Homecoming!

We made it!

After over 7,000 miles and tons of adventures, our trip is complete. Our families welcomed us home to High Point this afternoon.

I'll post more soon, including our final thoughts about the trip, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are home safe and sound.

We appreciate all the interest and support from so many of you during the last month. This blog thing helped us stay in touch with everyone, and it helped us share our experiences.

315.6 miles today. 7,237.4 total miles.

Eastern Standard Time (and Other Observations)

We're back in Eastern Standard Time.

We crossed over just before we stopped for lunch in Kentucky. We also noticed that we are squarely back in the South. The Wendy's/Truck Stop brought echoes of the country or southern voices that are so familiar to us. It began to feel like home. The photo above celebrates our crossing into Indiana (obviously), but I missed the Kentucky sign (once again, a large river, the Ohio, prevented this picture).

We encountered the biggest traffic jam of the trip today near Lexington, KY. There is some construction on I-64, and we sat in traffic for over an hour after being on the bikes for over an hour (which makes over two straight hours on the bikes, a record we didn't want to set today). After the traffic jam, Dad rested in the shade.


That's about it for today, although after almost 7,000 miles, we have some observations we'd like to add about motorcycle riding and the United States of America.

• Most people are nice to motorcyclists, although some drivers don't pay close enough attention to their surroundings. Missouri promoted motorcycle awareness in a comforting way.
• Most people enjoyed hearing about our adventure.
  
• Miles go by differently on a motorcycle. You never once lose contact with the road. You never suddenly ask yourself where the last 20 miles went.
• I'm glad the United States had the foresight to create so many National Parks.
• Simply put, our country is vast.
• Simply put again, our country is beautiful.
  
• The more you see of our country, the more you want to see.
• There is far more to see than one could ever see.
  
• It's shocking how many states do not have helmet laws.
  
• If it seems like more tractor trailers are on the road, that's true. Federal statistics indicate that there are 30% more trucks on the road than in the 1990s.
• Gas is expensive.
• It seems like Subway may be catching up with McDonald's in numbers of franchises.
• There an awful lot of deer in America.

Tomorrow, look for photos from our homecoming!

354.3 miles today. 6,921.8 total miles.

St. Louis and Beyond

We appear to be one day ahead of the bad weather that is plaguing the Midwest. Our decision to arrive home a day earlier seems to be a wise decision. Several tornadoes touched down in the vicinity of where we were yesterday. Instead of dealing with that, we just had to suffer through 90s temperatures and gusty winds.

The highlight of the day was stopping in downtown St. Louis to see the Arch. Coming into St. Louis on I-70 East, we planned to take that right to the Arch before turning onto I-64 East to Mount Vernon, Illinois. However, in the outskirts of St. Louis, we began to see detour signs indicating that I-64 East was closed. The alternate route would not take us by the Arch. We thought we had no choice but to take the detour. Well, ultimately, we discovered that the detour was not necessary, as I-64 was closed in a portion that would not affect us. So, we turned around and took our previously planned route to downtown. However, we had one last miscue (my fault) when we got off at the Arch exit and then missed the turn for the Riverfront Street and went all the way across the Mississippi River into Illinois on the MLK Bridge. We finally got turned around and found a good spot from which to view the Arch, which was impressive.

The Arch is the tallest national monument in the United States at 630 feet. Construction began February 12, 1963, and the last section of the Arch was put into place on October 28, 1965. The Arch is a structure known as a catenary curve, which is the shape a free-hanging chain takes when held at both ends, and is considered the most structurally-sound arch shape. The space between the Arch’s legs on the ground is 630 feet, the same as its height. One day, I hope to be able to go the top of the Arch and look out the observation window.

The other minor occurrence today was an encounter with a snake. At a rest stop in Missouri, just as we were getting back on the bikes, a long black snake sauntered across the parking lot toward us. Of course, I had to take a couple pictures for my wife, who just loves snakes. She would have been greatly disappointed to have missed the snake.

Today, I included a couple pictures that illustrate bike issues. First, you’ll see a photo of the bugs that stick to the headlights (same as the helmet, although I didn’t take that photo). You’ll also see a shot of the wheel lock that serves as security (which is combined with a cable lock that connects both bikes together).

I did not get a photo of the Illinois sign today, as I encountered the same issue as when we crossed into Arkansas. The state line for Illinois/Missouri is in the middle of the Mississippi River. No chance to get that shot.

We are beginning to get very excited about the trip’s conclusion. Our loved ones are anxious as well. In two days, we’ll be in back in High Point.

324.1 miles today. 6,567.5 total miles.

Yellow Man

Instead of following the Yellow Brick Road across Kansas today, I followed the Yellow Man.

For those who have been looking at the daily photo albums, I’m sure it has been hard to miss Dad’s motorcycle jacket – it’s fluorescent yellow (high visibility, as the manufacturer calls it). You see, Dad’s motorcycle has cruise control while Little Red (the Triumph) does not. So, on the interstate highways, Dad always takes the lead and sets the cruise. I follow along behind. You can imagine how hard it is not to look continuously at the back of that jacket. After thousands of miles, this jacket has been burned into my gaze. Even when I close my eyes (I don’t do this while driving), I can see the Yellow Man.

Unfortunately, the state of Kansas did not have much to distract my attention from the Yellow Man today. I don’t want to offend anyone from Kansas, but there was just not much to see from I-70. I’m sure if we’d gotten off the beaten path a bit we’d have had more luck. Despite the lack of natural attractions or landmarks, it is quite apparent that a lot of famous people come from Kansas. We passed, in succession, a town named for Annie Oakley (Oakley, KS), the boyhood hometown for both Bob Dole and Arlen Specter (Russell, KS), the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum (Abilene, KS), and The OZ Museum (Wamego, KS). We also passed an advertisement for the World’s Largest Prairie Dog. Unfortunately, we did not stop to see any of these attractions. I will apologize in advance for those folks out there hooked on the photos and not the text. We rode so hard, I did not take a single photo of the Kansas landscape. There is no album today. I'm also not sure how many photos I'll be taking the next couple of days, either. We are in bee-line mode for home.

The highlight of the day was found at a Rest Area near Topeka. While we had a snack and a drink of water beside the motorcycles, I took a stroll in the shade. Something fluttered away from me as soon as I got in the grass. A baby bird had fallen from the tree under which I sought shade. The bird was too big for a nest, yet too small to fly. So he merely sat there in the grass, his parents worrying over him in the tree above. After a couple photos, we were again on our way. Here is our little friend. I have no idea what kind of bird he is. Maybe some of you can help me identify him?
We did not have hotel reservations when we left this morning. Our goal was to reach Lawrence, Kansas, but we managed to get well beyond it. We finally stopped riding about 3:45 p.m. in Blue Springs, Missouri, which is a suburb of Kansas City about 10 miles from the Missouri state line. We treated ourselves to Hampton Inn.

I have managed to miss the last two state signs (Kansas and Missouri). It was way to stormy to stop as we crossed into Kansas (small hail), and I-70 was way to crowded today as we crossed into Missouri (five lanes of traffic, we were in the middle one). So now I’ve missed only three.
The weather was hot and windy today. Mostly sunny. I think we’ve been smart to head home a day earlier. Despite the storm yesterday, it appears that we will be a day ahead of the next round of bad weather that is heading east. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Tomorrow we have reservations in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

392.7 miles today. 6,243.4 total miles.

Rocky Moutain High

Today was both glorious and ghastly.

First, the glorious...
Then, the ghastly...


We left Grand Lake, Colorado, at 7:00 a.m. under clear skies and a 40-degree temperature. At four miles, we entered Rocky Mountain National Park, where we immediately saw some moose and elk (sorry, no pictures).

Highway 34, also known as Trail Ridge Road, cuts through Rocky Mountain National Park. All of the photos from the park were taken from this main road. Approximately 48 miles long, Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Its highest point is 12, 183 feet above sea level. For comparison purposes for you North Carolinians, Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in the eastern United States, is a mere 6,684 feet above sea level. One thing that we noticed as we slipped across the top of the mountains - there were absolutely no guard rails. At one point in the Tundra (where no trees or bushes grow because of the altitude), the road had nothing to buffer your fall.

You may have noticed yesterday that some of the pine trees looked dead in the photos. That’s because they were. The western United States is having a horrible problem with bark beetles. Millions of trees have already been killed, and, largely, nothing can be done to save them. Rocky Mountain National Park is doing what it can by spraying in high-tourist areas, but the evidence of the 17 species of beetles’ carnage is overwhelming and sad.

Overall, we absolutely loved crossing the Rocky Mountains. While we didn't know what to expect because of the overabundance of dead pine trees, the sheer size of the mountains more than made up for that blight.

After emerging from RMNP, we were able to stop by BMW of Northern Colorado and pick up the part for Dad’s saddlebag. Now, if we’d only had the time to install it…

The weather turned sour around Bennett, Colorado (around mile 140 out of 370). For the remainder of the day, we battled thunderstorms. Unfortunately, both we and the storm were heading east along I-70. We kept running into the back end of the storm, which caused us to stop because of lightning. We stopped a total of four times. Each time, we’d wait a while for the storm to get ahead of us, then we’d get back on the road until we ran into it again. Quite an annoying pattern. I hope you’ll take a look at one of my favorite photos in the album. In Bennett, I managed to capture a bolt of lightning as it struck the ground. It’s quite a picture, if I say so myself.

We finally made it to Colby, Kansas, around 8:45 p.m. It was definitely a long day, plus we crossed back into the Central Time Zone, which means that we will lose an hour of sleep tonight (but we are now only one hour behind!).

Tomorrow’s forecast is partly cloudy and windy. We are not supposed to see any storms like the one we followed today (although you never know).

370.7 miles today. 5,850.7 total miles.

South to Grand Lake

Today was a gorgeous day to ride. Sunny the whole way, and the temperature rose quickly this morning and then held in the mid-70s. Plus, the scenery was as gorgeous as the weather.

We had lunch today at the Moose Cafe and dinner at the Bear's Den. We certainly got our fill of animal-themed eateries.

We arrived in Grand Lake early this afternoon. Early enough to contemplate the remainder of our trip. We have a rest day scheduled for tomorrow, but we're feeling pretty fresh as it is. So, we have decided to ride on past Estes Park tomorrow into Kansas. This will do two things for us. First, it will get us home a day earlier than we planned (Saturday instead of Sunday), and it will allow us for a rest day if we need it or if we run into bad weather. We've checked the weather, and it looks like we can sneak home without too many issues.

Our families will be happy to have us home a day sooner.

So, check the updated itinerary for our new stops.

179.0 miles today. 5,480.0 total miles.

Wyoming North to South

Today we ran Wyoming north to south without setting tire on the interstate. It was a good ride (and weather) although occasionally boring. All of the state highways had a speed limit of 65, which we did not really break because of the abundance of deer (no photos of them).

Highlights of the day were the Wind River Valley and State Park and the Boysen State Park. The terrain in Wyoming is remarkable, all in all. The landscape can change within minutes, from rocky cliffs to wide ranging vistas.

Our hotel in Rawlings, Wyoming, is an Oak Tree Inn. I've never stayed at one before, but this is one weird hotel. The rooms are fine (actually good), but there are no service people physically in the building. There is no front door, either (check the photo album). To register, you have to go to Penny's Diner next door (open 24 hours), where they have a little window that serves as the Front Desk. If you should need a bar of soap, one of the waitresses will wipe off her hands and run one over. This is not a lie.

Tomorrow we cross over into Colorado. Only seven days to go. Our families are looking forward to our return. I did get to "see" my wife and children tonight via Skype video call. They look great, even though they got a bit too much sun yesterday at the new YMCA's pool. Crispy critters, I think.

264.4 miles today. 5,301.0 total miles.

Yellowstone the Great

Just a short note this morning. Our second day in Yellowstone was incredible. I took so many picture, I wore out the battery (don't worry, I had a spare).

We got to the hotel in Cody, Wyoming (the Rodeo Capital of the World) around 7:00 p.m. I was simply too tired to process/post so many pictures and write a detailed blog to go with them.

So, I'll update this later tonight. For now, you'll have to enjoy the photos without captions in the album.

Despite our love of the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park has moved to the top of our list. Nothing can match the singular power of the Grand Canyon, but Yellowstone has such variety and sheer multitude of things to see.

We entered Yellowstone at the West Entrance near Cody. Almost immediately we began to see more buffalo along the Madison River. I got some good shots of several baby buffalo, which were a treat to see. Just after taking the pictures of the babies, we sort of had a "run-in" with a stray adult buffalo. I'd heard stories of the wildlife simply blocking the road, and that's what this one did. He halfway charged a white car about 5 feet in front of me as we pulled away from the baby buffalo. The white car sped off, leaving me at the front of the line. The buffalo trotted right down the middle of my lane for about 25 feet, and then he turned completely to face me and blocked the road. I stopped. He stopped. He lowered his head, as if he were going to charge. We looked like two gunfighters facing off. I wanted no part of him, so I pulled over to the side and let other cars pass to achieve a buffer zone. Once the cars started coming a little closer, he finally decided to head back out to the riverside pasture with the rest of his herd.

Once we reached Madison Junction, we turned north and went to Norris Junction, which contains a geyser basin. Here, we had an unintended hike. In order to see the geysers, you have to walk. We started along the shorter route to see some smaller geysers (which we did), but then we ran into a Ranger who mentioned that if we kept going we'd get to see the world's tallest geyser, Steamboat Geyser. Well, we got ourselves on a one-way track for almost 1.5 miles. We did get to see Steamboat Geyser, though. But, what the Ranger neglected to tell us was that while, yes, Steamboat Geyser is the world's tallest geyser, it only erupts every 5-40 years. Not good odds. Its last eruption was on May 23, 2005. So we continued on to the bikes, a bit disappointed.

After Norris Geyser Basin, we kept going north to Mammoth Hot Springs. This was an unusual place, probably my favorite place of the day. It has an upper and lower terraces (or levels) of hydrothermal ground (just like the geysers). Limestone is the underlying rock here instead of rhyolite, which is dominant in the park's other major hydrothermal areas. The heated water rises through the rock, it dissolves the compound in the limestone, and, at the surface this is deposited as travertine, the rock that forms Mammoth Springs. Colors abound.

Beyond Mammoth, we turned east to the Tower-Roosevelt Junction (where the Tower Falls is). Between Mammoth and Tower Falls we encountered more wildlife, including more mule deer (they seem to be the "cows" of Yellowstone - they're everywhere), and a herd of pronghorns (see album).

The Tower Falls was impressive, which is in Hanging Valley. Among all the falls we saw, it clearly attracted the most attention (judging by the cars and people). Apparently, folks really like waterfalls.

After Tower Falls, we took a newly-opened, high-elevation road south to Canyon Village. I took a number of snowscapes during this stretch of road. Once in the Canyon area, we once again saw a waterfall, the Upper Falls, which was not as impressive (my opinion, others vary) as Tower.

From the Canyon area, we went southwest over the Fishing Bridge and then 54 miles to Cody. This piece of highway, although not in the National Park, was as impressive as they come. A huge descent through rocks and cliffs gives way to valley riding with lots of long and easy twists that you can take at higher speed (the limit is 65). We stayed around 60, though, as many deer and bighorn sheep live through here. One of the best moments of the day came when we stopped along a deserted piece of highway and watched a herd of bighorns simply graze and drift along the valley grasslands. I tried to get a few photos, but they aren't among my best.

All in all, our second day in Yellowstone was our best day of the trip. We were sad to leave.

183.3 miles. 5,036.6miles total