The Adventure Continues

Athens, Greece

2010-08-21T05:08:00.008-04:00

Day four of our adventures and I still can't post my own pictures, and boy do we have pictures! The problem is the snail slow connection I get on my netbook PC, (where the pictures are), and the lack of a card reader on the fast hotel PC I'm using now. I will get some posted... eventually. For now, I'll snip some from the Internet so you get the idea. We have enjoyed the Acropolis Museum Boutique Hotel. Especially the lovely staffers, Andreea, at the hotel desk and Inni, who serves a wonderful breakfast.

Since the 18th when we arrived, we have toured Athens from top to bottom. This morning, before it got too hot, we walked up to the Acropolis. Imagine a slippery, rocky, inclined path to the top of the Washington Monument. Dusty marble gets very slick after a couple of thousand years of polishing by millions of shoes and sandals. Sometimes it was like walking on ice. The lack of OSHA Supervision on the site ensures that your slipping and sliding will be unencumbered by those pesky handrails and view blocking guardrails. The danger just adds a little excitement to the long climb. Risks aside, the views are spectacular. The Parthenon, on its high perch looks magnificent but the view of the city is just as impressive and beautiful from the Parthenon. The sights are unlike anything I've seen in America. The streets were designed for a time when a chariot was the large vehicle and only a few streets in the Plaka section of town are wide enough for two way chariot traffic. Speaking of the Plaka, just a few minutes East of the Acropolis, is full of shops, restaurants, and the most scenic bar I've ever seen. Brettos serves their own brand of ozzo, a licroice flavored drink that goes down very easily.

This afternoon we board the Star Clipper. Here is a photo from their web site and a link. http://www.starclippers.com/eu/explore-star-clippers/photo-gallery.html . They say this ship will not only be beautiful, but the food and entertainment should be four star too! This is our first small ship cruise. The previous 21 trips were on ships that ranged in size from 800 to 2,400 passengers. In my experience the food gets better as the ship gets smaller. The Star Clipper carries only 170 guests with a crew of 72. Here's hoping my past experience continues.

Next stop, Santorini. If you don't see an update soon, it means we didn't get a good Internet connection. We are off to the ship now... more later.

Packed!

2010-08-17T13:07:00.006-04:00

I'm writing this post in the Ft. Myers Airport, waiting for Delta Flight 1458 to Atlanta, where we change planes to go to Athens Greece. Our rough itinerary follows: August 17th (now), we fly to Athens Greece and explore until The 21st when we board the Star Clipper for a 15 day cruise to the Greek Islands, Egypt, Cyprus, and Turkey. On the way home we were scheduled to change planes in Paris and we figured you can't just say in Paris for two hours so we will rent a car and travel through Western Europe for 18 days. We expect to visit Normandy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Southern France, and Paris before flying home on September 23rd.

I'm ending this first post in Athens, Greece at the Acropolis Museum Boutique Hotel where we finally have Internat again. So far we have been walking our feet off seeing the Acropolis Museum, the Plaka, and riding a sightseeing trolly around the landmarks of Athens. We have taken plenty of pictures but Internet upload speeds here set a new record for slowness. The nice receptionst in our hotel gave me the secret password for their fast administrative network, but I can't reach that from our room. I'll post pictures the next time I have some speed.

Post Script

2009-09-26T00:30:00.002-04:00

I found a very nice tool in Vista to snip and post a rough outline of our trip. It's called "Snipping tool" and it allows you to convert any part of a page into a .jpg file. Very handy. You can click on this image, and most images in the blog, to get a larger view.

I wanted to correct an earlier post to say we had declared the big trip to have begun last October, while at the Southernmost Point of the U.S. That adds a few days and a few hundred miles to the totals posted before, so we can round off the distance to about 9,000 miles and three months of travel. We sure had fun.

I've enjoyed writing this blog so much I will try another. See http://newpc4me.blogspot.com/ which will try to show you how to build a new computer. It will get technical so it may have the added virtue of curing insomnia. Your comments are welcome.

End of a Great Trip

2009-08-31T20:49:00.011-04:00

I was going to call this blog entry something like Home Sweet Home, but I don't want to give the impression that it was sweeter than any other day of our trip.

The big highlight of the day was meeting our friends Dave and Wally at Peace River Seafood in Punta Gorda. We pigged out on a couple of dozen huge crabs, I think all were larger than 8" point to point and they were heavy and sweet! Cold beer made it a perfect meal, although we had to go to the nearby Dairy Queen for the requisite ice cream finish. And so, our trip ended as it began, with a belly full of crab! How could life get better?

We rode the last 60 miles together down I-75 to Exit 111 and to our house where a mountain of mail waited. We were pleased to find our dwelling was devoid of squatters, human or animal, and everything worked except for my car battery and two UPS batteries. Not bad for an 83 day trip.

The ending odometer reading was 56,090 for a total trip of 8,739 fun filled miles. We felt a bit sad it had ended. Fun was had every day, even the ones spent in the hospitals. Our costs averaged about $180 a day when we were not paying Blue Cross Blue Shield co-pays. I suspect our insurance coverage will cover all but the deductibles. Depreciation on the trailer may add another thousand or so to the real cost. All things considered, we got our money's worth for an experience we will carry to our graves. I just wish our budget had allowed for one of those beautiful stuffed jackalopes.

Sunday we rewarded the Honda for its great service with a day of rest, and a thorough washing. An oil change and waxing will soon follow. I found a few cracked parts and some missing plastic, a legacy of the Wyoming accident and I'll order replacements this week. I like the bike to function and look like new, and it will. I've owned many motorcycles in my life but none come close to the comfort and reliability of this Gold Wing. The new ones are even better and it's rumored that the 2011 model will be made in Japan. That will probably set the new high water mark for quality motorcycle cruising and if we hit the lottery, I may be tempted to revisit the idea of a new bike. I'm due to hit anytime now. For years I've instructed Theresa to buy a lotto ticket whenever it gets above $200 million. So far, no hits. Be we are optimists and with our gaming investments approaching the $50 mark I'm getting ready to receive our funds, making plans, spending a little in advance, I mean, how long can it take? If any of you readers have any influence with the lotto gods, please put in a good word for us. I don't think anyone enjoys spending money more than we do, therefore we are deserving, and if this unfruitful trend continues another 10 years, we may squander another $50 on loosing tickets. I'd hate to do that, I hope we break the trend soon. For now, I'm more than happy with the 1993 mount. In Gold Wing terms, 56,000 miles is in the prime of it's life!

The trailer has been returned to new condition with a factory replaced tent and a unique accessory tray I had fabricated in Wyoming. The tray is home for two gallons of extra fuel, a 6 pack cooler, (sodas of course), and space for trash, oil bottles, and miscellaneous stuff. Welded up of diamond plate aluminum, it is light weight, functional and looks good.

Other than Daytona's Biketober Fest this October, we don't have any plans for the trailer for the next couple of years, so if any readers want to make us an offer on it, we could use the garage space.

Our next big trips will be a cruise to Hawaii in March and we plan to fly to Australia in 2011. We would like to re-visit Asia, Thailand and Vietnam in particular, and that would check the major travel items off our bucket list. We have a short, one week cruise to Fantasy Fest this October. That will help ease the shock of going back to work a bit.

This is actually a great time to be back in Naples and back to work. Microsoft will release Windows 7 on October 22nd and Intel has recently released a crop of much faster processors. That will make my computer building a lot more fun than it has been for the last couple of years. I'm planning to build our own next PC this month and for a geek like me, there's a wonderland of cool stuff available. I'm betting tech stocks will rally when the pent up demand for non-Vista PCs hits the market. Microsoft (MSFT) hovers at $24.65 a share today and Intel, (INTC) is at $20.32. Check here in a few months to test my powers of prognostication.

That's about it for this blog. Maybe my next one will be titled something like, Upside Down in Australia, or Scootering in Singapore. Time will tell.

Thanks for reading.

Homeward Bound

2009-08-28T22:18:00.004-04:00

We are getting close now! Tonight we reached Gainesville, Florida and it looks like we are only 300 miles from home. Depending on the weather, we will eat crabs at Peace River and head home tomorrow or stay in Tampa for one night visiting friends. Either way, we will be home Sunday.

This is my first time seeing the Florida State Capitol Building in Tallahassee and I have to say it's an impressive sight. The building and grounds are beautiful. I'd have liked to have taken a tour or something but we wanted to preserve the option of driving to Naples Saturday if the weather turned bad so that meant driving till dark.

Hotwire came through again finding us a beautiful hotel for only $60! We are settled into the Paramount Plaza next to the Chop Stix Restaurant where we had a lovely Ginger Grouper dinner.

We drove longer than we like, but in all it was a pretty good day.

More History

2009-08-27T21:21:00.011-04:00

Andersonville, Georgia was the largest prisoner of war camp in the South and at its peak held about 45,000 Union Soldiers. 13,000 of them died. We spent the day there watching a documentary movie and touring the camp and grave sites. It was fascinating but very sad. It reminded me of the German POW Camps of World War II. The conditions were horrible for the prisoners but it seemed to me that the Captain in charge could do nothing about it and probably should not have been executed for war crimes after the conflict. He too was a victim of the times.

See http://www.nps.gov/ande/index.htm for more information.

The veterans graveyard was so large and had so many grave markers, many labeled Unknown, that it is hard to imagine a country in such conflict that they would inflict this kind of injury upon itself. War is horrible, but civil war even more so.

We ate our lunch in the beautiful park, serenaded by locusts.

Going to and from Andersonville we visited Plains, Georgia, the home of our 39th President, Jimmy Carter. We tasted peanut brittle, fried peanuts, and peanut ice cream. It seemed like a very nice, quiet, neighborhood. Perhaps it was improved by the Secret Service vehicles. One of the small shops had enough jam and jelly to last for years. Empty Billy Carter Beer cans were $5 each, and every political button imaginable was available. I think the stock in Carter memorabilia is in decline, no doubt displaced by interest in younger, flashier presidents.

We also found an antique shop with more unidentified antlers. Could they be... jackalope?

History Trip

2009-08-26T23:41:00.015-04:00

This tunnel of trees is the scenic entry road to the town of Eufaula, Alabama. Both sides of the street are lined with historic Antebellum, (meaning "before war" in Latin), homes. They represent the grand old South before the civil war and today stand as a reminder of how grand it was. Eufaula has a large share of these treasures and it makes for a beautiful showcase as you drive into town.

Our friends, Gary and Anne Swain, live near the center of this beautiful area and have invited us to be their house guests for a few days. Not only are they great cooks but they are also great tour guides.

We started today with a trip to the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Columbus, Georgia. This place is impressive. The physical plant is huge and very well equipped to tell the story of our country's infantryman through the many wars where they have been called to action. Inside of the IMAX equipped museum there are displays and artifacts from the various wars and they show the developments in equipment, uniforms and weapons through the years.

I was surprised to find an M29 Davy Crockett on display. This amazingly small weapons system could fire a small atomic bomb, up to two and a half miles and had the power of 10 to 250 tons of TNT depending on how the operator set it up. The vehicle that moved and shot the thing was a Jeep. If they ever punched you in the nose with this nimble little device, you'd bleed. The secret weapon was deployed in Europe but was later withdrawn as it had the distinctly annoying feature of delivering a fatal dose of radiation to its operators on use. A soldier might think twice about pulling the trigger once he knew about that possible downside. The plutonium warhead part only weighed 51 lbs. and at 11 inches in diameter by 15 inches long for a potential 250 tons of TNT bang, this finned watermelon was simply too dangerous to use.

Later we went to the Ft. Mitchell Cemetery and thought about how quickly a place like this could be filled with today's weapons; very scary.

Back when the Russians were our adversaries, we could rely on their desire to live to keep us all safe from the use of these horribly powerful bombs. Today however, our potential enemies may think mutually assured destruction means they win. We get harps and wings, they get 72 virgins. Any rational, uneducated kid, who's been denied the companionship of any female, except his goat, might just think martyrdom offers a better deal than milking goats for the rest of his miserable life; no matter how pretty the goat's eyes are. This worries me much more than the Russians did.

We ended the evening with a great dinner and a trip to the Swain's cabin where we found an unidentified bit of antler. If you recognize this bone please let us know what animal might have owned it. It sure looks like jackalope to me.

Sweet Home Alabama

2009-08-25T23:48:00.004-04:00

We arrived safely at our friend's in Eufaula, Alabama. The roads were beautiful, light traffic, nice weather, but other than finding motorcycle oil at Walmart, not much to report. Tomorrow we go sightseeing with our friends. I'll have photos and a story then.

Loveless Cafe and Natchez Trace

2009-08-24T21:34:00.010-04:00

Breakfast today was an event. We saved our appetites for the famous Loveless Cafe, just south of Nashville. This is where all the music royalty have dined since 1951 and it has become quite the attraction. To call it a gold mine would not be an overstatement. Click on the picture to see the Loomis Armored Truck picking up the money.

A very sweet Carol Fay, AKA "The Biscuit Lady" and no doubt the biggest celebrity we've met on the trip, greeted us at the door and guided us to the seats where we might have exploded, were it not for our wills of steel. The food was delicious and so plentiful each of our meals could have fed a small Vietnamese village. Carol posed with Theresa for a picture as she has done with nearly every star in the music or political business. She and the Cafe are both Tennessee landmarks. They are about to tear down the large brick Bar-B-Q pit to expand the outside kitchen. I suggested they put the old Bar-B-Q pit on e-Bay. I'll bet it would fetch big money even thought it would have to be disassembled brick by brick and rebuilt on a new location. I'll bet some mega star around Nashville would love to have it in their back yard for entertaining, or maybe just it's smell. It's probably the most famous Bar-B-Q pit in the country.

Tummies full, I programmed the GPS to guide us to our friend's home in Eufaula, Alabama, however the beauty of the Natchez-Trace Parkway let us astray. I've been led astray before but this time by a road so beautiful I was powerless to ignore it. We rode down the scenic 40 mph parkway until multiple protests from the GPS put us back on the correct path. We might have ended up at the Mississippi again. For more info about this beautiful road see: http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm .

Tomorrow we should be able to reach Eufaula by 3 PM or so. This might, depending on the weather, be our last stop before heading back to Naples. I love Naples, our friends, and my work, but I'll hate to see this trip end. Theresa and I have enjoyed every day and I could not have had a better traveling companion. If she wasn't my wife, I'd marry her.

I almost forgot. Yesterday we saw a vest in a shop that had a fur collar of un-described origin but I've seen so many stuffed examples now, that I'm pretty sure it was jackalope fur.

Sweet Sunday

2009-08-23T22:51:00.008-04:00

Saturday night downtown was too crazy. Too crowded. Fun, but not for the music. Today, Sunday, on the other hand was perfect. We started the day with what may be the best omelet Bob Evans ever served. Then to the huge mall so a Chinese masseuse could work me to a state of rag doll relaxation. Then downtown for some bar hopping where there were great musicians playing to small, attentive audiences. For the price of a beer we were entertained by many who may become the next stars spawned by the Nashville music machine. Our favorite of the day was Buck McCoy at Legends Corner, but the other half dozen bands we heard were very good too.

We spotted a sign that said Joe's Crabs and our dinner decision was made in a nano-second. They served up steamed shrimp with drawn butter, cocktail sauce and Old Bay Seasoning, followed by a large bucket of Dungeness, Alaskan, and Snow Crab with cold Bud Light to help ease it down my gullet. Corn, new potatoes and cole slaw finished us off. We lacked nothing but some of Mike's Ice Cream from around the corner which was soon had. I loved the decorations at Joe's. See the example of crab art below.

The food was good but made us miss the hard blue crabs we get from Peace River Seafood which can be sublime on a good day.

I want to say the hotel we are in has been a perfect experience too. It was suggested by the information lady at the Welcome to Tennessee building at the state border. It is a Fairfield by Marriott property and at $68 with a coupon she gave us, has to be one of the best hotel deals yet. The bed is wonderful as are the pillows, linens, shower, service, etc. I particularly like the staff who suggested we park right in front of the door for the security and so the bike would stay dry if it rained. Most places, even 4 star properties are not so accommodating.

Susan, photographed at the desk, has a college degree in hospitality and it shows. When Theresa asked Roy, yesterday's desk clerk if they sold stamps, he said no, but produced three of his own from his wallet and offered them to her for free! We did pay him but how often do you see that kind of over the top service? Tonight, Juanita is on the desk and matches her co-workers in accommodating our needs. Now I'll have to put Fairfield at the top of our pick list when looking for a hotel in the future. For a few bucks more than Motel 6 you live like royalty!

Near perfect days are rare. We are happy to have had this one.

Music City

2009-08-23T02:33:00.008-04:00

Nashville, Music City, The Grand Ole Opry, nightlife, it's a fantastic town! We checked into a nice hotel and set off to see what this opry thing is about. Way cool! The complex consists of the Grand Ole Opry House, Opryland, which is a huge hotel, dining, and entertainment complex large enough to hold a football stadium; and what must be the largest indoor mall in the state, complete with multiple theaters including an IMAX screen and an Outdoor World. We bought our tickets and walked to Opryland's River Walk to dine. Opryland is very upscale and dinner at most places there require a small mortgage so we took the shuttle bus back to the mall where a great burger, fries and onion rings satisfied our hunger without requiring a bank loan. Then we were off to the Grand Ole Opry.

This was show number four thousand and something. Every show is broadcast live on the radio and Internet so each is different. Hear one at http://www.wsmonline.com/the-world-famous-wsm-tower . This appetite for live performers permits almost everyone who makes a mark in country music to make an appearance on the show. Anyone who is someone in country music has been on that stage or will be. All consider it to be an honor and a rite of passage into the professional ranks. My recently departed friend Ben Simpson, was very proud of having played his guitar there many years ago.

One of our favorite acts in the two hour show was a duet by Joey & Rory. They are a young married couple who write and perform their own material and do it very well. I found an example of the song they performed on Youtube. Click

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-w40-YpOMM&feature=related for a humorous treat.

Theresa and I both agree that, although we are not really country fans, this was much more entertaining than any of the rock bands we saw at Sturgis. The skill and stagecraft of the performers is high order, the jokes were clean and still entertaining. There wasn't a single dirty word uttered and no bare breasted women. The show was classy, casual and fun. Wholesome. I wouldn't change a thing other than the bare breasted women part.

After the Opry we went exploring downtown and we were very surprised to find a rich nightlife that dwarfs any town of this size we have seen. There are blocks and blocks of live music venues, where the music and beer both flow like a river. Thousands of bar hopping people in the streets, keep a trio of mounted police at the ready. As busy as they were, one detected that I wanted to park on the otherwise closed off 2nd Avenue and waved me past the barricade to park the Honda. Nice guy. Theresa rewarded his horse with TLC and petting while it tried to eat my sunglasses.

The only other animals in evidence were some wild beavers as proven by an official crossing sign near the Wild Beaver Saloon. I didn't even know they drank.

Bourbon

2009-08-21T16:59:00.011-04:00

While I recover from another Walmart haircut, Bill, Theresa and I went on a very nice guided tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery. This place is incredibly photogenic. The buildings are very old, circa 1892, and are beautiful. The stills are huge copper vessels, the fermenting tanks look like 7,500 gallon hot tubs. The vibe is like a Nappa Valley winery. Classy, old money, no expense spared, picture perfect, but not snooty.

The still room was made for photography, wood floors, old brick, real copper. I could have spent the day just taking pictures. If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood of Frankfort, Kentucky, this is a good use for a $5 bill. They even give you a shot of their good bourbon at the end of the tour and you keep the, (plastic), shot glass. They make other adult beverages too, and I understand that few things help ease a girl out of her pants better than the products shown below.

Next we visited the lovely state capitol. I can't remember seeing a prettier capitol building anywhere.

The roads here are beautiful too. Horses, fenced lawns half the size of the National Mall, rocky outcroppings, all conspire to make picture postcard scenes where ever you look.

Tomorrow we head to Nashville. More then.

State #49 Kentucky

2009-08-20T22:35:00.004-04:00

Kentucky gives us our 49th State visited. Now, only Hawaii is left and we have booked our March cruise to that volcanic land to complete our quest.

Kentucky is beautiful. The geology reminds us of parts of Utah or Colorado where the land was submerged for millions of years, adding thousands of layers to the rocky sea floor, only to be thrust up by tectonic plate movement to make hills for future dynamite wielding roadbuilders to cleve. I wish I had the luxury of carrying a rock hammer in our overloaded trailer. The road cuts here look very fossil rich. For an educational romp through Kentucky's geologic history see: http://geology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=geology&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uky.edu%2FKGS%2Ffossils%2F

Tonight we are hosted by friend Bill Frye in Frankfort. Sweet luxury. There's something to be said for steam room showers and bidets, and a guest bedroom with a soft bed and clean linens. No elk snorting near you tent to wake you up either!

We expect to take a quick tour of the North end of the state, then we are off to Eufaula, Alabama by way of Nashville.

Just Driving Again.

2009-08-19T19:33:00.009-04:00

We are on the way to Kentucky to visit our friend Bill Frye. then we will head to Eufaula, Alabama to visit friends Gary and Ann. Then we expect to head home. We will pause for anything that looks fun and/or exciting. Right now I'd guess we will be back in Naples around the 28th or 29th unless we pause to camp with our new tent.

We passed the empty and quiet Indy Brickyard today without realizing that today is the 100 year anniversary of the first race there. I'm surprised they didn't have some kind of memorial race.

The most interesting thing I saw today was the price of milk at Walmart. Cheaper than gas! Is this a mid-west phenomenon or is milk this cheap everywhere?

We also fulfilled one of Theresa's wishes; to have a White Castle Burger. It reminded us of the old Little Tavern burgers of yesteryear. Tasty and cheap. Lunch for us both, under $5.

Maybe tomorrow will bring more adventure.

More New Friends

2009-08-18T00:46:00.014-04:00

Time is precious on your last day in the big city so in an effort to get the priorities right, we had breakfast, and followed it immediately with a big bag of Garrett's Popcorn.

Garrett's is a Chicago landmark and rightly so. Not wanting to overuse the word sublime, which I have already applied to Chicago's Pizza, I will simply call it perfect popcorn. We shared a medium sized bag of the mixed caramel and cheese and like some on crack cocaine, became instant addicts. I don't know why that combination of flavors generates 40 to 60 minute long lines at their several stores, but it does, and rightly so. I may dream of it tonight.

Our fingers were still cheesy and sweet when we arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry. This magnificent attraction deserves days, not just hours, but our time was limited so we arrived early and stayed till closing. It had the very thing I wanted to see most, a big farm combine. I sometimes have a hard time denuding an ear of sweet corn, and I have good teeth! Having seen them on our farm tour with Tom McDonnell I was left aching to understand how this half million dollar gizmo manages to get the corn kernels off the cob while cutting a 36' wide swath through a field at 10 mph. Seeing the illustrations, movies, under the hood cut-aways, and the clear plastic sided actual combine was worth the price of admission. I rarely get emotional about a machine but, combine, I love you. xoxoxo.

There were many other worthwhile things to see and do. One presenter led us on a hands on trip through his historic tool box. We were asked to guess the function of 100+ year old tools like candle stick molds, a broom making jig, a molten candy dropper, a coconut meat scraper, and my favorite, a ruffled linen iron. The presenter was skilled at humorous delivery and history and his audience was locked in, unable to leave, or even look away for fear of missing something. Similar kudos to Warren, the Smart House Guide who showed us the latest in smart home building techniques.

Also on display are full size airplanes, the whole, genuine, Silver Streak Train, and the actual, in-tact, complete, German U-505 submarine. Not only did they have the real boat, but they wrap it in an entire wing of the building including many displays and short movies of the heroic , salvage, and secret transport back to Bermuda where it was studied, improving our defenses against similar machines. I can't imagine telling the story any better than they manage here. Learn more at http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/

For an extra fee we watched an IMAX movie about the sea and toured the Smart House. Interesting, but not as cool as putting a real U-Boat in the building.

Up till now, I've thought of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia or the Smithsonian's History and Technology to be my favorite museums but this place is a real contender. The whole damn submarine is in the building!

Time to eat again. We found ourselves near the highly recommended Gino's East so we joined the 45 minute long line.

It was drizzling, but our wait was made enjoyable when we started talking to others. When the host came out to announce that they had a table for 6 available, the Decker Family, a party of of 4, and the Hanburys, a party of 2 became instant friends and shared the table.

For about two hours we consumed Gino's famous fare, talked, laughed, drank, and wrote our names on the walls. They cheerfully tolerated my usual bragging about our kids, Harry and Jane. We talked about motorcycles, (Chris, the fast bike video I mentioned is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3IxSjuMUCE&feature=related ), and many other things. They were great company and we enjoyed dinner much more than if we had dined by ourselves. Thanks, Amy, Sandra, Chris and Jamie, for a very pleasant evening.

.
Our lovely waitress, Alison, photographed us, and herself, and improved the party with her charm and good service. She is leaving for a new job in a Shakespearean Theater; best of luck Alison, or is it Nosila?

And then, out of food and drink, we went back to the hotel feeling very good about a day that turned out better than average and most of our days have been wonderful.

Walked Our Feet Off!

2009-08-16T22:54:00.005-04:00

Chicago has a very comprehensive transit system, and for $14 you can buy a three day pass to get unlimited rail and bus rides. So equipped, we set out to see the city today. Our objective was the Museum of Science and Industry with it's OmniMax Theater but we got into that neighborhood so late we decided to check out downtown instead. We are pondering staying one more day to deplete the last ounce of sight seeing energy in our bones, and this would be a very good place to exhaust ourselves.

I grew up in Washington, D.C. and then worked there until I was 44. At that point in my life, I was ready to retreat to the quiet elegance that is Naples but I have to admit, a big city vibrates with energy that I miss and they have great food, pizza in particular. We get our occasional big city fix in Miami but Chicago has so many things to see and do I will be sorry to leave, only having scratched the surface. It has the best mix of shopping, parks, water, museums, and nice people I've yet see in any big city. This trip may serve as the appetizer for a future, longer visit. I think a week would be good. Two weeks would be seven days too long.

I'm not tempted to move mind you. This place will be downright un-hospitable in December when I'm swimming in our sub-tropical, Naples pool. There are problems too. It gets hotter and colder and windier, and they have traffic that makes any Neopolitan traffic jam look like a day at the beach. If you go too far into some of the South Chicago neighborhoods, a bullet proof vest and a side arm might be appropriate wear. There are over 500 murders here a year. Still, I've enjoyed our stay and would like a longer visit next pass.

We had another sample of Chicago Pizza tonight and found it to be wonderful. I do wish someone would import the recipes to Naples.

Air Show

2009-08-15T22:49:00.010-04:00

They bill the Chicago Air and Water show as the largest spectator event in the country, claiming 3.1 million people one year. It could be, there were a lot. I tried to count them but lost track at 2,000,064 when I sneezed. We were treated to many great performers. My favorites were the A-10, F-15, the Golden Knights, and the Thunderbirds. I love it when they sneak in, just sub-sonic, afterburners on, and make the babies cry. I don't dislike babies but I am thrilled by fast noisy jets.

The Golden Knights Parachute Team and the Navy seals tried to wear out the small target they aimed to land on. Most hit the mark with perfect precision; some from 12,000 feet! The wing type chutes they use can be flown, just like a glider.

I was pleased to see one Golden Knight land on the spot, remove her helmet, but on her beret, and narrate the rest of the show. Beautiful, capable, parachuting women are a newly found turn-on for me. Maybe it was the beret.

Owing to a Yellowstone Park leg injury which conspires with my heart medicine to swell my leg when I stand too long, we were allowed to sit in the handicapped area. Finally, some good is spawned by my several accidents. Our seats were front row, show center. To get there early enough we had to get up with the sun, take a shuttle to O'Hare, buy a three day pass for the CTA, (trains and busses), and two trains later, arrive early at the show.

8 hours of baking in the sun prepared us for a trip to China Town for a great meal and some rest. We are now back in the hotel.

Theresa passed out seconds after showering. I am writing the blog on inertia only. I could fall asleep any sec...

Royal Treatment

2009-08-14T20:40:00.009-04:00

Today we reached Chicago and we are very impressed. The parts we have seen so far are beautiful and the people are nice. We tried to visit our old next door neighbor, Shirley, only to find she was out of town with family, but found her assisted living community to be first class. Then we went to Costco where a nice lady expertly fixed my glasses, the left lens would pop out if you looked through it hard.

Then off to Trailmaster, Inc. the maker of our Aspen Classic Trailer, which suffered tent ruining hail in Sturgis. We could not have been treated better. First we were greeted by Gary, the marketing director who introduced us to Ron, "the Boss". Ron inspected our damage and helped get the insurance wheels rolling while Peggy who seems to manage much of the office arranged a hotel at a substantial discount. Everything went smoothly and we should have our like new trailer on Monday afternoon.

For those of you who are thinking about a trailer like ours I'll say this. I considered this a major purchase, topping the $5k mark so I shopped diligently. Having closely inspected every product at a half dozen rallies I was convinced that the Trailmaster was the highest quality camper I could find. It is not the cheapest but seeing the way they are built, I understand why. The shop was squeeky clean, orderly, and the workers all impressed me as craftsmen. We intended to go from Florida to Alaska and back on this trip and hoped to keep the trailer for many years after that, so the most economical choice was the high quality choice. Breakdowns on the road eat up your savings on an inferior product real fast. I now discover a part of the price I paid was for superb customer service. We did not have the least trouble in the 6 or 7 thousand miles we've gone so far, except for the hail damage. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality camper for a bike or small car.

We had to eat and wanted to try some of this famous Chicago Pizza. I've had pizza around the world and so far, Thailand and Germany had the best. We all know that every region has a food product that they claim is the best in the world. New Orleans has crawfish, Maryland has crabs, Maine has lobstah, but Chicago, in my humble opinion, is the undisputed champion of pizza. We were told by three separate sources to go to Lou Malnati's for the best example of real Chicago pizza. I'm glad we did. The experience was sublime. With every bite a symnphony of flavors played out on my tongue. It was so good, I just sat and savored in disbelief that it could be so perfect. It's not reason enough to move to Chi Town, but it's close.

We have a good weather forecast for the big air show tomorrow. Must get to sleep early for the early morning trek.

Nice Drive

2009-08-13T21:27:00.007-04:00

Not much happening today. We saw another few billion corn plants and almost as many soybeans. There were some nice old houses after we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. We keep meeting nice people like Gary Sindt, the Honda dealer in Dubuque.

Other than that, it was just riding.

Tomorrow we should reach Trailmaster, just west of Chicago. There we should be able to have the tent on our trailer replaced, then on to Chicago and the big Air show this weekend.

One interesting thing yesterday. We passed a train that was probably over a mile long and all coal. I'd love to see the hole that it came from. I suspect it will generate electricity for a whole big town for a long time. To motivate a load this heavy, they use two locomotives pulling and one pushing. No caboose here. We don't see trains in Naples, Florida and tend to forget how important they are to the country's infrastructure. You just can't move a load like that with trucks. Hooray for trains. Toot-toot.

Thinker Toys

2009-08-12T21:54:00.010-04:00

Not much to report today except finding a really cool concept in toy stores. Thinker toys is a specialty store in Sioux City, Iowa. The product is toys that are designed to make you think and they have something for kids of all ages. With a whole corner of the store devoted to science toys, even I might be lured here for some brain teasing fun. If I'd had access to a store like this as a kid, or as a parent when our kids were young, I'd have loved it. Alas, I was broken hearted that the store was not flush with customers. This is a concept America needs. If we, as a nation, could restore a love of math, science, and engineering to our youth, we might have a chance to keep some industry here for the next generation. I'm afraid however, that our youth has been spoiled by so much wealth, earned for them by past generations, that they can afford to become experts at playing computer games. They will, or course, eventually buy their games and computers from the Chinese or Indians with what little money they earn from their fast food employment. They will be equipped to do little else.

Parents of America, quick, before it's too late, stir an interest in math and science in your kids before they squander all their valuable learning time on TV sitcoms and computer games. Their very futures are at stake.

Down the road 80 miles or so, Theresa and I found some cheap roadside entertainment watching a crop duster. This guy flew his SEAT, (Single Engine Ariel Tanker), as beautifully as a
Blue Angel if only for a motorcycle mounted audience of two. As you can see in the attached video, he would come in a couple of feet over the power lines, then settle down on the field a few feet above the soybean plants, spraying them as he passed. Then at the end of the field he turned and expertly aligned his plane with the next row to be sprayed. I wonder if he has the assistance of a GPS to perfect his coverage.

This weekend, when we reach Chicago, we will be treated to a huge air show. Actually the largest spectator event in the country. See: http://www.explorechicago.org/etc/medialib/explore_chicago/mose/air___water_show.Par.8473.Image.-1.-1.1.gif for details. I can't wait. Thunderbirds, here we come.

Tonight may be the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately, we are stuck in a Ramada Inn, (Hotwire deal again), in Waterloo, Iowa, a town too large to have a really dark sky. I was hoping for a hotel in the boonies so I could watch after midnight for the expected 60 meteors per hour I've seen in the past. Watch it if you can. Maybe next year for us.

Lastly, my youngest brother Bill made a great deal on a new car yesterday. It's a shiny red VW Jetta Turbo Diesel. It seems that if you trade an old clunker in for a new fuel efficient car, our government will take $4,500 from other citizens using threat of armed force to subsidize your purchase. What a deal! My brother is happy. The unions are happy. I'm beginning to think that our new president is such a nice guy, he will give you the shirt off of someone else's back. I recommend you go buy a new car quick, before the other guys run out of money.

Endless Corn

2009-08-11T23:06:00.009-04:00

Theresa started the day with a bang. Note to self: Never open a container of yogurt that spent the day in a cooler without ice. The cultures inside grow at a tropical rate, un-restrained by refrigeration, to pressurize the vessel. The sudden release of pressure is sufficient to spray paint the bathroom mirror with the strawberry and kiwi flavored confection to the dismay of the opener. See photo if reminding is needed.

Today we drove from Mitchell, South Dakota and it's Corn Palace, through Western Nebraska to Sioux City, Iowa. This city touches three states and driving through Nebraska gives us state #48 in our 50 state quest. We still have to visit Kentucky and Hawaii. Kentucky is on the way home and Hawaii is the destination of our March 2010 cruise. The bucket list is getting shorter.

The best way to describe today's drive is boring, yet impressive. Boring because the fields of corn, soybeans, and various other crops are miles long. Impressive because the fields are miles long. Sometimes they look endless. Corn from horizon to horizon as far as the eye can see with only a thin ribbon of asphalt intruding on the total dominance of the land. You sometimes drive for miles before seeing another human, usually in an opposing car and since everybody drives at 65 mph or faster, they pass so quickly you can't tell much about them. When you do pass someone slow enough for facial recognition, they often wave. I don't know if it's because we are on a motorcycle, bikers almost always wave at each other, or because here, where people are so rare, you wave because you share humanity. For the last several days, I can't remember stopping for any reason, gas, soda, shopping, bathroom, where someone didn't strike up a conversation. Sometimes we ask about something, more often they ask about the Florida Tag, the bike, the trailer, or just where we've been. The people we've met on this trip are the real highlight. They go so far to offer directions, good wishes, tall tales, humor, and affection. Many tell us we are living their dream we often feel a little like celebrities.

When we needed gas today, the small town of Wynot, Nebraska, population 191, showed up on the GPS as having the one service station near our path; the Wynot Oil Company. It felt like we had passed through some kind of time warp, the Gold Wing magically transporting us back to 1955. The full service gas station had old fashioned, pre credit card, pumps, manned by a real service station attendant with official Wynot Oil Co. hat and shirt. The attached garage looked like a 1950s garage too. It was large and had an example of every tool yet invented, to include all the strange things farmers use. They are probably capable of fixing anything.

A farm machine like none I've seen was swallowing down 120 gallons of diesel fuel at a nearby pump. It had four 6 foot tall tires and long mechanical arms that could extend out to give the monster a 100 foot width. The operator told me it was a sprayer and invited me to climb up to the cab to check it out. Cool!

The Ag-Chem RoGator 1084 is a $200,000 mechanical marvel that can spray a field with anti-bad-bug juice in no time flat. My view from 13 feet up made everything below look tiny. It was like sitting on top of your house, looking at the cars in the street. The air conditioned, computerized, Sirius Radio, air shocked bucket seat equipped cab was as comfortable as a Cadillac. A touch screen computer displays a detailed map of the customer's field and programmes the machine to apply the correct amount of bug juice as a precision GPS drives on autopilot. When the operator demonstrated the computer it looked just like any Windows XP computer but the specialty software was very cool. I suspect you could almost program it to go alone to do the job and return to park itself.

See http://www.agchem.com/default.cfm/PID=1.13.2.1 for details of this amazing tool.

The boom arms extend to cover a 100 foot wide pattern as it sprays it's 1080 gallons of chemical payload.

The right hand controller looked like something from a fighter jet offering one hand direction of all the spraying. The GPS in the RoGator is accurate to one foot but you can buy a more accurate signal from ground based services that improve the accuracy to less than one inch! How'd you like to thread a needle on autopilot with a machine that's bigger than your house? When it drove away, consuming most of the street, I had to admire it's grace and beauty of the engineering that allowed this house sized monster, drive down a city street as easily as a Volkswagen. These farm boys sure have some cool toys. It had a magnificent stereo too.

Tonight we are settled into a comfortable Days Inn, purloined via Hotwire for a mere $44 plus tax! I like this Hotwire thing. Looking ahead to Chicago, we are seeing 4 Star hotels for under $100 a night. I expect we will live well while the tent on our camper is being replaced at the factory. If we can leave Chicago on Monday, we will nose the Honda Southbound toward Florida, seeking adventure and education as we go. Maybe I'll invent a new word for our travels, Eduventure.

Cars and Corn

2009-08-10T23:16:00.010-04:00

Today we checked out two tourist traps and enjoyed them both.

In Murdo, South Dakota, the Pioneer Auto Museum was a surprisingly large collection of antique, collectible, and strange cars. They also had a beautiful mineral collection, antique dental and pharmacy artifacts, a reconstructed one room school house, blacksmith shop, jail, bank, a homestead house and much more. It took us more than an hour to feel satisfied for our $8.50 admission but if you are ever in the neighborhood, I recommend it.

They even had a German vehicle designed by the famous WW II airplane designer, Messerschmidt. The small car can get 60 to 100 MPG an can rocket you to your level ground destination at a hair raising 60 MPH! That's faster than a horse and no nasty manure to pick up. Talk about green! Just wait till the new administration discovers this gem. I'll bet Messerschmidt stock will shoot through the roof as soon Al Gore starts driving one. Be prepared to order yours before the lines get too long.

After checking out the many cars, motorcycles, and antiques, we visited their souvenir shop. Their mounted jackalope was beautiful, but pricey. I'd like to own a specimen of this quality, but they are hard to carry on a motorcycle and make a poor front fender ornament due to their high cost and tender constitution. They also had some cheap, made in China, toy jackalopes. Don't fall for them. They are impostors. The real stuffed jackalopes are costly, but worth it. You get what you pay for. Never accept a made in China replica. There are no jackalopes in China. I've been there and all they had was stuffed dragons, and skeptic that I am, I'm not sure they were even real.

We drove another hundred or so miles and settled into a Motel 6 in Mitchell, the home of the Corn Palace. Improbable as it sounds, the Corn Palace is a large public building used for rock concerts, conventions, and any other use that requires a large building decorated entirely with real corn. Yes corn. An artist paints the buildings many murals onto roofing paper, then several hundred thousand ears of corn, grown in 13 different colors for the purpose, are cut in half and nailed in place; sort of a corn by numbers painting. It looks great and is a true work of folk art on a grand scale.

Inside the building a vast array of corn related souvenirs beckon the enthusiast. There were just too many things to illustrate so I've made a collage of some of the products; behold.

The town is rightly proud of their cash crop. Even the unpopular E85 Ethanol fuel can be found in most gas stations. the cost? $1.80 a gallon. That's almost a buck a gallon cheaper than 87 octane gasoline. Not a bad deal for the Flex Fuel cars that can use it, although I think E85 only gets you about 73% to 94% as far on a gallon, depending on the car burning it. Maybe they will work out the efficiency bugs some day.

Tom McDonnell

2009-08-10T01:40:00.012-04:00

We left Sturgis and went to Wall Drug, a famous landmark in the middle of nowhere. It seems the proprietors of Wall Drug posted highway signs offering free ice water and in the hot, dusty, pre air conditioned days of the 1930s, this was a real treat for thirsty travelers. Over the years the business expanded to consume city blocks. All because of a roadside sign campaign that has expanded to humorous proportions. That's good marketing. Read the history here http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx

We visited the store(s), did our laundry, and went to bed.

This morning, we got up and had the nicest experience at breakfast. I'll tell a very short story first about Anna Brown.

We met Anna in 1991 while traveling in Casper Wyoming and by coincidence settled in Naples around the same time as she in 1994. Anna was the ultimate people person and always tried to instigate friendships. After her husband Dick died, she found herself eating by herself often and resolved that single people should never have to eat alone. To that end she would invite any loner she saw in a restaurant to join her to share a meal, conversation, and friendship. She was amazing. After several years of this practice, she told us that she had improved the quality of both her dining experience and that of the people she met and made some very nice friends allong the way. Theresa and I have taken up the practice and have improved many a meal by occasionally adopting a lonely single in a restaurant. It's one of those random acts of kindness that seems to work to benefit all involved.

Today, as we were eating breakfast a older gentleman came in and sat near us. Theresa and I remembered Anna and broke the ice with some friendly questions. We noticed the waitresses fawning over the man and we were told by our server that he was a local of 98 years who ate there every day. We started talking and soon found ourselves adopted by this man who had the same friend magnet skills of Anna Brown! After a few minutes of conversation he offered to show us around the town and country side if we had the time. Wow! We'd make time for that! We went back to the hotel, packed, checked out and drove to his modest downtown home.

Tom McDonnell was born near Wall, South Dakota in 1911 and has been working in the area ever since. He and his wife, who died 8 years ago, farmed homesteaded land and prospered. He passed his holding on to a nephew some years back and now enjoys bulldozing the land with his Caterpillar D-7. At 98 he still works, when not rained out like today, and loves it. Steven, his nephew, has done well with the farm(s). Tom drove us around and like a proud father showed us the 5,000 acres of spring wheat, then the 8,000 acres of corn. The cultivated tracts are so large and numerous, I had the feeling that the size of the whole enterprise might be a little smaller than Washington, D.C.! Then we saw the huge farm buildings and machines, most looked new as it is Steven's policy to sell them after three years and buy new tools. He had three, state of the art combines with air conditioned, GPS equipped cabs, and front end tools that are 36 feet wide. Together, they harvest an amazing 100+ foot swath of corn, beans, or wheat at 10 miles per hour! The family kids, drive huge track driven tractors with 1,000 bushel trailers to return the product to the grain elevators where is is stored for market. The scale of the operation was breathtaking. The machines are so large and efficient, they can manage these huge, multi square mile tracts of corn or grain with just a few employees outside the hard working family.

Tom showed us dams he had bulldozed into existence to allow for water retention and to give passage over streams. One large one took him two months to build with his Caterpillar and it stands firm today. He finished that project in 1948, the year I turned one. We drove from farm to farm, learning about wheat, corn, beans, combines, tractors, silos, people, history, we could not have had a better teacher. It was one of the best days of our trip. As Tom returned us to his house so we could beat the rains into the badlands, he talked about his father who's policy was to, "be a friend to man". He talked about how his dad would keep a place for people to stay if they needed a hand. I think he, his kin, and Anna Brown were all cut from the same cloth. We feel like friends after only a few hours. We said our goodbyes, mounted the Honda, and left him so he could go visit with his twin brother. Great genes in that family!

The Blackberry Storm cell phone is Internet capable and with it, I check weather radar. An ominous red spot on my screen was moving toward the Badlands National Park, our next destination, so we made a hasty dash to beat the rain. The park contains an amazing variety of land shapes, geology, fossils, animals, and tourists. We stopped at the first overlook to see why they call it the Badlands and the scene said it all. The terrain is so convoluted, bumpy, craggy, dry, rocky, crevassed, and tortured that farming would be impossible. Heck, walking is almost impossible. Hats off to the poor guys who build the park roads, overlooks, and visitor's center. This terrain is tough!

In the distance, a super cell thunderstorm was looking like a tornado maker. A dark conical finger pointed groundward from the leading edge of the huge cloud. It kept changing shape implying the violence of its winds. I figured we could keep ahead of it so we began the hour long trip on the park's loop through the badlands. On the map, it looked like a pretty straight road, so I figured I could stay well ahead of the storm; not exactly correct on that one. The sky overhead became dark. I don't know if it was a new cloud forming above, or if the huge super cell storm was catching us. Every time we rounded a turn and got on high ground, we checked the progress of the cloud. Was it a tornado yet? Apprehensive after Friday's encounter with killer hail, I had new found respect for South Dakota weather and decided to make a 20 mile dash for the visitor's center. We made it. Slightly wet but safe, we arrived just in time for an excellent movie in the center's comfortable theater. When we came out, the rain had passed leaving us with beautiful skys, rainbows, chirping birds, hopping bunnies, etc. We rode another 50 miles to find a nice hotel, a rib eye steak, and rest. It was a great day.

Instigated by a previous post, there seems to be some controversy about whether jackalopes are real or fake. Allow me to contribute a little information. I have never seen a live one, but I have been assured by two of the blog readers that they have. I have however, discovered that there are some crude children's stuffed jackalope toys which may have contributed to the impression that jackalopes are not real. Please, do not fall for it. These are obvious fakes and only the most gullible would be fooled by them.

A real stuffed jackalope would look like the one below.

I know, some of you will say they are fake like some ladies breasts. But I say, if I can touch them, they're real, and I petted that stuffed jackalope. It felt like real fur and real horns. I realize the glass eyes were a taxidermical necessity, but I found it to be strong evidence in favor of existence of the jackalope. I may use my camera to hunt one down tomorrow.

Sturgis Recap

2009-08-10T00:55:00.012-04:00

Crowds

Hail

Motorcycles as Art

Burnouts

Artful Advertising

Crazy Stuff

Pretty Girls

Interisting GuysBeautiful Roads

Hail

2009-08-09T00:31:00.009-04:00

Yesterday we went for a scenic ride to Deadwood to re-visit Kevin Costner's restaurant and casino; we last visited in 1991. The food was still great and the prices reasonable. While there I looked out the window to see the rain we were ducking in the restaurant had turned into a hail storm. What we saw was half dollar sized or less and it bounced up to 10 feet when it hit the rubber roof on the building next door. What we didn't know was the storm would move on to our campground, the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis and wreck havoc there, making national news. The hale came so fast, it accumulated up to several inches and our ride back to Sturgis was through an instant fog created by the icy piles on the roadside. It looked strange and beautiful.

We stopped in town to buy ice and proceeded to the Chip where we discovered why the wailing of ambulance sirens seemed so frequent.

Baseball sized hail ripped through the tents, shredding most, ours included. The car parked next to us, like many at the campground, was most likely totaled. Both front and rear glass was broken and the car was filling with water from hail and rain. A girl in the laundry facility was nursing a broken arm sustained when a giant hail stone hit her while driving her Harley. We heard stories of riders abandoning their bikes in the middle of the street to jump into cars with strangers in time to watch their windows get smashed out and the sheet metal pounded as if by some celestial ball peen hammer.

I had to fashion a tarp from our awning to cover the multiple holes in our roof. It was a miserable night of half sleep as howling winds. The rain tested my makeshift repair several times throughout the night. A young girl in the tent nearest us became so scared she woke up her boyfriend to pray. I could clearly hear her saying, "Oh God, oh yeah. Oh God, that's it. Right there. Oh God. She repeated this chant for about ten to twenty minutes when her boy friend chimed in with some encouraging sounds, mostly oohs and ahhhs, of his own. I didn't hear them say amen, but it seemed to help them to sleep as they were silent thereafter. The power of prayer...

It rained a couple more times and the winds blew so furiously I considered putting on our crash helmets, but morning came and we had survived. I've since heard that slightly larger hail has been known to kill cattle in the field and storms that produce large hail often make tornadoes too.

I have many more pictures but owing to a poor sleep last night I have to go to bed now. I'll pick this up at our next hotel.

We are in Wall, SD tonight and will explore the badlands tomorrow.

Crazy Days

2009-08-05T00:18:00.012-04:00

Where do I begin? In my last blog entry I alluded to the huge scope of entertaining things one can witness here. But then I was a rookie. Wizened by several days of the Sturgis experience, I can now report with greater accuracy. The whole town is like a three; make that three dozen ring circus.

We are camped at the Buffalo Chip, which is the largest and maybe the bawdiest of the local venues. Last night, popular country and western entertainer, Toby Keith, put on a great show to a mostly standing room crowd of I guess ten to twenty thousand.

Whenever a break in the entertainment allows, the management will insert a different act to amuse us. For instance, there are ramps set up in the main show area and they have guys on motocross bikes charge the ramp at high speed. The ramp then lifts said riders to fantastic heights.

While airborne, they, not content with the enormous shot of adrenalin you get from launching yourself 60 feet in the air, further amuse themselves by temporarily leaving the motorcycle, tethered only by fingernails and will to the handlebars while they twist, curl, wave, and flap in the wind. Time must be dilated for them, sort of like house fly time. I probably look like I’m in slow motion to a fly as I make my feeble attempt to swat them away. I think it must be like that for these riders. They do impossible tricks, up to and beyond the apex of the jump when gravity overcomes the upward inertia imparted by the ramp and they begin their fall at 33 feet per second, squared. Unconcerned, they are posing for the cameras, bike laid sideways, feet over their heads, I’ll bet they are even making funny faces or wiggling their ears. About 2/3rds through the arc, they begin to prepare for landing, seats in an upright position, tray tables stored, etc. They wrench the laid over bike to the vertical and a split second before contacting the landing ramp, resume their normal riding position, butt on the seat and feet on the pegs. The machine lands, torturing the forks and shocks, but allowing the resilient young riders circle and do it again. Only then do the spectators resume breathing.

Like Mardi Gras, there is a time honored tradition in Sturgis of flashing your boobs for the enjoyment of all. They flash as they ride, they flash as they dance at the concerts, they flash for beads, they flash for any reason. It is as it should be says I. Can't show the flashing... there are kids in the room. Trust me, they flash. ;-) It's fun.

There are beautiful girls everywhere. they sell beer, advertise products, enhance the scenery. Today, three Easy Rider Magazine Models spotted me; "Isn't that Harry Hanbury the famous blogger?," they shouted as they wrestled me to face the camera. I complied with their desires allowing them their trophy photo. I'm a soft touch in these matters. Explaining that I'm a happily married man, I politely refused their phone numbers, letting them down as easily as I could and moved on. I'm sure they will get over it soon.

Roll up your pants, it's too late to save your shoes.

Not having visited any emergency rooms for what seemed like days, I decided to drop in at the local Veterans Hospital to assure I can continue the blog by keeping death in check. I got light headed while searching for breakfast and knowing I sometimes throw strings of ventricular tachycardia, VT for short, I sought the services of the nearest electrocardiogram machine. Wired up, I produced a somewhat scary paper chart of heart arrhythmias and was diagnosed to be dehydrated and low on potassium. Admonished to drink lots of water and with a tuned up medicine regimen, I was released to search out more blogworthy stories. The pursuit continues.

You might think that dehydration is impossible in a town where beer dominates the grocery isles. I was so amazed by the sheer volume I took this picture of Theresa standing next to the beer mountain at the local food store. By my calculation, beer is about 95% water. The nurse at the VA Hospital however, assured me that this is not a good cure for dehydration. Soda pop, my other weakness, is likewise off the list as the beneficial water therein is corrupted by high fructose corn syrup and caffeine, which are friends of the reaper and also not good for your teeth. Killjoy.

Discharged, and feeling rejuvenated by a potassium pill and a gallon of H2O, we rode to the Elsworth Air Force Base Air and Space Museum.

Want to see the grim reaper's neatest tool to date? The MK-82 megaton class bomb was surprisingly tiny for a device that can level a city, but you know what they say, "Big things come in small packages". True dat! I was surprised, looking at the diagram of the bomb's innards that most of the container is filled with parachutes, and non-bangy things designed to help it land on target. Believe me, with one of these things you only need to get close. They also had interesting displays of aircraft like the fast B1-b bomber that buzzed Main Street in downtown Sturgis today, and examples of missiles, and other scary things that allow us to sleep peacefully at night. I hope we never have to use this stuff but I know that if we don't have it, someone out there will take advantage and cause us to have a bad day. Nuts to them I say... I like our bombs.

This puts me in a patriotic mood, thinking about how our soldiers keep the bogey man away. To give proper respect to our veterans, the Buffalo Chip has erected a thousand flags to honor and remember the our fallen comrades. It is an impressive sight.

Tonight we were rained out. Cheech and Chong are entertaining an empty wet field of grass, as far as I know because most of us are huddled in tents, RVs, or the laundry room where a blogger can find an A/C outlet to provide somnolence for his readers. Tomorrow, the mega band Arrowsmith will play at the field. I'm betting on 20,000 dancing, flashing, fans. I hope it doesn't rain.

Sturgis

2009-08-01T16:07:00.013-04:00

The Buffalo Chip,

http://www.buffalochip.com/ is the epicenter of the camping and entertainment activities for the world's largest motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. We have arrived.

The ride here was beautiful and we stopped at Devils Tower where a knowledgeable park ranger lectured us on the geology of the tower. This is the kind of thing I love and before I could ask, he explained that there are no devils involved in the tower at all. When Teddy Roosevelt named it he was working from a flawed translation from the native American language but I guess Bear Lodge or Bear's Tee Pee didn't sound as sexy. Even after the first mistake in naming it the wrong thing, another mistake was made by the government printer by not putting an apostrophe before the s in devils. Once the president made his speech dedicating the monument, and naming it wrongly, and then the government literature was passed out to the press, without the apostrophe, the errors were sanctified and so cast in stone. Don't worry, the government has learned from those errors and is sure to get it right when they redo health care, the economic system, capitalism, and the world as we know it, but I digress. The monument is 867 feet high and is really cool to see, by whichever name.

The campground we inhabit for these 11 days is primitive in a number of ways. I would say you sometimes see ladies in loincloths but that would be exaggerating. They often wear less. It's a kind of free wheeling party where anything goes. The promoters try to amp it up by offering prizes at the bikini contest, the wet T-shirt contests, and the many other contests designed to maximize the display of female skin. It works. I'm not complaining mind you. Red male blood courses through my veins and I must admit the prospect of witnessing all the debauchery was not lost on me when reserving our tent space. Theresa has been a good sport and lets me look but not touch. Fair deal. We will bring home memories of many exhibits of extreme excess that few ever witness.

They specialize in bringing the best rock and roll talent to the amphitheater. Last night we were treated to a front row seat for the legends of rock. They are an aging band made up of key members of the Who's Who of 60's and 70's rock. They may be gray of head, but they can still wail on a guitar. The performances were fantastic.

The spectacle before us is amazing. There are four mud racing super cars crossing the field in front of me. A skydiver just flew by as did a powered ultralight airplane. The DJ, Wolfman Jack is spinning tunes, people are preparing two ramps which will allow a motorcycle daredevils to jump over something, bikes, buses, I don't know what yet. Theresa is buying our dinner right now. I suspect it will be a 20 oz. pork chop. Everything I can see is bigger, faster, sexier, than any circus you've ever seen. It's crazy. I love it.

I'll have to try harder to take some pictures that are not R-rated. I know some kids are reading the blog and I don't want to offend anyone. I have to go eat and check out the poster girl who is signing autographs at the Miss Buffalo Chip Pageant. I love beauty pageants. More blog later. ;-)

Riding Into the Clouds

2009-07-30T00:08:00.008-04:00

Our driving mission today was 160 miles, Worland to Gillette. Wyoming Route 14 is one of the most beautiful motorcycle roads I've ever seen. At every one of the hundreds of turns a new picture postcard scene appears. As we drove through the 72 degree prairie and up the mountainside to the Powder River Pass, 9,666 feet in altitude, the temperature dropped to 45 degrees and we froze our butts off! Luckily, we avoided rain, but did have the interesting and humid experience of driving through a cloud. It felt and looked like a normal fog with a hundred feet of visability. We came out on the top side at about 8,500 feet into a partly sunny sky. The rest of the ride to Gillette was beautiful but still cold.

Tonight we are settled into a Motel 6 with a hot tub. I gave my sore leg a good soaking, then we treated ourselves to a great prime rib at the local chop house. Our daily budget is wounded, but we really enjoyed the meal. I guess the beef was of local origin and they claim to age it at the restaurant. Whatever they did, it had the best flavour of any beef I've had this year.

About yesterday's post; it seems not everyone believes there are jackalopes. As a city boy, I've never seen a live one in person, although I have seen many stuffed examples in roadside shops from Georgia to Montana. It's also easy to find photographs on the web. I ate in a Wyoming chop house tonight and there was no jackalope on the menu, but they didn't serve rabbit or snipe either. The birdwatchers among us know there are plenty of snipe around but they are hard to catch, See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe .

Some people don't believe there are attack cows either, but I've seen the signs, warning of their presence, begging the unwary to not let them, in their stealthy quadruped way, creep up behind you and bite off your head. Heed the warning signs!

Tomorrow we visit Devils Tower on the way to Sturgis. I bet I'll get questions like, How did the devil gain ownership of a tower in a national park? Isn't that tower on federally owned land? Is there really a devil or devils? Should devils have an apostrophe before the s to make it a possessive noun or pronoun? All of these question beg an answer and tomorrow I will investigate.

Big Empty Country

2009-07-29T00:26:00.010-04:00

The remarkable thing about the photo to the right was the traffic. There are three vehicles in the distance making this the most traffic we saw on Route 14 East of Cody. The open space is amazing. I suspect that if a big jet airplane flew overhead, the temporary county population might double. Horses seem to outnumber people by a large margin. So do sheep and antelopes, and for all I know maybe moose, wolves, coyotes, and bear; none of which were spotted today.

This must be county fair month. We saw dozens of horses and fewer people going into a fair ground near Burlington, Wyoming. I pulled in to ask what was going on and it was a competition of horsemen. Sort of a pre-rodeo event that included kids riding their mounts. I saw a girl of maybe 12 prancing around a yard with a number on her back. She was being judged for her riding skill. I'd have judged her about 20 times better than me. She looked like she was born on the horse and made her maneuvers look about twice as difficult as breathing. We were particularly impressed by the littlest cowboy there. He was three and aspires to be a rodeo rider like his grand dad. This buckaroo wisely substituted a pacifier for the more common Red Man Chew. I predict he will someday own a trophy belt buckle as big as your face.

We passed through the small town and once again into the magnificent desolation of the plains. For many miles our only companion was a solitary antelope who showed only passing interest in our motorcycle. Antelope are relatively plentiful in this neighborhood. Probably more of them than people around here. Far more elusive is the jackalope; a sort of a cross between a large hare and antelope. Rabbits have a reputation, but I'd have loved to see the mating that caused this breed to come into existence. As a city boy I've only seen pictures like the one below but they tell me they taste great with a Snipe as a side dish. The prairie equivalent of our Surf'n'Turf.

We stopped driving early today, hoping to see the Washakie County Fair. Imagine our disappointment when the advent of rain synchronized with our arrival at the fairgrounds. Now I will have nothing but the dreams of actually seeing the county's woolliest sheep or maybe a sample of Aunt Petunia's award winning rhubarb pie. I've seen county fairs on TV and always wanted to visit the real thing. I'd like to see a 4-H kid win a ribbon for the largest carrot or fattest pig. Alas, we opted to remain dry and headed back to town before we even checked to see if they were serving jackalope. Sadness.

The town of Worland is representative of many small bergs of the West. I don't know if the wide main streets are the result of over ambitious city planners of if there is a military subsidy to create streets so wide they can perform emergency landings of aircraft. The attached rush hour photo of downtown, attests to my lack of exaggeration. Perhaps everyone had driven in their pickup trucks to the county fair. We did see evidence of dozens of people there.

We drove to the empty coin operated car wash and rewarded the Honda for another thousand miles of faithful service.

Tomorrow we will travel the scenic Highway 16, AKA, Cloud Peak Skyway, through the Bighorn National Forest and over the Powder River Pass, over 9,000 feet high, to the town of Buffalo. Even the names excite me. I looked at the map and the road looks like a confused string of spaghetti, nearly knotting itself like a pretzel through the mountains. A motorcycle road par excelance. I can't wait!

Can't Rollerskate Here

2009-07-27T23:54:00.005-04:00

There was a popular song, a couple of decades ago that said, "you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd". We checked today and nobody was rollerskating. There were about 100 in this herd and they were crossing the street to get to the mud volcano. My brother, Bob, his wife and our friends the Hamiltons were stuck between two parts of the herd and could not move for about 25 minutes while a couple of bull bison decided to battle. After watching the two bulls snort and head butt each other for a while, they eventually made their way back to the RVs and escaped.

Tonight we are all in Cody, Wyoming at a Super Walmart parking lot. Walmart has an RV friendly parking policy and it is much appreciated by travelers. Our parking lot probably has 20 RVs of every sort parked for the night near the outer edges. We repay Walmart by buying food, ice, clothes and medicine. Fair trade says I.

When Theresa and I arrived my leg began to hurt badly from a small injury I had packing up the camper this morning. Not having visited a hospital all week, I thought it was time for an x-ray and so did the ER doc. Properly irradiated and diagnosed to have a bad bruise I was directed to use Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation, (remember RICE). I feel good tonight with an ice pack on my elevated leg. I expect to be fine by Wednesday. Another small bump in the road.

I think we will hang around Cody for a day or two before we head to the real wild life at Sturgis.

Cleaning Up

2009-07-26T20:42:00.008-04:00

When camping in a tent, in a primitive campground, (read: no showers), you really appreciate the facility we found today in Gardner, Montana. It was a super clean, modern coin laundry with deluxe coin operated showers! For a large fist full of quarters we cleaned all our clothes and while they washed, Theresa and I jumped into the handicapped shower, which was big enough for two. ;-)

Fresh as daises, we loaded the dryers and went out for a beer and pizza. On the corner we found the K-BAR, a saloon right in character with it's wild west location. My favorite feature of the bar was the local beverage, Moose Drool Brown Ale. The pizza was good too, just like you'd expect in the wild west.

We took our clean selves and our clean clothes back to the primitive campground to find a thunder storm had turned it to a muddy pit. We retired to Bob's RV to surf the web and watch TV for the rest of the evening. I hope it dries out by morning when we go to Cody, Wyoming.

This morning when we got out of our tent we found three elk eating grass and leaves from the lower branches. I saw one of the campers holding a handful of grass for a large elk to eat. I grabbed my camera expecting the elk to toss this guy onto the roof of an RV or maybe into a tree only to find these were lady elk and acted so. I was happy there was no carnage but the blog might have been more interesting if they were male elk.

Animals Everywhere

2009-07-25T23:50:00.003-04:00

Today we went to Lamar Valley on the way to Bear Tooth Pass. We saw bears, black and brown, brown are the grizzly type, antelope, elk, deer, herds of bison, and at least three chipmunks. Whenever an interesting animal appeared, a traffic jam pointed to its location. One brown bear probably had an audience of a hundred humans and it wasn’t even close to the road. Bison however are easy to see so they only draw small crowds. At the park headquarters they show movies of elk ramming cars. They like to make the point that these animals are wild and unpredictable. There was a news story last week about a bison goring and tossing a spectator into the air. It’s not Pamplona but maybe a new sport, the running of the buffalo will be born at Yellowstone. We are smarter than those who run the bulls in Spain because we wear crash helmets when photographing the wildlife. That way if we get tossed by elk or bison, our heads are protected. We are safety conscious, responsible wildlife photographers.

We drove to Bear Tooth Pass and got to 10,500 feet when it started to rain. It just wasn't worth a soaking to go over the top, so we turned around and headed back to Yellowstone. Back at our home base, Mammoth hot Springs Campground, we saw we had ridden about 160 miles. I'm beat. Time for a steak dinner and about 10 hours of sleep. I know this won't happen.

Last night we had a near new moon meaning a perfectly dark sky, no clouds and the beginning of a meteor shower. I can't sleep under these circumstances. I parked my head in the window of our tent and watched the milky way for a good hour counting a dozen meteors and about 8 satellites. Geek fun.

Spectacular Beauty!

2009-07-24T21:51:00.013-04:00

The bike is fixed and we cleared the shop around 5:30PM Wednesday. I picked up Theresa at the Verizon shop where she secured a new BlackBerry Storm to replace the one I slid on when I rolled off the bike. Everything was running smoothly so we headed for Jackson.

I didn't get a picture of our Motel 6 that night but what a nice place! It is one of 11 in the chain that use a new contemporary design. It was beautiful. We ate at Bubbas, a great Bar-B-Que place. It was so good we came back for breakfast. Then we headed for The Tetons. Here is what we saw right after entering the park.

Not a bad sight. The Tetons are about the most beautiful mountains you will ever see. It was hot and July 23rd and the peaks are still snow capped. We took a few pictures, visited some places we saw in 1991, and headed for Yellowstone.

On the way we passed Jackson Lake Dam and the Snake River. This was one of the most memorable places of my life. In 1991, I had just retired from the police department and Theresa and I did a celebratory lap around the country in an RV. We were having a great time but when we got to the Tetons I had a rare, perfect moment. Theresa was sitting on the bank reading her book, I was knee deep in the water with a hand laid, Gulf of Tonkin Bamboo, Orvis Battenkill Fly Rod in my hand, literally, a piece of art built to catch fish, it was a retirement gift from recently departed friend Jim Pettit. There was a baby moose and her mother sitting on the bank, big white pelicans with 6 to 7 foot wingspans were water skiing to a landing in front of me, deer were visible on the other bank, and cutthroat trout were virtually swimming between my legs. I was 44 and retired. I was catching fish, the weather was perfect, everything was perfect. As I took inventory of how lucky I was to be in this situation a wave of emotion overwhelmed me and I felt tears of joy run down my cheeks. You can count those perfect moments on one hand. The most amazing thing was when I realized that I might do the same thin the next day in Yellowstone, and there would me other similar days in other places to come. Life was good. No, live was spectacular! I still get choked up when I think about it. I really enjoyed the flashback.

In Yellowstone we met up with my brother Bob, his wife Marcia, and friends Carol and Bill Hamilton, motorcycle riders all. After breakfast we mounted up and rode to 86 miles worth of spectacular scenery. We are camping in our tent trailer in the Mammoth Hot Springs Campground across from Bob's Motorhome. We will be here till Monday, then we make up the next chapter. I have no idea what we will do between Monday and August 1st, when we go to Sturges, but I'm sure it will involve hundreds of beautiful places and be interesting every moment.

I am about to run out of power, they make you turn off the generator at 8 PM in this campground, so I'll continue after we recharge the batteries. The last picture is the six of us checking out a hot spring. Bob is a techie like me so we had some fun with his infrared thermometer. We went to a couple of dozen hot springs and took measurements of the surface temperatures. this is what we geeks do for fun.

Gettin' Itchy to Roll

2009-07-21T23:42:00.006-04:00

Afton is a great place to visit for a day. but after 4 or 5 days we are ready to move on. The bike should be ready sometime tomorrow. All the parts came in and Rusty, the mechanic is grinding away on it. I've commissioned a local metal fabricator to build an accessory tray for the front of the camper to carry a two gallon gas can and a six pack of sodas. My damaged BlackBerry Storm should be replaced around 3:30 PM. I invoked the insurance I carry on it to have a replacement sent to me. The Storm is one of the most necessary tools of the trip. With it I can talk on the phone, get directions, maps, surf the web, buy and sell stock, get the news, shop for a motel, and tether it to my notebook for Internet access. Right now, something must be shorted inside as it gets hot and runs the battery dead in 3 or 4 hours. I'll be very glad to have a new one.

Tonight we had a nice Mexican dinner and visited Dennis, of one man band fame in last Saturdays blog entry. He was running the movie theater next to the car/motorcycle dealership. I think he was alone. He sold admission tickets to 70 or so people, then dispensed popcorn, candy and sodas, then started the projector. I wanted to see the projector, techie that I am, so Theresa manned the popcorn concession for a few minutes while Dennis showed me the projection room. The theater dates back to 1928 and is much larger inside than it appears from the street. The seats have been worn out and replaced three times in the past. The films come to him on 5 reels about 12" in diameter, and he has to edit the sections together on a large flat spool table. The top table pays out the film and the bottom table collects it. The tables can hold the entire feature, so there are no pauses to change reels as in the old days. There is even a third table in the mechanism so a double feature can be played. The equipment is not new, but still fascinating.

If the bike is ready, the cell phone replaced and the new Accessory tray are all ready we will spend tomorrow night in Jackson Hole's Motel 6. We meet up with my brother Bob and friends in Yellowstone the next day. I will try to dodge the bears, deer, and bison.

The Repairs Begin

2009-07-20T21:04:00.008-04:00

Like some old nudists, the Gold Wing looks better when dressed. We spent some time in the shop today trying to figure out which parts merited replacement from the accident. It is impossible to assess the damage with all the plastic covers, AKA Tupperware hiding the mechanicals of the bike. After stripping it nude, Russ, the mechanic was able to make a list of the damaged parts. Coming tomorrow by Fed Ex are fork tubes, seals, headstock bearings, crash bars, clutch hydraulic line and a few other miscellaneous parts. If all goes well we should be Teton bound by noon Thursday. My brother Bob, his wife Marcia and friends, the Hamiltons, should be able to meet up with us by Friday in Yellowstone. Then Sturgis for some rowdy relaxation.

Being grounded in Afton gives us a chance to see what small town life is like. The people are very nice, everyone either knows you, knows of you, or is your cousin. We live in Longshore Lake, a gated community of 560 homes, or about 1500 people in Naples, Florida. Longshore would fit neatly into anyone's farm here with room to spare. This town, Afton, counts 1818 residents for an area about the size of Naples, which last I heard, was nearing 500,000! My new friend Rocky Moore says Wyoming is too crowded already!

Afton has great tasting and very cold water right out of the tap. In fact the tap water is so cold it hurts to wash your hands unless you blend in some hot water. The water supply is from the lovely periodic spring from yesterday's post. They are proud of their water and someone said it was judged to be the third best tasting in the world. The 1st and 2nd are in Japan, she said. My friend Gary says the water in Eufala, Alabama is the best tasting, and I guess it is the best I've had. To test their claims I went to Berkeley Springs, http://www.berkeleysprings.com/water/awards2.htm where the International Water Tasting Competition is held. It looks like both lost out to Clearbrook, Waterworks District, British Columbia. Sorry.

The air here is very dry, 26% today, as low as 2% in winter. It will dry your skin and make your boogers as dry as sawdust. It's hard to blow your nose.

Most people here seem to have all terrain vehicles, (ATV), or snowmobiles as winter transportation. The weather here today is beautiful but winters can be very harsh. Although the terrain is lovely, I suspect the weather is the main reason for the small population, just over 500,000 for the whole state. I'll judge it a nice place to visit but for pleasant year round weather I'll take Naples.

When You Have Lemons, Make Lemonade

2009-07-20T00:19:00.018-04:00

This might have been a better week. We expected to be camping in the Tetons rather than sleeping in a hospital and waiting for a motorcycle repair but I'd rather focus on the good things like meeting Rocky and Lenita Moore. Rocky, a 5th grade teacher, and fireman of 35 years service, is as kind and jovial as Santa Clause, he and his sweet daughter Lenita were first on the scene of our accident and rallied help via 911. When I was a mess, trying to figure out if Theresa was hurt and if my neck was broken, Rocky took charge of our motorcycle, parking it safely in his yard and promising to pick us up at the hospital, never mind that it was 33 miles away! "Just call, I'll come and get ya", were his words to Theresa as we left by ambulance. You can't imagine what a relief it was to me knowing I didn't have to worry about the bike and trailer.

In the Emergency Room at Bear Creek Memorial Hospital, after being treated and released we had no place to go. It was late and our bike was 33 miles from the hospital. Without us asking, the hospital staff offered us a room, clothes and shower supplies. They even got us dinner at a local restaurant! When we awakened in the morning, there were trays of hot breakfast alongside our beds! We had been treated as well as real patients, even though we were officially not there. I even got a personal class on how to dress a road rash wound. We ate breakfast, called Rocky Moore back in Cokeville, and left the hospital feeling like we had a fleet of guardian angles. We will never forget their kindness.

Rocky and Lenita picked us up as promised and the conversation I had with this eclectic, brilliant man was the highlight of my day. We talked about his work as a 5th grade school teacher, about a crazy bomber who died trying to blow up his school in 1986, (see Wikipedia for the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis ) . We talked for a couple of hours, I wish it could have been days, then they made us lunch. When the conversation drifted to paleontology, he gifted us with a couple of fossils he had found! I hated to leave but we needed to find a dealer to check out the bike before going too far and it was noon Saturday. We prepared to go and said our goodbyes; that's when I discovered the bike was disabled with a dead hydraulic clutch. As a member of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, I called to invoke the roadside assistance benefit of membership, and Dennis Horsley came to pick us up with a flatbed.

I thought Rocky was a rare find and certainly of exalted rank in the Legion of Guardian Angles, but Dennis, our flatbed rescuer, had some angelic surprises up his sleeve too. Dennis, he of the Honda Division of Courtesy Ford of Afton, Wyoming was cordial and interesting like Rocky. Now this is another really eclectic guy. He modestly explained that you have to do what you can to make a living these days as we discovered he is a principal in the Honda and Ford dealerships in Afton, runs the local movie theater, has a stake in the tire shop across the street, and built and manages a rental house, all while he's not cutting hay. He could probably be a pretty good circus juggler too, judging by his work ethic and resume. When we finished loading the bike and trailer into his shop, which was already closed for the weekend, he realized our plight being without transportation or lodging. He tossed Theresa the keys to a nearby Ford Taurus, saying "I guess I ought to borrow you that car", never asking for ID, or money. I get the impression that you can trust people around here. I'll bet most deals are sealed with a handshake and that's enough for people like these.

This morning we met a pair of fellow bikers, also stranded with us at the Lazy B Motel. It seams that a mere 600 miles of twisty Yellowstone driving had erased all memory of tread from his rear tire. An ensuing blowout at 65 mph nearly introduced them to the guard rail which they fortunately missed. After he tire ironed new rubber onto his wheel I drove him around looking to inflate the tire for his 1995 BMW with sidecar. Tubeless tires need a massive blow of compressed air to seat the bead on the rim. All the facilities we found had wimpy 25 cent air compressors that simply were not strong enough to seal the bead and inflate the BMW's tire. It was Sunday morning and nothing was open, what to do? Call Dennis! He answered with a quick, "no problem, I'll meet you at the shop in 5 minutes". He opened the big garage door and fetched an air hose connected to a mega compressor. It ended our inflation problem in about 10 seconds! Then he gave the BMW rider a new valve stem for the tire. No charge. Good deed for the day. I like this guy.

Sunday in Afton, Wyoming, population 1818, Altitude 6134, and almost everything is closed. We did find a nice breakfast, ate, so now what? We've already checked out the world's largest elk horn arch, built in 1958 of 3,000 elk horns, for the amazingly low cost of $2,500! This, by the way, compares very favorably to lesser tourist attractions like the world's largest ball of string or the multitude of Wax Museums scattered around the country. I know, lets go see the periodic spring!

Just up the hill from town there is a strange spring that starts and stops with a period of about 15 minutes! They say it's a cold water geyser. We drove into the Bridger National Forest, up, up, up, the dirt road alongside Swift Creek, and parked at the trail head to take the 3/4 mile hike to the famous periodic spring. We got out of the car, now at about 7,000 feet altitude, wheezed for a few seconds, took inventory of our aches and pains, and got back into the car, figuring the spring was about 47/64ths of a mile too far. To learn how the spring works, click on the picture to enlarge the explanation printed near the top. We later appreciated photographs of the spring at http://www.americansouthwest.net/wyoming/periodic-spring/photographs.html , without wheezing once or aggravating arthritic joints. Ain't the Internet grand?

I do have to say that the ride to the trail head was beautiful. A picturesque bubbling brook appeared to have a trout behind every rock. I would have loved to have had a fly rod in my hand, felt soled wading boots and a hot frying pan with a bit of lemon and butter for the saute. Mmmm, few things taste better than a freshly caught brook trout.

The other thing we noticed on the dirt road was the abundance of small wild flowers. I made a collage of a few to give you an idea of what you see roadside here.

Lastly, it's fun to look close, very close at some of nature's marvels. When I was a kid we'd pick the puffball seed pod of the dandy lion out of the ground to try an blow the seeds into the wind, thereby propagating crabgrass to our neighbour's yards. Here they have a similar flower/weed but it's bigger and much prettier than the small ones of my youth. I took a couple of photos. Remember to click on them to enlarge, and please refrain from blowing, you will only get spit on your monitor.

When these blooms disintegrate, each seed flies away on its own tiny gossamer parachute. I later saw some, landed in a puddle on the street. the tiny bell shaped bowl was on the water holding the little seed pointed skyward. It looked like a tiny rocket about to launch. I think the surface tension of the water rights the little seedling to bring forth a new generation of weed or flower, whichever you perceive it to be.

Another Bump In the Road on the Highway to Happiness

2009-07-18T00:57:00.008-04:00

This was a beautiful day of riding, right up to the accident. Nothing fatal and I hope no permanent injuries but we sure took some painful lumps today. We were on a country road, so desolate we only saw one car every couple of miles. When we approached the intersection a slow moving farm truck pulled directly in my path and because of the gravel covered road surface I could not avoid him. I think my front wheel hit the truck's back wheel and we tumbled onto the ground. We were able to stand up under our own power but when I had a sharp pain turning my head to the right I allowed that medical attention was needed. Theresa suffered some painful road rash and some bruising. I worried my neck was broken, although after an ambulance ride to Bear Lake Memorial hospital, some 30 miles away, my fears were allayed when the CT Scan showed all the parts were still there and apparently working. Tonight, after wonderful treatment by the hospital staff, we will try to sleep in donated hospital scrubs on really cool hospital electric beds. Things could have been much worse. I hope we will be able to resume our ride tomorrow, or at worst in a few days.

I feel very grateful that neighbors who were on the scene immediately took care of the motorcycle and trailer and have volunteered to pick us up from the hospital tomorrow. Police and an EMT appeared in minutes. The guy in the truck seemed like a really nice man, and he admitted passing the yield sign. He even called the hospital to see if we were OK. I suspect he's a stand up guy who simply didn't expect us at that little traveled intersection. Accidents happen.

Jack Strom asked why were were not in Zion or other parks south of Moab. the reasons are: It's very, very, very, hot, and we are so saturated with beautiful scenery we allowed ourselves an alternate choice. That probably the way Hugh Hefner feels when he takes a day off from the Playboy mansion. Additionally, my brother Bob, his wife Marcia, and our friends the Hamiltons have just finished their trip to the Calgary Stampede and hoped we could meet with them in Yellowstone. With the thermometer topping 100, this plan had appeal. Bob, if you are reading this we will call you from the Tetons in a day or three.

In other news, we met a guy building a dragster snowmobile today. This thing has wheels for runners and a special tread, made for an asphalt drag strip. It can go 60 feet in 1.1 seconds and does the 1/8th mile in 6 seconds at 100 mph! The small turbocharged 600 cc engine puts out 200 hp. the ones they race on ice with spiked, no slip treads are even quicker!

I suspect we will be hoteling more that riding for a few days. I'll have time to update this post then.

Mystery Solved, It's a Marmot!

2009-07-17T12:50:00.002-04:00

Theresa's mystery critter from yesterday is a Marmot.

These things roam all around the mountains, and apparently cities too. Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot

I guess we have to visit Salt Lake City being so close. the road to it looks very scenic. Will report later.

Nothin' But Drivin'

2009-07-17T00:54:00.002-04:00

Nothing to report today except that Provo Utah is a lovely, clean town with nice people, sort of a desert version of Naples. Years ago, 1991 to be exact, when I retired from the police department, Theresa and I bought a 5th wheel RV and did a lap around the country. It took less than a week to realize that our lifelong home, Washington, D.C. and its Maryland suburbs, was not the best place to live. We did like working there, but now we had other options. On our trip around the country we made it our mission to create a short list of alternative places to live and we became rather philosophical about the reasoning. We learned that above all, it's the quality of the people that should define where you live, if you have the choice. Thomas Sowell, the economist, introduced me to the concept of human capitol. If we all started off the same, and I know we don't, some would rise to the top of society and some would become junkie layabouts. Human Capitol describes a person's personal worth, not financial, although those with high human capitol usually do very well; Mother Theresa had no money but high human capitol. Rather, this personal worth is gained by doing the correct, responsible thing, all your life. Do your homework, brush your teeth, mow your lawn, stay fit, work hard, remain honest, and one day you will have amassed great human capitol. We learned in that 1991 trip, that we could assess the level of human capitol quickly when we entered a town by counting the tattoo parlors and pawn shops, the number of beer cans on the side of the road and if you could get an order at McDonalds from a smiling friendly waitress in 30 seconds, with correct change. If you get that, you will also find good city governance, a reliable hospital, and honest auto mechanic, a thriving Habitat for Humanity program, a low crime rate, etc. This feature of a town, human capitol, trumps all other considerations, weather, economy, cost of living, etc. Provo, Utah now enters my short list of nice places to live. I'll tip you off if I find others.

The trip from Moab to Provo was uneventful and the countryside is beautiful but all we did today was drive. There was one moment's worth of excitement, when Theresa spotted a mystery animal crossing the road. It looked like a big hamster with a pointed nose. I did not get a close enough look to identify it but when the traffic came, it retreated to the safety of a parked car and sat underneath for a while. Theresa had to investigate so she crossed the street to try to spook the mystery varmint out into the open but it would not budge. It ran away after she left with the kind of gait an overweight hamster might have but it was too far away for me to identify. I hope we see another so we can solve this mystery.

Lastly, for those who travel, there is a wonderful web site, http://www.factorytoursusa.com/Index.asp where you can identify some interesting things to see in each state. Tomorrow, we may explore the Kenecot Copper Mine and the MotoSat Antenna factory. Both discovered using this web site.

Starry Starry Night

2009-07-16T02:27:00.009-04:00

We started the day with one of the best omelets ever at the Pancake Haus in Moab. Theresa opened the door to leave the restaurant and was surprised by a deer walking past her about 10 feet away, on Main Street in Moab! By the time I got out and photographed the animal it was a half block away. The poor thing didn't like downtown much and jumped the fence into a neighboring yard for a rest.

We went shopping for a white water raft trip but they don't have much water in the Colorado this year and the best available was a rather wimpy Class I and almost Class II rapids trip. Classes of rapids range from I, boring; to Class VI, usually fatal. A great description of the classes can be found here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4800695_class-white-water-rapids.html . I don't want to get hurt, but I'm not paying $57 a person to fall asleep in a rubber boat. We will look for something more exciting later in the trip.

We spent the mid-day cruising around Arches National Park. This place has scenery that can kill! One of the giant arches fell last year, fortunately at night when nobody was enjoying it's shade. This was only a couple of miles from where a rock the size of a house landed on a policeman directing traffic at a bridge intersection. At least he didn't suffer. For the slight mortal risk of touring the Arches Park you get to see some amazing things.

Nature has a way of turning a mountain on its side, then eroding away everything that is not an arch. The result is spectacular!

My recommendations: 1. go see the arches. 2. Don't eat lunch under them, especially if an earthquake is expected.

After a couple of 101 degree hours of seeing these wonders we decided to trade all this beauty for a dip in the hotel pool. Good choice!

Having given up the white water trip we had thought about taking, we decided to splurge and spend the money we saved on a dinner and canyon boat ride, (how's that for Obama like fiscal logic?). This may have been the age appropriate choice as it involved no risk of death or even injury. In spite of this we managed to thoroughly ourselves. Rather than give you all the story here, I'll direct you to their web site which is very nicely done. see: http://www.canyonlandsbynight.com/ . We ate a good meal there and went for the boat ride. They chase the boat with a crew in a light truck that illuminates the canyon walls, synchronized to a recorded program of beautiful music and narration of creation stories from a scientific, Native American, and Christian perspective, Then they give you the history of the settlers, the uranium mining, and much more. My favorite part was near the end of the trip when they turned off the lights to reveal a canopy of stars in a cloudless, perfectly dark, desert dry sky. The milky way was brilliant and you could see the stars all the way to the horizon in any direction. We watched two satellites pass overhead.

We were so impressed with the beautiful dark sky we drove out of town at 11 PM, back to the Arches Park, to better appreciate the sky. After 40 minutes of watching and appreciating we were rewarded with one very nice meteorite that streaked in from the South. I became frustrated trying to photograph the sky with my pocket camera so we went to Danny's for a late night banana split. Hey, we astronomers have to eat too! If you like looking up, check out my friend Ted Wolfe's web site, www.tedwolfe.com .

Bedtime now, heading for Needles Park tomorrow, then the Four Corners area..

Dinosaurs, Rocks, and Roads

2009-07-15T02:44:00.012-04:00

We started our day by visiting the Dinosaur Museum in Fruita, Colorado. This is the kind of place I'd have been happy to live in as a kid. They have lots of hands-on stuff, great movies and demos. they even have a lab where scientists pry dirt from bones, rendering clean, useful fossils. We watched a Discovery Communications Documentary on dinosaurs. We always search the credits for our son's name, he worked for them for several years and did some dino documentary stuff. Not this particular film though.

Theresa looks like her head is about to be bitten off by what we figured must be a boy dinosaur.

Next we headed to the nearby Colorado National Monument. We enjoyed two short movies, a lecture and began our ride on the best 27 miles of the trip, so far. We stopped an nearly every overlook. This is very much like the Grand Canyon but in my humble opinion, better, because of the accessibility. You drive right into the landscape and get up close and personal with the park. You could spend days there but we wanted to press on to Moab, Utah before darkness fell so we took a couple of hundred pictures and headed West.

We had no expectation that Utah would be devoid of gas stations until we turned onto the desolate Route 128. The gas needle was hovering at about 1/4 tank and the sign said "No

services Next 58 Miles". Oops! I checked the GPS and found the nearest station was more than 30 miles to our rear so I explained to Theresa that since we were dragging a camping tent, water, cold sodas, and a little food in the trailer behind us, we could press on knowing we could camp if needed until someone brought us gas. Anyway, we would probably make it as long as nothing went wrong, and worst case, we had enough mace to discourage the bears, wolves, and coyotes. With that assurance, she got a bit testy, but we did make it to Moab where I pumped just over 5 gallons into the thirsty Honda. I think I have a one gallon reserve so we were only in imaginary jeopardy.

The ride through Canyonland was impressive beyond imagination. I'd post some of the hundred or so pictures but, like pictures of the Grand Canyon, they fall way short of our in person, experience. I'll close with one typical photo. Long day. very tired. Must sleep...

Lookin' Down at the Clouds

2009-07-14T02:28:00.008-04:00

Last night we slept, or tried to sleep, in Leadville. At about 10,000 feet the air is so thin and dry, everything is harder to do, sleeping included. That really worked against us this morning when I tried to start the motorcycle and found the battery was dead. To get the running jump I needed to bump start the bike, Theresa and I needed to push it up hill in the parking lot for about 50 feet. It felt like 500. Panting for breath I popped the clutch and voila, the engine came to life! We went to breakfast hoping it would charge up and re-start after being driven. 10 minutes later the test came... failure. I parked on a downward sloping hill and went to breakfast.

You can solve a lot of problems with a Blackberry and a GPS. I searched for a battery in our path of travel to Grand Junction, Colorado and found Batteries Plus had exactly what I needed. I asked it be held for me as I was less than 200 miles away and would be there before closing time. They did, and by the time I got to Grand Junction, I realized that my heated handgrips may have been on all night. The bike battery had charged up and seemed alright by the time I arrived at Batteries Plus. When I explained my situation to battery guru, Dave Hutchinson, he offered me tools and assistance to remove the battery so we could "load test" it as that is the only sure way to know its true health. Two minutes later we had the battery hooked up to a professional quality tester in his immaculate shop and found... the old battery was OK. He told me I didn't need to buy the new battery after all. I found the receipt for my old battery, a Deka AGM type, and was surprised to find it had already given me 4 years of service. To try to get a 5th year out of any battery is begging to be stranded somewhere and Mr. Murphy, of law fame, will assert that the failure should happen when camping in the wilderness as a tornado, flash flood or bear is approaching. When asked, Dave offered to discount the battery a bit and pushed me over the edge, favoring reliability over, (probable false), economy. In a few more minutes we had the battery installed, again with his help, tools, cleaning and corrosion inhibiting sprays, etc. Then he let me use the computer terminal in the store to arrange lodging via hotwire. The transaction could not have been more perfect! I felt like royalty the way I was treated and after experiencing this new high water mark in customer service, will surely return to Batteries Plus in the future. I expect Dave will be the store owner some day. His focus on customer needs was laser sharp and that's what makes a person successful in business.

Our trip from Leadville to Grand Junction was another day of scenic overload. We were advised to go to Aspen via Independence Pass. This was great advice for we were treated to the most beautiful road we have seen to date. At the top of the pass, 12,095 feet, we looked down on the cloud that had drizzled on us coming to the top. The scenery was amazing. It gave me a chance to test a bracketing feature of the new Panasonic camera. A demo freeware High Dynamic range program brings the three pictures into one for a more pleasing, wide rage effect. I tried it with a bubbly stream and a large stand of Aspen trees. Click on the pictures to see the results, (which are limited to 1 mega pixel in this free version).

The town of Aspen was another treat. It could be the prettiest town I've seen. Everything looks upscale here. Exotic cars, beautiful women dressed in beautiful clothes, lovely homes with manicured lawns and flower gardens. There might be an ordinance in Aspen forbidding anything ugly. If there is such a law, everyone looked to be in perfect compliance. As we passed the golf course, photographers with fancy cameras and very long lenses, were snapping shots of celebrities playing in a tournament. I guess it was a typical Aspen Monday.

The perfectionistic rigor even extends to the Aspen city buses, which, of course, are hybrids.

Tonight we are pursuing the good life again via Hotwire. They offered a three star hotel for $84 plus tax, so we will sleep in a brand new Holiday Inn. This place is beautiful and I will test the mattress now. Goodnight.

Rocky Mountain High!

2009-07-12T22:24:00.011-04:00

For the last couple of days we have been camping at the Mountain Air Ranch near Denver. The altitude there is about 7,000 feet and for folks like us, who normally live 13 feet above sea level, everything is difficult. Climbing a flight or two of stairs brings back memories of how I felt after running a mile. Even the easy things, tying your shoes, zipping up the sleeping bag, or rolling over in bed will cause you to gasp an extra breath or two. We did get to rest up around the pool, and improve our tans. I even read half a novel. Enough rest. Back to the hard work of vacationing.

Today we drove to visit some old friends, Terry and Ann Lucius, who live in Evergreen, CO. We just missed Terry, who was flying a big jet to Japan. I hope we can visit with him on our way back from Utah. Terry loved flying more than anything when he was young, maybe still does. He worked his way through college but every spare cent went toward renting airplanes and I had many fun hours flying with him. He eventually got into the D.C. Air National Guard where he was paid to fly F-4 Phantom Jets and F-16s. This was just like dying and going to heaven in Terry's mind. Now he has graduated to flying the big planes to London, Hong Kong, Japan, etc. I guess that would be the top of the food chain for a pilot. They live in a beautiful house, in a beautiful setting, but the feature I will remember forever is the toilet; or should I say TOTO Washlet C100! This thing is just to cool for words so here is a picture and the web address: http://www.totousa.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110 I'm afraid to look up the cost because I want one and suspect I can't afford it, but damn it's cool!

Ann, after 20 years, looks unnaturally like she did in 1989. Still beautiful and fit. She sells real estate now, but used to be a dietitian for the Air Force. Maybe there is something to eating right and exercising. The Colorado thing might play into it too. It seems everyone here is a fitness buff. As we cruise through the beautiful mountains, bicycles inhabit every section of road. In some places they seem to outnumber the cars. And these aren't your garden variety Walmart bikes, nooo. These are super sophisticated, carbon or aluminum exotics. Heck, even the stretchy outfits, toe clip shoes, fancy shirts and hats would cost more than my old Schwinn. One guy we talked to was on a 15 pound, carbon fiber beauty, the cost? Between $12 and $16k! These people take their cycling seriously!

The motorcycle ride today can only be described as scenic overload. Everywhere you look the land is beautiful, dramatic, awe inspiring, breath taking; underline breath taking... Maybe the oxygen deprivation plays into it but I now really understand the John Denver lyrics to Rocky Mountain High. The air is so thin you can get light headed and it makes me think the birds here must take steroids to be able to get aloft. We spend lots of time today above the tree line and could have had a snowball fight if I'd been a quicker thinker as we passed many patches of snow that have still not melted and I'm writing this on July 12! Athletes train at these lofty heights to improve their performance at normal altitudes. Over a period of time you will develop more hemoglobin in your blood so you can get oxygen better to your cells. They say that after acclimating to life here, you feel super strong when you return to sea level. I'm shopping for my cape.

Tonight we are stopped in Leadville, a town known for its silver mining history and thin air. (Click on any picture to see it at full resolution.) Our hotel is just over 10,000 feet and the air is thin and dry. They have bragging rights to things like, "2 Mile High Liquor", an adult beverage supplier whose name must be unique in the world. The town is the real thing when it comes to mining. There are buildings, equipment, mine shafts, and all kinds of mine related debris everywhere. The town is now on the edge of some good ski resorts so it mostly mines the silver from tourists pockets today.

We found a nice restaurant with a very simple theme. They only serve one thing; a small fillet Mignon, salad, and baked potato for $7.95. OK, on Friday and Saturday you can also get prime rib, but aside from beverages and choice of two deserts, that's it. It's a formula that works. We joined the crowd at 4:50 PM waiting for 5 O'clock door opening and it filled up quickly. We were satisfied and happy when we left and I actually felt the effect of one Bud Lite! Oxygen deprivation again. One ice cream cone and I'm calling it a night.

Miner's Museum and more scenic overload tomorrow.

Livin' Large!

2009-07-10T00:17:00.012-04:00

We started the day by driving to the beautiful River Walk in Pueblo, Colorado. Where we decided we could still make it to Pike's Peak and take advantage of the good weather. There are a couple of choices to get to the summit. You can drive the dusty, dangerous, mostly paved road, or take a cog train. We checked out the railway and decided this was the safe and smarter way to the top without damaging the bike. It takes an hour to get to the top. You have an hour there to shop, take pictures and freeze your ass off, then another hour to descend. The scenery is breathtaking but so is the altitude. I doubt I could do anything more strenuous than take pictures and walk around a bit. Theresa fared worse, posing exhausted her. We were not the only ones affected by the altitude, the cashier at the souvenir stand wore and EMS shirt and had a stethoscope around his neck. I asked if he used it often; he said yes. To make us feel even more wimpy a hiker, Dr. Thomas Jagger, strode onto the train looking like like he could race it to the bottom and win! He had just walked up the mountain in about 5 1/2 hours, and wasn't even breathing hard! He had a really cool gizmo in his backpack, a pulse ox sensor that clipped onto your finger like an electronic clothespin on steroids. We all had fun documenting what horrible shape we were in. At 13,000 feet Theresa scored a 78 vs. Tom's 92. To be fair, we live at 13 feet above sea level in Naples, Tom lives at about 6,500 feet, so I figure Theresa spotted him 6,487 feet.

We are here one week too early for the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. See http://www.ppihc.com/ for details of an automotive event that is just scary to believe. Imagine snaking up to the 14,010 foot summit in 10 minutes and 1 second in a purpose built race car. No guardrails! Maybe we will have to hang around a few extra days to see this craziness.

At the top and on the way down we experienced a weather phenomena called virga. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga for a better explanation, but the short story is that rain can fall and re-evaporate before it hits the ground. We saw what looked like a cloudburst but it dissapeared a few thousand feet below us. Cool. To finish on Pikes Peak weather, it averages 30 degrees cooler at the top of the cog rail than the bottom, but we came from Pueblo today with 103 on the thermometer on Interstate 25, to what felt like 40 degrees at the summit. Now that's what I call a chilling contrast.

On the way down the mountain we talked to a passenger who booked a 3.5 star room for $52 using http://www.hotwire.com/ . When we got back into town I fired up the notebook on a sidewalk bench and checked for myself. We have been paying about $52 for Motel 6, to $89 for Super 8. Her suggestion was worth investigating. Hotwire offered a 4 star resort for $67! There are strings attached with Hotwire, for instance you don't know the name of the hotel until you accept, but gambler that I am, I pushed the button and was directed to the beautiful 4 star Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Motel 6 it ain't!

This full featured resort backs up to Cheyenne Mountain of NORAD fame. From the bowels of this hollowed out giant rock, the Air Force could dictate which cities would disappear if the cold war ever became hot. They ran Space Command from there too. See http://www.ppihc.com/ for the Wikipedia data dump on it's history and future.

There were a couple of extra fees, like $12 tax and a $15 "resort fee" which got us amenities like golf, saunas, pools, indoor or outdoor tennis, Internet, (which I'm using now), and may other bennies. We had become so accustomed to living large that by dinnertime we splurged and ate in the big, on property, restaurant. We opted for the $18 salad, soup, and desert buffet. We figured, (Obama style), that we had already blown today's travel budget so badly, why stop there. I expect the pain in my wallet will ease when I settle into my pillow top mattress and enjoy the silence of no freight trains running outside my window. Total damage will still be under $150 for a very nice experience. I think I'm going to love Hotwire.

If you don't see an update for a couple of days we will be camping near Denver.

Blinded By the Light!

2009-07-09T00:55:00.010-04:00

We traveled west into Colorado until about 7 PM but the sun was in my eyes and the limited visibility wasn't worth the risk so we stopped at a Super 8 Motel in La Junta for the night. Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and maybe more tomorrow.

If Vernon and Shawn are reading the blog, "thanks for the brakes!". The bike is running well and I'm stopping with much less drama. Theresa and I no longer have to slide our feet to gain additional friction when going downhill. Nice job guys. If anyone reading this blog ever needs mechanical work, I give Clark Motorsports, http://www.clarkmotorsports.com/ two thumbs and two cool feet up!

Kansas and Eastern Colorado are pretty plain as driving sights go. we have seen enough of oil pump jacks, grain elevators, silos and such but we were amazed by a sight in Lamar, Colorado. The Colorado Beef Feed Lot was something to behold. From a distance it appeared to be a huge black patch on the land but when you get close you recognize the darkness as tens of thousands of cows. Probably enough beef to supply McDonalds worldwide for months. The feed lots were packed and extended down Route 50 for well over a mile. The depth from the highway is probably more than half a mile. An up close photograph would not tell the story of the size of this place so I snipped from a satellite image to illustrate the incredible size of the project. I recon the dark half circle at the left of the photo is under a mile in diameter and all of the black property to the right of that circle is high density cows.

To service an operation that big takes railroad trains, and lots of them. I'm sure the track in front of our hotel service many other facilities, but the stream of 90+ car trains has been nearly non-stop all evening. I'd say 4 and hour and it's 12:53 PM as I write this!

The Colorado Tourist Information Center was great! First, there were three lovely ladies who lavished their well informed attention on us. Theresa got to grind corn into cornmeal, the hard way... stone tools.

I got to see a wind turbine propeller up close. This GE Blade was about 50 yards long and it is only half as large as some!

They also had a very well preserved steam locomotive. I may never pass a Tourist information Center again.

Gettin' Outta Dodge!

2009-07-08T16:07:00.003-04:00

Theresa and I are sitting in Clark Motorsports, Garden City, Kansas while Vernon and Shawn wrestle with the big rear wheel on our bike. The braking performance had deteriorated over the last few thousand miles and with the Rockies in front of us I wasn't wanting anything that was not at 10/10ths performance. This is also a good time for an oil change and some TLC to all the nuts and bolts that can be reached on the lift.

We enjoyed our visit to Dodge City and hope to get to Canon City, Colorado by dark.

On the road this morning we passed some guys on bicycles who were riding from Virginia to California! Made me feel a bit wimpy. We paced one of them and asked about their ride. It seems they are raising money for medical research. Parkinson's, and such. Very noble. I wish riding the motorcycle would get me into that kind of shape. Alas, the work of sitting and turning the radio knobs, with occasional adjustments to the cruise control just won't burn many calories. I did wash the bike a few days ago. Maybe that burned off enough calories to offset one Pepsi, but I doubt it. Calories are hard to burn. I'll be curious at the end of our ride so see a net gain or loss in my weight. I do intend to loose a few pounds on the trip but good food and beer keep getting in my way. Darn!

Oklahoma to Kansas

2009-07-07T23:08:00.013-04:00

We started the day thinking the drive would be a tough one. After all, we were deep in the boonies of Oklahoma and had a long drive to Dodge City Kansas in 95 degree heat. We saw more oil pump jacks than we knew existed. It turned out to be enjoyable anyway. We found a good breakfast at Mel's Diner in Fairview. A town of just over 2,000 with big wide streets and the smallest movie theater we've ever seen. We stopped and talked about guns for a while at the local gun shop. I suspect a high percentage of the people here carry firearms. There are advertisements for concealed carry classes, and the lack of crime supports my theory. As a retired cop I can say with some authority, "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away". A population that can defend itself, is well defended. After some enjoyable conversation with the shop owner, himself an expert marksman and local peace officer, we drove into the Gloss Mountains.

These mountains were a very unexpected pleasure. They are known as Red Messas, the Glass Mountains, or more often the Gloss Mountains, they look like they just shouldn't be there. The land is flat to gently rolling for hundreds of miles, then suddenly there is a wall of red, lifted out of the landscape like a big red flat top hair-do. The best explanation I found for the geology is at http://www.okmajordev.org/gloss%20mountain%20state%20park.htm . The messas have large seams of gypsum and are laced with with a crystal called selenite. The cartographer who named the messas apparently misunderstood the thick accent of one of the surveyors who exclaimed "It sure looks like Glaws". I could forgive anyone for making gloss or glass out of that.

We have all seen grain elevators and silos before but never like this. The sheer volume of wheat, corn, and whatever else they put in these things is staggering. I think you could fill an entire train with some of the larger ones. Now I understand why this is the breadbasket of the country.

Cattle likewise, is produced on a massive scale. We approached a huge dark section of land and from several miles away could not figure out what had darkened the land in this way. When we got closer, we could see that is was a feed lot, where cattle by the thousands were fed, sorted, auctioned and transported to the rendering plants. Those plants were also massive, spawning additional whole industries to dispose of what is not beef at the end of the process. This economy of scale is why less than 3% of our population can feed us all.

We also saw more oil pump jack than we knew existed. Wikipedia explains how they work better than I can. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpjack if you like mechanics and hydraulics.

This part of the country is known for its windy conditions and we were treated to another unusual sight soon after entering Kansas; a wind farm. When you approach these giants, they, like mountains, appear much closer that they really are. In this collection, I guess there were about 200 of these machines. Each one probably costs a million or two and each machine looked like it was about 400 feet tall with blades of maybe 200 feet long. That is a big machine! I hear they can put out between 1 and 3 megawatts each! They are expensive but environmentally friendly. I don't know what a kilowatt hour costs from a wind farm but I'll bet it's high. Green or not, Ted Kennedy did not want them in his back yard. He said it would kill birds. I guess the life of a Kansas bird is worth less than a bird neighboring the Kennedy compound.

We arrived at Dodge City Kansas in time to shop, rest, and see the Boot Hill Museum and Front Street. For a very reasonable $25 they fed us both a very tasty and large dinner, then down past the replica town storefronts where a group of costumed gunslingers re-enacted a typical wild west bar fight and shootout. It seemed very realistic and reminded me of some of my days on the police department. See gunfighters and former gunfighters below:

Tomorrow we will try to get some miles done before it gets too hot. I hear we are facing another 100 plus day. By afternoon we should be at cooler Colorado altitudes... more then.

Getting Our Kicks On Route 66!

2009-07-07T00:17:00.007-04:00

A difficult Internet connection at our July 4th and 5th Campsite allowed us to veg out. We watched fireworks, went to a dance, and laid poolside perfecting our tans. It seems a conspiracy of standing, riding, walking, and medicine is making my legs and feet swell. I figured a couple of lazy days were in order and Dr. Scafuri is adjusting my medicine to help mitigate the problem. Ahhh, relaxation. Sweet!

This morning we packed up and headed down historic Route 66 to Oklahoma City. 66 is considered the "Mother Road" and it certainly has it's share of history. Today we had fun checking out the many strange signs, shops and sights from the saddle of the Honda.

We stopped in a dozen or more places and enjoyed everyone we met. Maybe most of all a couple of random GIs we saw shopping at Outdoor World. Our sleeping bags, although new and in perfect condition, were not very comfortable; maybe it's my size. We decided to give them away to the two soldiers, just back from Afghanistan, and bought ourselves some new, larger bags. They accepted the gift graciously and we felt a bit of a glow that we could do a small thing for them who have done big, difficult things for us.

More sightseeing...

After the new sleeping bags were stowed in the camper we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This was one of the most emotion provoking experiences we've had in a long time. The museum starts you at the time just before the blast, then re-creates the sights, narratives, and turmoil of the event when a rented Ryder truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 innocent people. There are many moments in the telling of the story when you just can't keep a dry eye. In the lawn, where the building stood, are 168 chairs. Then you notice some of the chairs are small, about half size, representing the kids killed in the day care center. That realization hit me like a punch in the gut. The names of the perpetrators of this senseless act should be lost to history so I will not say them here, referring to them only as shitheads. Shithead number one was put to death, while number two was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. I figure they got off about 168 times too light.

More sightseeing... Bricktown, the Capitol Building, the Cowboy Museum, then we pointed the Gold Wing in the direction of Colorado stopping in Kingfisher, Oklahoma for tonight's rest. Tomorrow, Kansas, the by the weekend we will be high in the Colorado Rockies.

Birthday Washing

2009-07-04T00:07:00.010-04:00

For 50,113 miles of faithful service our trusty Gold Wing earned $2 worth of high pressure washing today. It had not seen any TLC since June in Houston and it was a bit embarrassing to be among 10,000 beautiful, spotless machines with a thousand miles of dirt and grime on mine. I was starting to feel like the biker from hell in Raising Arizona. She did clean up very nicely though and as an additional reward for good service I will award her a waxing with the latest high tech products, a treatment of windshield cleaning, and a spa like day of rest for the 4th of July.

For those interested in the type of bike we ride, she is a 1993 Honda Gold Wing, GL1500. She was the top fashion model of the motorcycling world in '93 but at 16 is beginning to show her age. Nevertheless, she has aged very gracefully and has never uttered a single mechanical complaint. I use Mobile 1 Synthetic Oil whenever it looks tired and dirty. A Honda mechanic told me they can go 8,000 miles on regular oil, and more on synthetics but I err on the side of caution changing at around 5,000 mile intervals. I'm running on Metzler tires now but might switch to Michelins next time. It is the most near perfect machine I've ever owned. On the highway, a Gold Wing stands alone at the top of the motorcycle food chain. With 96 horsepower, this old bike would be competitive with most fast cars, corvettes and the like at a drag strip, but that is not the reason for the power. It is to accelerate quickly and gracefully, up any hill, pulling any load, in near silence, so as to not disturb the high fidelity music playing inside your helmet. Theresa has fallen asleep in the very cushy back seat which is more like an easy chair, armrests included. Raucous, it's not. Comfortable? Yes. The newer 1800 cc versions are even faster, quieter, and more comfortable.

At the Wing Ding today there was a show bike competition with many classes, 1000 cc, 1100, 1200, 1500 (like ours), 1800, Trikes, Airbrushed Paint Jobs, Custom Builds, etc. Of the hundreds of machines to be judged, I doubt there was a teaspoon of dirt among them, and there was pounds of wax, shining from every surface. We did not stay to witness the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. We had shopping to do and the clock and our stamina was running out.

One of the vendors, J&M, sponsored an evening show where a hypnotist put a stage full of people into a sleep state, then had them doing all manner of funny things. You can see from the photo that the audience was maybe 5,000 plus. Shy as I am, I was glad to not be on that stage! J&M donated some of their fine communications equipment as prizes and ended the evening with raffle that raised over $5,000 for the local Ronald McDonald House. Theresa and I did not win, but consoled ourselves, along with dozens of other Wingers at the local ice cream parlor where a tasty banana split eased our prizeless grief.

Do southerners revere the founding of our country more than the Yankees? Are they more patriotic? Or do they just like fireworks more? It seems that everywhere we go, there is a giant tent, boasting that they have the loudest, biggest, fizziest, or boomiest fireworks at the lowest price, and they all claim that they will not be undersold! The competition is fierce. If all the pent up energy of all of those tents full of firecrackers, rockets, fountains, and sparklers are released into the atmosphere tomorrow, Al Gore my go apoplectic! Surely he will find his evidence for global warming there, probably from altitude in his private jet, to gain a better view of the earth's imminent demise.

Have a safe 4th of July.

Wing Ding

2009-07-03T01:22:00.009-04:00

Theresa and I had a beautiful, but hot, ride from Eureka Springs. We stopped at the Daisy BB Gun Museum in Rogers before crossing the boarder into Oklahoma. The display of antique to modern BB guns was fascinating as was the history of the founders of the company which made windmills back in the late 1800s. In 1888, an inventor walked into the bosses office with his newly designed gun. The owner tried it and he said, "Boy, that's a Daisy", a term of the day describing anything that was really neat. I'm glad Cucumber wasn't the popular term. I'd have felt kind of goofy as a kid shooting my Cucumber. We met a lady there named Sue, who worked years ago with Beth Higby, a friend of ours at Bentley Village. She was very excited to hear that Beth is doing well in Florida. Small world.

The Honda Gold Wing riders gather somewhere in the country every year for a huge rally called a Wing Ding. This year it is in Tulsa, Oklahoma and we expect 10,000 to attend! We arrived around 4 PM and started shopping right away. We managed to spend a couple of hundred bucks in the two hours before closing. I still have more shopping to do so we will go back tomorrow. The Wing Ding is the very best place to buy motorcycle stuff. All the vendors are there fighting for your business and we find things you'd have to travel the whole country to locate.

Between wallet purges, they offer classes on almost anything you can think of dealing with riding. Dunlop sponsors a tire and safety check, chrome thingy vendors abound, and mechanics are on hand to mount your new goodies.

We returned to the show site after dinner tonight to see the end of the light parade where several hundred, very well dressed Gold Wings, paraded around the area, led and followed by police cars. The light on the patrol cars however, could not match the lights displayed on most of the bikes. One guy drilled holes for 1,900 individual LED lights which caused his trike to stand out from a mile away. Many of the hundreds of Tulsans, seated curbside on lawn chairs, applauded and cheered his passage. In spite of the tiny current draw of each lamp, he reckoned the whole lot pulled 30 Amps so he had to run his motor, just to keep it lit up! I felt sorry for him when, at the end of the parade, the judges gigged him for one light out! One out of 1,900? Damn! I might have had to pretend I didn't see it if I were judging.

Another crafty participant, edge lit his windshield in such a way as to illuminate the scrimshaw like etchings made in the Plexiglas. It was a work of art worthy of severe road rage if any trucker ever kicks up gravel in his path. The imagination and effort expended on these bikes is amazing. Many are such perfect showpieces, I'm surprised that they ride them across the country through the hazards of rain, dust and accidents. They look like they should be delivered in velvet boxes.

Our bike crossed it 50,000th mile today. I owe it a nice bath and maybe a lube job for it's good service.

Planes, Trains, Cars, Motorcycles, Horses and a Duck!

2009-07-01T22:48:00.016-04:00

In the last 10 days we have been on more kinds of transport than at any time I can remember. My friend Bob, let me drive his amazing Maserati, then came the jets to Houston, more cars and trucks, the motorcycle, the horses, a duck in Hot Springs, and today a train!

We got to Eureka Springs, Arkansas just in time for the train ride into the mountains. For $22 each we rode in a 1923 dining car and ate Noodles Stroganoff. The trip was very enjoyable and the food delicious.

The town of Eureka Springs is one of the most quaint, scenic, and artsy places we've seen. The roads are so perfect for motorcycling there are specialty motels that cater just to bikers. Tonight we are settled into such specialty lodging. For about $50 we get to sit in front of our rooms and swap stories with a dozen other bikers, most of them on the way to the Wing Ding too. A/C, a washer and dryer, nice beds and a shower... my life is complete! A reason for our camaraderie is explained by the sign nailed to a nearby tree.

I forgot to include a photo of our encounter with a veritable flock of hummingbirds. In my whole city boy life I've seen maybe six. On Rt 7 we saw dozens and photographed them from two feet away! It's this kind of thing that make our travels so enjoyable. Hummingbirds are a very small thing but I found them fascinating and marveled for a long time at their aerobatic skills. What masters! In John Denver's song, Rocky Mountain High, he sings, "He knows he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly". They were great lyrics. Today I feel richer for having seen hummingbirds.

Tomorrow we head to Rodgers for the Daisy BB Gun Museum and Silom Springs to visit the former home town of my police department partner, Jim Smythe. Then by late afternoon we will arrive at the Wind Ding in Tulsa.

Why We Like to Motorcycle in Arkansas

2009-07-01T00:09:00.004-04:00

Scenic Highways aren't the only reason to ride a Motorcycle, but they are one of the best. Arkansas Route 7 is one of the best we've seen. It has a beautiful mix of hills, curves, overlooks, and quaint towns and shops to keep it interesting. The pavement is great; clean, pothole free, well marked, and just fun to navigate. There are enough foot peg dragging corners to pump a little adrenaline into your system and enough pastoral scenes to calm you down again. Nice mix. If you've never ridden a motorcycle on a rode like this, I hope you can add it to your bucket list and enjoy before checking out.

After this beautiful ride, we reached Branson, Missouri by mid afternoon, found a shop selling show tickets, and got what we were looking for, a nice motel room for two nights and tickets for two top shows. The price, $150. We booked the shows, SIX, (awarded Best show 2009), and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede.

SIX was one of the most amazing acts we have ever seen. They are six of a family of ten brothers, no sisters, who were trained to sing and compelled to practice by their father, whom we met after the show. They sound like a conventional act; Sinatra, The Coasters, The Beach boys, etc., but they have no band! While one or more of the brothers sings a song to absolute perfection, the others imitate the sounds of the appropriate instruments. The effect is a most pleasing but there is a confusing cognitive disconnect where you try to figure out how you can be hearing the instruments that aren't there! They are outstanding showmen and when the act is over and people file out of the theater, they, and several family members, stay to shake hands, talk and thank us for coming to their show. Jak, the bass singer has the most incredible low range I've ever heard, bottoming out at an impossible sounding 50 Hertz! Their genius extends to the marketing of the group and their CDs, and T-Shirts which are sold at intermission by their own wives and some of their own 19 children. Outside the theater, they park Scion XB cars, each uniquely painted with the number of the driver, 1 to 6, and the web address http://www.sixrealbrothers.com/ . Visit to hear 30 second samples of their very impressive art.

The second show, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede was also amazing. Imagine an indoor rodeo/circus where you dine at a table in your bleacher style seats. Sounds weird, but it works. They serve you delicious biscuits, soup, roasted pork, a whole Cornish hen, corn on the cob, potato, and an apple turnover, accompanied by unlimited Pepsi, tea, or coffee; burrp. While eating this they sing a song explaining that you eat cowboy style with your fingers, "cause there ain't no silverware". It's messy, but fun, very tasty and plentiful. As you dine, a litany of impossible horse tricks bewilder you. Riders enter the dirt floor in the the center of the building at full gallop doing things that you'd think simply could not be done. How about standing in the saddle, at full speed, no reigns? Or maybe standing with one foot on the saddle of each of two galloping horses, like horse water skiing. They did dozens of unbelievable skill things and broke the tension with some very good comedy skits, a little magic, and some high precision maneuvers. In all, a worthwhile experience.

We drove a couple of laps around the downtown part of the city and give it our seal of approval if anyone is looking to us for a recommendation.

We earned our discounted passage to hotel and shows by listening to a two hour sales pitch for a "vacation ownership opportunity", (read time share). Our salesman, Dave, an ex rugby player, was a nice guy and warranted our earnest sympathy, as these "opportunities" just don't work for us. Still, we enjoyed the conversation and maybe we will see him at Fantasy Fest.

Tomorrow, we expect to enjoy some more mountain roads as we cruise westward. The Honda's odometer will break the 50k mark before noon giving cause to celebrate with icy sodas and if we see a car wash, a cleansing of two months of accumulated grit. We could use a laundry too.

Touristy Stuff

2009-06-28T23:06:00.006-04:00

Today we indulged in all the tourist stuff we could squeeze into a 12 hour day. We started at the spa in our hotel with a soak in two big bathtubs full of the famous Hot Springs Mineral Water. Then we each had a one hour Swedish massage. Noodleish, would describe how we felt.

Then we were off to the Mid-America Science Museum. This is a hands-on place designed for kids and easily amused seniors like us. They have the world's most powerful conical Tesla Coil; 1.5 million volts. When they start this thing, lightning leaps loudly from a round electrode in the middle of its 2.5 ton steel cage and appears to be trying to escape into the audience. This made the babies cry and impressed us all. See http://www.midamericamuseum.org/tesla.htm

Here, Theresa attracts a stream of plasma with her boobs. I, like the plasma, find them attractive too.

Next we boarded a 1942 military duck. An amphibious vehicle, equally suitable for landing at Normandy or shuttling tourists between land and water.

We enjoyed the banter of our tour guide. He was a huge tattooed biker, do rag and all. His jokes and timing were perfected by multiple daily trips to Lake Hamilton where he drove this floating bus right into the water. We motored around the lake at it's top water speed of 4.5 mph and even witnessed a 30 mph top land speed run. These things were made for war, not love. He called himself Bubba our, bouncer, driver, captain, protector, and tour guide and he earned his post ride tip.

Upon our return to land and our Bath House Row starting point we finished the day with a stroll through the wax museum and a wine tasting event at the local winery. They define the words "tourist trap".

We plan to rise with the sun tomorrow and do the 250 or so miles to Branson, MO.

On the Hot and Dusty Trail

2009-06-27T23:39:00.009-04:00

We don't like to use the Interstates as a rule, but with record high temperatures we made a dash for our air conditioned motel in Arkadelphia after stopping for a mid day movie in Texarcana. We had a bit of an intestinal scare last night. Theresa must have eaten something that didn't agree with her, or maybe it was the heat, but it appeared she might be getting sick again, as in the C. Diff. thing from 8 weeks ago. After consulting with Dr. Scafuri who was at home on his day off, (I swear we get concierge service from him), we decided to watch her for a bit before buying $1500 worth of Vancomycin. No kidding, 40, 250 MG pills cost $1500 and change at the Walmart Pharmacy. It may have been this sticker shock that compelled her sphincter to slam shut, but she has once again regained her digestive composure.

Our plan for today was to drive the scenic Route 7 to Hot Springs to procure a couple of days of pampering in America's First Resort. The Goldwing was gracefully carving turns through the mountain switchbacks when we came across a lovely stable with some very well mannered horses. We are not equestrians, but love new experiences. So, after much assurance from the sweet lady stable master, and having interviewed two kids, age 3 and 5 who had just finished their ride, we mounted our noble steeds, Rocket and Baldie. We rode a 2.5 mile trail to De Gray Lake. It was beautiful, and the horses, in spite of our total lack of equine experience, behaved very well. I was surprised to learn however, that the horses do love to eat poison ivy, so don't kiss your horse on the lips if you are sensitive.

We are now settled into the Austin. A pretty nice spa/hotel with a convention center attached. I have had great luck in picking our spots, this one is the venue for the Miss Teen Arkansas Pageant. Beautiful contestants abound, improving my tolerance for the 102 degree heat. We have appointments at 11:30AM for our "taking the waters" before our massages. The water thing is the reason for Hot Springs to be so, well, Hot. There are 47 springs here which issue 147 degree water laden with minerals that many claim have curative powers. This has created a large spa and bath house industry here. I will test these waters on my tired bones tomorrow and report to you in our next blog entry.

On the Road Again...

2009-06-25T21:48:00.008-04:00

June 24, at 3AM, we drove our rented a car to Miami Airport for a 7:45AM flight to Houston, Texas. Our friend Sharon Rios picked us up and after jump starting the bike, which we stored in her daughter Julie's garage, we were riding again.

I can't say enough about the hospitality of the Rios family. Not only did they store our motorcycle and trailer while we returned to Florida, they showed us some great restaurants, acted as our taxi drivers and tour guides and in general were as hospitable as Southerners are reputed to be. When Felipe got home, we met up with them for dinner and on the way visited a very interesting place.

The Hindu Mandir, is a temple in Houston. See http://houston.baps.org/ . To try to describe it with a picture is like trying to photograph the Grand Canyon. It just can't tell the story. First, the building is constructed from 33,000 pieces of Italian Marble and Turkish limestone. Each piece is carved into a magnificent work of art. The level of skill and detail evident in every statue is incredible. From a distance, it is breathtaking, but as you get close and go inside, it becomes ever more impressive as an exquisite level of detail begins to reveal itself, reminding you of the microscopic detail in a piece of jewelry. Every sight inside the Mandir is amazing.

As impressive as the structure is, the kindness of the people we met matched the surroundings. We had several Indian gentlemen offer to explain the shrines, works of art, the construction of the Mandir, and their Hindu Faith. When we thought we had seen everything, most of those present gathered around some doors that were opened to reveal several Murtas; lifelike statues of some of their dieties and swamis. This signaled the beginning of a worship service where all those gathered chanted and clapped in unison for about 30 minutes. There were several rituals demonstrating the devotion of the followers. It was fascinating and will make memories we will take to our graves.

We will take a couple of days to get to Branson, Missouri. The heat here is stifling. I was told the temperatures were at or near record levels and numbers like 106 and 108 were reported to us. I know that pulling the trailer causes the motorcycle to generate more heat than normal and when you combine the sun, heat, and a hot motor the ride can be brutal.

On today's ride we visited Adventure Caravans at Rainbow's End in Livingston, Texas, an Escapee RV Park. We have been Escapees since 1991 and my brother Bob and his Wife Marcia work for Adventure Caravans. If we ever hit the lottery, we would consider traveling full time and would love to join them as tail gunners or wagon masters. See http://www.adventurecaravans.com/ to get an idea of what they are about.

Many, if not most Full time RVrs are Escapees, see http://www.escapees.com/ . This is the best resource there is for people who live full time on the road. They pool the talent of over 100,000 members to refine the art of the RV lifestyle, and they do it very well. They even have a Care Center for RVrs that get too old or sick to travel. It's a great organization.

Tomorrow we plan to rise early and make most of our mileage before it gets very hot. Then we will look for a movie theater and watch a mattanee during the hottest part of the day. We are 477 miles from Branson.

Packing Again!

2009-06-23T01:06:00.007-04:00

Our six week respite is almost ended. Theresa and I are itching to get back on the road. Her battle with C. Diff has apparently ended 5 years of colonic difficulties. Amazingly, the ordeal seems to have reset her bacterial balance in her gut and what had become chronic digestive problems are apparently in remission! Life is good!

She has our bags packed and our rental car is due to be picked up Tuesday at noon. We might go and eat crabs one more time before we leave, but at about 3AM Wednesday, we will drive to Miami and head for Houston, TX to resume the ride.

Our friends Felipe and Sharon Rios, were kind enough to have garaged our motorcycle and trailer for these last 6 weeks at their daughter's Houston home. That solved some potentially huge problems. We will be forever in their debt and hope we can show them some Floridian hospitality in the future.

Our, chiseled in Jello, travel plan looks like this: Houston to Rockdale, Texas to tour the Alcoa Aluminum Plant, see: http://factorytoursusa.com/TourDetails.asp?TourID=245&State=TX&Search=&CategoryID= Then we go through Arkansas to Branson, Missouri for a couple of days of entertainment. Then Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 31st Honda Wing Ding. http://www.wing-ding.org/ .

The Wing Ding is an annual event for owners of Honda Gold Wing Motorcycles. About 10,000 of us will invade the town like elder wild ones, marauding our way through the restaurants and ice cream parlours, looking like Marlin Brando's dignified parents. There will be hundreds of vendors, parades, custom bike shows, rides, and more. Three or four days will be enough before heading westward to Pikes Peak.

There will be fosils to dig in Green River Utah, bears to feed and pet in the Teatons and Yellowstone. We might get as far north as Glacier National Park before our nine days at Sturgis, South Dakota. http://www.buffalochip.com/

This will be the 69th year for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I think it is the largest event of this type in the world. Somewhere between 500,000 to 700,000 people will bring their bikes to the tiny town for 9 days of riding and rock concerts. We have reservations at the Buffalo Chip Campground where a who's who of rock and comedy stars will entertain us every night after our Black Hills rides every day. Flashing, a time honored tradition at events like this, will offer great photo opportunities whereby I can sharpen my photographic skills. Expect some R rated content on the blog my mid August.

We may need a rest after Sturgis, so we will ride, at a leasurly pace, the 2,200 miles home via Kentucky. We don't have any agenda there but it will be our 49th state. Hawaii, next March, allows us to cross all 50 off our bucket list.

So much for the riding plans. This week I have had good news and bad news on the personal front. First the bad news... Theresa's mother, Janie is in the hospital and faces a battery of tests ot evaluate her heart. She has been struggling lately with a miriad of problems and Theresa has flown to her Maryland home for many visits this year and last. We love her and hope things go better for her soon.

Now the good news. For many years now, I've been thinking about how I think. Wondering why I am bent toward the technical and logical. Much credit goes to lifelong friend John Hite, who, as a gifted engineer, has also been my accidental teacher. However, the single most powerful hour of education in my life, I trace back to a High School chemistry class where Elaine Kilbourne led us through a class in deductive reasoning and the scientific method. I felt compelled to write her a thank you letter when I was in my 50s and had become smart enough to appreciate her. For the last 10 or so years I've been looking for her, to say thanks. A recent change in my search engine put me on her trail and yesterday we made contact after 44 years! The thank you letter I wrote for her has evolved into a short essay which I'll add here to close this blog entry. I hope it expresses the depth of my gratatude for her.

On Becoming a Scientist

Thank you Mrs. Kilbourne. In my junior year of high school you gave me a gift, disguised as a chemistry class. That was the day I became a scientist. I don’t mean that I got a degree in a scientific discipline but it changed my way of thinking about things; I adopted the scientific method.

You came into the class with a shopping cart full of cardboard cigar boxes, taped shut, each with a number on the top. You knew what was inside but told us we would figure it out by deductive reasoning and the scientific method. It took you a few minutes to describe how we would make and record observations, postulate a hypothesis, and test our theory with experiments. I was handed box number 8 and started writing my observations.

There is a hard object in the box, it rattles when I shake it.
When I tilt the box, the object rolls making a flup, flup, flup, sound.
The object rolls when tilted in one direction but slides in the other.
I can tell by the way it rolls that the object appears to be a cylinder with one or more flat spots that cause the flupping sound.
It is slightly conical because when I tilt the box and cause it to roll, one side hits the opposite wall slightly before the other.

This was getting to be fun. I was actually excited by the long list of observations I was able to make, simply by manipulating the box.
I began to think it was a wooden clothespin. I noted my theory on the paper.

If it was a clothespin, I might be able to balance it on its flat head but not its round feet. I did many such experiments and all were consistent with my theory. I found I could paint a mental picture of the object by my manipulations, attempts at balancing, hefting, sliding, and shaking. I reasoned I would be able to calculate its diameter by counting the flups as it rolled across the bottom of the box. I should not be able to influence it with a magnet and if I had an x-ray machine, there would be more definitive experiments I could do. I thought of many experiments and did enough to satisfy myself that my theory was correct.

I felt good when you congratulated me for getting it right, but you didn’t have to say anything. I knew what was in the box. For the rest of that week, I was consumed in thought. I realized that I had believed many things without foundation, but now, I knew that these mysterious things could be known. I was elated that I finally had confidence in the periodic table of the elements, the DNA molecule, the innards of the atom, medicine, and countless other things that were simply a mystery to me before, now had a foundation; the Scientific Method! All of the prior knowledge earned by scientific research now had much more value to me. I could trust Mendeleyev, Darwin, Einstein, Franklin, Watson and Crick because I suddenly knew how they came to their findings. Knowing that such things could be known with a reasonable degree of certainty changed my way of thinking. It changed my life!

In the 44 years since that day I have paused many times to reflect on the value of your gift. It allows me to think with reason, and figure out the truth of things. The method you taught has served me well in all aspects of my life and now, at 62 years of age, I think of it as the best spent hour of my entire education. I am in your debt.

Thank you Mrs. Kilbourne.

The Camera is Great!

2009-05-21T18:40:00.012-04:00

The new Panasonic DMC-TS1 camera arrived a couple of days ago... Now for a few test pictures.

Our favorite restaurant is Peace River Seafood, about 2 miles East of I-75 on Rt 17 in Punta Gorda. Jim and Kelly, the owners, catch and cook blue crabs, Maryland style. They are as good as any I've had since I was 14, and I've had a lot of crabs. In fact, when I die, if there is any justice in the world, I should be buried at sea; preferably in shallow brackish water. It's only fair.

Beautiful, photogenic, food like this gives me a chance to play with the new camera so here is a snapshot of dinner, no flash, at 12.1 megapixels.

Click on the picture to see it in it's tasty glory. What you can't fully appreciate from the picture are these facts:

1. The Bud Light Draft Beer in the background is just about 32 degrees... perfect!

2. The spice on the crab is authentic J.O. Brand #2 Crab Seasoning from Baltimore, Maryland! See http://www.jospices.com/ for the story on my favorite crab seasoning. To find it in Florida is a real treat.

3. The pictured crab was 9 and 3/8th inches point to point, very heavy, served so hot I couldn't eat it for a few minutes, (hence the photo op), and it was as sweet as crabmeat gets. This is a sublime meal in my book.

There are other things to like about this crab house too. For example, the correct condiments are served, vinegar, real melted butter, delicious boiled new potatoes, and the aformentioned J. O. Spice. They even have a talking parrot on the front porch!

The service is great too! Chris, the best waiter in Florida, either thinks I'm a food critic from Fodor's or a big tipper. Neither are true but his attentive service anticipates my every want. I call ahead to make sure the big crabs are available before driving the 120 mile round trip. Chris never gives me bad information. Crabbing is an unpredictable pursuit. Some days they are big, heavy and plentiful; other days you can't catch much of anything. I appreciate his honest apprasial of the day's catch..

Kelly, the owner, once said, "I'd like to have a dollar for everyone who said they were from Maryland". We accomodate! The walls of the restaurant are becoming papered with dollar bills denoting the origin of the diner's addiction to Callinectes sapidus, (the Beautiful Swimmer), aka Blue Crab.

So there you have it. A day in the life of a carniverous ex-Marylander who found culinary salvation in Punta Gorda, Florida. This last photo says it all best!

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-10T02:19:00.002-04:00

Not much to say. We will go back to Houston and mount up for most of the remaining ride on June 24th. Until then it's business as usual. Call me if you have computer needs.

Theresa will make appointments with her doctors to make sure she is really ready to travel before the next attempt.

The blog will will languish until something cool happens to report.

Sprung!

2009-05-08T22:09:00.011-04:00

We are out of the hospital! It never felt so good to cut off a wrist band. We will miss the wonderful hospitality of the staff but it sure is nice to be on the road again even if only for a day. We plan to fly home tomorrow.

We had breakfast and headed to Houston to store the bike and trailer in the Rios's garage and we board an AirTran flight Saturday to Miami. Hertz, it turns out, is the cheapest one-way rental from Miami to Naples so by Sunday 1AM we should be home. We bought a round-trip ticket and plan to return to Houston on june 24th to resume the abbreviated ride.

Dr. Scamardo in Texas agreed with the recommendations made by Dr. Scafuri in Naples for Theresa's medications, so our first stop was the CVS Pharmacy to get her prescriptions filled. We spent the day window shopping at a huge outlet mall and exploring Houston. The day was uneventful. We checked into a Holiday Inn Express, jumped into the pool, and began the ordeal of weeding out and condensing our stuff into a smaller space. Theresa and I almost had a tug-o-war over a pair of capri pants and a couple of shirts. I want to pack light; she wants to look good. Maybe a nudist resort is the best solution!

They sure know how to eat around here. Tonight I had the best $10 meal I can remember. They had something like 10 meals under $10 and they all looked good but my enchalada and steak dinner was great. Theresa still has very little appetite so she enjoyed looking at my salad, sniffing her baked potato, and eating a small crust of bread. She did allow herself a couple of small bites of enchalada, or maybe she just licked it. I swear it seems she is not eating much at all. If this keeps up her cost of maintenance may drop to a vanishingly small expense, although a new smaller wardrobe may offset the restaurant savings.

With luck we will both get tuned up by our several doctors, repack, loosing about 2 cubic feet of excess stuff from the trailer, and a leaner, lighter team Hanbury will resume the ride in June.

Good news on the camera front! The Panasonic DMC-TS1 camera I've been lusting for is now in stock and I've ordered it tonight! It still amazes me that you can get 32 Gigabytes of memory in an SD card but 'tis true and so it will also be mine! I spoke to a tech rep at Panasonic to ensure that the card will work and having his go-ahead, should be able to record our saga in High Definition Video as well as 12 megapixel stills. I suspect some scenes at the Sturgis Bike rally will be "R-Rated", so those of you who are faint of heart, or prudish of mind, beware the upcoming posts from August 1st to 9th. I've come to understand that a favorite past time of the ladies there is to flash unsuspecting men who might be holding a new Panasonic Digital Camera. I hope to learn the truth of this and will strive to document such activity to serve as a warning, so others may not fall into such lurid traps. Don't thank me. A life of public service compels me to do this for the benefit of my fellow man.

Decisions Decisions!

2009-05-07T18:12:00.007-04:00

Theresa is feeling much better! She is re-hydrated, and feels almost normal again. We got some beautiful flowers from Larry and Jennifer, owners of Live Oak Resort, where we spent much of last week. We can't wait to visit there again.

We are now on the horns of a dilemma. We have been offered the wonderful option of suspending our trip and re-starting again in June. We can park our motorcycle and trailer in the garage of friends, Dr. Rios and his wife Sharon, near Houston, fly home, and return around June 24th to go to the Honda Wing Ding in Tulsa. From there we could still do Colorado, Utah, the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Sturgis. Coming back from Sturgis we can hit the states we are missing to have done 49; we go to Hawaii in March, that will be 50. Still not a bad trip. Theresa could rest for six weeks at home and I could do a little work and save some money for the continuation of our adventure later in the summer. We also save enough money by shortening this trip to pay for the upcoming cruises; October to Fantasy Fest, and March to Hawaii, which we planned a year ago.

The down side is giving up the West Coast and Alaska which was the main focus of this trip.

Our logic runs like this. Theresa’s health trumps all other considerations, period. However, we have had great treatment on the road and if this ordeal is truly past, we can continue and re-assess in a week or so. If she is really better we might press on knowing that if we shorten the trip, we won’t attempt Alaska again. Today we are in a 49/51 position leaning toward going home.

Dr. Scafuri and his wife Fara called today and did a very thorough re-cap of Theresa's condition and options. He has been communicating with all of Theresa's doctors and crafting a game plan for her treatment. If we paid thousands for concierge medicine we could not get better care. We are so grateful to have such a skilled, caring team looking out for us.

We have not seen Dr. Scamardo yet today so we still have to weigh his opinion. If we fly home, we should be there by Sunday.

While passing the time at the hospital I have more time to edit the blog. I can now elaborate on some prior thinking. If you are thinking about packing a trailer like ours for a long trip please consider this. PACK LIGHT! We thought when we left that we were carrying a reasonable amount of stuff but soon learned that we did not need the air mattress and inflation pump, the 2" foam mattress in the camper is adequate. We brought two flat 10" battery/ac fans and a small Coleman overhead fan with LED lights. I recommend you take one 10" fan only. Wash clothes as you go and buy them as you need them. You need riding/hiking boots and crocks, two pair of jeans, one pair of shorts, one T-shirt, (you will get more at events you visit), a hat for your messed up helmet hair, a minimal numbers of sox, etc. LED flashlights are great, bright, compact and light weight; take several. Leave all conventional flashlights and lanterns at home. They are too large, heavy, dim, and unreliable. The compact point and shoot type digital camera is probably best unless your main purpose of traveling is photography. The new Panasonic DMC-TS1 is the best I've seen but they won't be readly available for another week or three. It will also shoot HD TV! Channel 27 on XM Radio is so good, pay whatever it takes to get one on your bike. XM also gives you news, talk and other entertainment when you can't get local radio. It's great!

Expect to be approached every time you stop by someone who likes your bike, wishes they could join you, tells you that you are living their dream, etc. Theresa and I are friendly and enjoy this kind of thing but we were very plesently surprised at the reception we get everywhere we go.

On average, every day has been a good to great day. Even when Theresa was sick, we made friends in the hospital and had wonderful treatment.

Campus Interruptus!

2009-05-05T19:32:00.000-04:00

We were having a great time. The camper was set up in a lovely setting. Birds were chirping, bunny rabbits and squirrels hopping but unfortunatly, so was Theresa’s gut. It seems an unlucky combination of antibiotics and prednasone allowed a germ, Clostridium difficile, often called C. difficile or "C. diff, to run wild in her bowels. To say this bacterium is wild is an understatement. In fact it strives to escape it’s containment in a very embarrassing way if you stray more than a few yards from the bathroom. Its unpredictability caused us to pack up the camper and move into a cabin with a real bathroom only three steps from her bed. Even this however, proved to be a step too far so we checked her into a lovely small hospital in Navasota, Texas.

Theresa is being fed by IV while I’m enjoying the hospitality of the staff here.
Texans seem to be a slightly different breed of American. Manners, unlike some northern locations, are still used here. People still open doors for ladies, say please and thank you, no sir, yes mam, and jump to help you out of difficulty. It’s very, very nice.

At the campground, when people learned Theresa was feeling bad, Carmen and Jennifer, delivered yogurt, crackers, and comfort food. Larry, the park owner, insisted that I call him at any hour of day or night if there was anything he could do to help. He even loaned me his Town Car to take Theresa to the hospital when we decided that was appropriate.

They have a small cafeteria here, but it was closed today. I went there looking for lunch and was disappointed to find it was covered dish day for employees only. I must have looked hungry or sad or both because one of the very nice ladies stopped me and said, “Come get something to eat. It won’t cost you nuthin’”. I dined on fried chicken, taco salad, a variety of casserole dishes and soda. One of the nice ladies fixed me a couple of pieces of cake. I was stuffed! We feel like we are surrounded by family.

The medical attention seems to be first rate too. Dr. Scamardo, Theresa’s attending physician, reminds me of Bones in Star Trek. He is empathic, a great listener, and thorough. He explains things clearly and has great bedside manner. The same can be said of the nursing staff. We like everyone we’ve met here. It’s almost like being in Naples where Dr. Scafuri and his wife Fara nurture us.

It’s 8:20PM and Dr. Scamardo just visited. It looks like Theresa may have a few more days until everything gets back to “normal”.

That can’t happen too soon for us.

Camping in Texas

2009-05-01T21:34:00.000-04:00

After driving too far on Wednesday we have decided to stay in a beautiful campground Northwest of Houston for a few days. We have been swimming, hot tubbing, and relaxing and will persist until our tans are perfect! Then, we will go through Arkansas to Branson, MO.

Panama Beach to Biloxi, Mississippi

2009-04-29T00:40:00.000-04:00

We had another beautiful day of perfect weather and after a nice breakfast in Panama Beach hit the road. We wanted to do 300 miles today but settled for less when we saw the Naval Air Museum, home of the Blue Angles, in Pensacola, FL. http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/ We could have spent the whole afternoon checking out all the static display aircraft but they had a very cool IMAX movie that virtually put us in the cockpit of a Blue Angles, FA-18 Hornet! I'm pleased to say Theresa handled the show without loosing her lunch! Some of the scenes were quite realistic.

We wanted to get a room for the night since we were traveling late and noticed that Biloxi, MI was within range. We stopped at the first super large Casino/Spa/Hotel we saw and found that the Grand Biloxi could be had for $59.! We checked in, explored, showered and now we are off to bed. I had already checked in when I asked about Internet connectivity. I was very unhappily surprised that it is an $11 a day option! Blackberry Storm to the rescue. I plugged the notebook PC into my trusty smartphone and voila! We are surfing, emailing, and blog editing at high speed from our room. Charging for Internet has become an unusual practice lately so be careful to ask before you select a hotel. In spite of their lousy Internet charges, the room is beautiful with king bed, flat screen TV, nice furnishings, etc. Much more comfortable that our tent/trailer. I have secretly punished them for the Internet charge by not gambling in the casino! Take that Grand Biloxi!

Panama Beach

2009-04-27T21:09:00.000-04:00

We had a beautiful ride today of around 250 miles. The weather was perfect, the bike ran well, no drama. Now we are settled into a hotel called Sandpiper Beacon and I'm editing the blog poolside, listening to a very good live rock and roll band on the beach about 100 feet away. Life is good.

The picture on the left is of a road that went straight as an arrow for maybe 20 miles! Nothing but forrests on each side. It was facinating to see the effect of past brush fires on the trees. You could tell the beneficial effect of fires that cleared the underbrush. Where it grew too thick the trees burn, but if well managed the brush burns without harming the trees. some of it looked almost like the black forest in Germany.

It's time to go look for some dinner so I'll add to the blog the next time we stay in a hotel with Internet.

Blast Off!

2009-04-26T19:57:00.000-04:00

We planned to depart our home in Naples at 9 AM and go to the Leesburg Bike Fest, but as Robert Burns said about the best laid plans... We hit the road at 4 PM but had a very pleasent ride to Davenport Florida where my brother Bob and his wife Marcia live in their motorhome. On the way we stopped for one last, (for a while), blue crab meal at our favorite place, Peace River Seafood.

Bob and Marcia just bought an RV lot equipped with large garden shed we call the "Suite". Actually it is very nice with a/c, a full bath, laundry, and a comfortable futon for sleeping or tv watching. We slept like rocks there for the first two nights, while enjoying their hospitality for meals, rides to the rally, and evening movie.

We did make it to the motorcycle rally on Saturday and Sunday, now we have just set up the camper in the Ginny Springs Outoors Campground. Unless you are a scuba diver, snorkler, or tubber, don't bother. The camping is very rustic and because it is an inner tubbing and dive attraction, rather expensive; $43.99. tomorrow we will push off toward Texas but will probably only move 300 miles westward.

To help me keep track, our departing mileage on the Goldwing was 47,355. Tonight it is 47,757.

If we stay in a hotel with Internet soon, we will update the blog there. Having fun so far!

Heated Grips!

2009-04-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

It felt like my birthday! Wally DePuy called me Saturday morning saying he had a present for me. I rode over and found he had bought a beautiful set of heated grips for the Gold Wing! He said we might need it in Alaska, so we spent much of the rest of the day installing them and the XM Radio I have been using in the car. Great success!

A few months ago I bought and installed the Aux Audio Input Kit from Kennedy Electronics so I could connect the GPS's MP3 player to the audio system. Now the old, (1993), Wing has most of the modern accessories of a new bike! The list includes: AM/FM radio, cassette player, Garmin 660 GPS with MP3 payer and bluetooth, XM Radio, and a Blackberry Storm which connects via bluetooth. The whole thing plays through the four loudspeakers or the stereo headphones inside the helmets. The helmets have microphones for the intercom system so Theresa and I can chat comfortably while riding. The only thing I couldn't fix was the the flaky CB radio. When I key the mic it puts out a carrier but no sound. I was hoping it was in the handlebar mic key so I took it apart and cleaned it but no joy. I guess a 16 year old circuit in the radio has finally died. It looks like radios might age in dog years. The rest of the bike, on the other hand, feels like it is in it's prime! The motor purrs like an electric motor, starts fast, never misses, and pulls like a locomotive. I've checked the oil, tires, brakes, nuts and bolts; I think the bike is ready for the trip!

I needed a smaller notebook computer for the trip, so I bought a new 14" HP from Sam's Club, http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=421105 , that should fill the need. It has a DVD R/W drive so we can watch movies on a rainy day. I loaded Microsoft Office and the new Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009 program which lets us map our route. It's great for locating campgrounds and attractions along the way. It also includes a small GPS if needed. There's a very cool feature of the Blackberry Storm that allows us to tether to the notebook for pretty fast Internet whenever we have 3G service from Verizon. That should allow us to update the blog, get email, and consult Google Maps as needed. The final luxury item is a tiny Hauppauge USB TV Tuner. This will let us watch TV through the computer if we are close enough to a city to get a signal. It may not be as comfortable as home, but our camper/tent will rock! Electronically speaking.

The new waterproof Panasonic camera, (DMC-TS1S), has been ordered. I've got my fingers crossed that it will arrive before we leave. I found some large 16 and 32 Gig memory cards which make the video recording feature practical to use. Maybe I'll try my hand at a YouTube video production along the way.

The official blast off date is April 24th. We plan to ride with friends to the Leesburg Bike Fest, http://leesburgbikefest.com/ , then westward from there. The trailer is packed with everything but our clothes and we won't take many. We plan to buy new clothes as we need them since it is much easier to get cold weather riding gear in Canada than Florida.

Yesterday I added a gizmo to the blog for people who are following us on the trip. Sign up and I think it will send you an email when the blog is updated.

Packing for Alaska

2009-03-09T11:16:00.000-04:00

I know its a month early but we are getting the camper ready for the big trip. We have tested the camper a couple more times at a local park and had a great time. We did learn however, that our el'cheapo sleeping bags are not up to the task. Last weekend the temps fell to the mid 50s and I was freezing! We had a few visitors to our campsite; peacocks, deer, and this 5' gator.

Sam's Club has SwissGear, zero degree rated polyester, hollow core insulation fibers, mummy sleeping bags for $40 each. I bought two. They only weigh 6.4 lbs. each and come in a small cube package. They are about half the weight and cost of the cotton bags I had been eying and since they are machine washable and dryable I think they will serve us best. We will also carry two lightweight blankets and as it stands now, and a queen sized air mattress. The camper comes with a 2" thick foam mattress which might be enough. We will try it both ways once on the road and if we can dispose of the air mattress, some lucky stranger will become it's new owner. We need to lighten the load as much as possible.

I'm still shopping for a notebook or netbook PC. I have a BlackBerry Storm which is almost enough, but not quite. I'd like to edit this blog, save and post pictures, get and send email, and maybe watch TV once in a while. That justifies a real PC. The BlackBerry has a tethering feature that allows me to connect to the Internet through the phone. I'll buy something in April so I can test it out before leaving.

I want a better camera for the trip and Panasonic is expecting April delivery of their new waterproof, pocket sized, DMC-TS1S Lumix digital. This looks like the perfect camera for this trip. I love the waterproof aspect as our old Casio camera has gotten wet many times on our travels, I have no idea why it still works. The new Panasonic also has an HD Movie capability. This could make for very humorous videos when Theresa tries to pet the pretty eagles and badgers and feed the nice bears.

Last on our shopping list is new riding jackets. I'm told First Gear makes the best stuff so we will order them this month so we can test them before leaving. I love our current leather jackets but they take up so much storage space, I think they will have to stay home.

If anyone has any good ideas about what we should take or leave, please feel free to kibbitz.

Fantasy Fest - Key West

2008-12-17T23:16:00.000-05:00

We really rain tested the camper last week. 7 inches of rain in 5 hours! Wow, we thought it would never end. We camped for 5 days at Boyd's Campground on Stock Island about 6 miles from Duvall Street. We dodged the rain most of the time and had great fun. If you've never been to Fantasy Fest, take your camera! Think of a Duvall Street costume party for 70,000 where artfully applied body paint is the general rule. The way I heard it, the first Fantasy Fest parade was led by a lady "dressed" as a Rolls Royce hood ornament! This apparently ment she was spray painted silver and she rode on the hood of the lead vechicle in the nude. The city fathers were aghast, but Key West is a pretty liberal town so they proposed a rule that requires a G-string with your body paint. This rule is generally followed, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, although some adventurous ladies paint on the G-string. Viva l'art!

Whatever you think of the art, I have never had a bad day there and don't know anyone who has. Fantasy Fest is much more fun, sexier, and much, much, much better behaved than the once fun Marti Gras which has degenerated into a pretty ... ah... degenerate affair. If you appreciate art like me, or just like crazy costume parties that last a week, Fantasy Fest is not to be missed.

Again, no drama in our 800 or so miles of towing and riding. the camper was 99% dry, which in a 7" deluge says a lot. I never figured out where the quart or so of water came from, but it puddled safely on the floor and the bedding stayed dry. With 100% humidity, it may have simply condensed out of the air on the wrong side of the canvas. In any event, it was very easy to deal with but will cause me to re-seal the seams before the next big trip.

We camped one more night after Fantasy Fest at a local campground and enjoyed it. We saw deer, aligators, peacocks, and hawks within 80' of our campsite. Ahhh, back to nature; nice.

Theresa will visit her mom in Maryland the week before Christmas and we have a week of Jamaican fun planned for January. In Feburary we take a carribean cruise and end the month with 9 days at Daytona Bike Week. I'll give another camping report then.

Biketober Fest - Daytona, Florida

2008-12-17T23:02:00.000-05:00

The camper was loaded with anything we thought we needed for a few days of camping and we set off for Sunny Sands, about 40 miles from the center of action at Daytona. Biketober Fest is a smaller version of the big Daytona Bike Week http://www.daytonabikeweek.com/pictures.cfm where thousands of bikers converge for a week of riding, beer, sexy ladies, good food, 20 oz. pork chops, (yum), incredable motorcycles, racing, coleslaw wrestling, and wet t-shirt contests. What's not to like?
The camping trailer kept us comfortable and dry and we found we didn't need to pack quite as much as we took. We had a great time, rode about 1800 miles and the trailer pulled beautifully. You hardly know it's back there until you need to stop fast. It increses the stopping distance a lot, so I give the vehicle in front of me 3 or 4 seconds of space rather than my normal 2. No drama so far...

Picked up the trailer

2008-10-12T12:59:00.001-04:00

I picked up the trailer on October 9th, 2008 at the Southeastern Freight Terminal in ft. Myers. I now understand why Trailmaster charges $120 to wrap it up an put it on a palette. The job was very well done and might have been shipped around the world without damage. Anything that could have been scratched was wrapped in saran wrap. I'm glad I took a tool kit to unwrap it. You need a couple of wrenches, sockets help, a knife and some muscle to get it off of the palette. I towed it to Outdoor World where I bought a flat four conductor trailer plug, to get the lights working. My Swiss Army knife and some duct dape allowed me to fix it in the parking lot. The trailer comes with a round 6 pole connector that won't fit my 5 pin round motorcycle socket, or the flat four pin on the car. Northern Tool stocked a round 5 pole that may work, yet to be installed.

We stocked up on some missing camping gear and will field test it at Biketoberfest in Daytona from , Oct. 15 to 19, then Fantasy Fest in Key WestOct. 22 to 26. I'll post my impressions then.

Adventures of Harry & Theresa Hanbury

2008-09-28T08:55:00.000-04:00

Theresa and Harry have decided to embark on a big adventure, an ambitious motorcycle/camping trip from Florida to Alaska. We have been thinking about doing this for several years and decided last week to actually take the first step. The focus of this blog will be this trip.

In July 08, we rode our Honda Gold Wing, (a 1993 GL 1500), to the Wing Ding in Greenville, SC. A Wing Ding is a huge rally for Gold Wing owners and while there, we went shopping for a small, camping trailer to pull behind the motorcycle. We looked at many, but the Aspen Classic appeared to fill our wants best. See http://www.trailmasterinc.com/aspclassic/aspclassic.html

On September 24th we ordered a loaded Classic with almost all the options. Expensive. There are cheaper ways to go but if we actually make it to Alaska, I think the extra money will have been well spent.

Peggy, at Trail Master says they can make about 6 a day and ours should ship around October 6th. If we get it 4 days later we can test it out at Biketober Fest in Daytona. http://www.biketoberfest.org/

If all goes well there, we repack our Halloween costumes for Fantasy Fest in Key West, later in the month. http://www.fantasyfest.net/ . We may try a few more "shake down" trips to learn how and what to pack for the big ride.

Sometime around mid May 2009, we expect to head to Alaska via: Myrtle Beach Bike Week, Rolling Thunder in D.C., Pike's Peak, CO, the Grand Teatons, Yellowstone, the Calgary Stampede, Alaska. On the way home we expect to do Sturgis, SD for the big motorcycle rally.

Past experience predicts that we will have an adventure every day and make many new friends allong the way. Beyond this rough outline, our plans are chiseled in Jello. We like to make it up as we go along.

We will report again when the trailer arrives.