Final Days

Alright, it's wrap up time! While at my sister's last Wednesday, I had issues connecting to the internet and when I got home, I just sat around the house and relaxed.

It's been almost a week since I've ended traveling and it is really hard to believe what I accomplished, where I have been and people I've met along the way. Before I get to some reflections, I need wrap up the last two days of travel.

Well starting out Wednesday morning, it was nice knowing there was no hotel/motel room waiting at the end of the day. My sister's place was the last step before home and even though it wasn't home, it sure felt like that was where I was headed.
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The morning was nice and overcast and cool. Imagine the weather being cool on this trip. Baffling. While loading our bikes it started drizzling. Looks like the day was going to start out pretty wet. Me and my dad got out on the road and it started raining. Luckily it never really picked up that much.

We took a break and I added on another layer of clothing because it was really cool out riding. I wasn't expecting it to be this cool. Most of the roads were pretty straight and lots of off and on rain. Nothing too hard but just enough to be annoying. I think at this point I had lost my drive to capture pictures. Everything was looking the same at this time.

Grabbed a quick lunch and pushed on that 120 miles into Canton. Those were some long 120 miles. Most of the roads that we were traveling were narrow two lane roads and by the time you start rolling along, you were hitting a stop sign and making a turn. This went on for about an hour or more. That kind of riding hits you hard and really starts to wear you out.

The final push was on and had a pretty easy ride into my sister's place. We arrived and it felt good to be done for the day. While it was only a 260 mile day, it felt like a 350 mile day instead. It felt good to see family and it felt good to be in a house instead of a hotel! Oh yeah, and to sit on a couch for the first time in 5 weeks.

My sister really made a fantastic meal. She made some ribs (best ribs I've EVER had), a pork sirloin (with pineapple salsa), some baked beans and a nice pasta salad. It was heaven. After dinner we enjoyed a wonderful dessert; pumpkin bread pudding. Wow was that tasty!

After some extended visiting in the evening, I hit the sack and passed out. Six o'clock came really early the next morning. I probably could've had about another 3 hours of sleep, but there was 360 some miles ahead of us and an early start would be the best.

The day was pretty nice. Some clouds, but it looked like it was going to be sunny and some what warm for the day. I was hoping that my last day of riding wouldn't be like my first day of the trip. Looks like I got my wish.

For the most part, the ride home was pretty uneventful. Me and my dad blazed down I-275 and I-75 and weaved our way east of Toledo. Instead of taking the turnpike, we took US 20/18 east and it pretty much paralleled the TPK. We made pretty good time the whole way and hit Canton, OH by lunchtime. I was pretty happy about that. Almost at the PA border by lunchtime, should be home around 3:30 or 4 at this rate.

That was until we ran through the last few miles of eastern Ohio. Congestion, loads of traffic and stop lights and construction. I think it took us around an hour to go about 20 some miles. It was pretty painful, but it ended before we got to PA.

There was one sad little moment around here. We crossed into PA and I felt something hit my thigh. I knew it was a bird. I've had several near misses and have killed one or two other ones along the way. I looked down and didn't see anything at first. Then I thought, "Heh, bet Dad got a show there. Feathers bursting in the air and all that. Hmm, wouldn't it be something if it was in my lap?" So I looked down and sure enough in my lap was the dead bird laying there. A little goldfinch laying there in my lap. I felt bad for the poor fella.

We stopped for gas in Mount Jackson, PA and I picked up his little body and carried him off to a trash can. An odd thing to happen here on the last day of the trip. At this point, it was the last fuel up for the trip. Kind of funny that it was all coming to an end.

Got on 422 and rode it on into Indiana, PA and took a break just outside. One last rest and the final push into town. There was no traffic on the way into Johnstown and I'm not sure how I was going to feel about coming home. I think I was pretty ambivalent riding into town. I wasn't relieved to be home and I wasn't excited to be home. I'm not sure what it was that I was feeling at this point. It was kind of nice being home and it was kind of sad being home. What I did find interesting was that home was just like any other place I was on the road.

Turning up my street seemed very foreign. I recognized it, but something just didn't seem quite right about it. I pulled into my driveway and got off the bike, took off the helmet and just kind of stood there looking at the bike and the house. Wow, I left here went across the US and made it home in one piece. I went and opened the door to the house and felt like a stranger. So I tore the bike down for the last time and instead of pulling the gear into a hotel, it was coming home after 5 weeks of travel.

Met up with my friends for dinner and it was great seeing them again and it was like I had never left. Later that night when I got home and just sat there on the sofa and I didn't know what to do with myself. I actually pulled the laptop out and figured I better get the route for the next day laid out and loaded into the GPS. I had to laugh at that one.

The rest of the weekend I just relaxed did some house work and visited with my brother and his family and have been organizing the video.

So that's the final days of the trip. I expected this to be a little shorter, but it looks like I ran a little long here. One more post to come. A reflection of the trip and some thoughts. Nothing too terribly exciting. So for those who were wondering if I made it home, well, now you know!

Slow Boat to Michigan

High adventure on the seven...err 5 lakes today. What a short day of travel. I think today's total mileage of riding was 9 miles. The rest was done via our car ferry from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan.

Started off the morning nice and slow. There was no hurry today since our boat wasn't leaving until 1:15 central time. So me and dad hit up the Perkins next door to the hotel and had a nice breakfast. After that we walked across the street to the Lowe's. I wanted to clean my hideous looking chain and get it lubed up. So I grabbed a can of WD-40 and headed back. After about an hour's worth of soaking and rubbing, the chain was finally clean and looked brand new. The chain is all set to take me home now. Man, this bike is going to take weeks to get clean again.

After that we loaded up and headed on down to the dock. It was hard finding it since there were no signs to the loading area. You could see it sitting at the dock, but there were no signs saying "Turn here." After a quick "scenic" tour through downtown Manitowoc, I found my way over to it. Checked in and lined up for our entry onto the ship's hold.




We were told by some other guy we met the other day that motorcycles go on last so we figured we would be waiting around for a bit. Just as we turned our motorcycles off, we were greeted by a police officer and struck up a nice conversation with him and were told that we would probably go on relatively early. Maybe a half hour later we were driving on and tying down the bikes.

Headed upstairs and took a quick tour of the ship and went down below and grabbed some snack food. Little did we know that we should've secured some food at that moment. Since later on, our hunger became real and started looking for food. The cafeteria was closed!




With no annoucement, the ship's engine churned to life and we were off and moving. We moved to the top deck up to the bow and watched our exit out to Lake Michigan. The ship lumbered out of port and just traipsed along the waters.


My dad and I took up residence on the bow area for awhile. It was protected from the wind and really quite comfortable. The whole time was really just relaxing listening to the water below being pushed away and feeling the boat gently roll side to side. It put you to sleep...or almost asleep.

While the trip was four hours, it seemed like a really fast four hours in the crossing. Before you knew it, you could see the sand hills/dunes of Michigan on the horizon. At first they look like a mirage, but after a little while, you see the hills for what they really are.


The ol' Badger approached the port of Ludington and eased its way on it. The engines were pulled way back and we drifted into the docking area. Then a great loud clanking sound, a splash and you knew the anchor on the starboard side (right) dropped. This is the docking method that they use. Drop the anchor down, then let the ship pivot and swing itself around on its anchor. Pretty fun to witness on board.








The crew mates threw out the mooring lines and we backed into dock. It was amazing how fast everything moved off the ship. The cars aren't driven by the owners but by the employees of the SS Badger. So you have these guys unloading a car and then sprinting back on board to get to another car. Meanwhile, me and my dad undid the tie-downs and backed up and got the heck out of there. A few miles down the road was home.


While it wasn't a very long day, it was very tiring. Both us were feeling pretty wiped out from the day. Not sure exactly why either. But here we are in the Eastern time zone. Last time I was in this time zone was May 18th...haha..almost an ENTIRE month out of my own time zone!

Well, tomorrow we're off to my sister's place down in Canton, Michigan for a visit and my first home cooked meal since I left. I'm really looking forward to that! I'm also looking forward to not living in a hotel/motel room and NOT having to tear everything off my bike..and of course seeing my sister and her family!

Today's Pics

Wisconsin Hills

At this point in the trip, it's starting to get harder to finish this tale off. In the beginning the excitement and anticipation of reaching the western skies and its tall-tale landscape keeps stoking the fire of anticipation. Then once you're there, you can't help but be awestruck by its massive and self-imposing presence. Creativity takes a back seat and it's a just a matter of letting your thoughts drop out onto the keyboard and hope the fingers can keep up with the mind. Now with the scenery not slapping me in the face and home only a few miles away, it becomes a lot harder to try and document the final days of the journey. So if the potency of the photos or prose is lacking, now you know why. Caveat emptor.

So this day was to be pretty short. My dad and I were only looking at a 220 some mile trip up to Manitowoc today and we'd be taking one route the whole way up there. Sounded pretty easy and would be a super short day of travel.

Started off the morning crossing the ol' Mississippi again. Last time I crossed it was back in May. The fourth day of the trip. I have to laugh when I think back about that because it seems like it was forever ago.


After a few short miles on route 151 (another divided highway) I just couldn't take it any more. I had had enough four lane highway the day before and I felt like I wasn't being fair to Wisconsin. Not to mention it was pretty brisk out this morning...time to break out the heated jacket again.

A quick look of the map and a new alternate route was planned out. It was time to see the REAL Wisconsin. It was a lot nicer looking than 151.


The whole area reminded a lot of the same terrain back home. It's a lot like Central PA around here. Some flat parts with farms and then hilly terrain surrounding it.




Lots of flooding in the fields and some of the towns. There was evidence in a lot of places around the area of existing flooding or recently receded flooding. In the small town of Spring Green their town cemetery was flooded.

After scoring lunch in Columbia, we headed north out of there onto route 73. We were quickly greeted with a "Detour". We wandered around the back roads and saw some of the outskirts of some of the flooded areas. There were places where both sides of the road were being kissed by flooded fields. It was amazing where the flooding occurred. Seemingly miles away from any water source, but since there was a bowled area of land, it just sat there and rose up.

We wound our way back to 151 (the fastest approach to Manitowoc) and ripped out the last few miles there. At this point though, 151 was down to two lanes only. Sweet! All in all, what was supposed to be a 220 mile day turned into a nice 250 mile day instead. It was a good time indeed!

Tomorrow will be a short day. Our ship leaves the dock at 1:15 PM Central Time and arrives in Michigan at 6:15 PM Eastern time. Tomorrow, I'll be back in my own time zone for the first time in several weeks. Wild.

Shiver me timbers...

Odoriferous Iowa

There are a few routines I go through at the end of the day. Besides the obvious ones of unloading, I usually check the place's book on places to eat. There were other little fast food joints around last night and it would've been easy to take that route, but if there's one thing I'm getting a little tired of....no home cooked meal. No matter the greasy spoon and how good that guilty fattening food tastes, it gets old after awhile.

So I found some place that sold frozen custard and butterbugers and dinner platters. Apparently it's a chain out here in the midwest called Culver's. So I had a nice fried chicken meal with a two scoop hot fudge sundae (of which I didn't finish it all). It hit the spot and was an out of the ordinary meal.

I wish I could say the night's sleep hit the spot too, but unfortunately, it didn't. It started off good until about 11 when a party of people must've come in. There were doors slamming up and down the hallway and even someone thought my room was there room. So there was a jiggling and pulling of my door a few times until I spoke up. There was no "sorry" uttered.

I eventually passed out again, only to wake up around 4 AM to a blaring TV next door. What really stunk about that was that it was one of those rooms with a pass-through door, so the sound just came right through. Man, so much for a restful night.

So I grabbed a quick bowl of cereal, lugged my stuff down the steps and made several trips to get loaded up and hit the road. There was a beautiful sunrise going on but there were threatening clouds to the south.




There are plenty of "country" smells out here in Iowa. If you're not smelling corn then you're smelling cow manure. Mmm country livin'.

For the most part the ride was pretty easy. It was just over 300 some miles to Dubuque and about half way across the state, 20 turns into limited access road (read 4-lane). But before that, I passed through a bunch of small Iowa towns with some interesting names like Early, Correctionville, and Sac City.

In some of the farmer's fields you can still see standing pools of water. Sometimes large sections of the field were under water and in other places, just small pools of water. Fields weren't the only place where you'd see water.


The horizon looked pretty threatening throughout the day and some of the roads left a little more to be desired but there was plenty to look at up in the sky.


After lunch the clouds disappeared and was sunny for the rest of the ride in. I rolled past Waterloo and saw that the flooding was much more severe. I didn't feel right taking pictures of other people's misery and misfortune, so there's nothing to see here. I went through Independence, Iowa and there is a small river that runs through the town. It was ripping along pretty good and licking the bottom of the bridges in town. I expect to see a lot more of the same tomorrow traveling across Wisconsin.

After fighting through some heavier (and faster) traffic just outside of Dubuque I got to the hotel and met up with my dad. While unloading, I let him "experience" some of my daily rituals. I think he was a little surprised how much weight the bike has been carrying (and I've been carrying at the start and end) each day.

So not too many pics today either, especially from the afternoon. I don't thnk many would find "interstate" pictures too interesting.

Today's Pics

Tomorrow...Manitowoc, Wisconsin in our search for the S.S. Badger!

Dragon Slayer

Last night's task was to find some food and ice cream. Well, I didn't exactly find any soft-serve ice cream, but I did find some ice cream...along with a fresh piece of apple pie.

Walked across the street and hooked myself up with a New York Strip steak, salad bar, a beer and some dessert. I was quite full by the time I got back to my room. Man, was it a filling dinner.

Earlier on, I washed my electric liner. It had a funk about it and I figured I wouldn't need it today so if it didn't dry I could throw it under the bungee net. To my pleasant surprise, it was nice and dry this morning and I threw it in the trunk just in case I needed it. A few miles down the road, I knew I wasn't going to need it and I packed it up (hopefully) for the last time.

Not too much to report on today's ride. It was super short (230 some miles) and the terrain kind of flattened out. I tried killing some time by heading up to a fossil bank but they wanted money for me to enter. I wasn't buying. But I did get off on a county road.




One thing to note; there were a ton of dragon flies out and about today. I think my last tally was something like 10 confirmed kills. There was a really bad one, where a tractor trailer coming the opposite way smacked one and launched it in my direction and then careened off my windshield. My helmet needs cleaned real bad.

As you can see, that's all the pictures from today. Wasn't much to look at along the way today. Sorry folks.

So here I am in Sioux City, Iowa awaiting to see if I can find my way east to Dubuque (due to flooding) and meet up with my dad who decided to come and meet me for the last few days home. Looks like we'll hook up there and strike off to Wisconsin the following day for a ferry ride across Lake Michigan.

Off to forage for food!

Be My Valentine

So the best laid plans almost always never work out the way you want them to in the end. Such as yesterday. Since I knew I would be arriving in Valentine, Nebraska this evening, I knew I'd be crossing over into the Central Time Zone. Here's a good way to fool yourself for this; set your hotel alarm clock to that time zone and get up then. It worked for me in Washington, so I figured it would work again. Well, it only works when you actually turn the alarm on. So instead of waking up 5:30 AM local time Casper, I woke up at 7:00 AM instead without an alarm.

So much for getting a jump down at the breakfast bar! I was upset at first and then figured, hey, I got a place to stay at the end of the day, why do I need to rush and get upset? So I took my time getting ready, had a good breakfast and enjoyed the start of the day. There aren't going to be too many more left.

Man, was it a gorgeous day outside! The bluest of skies and absolutely, NO CLOUDS. Oh yeah, it was above 30 for the first time in 4 days! Hopped on I-25 to get over to 20 East and there was absolutely no one on the interstate. It was all mine and I blazed across it. Little did you know but Douglas, WY is the Jackalope capital of the world. Who knew?

Once I got on 20, it'll be my home for the next couple of days. Unless I spy something interesting off on the map. But so far so good. If the sights keep looking like this, I'll be plenty happy.




Crossed over into Nebraska a lot sooner than I had expected. I know it seems weird, but I've been really anxious to see this state. I think people take for granted our Midwestern area and see it as nothing more than a barren land and a place to hurry across to get to the "good stuff."

I blew into Chadron and grabbed a great bite to eat at Helen's All Day Breakfast Cafe. No I did not have breakfast but a tasty sandwich and baked beans. Hit the spot! I got a pleasant surprise when I started the bike. The gas gauge began working again (as well as the camcorder). I struck off into the Sand Hills. Man, what a sensation riding through this area.




One interesting thing about these hills, is that they sit atop the massive Ogallala Aquifer, and marshes and temporary and permanent shallow lakes are common in low-lying parts of the Sand Hills. Which explains why I saw a lot of windmills out in the middle of nowhere. The windmills are being used to pump the water up for drinking water for the cattle roaming about.

With the wind at my back, I could watch the current of air sweep over the hills. They looked like they were covered in a soft velvet. I wanted to stop and run up on top of one of them and just lay down in the grass and hear the wind pass through the blades. It was a nice area to ride through. Very relaxing.




Ended up in Valentine and I'm gonna go looking for some ice cream tonight. It's in the high 70s here. I'm not used to this kind of weather any more. It's like I've gone through two seasons already (Winter and Spring) since getting here.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Sioux City, Iowa. Should be a short day which will be nice. I can find a great breakfast joint around here tomorrow and have a full on breakfast.

Today's Pictures

On the Road Again

Fortune befell me overnight. First, sleeping in my rented cabin, I got some excellent sleep. I woke up and thought I was home for a second. Lastly, the (updated) 3 to 5 inches of snow being called for overnight never came. The temps were a little warmer in the morning (37..feels like 30) and no precipitation. A quick check of the other roads ahead looked perfectly fine, so, nothing left to do but pack up and ship out!

Everything was going pretty good in the first stretch. Then the road started climbing and it looked like rain up ahead. Hmm, climbing in altitude and something falling from the sky...wonder what that could be. Well, it ended up turning into snow. I wiped my face shield and looked at the squeegee..sure enough, that was slushy snow. I was half expecting to see my windshield start getting coated.

Once at the top, the road was pretty straight and no snow was sticking to the road at all and up ahead I could see blue sky and the sun. Good times! Broke out of it and rolled into Pinedale for a quick fill up. Sky looked pretty good up ahead and road most of the way in sun all the way to state route 28.

My buddy the wind paid a visit about 20 miles out from 28. I had a nice little lean going on for a bit. Finally turned north and well, the sky didn't look so great. More precip falling from the clouds up ahead. I grabbed the throttle and rolled it on. No sense in taking my time getting there, let's go for it full steam ahead!

I saw a good sign as I got closer to the weather. Two motorcycles going the opposite way. I didn't see any wave-offs from them so I figured if they made it through whatever was up ahead, I could too. There was only one stretch I had to push through and it was a bit weird and I wasn't sure what I was getting into. The wind came HARD from the west and so did the snow pellets. I wasn't sure I was going to make it through, but I pushed on and there was no snow or slush on the road. Once I broke through that piece, there was nothing else to speak of weather wise. I made it over the pass and dropped into Lander, WY for a bite to eat and the last fill up of the day.

Seems my gas gauge has decided to give up the ghost. It doesn't go to the full mark any more (past two days) and it doesn't seem to come down at all either. Looks like I'll be running off the tripometer from here on out. Oh well.

After lunch I headed out of Lander and set my sights on Casper for the evening. I called ahead and it was probably a good thing I did since there weren't a lot of rooms left over this way. With no worries now about lodging, it was just a matter of enjoying the ride. And it was enjoyable!




Throughout this stretch of highway, there were large rain clouds looming all around. Unbelievably, I only hit one small section of rain the entire time.


It was fun watching these huge systems cover the land and drop their rain on different parts of the desert. I didn't even care if I got caught up in one. I was rolling again!

One note about the wind. Normally when you're driving and you get a good crosswind you feel the car get pushed about sideways. On a motorcycle it's a little different. It feels like someone it trying to kick the wheels out from under you. The sensation is from the wheels and not a lateral sideways push. Kinda weird when you first experience it.

So I rolled in here to Casper and it felt good to be traveling again. I'm expecting after tomorrow to retire the electric liner. I have a feeling I'll be rolling into the warmer and hotter temps of the east. In some ways I look forward to that..and in others, not at all. Oh well, it could be worse I guess.

Today's pics (Not many).