to ride to the other side of the freeway, to a trucker stop and gas up there. I drink a lot of water and Powerade. My mind and body are trashed. My hands hurt and my arms are weak. I rest briefly telling myself that I have to get to the other side of Memphis, then I’ll start looking for tonight’s lodging. I pull into East Memphis at about 6:30PM after having ridden about 440 miles for the day. About 125 of those miles were north/south miles.
As I write this, the TV is running a banner at the bottom of the screen showing severe weather warnings for numerous counties in Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama.

Of note today was one road sign that read “Fork Lick Rd.” I see so many funny signs but I can’t remember them with all of the other things I am thinking about all day. Also of note is the fact that I crossed over the Mississippi River upon entering Tennessee. I only got a glimpse of it as I was on a huge bridge while crossing the river.

There is so much more that I could say but suffice it to say “this day was filled with many challenges”.
Rule – stay off the interstates while riding a motorcycle across the country.
Rule – Don’t stay at Day’ Inn, they suck!
I don’t know what I am doing tomorrow. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

Take care,
Dave

P.S. It is 9:45PM and a massive thunderstorm has just hit my location. Quite a show!

Good ride today

Total trip mileage is 3247.

Today's mileage is about 300.

Temp range was 82-91 and high humidity.

I rode from the bottom of the state in a zig zag route going northeast then northwest and repeat and repeat. The goal was to enjoy some of the windy, twisty roads going through the Ouchita and Ozark National Forests. Most of the terrain was farm land but through rolling hills with lots of nice riding roads. Western Arkansas is very green, lush and heavily treed.

I passed through many small towns, some of which had only 100-200 population. These small towns and others slightly larger seem to be dying out. Many of the store fronts are vacant with many, many business no longer in operation.

A brunch stop in Mena had me smiling for a long time after leaving that town. I wanted breakfast but the waitress sorta talked me into a BBQ pork sandwich. Instead of the usual red BBQ sauce typically used, this one was made with a mustard base. Sounds weird but it was delicious. Plus the waitress was a real hoot and very friendly. Nice little town.

Today's pics are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080608Day8InArkansas

This morning I overslept and didn't get on the road until 9:00 so tomorrow, I have a 6:00AM wake up call. I want to get an earlier start due to the heat and also because I am headed towards Nashville. I don't think I can make it in a day from here but I will get close. I will not be taking any more interstates from here on out, at least if I can help it.

One last thing, I am averaging 44.36 miles per gallon and the average cost per gallon, so far is $4.03.

Take care,

Dave

91/91 - TX, OK, AL

That means it is 91 degrees with 91% humidity!

Total trip mileage is 2900.
Total for this day, about 300.

After drinking my Americano, I packed the bike and got out of Wichita Falls just before 9:00AM and headed east again. My goal was to slow the pace down, have a shorter distance day, stop more and take more pictures. The pictures from today are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/20080607June7

I rode east until I got near Gainsville where I stopped at the Waffel Inn for some breakfast. It was like I walked into a time warp. It is a small place with about 12-15 tables. People were looking at me. Everyone was smoking including a waitress behind the counter. I got coffee right away but the waitress took her sweet time getting to me as did the food. It's definitely a locals place because everybody knew everybody. Food was good and I left.

I stopped in Henrietta to snap a few pics and took off. I stopped in Nacona where they claim to be the leather capital of the world or some such thing. I guess is you know cowboy boots, Nacona boots are popular.

I stopped for gas in Hugo, OK and there was a parade going through town. I asked a local what the parade was for but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I did hear the word "homecoming" but I know there was more to it than that. They were throwing candy from the fire trucks for the kids. I ran fast and had to knock a couple of 'em out of the way to get my share! After the parade passed, I took off and headed over the north end of Hugo Lake. I was on a long bridge and there was no place to take a photo. It looked to be a good size lake but all I saw was swamp land.

North Texas and South Oklahoma are similiar in that most everything is centered around farming and ranching. In Texas, I saw many Thourough Breed and Quarter Horse ranches replete with large farm style homes and beautiful pasture lands. After I crossed into Oklahoma I saw signs at driveway entrances for "Show Pig" ranch... go figure. There are a lot of Turkey Vultures all over this area but I haven't seen any Confederate Flags, yet.

Anyway, I am safely ensconced in a small motel in DeQueen, AR.

Keep the comments coming and I will try and keep up my end with more pictures.

Take care,
Dave

June 7 - AM

Hi everyone,

I want to thank all of you for the comments you've been posting on the blog. It helps me to know that people are reading my posts and are interested in what I am seeing and doing. Keep the comments coming!

Heaven! There is a Starbucks 2 blocks away and I just arrived back in my room with a Venti Americano. Oh, I feel complete now!

It is 8:00AM, the skies are clear, high humidity and once again, very windy already. I am going to pack up and hit the road. Today's ride will be under 300 miles to get me just inside the Arkansas state line.

I just met 2 guys on Goldwings who are on a 'round the country ride with a route similar to mine except in the other direction. They are from Pennslyvania and are headed to Seattle before turning around to head home on the northerly route.

I'll post my ride report tonight, if I have internet access.

Take care,

Dave

June 6 - Hot to Hotter

Total trip mileage is 2579
Today' mileage is 409.
Temp range was 67 - 95

Hi Everyone,

I went down to Roswell to get away from the storms in Oklahoma and Texas. Since I had traveled so far south yesterday, I decided I needed to make some serious easterly mileage to get me closer to my destination.

Therefore, I decided to head to Wichita Falls, TX and spend the night there. It was a long hot day but I arrived and secured a room by about 5:00PM.

There is not much to say about the ride today as it was very straight and flat. Not much variation on that theme, at all. However, I did ride through many small towns that were quaint in their own way. Most of the towns had populations under 1,000 and when I had an occasion to talk with the local folks, they were all very nice and friendly.

I did make some observations on this long segment that I would like to share with you:
The soil in West Texas is red.
98% of the vehicles are pick-up trucks - duh!
98% of the pick-up trucks are white.
98% of the pick-up trucks are either Chevy or Ford.
The Brazos river in Sherman runs red. It looks like a river of blood.
Wichita Falls is a big city.

When the running is straight and flat my mind wanders quite a bit since riding in this manner is mostly automatic. Just keep the speed constant and the wheels on the road.

Tomorrow, I am going to try for a short day and stay in Arkansas. I plan on spending a couple of days riding the Ozark Mountains. I will try real hard to take more pictures and get them up on Picassa.

Take care,

Dave

June 5 - Cold to Hot

Total trip mileage - 2177

Total mileage for this day 352

Temp range 38 - 90 degrees

Hi everyone,

I waited until 11:00AM to depart Chama and it worked out real well. I rode south towards Santa Fe and encountered snow a few times above 7700 feet. Below that level, it was rain and some hail. After I descended below about 6500 feet, it actuall dried out and the road was quite nice going into the desert.

My goal was to get to a warmer place. It was snowing and raining in the mountains so I decided to head far south. Since I couldn't commune with nature in the moutains, I decided to chase aliens in the desert, so off to Roswell!

I lunched in Santa Fe where it was cold and windy. After my repast, I programmed the GPS to get me off the freeway and onto some backroads down to Roswell. It worked pretty well in that I took SR 3 which meandered through a small valley along a river the name of which I cannot remember. Then the road took a sharp right turn and snaked up the side of a canyon and I was on top of a plateau. The road from this point was straight but narrow. The wind was very bad.

I then had to get back on the interstate for the remainder of the trip through the desert. The wind was very, very bad.

I arrived in Roswell about 6:30PM and found a room then had dinner at Applebee's. Roswell is much larger than I would have ever imagined. The town has all the restaurants and hotels/motels you could ever need. I did not see any aliens as I was alseep before it was dark.

The weather was hot and I was happy.

Take care,

Dave

Chama, NM

It's 9:30AM, local time. It is raining hard and snowing! Snowing quite a bit too. It's cold but the snow isn't sticking, yet. I really want to get out of here but I think I'm stuckI and worst yet, have no coffee! I'm going to wait awhile in the hope that it will at least stop snowing. I will head south to Santa Fe and beyond because it is supposed to be dry and warm further south.

One other thing I wanted to mention is in these posts I am not taking time to fix typos or grammar so just deal with it. :)

Take care,

Dave