Day 14 Friday, April 30, 2010
Chuck and I almost got us together. I was up first and Chuck got up soon after. We got dressed and packed. We took a couple of bags to our Motors and loaded them. Off to breakfast we went. The other guys soon followed and had breakfast. It was cloudy and we were expecting rain today. The Weather Channel and local radio stations were reporting that we may have tornadoes also. We all finished packing our Motors and we left Cuba at 8:34 AM with Chuck leading.
We rode north on SR 19 from Cuba. It was a two lane road with farms on either side. We came to a town called Owensville at 8:57 AM and Chuck decided to get gas. We had ridden 24.8 miles. It was cool, at 72 degrees. We considered taking our jackets off, however, the threat of rain was there and we didn't want to take the chance. C.E. and Bruce were prepared. When we left the hotel, they had their rain pants on. We left at 9:07 AM with Jan in the lead.
We were headed to Kansas City, MO. We were going to meet Suzy at a BBQ Restaurant for lunch. Jan took the lead and we continued on SR19. We were going north on SR19 and turn onto US 50. I was next in line with Ken, C.E., Chuck and Bruce. We were enjoying the road, I was rocking on my tunes and then Jan started to make a smooth left turn at a "Y" in the road. I saw the ST19 sign that went straight and didn't notice the US 50 sign that indicated the sweeping left turn. Jan was making his turn as I downshifted and braked. I made a left turn as Ken passed me. I accelerated and got behind Ken. I couldn't pass him on the curve. Once the road straightened out, I accelerated and quickly got ahead of Ken and behind Jan. That will teach me not to pay closer attention! We continued on US 50 and, at times, were going 75 mph. We were driving so fast that we ended up in California...MO. The city's name is California, MO. We stopped and made a pit stop. As we were waiting, an elderly man came riding up on his lawn mower to the gas pump. He filled it up with $1.40. What great gas mileage! He was a funny old coot and tried to get Jan to buy his gas. An older lady came up to us and admired our Motors and the old coot tried to get her to go to dinner with him and he would buy. The town was almost as fun as watching cartoons. We looked north at the sky and considered putting on our rain gear. We didn't. We left at 10:51 AM.
We entered the next town and I felt a few drops. I was hoping that Jan would pull over so that we could put on our rain gear. Chuck got me on the CB and asked me if I thought it be a good idea to stop and put our gear on. I agreed and told Jan to pull over. Jan pulled over to a mini-mart. Just as we stopped and got some of our rain gear out, ii started to rain harder. Chuck, Jan, Ken and I rode next door to a Sonic Drive In and got under the awning. We put on our gear and we were ready for what was going to hit us. We left, all bundled up, at 11:51 AM.
Just as we left, the rain came down harder. We were riding through the city and it was pouring! The visibility was poor. It poured for about 10 minutes and then is slowed. We were out of the city by this time. It rained off and on for about an hour. Chuck was low on gas so we were looking for a place for him to get gas. We also had to stop and call Suzy. Chuck had told her that we would call her when we were about an hour away. Just before we arrived in Lee's Summit, Jan pulled over to the side of the road at 12:58 PM and Chuck called Suzy. We had ridden 63.8 miles. Chuck said that he was OK on gas, but to stop at the next town. We left at 1:03 PM.
As I wrote earlier, we were approaching Lee's Summit. We rode into Lee's Summit and found a gas station and stopped at 1:07 PM after riding 3.8 miles. We gassed up and now it was Ken's turn to lead. I told Ken that I would lead for him, since I had a navigation system and I had plugged the address of the restaurant into it. Ken was relieved. We left at 1:26 PM.
I followed the directions of the navigation system and we made this turn and that turn and this turn and finally got to our destination at 1:49 PM after 19.1 miles. The name of the restaurant was B-B's Bar-B-Q. When we were parking our Motors and getting off, a familiar voice greeted us. Suzy was already there waiting for us. She should be, after all she was only coming from Gladstone, MO. and we were coming from Phoenix, AZ. We went inside and had a good meal and good company with Suzy. We all talked for a while and had a picture taken with her in the restaurant. It was good to see her again. It was time to leave so we picked up all of our gear, which we had taken off and set on the stage. The clouds looked friendlier so we packed away our rain gear. I was fortunate to have Suzy help me take off my pants. That was fun! J.B., you need to come back home. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We had to leave. We took a Group photo with Suzy and said our good-byes. We each took turns hugging Suzy. I kissed her good-bye and she told me that it was the best she has had in a long time! J.B., you need to get home! Love you Suzy! We left at 3:36 PM.
Ken wasn't sure how to get back to US 50 so I told him I would get him there. I led him to I-435/US 50. Ken moved in to the lead. We missed an exit that we should have taken and we got off the freeway. I told Ken that I wasn't sure which interstate was also US 50, whether it was I-435 or I-35. We got back on I-435 to get back on I-35 (US 50) and Ken missed the turn and got on I-435 North. I move up ahead and got off of the interstate. I led the Group on a quick adventure and got back onto I-435 South. We eventually got back on I-35 (US 50). We were headed for Emporia, KS. I motioned for Ken to take the lead again. Ken did and we were off on I-35.
Ken stopped in Gardner, KS at 4:24 PM after riding 33.9 miles. That was a good stop because we just had lunch. We had a good break. Ken cracked the whip on us and told us that the break was over. We left at 4:35 PM.
Ken continued leading us on US 50 towards Emporia. We rode and we were all getting tired. We stopped at the Holiday Inn Express at 5:50 PM after riding 83.9 miles. Chuck and Jan went in to "make the deal." They did and we all checked in. We unpacked our bags from our Motors and took them to our rooms. We secured our Motors and tucked them in for the night.
Today, we rode 351 miles. We also rode in the rain with poor visibility. It was fun! We were able to have lunch with a good friend, Suzy. J.B., thanks for letting us use your credit card to pay for lunch. Keep on working and paying the balance. J.B., come back and rejoin our Group! Tomorrow we will continue to go through Kansas and we should get into Colorado. We will see. So, until tomorrow...
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Winds
Day 13 Thursday, April 29, 2010
Ken and I woke up at 6:30 AM. We got dressed, packed and went for breakfast. We were the first ones there from our group. As we were eating, we saw Chuck walk past us with his bag and computer. He went out to his Motor, took off the cover and packed his Motor. Ken and I thought that was very strange. We thought that he was thrown out of his room by his roomy, Bruce. While Chuck was outside, Bruce walked by with his bags. He followed Chuck and did the same thing. Something is wrong here! Chuck never gets up that early and packs his Motor. Chuck then joined us for breakfast. Soon, C.E. and Jan walked by us with their bags and headed to their Motors. I guess Ken and I didn't get the memo. We were all having breakfast and when Ken and I finished, we packed our Motors to catch up with the others. We left at 9:08 AM with Jan in the lead. Bruce was supposed to lead, however, Jan had a mission and was going to an auto parts store and he knew where it was. We arrived at a O'Reilly Auto Parts Store at 9:13 AM after riding just 1.9 miles. Jan bought some stuff to fix his Motor horn. We left at 9:18 AM, this time Bruce was leading.
Bruce led us back on US 50. We rode for 37.3 miles and at 9:59 AM, we stopped in Bedford, IN for gas. While we were gassing up our Motors and going in the mini-mart to buy stuff, Ken fixed his Harley horn. It was working! We left at 10:26 AM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led the Group through the town of Bedford. We were in the outskirts and 6 miles from the gas station when we saw a large sign which read, "US 50 1 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." We continued and 1/2 mile later, we saw another large sign which read, "US 50 1/2 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." When we arrived at the intersection, there was a smaller sign which read, "US 50 Right Turn (arrow)." C.E. stopped for the red light in the straight thru lane while the rest of us had ridden into the right turn lane and stopped. Ken honked, I honked, Ken honked and I honked. C.E. looked back as us and then changed lanes into the right turn lane and made the right turn. We all followed. C.E. continued leading us and when we reached a small town of Loogootee, IN, the wind starting blowing at us from left to right. We continued and occasionally had strong gusts of wind making us to dip our Motors to the left side. We continued on fighting the wind and C.E. stopped at a Subway 86.9 miles later and at 11:06 AM at Bridgeport, ILL. We had gained an hour between Bedford, IN and Bridgeport, ILL. After we ate, we sat around outside for a while. It was warmer. It was 70 degrees when we arrived in Bridgeport. Some of us took our jackets off and packed them away. Just as we were all mounted on our Motors, Chuck asked us all if we were all ready to leave. We all told him that we were and then he said that since we were all ready to leave, he was going to check Bruce's saddlebag and make sure that it was secured. We left at 12:09 PM.
C.E. took us west on US 50. In this area of Illinois, it is flat and the road is pretty much straight. C.E. rode for 69.2 miles. Most of us were dying! We were tired, sleepy, needed to pee and sore. C.E. finally stopped at a gas station in Salem, ILL at 1:21 PM. Those of us that needed it went quickly to the restroom. We were tired and sleepy. We finally rested and felt like riding again and we left at 1:47 PM.
We felt a little better after the break and went back to fighting the wind. The wind was still beating us since Loogootee, IN. We travel most of the state of Indiana with the wind hitting us. Now, we were in the state of Illinois and it continued. C.E. stopped at 2:18 PM after riding 23.8 miles in Carlyle, ILL at a gas station. We all gassed up and took a little break. We checked the map to see how far St. Louis would be for us. We were planning to stop and tour the Arch. I put it in the navigation system and we left at 2:37 PM with Chuck in the lead.
I was behind Chuck. I made sure Chuck had his CB on. We had seen the Arch before but didn't know how to get there. We stayed on US 50 and when we got closer to St. Louis, we got onto I-64. The navigation system led us to the steps of the Gateway Arch. We arrived at 3;34 PM after riding 51.6 miles. We all parked across the street in a "No Parking, Tow Away Zone." I'm sure that it was OK to park there. The entire curb had many cars parked there. I know, I know...Two wrongs don't make a right. It was right for us. We didn't get ticketed or towed. C.E. chose to stay with the Motors while the rest of us went to the Arch. We had to go through a security check point and x-ray machine. We went in and there were a lot of people there. There was also a ticket counter, gift shop, museum and a snack shop. We saw that the price was $10 to go into the Arch and ride the little tram to the top. We also saw that it took between 45 minutes to an hour to complete the tour. We opted not to do it because we didn't want to leave C.E. at the Motors alone for that long of a time. We returned to the Motors. I checked the Best Western book to see where the next stop would be. Chuck and I looked at our options and saw that we would go a little out of our way and stop in Cuba, MO. We left at 4:42 PM.
Chuck led us, with the help of my navigation system and CB, out of St. Louis and onto I-44. We were luck that the afternoon rush hour wasn't stop and go traffic. We move along at about 70 mph. We continued on until Chuck stopped at a roadside Rest Stop in Stanton, MO. We had ridden for 59.2 and arrived at 5:39 PM. We made a pit stop and woke up. We left at 6:04 PM.
We arrived in Cuba, MO. at 6:28 PM after riding 29.3 miles. We stopped at the Best Western and saw that there was a Holiday Inn Express across the freeway. Chuck asked Jan and Bruce to ride over and see what their rates were. I went into the Best Western to "make the deal." I spoke with the lady clerk and got the price down to $59.99. The Best Western was a little run down. There was no jacuzzi and the pool was outside and not open yet. There were no other cars in the parking lot. I would be surprised if one room was rented. Bruce called me and told me the rate for the Holiday Inn Express. It was $10 more, however, it was a newer complex and it looked cleaner. We decided that Holiday Inn Express it was! As we were getting on our Motors, the lady clerk came out and asked if we were going to take the rooms. I told her that we were going to the Holiday Inn Express. She countered with a lower offer. She lowered the price by $5.00. I told her. "Thank you, but no. We were going to the Holiday Inn Express." We left. We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and got the directions for a place to eat. We went to Frisco's Grill and Pub. We had dinner and then returned to the hotel. When we returned, we tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode more miles today than we have in several days. We rode 360 miles. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was great to see and be at. One of these days, we will go inside and go to the top. Tomorrow, we will head to Gladstone, MO. where our good friends, J.B. and Suzy Henderson live. J.B., as I told you earlier in the blog, is doing time in Iraq. Sorry J.B., I couldn't resist! J.B. is assisting the Iraqi Police as a K-9 Instructor to the Supervisors, who can teach their subordinates. Suzy, we are coming to see you!
Ken and I woke up at 6:30 AM. We got dressed, packed and went for breakfast. We were the first ones there from our group. As we were eating, we saw Chuck walk past us with his bag and computer. He went out to his Motor, took off the cover and packed his Motor. Ken and I thought that was very strange. We thought that he was thrown out of his room by his roomy, Bruce. While Chuck was outside, Bruce walked by with his bags. He followed Chuck and did the same thing. Something is wrong here! Chuck never gets up that early and packs his Motor. Chuck then joined us for breakfast. Soon, C.E. and Jan walked by us with their bags and headed to their Motors. I guess Ken and I didn't get the memo. We were all having breakfast and when Ken and I finished, we packed our Motors to catch up with the others. We left at 9:08 AM with Jan in the lead. Bruce was supposed to lead, however, Jan had a mission and was going to an auto parts store and he knew where it was. We arrived at a O'Reilly Auto Parts Store at 9:13 AM after riding just 1.9 miles. Jan bought some stuff to fix his Motor horn. We left at 9:18 AM, this time Bruce was leading.
Bruce led us back on US 50. We rode for 37.3 miles and at 9:59 AM, we stopped in Bedford, IN for gas. While we were gassing up our Motors and going in the mini-mart to buy stuff, Ken fixed his Harley horn. It was working! We left at 10:26 AM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led the Group through the town of Bedford. We were in the outskirts and 6 miles from the gas station when we saw a large sign which read, "US 50 1 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." We continued and 1/2 mile later, we saw another large sign which read, "US 50 1/2 Mile Right Turn (arrow)." When we arrived at the intersection, there was a smaller sign which read, "US 50 Right Turn (arrow)." C.E. stopped for the red light in the straight thru lane while the rest of us had ridden into the right turn lane and stopped. Ken honked, I honked, Ken honked and I honked. C.E. looked back as us and then changed lanes into the right turn lane and made the right turn. We all followed. C.E. continued leading us and when we reached a small town of Loogootee, IN, the wind starting blowing at us from left to right. We continued and occasionally had strong gusts of wind making us to dip our Motors to the left side. We continued on fighting the wind and C.E. stopped at a Subway 86.9 miles later and at 11:06 AM at Bridgeport, ILL. We had gained an hour between Bedford, IN and Bridgeport, ILL. After we ate, we sat around outside for a while. It was warmer. It was 70 degrees when we arrived in Bridgeport. Some of us took our jackets off and packed them away. Just as we were all mounted on our Motors, Chuck asked us all if we were all ready to leave. We all told him that we were and then he said that since we were all ready to leave, he was going to check Bruce's saddlebag and make sure that it was secured. We left at 12:09 PM.
C.E. took us west on US 50. In this area of Illinois, it is flat and the road is pretty much straight. C.E. rode for 69.2 miles. Most of us were dying! We were tired, sleepy, needed to pee and sore. C.E. finally stopped at a gas station in Salem, ILL at 1:21 PM. Those of us that needed it went quickly to the restroom. We were tired and sleepy. We finally rested and felt like riding again and we left at 1:47 PM.
We felt a little better after the break and went back to fighting the wind. The wind was still beating us since Loogootee, IN. We travel most of the state of Indiana with the wind hitting us. Now, we were in the state of Illinois and it continued. C.E. stopped at 2:18 PM after riding 23.8 miles in Carlyle, ILL at a gas station. We all gassed up and took a little break. We checked the map to see how far St. Louis would be for us. We were planning to stop and tour the Arch. I put it in the navigation system and we left at 2:37 PM with Chuck in the lead.
I was behind Chuck. I made sure Chuck had his CB on. We had seen the Arch before but didn't know how to get there. We stayed on US 50 and when we got closer to St. Louis, we got onto I-64. The navigation system led us to the steps of the Gateway Arch. We arrived at 3;34 PM after riding 51.6 miles. We all parked across the street in a "No Parking, Tow Away Zone." I'm sure that it was OK to park there. The entire curb had many cars parked there. I know, I know...Two wrongs don't make a right. It was right for us. We didn't get ticketed or towed. C.E. chose to stay with the Motors while the rest of us went to the Arch. We had to go through a security check point and x-ray machine. We went in and there were a lot of people there. There was also a ticket counter, gift shop, museum and a snack shop. We saw that the price was $10 to go into the Arch and ride the little tram to the top. We also saw that it took between 45 minutes to an hour to complete the tour. We opted not to do it because we didn't want to leave C.E. at the Motors alone for that long of a time. We returned to the Motors. I checked the Best Western book to see where the next stop would be. Chuck and I looked at our options and saw that we would go a little out of our way and stop in Cuba, MO. We left at 4:42 PM.
Chuck led us, with the help of my navigation system and CB, out of St. Louis and onto I-44. We were luck that the afternoon rush hour wasn't stop and go traffic. We move along at about 70 mph. We continued on until Chuck stopped at a roadside Rest Stop in Stanton, MO. We had ridden for 59.2 and arrived at 5:39 PM. We made a pit stop and woke up. We left at 6:04 PM.
We arrived in Cuba, MO. at 6:28 PM after riding 29.3 miles. We stopped at the Best Western and saw that there was a Holiday Inn Express across the freeway. Chuck asked Jan and Bruce to ride over and see what their rates were. I went into the Best Western to "make the deal." I spoke with the lady clerk and got the price down to $59.99. The Best Western was a little run down. There was no jacuzzi and the pool was outside and not open yet. There were no other cars in the parking lot. I would be surprised if one room was rented. Bruce called me and told me the rate for the Holiday Inn Express. It was $10 more, however, it was a newer complex and it looked cleaner. We decided that Holiday Inn Express it was! As we were getting on our Motors, the lady clerk came out and asked if we were going to take the rooms. I told her that we were going to the Holiday Inn Express. She countered with a lower offer. She lowered the price by $5.00. I told her. "Thank you, but no. We were going to the Holiday Inn Express." We left. We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and got the directions for a place to eat. We went to Frisco's Grill and Pub. We had dinner and then returned to the hotel. When we returned, we tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode more miles today than we have in several days. We rode 360 miles. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was great to see and be at. One of these days, we will go inside and go to the top. Tomorrow, we will head to Gladstone, MO. where our good friends, J.B. and Suzy Henderson live. J.B., as I told you earlier in the blog, is doing time in Iraq. Sorry J.B., I couldn't resist! J.B. is assisting the Iraqi Police as a K-9 Instructor to the Supervisors, who can teach their subordinates. Suzy, we are coming to see you!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
U. S. Air Force Museum
Day 12 Wednesday, April 28, 2010
I set my alarm last night for 6:30 AM. I was up until after 1 AM and I thought that I would give myself a treat by sleeping for an extra half an hour. I got up when it sounded, washed up and started to get dressed when Ken got up. We both got dress and he looked out the window at our covered Motors. There was frost on the covers! I put the TV on the Weather Channel and saw that it was 30 degrees outside. We're not going out there until it warms up! We finished dressing and packing. We headed for the breakfast room to see that C.E. and Jan were already there having breakfast. We joined them. Chuck and Bruce soon joined us also. We all had breakfast and really didn't want to go outside. The fog had cleared up and we went out one at a time to uncover our Motors and get them ready for travel. We packed up our Motors and checked out of the hotel. We left at 9:06 AM and I was in the lead.
I led the Group north on US 35 towards Dayton, Ohio. We were all bundled up for the ride. It was 44 degrees when we left. We arrived at the U.S. Air Force Museum at 10:22 AM after riding 80.4 miles. This place is HUGE! We parked our Motors and entered the building. Bruce was the first to enter and quickly went to the restroom. By the time we got to the building, Bruce had finished and was waiting for us. He stood by the front door and was pointing to the restroom. We all went in as we walked inside. After we took care of important business, we found out that there was no charge to tour the facility. There were three huge hangers and a missile silo. One can stay there for a week and really see everything. There was the WWII section, the Korea section, Viet Nam section, the Cold War section, the Training section, the Middle East section and the missile silo with about six missiles. There were also the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Capsules. This was very impressive. With each plane, there was a story. There were over 400 planes displayed. There were also German, Japanese, Russian and British planes. There was also a blimp! It was very overwhelming. I went through all of the sections and lost Jan and Ken. Chuck and Bruce were touring the hangers. C.E. toured solo at his own pace. We had seen enough and at this point, some of our stomachs were growling. It was time for lunch. We left at 1:15 PM.
I had found a close Subway on my navigation system and led the Group to it. We arrived at 1:22 PM. It was only 3.3 miles away. After lunch, we rode to the end of the parking lot to the gas station. While we were having lunch, Jan finished his and had to go and do some minor repairs on his shifter of his Harley. He was back real soon. We all filled up. Chuck was on fumes. We left at 2:25 PM with Bruce in the lead.
We were headed south to Cincinnati and then west into Indiana. We went south on I-675 and before we connected with I-75, we had to stop by the side of the road. Guess what? Bruce's right saddlebag opened. We pulled over and he closed it, and we continued on. Chuck and I were talking on the CB and a suggestion was made that one of us is assigned on a daily basis to make sure that Bruce closes his saddlebag properly before we start riding.
We rode onto I-75 and were southbound when we saw an Ohio State Trooper Motor Officer by the side of the road. He was working radar. As we passed him, he quickly put his radar away and hopped on his Harley and gave chase. I pulled into our lane just ahead of us and pulled over a car two cars ahead of Bruce. We turned onto I-275 westbound to avoid having to go through Cincinnati. We went around to I-275 south and the exit was coming up quick. We needed to get on the exit for US 50. Bruce was leading with C.E. and Ken behind. Chuck, Jan and I were bringing up the rear. The exit came up and Chuck, Jan and I changed lanes for the exit. Bruce, C.E. and Ken stayed in the straight through lane. The finally crossed over the gore point and joined us. We got off and onto US 50. At this point, we were in Indiana. We stopped in Lawrenceburg, IN after riding 74.6 miles and it was 3:36 PM. We stopped at a truck stop and took a little break. We left at 4:04 PM.
Bruce led us further into Indiana. We rode into Versailles, IN and stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, Chuck couldn't move because he couldn't shift his Harley. We quickly pulled into a CVS parking lot on the corner. Chuck checked his shifter and saw that a part of his vent on his left crash bar had broken off and was stuck under the front shifter. He took it out and saw that the plastic thing that held it in place had broken. Chuck put the broken piece in his right saddlebag and told us that he was ready to go. He would try to fix it later or check to see if it was still on warranty. Just as we were about to leave, Jan asked Bruce if his saddlebag was closed. Bruce said that it was and that it was locked. I told Bruce that if he needed, I have some duct tape, in my Harley repair kit, to make sure it doesn't pop open again. We left at 4:52 PM.
We rode for another 35.4 miles and at 5:34 PM we stopped at a gas station in Seymour. We were trying to decide if we wanted to go further or stop here in Seymour. There was a Holiday Inn Express not too far from where we stopped. We all agreed to stay here and make it an early night. We left at 5:40 PM.
Bruce led us 1 mile away and we rode into the Holiday Inn Express at 5:43 PM. Everyone but me entered to either "make the deal" or go to the restroom. I eventually entered and sat on the sofa. The deal was made and we were staying. There were cookies on the counter and most of us sampled them. We went out and got our bags from our Motors and put them in our rooms. Chuck, Bruce and I secured our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We were offered two free drinks, peanuts, chips and salsa for happy hour. We enjoyed them and when we were done, Jan, C.E. and Ken rode nearby to a laundromat. While they were gone, Jan worked on his Harley and had a portion of his Harley taken apart. His horn didn't work. After he got the piece apart, he noticed that a wire was disconnected. Ken told me later that he got a picture of it. Back at the hotel, Chuck and I worked on our blogs. We wanted to get a head start on it. When the three returned from the laundromat, Jan had purchased a bulb for Chuck's Harley. Jan helped Chuck fix the left tail light. Chuck was doing laundry here at the hotel and we couldn't leave just yet. While we were waiting, Jan worked a little more on his Harley. After he was done, he tucked his Motor in for the night, along with C.E. and Ken. Chuck put his laundry into the dryer and Chuck, Jan, C.E., Ken and I walked over to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Bruce stayed at the hotel. He told us that he wasn't hungry and wanted to watch American Idol and go into the fitness room.
Today, because we stopped at the U.S. Air Force Museum, we didn't ride for very long. We only rode 222 miles. We still enjoyed the day. We all agree that we wished that we had just a little more time to explore the Museum. Tomorrow, we will get out of Indiana and into Illinois. Maybe we will get into Missouri, we'll see. So, until tomorrow...
I set my alarm last night for 6:30 AM. I was up until after 1 AM and I thought that I would give myself a treat by sleeping for an extra half an hour. I got up when it sounded, washed up and started to get dressed when Ken got up. We both got dress and he looked out the window at our covered Motors. There was frost on the covers! I put the TV on the Weather Channel and saw that it was 30 degrees outside. We're not going out there until it warms up! We finished dressing and packing. We headed for the breakfast room to see that C.E. and Jan were already there having breakfast. We joined them. Chuck and Bruce soon joined us also. We all had breakfast and really didn't want to go outside. The fog had cleared up and we went out one at a time to uncover our Motors and get them ready for travel. We packed up our Motors and checked out of the hotel. We left at 9:06 AM and I was in the lead.
I led the Group north on US 35 towards Dayton, Ohio. We were all bundled up for the ride. It was 44 degrees when we left. We arrived at the U.S. Air Force Museum at 10:22 AM after riding 80.4 miles. This place is HUGE! We parked our Motors and entered the building. Bruce was the first to enter and quickly went to the restroom. By the time we got to the building, Bruce had finished and was waiting for us. He stood by the front door and was pointing to the restroom. We all went in as we walked inside. After we took care of important business, we found out that there was no charge to tour the facility. There were three huge hangers and a missile silo. One can stay there for a week and really see everything. There was the WWII section, the Korea section, Viet Nam section, the Cold War section, the Training section, the Middle East section and the missile silo with about six missiles. There were also the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Capsules. This was very impressive. With each plane, there was a story. There were over 400 planes displayed. There were also German, Japanese, Russian and British planes. There was also a blimp! It was very overwhelming. I went through all of the sections and lost Jan and Ken. Chuck and Bruce were touring the hangers. C.E. toured solo at his own pace. We had seen enough and at this point, some of our stomachs were growling. It was time for lunch. We left at 1:15 PM.
I had found a close Subway on my navigation system and led the Group to it. We arrived at 1:22 PM. It was only 3.3 miles away. After lunch, we rode to the end of the parking lot to the gas station. While we were having lunch, Jan finished his and had to go and do some minor repairs on his shifter of his Harley. He was back real soon. We all filled up. Chuck was on fumes. We left at 2:25 PM with Bruce in the lead.
We were headed south to Cincinnati and then west into Indiana. We went south on I-675 and before we connected with I-75, we had to stop by the side of the road. Guess what? Bruce's right saddlebag opened. We pulled over and he closed it, and we continued on. Chuck and I were talking on the CB and a suggestion was made that one of us is assigned on a daily basis to make sure that Bruce closes his saddlebag properly before we start riding.
We rode onto I-75 and were southbound when we saw an Ohio State Trooper Motor Officer by the side of the road. He was working radar. As we passed him, he quickly put his radar away and hopped on his Harley and gave chase. I pulled into our lane just ahead of us and pulled over a car two cars ahead of Bruce. We turned onto I-275 westbound to avoid having to go through Cincinnati. We went around to I-275 south and the exit was coming up quick. We needed to get on the exit for US 50. Bruce was leading with C.E. and Ken behind. Chuck, Jan and I were bringing up the rear. The exit came up and Chuck, Jan and I changed lanes for the exit. Bruce, C.E. and Ken stayed in the straight through lane. The finally crossed over the gore point and joined us. We got off and onto US 50. At this point, we were in Indiana. We stopped in Lawrenceburg, IN after riding 74.6 miles and it was 3:36 PM. We stopped at a truck stop and took a little break. We left at 4:04 PM.
Bruce led us further into Indiana. We rode into Versailles, IN and stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, Chuck couldn't move because he couldn't shift his Harley. We quickly pulled into a CVS parking lot on the corner. Chuck checked his shifter and saw that a part of his vent on his left crash bar had broken off and was stuck under the front shifter. He took it out and saw that the plastic thing that held it in place had broken. Chuck put the broken piece in his right saddlebag and told us that he was ready to go. He would try to fix it later or check to see if it was still on warranty. Just as we were about to leave, Jan asked Bruce if his saddlebag was closed. Bruce said that it was and that it was locked. I told Bruce that if he needed, I have some duct tape, in my Harley repair kit, to make sure it doesn't pop open again. We left at 4:52 PM.
We rode for another 35.4 miles and at 5:34 PM we stopped at a gas station in Seymour. We were trying to decide if we wanted to go further or stop here in Seymour. There was a Holiday Inn Express not too far from where we stopped. We all agreed to stay here and make it an early night. We left at 5:40 PM.
Bruce led us 1 mile away and we rode into the Holiday Inn Express at 5:43 PM. Everyone but me entered to either "make the deal" or go to the restroom. I eventually entered and sat on the sofa. The deal was made and we were staying. There were cookies on the counter and most of us sampled them. We went out and got our bags from our Motors and put them in our rooms. Chuck, Bruce and I secured our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We were offered two free drinks, peanuts, chips and salsa for happy hour. We enjoyed them and when we were done, Jan, C.E. and Ken rode nearby to a laundromat. While they were gone, Jan worked on his Harley and had a portion of his Harley taken apart. His horn didn't work. After he got the piece apart, he noticed that a wire was disconnected. Ken told me later that he got a picture of it. Back at the hotel, Chuck and I worked on our blogs. We wanted to get a head start on it. When the three returned from the laundromat, Jan had purchased a bulb for Chuck's Harley. Jan helped Chuck fix the left tail light. Chuck was doing laundry here at the hotel and we couldn't leave just yet. While we were waiting, Jan worked a little more on his Harley. After he was done, he tucked his Motor in for the night, along with C.E. and Ken. Chuck put his laundry into the dryer and Chuck, Jan, C.E., Ken and I walked over to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Bruce stayed at the hotel. He told us that he wasn't hungry and wanted to watch American Idol and go into the fitness room.
Today, because we stopped at the U.S. Air Force Museum, we didn't ride for very long. We only rode 222 miles. We still enjoyed the day. We all agree that we wished that we had just a little more time to explore the Museum. Tomorrow, we will get out of Indiana and into Illinois. Maybe we will get into Missouri, we'll see. So, until tomorrow...
Smells
Day 11 Tuesday, April 27, 2010
After a very late night with the laundry, blog and pictures, I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM instead of my usual 6 AM. For the short time I was in bed, it sure felt good. Unfortunately I was awake before my alarm went off. I got up, washed up and as I was getting dressed, Bruce woke up and started getting dressed. We also packed our bags and took them down to our Motors and got our "trusty steeds" ready. After we all got our Motors ready, we walked to Perkins Restaurant, which was part of the motel. When we checked in last night, they gave us a $2.50 coupon for breakfast. We had a good breakfast and, with the coupons, I don't think that any of us paid more than $4.00 for breakfast. Chuck stayed in the lobby and downloaded/uploaded (whatever the correct word is) pictures from Day 5 to Day 10 onto the website. Ken needed to go to an ATM to get some cash. The rest of us went back to our rooms and made sure that all of our bags were packed and on the Motors. Jan also needed to go to an ATM and left. After all of our Motors were ready, we rode to the lobby and checked out. We left at 9:46 AM and it was 57 degrees.
Jan was in the lead and at 10:14 AM, we crossed over into the state of West Virginia...again. There was an 18 wheeler in front of us going up and down the mountain road. He was going fast and we felt comfortable riding behind him. At one point going uphill, he pulled over to the side of the road to let us pass. We had no other vehicles in front of us and we had a blast on the curvy, twistie road. After a while, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that Chuck was the last Motor and the 18 wheeler was not too far behind. With that big rig, he was keeping up with us. On the uphills we would drop back, but not by much. He drove that road like he owned it. I figured that he either had his own motorcycle and was driving the road like he was riding it or maybe he was a "moonshiner" and had a lot of practice running away from the cops. We rode for 42.1 miles and at 10:42 AM we stopped in Romney, WV. We all got gas and now it was Ken's turn to lead. We left at 11:01 AM.
Ken was leading and C.E. was next. Chuck followed and then Bruce. I was next and Jan was last. At about 11:29 AM, soon after we rode through a small town named Ridgeville, WV, I noticed that Bruce was riding his motor and his right saddlebag was open. (Just like Day 1 when he arrived at Denny's and his left saddlebag was open) I told Chuck on the CB that we should pull over so that Bruce could close his saddlebag. Chuck pulled over and told Bruce about his saddlebag. He got off and closed it. Was Day 1 a trend? We quickly go on our way and soon caught up with Ken and C.E. It was starting to get cold as we rode. The temperature got down to 46 degrees! We rode out of West Virginia and into Maryland...again, at 12:00 noon. We rode in Maryland for 7 miles and then, once again, we were back in West Virginia. We rode a short distance in West Virginia when Ken pulled into a small town named Aurora, WV. Most of these towns are small. We stopped at Melanie's Family Restaurant for lunch at 12:16 PM after riding 58.5 miles. It was a nice restaurant and it was warm. The waitress was a nice, young lady. My guess would be about 19 or 20 years old. She told us that the special for today was a hamburger loaded with "ramps." Jan and I asked her was ramps were. She looked at us like we had horns. I told her that we were from Arizona and were not familiar with "ramps." Anyone out there know what "ramps" are? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? She told us that ramps are spicy onions. Chuck and Ken ordered them and said that they were tasty. The waitress told us that ramps are good, however, they make you smell! The cook came out and told us that ramps are good and that she had just eaten some. She then told us that she smelled. We told chuck that he had to ride to the rear of the group! Jan asked our waitress if she knew what a carne asada burro was and she told us that she did not. We got her at her game! We finished lunch at went to our Motors. It was still cold and most of the guys put on more clothes. I just turned my heater and seat warmer on one more notch on my Gold Wing. We left at 1:30 PM.
In the Atlas, the roads with the green dots are the more scenic roads and are favored by motorcyclists. US 50 in this area should be covered in green dots. Ken led us on US 50 and it was an awesome road. It had just about everything that we like in a "motorcycle road." We were riding up and down, curves and twisties, and riding fast and slow. IT WAS FUN! It was so much fun, I made two music videos. I hope that you enjoy them. They will be posted when Chuck feel like posting them. :) Soon, I'm sure. We rode for 51.5 miles and at 2:40 PM, we stopped at a mini-mart in Bridgeport, WV. It was time to take our after lunch break. We need to wake up. With it being so cold, we really didn't need to wake up. We made a pit stop if you really have to know. At lunch, we drank a few cups of coffee and hot tea to warm up. We needed this pit stop. I checked the Best Western book to find a motel where we might be in a couple of hours. C.E. and I set our navigation systems to a town called Chillicothe, Ohio. I also told Ken that I wanted to stop at a Honda Dealership in a Parkersburg, WV. No, I didn't need any repairs on my Motor. IT'S A HONDA! I just wanted to ask a serviceman a question on the navigation system. We rode for 80.3 miles and arrived in Parkersburg at 4:21 PM. We got gas and took a little break. A pit stop was involved. We left at 4:42 PM.
I was in the lead and we went 1.8 miles and at 4:50 PM, we arrived at Devol's Cycle Center. They were a Honda Dealer. While I went in to ask the question, Chuck stayed with his Motor and tried to make a repair to his left tail light. It was not working. It didn't work the other day. Chuck kicked it and it turned on. I guess it didn't work this time after kicking it again. He had purchased a bulb at the Chevron gas station where we had gassed up. He was unable to fix it because he bought the wrong bulb. He went inside the Honda Dealership and tried to buy a bulb, however, they didn't have what he needed. He will buy one later. We left at 5:02 PM.
One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy when we are riding these roads and pass the many homes and farms, is the smell of freshly cut grass. It is awesome. We have passed by many of these homes. Some of the homes have huge yards. We passed a home with, I would guess, 3 to 4 acres for a front yard and it was mowed. That makes for a good, long sniff. Lately, we have been passing homes with their fireplaces on, or they are barbecuing. That is great also.
We rode on and soon after leaving Parkersburg, we crossed the Ohio River and were soon in Ohio. We continued on and at 6:46 PM, after riding 105.0 miles, we arrived at the Best Western, Adena Inn. I walked in and spoke with the lady clerk and "made the deal." It was a good rate. We checked in, unpacked our Motors and went to our rooms. We have gone around the cycle once already and we are starting over again on roommates: Al and Ken, Chuck and Bruce, Jan and C.E. About a half an hour later, we walked to restaurant close by that was recommended by the lady clerk. It had good food.
Today, we rode 338 miles and visited 4 states. We rode some amazing roads and almost froze, but we had fun! Tomorrow we intend to go to Dayton, Ohio. We are going to go visit the Air Force Museum. It is supposed to be a low of 34 degrees and a high of 53 degrees. I'm sure that we will "dress" for the weather. So, until tomorrow...
After a very late night with the laundry, blog and pictures, I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM instead of my usual 6 AM. For the short time I was in bed, it sure felt good. Unfortunately I was awake before my alarm went off. I got up, washed up and as I was getting dressed, Bruce woke up and started getting dressed. We also packed our bags and took them down to our Motors and got our "trusty steeds" ready. After we all got our Motors ready, we walked to Perkins Restaurant, which was part of the motel. When we checked in last night, they gave us a $2.50 coupon for breakfast. We had a good breakfast and, with the coupons, I don't think that any of us paid more than $4.00 for breakfast. Chuck stayed in the lobby and downloaded/uploaded (whatever the correct word is) pictures from Day 5 to Day 10 onto the website. Ken needed to go to an ATM to get some cash. The rest of us went back to our rooms and made sure that all of our bags were packed and on the Motors. Jan also needed to go to an ATM and left. After all of our Motors were ready, we rode to the lobby and checked out. We left at 9:46 AM and it was 57 degrees.
Jan was in the lead and at 10:14 AM, we crossed over into the state of West Virginia...again. There was an 18 wheeler in front of us going up and down the mountain road. He was going fast and we felt comfortable riding behind him. At one point going uphill, he pulled over to the side of the road to let us pass. We had no other vehicles in front of us and we had a blast on the curvy, twistie road. After a while, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that Chuck was the last Motor and the 18 wheeler was not too far behind. With that big rig, he was keeping up with us. On the uphills we would drop back, but not by much. He drove that road like he owned it. I figured that he either had his own motorcycle and was driving the road like he was riding it or maybe he was a "moonshiner" and had a lot of practice running away from the cops. We rode for 42.1 miles and at 10:42 AM we stopped in Romney, WV. We all got gas and now it was Ken's turn to lead. We left at 11:01 AM.
Ken was leading and C.E. was next. Chuck followed and then Bruce. I was next and Jan was last. At about 11:29 AM, soon after we rode through a small town named Ridgeville, WV, I noticed that Bruce was riding his motor and his right saddlebag was open. (Just like Day 1 when he arrived at Denny's and his left saddlebag was open) I told Chuck on the CB that we should pull over so that Bruce could close his saddlebag. Chuck pulled over and told Bruce about his saddlebag. He got off and closed it. Was Day 1 a trend? We quickly go on our way and soon caught up with Ken and C.E. It was starting to get cold as we rode. The temperature got down to 46 degrees! We rode out of West Virginia and into Maryland...again, at 12:00 noon. We rode in Maryland for 7 miles and then, once again, we were back in West Virginia. We rode a short distance in West Virginia when Ken pulled into a small town named Aurora, WV. Most of these towns are small. We stopped at Melanie's Family Restaurant for lunch at 12:16 PM after riding 58.5 miles. It was a nice restaurant and it was warm. The waitress was a nice, young lady. My guess would be about 19 or 20 years old. She told us that the special for today was a hamburger loaded with "ramps." Jan and I asked her was ramps were. She looked at us like we had horns. I told her that we were from Arizona and were not familiar with "ramps." Anyone out there know what "ramps" are? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? She told us that ramps are spicy onions. Chuck and Ken ordered them and said that they were tasty. The waitress told us that ramps are good, however, they make you smell! The cook came out and told us that ramps are good and that she had just eaten some. She then told us that she smelled. We told chuck that he had to ride to the rear of the group! Jan asked our waitress if she knew what a carne asada burro was and she told us that she did not. We got her at her game! We finished lunch at went to our Motors. It was still cold and most of the guys put on more clothes. I just turned my heater and seat warmer on one more notch on my Gold Wing. We left at 1:30 PM.
In the Atlas, the roads with the green dots are the more scenic roads and are favored by motorcyclists. US 50 in this area should be covered in green dots. Ken led us on US 50 and it was an awesome road. It had just about everything that we like in a "motorcycle road." We were riding up and down, curves and twisties, and riding fast and slow. IT WAS FUN! It was so much fun, I made two music videos. I hope that you enjoy them. They will be posted when Chuck feel like posting them. :) Soon, I'm sure. We rode for 51.5 miles and at 2:40 PM, we stopped at a mini-mart in Bridgeport, WV. It was time to take our after lunch break. We need to wake up. With it being so cold, we really didn't need to wake up. We made a pit stop if you really have to know. At lunch, we drank a few cups of coffee and hot tea to warm up. We needed this pit stop. I checked the Best Western book to find a motel where we might be in a couple of hours. C.E. and I set our navigation systems to a town called Chillicothe, Ohio. I also told Ken that I wanted to stop at a Honda Dealership in a Parkersburg, WV. No, I didn't need any repairs on my Motor. IT'S A HONDA! I just wanted to ask a serviceman a question on the navigation system. We rode for 80.3 miles and arrived in Parkersburg at 4:21 PM. We got gas and took a little break. A pit stop was involved. We left at 4:42 PM.
I was in the lead and we went 1.8 miles and at 4:50 PM, we arrived at Devol's Cycle Center. They were a Honda Dealer. While I went in to ask the question, Chuck stayed with his Motor and tried to make a repair to his left tail light. It was not working. It didn't work the other day. Chuck kicked it and it turned on. I guess it didn't work this time after kicking it again. He had purchased a bulb at the Chevron gas station where we had gassed up. He was unable to fix it because he bought the wrong bulb. He went inside the Honda Dealership and tried to buy a bulb, however, they didn't have what he needed. He will buy one later. We left at 5:02 PM.
One of the things that I thoroughly enjoy when we are riding these roads and pass the many homes and farms, is the smell of freshly cut grass. It is awesome. We have passed by many of these homes. Some of the homes have huge yards. We passed a home with, I would guess, 3 to 4 acres for a front yard and it was mowed. That makes for a good, long sniff. Lately, we have been passing homes with their fireplaces on, or they are barbecuing. That is great also.
We rode on and soon after leaving Parkersburg, we crossed the Ohio River and were soon in Ohio. We continued on and at 6:46 PM, after riding 105.0 miles, we arrived at the Best Western, Adena Inn. I walked in and spoke with the lady clerk and "made the deal." It was a good rate. We checked in, unpacked our Motors and went to our rooms. We have gone around the cycle once already and we are starting over again on roommates: Al and Ken, Chuck and Bruce, Jan and C.E. About a half an hour later, we walked to restaurant close by that was recommended by the lady clerk. It had good food.
Today, we rode 338 miles and visited 4 states. We rode some amazing roads and almost froze, but we had fun! Tomorrow we intend to go to Dayton, Ohio. We are going to go visit the Air Force Museum. It is supposed to be a low of 34 degrees and a high of 53 degrees. I'm sure that we will "dress" for the weather. So, until tomorrow...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Ocean City, VA. US 50
Day 10 Monday, April 26, 2010
My alarm went off at 6 AM. I got up and got dressed. I finished packing when Bruce woke up and was up and about. I went downstairs and read the paper in the breakfast room. Bruce soon joined me and started with the sports section. I bet you would have never guessed! The old men of the group, Ken and C.E., soon joined us. Breakfast started for the group. Jan and Chuck soon joined us for breakfast. After breakfast, we got our Motors ready for our ride today. The weather was nice. The temperature was 68 degrees. Jan and I started this morning without our jackets. We soon left at 8:35 AM.
C.E. led us to a gas station in Onley, VA. We had ridden for 13.6 miles and arrived at 8:49 AM. Of course you realize that we just had breakfast, drank coffee and the weather was cool. Yes, we also made a pit stop. At this point, the rest of the guys took off their jackets and packed them away. We left at 9:00 AM with Chuck in the lead.
We were headed to Ocean City, MD. We were northbound on US 113. We had passed the city of Pokomoke, MD and were in the outskirts when Chuck pointed at a side street. We quickly turned off onto the side street and stopped at 9:43 AM after riding 42.2 miles. One of the guys had asked Chuck if we were stopping to put on our jackets. He stated that that wasn't the reason. We had passed a sign that said that headlights were required and he was stopping to make sure that Ken's headlights were operational. It was 59 degrees. It was definately time to put our jackets on. It was cold and we took the opportunity to utilize the forestry. We love to water the plants when we can! One of the guys, I won't say who, said that he was so cold that his nipples froze off! We put on our jackets and took care of business and we were on our way at 9:50 AM.
We drove through beautiful country and eventually rode into the outskirts of Ocean City. We stopped at the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce at 10:16 AM after riding 10.9 miles. Chuck was hitting on the old lady volunteer at the counter. She showed him a map of downtown Ocean City and told him where we could park and which roads to take. Who knows what else she showed him. He was happy, and so was she! She was a nice, little, old lady. We left at 10:28 AM.
We arrived in beautiful, downtown Ocean City, MD. at 10:37 AM after riding another 1.2 miles. We found the parking lot and parked the Motors. Downtown Ocean City is a boardwalk. It spans 3 miles long along the beach. the entire street or floor is wood. That is why it is called a "Boardwalk." Duh... We walked a small section of the boardwalk. (We were not going to do the entire 3 miles) We did a little shopping and took some pictures. These three miles have many shops, eating establishments, carnivals, hotel and other things...and also dive-bombing seagulls! We spend enough time there so it was time to move on. We rode to the entrance of downtown Ocean City and stopped in a parking lot. I don't know what it was a parking lot for. There was only one vehicle there. There was a sign over the road for westbound travel that said, "Sacramento, CA 3073." That is how many miles it is to Sacramento, CA. We positioned our Motors and ourselves so that a picture can be taken with the sign in the background. Also in the background on the opposite side of the street is the "West US 50" sign. We left at 11:58 AM.
We originally had intended to ride north to Delaware and do a scenic ride in lower New Jersey. When we arrived in Ocean City, we saw that the Atlantic Ocean was very choppy. It was 57 degrees. We were going to take a Fairy (not that kind) over into New Jersey into Cape May. Like I end my blog, tomorrow we are going to do ...this, but everything is subject to change.
We rode west on US 50 and stopped at 12:48 PM in Mardela Springs, MD after riding 43.6 miles. It was time for lunch and we stopped at a Subway. We were there for a little over an hour and left at 1:52 PM.
We rode for another 62.2 miles and at 2:54 PM we stopped for a pit stop at Piney Creek. We were taking a break and plans changed again. We had planned to stop, or drive through downtown Annapolis. Because of the time and what time we would be there, we decided to not do Annapolis and try to get past Washington D.C. We didn't want to be in our Nation's Capital during rush hour. I set my navigation system for Winchester, VA. at a Best Western. We left at 3:18 PM with Jan in the lead.
US 50 at this point was a 6 lane road. We continued until Us 50 intersected with I-495. I-495 is the outer loop of Washington D.C. It makes a complete loop around D.C. As we got to I-495, we turned to the north loop. By the time we got to the northern part of the loop, it started to sprinkle. The further west we got, the harder is rained. By the time we were on the west side of the loop, it was raining hard. We all had been seperated by the traffic and the rain. Jan exited I-495 at the US 66 exit. We had ridden 67.2 miles and it was 4:37 PM. I was behind Jan, as was C.E. I got a hold of Chuck on the CB and told him that we had exited and we had stopped under the first overpass. Chuck told me that he saw us exit and that we had two missing. We had waited a few minutes and Chuck came riding in. A few minutes later, Ken and Bruce arrived. We were wet! We all put on our rain gear, except for Chuck. We left at 5:00 PM. As you can see by the time, it was the "rush hour." This is the time that we DID'T want to be in D.C. We continued on. It was sprinkling at this time. Soon, it stopped raining. The sun peeked through the sky at it was humid and warm. As we continued west, it started to rain again. It felt warm but it was 61 degrees. We rode on through the bumper to bumper traffic. We had to go at least another 10 miles before the traffic cleared to the point that we could speed up to almost the posted speed limit of 55 mph.
We rode on and eventually entered the city of Winchester, VA. We arrived at the Best Western at 6:51 PM and after riding another 61.4 miles. The Best Western had a Perkins Restaurant attached to it. It was very busy and we thought that there would be no vacancies at the Best Western. I noticed that it looked like the Perkins was busy and the the Best Western. Bruce went in to "make the deal." He came out and told us that there were rooms available at a very good price. Three of the guys went in to check in. When they came out, they told us that if we eat at the Perkins tonight, we would get 50% off of the price of our meal. They also told the guys that there was no continental breakfast, however, Perkins serves breakfast and as guests of Best Western, the gave us each a coupon for $2.50 off. What a deal! We rode our Motors to our rooms, unpacked our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. We took our bags to our rooms and then walked over to Perkins for breakfast. We agreed that we were all very tired and were looking forward to our beds. We returned to our rooms and relaxed for a while. My kind of relaxation was doing laundry. If I didn't, it would be an awfully cold ride tomorrow riding ala Lady Godiva, only she has hair! After laundry, time for the blog.
Today we rode for 318 miles. So far this trip, we have ridden for 3,188.0 miles. I'm not sure where we will end up tomorrow, but I do know that we will be on US 50. So, until tomorrow...
My alarm went off at 6 AM. I got up and got dressed. I finished packing when Bruce woke up and was up and about. I went downstairs and read the paper in the breakfast room. Bruce soon joined me and started with the sports section. I bet you would have never guessed! The old men of the group, Ken and C.E., soon joined us. Breakfast started for the group. Jan and Chuck soon joined us for breakfast. After breakfast, we got our Motors ready for our ride today. The weather was nice. The temperature was 68 degrees. Jan and I started this morning without our jackets. We soon left at 8:35 AM.
C.E. led us to a gas station in Onley, VA. We had ridden for 13.6 miles and arrived at 8:49 AM. Of course you realize that we just had breakfast, drank coffee and the weather was cool. Yes, we also made a pit stop. At this point, the rest of the guys took off their jackets and packed them away. We left at 9:00 AM with Chuck in the lead.
We were headed to Ocean City, MD. We were northbound on US 113. We had passed the city of Pokomoke, MD and were in the outskirts when Chuck pointed at a side street. We quickly turned off onto the side street and stopped at 9:43 AM after riding 42.2 miles. One of the guys had asked Chuck if we were stopping to put on our jackets. He stated that that wasn't the reason. We had passed a sign that said that headlights were required and he was stopping to make sure that Ken's headlights were operational. It was 59 degrees. It was definately time to put our jackets on. It was cold and we took the opportunity to utilize the forestry. We love to water the plants when we can! One of the guys, I won't say who, said that he was so cold that his nipples froze off! We put on our jackets and took care of business and we were on our way at 9:50 AM.
We drove through beautiful country and eventually rode into the outskirts of Ocean City. We stopped at the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce at 10:16 AM after riding 10.9 miles. Chuck was hitting on the old lady volunteer at the counter. She showed him a map of downtown Ocean City and told him where we could park and which roads to take. Who knows what else she showed him. He was happy, and so was she! She was a nice, little, old lady. We left at 10:28 AM.
We arrived in beautiful, downtown Ocean City, MD. at 10:37 AM after riding another 1.2 miles. We found the parking lot and parked the Motors. Downtown Ocean City is a boardwalk. It spans 3 miles long along the beach. the entire street or floor is wood. That is why it is called a "Boardwalk." Duh... We walked a small section of the boardwalk. (We were not going to do the entire 3 miles) We did a little shopping and took some pictures. These three miles have many shops, eating establishments, carnivals, hotel and other things...and also dive-bombing seagulls! We spend enough time there so it was time to move on. We rode to the entrance of downtown Ocean City and stopped in a parking lot. I don't know what it was a parking lot for. There was only one vehicle there. There was a sign over the road for westbound travel that said, "Sacramento, CA 3073." That is how many miles it is to Sacramento, CA. We positioned our Motors and ourselves so that a picture can be taken with the sign in the background. Also in the background on the opposite side of the street is the "West US 50" sign. We left at 11:58 AM.
We originally had intended to ride north to Delaware and do a scenic ride in lower New Jersey. When we arrived in Ocean City, we saw that the Atlantic Ocean was very choppy. It was 57 degrees. We were going to take a Fairy (not that kind) over into New Jersey into Cape May. Like I end my blog, tomorrow we are going to do ...this, but everything is subject to change.
We rode west on US 50 and stopped at 12:48 PM in Mardela Springs, MD after riding 43.6 miles. It was time for lunch and we stopped at a Subway. We were there for a little over an hour and left at 1:52 PM.
We rode for another 62.2 miles and at 2:54 PM we stopped for a pit stop at Piney Creek. We were taking a break and plans changed again. We had planned to stop, or drive through downtown Annapolis. Because of the time and what time we would be there, we decided to not do Annapolis and try to get past Washington D.C. We didn't want to be in our Nation's Capital during rush hour. I set my navigation system for Winchester, VA. at a Best Western. We left at 3:18 PM with Jan in the lead.
US 50 at this point was a 6 lane road. We continued until Us 50 intersected with I-495. I-495 is the outer loop of Washington D.C. It makes a complete loop around D.C. As we got to I-495, we turned to the north loop. By the time we got to the northern part of the loop, it started to sprinkle. The further west we got, the harder is rained. By the time we were on the west side of the loop, it was raining hard. We all had been seperated by the traffic and the rain. Jan exited I-495 at the US 66 exit. We had ridden 67.2 miles and it was 4:37 PM. I was behind Jan, as was C.E. I got a hold of Chuck on the CB and told him that we had exited and we had stopped under the first overpass. Chuck told me that he saw us exit and that we had two missing. We had waited a few minutes and Chuck came riding in. A few minutes later, Ken and Bruce arrived. We were wet! We all put on our rain gear, except for Chuck. We left at 5:00 PM. As you can see by the time, it was the "rush hour." This is the time that we DID'T want to be in D.C. We continued on. It was sprinkling at this time. Soon, it stopped raining. The sun peeked through the sky at it was humid and warm. As we continued west, it started to rain again. It felt warm but it was 61 degrees. We rode on through the bumper to bumper traffic. We had to go at least another 10 miles before the traffic cleared to the point that we could speed up to almost the posted speed limit of 55 mph.
We rode on and eventually entered the city of Winchester, VA. We arrived at the Best Western at 6:51 PM and after riding another 61.4 miles. The Best Western had a Perkins Restaurant attached to it. It was very busy and we thought that there would be no vacancies at the Best Western. I noticed that it looked like the Perkins was busy and the the Best Western. Bruce went in to "make the deal." He came out and told us that there were rooms available at a very good price. Three of the guys went in to check in. When they came out, they told us that if we eat at the Perkins tonight, we would get 50% off of the price of our meal. They also told the guys that there was no continental breakfast, however, Perkins serves breakfast and as guests of Best Western, the gave us each a coupon for $2.50 off. What a deal! We rode our Motors to our rooms, unpacked our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. We took our bags to our rooms and then walked over to Perkins for breakfast. We agreed that we were all very tired and were looking forward to our beds. We returned to our rooms and relaxed for a while. My kind of relaxation was doing laundry. If I didn't, it would be an awfully cold ride tomorrow riding ala Lady Godiva, only she has hair! After laundry, time for the blog.
Today we rode for 318 miles. So far this trip, we have ridden for 3,188.0 miles. I'm not sure where we will end up tomorrow, but I do know that we will be on US 50. So, until tomorrow...
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Virginia Beach, VA.
Day 9 Sunday, April 25, 2010
My alarm went off at 6 AM as usual. I didn't want to get up but I did. C.E. got up seconds later. I got up washed up and got dressed. C.E. also got dressed and we packed up our bags. C.E. had made some coffee and we drank it as we watched the Weather Channel. Watching the Weather Channel is standard practice for all of us when we ride. We watch it before we go to sleep and we watch it when we wake up. We looked outside and noticed that the covers on our Motors were wet. It was cloudy, however, it was not raining. We went outside and started to get our Motors prepared for travel today. We cleaned the windshields and wipe down our Motors as best we could. They are still filthy! Oh well. The others started popping out of their rooms slowly. We were all out and we then walked down to the on-site restaurant, "Auntie Sarah's." We had a good breakfast and then back to our Motors to check out of the motel and leave. The three Honda riders needed to go across the street to the Exxon to fill up with gas. When we finished, we returned to the motel and the Harley boys were waiting for us. We left at 9:22 AM and it was 63 degrees.
Bruce got us going back on US 60. We rode through some small towns and farmland. We were really enjoying the ride. The weather was cool, the scenery was breathtaking and the Motors were purring. (The Honda's were. The Harley's were blaring (potato, potato, potato, etc.) We came into an area in the mountains where the road was winding, twistie and like a roller coaster. We were having a great time. At times we needed to slow to 15 mph because of the curves and wet road. I was making a video at this time and then it happened! We were riding in the fog! ( I bet your were think something else happened...nope!) It was hard to see the rider ahead of us if he was more that 4 car lengths ahead. We could barely see the taillights. We quickly got through this small amount of fog. I secured the camera back in the pouch and put both hands on the handlebars. (Temporarily) As we continued this awesome ride with the curves and the twisties, we got into more fog. This fog was thick and we were in it for quite some time. It was very humid and our windshields were getting wet. Because the way Bruce's Motor is set up, his pant legs were also getting wet. He should have kept his Gold Wing. Like all good things, it must end. We rode for 34.7 miles and stopped at 10:08 AM in Amhurst, VA at a gas station/mini-mart. This was a very good time to stop because, as you remember, we had just had breakfast and with the breakfast, had coffee, water and pop. It was time for a pit stop. We took care of business and then we talked about our recent ride. Bruce went over the map with Chuck to make sure that he got us to where we needed to go. Chuck and Bruce decided that we would get on the interstate and get us to Virginia Beach faster. We still had a ways to go and we didn't want to take all day to get there and then ride in the dark to our motel. We left at 10:26 AM.
The positioning of the riders were: Bruce, Jan, Chuck, Ken, C.E. and me. As we were about 20 miles east of Amhurst, I noticed a Lexus SUV behind me. It was about 4 car lengths behind. That didn't bother me at all. It was when I noticed that he was weaving over the double yellow lines. The SUV would drive on the wrong side of the road and did this 3 times. When it got back into our lane, he was weaving, going side to side, from curb to double yellow lines. I know that I have a little experience to identify a drunk driver. Now, it could have been a drunk driver or a sightseer, or a senile person, or even a young juvenile with no drivers license. My vote was on the drunk driver. I told Chuck on the CB about the SUV. He asked if I wanted him to pull over and let the SUV pass. I told him to do that. Chuck put his right turn signal on and pulled over. Ken, C.E. and I followed. I motioned the SUV to pass us and he did. Jan was ahead of us and saw that we pulled over and so did he. Bruce finally noticed that we all pulled over and so did he. We continued and got together again and continued. Chuck and I continued to look at the SUB as it pulled away from us and it was still weaving a foot or two over the double yellow line. Man, even when we are retired and in another part of the country we can't get away from the drunks! Well, we continued and rode for 55.2 miles and stopped in Cumberland at 11:27 AM. It was time for another pit stop. We left at 11:55 AM. The weather was still great! It was 68 degrees and we decided to keep our jackets on in case it rained.
We rode for another 81.1 miles and stopped in Quinton at 1:16 PM. Bruce stopped at a Subway. After we ate, I got the map out and Chuck showed C.E. the route that we were going to take. We then left and rode across the street to a gas station. It was time to gas up and change leaders. When we finished, we left at 2:29 PM with C.E. in the lead. Chuck was next, then me, Jan, Ken and Bruce. We took I-64 to Norfolk and we got onto another freeway, which took us into Virginia Beach. We stopped at a 7-11 at 4:05 PM after riding 96.4 miles to check the map to see where we needed to go. Since we were checking the map, we also made a pit stop. We got our bearings and continued. We drove into downtown Virginia Beach and were one block away from the beach. There were many hotels that lined the beach. It wasn't like we had expected. We expected that there would be a road that bordered the beach with stores lining the other side of the street. Wrong! We rode north on Pacific Ave. and then found a street to turn right. The next street over, and closer to the beach, was Atlantic Ave. We started riding north on Atlantic Ave., again hoping to find a place to stop. There wasn't a good place to stop. We ended up stopping in front of the Cavalier Hotel at 4:53 PM after riding for 9.2 miles. We parked our Motors on the sidewalk to take a group picture. We were trying to hurry before a cop came up. Too late! A cop stopped at the light facing us and we thought that we were toast. Nope, he turned left and drove away. Maybe it was a patrol guy who was afraid of bikers, I don't know. We finished our picture taking and left at 5:20 PM.
We headed west on US 60 and then turned north on US 13. This led us to the Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel. The bridge and tunnel go over and under the Chesapeake Bay. It is 16 miles long and 19 miles total from toll booth to toll booth. The toll for the bridge/tunnel was $12. Normally, the one who is leading always pays the toll charge for all of us. Since it was $12, we cut C.E. some slack and we all paid our own tolls. Riding the bridge reminded me of riding over Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans 3 years ago on our 4 Corners Ride. Lake Pontchartrain was 26 miles long. When we got over the bridge/tunnel, we were on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and we stopped at the Welcome Center. We weren't there very long and we left at 5:57 PM.
We intended to ride to Exmore, VA and stay the night at a Best Western. We finally arrived after riding 42.0 miles and it was 6:29 PM. The lady clerk didn't want to play nice. She gave us a price which was too high and the motel didn't have an operational pool nor did it have a hot tub. We left at 6:45 PM.
We went back 1.5 miles and arrived at 6:48 PM at a Holiday Inn Express. The lady clerk did lay nice with us. She gave us a good rate and we checked in. She suggested the restaurant across the street, the Seaside Family Restaurant. After checking in, we rode across the street without unpacking. When we finished eating, an older couple approached us and spoke to us. She had asked if we were part of the bikers who are staying at the Hampton Inn. We told her that we were not part of that group. The couple were with a church group that were having dinner. She told us that her first husband's grandfather was Ebenezer Bryce, the founder of Bryce Canyon in Utah. She was a nice old lady. Just to let you guys know, she first tried to hit on Ken and Jan. Just kidding. Well, we finished dinner and made the long trek (across the street) back to our hotel. We parked under the awning at the entrance and tucked our Motors in for the night.
Today's ride was awesome! We rode some fantastic roads with curves, twisties AND fog! That's a first. We rode 343 miles and we finished the first leg of our ride. We reached the end of US 60, Virginia Beach, VA. Tomorrow we intent to head north towards New Jersey. There is supposed to be another scenic ride up there. So, until tomorrow...
My alarm went off at 6 AM as usual. I didn't want to get up but I did. C.E. got up seconds later. I got up washed up and got dressed. C.E. also got dressed and we packed up our bags. C.E. had made some coffee and we drank it as we watched the Weather Channel. Watching the Weather Channel is standard practice for all of us when we ride. We watch it before we go to sleep and we watch it when we wake up. We looked outside and noticed that the covers on our Motors were wet. It was cloudy, however, it was not raining. We went outside and started to get our Motors prepared for travel today. We cleaned the windshields and wipe down our Motors as best we could. They are still filthy! Oh well. The others started popping out of their rooms slowly. We were all out and we then walked down to the on-site restaurant, "Auntie Sarah's." We had a good breakfast and then back to our Motors to check out of the motel and leave. The three Honda riders needed to go across the street to the Exxon to fill up with gas. When we finished, we returned to the motel and the Harley boys were waiting for us. We left at 9:22 AM and it was 63 degrees.
Bruce got us going back on US 60. We rode through some small towns and farmland. We were really enjoying the ride. The weather was cool, the scenery was breathtaking and the Motors were purring. (The Honda's were. The Harley's were blaring (potato, potato, potato, etc.) We came into an area in the mountains where the road was winding, twistie and like a roller coaster. We were having a great time. At times we needed to slow to 15 mph because of the curves and wet road. I was making a video at this time and then it happened! We were riding in the fog! ( I bet your were think something else happened...nope!) It was hard to see the rider ahead of us if he was more that 4 car lengths ahead. We could barely see the taillights. We quickly got through this small amount of fog. I secured the camera back in the pouch and put both hands on the handlebars. (Temporarily) As we continued this awesome ride with the curves and the twisties, we got into more fog. This fog was thick and we were in it for quite some time. It was very humid and our windshields were getting wet. Because the way Bruce's Motor is set up, his pant legs were also getting wet. He should have kept his Gold Wing. Like all good things, it must end. We rode for 34.7 miles and stopped at 10:08 AM in Amhurst, VA at a gas station/mini-mart. This was a very good time to stop because, as you remember, we had just had breakfast and with the breakfast, had coffee, water and pop. It was time for a pit stop. We took care of business and then we talked about our recent ride. Bruce went over the map with Chuck to make sure that he got us to where we needed to go. Chuck and Bruce decided that we would get on the interstate and get us to Virginia Beach faster. We still had a ways to go and we didn't want to take all day to get there and then ride in the dark to our motel. We left at 10:26 AM.
The positioning of the riders were: Bruce, Jan, Chuck, Ken, C.E. and me. As we were about 20 miles east of Amhurst, I noticed a Lexus SUV behind me. It was about 4 car lengths behind. That didn't bother me at all. It was when I noticed that he was weaving over the double yellow lines. The SUV would drive on the wrong side of the road and did this 3 times. When it got back into our lane, he was weaving, going side to side, from curb to double yellow lines. I know that I have a little experience to identify a drunk driver. Now, it could have been a drunk driver or a sightseer, or a senile person, or even a young juvenile with no drivers license. My vote was on the drunk driver. I told Chuck on the CB about the SUV. He asked if I wanted him to pull over and let the SUV pass. I told him to do that. Chuck put his right turn signal on and pulled over. Ken, C.E. and I followed. I motioned the SUV to pass us and he did. Jan was ahead of us and saw that we pulled over and so did he. Bruce finally noticed that we all pulled over and so did he. We continued and got together again and continued. Chuck and I continued to look at the SUB as it pulled away from us and it was still weaving a foot or two over the double yellow line. Man, even when we are retired and in another part of the country we can't get away from the drunks! Well, we continued and rode for 55.2 miles and stopped in Cumberland at 11:27 AM. It was time for another pit stop. We left at 11:55 AM. The weather was still great! It was 68 degrees and we decided to keep our jackets on in case it rained.
We rode for another 81.1 miles and stopped in Quinton at 1:16 PM. Bruce stopped at a Subway. After we ate, I got the map out and Chuck showed C.E. the route that we were going to take. We then left and rode across the street to a gas station. It was time to gas up and change leaders. When we finished, we left at 2:29 PM with C.E. in the lead. Chuck was next, then me, Jan, Ken and Bruce. We took I-64 to Norfolk and we got onto another freeway, which took us into Virginia Beach. We stopped at a 7-11 at 4:05 PM after riding 96.4 miles to check the map to see where we needed to go. Since we were checking the map, we also made a pit stop. We got our bearings and continued. We drove into downtown Virginia Beach and were one block away from the beach. There were many hotels that lined the beach. It wasn't like we had expected. We expected that there would be a road that bordered the beach with stores lining the other side of the street. Wrong! We rode north on Pacific Ave. and then found a street to turn right. The next street over, and closer to the beach, was Atlantic Ave. We started riding north on Atlantic Ave., again hoping to find a place to stop. There wasn't a good place to stop. We ended up stopping in front of the Cavalier Hotel at 4:53 PM after riding for 9.2 miles. We parked our Motors on the sidewalk to take a group picture. We were trying to hurry before a cop came up. Too late! A cop stopped at the light facing us and we thought that we were toast. Nope, he turned left and drove away. Maybe it was a patrol guy who was afraid of bikers, I don't know. We finished our picture taking and left at 5:20 PM.
We headed west on US 60 and then turned north on US 13. This led us to the Chesapeake Bridge and Tunnel. The bridge and tunnel go over and under the Chesapeake Bay. It is 16 miles long and 19 miles total from toll booth to toll booth. The toll for the bridge/tunnel was $12. Normally, the one who is leading always pays the toll charge for all of us. Since it was $12, we cut C.E. some slack and we all paid our own tolls. Riding the bridge reminded me of riding over Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans 3 years ago on our 4 Corners Ride. Lake Pontchartrain was 26 miles long. When we got over the bridge/tunnel, we were on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and we stopped at the Welcome Center. We weren't there very long and we left at 5:57 PM.
We intended to ride to Exmore, VA and stay the night at a Best Western. We finally arrived after riding 42.0 miles and it was 6:29 PM. The lady clerk didn't want to play nice. She gave us a price which was too high and the motel didn't have an operational pool nor did it have a hot tub. We left at 6:45 PM.
We went back 1.5 miles and arrived at 6:48 PM at a Holiday Inn Express. The lady clerk did lay nice with us. She gave us a good rate and we checked in. She suggested the restaurant across the street, the Seaside Family Restaurant. After checking in, we rode across the street without unpacking. When we finished eating, an older couple approached us and spoke to us. She had asked if we were part of the bikers who are staying at the Hampton Inn. We told her that we were not part of that group. The couple were with a church group that were having dinner. She told us that her first husband's grandfather was Ebenezer Bryce, the founder of Bryce Canyon in Utah. She was a nice old lady. Just to let you guys know, she first tried to hit on Ken and Jan. Just kidding. Well, we finished dinner and made the long trek (across the street) back to our hotel. We parked under the awning at the entrance and tucked our Motors in for the night.
Today's ride was awesome! We rode some fantastic roads with curves, twisties AND fog! That's a first. We rode 343 miles and we finished the first leg of our ride. We reached the end of US 60, Virginia Beach, VA. Tomorrow we intent to head north towards New Jersey. There is supposed to be another scenic ride up there. So, until tomorrow...
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Hawai'ian River
My alarm went off at 6 AM as usual. I turned it off and before I can get up, C.E. was up and in the bathroom. This was a first for me this trip. I was not the first one up. C.E. washed and started to get dressed when I finally was able to get to the bathroom. We both got dressed and packed up our bags. We then went downstairs to get breakfast. The Holiday Inn was serving a buffet breakfast and charging $8.95. The continental breakfast was at another station. That is where we went. We had breakfast when Bruce walked in. Chuck came in the Ken. Later, Jan walked in. He told us that he didn't sleep in late, he just didn't feel like coming down. After we all ate, we went upstairs and got our bags to load up the Motors. After we loaded the Motors, Jan rode with me across the street to a Credit Union. I needed to get some money. Being Saturday, the Credit Union was closed, however, the drive through was open. I was there at 9 AM when it opened. I asked for money and they wouldn't give me any. The lady asked me if I was a member. I told her that I was, however, in Phoenix. She told me that she could not access my account so she didn't give me any money. I hate her! The others arrived and waited for me. I was done with that lady and we left at 9:09 AM. with Ken leading.
We rode for 35 miles. It was overcast and at 9:53 AM we stopped in St. Albans at a Harley shop. Actually we had passed it and Bruce was dancing on his Motor so that Ken would make a u-turn and return to the Harley store. Ken did and we returned to the Harley store. We had been riding on US 60 which was running next to the Kanawha River. I was curious as to the name of the river and I looked it up as the Harley boys were inside the store drooling over the new Harleys. It was funny that after we made the initial stop, parked our Motors in front of the building, entered and made a pit stop, the Gold Wing riders went outside and sat on their Motors. Why not, we don't need anything from the Harley store. One by one the guys were coming up to me and asking for the name of the river. I told them the name and they went on their merry way. Bruce asked me and I told him. He told me that that was a Hawai'ian name. I told Bruce that Kanawha was not Hawai'ian that it was American Indian. I had to laugh. Bruce went in and bought a Harley shirt. We left at 10:22 AM.
Ken led us for another 78.2 miles and we stopped in South Charleston, WV at 10:28 AM. We stopped for gas. We left at 10:41 AM.
It was my turn to lead again. Jan was behind me, then C.E., then Chuck, then Bruce and Ken. The next section of the road was called the Midland Trail. It was a trail used in the 1700's by animals only. Humans and their wagons could not utilize them. Then President Washington ordered that the trail be improved for human use. It is now part of US 60. We rode this road and it had beautiful landscape. We continued for 42.5 miles and I pulled into the Kanawha Falls, or as Bruce would call them, the "Hawai'ian River Falls." The "Hawai'ian Falls" were in a little town named Glen Farris. We spent some time here looking at the falls, doing a little hiking (to the falls), and taking pictures. It had warmed up a little so we all took off and packed our jackets. We left Bruce's Hawai'ian Falls at 12:29 PM.
It was time to have lunch and I figured that I would stop at the first Subway that we came across. After riding 2.4 miles, we entered a small town named Gauley Bridge. The first building was a gas station/mini-mart/Subway. I made a quick turn in and we entered and had lunch at 12:32 PM. After we were served our lunch, we went into the dining area. It was pretty cool because the one wall was all window facing the Kanawha River (Hawai'ian River). As we ate, we looked out to the river. It was very serene. At one point, Chuck told us that he saw a fish jump out of the water. (I'm sure that Bruce thought it was a Hawai'ian fish, a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a) Someone said that the fish was probably like the Moose that Chuck saw on our Four Corner's Ride. We finished lunch and left at 1:40 PM.
We continued on the Midland Trail, aka US 60. As we were riding the speed limit was 55 mph. We quickly came up to a 90 degree turn that went from 55 mph to 25 mph with a railroad track cutting across the street. Talk about a strong pucker factor! Jan told me later that when he noticed the turn, he saw me just prior to the turn and then I disappeared. It WAS a quick turn. The rest of this ride was awesome. There were many curves and twisties, hills and valleys. Fortunately for us, there was a black Chevy Tahoe in front of me which kept me from going faster. I even made a 2 minute 15 second video of part of this ride. I didn't want to make a long video. It was hard enough to make the curves and twisties operating the Motor with one hand and also operating the brake with the same hand, while the other hand was operating the camera. It was an awesome ride and, unfortunately, the ride ended and we rode into the town of Reinelle after riding 37.0 miles. We made a pit stop and some of us changed our shorts! No, I'm just kidding. We talked about our next stop. It was getting late and if we stayed on US 60, we would go slower and through many other small towns. We opted to get on the interstate and get into Virginia as soon as possible. We left at 2:41 PM.
We returned onto US 60 and soon after I pulled onto I-64 after about 16 miles. We rode I-64 and were able to ride 75 mph. The road was very smooth and not very much traffic. After riding for 46.8 miles, I pulled into the Virginia Visitor Center at 3:30 PM. It was a welcomed stop. We were tired. As Jan put it, we came down from the adrenaline rush of the 37 miles curvy ride. We took a break and looked for a Best Western that we could stop at in Lexington, VA. I put it in the navigation system and away we went. We left at 3:57 PM.
We were on I-64 and enjoying the ride. It had gotten cooler and we all had put on our jackets back at the Visitor Center. It was a good thing because it got down to 61 degrees. As we were riding in the inside lane just prior to entering Lexington, there was a Highway Patrol car parked in the median facing us. As I passed the car, I noticed that the Officer was on a cell phone. We all passed him and Chuck got me on the CB and told me that the Officer had gone after a car that behind us. Better him that us! The navigation system got us to the Best Western at 4:46 PM after riding 56.3 miles. Jan, Bruce, C.E. and Ken went in to "make the deal" and soon came out. They didn't want to deal. The price was $159 a night. No thanks! We rode to the other side of I-64 where there was another Best Western. They only had one room left. The clerk at this Best Western called another motel for us, but they were full. She told the guys that 3 miles down the rode were 3 more motels. We left at 5:06 PM.
We rode for 5.4 miles and came up to a Day's Inn, Travelodge and Economy Inn. We stopped at the Day's Inn at 5:12 PM. Ken and Bruce went to the other two motel to see how much they charged. Too much! We "made the deal" at the Day's Inn. When Jan and Bruce returned, all but Chuck and me entered and the clerk sweetened the deal with a lower price. Sold! We check in. there was a restaurant on the grounds. We went to our rooms, unloaded our Motors and tucked them in for the night. Soon we walked back to the restaurant and had dinner. After dinner, we were sitting at our table and Chuck started playing with his phone...again. He found the App. for pedometer. He decided that he was going to go exercise and have his phone/pedometer count the amount of steps he took as he and Ken walked across the street to the gas station/mini-mart to buy some beer. Yup, that's right...beer. We all returned to our rooms and a few feet from our rooms was a picnic table on some very green grass and a small hill with plenty of trees and foliage. We had the beer and some laughs, at each other's expense. That is what it is all about. Good friend, good times.
Today we rode only 229 miles. As C.E. put it, "these back roads slowed us down quite a bit." We may have only ridden for 229 miles but, the were fun miles. Those roads with curves and twisties make it well worth it. If you haven't noticed, we have passed the week mark. This is our 8th day. Tomorrow we will be in Virginia Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. So, until tomorrow...
We rode for 35 miles. It was overcast and at 9:53 AM we stopped in St. Albans at a Harley shop. Actually we had passed it and Bruce was dancing on his Motor so that Ken would make a u-turn and return to the Harley store. Ken did and we returned to the Harley store. We had been riding on US 60 which was running next to the Kanawha River. I was curious as to the name of the river and I looked it up as the Harley boys were inside the store drooling over the new Harleys. It was funny that after we made the initial stop, parked our Motors in front of the building, entered and made a pit stop, the Gold Wing riders went outside and sat on their Motors. Why not, we don't need anything from the Harley store. One by one the guys were coming up to me and asking for the name of the river. I told them the name and they went on their merry way. Bruce asked me and I told him. He told me that that was a Hawai'ian name. I told Bruce that Kanawha was not Hawai'ian that it was American Indian. I had to laugh. Bruce went in and bought a Harley shirt. We left at 10:22 AM.
Ken led us for another 78.2 miles and we stopped in South Charleston, WV at 10:28 AM. We stopped for gas. We left at 10:41 AM.
It was my turn to lead again. Jan was behind me, then C.E., then Chuck, then Bruce and Ken. The next section of the road was called the Midland Trail. It was a trail used in the 1700's by animals only. Humans and their wagons could not utilize them. Then President Washington ordered that the trail be improved for human use. It is now part of US 60. We rode this road and it had beautiful landscape. We continued for 42.5 miles and I pulled into the Kanawha Falls, or as Bruce would call them, the "Hawai'ian River Falls." The "Hawai'ian Falls" were in a little town named Glen Farris. We spent some time here looking at the falls, doing a little hiking (to the falls), and taking pictures. It had warmed up a little so we all took off and packed our jackets. We left Bruce's Hawai'ian Falls at 12:29 PM.
It was time to have lunch and I figured that I would stop at the first Subway that we came across. After riding 2.4 miles, we entered a small town named Gauley Bridge. The first building was a gas station/mini-mart/Subway. I made a quick turn in and we entered and had lunch at 12:32 PM. After we were served our lunch, we went into the dining area. It was pretty cool because the one wall was all window facing the Kanawha River (Hawai'ian River). As we ate, we looked out to the river. It was very serene. At one point, Chuck told us that he saw a fish jump out of the water. (I'm sure that Bruce thought it was a Hawai'ian fish, a Humuhumunukunukuapua'a) Someone said that the fish was probably like the Moose that Chuck saw on our Four Corner's Ride. We finished lunch and left at 1:40 PM.
We continued on the Midland Trail, aka US 60. As we were riding the speed limit was 55 mph. We quickly came up to a 90 degree turn that went from 55 mph to 25 mph with a railroad track cutting across the street. Talk about a strong pucker factor! Jan told me later that when he noticed the turn, he saw me just prior to the turn and then I disappeared. It WAS a quick turn. The rest of this ride was awesome. There were many curves and twisties, hills and valleys. Fortunately for us, there was a black Chevy Tahoe in front of me which kept me from going faster. I even made a 2 minute 15 second video of part of this ride. I didn't want to make a long video. It was hard enough to make the curves and twisties operating the Motor with one hand and also operating the brake with the same hand, while the other hand was operating the camera. It was an awesome ride and, unfortunately, the ride ended and we rode into the town of Reinelle after riding 37.0 miles. We made a pit stop and some of us changed our shorts! No, I'm just kidding. We talked about our next stop. It was getting late and if we stayed on US 60, we would go slower and through many other small towns. We opted to get on the interstate and get into Virginia as soon as possible. We left at 2:41 PM.
We returned onto US 60 and soon after I pulled onto I-64 after about 16 miles. We rode I-64 and were able to ride 75 mph. The road was very smooth and not very much traffic. After riding for 46.8 miles, I pulled into the Virginia Visitor Center at 3:30 PM. It was a welcomed stop. We were tired. As Jan put it, we came down from the adrenaline rush of the 37 miles curvy ride. We took a break and looked for a Best Western that we could stop at in Lexington, VA. I put it in the navigation system and away we went. We left at 3:57 PM.
We were on I-64 and enjoying the ride. It had gotten cooler and we all had put on our jackets back at the Visitor Center. It was a good thing because it got down to 61 degrees. As we were riding in the inside lane just prior to entering Lexington, there was a Highway Patrol car parked in the median facing us. As I passed the car, I noticed that the Officer was on a cell phone. We all passed him and Chuck got me on the CB and told me that the Officer had gone after a car that behind us. Better him that us! The navigation system got us to the Best Western at 4:46 PM after riding 56.3 miles. Jan, Bruce, C.E. and Ken went in to "make the deal" and soon came out. They didn't want to deal. The price was $159 a night. No thanks! We rode to the other side of I-64 where there was another Best Western. They only had one room left. The clerk at this Best Western called another motel for us, but they were full. She told the guys that 3 miles down the rode were 3 more motels. We left at 5:06 PM.
We rode for 5.4 miles and came up to a Day's Inn, Travelodge and Economy Inn. We stopped at the Day's Inn at 5:12 PM. Ken and Bruce went to the other two motel to see how much they charged. Too much! We "made the deal" at the Day's Inn. When Jan and Bruce returned, all but Chuck and me entered and the clerk sweetened the deal with a lower price. Sold! We check in. there was a restaurant on the grounds. We went to our rooms, unloaded our Motors and tucked them in for the night. Soon we walked back to the restaurant and had dinner. After dinner, we were sitting at our table and Chuck started playing with his phone...again. He found the App. for pedometer. He decided that he was going to go exercise and have his phone/pedometer count the amount of steps he took as he and Ken walked across the street to the gas station/mini-mart to buy some beer. Yup, that's right...beer. We all returned to our rooms and a few feet from our rooms was a picnic table on some very green grass and a small hill with plenty of trees and foliage. We had the beer and some laughs, at each other's expense. That is what it is all about. Good friend, good times.
Today we rode only 229 miles. As C.E. put it, "these back roads slowed us down quite a bit." We may have only ridden for 229 miles but, the were fun miles. Those roads with curves and twisties make it well worth it. If you haven't noticed, we have passed the week mark. This is our 8th day. Tomorrow we will be in Virginia Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. So, until tomorrow...
Friday, April 23, 2010
It's Raining!
Day 7 Thursday, April 23, 2010
My alarm went off at 6 AM as usual. I got up and got dressed. I looked out the window and it was raining. Jan and I had parked our Motors just outside our window. The covers were on and they were both wet. I was done so I walked over to the breakfast room. I left Jan in bed, asleep. I got on the lobby computer and plinked for a while. When I was done, Ken arrived and took over the plinking. I went in and started breakfast. Chuck came in and joined me. Ken soon joined us also. C.E. walked in and had breakfast and eventually Rip Van Marshall came in. For those who don't know who Rip Van Marshall is, it is Jan. We all had breakfast and a gentleman was in there with his family and started talking to Bruce and Ken. He had asked about our ride and then told Bruce and Ken that he and friends had gone on some very long rides. He told us that he had gone on a 4 month ride. He said that he and his friend go out without any maps and whatever road looks good to them, they follow it until something pops up.
Since it was raining, we weren't in any hurry to leave. We had designated today as "Laundry Day." We were going to leave the motel and find a laundromat and four of the guys needed to wash. Bruce did his laundry last night at the motel. We all went to our rooms and relaxed until about 9:25 AM when Chuck called me on my cell phone. He told me that if it was OK with us, we would leave as soon as we packed our Motors and head out to the laundryman. It was OK with us and we packed up our Motors. It was still raining as we packed our Motors. We rode around to the front of the motel where everyone else was there and ready. We left at 9:49 AM with Jan leading.
Jan led us to the laundromat which was 2.7 miles away. Six bikers walked into the laundromat and I think that we scared the people. There were several patrons washing clothes. We made ourselves at home and the four guys did their laundry. We talked with some of the people there and they asked us about our Motors and our trip. They no longer seemed to be scared.
As Jan was doing his wash, he walked away from us and soon returned with more clothes. He had taken off his pants and was ONLY wearing his rain pants. He had his clothes in his hands. Chuck asked Jan if he was "going commando." Jan responded that he was. Chuck had that little gleam in his eye and he left us for a while and returned with his clothes in his hands. He was only wearing his rain pants. He told Jan that he was "going commando" also. The laundry was done and packed and we were ready to go. We left at 12:05 PM and Jan was still leading.
We rode through several towns including a town called Versailles. There was a huge castle with four towers on a large piece of property. Chuck googled it castle on his new phone (Droid) and told us that it belonged to a couple who had gone to Europe in 1969. Upon their return, they had it build. There was a fire inside the castle in 2006 and it was remodeled and finished in 2008. It is now used as a Bed and Breakfast or for fundraisers for Corporations. Funny, there was a castle, however, there was no moat and we didn't see any dragons. I think that if there were dragons, Ken would have enjoyed going over and petting them. After all, we didn't go into the Roswell Museum where they may have had an alien petting zoo. We don't know. We didn't go inside. We were there, but we didn't go inside! OK, enough of that. We continued east and took a road that kept us from going through Lexington. The by-pass took us around the city. We got off SR 4 and stopped after 55.3 miles at a Wendy's for lunch. We stopped at 1:13 PM. I bet you thought that I was going to say Subway! While in the Wendy's, I had a man come up to me and start telling me about how his son slipped on some water by the counter. I think that is what he said, it was very hard to understand him. If you have seen the movie, "The Water Boy," this man reminded me of the actor who played the assistant football coach. He had a very thick cagen accent and it was very hard to understand what he was saying. THAT is what this man in Wendy's reminded me of. Lexington is also a University town. the University of Kentucky is in this city. As we were about to leave, two co-eds came in. We left. We didn't need to be there. We left at 2:15 PM.
Jan took us another 8.9 miles into the outskirts of Lexington where we stopped at 2:35 PM for gas. We also used this as our after lunch break. We took off some of our rain gear because it had not rained for a while. We were taking a chance that it would not rain on us again. We left at 2:55 PM with Ken in the lead.
We rode through small towns again. (there are many in this part of the country) As we rode through these towns and on US 60, it had rained earlier and the streets were wet. We all didn't feel very comfortable riding on the wet streets with all of the curves and cars pulling out in front of us. Ken led us for 46.0 miles and stopped at 4:04 PM in Owingsville. We made a pit stop and discussed where we were going to go. We decided to make our goal for tonight in a town names Barbourville, WV. There is a Best Western motel there. I showed the map to Chuck, Jan, Ken and C.E. I told the guys which exit to get off of and the Best Western would be close by. Chuck suggested that since it was late in the day that maybe we should take the interstate and get there quicker. Taking the interstate would mean that we would not take US 60 and ride all of the winding roads at a slower speed and the street is wet. W all agreed. We left at 4:26 PM and Ken led us to I-64.
We made good time. We left Kentucky and entered West Virginia. We got to the exit for the Best Western. Ken was leading, C.E. was next, followed by Chuck, then Bruce, then me and Jan. The exit was a "clover leaf" and as we rounded the road, there was a huge building in front of us with a huge "Best Western" sign. As we straightened out and approached the light, there was a fork in the road. The left lane took us to the Best Western while the lane on the right took you through town and back to US 60. Ken took the right lane with C.E., Chuck and Bruce following. Ken and I took the left lane because we saw the Best Western. We got to the light and stopped for the red. I expected the rest to make a u-turn and come back. They didn't. Jan and I went on to the Best Western and arrived at 5:54 PM. We had ridden 94.2 more miles. While we were waiting, Jan went inside to make a pit stop while I went in to make "the deal." I was told that they were all booked up. We waited by our Motors for the rest. Soon, Chuck and Bruce arrived. We told them that the Best Western was booked up. We asked about Ken and C.E. Chuck told us that he didn't know where Ken was and that C.E. was behind them and then he wasn't. Jan and I rode a block away to check on the Holiday Inn. Chuck told us that he and the others would wait for C.E. to arrive. Jan and I went to the Holiday Inn and "made the deal." I called Chuck on the cell and told him. He later called me and told me that C.E. had arrived and they were coming over. All 6 of us were together again. We checked into the Holiday Inn and took our bags to the rooms. After we secured our bags in the rooms, all of us, except Bruce, rode to Famous Dave's for dinner. Bruce told us that he was going to stay at the hotel and work out. We finished dinner and returned to the hotel, parking our Motors and tucking them in for the night.
Today we had a late start because of laundry day. We did manage to ride a total of 207 miles. Tomorrow we hope to get out of West Virginia and into Virginia. Chuck was looking at the Atlas and mentioned a couple of scenic roads. We will see what happens. So, until tomorrow...
My alarm went off at 6 AM as usual. I got up and got dressed. I looked out the window and it was raining. Jan and I had parked our Motors just outside our window. The covers were on and they were both wet. I was done so I walked over to the breakfast room. I left Jan in bed, asleep. I got on the lobby computer and plinked for a while. When I was done, Ken arrived and took over the plinking. I went in and started breakfast. Chuck came in and joined me. Ken soon joined us also. C.E. walked in and had breakfast and eventually Rip Van Marshall came in. For those who don't know who Rip Van Marshall is, it is Jan. We all had breakfast and a gentleman was in there with his family and started talking to Bruce and Ken. He had asked about our ride and then told Bruce and Ken that he and friends had gone on some very long rides. He told us that he had gone on a 4 month ride. He said that he and his friend go out without any maps and whatever road looks good to them, they follow it until something pops up.
Since it was raining, we weren't in any hurry to leave. We had designated today as "Laundry Day." We were going to leave the motel and find a laundromat and four of the guys needed to wash. Bruce did his laundry last night at the motel. We all went to our rooms and relaxed until about 9:25 AM when Chuck called me on my cell phone. He told me that if it was OK with us, we would leave as soon as we packed our Motors and head out to the laundryman. It was OK with us and we packed up our Motors. It was still raining as we packed our Motors. We rode around to the front of the motel where everyone else was there and ready. We left at 9:49 AM with Jan leading.
Jan led us to the laundromat which was 2.7 miles away. Six bikers walked into the laundromat and I think that we scared the people. There were several patrons washing clothes. We made ourselves at home and the four guys did their laundry. We talked with some of the people there and they asked us about our Motors and our trip. They no longer seemed to be scared.
As Jan was doing his wash, he walked away from us and soon returned with more clothes. He had taken off his pants and was ONLY wearing his rain pants. He had his clothes in his hands. Chuck asked Jan if he was "going commando." Jan responded that he was. Chuck had that little gleam in his eye and he left us for a while and returned with his clothes in his hands. He was only wearing his rain pants. He told Jan that he was "going commando" also. The laundry was done and packed and we were ready to go. We left at 12:05 PM and Jan was still leading.
We rode through several towns including a town called Versailles. There was a huge castle with four towers on a large piece of property. Chuck googled it castle on his new phone (Droid) and told us that it belonged to a couple who had gone to Europe in 1969. Upon their return, they had it build. There was a fire inside the castle in 2006 and it was remodeled and finished in 2008. It is now used as a Bed and Breakfast or for fundraisers for Corporations. Funny, there was a castle, however, there was no moat and we didn't see any dragons. I think that if there were dragons, Ken would have enjoyed going over and petting them. After all, we didn't go into the Roswell Museum where they may have had an alien petting zoo. We don't know. We didn't go inside. We were there, but we didn't go inside! OK, enough of that. We continued east and took a road that kept us from going through Lexington. The by-pass took us around the city. We got off SR 4 and stopped after 55.3 miles at a Wendy's for lunch. We stopped at 1:13 PM. I bet you thought that I was going to say Subway! While in the Wendy's, I had a man come up to me and start telling me about how his son slipped on some water by the counter. I think that is what he said, it was very hard to understand him. If you have seen the movie, "The Water Boy," this man reminded me of the actor who played the assistant football coach. He had a very thick cagen accent and it was very hard to understand what he was saying. THAT is what this man in Wendy's reminded me of. Lexington is also a University town. the University of Kentucky is in this city. As we were about to leave, two co-eds came in. We left. We didn't need to be there. We left at 2:15 PM.
Jan took us another 8.9 miles into the outskirts of Lexington where we stopped at 2:35 PM for gas. We also used this as our after lunch break. We took off some of our rain gear because it had not rained for a while. We were taking a chance that it would not rain on us again. We left at 2:55 PM with Ken in the lead.
We rode through small towns again. (there are many in this part of the country) As we rode through these towns and on US 60, it had rained earlier and the streets were wet. We all didn't feel very comfortable riding on the wet streets with all of the curves and cars pulling out in front of us. Ken led us for 46.0 miles and stopped at 4:04 PM in Owingsville. We made a pit stop and discussed where we were going to go. We decided to make our goal for tonight in a town names Barbourville, WV. There is a Best Western motel there. I showed the map to Chuck, Jan, Ken and C.E. I told the guys which exit to get off of and the Best Western would be close by. Chuck suggested that since it was late in the day that maybe we should take the interstate and get there quicker. Taking the interstate would mean that we would not take US 60 and ride all of the winding roads at a slower speed and the street is wet. W all agreed. We left at 4:26 PM and Ken led us to I-64.
We made good time. We left Kentucky and entered West Virginia. We got to the exit for the Best Western. Ken was leading, C.E. was next, followed by Chuck, then Bruce, then me and Jan. The exit was a "clover leaf" and as we rounded the road, there was a huge building in front of us with a huge "Best Western" sign. As we straightened out and approached the light, there was a fork in the road. The left lane took us to the Best Western while the lane on the right took you through town and back to US 60. Ken took the right lane with C.E., Chuck and Bruce following. Ken and I took the left lane because we saw the Best Western. We got to the light and stopped for the red. I expected the rest to make a u-turn and come back. They didn't. Jan and I went on to the Best Western and arrived at 5:54 PM. We had ridden 94.2 more miles. While we were waiting, Jan went inside to make a pit stop while I went in to make "the deal." I was told that they were all booked up. We waited by our Motors for the rest. Soon, Chuck and Bruce arrived. We told them that the Best Western was booked up. We asked about Ken and C.E. Chuck told us that he didn't know where Ken was and that C.E. was behind them and then he wasn't. Jan and I rode a block away to check on the Holiday Inn. Chuck told us that he and the others would wait for C.E. to arrive. Jan and I went to the Holiday Inn and "made the deal." I called Chuck on the cell and told him. He later called me and told me that C.E. had arrived and they were coming over. All 6 of us were together again. We checked into the Holiday Inn and took our bags to the rooms. After we secured our bags in the rooms, all of us, except Bruce, rode to Famous Dave's for dinner. Bruce told us that he was going to stay at the hotel and work out. We finished dinner and returned to the hotel, parking our Motors and tucking them in for the night.
Today we had a late start because of laundry day. We did manage to ride a total of 207 miles. Tomorrow we hope to get out of West Virginia and into Virginia. Chuck was looking at the Atlas and mentioned a couple of scenic roads. We will see what happens. So, until tomorrow...
Thursday, April 22, 2010
...and the fun continues!
Day 6 Thursday, April 22, 2010
Jan was my roommate last night. Chuck was with C.E. and Ken was with Bruce. My alarm went off and I got up and got dressed. Jan got up soon after and got dressed. We packed our bags and then went downstairs for breakfast. When we arrived, C.E. was already having breakfast. He had already been out to his Motor and had it packed. Bruce and Ken joined up soon after and then Chuck snuck in. While we were having breakfast, JB Henderson (you all remember JB, he's the stranger who went with us on the first two rides: 4 Corners and Route 66) called Chuck on the cell phone. The spoke for a while and Chuck walked out to his Motor and got his computer. Chuck sat in the lobby and had JB on Skype. We all had a chance to speak with him. JB hasn't been with us because he is helping out in Iraq with training their Police Officers. He is training the trainers with K-9's. (dogs for those who don't know what K-9's are. I'm not referring to teeth. although dogs, or K-9's, do have teeth...) anyway, he will be there for another year. We were done talking with JB and we got ready to leave. The Motors were all packed and the map came out. Chuck asked that I find a place about 30 miles away so that the Harley's could gas up. I found a town called Wickliffe in Kentucky that we could stop. C.E. and I entered Wickliffe in our navigation systems. We left at 8:56 AM.
C.E. was leading again and we needed to ride north to the stop sign (about 200 yards), turn right and go one block to I-55, ride about two miles and turn left onto US 60. The rider positions were: C.E., Chuck, Jan, Bruce, Ken and me. We stopped at the stop sign and turned right towards I-55. C.E. didn't turn onto I-55, but instead, continued east. After passing our turn, Chuck rode up to C.E. and told him that we missed the turn and that we were supposed to go south on I-55 to get back to US 60. C.E. made a u-turn and we all followed. We all got onto I-55 and were headed south. Good! Us 60 came up and we made a left and now we were eastbound on US 60. Good! We needed to go 12 miles where there is a turnoff for US 60. There was a big sign indicating: Paducah US 60 East. The exit was soon after. About 6 miles later, Chuck passed C.E. and took over the lead. Chuck pulled into a truck stop and we stopped to discuss our situation. I had told Chuck that we had passed a sign indicating that Cairo, IL was in 9 miles. we had passed the sign about 2 miles prior. We decided to drive to Cairo and get gas. Jan took over the lead and led us to Cairo. We passed Mississippi River, Ohio River and the Tennessee River before we got to Cairo. We stopped at a gas station, however we left immediately. We didn't like the way the area looked nor the gas station. Jan continued to lead up and we finally rode out of Illinois and into Kentucky. We pulled into a gas station at 9:48 AM after riding 15.5 miles. We gassed up, took a little break and talked about the huge rivers that we had just crossed. It had warmed and we took off our jackets and put them away. The bottom line about missing the exit is that we still ended up in the town that we had said earlier that we were going to stop. We just went a little longer distance. No harm done. We left at 10:16 AM with Chuck leading.
We rode for 41.3 miles and at 11:12 AM we stopped in a small town named Ledbetter, KY. It was time for a pit stop. We didn't stay long and we were soon on our way. We left at 11:31 AM.
Another 38.0 miles went by and we stopped in Marion, KY at 12:12 PM. It was time for lunch and we stopped at a Subway. While we were eating, a biker stopped at the Subway and walked over to our Motors and was looking at them. He came inside the Subway and started talking to Chuck. Go figure! He told Chuck about his prison time and his parole and his personal story. How does Chuck attract this kind of people? The guys think it's because of the way he looks. I don't know. Anyway, We finished our lunch and no other biker or felon came up to us or Chuck so we left at 1:03 PM.
Now we are post-lunch. We need to stop soon after lunch to take a break. We don't want to fight the sleep-monster while we ride our Motors. Chuck pulled into a mini-mart/gas station in Waverly, KY at 3:26 PM after riding 66.3 miles. We couldn't make a pit stop inside the mini-mart so we used the j-jon that was outside. I guess it was the owners way of telling us that they didn't want us to use their facilities. As we were in the parking lot on our break, Chuck's friend, the felon biker, rode by us on his bike. We figured that he missed Chuck and wanted to see him again. I think Chuck either has a new friend or a stalker. We left at 3:50 PM before Chuck's friend had time to realize that he had just past his new friend and turn back.
We continued on US 60 with Chuck leading. We stopped at a gas station 66.3 miles later at 3:26 PM in Lewisport, KY. The Harley's needed has again for their "peanut tanks." We didn't take long. Jan asked for the map and we studied it to see where we could stop for the night. We plotted a route and entered Louisville in our navigation system. We weren't going to stop there, but, we were going to stop close by where there was a Best Western. We left at 3:50 PM. Soon after we left Lewisport we lost an hour because of the time zone change.
We rode on and as we got closer to Louisville, the traffic was heavier. We took a road that was a short distance from Louisville and didn't go into town. We stopped in the outskirts of Louisville at 6:27 after riding 98.3 miles. We needed to check the map to see where there was a close Best Western. We found a Best Western in Shelbyville, about 22 miles away. C.E. and I entered the address on our navigation system and we left at 6:44 PM.
Jan lead us to Shelbyville and , thanks to the navigation system, we found the Best Western. We arrived at 7:07 PM after riding 23.4 miles. We checked into the motel, rode our Motors close to the rooms and took our bags to our rooms. We asked the clerk for a place to eat and he directed up to a place called the Cattleman's Roadhouse. It was not far from the motel. We ate and returned to the motel where we tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode for 344 miles today. We also rode in three states. As usual, I am not sure what tomorrow brings. If we are lucky, we might ride into West Virginia. We shall see...
Jan was my roommate last night. Chuck was with C.E. and Ken was with Bruce. My alarm went off and I got up and got dressed. Jan got up soon after and got dressed. We packed our bags and then went downstairs for breakfast. When we arrived, C.E. was already having breakfast. He had already been out to his Motor and had it packed. Bruce and Ken joined up soon after and then Chuck snuck in. While we were having breakfast, JB Henderson (you all remember JB, he's the stranger who went with us on the first two rides: 4 Corners and Route 66) called Chuck on the cell phone. The spoke for a while and Chuck walked out to his Motor and got his computer. Chuck sat in the lobby and had JB on Skype. We all had a chance to speak with him. JB hasn't been with us because he is helping out in Iraq with training their Police Officers. He is training the trainers with K-9's. (dogs for those who don't know what K-9's are. I'm not referring to teeth. although dogs, or K-9's, do have teeth...) anyway, he will be there for another year. We were done talking with JB and we got ready to leave. The Motors were all packed and the map came out. Chuck asked that I find a place about 30 miles away so that the Harley's could gas up. I found a town called Wickliffe in Kentucky that we could stop. C.E. and I entered Wickliffe in our navigation systems. We left at 8:56 AM.
C.E. was leading again and we needed to ride north to the stop sign (about 200 yards), turn right and go one block to I-55, ride about two miles and turn left onto US 60. The rider positions were: C.E., Chuck, Jan, Bruce, Ken and me. We stopped at the stop sign and turned right towards I-55. C.E. didn't turn onto I-55, but instead, continued east. After passing our turn, Chuck rode up to C.E. and told him that we missed the turn and that we were supposed to go south on I-55 to get back to US 60. C.E. made a u-turn and we all followed. We all got onto I-55 and were headed south. Good! Us 60 came up and we made a left and now we were eastbound on US 60. Good! We needed to go 12 miles where there is a turnoff for US 60. There was a big sign indicating: Paducah US 60 East. The exit was soon after. About 6 miles later, Chuck passed C.E. and took over the lead. Chuck pulled into a truck stop and we stopped to discuss our situation. I had told Chuck that we had passed a sign indicating that Cairo, IL was in 9 miles. we had passed the sign about 2 miles prior. We decided to drive to Cairo and get gas. Jan took over the lead and led us to Cairo. We passed Mississippi River, Ohio River and the Tennessee River before we got to Cairo. We stopped at a gas station, however we left immediately. We didn't like the way the area looked nor the gas station. Jan continued to lead up and we finally rode out of Illinois and into Kentucky. We pulled into a gas station at 9:48 AM after riding 15.5 miles. We gassed up, took a little break and talked about the huge rivers that we had just crossed. It had warmed and we took off our jackets and put them away. The bottom line about missing the exit is that we still ended up in the town that we had said earlier that we were going to stop. We just went a little longer distance. No harm done. We left at 10:16 AM with Chuck leading.
We rode for 41.3 miles and at 11:12 AM we stopped in a small town named Ledbetter, KY. It was time for a pit stop. We didn't stay long and we were soon on our way. We left at 11:31 AM.
Another 38.0 miles went by and we stopped in Marion, KY at 12:12 PM. It was time for lunch and we stopped at a Subway. While we were eating, a biker stopped at the Subway and walked over to our Motors and was looking at them. He came inside the Subway and started talking to Chuck. Go figure! He told Chuck about his prison time and his parole and his personal story. How does Chuck attract this kind of people? The guys think it's because of the way he looks. I don't know. Anyway, We finished our lunch and no other biker or felon came up to us or Chuck so we left at 1:03 PM.
Now we are post-lunch. We need to stop soon after lunch to take a break. We don't want to fight the sleep-monster while we ride our Motors. Chuck pulled into a mini-mart/gas station in Waverly, KY at 3:26 PM after riding 66.3 miles. We couldn't make a pit stop inside the mini-mart so we used the j-jon that was outside. I guess it was the owners way of telling us that they didn't want us to use their facilities. As we were in the parking lot on our break, Chuck's friend, the felon biker, rode by us on his bike. We figured that he missed Chuck and wanted to see him again. I think Chuck either has a new friend or a stalker. We left at 3:50 PM before Chuck's friend had time to realize that he had just past his new friend and turn back.
We continued on US 60 with Chuck leading. We stopped at a gas station 66.3 miles later at 3:26 PM in Lewisport, KY. The Harley's needed has again for their "peanut tanks." We didn't take long. Jan asked for the map and we studied it to see where we could stop for the night. We plotted a route and entered Louisville in our navigation system. We weren't going to stop there, but, we were going to stop close by where there was a Best Western. We left at 3:50 PM. Soon after we left Lewisport we lost an hour because of the time zone change.
We rode on and as we got closer to Louisville, the traffic was heavier. We took a road that was a short distance from Louisville and didn't go into town. We stopped in the outskirts of Louisville at 6:27 after riding 98.3 miles. We needed to check the map to see where there was a close Best Western. We found a Best Western in Shelbyville, about 22 miles away. C.E. and I entered the address on our navigation system and we left at 6:44 PM.
Jan lead us to Shelbyville and , thanks to the navigation system, we found the Best Western. We arrived at 7:07 PM after riding 23.4 miles. We checked into the motel, rode our Motors close to the rooms and took our bags to our rooms. We asked the clerk for a place to eat and he directed up to a place called the Cattleman's Roadhouse. It was not far from the motel. We ate and returned to the motel where we tucked our Motors in for the night.
We rode for 344 miles today. We also rode in three states. As usual, I am not sure what tomorrow brings. If we are lucky, we might ride into West Virginia. We shall see...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Branson, MO.
Day 5 Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Six o'clock in the morning came awfully early. As a matter of fact, I was up ten minutes early. I got up and got dressed. I packed up my bags and got on the computer when Chuck woke up. He got dressed and packed. We went downstairs for breakfast and just before I walked into the breakfast room, Chuck stepped in front of me. I can't believe that Chuck was the first in our group to get to breakfast! That is a first! We were having breakfast when Bruce walked in. Ken walked in and then C.E. Jan came in last. He apologized for oversleeping. We didn't care about the apology, we still harassed him. That is part of the fun. We all finished our breakfast and packed our Motors. We were ready to continue our trip except for gas. We rode across the street to a gas station and gassed up. We left at 9:10 AM. We were headed to Branson.
Bruce led us south from Springfield on US 65. It was64 degrees and it felt good to ride. It was hard to concentrate on the ride because there were many billboards on both sides of the road advertising Branson and all of the shows going on there. The landscape was awesome. The road had plenty of hills. We rode 46.0 miles and arrived in Branson at 10:02 AM. None of us had ever been in Branson except for Jan. That was a no-brainer, Jan took over the lead and took us on a tour. We drove around and looked at the sights and eventually stopped in the parking lot of the Branson Mall. We talked about our game plan and as most were talking about the plan, I told the guys that a "pit stop" was in order. The others agreed and we rode across the street to McDonald's and used their facilities. We also took the opportunity to take a photo op with the group. We rode to "The Branson Star" and took our group picture in front of the sign. "The Branson Star" is a theatre. It has a large parking lot and Bruce rode down to the front of the building and parked his Motor. He wanted the group to line up and take a picture in front of the theatre. We all stayed at the sign. Chuck asked Ken to go down and tell Bruce to come back up to the sign so that we could take our group picture and leave. Bruce came up to us and positioned his Motor. He told us that he was already positioned at the bottom in front of the building. Jan told Bruce that we would go down with him. Bruce threw his arms up in despair and said, "Never mind." We took a few pictures and left at 10:59 AM. Chuck and Bruce talked about where we were going next. It was decided that we would ride south into Arkansas for a while and then back to Missouri.
We headed south on US 65 and crossed into Arkansas.to Bellefonte and then changed to US 62. The road was very winding and fun to ride. We saw what looked like a dead older bear cub laying by the side of the road. We have never seen anything like this before. After riding 71.8 miles, we arrived at Yellville, AK. We stopped at a Subway for lunch. Just before we left for our ride, my daughter, Jennifer, bought me a $100 Subway card with a picture of my grandson, Connor. For those who are interested, Jennifer ordered it online. When I gave it to the lady clerk, she looked at it and did all of that girlie stuff. You know what I'm talking about. OOOOHHHHH how cute! Who is he? Hey girls, look what this gentleman has on his Subway card! It a picture of his grandson. Aaaaaahhhhh...how cute! And it continued. I finally got my card back. While we were in Subway, it rained a little. We left at 1:05 PM.
Bruce continued leading the group on US 62. Our intent at this time was to head back towards Missouri. The road was still awesome to ride. There were many curves and also some of the residents along US 62 had mowed their lawns. Freshly mowed lawns smell to good! Someone ought to bottle the smell and sell it. They would make a lot of money. We rode for 59.3 miles and arrived at a Shell station with mini-mart at 2:11 PM. It was time for our after lunch break. While we were there, we all gassed up. It was warm enough and we took off and packed our jackets. We spoke to a fellow Motorcycle rider who was riding from Houston to St. Louis to go visit his Mom. Oh boo hoo hoo...how sweet! It just brings a tear to my eye. Seriously, he was a nice guy and I commend him for thinking of his mom. Ok, where was I...oh yea...we left at 2:51 PM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led us on SR 9 into Missouri. We then got on US 63 and then onto SR 142. So far, this has to be on of the best rides so far this ride. No only was there winding, twisty roads, but the road also seems like we were on a roller coaster. What a great road! We rode 67.2 miles and stopped in a small town named Doniphan. We arrived at 4:05 PM. We made a pit stop. This mini-mart had a lot of old, rusted cars on the side parking lot. We went looking at them. Chuck and I discussed where we were going to stop for the night. I checked the Best Western book and found that the only city that had a Best Western on US 60 between us and the boarder was a town called Sikeston. Where? That's right, Sikeston. C.E. put Sikeston on his navigation system and I was imputing the address of the Best Western in my navigation system. C.E. was asking me what I was doing and I told him that I was putting the address of the Best Western. I told him that as the leader, he should put the address also. He said, "no," that I had put the address and he would only put in the town. We left at 4:36 PM.
C.E. led us on US 160 towards US 60. This was also a good road and had fun with it. The good thing about it is that there was not much traffic. We finally reached US 60 and headed east. C.E. was leading, Chuck was next, then me, then Jan, then Ken and Bruce. We passed a huge billboard advertising the Best Western in Sikeston. It read, "Best Western, exit I-55, 2 miles north exit #67. There was an exit immediately following the sign and C.E. got off US 60. We all got off with C.E. and we stopped at the red light. My navigation system was indicating that I-55 was still 5 miles away. I was make motions to C.E. to continue east and get back on US 60. C.E. turned left and we followed. C.E. continued about 1/2 mile and turned into a shopping center. I rode up to Chuck and told him that I would take over the lead. I rode to C.E. and told him to follow me. I led the group back to US 60 and eastbound. We rode 5 miles and then onto I-55. We arrived at the Best Western at 6:01 PM. We had ridden 88.3 miles. Jan and I entered to "make the deal." They wanted far too much money for one night so we opted to go to the Holiday Inn Express just north. Off we go. I entered by myself into the Holiday Inn Express and the clerk told me that they were all booked up. Jan stated that there was a Comfort Inn west of us. Off we go again. When we arrived, Jan and I entered. The female clerk quoted us a good rate and now...we were in! We checked in and unloaded our Motors. We took or bags to our rooms and we prepared to ride to dinner. The clerk told us of "Lamberts" restaurant, which was about 1/2 mile east of us. We rode to Lamberts and had dinner. Lambers served good food and their "big thing" was a guy walking around the restaurant giving "throwed rolls." When someone in the restaurant, no matter where they were sitting, raised their hand, the server would get a roll and "throw" it to them with pin-point accuracy! No matter where or how far he had to throw the roll. At one point, I was getting a video of the guy throwing the rolls. He saw me with my hand up and threw it to me. He was about 30 yards away! If I had put my left had even with my head, I would have caught it. Instead, with Chuck sitting to my left, the roll flew between us and struck the guy sitting behind me in the back of the head. The victim had a good attitude about it. After dinner we returned to the Comfort Inn. We parked our Motors under the awning and tucked them in for the night.
Today we were on some awesome roads. We rode through Branson, which I think was a neat city with a lot of things to see and do. We rode for 338 miles. We are also keeping a good watch on the weather. There are storms headed our way. We hope to run away from the storms and hope that they don't catch up to us. Jan said that the day after we left Amarillo, TX. it was hit with a tornado. Lucky us! At this point, I know that we are going to head east on US 60 and go into Kentucky. I don't know much more that that. I don't think that any of us do. So, until tomorrow...
Six o'clock in the morning came awfully early. As a matter of fact, I was up ten minutes early. I got up and got dressed. I packed up my bags and got on the computer when Chuck woke up. He got dressed and packed. We went downstairs for breakfast and just before I walked into the breakfast room, Chuck stepped in front of me. I can't believe that Chuck was the first in our group to get to breakfast! That is a first! We were having breakfast when Bruce walked in. Ken walked in and then C.E. Jan came in last. He apologized for oversleeping. We didn't care about the apology, we still harassed him. That is part of the fun. We all finished our breakfast and packed our Motors. We were ready to continue our trip except for gas. We rode across the street to a gas station and gassed up. We left at 9:10 AM. We were headed to Branson.
Bruce led us south from Springfield on US 65. It was64 degrees and it felt good to ride. It was hard to concentrate on the ride because there were many billboards on both sides of the road advertising Branson and all of the shows going on there. The landscape was awesome. The road had plenty of hills. We rode 46.0 miles and arrived in Branson at 10:02 AM. None of us had ever been in Branson except for Jan. That was a no-brainer, Jan took over the lead and took us on a tour. We drove around and looked at the sights and eventually stopped in the parking lot of the Branson Mall. We talked about our game plan and as most were talking about the plan, I told the guys that a "pit stop" was in order. The others agreed and we rode across the street to McDonald's and used their facilities. We also took the opportunity to take a photo op with the group. We rode to "The Branson Star" and took our group picture in front of the sign. "The Branson Star" is a theatre. It has a large parking lot and Bruce rode down to the front of the building and parked his Motor. He wanted the group to line up and take a picture in front of the theatre. We all stayed at the sign. Chuck asked Ken to go down and tell Bruce to come back up to the sign so that we could take our group picture and leave. Bruce came up to us and positioned his Motor. He told us that he was already positioned at the bottom in front of the building. Jan told Bruce that we would go down with him. Bruce threw his arms up in despair and said, "Never mind." We took a few pictures and left at 10:59 AM. Chuck and Bruce talked about where we were going next. It was decided that we would ride south into Arkansas for a while and then back to Missouri.
We headed south on US 65 and crossed into Arkansas.to Bellefonte and then changed to US 62. The road was very winding and fun to ride. We saw what looked like a dead older bear cub laying by the side of the road. We have never seen anything like this before. After riding 71.8 miles, we arrived at Yellville, AK. We stopped at a Subway for lunch. Just before we left for our ride, my daughter, Jennifer, bought me a $100 Subway card with a picture of my grandson, Connor. For those who are interested, Jennifer ordered it online. When I gave it to the lady clerk, she looked at it and did all of that girlie stuff. You know what I'm talking about. OOOOHHHHH how cute! Who is he? Hey girls, look what this gentleman has on his Subway card! It a picture of his grandson. Aaaaaahhhhh...how cute! And it continued. I finally got my card back. While we were in Subway, it rained a little. We left at 1:05 PM.
Bruce continued leading the group on US 62. Our intent at this time was to head back towards Missouri. The road was still awesome to ride. There were many curves and also some of the residents along US 62 had mowed their lawns. Freshly mowed lawns smell to good! Someone ought to bottle the smell and sell it. They would make a lot of money. We rode for 59.3 miles and arrived at a Shell station with mini-mart at 2:11 PM. It was time for our after lunch break. While we were there, we all gassed up. It was warm enough and we took off and packed our jackets. We spoke to a fellow Motorcycle rider who was riding from Houston to St. Louis to go visit his Mom. Oh boo hoo hoo...how sweet! It just brings a tear to my eye. Seriously, he was a nice guy and I commend him for thinking of his mom. Ok, where was I...oh yea...we left at 2:51 PM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led us on SR 9 into Missouri. We then got on US 63 and then onto SR 142. So far, this has to be on of the best rides so far this ride. No only was there winding, twisty roads, but the road also seems like we were on a roller coaster. What a great road! We rode 67.2 miles and stopped in a small town named Doniphan. We arrived at 4:05 PM. We made a pit stop. This mini-mart had a lot of old, rusted cars on the side parking lot. We went looking at them. Chuck and I discussed where we were going to stop for the night. I checked the Best Western book and found that the only city that had a Best Western on US 60 between us and the boarder was a town called Sikeston. Where? That's right, Sikeston. C.E. put Sikeston on his navigation system and I was imputing the address of the Best Western in my navigation system. C.E. was asking me what I was doing and I told him that I was putting the address of the Best Western. I told him that as the leader, he should put the address also. He said, "no," that I had put the address and he would only put in the town. We left at 4:36 PM.
C.E. led us on US 160 towards US 60. This was also a good road and had fun with it. The good thing about it is that there was not much traffic. We finally reached US 60 and headed east. C.E. was leading, Chuck was next, then me, then Jan, then Ken and Bruce. We passed a huge billboard advertising the Best Western in Sikeston. It read, "Best Western, exit I-55, 2 miles north exit #67. There was an exit immediately following the sign and C.E. got off US 60. We all got off with C.E. and we stopped at the red light. My navigation system was indicating that I-55 was still 5 miles away. I was make motions to C.E. to continue east and get back on US 60. C.E. turned left and we followed. C.E. continued about 1/2 mile and turned into a shopping center. I rode up to Chuck and told him that I would take over the lead. I rode to C.E. and told him to follow me. I led the group back to US 60 and eastbound. We rode 5 miles and then onto I-55. We arrived at the Best Western at 6:01 PM. We had ridden 88.3 miles. Jan and I entered to "make the deal." They wanted far too much money for one night so we opted to go to the Holiday Inn Express just north. Off we go. I entered by myself into the Holiday Inn Express and the clerk told me that they were all booked up. Jan stated that there was a Comfort Inn west of us. Off we go again. When we arrived, Jan and I entered. The female clerk quoted us a good rate and now...we were in! We checked in and unloaded our Motors. We took or bags to our rooms and we prepared to ride to dinner. The clerk told us of "Lamberts" restaurant, which was about 1/2 mile east of us. We rode to Lamberts and had dinner. Lambers served good food and their "big thing" was a guy walking around the restaurant giving "throwed rolls." When someone in the restaurant, no matter where they were sitting, raised their hand, the server would get a roll and "throw" it to them with pin-point accuracy! No matter where or how far he had to throw the roll. At one point, I was getting a video of the guy throwing the rolls. He saw me with my hand up and threw it to me. He was about 30 yards away! If I had put my left had even with my head, I would have caught it. Instead, with Chuck sitting to my left, the roll flew between us and struck the guy sitting behind me in the back of the head. The victim had a good attitude about it. After dinner we returned to the Comfort Inn. We parked our Motors under the awning and tucked them in for the night.
Today we were on some awesome roads. We rode through Branson, which I think was a neat city with a lot of things to see and do. We rode for 338 miles. We are also keeping a good watch on the weather. There are storms headed our way. We hope to run away from the storms and hope that they don't catch up to us. Jan said that the day after we left Amarillo, TX. it was hit with a tornado. Lucky us! At this point, I know that we are going to head east on US 60 and go into Kentucky. I don't know much more that that. I don't think that any of us do. So, until tomorrow...
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Miss the Turn
Day 4 Tuesday, April 20, 2010
My alarm went off at 6 AM. I was already awake and had been for 10 minutes. I turned off the alarm so that I wouldn't wake Chuck. I got dressed and started to pack when Chuck told me that he was awake and that I could put the TV on if I wanted. I didn't. I finished packing and Chuck got up. I had made some coffee and it smelled so good. We both got our bags and went down to our Motors and packed them up. We walked to the lobby for some more coffee and C.E. and Ken were already there. C.E. was on his lap top and Ken was on the lobby computer. We sat around for a while and Bruce came in. We were killing some time because Ken had to take his Motor to the Honda dealership to repair his headlights and it didn't open until 9 AM. We figured that we would drop off Ken's Motor and, while it was being repaired, go to breakfast. If we had to ride to a restaurant, Bruce volunteered to give Ken a ride. After all, Bruce owed him one. Ken gave Bruce a ride on his Motor last year when Bruce's Motor had to be repaired. Ken and Bruce got a lot of ribbing for that. The pictures were priceless! We still talk about it. We got to the Honda dealership as it opened and they took Ken in right away. We looked around for a restaurant and decided that we would walk down the street about two blocks to a Subway and have breakfast. We all walked and C.E. rode. C.E. got there and saved us three tables. We finished our breakfast and returned to the dealership just as they had finished repairing Ken's Motor. Jan had to take some photos of a Gold Wing being repaired. We alway make fun of the Harley riders because they are always having to get one of the Harleys repaired. We finally left the dealership at 10:29 AM. Ken was in the lead.
We were just north of Enid, OK when "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf came on the radio. I cranked up the music, set it on the external speakers, set up may camera for "video" and started my video of the group. This video will be posed on the web site and on U-Tube. We continued on US 60 with Ken in the lead, Bruce was next, then Chuck, then Me, then Jan and C.E. was last. We came up to an intersection of US 60 and US 81. We needed to turn right (east). Ken rode north, Bruce turned east, Chuck also continued north and the rest of us also turned east. We rode a few hundred yards and stopped and waited for Chuck and Ken to come back. A few minutes went by and here they came! Ken told us that he didn't see the sign because of a big truck blocking the sign. Bruce was next in line and saw the sign and turned. Chuck was behind Bruce and went after Ken. We then continued east.
Ken led us to the town of Ponca City where there was a "Y" in the road. One road was US 60 while the other was Business US 60. We all made the correct turn onto US 60, and Chuck, being in the third position, chose the left road to Business US 60. Chuck went on his own while no one when after him to get him back. We continued on US 60 until it met up with Business US 60. Just east of the intersection was the Arkansas River. We rode to the east side of the bridge and waited for Chuck. We knew that he would show up...sometime! We stopped at 11:42 AM, ridded for 69.8 miles and three minutes later, Chuck rode up with a big, shit-eatin' grin! He told us that he just missed the turn. He wasn't paying attention. Fortunately, or unfortunately however way you want to look at it, Chuck met up with us and we continued east.
We rode into a town called Pawhuska, OK. We rode slowly, almost through the town, when Ken slowed and made a u-turn. We all followed and rode back about a half a mile where Ken pulled into a gas station at 12:27 PM. We had ridden for 43.1 miles. We made a pit stop and took a break. It was 68 degrees and we all packed our jackets. It was my turn to lead.
I led the group through more beautiful country. It was rolling hills, green, farm land and livestock. We rode up a hill and when we crested the hill, there was a city that was much larger that what we were used to seeing. There were tall buildings, taller that two stories. This was the town of Bartlesville, OK. We stopped at 1:27 PM for lunch at a Subway after riding 30.0 miles. We talked about going straight to Branson and that is where we were headed. We left at 2:15 PM.
We were riding through the city of Vinita, OK. Us 60 in Vinita is part of the Old Route 66. We were on this same rode two years ago doing the Route 66 ride. We arrived at 3:04 PM and stopped at the same mini-mart that we stopped at two years ago. It was time for our after lunch break. We left at 3:29 PM.`
We rode another 52.5 miles and were stopped at a red light in Neosho, MO. Bruce was to the rear of the group and got word to Chuck that he needed to make a pit stop. We made a right turn and went about two blocks and stopped at a "Kum n Go." What?! That's right, a Kum n Go gas station and mini-mart. Ok you guys, no jokes. This is a legitimate business. There are a lot of Kum n Go's in this neck of the woods. While we were at the Kum n Go (I like saying it!) we decided that we wouldn't have the time to ride to Branson. If we went to Branson, it would be dark. We can't ride in the dark. It's too scary! After our pit stop and discussion as to where we were going, we left at 4:52 PM.
I was leading the group on US 60 and I saw some signs for a town called Granby. For some reason unknown to me, I kept staring at the name. I saw another sign for Granby and, some unknown other reason, I was looking forward to riding through this town. This last sign I saw for Ganby, again I stared at it and didn't look at any other part of the sign, was the sign to turn to Granby and stay on US 60. I went straight. Chuck rode up to me and told me that I missed the turnoff. I looked at my navigation and saw that we were now on US 71. I told Chuck that maybe we should turn around. We all turned and got back onto US 60. Now, for those who think that because I write my blog, I won't rat on myself. Yes I do. It's fair. It's all part of the fun of the ride. There was a large water tower that had the name "GRANBY" and "The Oldest Mining Town in the Southwest."
We rode for another 82.9 miles and got into Springfield, MO. and stopped at a mini-mart to get the map and get our bearings. We were looking for the Best Western. After realizing that we were about 5 miles away, we left at 6:34 PM. It was still light and we finally arrived at the Best Western at 6:45 PM. I parked under the awning, like always. Bruce parked with me while the others rode about 50 yards north of us and parked in the parking stalls. As they all got off of their Motors, Ken was standing by his Motor when the kickstand collapsed and it fell on it's left side. Jan told me later that Chuck, C.E. and Jan helped Ken pick up the Motor before anyone took a picture. I told Jan that he should have called me over and I would have run over and took the picture. Maybe next time. (Hopefully there won't be a next time.) We entered and checked into the motel. They were advertising a great rate and we didn't have to talk the clerk down in price. We parked our Motors by our rooms and took our bags to the rooms. After we got settled, we rode to Chili's for dinner. We finished and returned to the motel and tucked our Motors in for the night.
Tomorrow we will go to Branson to check it out. Who knows, maybe in the morning we will change our minds. We will see. Today we rode 335 miles. That was not bad for getting a late start.
My alarm went off at 6 AM. I was already awake and had been for 10 minutes. I turned off the alarm so that I wouldn't wake Chuck. I got dressed and started to pack when Chuck told me that he was awake and that I could put the TV on if I wanted. I didn't. I finished packing and Chuck got up. I had made some coffee and it smelled so good. We both got our bags and went down to our Motors and packed them up. We walked to the lobby for some more coffee and C.E. and Ken were already there. C.E. was on his lap top and Ken was on the lobby computer. We sat around for a while and Bruce came in. We were killing some time because Ken had to take his Motor to the Honda dealership to repair his headlights and it didn't open until 9 AM. We figured that we would drop off Ken's Motor and, while it was being repaired, go to breakfast. If we had to ride to a restaurant, Bruce volunteered to give Ken a ride. After all, Bruce owed him one. Ken gave Bruce a ride on his Motor last year when Bruce's Motor had to be repaired. Ken and Bruce got a lot of ribbing for that. The pictures were priceless! We still talk about it. We got to the Honda dealership as it opened and they took Ken in right away. We looked around for a restaurant and decided that we would walk down the street about two blocks to a Subway and have breakfast. We all walked and C.E. rode. C.E. got there and saved us three tables. We finished our breakfast and returned to the dealership just as they had finished repairing Ken's Motor. Jan had to take some photos of a Gold Wing being repaired. We alway make fun of the Harley riders because they are always having to get one of the Harleys repaired. We finally left the dealership at 10:29 AM. Ken was in the lead.
We were just north of Enid, OK when "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf came on the radio. I cranked up the music, set it on the external speakers, set up may camera for "video" and started my video of the group. This video will be posed on the web site and on U-Tube. We continued on US 60 with Ken in the lead, Bruce was next, then Chuck, then Me, then Jan and C.E. was last. We came up to an intersection of US 60 and US 81. We needed to turn right (east). Ken rode north, Bruce turned east, Chuck also continued north and the rest of us also turned east. We rode a few hundred yards and stopped and waited for Chuck and Ken to come back. A few minutes went by and here they came! Ken told us that he didn't see the sign because of a big truck blocking the sign. Bruce was next in line and saw the sign and turned. Chuck was behind Bruce and went after Ken. We then continued east.
Ken led us to the town of Ponca City where there was a "Y" in the road. One road was US 60 while the other was Business US 60. We all made the correct turn onto US 60, and Chuck, being in the third position, chose the left road to Business US 60. Chuck went on his own while no one when after him to get him back. We continued on US 60 until it met up with Business US 60. Just east of the intersection was the Arkansas River. We rode to the east side of the bridge and waited for Chuck. We knew that he would show up...sometime! We stopped at 11:42 AM, ridded for 69.8 miles and three minutes later, Chuck rode up with a big, shit-eatin' grin! He told us that he just missed the turn. He wasn't paying attention. Fortunately, or unfortunately however way you want to look at it, Chuck met up with us and we continued east.
We rode into a town called Pawhuska, OK. We rode slowly, almost through the town, when Ken slowed and made a u-turn. We all followed and rode back about a half a mile where Ken pulled into a gas station at 12:27 PM. We had ridden for 43.1 miles. We made a pit stop and took a break. It was 68 degrees and we all packed our jackets. It was my turn to lead.
I led the group through more beautiful country. It was rolling hills, green, farm land and livestock. We rode up a hill and when we crested the hill, there was a city that was much larger that what we were used to seeing. There were tall buildings, taller that two stories. This was the town of Bartlesville, OK. We stopped at 1:27 PM for lunch at a Subway after riding 30.0 miles. We talked about going straight to Branson and that is where we were headed. We left at 2:15 PM.
We were riding through the city of Vinita, OK. Us 60 in Vinita is part of the Old Route 66. We were on this same rode two years ago doing the Route 66 ride. We arrived at 3:04 PM and stopped at the same mini-mart that we stopped at two years ago. It was time for our after lunch break. We left at 3:29 PM.`
We rode another 52.5 miles and were stopped at a red light in Neosho, MO. Bruce was to the rear of the group and got word to Chuck that he needed to make a pit stop. We made a right turn and went about two blocks and stopped at a "Kum n Go." What?! That's right, a Kum n Go gas station and mini-mart. Ok you guys, no jokes. This is a legitimate business. There are a lot of Kum n Go's in this neck of the woods. While we were at the Kum n Go (I like saying it!) we decided that we wouldn't have the time to ride to Branson. If we went to Branson, it would be dark. We can't ride in the dark. It's too scary! After our pit stop and discussion as to where we were going, we left at 4:52 PM.
I was leading the group on US 60 and I saw some signs for a town called Granby. For some reason unknown to me, I kept staring at the name. I saw another sign for Granby and, some unknown other reason, I was looking forward to riding through this town. This last sign I saw for Ganby, again I stared at it and didn't look at any other part of the sign, was the sign to turn to Granby and stay on US 60. I went straight. Chuck rode up to me and told me that I missed the turnoff. I looked at my navigation and saw that we were now on US 71. I told Chuck that maybe we should turn around. We all turned and got back onto US 60. Now, for those who think that because I write my blog, I won't rat on myself. Yes I do. It's fair. It's all part of the fun of the ride. There was a large water tower that had the name "GRANBY" and "The Oldest Mining Town in the Southwest."
We rode for another 82.9 miles and got into Springfield, MO. and stopped at a mini-mart to get the map and get our bearings. We were looking for the Best Western. After realizing that we were about 5 miles away, we left at 6:34 PM. It was still light and we finally arrived at the Best Western at 6:45 PM. I parked under the awning, like always. Bruce parked with me while the others rode about 50 yards north of us and parked in the parking stalls. As they all got off of their Motors, Ken was standing by his Motor when the kickstand collapsed and it fell on it's left side. Jan told me later that Chuck, C.E. and Jan helped Ken pick up the Motor before anyone took a picture. I told Jan that he should have called me over and I would have run over and took the picture. Maybe next time. (Hopefully there won't be a next time.) We entered and checked into the motel. They were advertising a great rate and we didn't have to talk the clerk down in price. We parked our Motors by our rooms and took our bags to the rooms. After we got settled, we rode to Chili's for dinner. We finished and returned to the motel and tucked our Motors in for the night.
Tomorrow we will go to Branson to check it out. Who knows, maybe in the morning we will change our minds. We will see. Today we rode 335 miles. That was not bad for getting a late start.
Monday, April 19, 2010
West to Albuquerque
Day 3 Monday, April 19, 2010
My alarm went off at 6 AM. It was still dark outside. I got up, washed up, dressed and starting packing my bags when Ken woke up. We waited for it to lighten up outside and we drank some coffee in our room. It finally got light a little after 7 AM so we went downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast room was deserted. We were the only ones there. We had a quiet breakfast and, eventually, Chuck and Bruce entered and joined us. After a while, Jan joined us and then C.E. walked out to his Motor and prepared it for our departure. We all slowly ate our breakfast and one by one went out and got our Motors ready. We got all of our bags, loaded the Motors and checked out of the motel. It was overcast and it was cold. The humidity was high, as we can see our breath as we spoke. It was 50 degrees and we thought that we were ready to ride. We left at 8:59 AM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led us north on East US 60 and at Amarillo, we turned onto eastbound I-40. When we were about to get onto I-40, there were two on-ramps. The left on-ramp had a sign which read: "East Oklahoma." The right on-ramp sign read: "West Albuquerque." I was looking at my navigation and it was showing that we should go on the right on-ramp towards Oklahoma. It was discussed at breakfast that we were going to get on I-40 for a few miles and get off at US 335. At this point, we would avoid downtown Amarillo, stop and get gas and we would be very close to US 60 to continue towards Enid, Oklahoma. As we approached the two on-ramps, C.E.took the left on-ramp. The left on-ramp took us WEST towards Albuquerque! We all put our brakes and hesitated. We were expecting C.E. to take the right on-ramp headed for Oklahoma. We all followed C.E. WEST to Albuquerque. Ken was behind C.E., Chuck was next, then me, then Jan and bringing up the rear, Bruce. Chuck dropped back even with me and we both thought that C.E. would get off at the next exit. Mistakes happen. The next exit came and went. We continued west. Chuck accelerated quickly catching up with C.E. and stated, "Follow Me." Chuck accelerated and took the lead. Chuck got off at the next exit, turned left and the got back on I-40 eastbound. Chuck led the group to US 335 and exited. We were in Amarillo and arrived at a Pilot Truck Stop at 9:54 AM after riding 57.4 miles. It had been drizzling and it was 52 degrees. We got gas and took a pit stop. We all went inside and sat in the restaurant for a while. We left at 10:43 AM with Jan in the lead.
Jan led us on US 60 through farm land and it remained cold and drizzling. We rode for another 76.2 miles and stopped in Miami, TX at 11:52 AM. It was 52 degrees and we all went inside the mini-mart. We all made a pit stop and stayed inside because it was nice and toasty warm! Bruce went back to his Motor and returned inside the mini-mart with his flannel-lined jeans. Smart move! He changed and we were soon on the way again. We left at 12:23 PM.
The towns in this part of the state are very small and Jan was looking for somewhere to stop and eat. We rode through two little towns, which didn't have a Subway, Wendy's or anything that we would feel comfortable to stop and eat. We rode into a town called Canadian, TX where we rode slowly down their Main Street. We really didn't find any place to stop and eat, however, Jan slowed into the center lane and made a u-turn. We all followed and we stopped at a Dairy Queen. It was 12:49 PM and we had ridden 35.1 miles. It was still cold, however, the sun was peeking through the clouds from time to time. It was 54 degrees. We had lunch and then left at 1:40 PM.
We rode for 90.9 miles and we stopped in Seiling, OK at 3:08 PM. We made a pit stop and while were were there, we gassed up our Motors. We took a short break and left at 3:35 PM with Ken in the lead.
Ken led us at a good pace and we arrived in Enid, OK. We rode through the city and saw a Honda Motorcycle Dealership as we rode though. On Saturday, our first day, we noticed that the right headlight on Ken's Motor had burned out. We noticed today that the left headlight was out also. He had to ride with his bright lights on. We made fun of Ken but he took it well and laughed with us. Ken is going tomorrow morning to get the headlights fixed. We arrived at the Best Western at 4:55 PM after riding 76.1 miles. The temperature had warmed up to 64 degrees. We checked into our rooms, got our bags out and took them to the rooms. We returned to our Motors and tucked them in for the night. The good thing about this Best Western is that it had an on-site restaurant and lounge. We didn't have to ride to eat and drink. There was no fear of us going out drinking and riding back to the motel drunk! (Like we do that all the time.)
Today, we rode 325 miles and it was cold most of the day. It drizzled on us for a while and, for a short time, I thought that our trip was ending as we were headed west to Albuquerque. We had a good day, saw some great scenery and had some good laughs. Let's see what tomorrow brings...
My alarm went off at 6 AM. It was still dark outside. I got up, washed up, dressed and starting packing my bags when Ken woke up. We waited for it to lighten up outside and we drank some coffee in our room. It finally got light a little after 7 AM so we went downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast room was deserted. We were the only ones there. We had a quiet breakfast and, eventually, Chuck and Bruce entered and joined us. After a while, Jan joined us and then C.E. walked out to his Motor and prepared it for our departure. We all slowly ate our breakfast and one by one went out and got our Motors ready. We got all of our bags, loaded the Motors and checked out of the motel. It was overcast and it was cold. The humidity was high, as we can see our breath as we spoke. It was 50 degrees and we thought that we were ready to ride. We left at 8:59 AM with C.E. in the lead.
C.E. led us north on East US 60 and at Amarillo, we turned onto eastbound I-40. When we were about to get onto I-40, there were two on-ramps. The left on-ramp had a sign which read: "East Oklahoma." The right on-ramp sign read: "West Albuquerque." I was looking at my navigation and it was showing that we should go on the right on-ramp towards Oklahoma. It was discussed at breakfast that we were going to get on I-40 for a few miles and get off at US 335. At this point, we would avoid downtown Amarillo, stop and get gas and we would be very close to US 60 to continue towards Enid, Oklahoma. As we approached the two on-ramps, C.E.took the left on-ramp. The left on-ramp took us WEST towards Albuquerque! We all put our brakes and hesitated. We were expecting C.E. to take the right on-ramp headed for Oklahoma. We all followed C.E. WEST to Albuquerque. Ken was behind C.E., Chuck was next, then me, then Jan and bringing up the rear, Bruce. Chuck dropped back even with me and we both thought that C.E. would get off at the next exit. Mistakes happen. The next exit came and went. We continued west. Chuck accelerated quickly catching up with C.E. and stated, "Follow Me." Chuck accelerated and took the lead. Chuck got off at the next exit, turned left and the got back on I-40 eastbound. Chuck led the group to US 335 and exited. We were in Amarillo and arrived at a Pilot Truck Stop at 9:54 AM after riding 57.4 miles. It had been drizzling and it was 52 degrees. We got gas and took a pit stop. We all went inside and sat in the restaurant for a while. We left at 10:43 AM with Jan in the lead.
Jan led us on US 60 through farm land and it remained cold and drizzling. We rode for another 76.2 miles and stopped in Miami, TX at 11:52 AM. It was 52 degrees and we all went inside the mini-mart. We all made a pit stop and stayed inside because it was nice and toasty warm! Bruce went back to his Motor and returned inside the mini-mart with his flannel-lined jeans. Smart move! He changed and we were soon on the way again. We left at 12:23 PM.
The towns in this part of the state are very small and Jan was looking for somewhere to stop and eat. We rode through two little towns, which didn't have a Subway, Wendy's or anything that we would feel comfortable to stop and eat. We rode into a town called Canadian, TX where we rode slowly down their Main Street. We really didn't find any place to stop and eat, however, Jan slowed into the center lane and made a u-turn. We all followed and we stopped at a Dairy Queen. It was 12:49 PM and we had ridden 35.1 miles. It was still cold, however, the sun was peeking through the clouds from time to time. It was 54 degrees. We had lunch and then left at 1:40 PM.
We rode for 90.9 miles and we stopped in Seiling, OK at 3:08 PM. We made a pit stop and while were were there, we gassed up our Motors. We took a short break and left at 3:35 PM with Ken in the lead.
Ken led us at a good pace and we arrived in Enid, OK. We rode through the city and saw a Honda Motorcycle Dealership as we rode though. On Saturday, our first day, we noticed that the right headlight on Ken's Motor had burned out. We noticed today that the left headlight was out also. He had to ride with his bright lights on. We made fun of Ken but he took it well and laughed with us. Ken is going tomorrow morning to get the headlights fixed. We arrived at the Best Western at 4:55 PM after riding 76.1 miles. The temperature had warmed up to 64 degrees. We checked into our rooms, got our bags out and took them to the rooms. We returned to our Motors and tucked them in for the night. The good thing about this Best Western is that it had an on-site restaurant and lounge. We didn't have to ride to eat and drink. There was no fear of us going out drinking and riding back to the motel drunk! (Like we do that all the time.)
Today, we rode 325 miles and it was cold most of the day. It drizzled on us for a while and, for a short time, I thought that our trip was ending as we were headed west to Albuquerque. We had a good day, saw some great scenery and had some good laughs. Let's see what tomorrow brings...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Roswell, NM
Day 2 April 18, 2010
For the first night, Ken and I were roommates. C.E. and Jan roomed together and Chuck and Bruce were together. I woke up at 6 AM and Ken soon followed. We got dressed and packed. We went out to our Motors and gave them their morning TLC. Off to breakfast we went...back into the building as breakfast was included in the night stay. We were there by ourselves for quite some time until, lo and behold, Chuck came in, followed by Bruce. Ken and I were just talking and saying that Chuck wouldn't come out of hibernation until his usual 8:30 AM or so. What a surprise! Soon after, C.E. came down and went out to his Motor and gave it some TLC. When C.E. finished, he came in for breakfast and I gave up my seat for him. I had to go back to my room to get my stuff so that I could pack my Motor. When I got down to my Motor, Jan had come down and was giving TLC to his Motor. We all finished packing and left the Holiday Inn and rode about a half a block north to a Phillips 66 gas station and we all filled up. It was 59 degrees and we left at 8:59 AM southbound on I-25 with Bruce leading. We were headed to Roswell, NM to go to the museum. Ken was hoping that we could go and feed the caged aliens.
We turned onto US 380 and after riding for 79.1 miles, we stopped in Carizozo, NM at 10:00 AM and 57 degrees for...you guessed it, a much needed pit stop. After all, we had a lot of coffee for breakfast. The ride was awesome! The road was in great shape, hills, curves and not very much traffic. There was a lot of farmland. The clouds were hanging very low and it seamed as if we could just reach up and touch them. After our break, we left at 10:32 AM with Bruce still leading. We were enjoying the ride and making some good time when Jan, who was third in line, got out of formations and accelerated to get next to Bruce. Jan motioned to Bruce and gave him our "pit stop" signal. Jan then accelerated, passing Bruce and led for a short distance and then pulled over to the side of the road at MP 312. For those who don't know, MP is milepost. We all pulled over. It was 63 degrees and we had only ridden for 74.5 miles. Let me go back a little. Bruce was leading, Chuck was next, then Chuck, Ken, C.E. and then me. Jan ran down the embankment for his pit stop. Chuck followed and then Bruce. The three were taking "care of business" while I got a great picture! Did you notice that the three that went down the embankment we the Harley riders? Chuck came up and quickly told me that for the purpose of the "blog," he followed Jan so that Jan didn't go down by himself. Chuck stated that the reason that the Harley riders "had to go" was because the vibration from the Harleys was affecting their bladders. Blah, blah, blah! They should get Gold Wings and they wouldn't have to worry about the vibration affecting their bladders. We continued at 11:44 AM.
We arrived in Roswell, NM at 11:59 AM after riding 18.9 miles. Bruce stopped at a gas station for another pit stop. It had warmed up by 2 degrees from Jan's panic stop. We decided to get gas and then find a place for lunch. C.E. led us a few block away where we pulled into a Subway. C.E. parked right in front of the front door and we all followed. At 1:17 PM, after lunch, C.E. led us to the Roswell Museum. We arrived at 1:25 PM after riding for 3.3 miles. It was 68 degrees. We all parked in the parking lot just south of the museum building. The signage was on the wall of the building marking it as the museum. As I was off of my Motor and writing my information onto my steno pad, Chuck asked me how far it was to Amarillo, TX. I reached into my trunk and got my Best Western book to get the address of the motel that we were going to stop at and put it into the navigation. The next thing I knew, everyone was on their Motors ready to leave. I asked Chuck what we were doing and he told me that we were going on and not going to go into the museum. I was dumbfounded! I didn't understand. We were there! Why didn't we just go in? In only cost $5 for admission. OK, I just put my stuff away and saddled up on the Motor and I got back into formation. We left at 1:34 PM.
Now, normally, after lunch we like to stop after about 20 minutes or so. You know how you get after you eat...sleepy. C.E. was looking for a place to stop to take a break and after riding for 60.8 miles, we stopped at 2:30 PM in what looked like an abandoned building with a couple of signs in front. One sign posed was, " Kenna Store." The other sign was, "U.S. Post Office." The couple of buildings by the main building were dilapidated. The store looked like it was a working store. We looked in the windows and saw some tables, chairs, grocery items and office goods. It was getting warmer, 70 degrees, so after making a pit stop behind the building, we shedded our jackets. We left at 2:44 PM.
We continued on with C.E. leading. We stopped in Portales, NM at 3:16 PM after riding 35.7 miles a gas station/mini-mart. It was still 70 degrees. We took a break, made our pit stops and drank coffee and water. We left at 3:49 PM.
Since we were headed to Amarillo, TX. Chuck and Jan decided that they would top off their gas tanks at the next stop so that we could make Amarillo without having to risk running out of gas.
We stopped in Clovis, NM at 4:08 PM after riding 18.7 miles. Chuck, Jan AND Bruce all topped off their "peanut" tanks with gas. C.E., Ken and I still had over a half tank of gas left. It was starting to cool off and Ken put on his jacket. It was 68 degrees. You know how these "old guys" are! We left at 4:20 PM.
We drove for a few miles to the Texas/New Mexico border. We were back on US 60 and we stopped by a US 60 sign just inside Texas. We made a quick stop to take pictures of the sign and with each of us parked next to the sign. We continued on. As we crossed into Texas, we lost another hour. We we were on the road, Chuck got a hold of me on the CB and told me that we had just passed a sign for a Holiday Inn Express in Hereford, TX. He told me that he had had enough riding for the day and that if I could tell C.E. to stop in 25 miles in Hereford at the Holiday Inn. I told him that I would and I did. (He should have been on a Gold Wing...he wouldn't be tired.)
We arrived in Hereford, TX at the Holiday Inn Express at 6:19 PM after riding 58.9 miles. It was 66 degrees and it was a good time to stop. If we had continued, we would have had to stop and put our jackets on and would have arrived in Amarillo in the dark! We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We kept the same roommates for this night. After going to our rooms and putting our bags away, we walked to the end of the parking lot of the motel to a Pizza Hut for dinner. We had to! It was either that or Long John Silvers. We were told by the motel clerk that all of the other restaurants were closed on Sunday night.
Today we rode 346 miles. It was beautiful country heading towards Roswell. It was OK scenery from Roswell to Hereford, but not as beautiful. There were a lot of cattle ranches. Tomorrow we will get out of Texas and into Oklahoma. We will see what that brings us. Until tomorrow...
We stopped after riding 18.7 miles
For the first night, Ken and I were roommates. C.E. and Jan roomed together and Chuck and Bruce were together. I woke up at 6 AM and Ken soon followed. We got dressed and packed. We went out to our Motors and gave them their morning TLC. Off to breakfast we went...back into the building as breakfast was included in the night stay. We were there by ourselves for quite some time until, lo and behold, Chuck came in, followed by Bruce. Ken and I were just talking and saying that Chuck wouldn't come out of hibernation until his usual 8:30 AM or so. What a surprise! Soon after, C.E. came down and went out to his Motor and gave it some TLC. When C.E. finished, he came in for breakfast and I gave up my seat for him. I had to go back to my room to get my stuff so that I could pack my Motor. When I got down to my Motor, Jan had come down and was giving TLC to his Motor. We all finished packing and left the Holiday Inn and rode about a half a block north to a Phillips 66 gas station and we all filled up. It was 59 degrees and we left at 8:59 AM southbound on I-25 with Bruce leading. We were headed to Roswell, NM to go to the museum. Ken was hoping that we could go and feed the caged aliens.
We turned onto US 380 and after riding for 79.1 miles, we stopped in Carizozo, NM at 10:00 AM and 57 degrees for...you guessed it, a much needed pit stop. After all, we had a lot of coffee for breakfast. The ride was awesome! The road was in great shape, hills, curves and not very much traffic. There was a lot of farmland. The clouds were hanging very low and it seamed as if we could just reach up and touch them. After our break, we left at 10:32 AM with Bruce still leading. We were enjoying the ride and making some good time when Jan, who was third in line, got out of formations and accelerated to get next to Bruce. Jan motioned to Bruce and gave him our "pit stop" signal. Jan then accelerated, passing Bruce and led for a short distance and then pulled over to the side of the road at MP 312. For those who don't know, MP is milepost. We all pulled over. It was 63 degrees and we had only ridden for 74.5 miles. Let me go back a little. Bruce was leading, Chuck was next, then Chuck, Ken, C.E. and then me. Jan ran down the embankment for his pit stop. Chuck followed and then Bruce. The three were taking "care of business" while I got a great picture! Did you notice that the three that went down the embankment we the Harley riders? Chuck came up and quickly told me that for the purpose of the "blog," he followed Jan so that Jan didn't go down by himself. Chuck stated that the reason that the Harley riders "had to go" was because the vibration from the Harleys was affecting their bladders. Blah, blah, blah! They should get Gold Wings and they wouldn't have to worry about the vibration affecting their bladders. We continued at 11:44 AM.
We arrived in Roswell, NM at 11:59 AM after riding 18.9 miles. Bruce stopped at a gas station for another pit stop. It had warmed up by 2 degrees from Jan's panic stop. We decided to get gas and then find a place for lunch. C.E. led us a few block away where we pulled into a Subway. C.E. parked right in front of the front door and we all followed. At 1:17 PM, after lunch, C.E. led us to the Roswell Museum. We arrived at 1:25 PM after riding for 3.3 miles. It was 68 degrees. We all parked in the parking lot just south of the museum building. The signage was on the wall of the building marking it as the museum. As I was off of my Motor and writing my information onto my steno pad, Chuck asked me how far it was to Amarillo, TX. I reached into my trunk and got my Best Western book to get the address of the motel that we were going to stop at and put it into the navigation. The next thing I knew, everyone was on their Motors ready to leave. I asked Chuck what we were doing and he told me that we were going on and not going to go into the museum. I was dumbfounded! I didn't understand. We were there! Why didn't we just go in? In only cost $5 for admission. OK, I just put my stuff away and saddled up on the Motor and I got back into formation. We left at 1:34 PM.
Now, normally, after lunch we like to stop after about 20 minutes or so. You know how you get after you eat...sleepy. C.E. was looking for a place to stop to take a break and after riding for 60.8 miles, we stopped at 2:30 PM in what looked like an abandoned building with a couple of signs in front. One sign posed was, " Kenna Store." The other sign was, "U.S. Post Office." The couple of buildings by the main building were dilapidated. The store looked like it was a working store. We looked in the windows and saw some tables, chairs, grocery items and office goods. It was getting warmer, 70 degrees, so after making a pit stop behind the building, we shedded our jackets. We left at 2:44 PM.
We continued on with C.E. leading. We stopped in Portales, NM at 3:16 PM after riding 35.7 miles a gas station/mini-mart. It was still 70 degrees. We took a break, made our pit stops and drank coffee and water. We left at 3:49 PM.
Since we were headed to Amarillo, TX. Chuck and Jan decided that they would top off their gas tanks at the next stop so that we could make Amarillo without having to risk running out of gas.
We stopped in Clovis, NM at 4:08 PM after riding 18.7 miles. Chuck, Jan AND Bruce all topped off their "peanut" tanks with gas. C.E., Ken and I still had over a half tank of gas left. It was starting to cool off and Ken put on his jacket. It was 68 degrees. You know how these "old guys" are! We left at 4:20 PM.
We drove for a few miles to the Texas/New Mexico border. We were back on US 60 and we stopped by a US 60 sign just inside Texas. We made a quick stop to take pictures of the sign and with each of us parked next to the sign. We continued on. As we crossed into Texas, we lost another hour. We we were on the road, Chuck got a hold of me on the CB and told me that we had just passed a sign for a Holiday Inn Express in Hereford, TX. He told me that he had had enough riding for the day and that if I could tell C.E. to stop in 25 miles in Hereford at the Holiday Inn. I told him that I would and I did. (He should have been on a Gold Wing...he wouldn't be tired.)
We arrived in Hereford, TX at the Holiday Inn Express at 6:19 PM after riding 58.9 miles. It was 66 degrees and it was a good time to stop. If we had continued, we would have had to stop and put our jackets on and would have arrived in Amarillo in the dark! We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We kept the same roommates for this night. After going to our rooms and putting our bags away, we walked to the end of the parking lot of the motel to a Pizza Hut for dinner. We had to! It was either that or Long John Silvers. We were told by the motel clerk that all of the other restaurants were closed on Sunday night.
Today we rode 346 miles. It was beautiful country heading towards Roswell. It was OK scenery from Roswell to Hereford, but not as beautiful. There were a lot of cattle ranches. Tomorrow we will get out of Texas and into Oklahoma. We will see what that brings us. Until tomorrow...
We stopped after riding 18.7 miles
Saturday, April 17, 2010
THE DAY IN FINALLY HERE! ...YOUR OTHER LEFT!
Day 1 April 17, 2010
The big day is finally here. We met at 8 AM at Denny's, I-17 and Dunlap. I want to thank Bruce for starting the ride on a humerous note! Most of the riders and families were present when Bruce rode up on his Harley. As he was parking, everyone saw that his left saddlebag was open. Some of the people yelled at Bruce that his "left" saddlebag was open. Bruce stopped and looked at his "right" saddlebag. Everyone laughed and yelled, "Your other left!" Bruce then looked at the left saddlebag and closed it. Everyone laughed and Bruce started us right. Well, it was better that dropping the Motor!
We all had breakfast and soon we said our good-byes and at 9:45 AM left southbound with Chuck in the lead. We rode to I-10 and the eastbound onto the 202 until it met with US60. We had a little construction in Mesa, but we soon got out of it and it was clear sailing. With the temperature at 72 degrees when we left Denny's, the sky had scattered clouds and it was a wonderful day to be riding a Motorcycle.
At 11:00 AM and after riding for 80 miles, we arrived in Superior, AZ. with 77 degree temperature for our first (of many) pit stops. Those Circle K's sure do come in handy when you need them...and we needed it! We just had far too much coffee at Denny's! We left at 11:16 AM and continued eastbound on US60. We drove through the cities of Miami and Globe. We rode through Salt River Canyon and it was beautiful! There was not very much traffic in front of us so we were able to go a little faster and enjoy the curves on the roadway. Ladies, we weren't looking at the other women on the road, I'm talking about the roadway and all of the switchback curves!
We stopped at 1:10 PM after riding 114 miles in Show Low, AZ. at the first Circle K with a gas station. It was 68 degrees. Thinking that Chuck wanted to stop for gas, most of us stopped at the pumps while Chuck stopped at the Circle K store, parked his Motor and quickly went inside to a needed pit stop! We all gassed up after Chuck's pit stop and Jan led up 1.3 miles away to the Subway for lunch. We left at 2:06 PM after finishing our subs.
It was my turn to lead. I lead the group eastbound on US60. We continued through Show Low and then stopped 48.4 miles later at 2:51 PM in Springerville, AZ. What a gorgeous ride, so far! We stopped for another pit stop and a little break, especially after lunch. We learned a couple of years ago that we need to stop and take a break soon after lunch so that we can "wake up." Knowing that we had another 200 or so miles to go before the end of the day, Chuck and Jan topped off their gas tanks so that they could make it all the way without running out of gas. C.E. decided to put on his sweater at this time because it was a little cold. The rest of us didn't. Silly us! We left at 3:15 PM.
We left Springerville and at about 3:30 PM, we entered New Mexico. As we entered New Mexico, we lost an hour because of the time difference. As we headed eastbound, it got colder and colder. The lowest it got was 53 degrees, but nobody wanted to stop and put on their jackets! No one got a hold of me on the CB and told me to stop! I guess they would have IF the others had a CB! I kept going. We entered an mountainous area with lots of trees. It had recently rained and the roadway was wet. Most of the others was some antelope grazing by a fence a distance from the side of the road. Chuck also said that he saw some deer by the side of the road on the other side. Or so he claims! He did. He had a witness! I'll give him that one.
We arrived in Datil, NM at 5:37 PM after riding for 94.7 miles. Funny what fluids and cold weather does to ones bladder. We made our pit stop and returned to our Motors to get our jackets out and put them on. It felt sooooo much better! It was 57 degrees by the time we arrived in Datil. We left at 5:51 PM.
We rode for another 62.5 miles and arrived in Socorro, NM at 6:52 PM. My navigations system took us directly to the Best Western. Jan, Chuck and Bruce went in to make the deal for the three rooms. The young, snot-nosed clerk gave them a price of $90 and would waver on any discounts! Bruce walked next door to the Holiday Inn Express and got a deal of $75 per room. Being the cheap people that we are, can you guess which motel we stayed at? Remember, 1) retired, 2) living on a fixed income, 3) barely squeaking by. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express. We check into our room and took our bags up to our room. We then met at the Motors and rode about a half a mile south to the "El Camino Family Restaurant." We enjoyed our dinner, rode back to the motel, parked the Motors and tucked them in for the night.
We all agreed that it was great to get back on the Motors and do our "ride." At one point, I was riding and I heard the roar of Jan's Motor at my right. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and listened and that "good feeling" came back to me. Don't worry, nothing happened to me as I rode with my eyes closed. My God, it was only for a few seconds! We rode for 403 miles today. The hot tub made our bodies feel real good! We are all going to sleep good tonight. So, Good Night to all and we will chat tomorrow.
p.s. Love your Girls. Thanks for allowing me to make this ride!
The big day is finally here. We met at 8 AM at Denny's, I-17 and Dunlap. I want to thank Bruce for starting the ride on a humerous note! Most of the riders and families were present when Bruce rode up on his Harley. As he was parking, everyone saw that his left saddlebag was open. Some of the people yelled at Bruce that his "left" saddlebag was open. Bruce stopped and looked at his "right" saddlebag. Everyone laughed and yelled, "Your other left!" Bruce then looked at the left saddlebag and closed it. Everyone laughed and Bruce started us right. Well, it was better that dropping the Motor!
We all had breakfast and soon we said our good-byes and at 9:45 AM left southbound with Chuck in the lead. We rode to I-10 and the eastbound onto the 202 until it met with US60. We had a little construction in Mesa, but we soon got out of it and it was clear sailing. With the temperature at 72 degrees when we left Denny's, the sky had scattered clouds and it was a wonderful day to be riding a Motorcycle.
At 11:00 AM and after riding for 80 miles, we arrived in Superior, AZ. with 77 degree temperature for our first (of many) pit stops. Those Circle K's sure do come in handy when you need them...and we needed it! We just had far too much coffee at Denny's! We left at 11:16 AM and continued eastbound on US60. We drove through the cities of Miami and Globe. We rode through Salt River Canyon and it was beautiful! There was not very much traffic in front of us so we were able to go a little faster and enjoy the curves on the roadway. Ladies, we weren't looking at the other women on the road, I'm talking about the roadway and all of the switchback curves!
We stopped at 1:10 PM after riding 114 miles in Show Low, AZ. at the first Circle K with a gas station. It was 68 degrees. Thinking that Chuck wanted to stop for gas, most of us stopped at the pumps while Chuck stopped at the Circle K store, parked his Motor and quickly went inside to a needed pit stop! We all gassed up after Chuck's pit stop and Jan led up 1.3 miles away to the Subway for lunch. We left at 2:06 PM after finishing our subs.
It was my turn to lead. I lead the group eastbound on US60. We continued through Show Low and then stopped 48.4 miles later at 2:51 PM in Springerville, AZ. What a gorgeous ride, so far! We stopped for another pit stop and a little break, especially after lunch. We learned a couple of years ago that we need to stop and take a break soon after lunch so that we can "wake up." Knowing that we had another 200 or so miles to go before the end of the day, Chuck and Jan topped off their gas tanks so that they could make it all the way without running out of gas. C.E. decided to put on his sweater at this time because it was a little cold. The rest of us didn't. Silly us! We left at 3:15 PM.
We left Springerville and at about 3:30 PM, we entered New Mexico. As we entered New Mexico, we lost an hour because of the time difference. As we headed eastbound, it got colder and colder. The lowest it got was 53 degrees, but nobody wanted to stop and put on their jackets! No one got a hold of me on the CB and told me to stop! I guess they would have IF the others had a CB! I kept going. We entered an mountainous area with lots of trees. It had recently rained and the roadway was wet. Most of the others was some antelope grazing by a fence a distance from the side of the road. Chuck also said that he saw some deer by the side of the road on the other side. Or so he claims! He did. He had a witness! I'll give him that one.
We arrived in Datil, NM at 5:37 PM after riding for 94.7 miles. Funny what fluids and cold weather does to ones bladder. We made our pit stop and returned to our Motors to get our jackets out and put them on. It felt sooooo much better! It was 57 degrees by the time we arrived in Datil. We left at 5:51 PM.
We rode for another 62.5 miles and arrived in Socorro, NM at 6:52 PM. My navigations system took us directly to the Best Western. Jan, Chuck and Bruce went in to make the deal for the three rooms. The young, snot-nosed clerk gave them a price of $90 and would waver on any discounts! Bruce walked next door to the Holiday Inn Express and got a deal of $75 per room. Being the cheap people that we are, can you guess which motel we stayed at? Remember, 1) retired, 2) living on a fixed income, 3) barely squeaking by. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express. We check into our room and took our bags up to our room. We then met at the Motors and rode about a half a mile south to the "El Camino Family Restaurant." We enjoyed our dinner, rode back to the motel, parked the Motors and tucked them in for the night.
We all agreed that it was great to get back on the Motors and do our "ride." At one point, I was riding and I heard the roar of Jan's Motor at my right. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and listened and that "good feeling" came back to me. Don't worry, nothing happened to me as I rode with my eyes closed. My God, it was only for a few seconds! We rode for 403 miles today. The hot tub made our bodies feel real good! We are all going to sleep good tonight. So, Good Night to all and we will chat tomorrow.
p.s. Love your Girls. Thanks for allowing me to make this ride!
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