On the Road Again...

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!

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 gratitude 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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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.