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