Catching Up

I was too tired to post the last two nights, so I'm catching up. If I can remember that far back.

Thursday we spent with Marcia, once we got our laundry done. She took us to Red Wing for lunch and then to Stillwater for ice cream. Both towns are full of beautiful old houses and their downtowns are as they were in the beginning, with the addition of electric lights and traffic signals. Chock full of interesting architecture. Stillwater is on the St. Croix River, and the river valley and the river itself are gorgeous. Such a blue blue river, sparkling in the sun. This area of Minnesota is hilly and boasts many trees. It is a pretty part of the country. There are lots of big old oaks and maples.

The remains of Stillwater Prison have been converted into lovely waterfront condos! Stunning views. I guess they built a modern Stillwater somewhere else. The Warden's house is still standing and has been turned into a museum. I can't imagine why anyone would park a prison in such a beautiful place, but they did!

We ate way too much ice cream at Nelson's, a place which make enormous cones. We had baby sized cones and they were still enormous. I am sure we ate a pint of ice cream each. And maybe more.

Marcia, Kelly, Christian, Ray and I went to a place out in the country for supper. It was sort of a retro place, like we used to go to with our folks when we were kids. We all enjoyed our dinners and the company. It was fun to spend time with them, and we both wished we'd had more time to spend there. I hope Marta doesn't get fired for calling in sick on Thursday!

We hit the bed like bricks when we got back to our motel and slept like logs until time to get up and hit the road once more. It's surprising how quickly you get out into the country in the Twin Cities area. Ray planned our route on country and state roads, avoiding big cities, so we saw lots of little towns and villages, populations from 112 to 600 or so. We passed some outstanding old courthouses and didn't stop to take one picture. Shame on on! The domes on those old places are astounding sometimes. Dinky little town of 435 and the most incredible courthouse you ever did see. Those old ones put modern courthouses to shame, they are so beautiful. For part of the day, we traveled along The Great River Road, which follows the Mississippi. Very lush, very beautiful, very fishy smelling, lots of bugs. There were pretty rest areas, with old fashioned pumps to draw water and smelly ol' pit potties. They always had a nice view of the river. The Mississippi is very broad.



Shortly after we left the Mississipi we stopped in Mount Sterling to visit the Mount Sterling Cheese Factory. They make goat cheeses. We bought about 5 kinds to bring to Lynn's house for tasting. The road from Mt. Sterling went up to a plateau where we took some pictures. This is the resulting Panorama.



At one point, we missed Wisconsin country road E and in the middle of turning around, Ray's bike decided to nap. I had already turned around and was at road E when I heard thunk! Crap! *&%$@*%!!! in my earphones. I looked back and there was a heap in the road. Ray was fine and didn't even hurt the next day and the only damage the bike suffered was a broken clutch lever. No scratches anywhere even.

There we are in the middle of Wisconsin nowhere and a broken clutch lever. Ray got out his tool kit and jury rigged a fix with a zip tie. It worked sort of and we limped in to Lancaster, Wisconsin (the correct Lancaster!) a bit later than we'd thought we'd arrive. Dan and Audre were already there and Lynn & Jeff arrived about an hour later. Perfect timing, as it was time for supper. We walked a couple of blocks to a place recommended by the desk clerk. It was across the street from another astounding old courthouse. The food was good and we all ate way too much. It being Friday, they had Fish Fry and Ray, Dan, Audre and I indulged in that....Friday Fish Fry is an unknown thing in the Seattle area. We miss that, among other food things. Jeff and Lynn ate burgers. The place had amazing french fries. Wish I could remember the name. Something with a D...

We do not miss the weather. It is hot and it is humid. But it was not 103 and so we endured to the end. I have decided I will not willingly ride in 103 degree weather again, dry heat or not. Hot is hot, wet or dry.

Ray made a trip to the local hardware store on my scoot and got some liquid welding stuff for the clutch lever. He applied it properly, let it set overnight and it lasted 3 pulls of the clutch. But if he held the clutch lever in place, it would work. So he came the whole way from Lancaster to here holding the clutch lever pressed in place. His left hand was tired!!! We all had to pull over several times when the clutch lever slipped out of place. But we got here.

I needed gas near Freeport, IL and we all wanted to pull into an empty business parking lot on the left side of the two lane road to discuss where the nearest gas was. (nothing in sight but corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn) Ray was into his left turn and I was just starting my left turn when a speeding car passed the bunch of us and jetted between Ray and I. Talk about startled! I nearly went into the ditch! Ray missed seeing anything and the family behind us was sure I would end up dead or a hood ornament. But the Guardian Angels were on duty and all escaped unscathed except that driver, whose ears were surely blistered. We had to come within 50 miles of home to have a close call.

Ray and Jeff talked to my brother, who went about trying to find a Moto-Guzzi left hand clutch lever. He has declared Ray's bike to be "obscure". No clutch levers in the midwest, except for a place in Madison, Wisconsin, and they are shipping the clutch here. Ray says he's going to carry extras from now on. More load for the poor sidecar.

The verdict on my rig is that it is not little and that the scoot really scoots. Told 'em so.

Gratefully getting off the bikes at the end of a 2230 mile adventure, we are here at Sister Lynn's for 2 weeks. Last night we ordered in pizza, our brother and his wife came over from Wheaton, Dan and Audre stayed on and we had a great big gab fest. It was so good to have so many of our sibs together.

Today Kim and Terri are bringing food for dinner, he's slow cooking stuff on the grill. Lynn has already been to the grocery store, I'm connected and Ray and Jeff are gabbing. Muzzie is still asleep, at least I have not heard her downstairs.

We are ready for some off-bike resting time. We are tired. We're rethinking the route home and how long it might take. But we made it all the way on our bikes and some guys in the Microsoft office pool have surely lost their bets. And we have to find time for new tires.

Especially for my brother: we went 500 miles on the last 2 days, but I don't know how far on each day.

Resting, Resting

We have safely arrived in Hastings, Minnesota, far exceeding the expectations of certain nephews, who thought we'd turn back in Spokane. HA!

Yesterday we drove thru endless cornfields interspersed with endless soybean fields. We didn't see much because the corn was so high. After a while endless fields of corn cease to be interesting, except as inspiration for dreams of eating endless cobs of wonderful midwestern corn! And I suppose even that would get old after a time, but I am not sure. I'll need to experiment with that. Beef Villa sandwiches and fresh corn on the cob! A dream dinner. I'm easy to please. lol

Minnesota is not as flat as South Dakota, although the central part is as flat as that. The roads were a bit curvier and we hit a good series of twisties, only to have the speed limit drop to 30 mph. Now, what fun are twisties at 30 mph??? Bah. It was a dumb idea to put a town right there.

We saw some nice looking little towns that looked like they might actually have enough "stuff" that a person might happily live there. Alas, the winters here are snowy and very cold, so that's not happening. Not for us.

The route was planned to avoid the Twin Cities and so we were on state highways and country roads all the day. Mostly the surfaces were fine, although a few were totally awful, rough and grooved and lumpy. You have not truly felt a lumpy road until you've ridden a 3 wheel vehicle on it.

At one intersection, we were supposed to continue on, but there was a big sign that said "Road Closed", and a barricade on half the road. Just past that, there was a sign that read "road closed to vehicles over" such and such a tonnage. So while I drove in circles in the roundabout (oh how I hate those things and they are springing up everywhere, even in the wilds of Minnesota) Ray decided that the signs did not apply to us. So on we went. The surface was new and lovely for a little while, until we toppped a hill and could see that on the other side, going back up a hill, the road was all dirt and gravel and large machinery. It really WAS closed. So back we went, took a look at the map and worked out a way past. We ended up miles out of our way and we were in and out of Dakota County 3 or 4 times.

But we got here in late afternoon, and it was a good day for riding, sunny and in the low to mid 70s. There was a cool north wind and so we wore our rain jackets for the better part of the day. Plus, we got to see more of the Minnesota countryside! Corn, corn, corn.

There are no broken down buildings in Minnesota. All the farms and farm buildings are beautiful and well maintained with the straightest rows of corn you ever saw. I think it must be a law. In several places between towns we came upon large old beautiful churches plunked down in the fields. We'd see a spire from way off and think there would be a town surrounding that church, but nope. Just corn. Often there were cemeteries next to the church and I could tell from the look of the headstones tha the cemeteries were old. But there was no time to stop and investigate. Too bad for the inner genealogist.

Sister Marcia and nephew Gordon came to the hotel to take us out to dinner. We went to a place in St. Paul (!) called Senor Wong. It was an interesting place, very hip and one of those places where if you didn't know it was there you'd never find it. Marcia, Gordon and I all had phad thai and Ray had a beef and green/red pepper dish. It was nice. Then we came back to Hastings and stopped by Marcia's house to see Kelly and Christian and meet Koda. Koda is a huuuuge Alaskan Malamute who is very playful. When he stands on his hind legs he's taller than I am. And he does that alot, as he likes to put his paws on people's shoulders. Marta had to squirt him with lemon juice to keep him off everyone. It was a beautiful night so we enjoyed hanging out in her yard.

Today we are going touring and washing more laundry. Not sure in which order. And tomorrow it's back on the road, aiming for Lancaster, Illinois. I know. I grew up in Illinois and never heard of Lancaster. But there is a tiny Best Western there and that's our destination.

Yesterday we went something over 250 miles, I can't remember the exact mileage and Ray is sleeping in the recliner. Since we don't have an extra blanket in the room, he's covered himself in pillows. He looks so cute!

Text and pictures by Susan and Ray Rathburn Copyright 2010

Flat and Sassy

Tonight we're in Montevideo, Minnesota. There are way more trees in Minnesota than South Dakota.

Eastern South Dakota is fairly flat and tends toward very straight roads. Once more we made more turns in the gas station parking lots than actually on the road. It's much greener than the western side of the state, and you do begin to see some trees in the low spots and along the fence lines. It's greener than the Western side by far. And Minnesota is greener still. 99% of South Dakota seems to be farmland/rangeland. There is little traffic on the roads and it can be a challenge to find a place to eat and buy gas. This is a typical SD view:



We saw several abandoned buildings today. We passed one place that was a sizeable old home, and in its' day must have been a real beauty as you can still see what a fine place it was. Now, it's windows are broken out and the paint it once proudly bore is but a long-ago memory and the porches are sagging. Whatever gardens once were are long gone to weeds and grasses. I wish we had stopped to take a picture there.

Sometimes it's only the house and sometimes, there are barns and sheds and other outbuildings mouldering away. We wondered what had happened to the people who lived in those places and how long they had been gone. Why didn't the descendants want it? Do the current owners think it would be too much trouble or too costly to put the poor old buildings out of their misery and tear them down?





The towns we passed were often very small, only 47 people in one case. I'm sure others had fewer than that. The biggest place we saw today was Aberdeen, with 25,000 people. The place we are tonight has about 2500 people.

Once again we had terrible wind, but mostly it was at our backs. When it was blowing crossways it was a battle to keep the bikes where we wanted them to be. We both have sore shoulders and necks tonight. The wind pushes so much on the helmet that one side of the neck gets really sore from holding your head straight. Minnesota 7 is a horrid road surface! Stay away from it!

In the room next to ours is a couple from Palma, who are touring Canada and the US by motorcycle for 4 months. They'll visit Minneapolis and then go down to Miami. They've been touring for a while now.

It dawned on us we have not seen a Pho shop since we left home, nor a Thai restaurant, darn few Mexican or Chinese restaurants and Italian seems to mean only pizza, no taco trucks at all. Weird. I don't think I saw a coffee stand all day. Neither have I seen an Italian Beef place. I think maybe they are only in Illinois.

I forgot to tell you that while we were on our way out of Roosevelt NP, the Buffalo herds were in the middle of the road. They were not inclined to move either. There were bulls in the herd and they especially did not want to move for us. Robin rolled her window down and was yelling at the bulls and whistling, and waving her arm around. Bull just rolled his eyes and stood his ground for the longest time. We had to drive around the animals, because they moved the minimal distance. I rolled my window UP. They were too close for my comfort, but Robin is a brave Forest Service Ranger.

A Two-Fer Report

We had a great time with Robin on Sunday. We all met for breakfast at Perkins and it was good. Then Robin went home to do chores and we went to the hotel to do chores. When she came back, we went to supper at Jack’s where we sampled a fleischkeuchel. It’s a local specialty, hamburger mixed with finely minced onion and garlic, pressed into a flat patty which is sealed in pastry dough and deep fried. What’s not to like about that!

After Jack’s, Robin drove us out to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It is a vast place. We stopped at an informational center and badlands overlook and took some pictures. We went up to the Medora amphitheater to enjoy the views.




Then Robin drove us on the loop on the smaller side of TRNP. We went hoping to see wildlife, and we surely did! We saw hundreds if not thousands of prairie dogs. There are large “towns” in the park, and being NPS, no attempt is made to limit or control the dogs. They eat grasses and can denude an area in no time flat. They like the grasses low, so they can better see approaching dangers. About 15 holes will constitute one den. Most of the pups born are female. The males are pushed out as soon as they can survive on their own. They are then expected to establish their own burrow system, which helps to spread the village out. The young males always move into unused areas on the edges of the existing towns. Prairie dogs will build the main entrance facing away from the prevailing winds. Facing the wind, at the far end of their burrow, they build a scooped heap of dirt, which gathers and focuses the breeze and exhausts out the entrance hole. Prairie air conditioning!

Next we encountered a small group of bison. Wow, are they huge! Taller than Robin’s Vibe and so massive. The bulls are nothing to mess with for sure. Through the evening we saw several groups of bison and several bison off by themselves. There were several calves. The ones with calves seem to herd together more than those without. The cows are very protective of the calves and will shield them from the cars. We were not allowed to get out of the car where the bison were alongside the road as they are wild animals and don’t much like to mix with humans, although I have to tell you they are not afraid of cars OR people, not one bit. They seem to know they are the top of the heap in the park. There is bison fencing all around the perimeter of the park, but if they want something on the other side, that fence will not stop them. I doubt anything could, short of an elephant gun.

The views of the badlands are absolutely spectacular. Robin timed our visit for the hours approaching darkness, because you are more apt to see animals then. We surely had a bonanza of sightings. Thunderstorms were moving in and we got a really spectacular light show. Once we spotted 2 bucks on a ridgeline and got some cool pics as you can see. When the lightening would flash, they would look toward it, just like people do. It was a most amazing afternoon and evening and neither of us would have missed it for the world. Thanks, Robin, for showing us around.

Today, the 23rd, Robin came to the hotel and took us to one of her favorite breakfast places. Once again the food was very good and the company even better. We headed back to the hotel and loaded our gear on the bikes with Robin’s help. She went off to prepare for a foster child’s respite visit and we hit the road. It was cool at times, but when the sun came out it was nice and warm. If it had not been for the gale force winds it would have been a perfect motorcycling day, not too hot and not too cold and dry and beautiful things to see along the way.

At Robin’s suggestion, we took the Enchanted Highway south. Here’s some pictures of some of the sculptures along the way.

There was almost no traffic today, no matter where we went. I am thinking South Dakota must be emptier than North Dakota even. And for sure they have just as many hay bales, which Robin assures me number way more than 200 per person.

Today we had gas station/mini-mart food for lunch. It was the first time I’ve ever eaten gas station/mini-mart food. It was also the only game in town. It was the only game in several towns, some of which consisted of a couple of houses and a barn or two. But in this gas station there were subs made to order and nice fresh bread. It was a really good sandwich, more like Subway than 7-11. They had a large seating area which we used. Also there was a table full of local older men. We had fun eavesdropping on their conversation. It seemed to us like they must get together there every day and sit and grouse and gossip and tell stories.

And now after another day of leaning on the wind, we are settled down in Mobridge, South Dakota. The Burger King here gets my award for Burger King With The Best View. It’s right on the banks of the Missouri River! Across the other side is nothing but rolling hills. No houses, no people, just river and hills. Amazing to think that much beautiful view is not stuffed full of million dollar homes and private docks for large loud boats. I can’t imagine such a view going to “waste” around Seattle.

Our connection here is slow and it's getting late, so I will upload more pics when I have a faster connection. Love to all!

Blown Hard

Yesterday we battled a 48 mile per hour wind with gusts to 59 mph. The wind was out of the East/Southeast. The air temp was right around 103 so it was a hot wind too. It was one of those winds that snatches your helmet and twists it around. We could not hear each other over the communicators because of the wind noise. We poured some of the ice water from our cooler over our heads to try to keep them cooler under the helmets and used our cooling bandanas around our necks..the kind you soak in water and the beads soak up the water and slowly release it to keep your neck cool. They worked for about half an hour and were dried out and hot. Not comfortable riding and we thought with only 200 miles to go it would be an easy ride. HA. We couldn't go as fast as we had wanted because the wind really pushed on Ray's bike. So we got to Dickinson, ND about an hour and a half after we thought we would. We thought Friday was hot, but Saturday was even hotter. It was close to intolerable. I think it was hard on the bikes too. I got only 34 mpg and Ray got 51 mpg. I think the two big windshields really hurt my mileage. That and the weight in the car. Here we are at a gas stop, trying to cool down people and bikes.


Our niece tells us that the high temps are most unusual, that this is the hottest weather they've had all year. We do have such good timing! We are at 2532 feet elevation, higher than Snoqualmie Pass back home, and yet this is so much hotter! You'd think this high up it would be some cooler, but perversely enough, it is not.

We started the day with breakfast at Gallagher's next to the motel and hit the road. The scenery in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota is pretty neat. These are views to the north and south just west of Dickinson.




Robin calls it badlands. I suppose it is bad for trying to raise crops and cows, but it is still fine to look at. As soon as we got into North Dakota, we saw hundreds of rolls of hay wrapped in greenish mesh. They are everywhere, in the medians of the interstate, along the edges of the interstate, in the fields. It looks like the Jolly Green Giant came through and scattered rolls of scratchy brown jolly green toilet paper everywhere. We estimate there are approximately 200 rolls of hay for every person in North Dakota. The land owners adjacent to the roads and highways are required to mow the hay and grasses for snow control in the winter. And that is why this time of year there are thousands of hay bales littering North Dakota.

Before we got here, we got hungry and really needed to cool down, so we stopped in a little town to find lunch, but it turned out to be packed with tourists and tourist traps, so we went back to the highway and continued on. I hear they have a neat dusk concert out there, but we were too tired last night.

We encountered lots of grasshoppers yesterday. They fly up around you as you walk thru the rest areas. And they have rattlers here. Robin says out in the wilds that the hoppers are much more numerous and you feel swarmed when you walk out there, they jump in your hair, your mouth, your clothes. Robin walks out there because she works for the National Forest Service and is in charge of the Federal Lands in one of the least populated counties of North Dakota. Although we think this is very dry country, Robin says water rights are not a problem here like in other parts of the country. Grazing land for everyone is the problem. It takes a large patch of land to feed one cow as not much is growing except around the water sources and creeks. And now the oil people want to put in wells and that takes up space too. In any low spot the water gathers and green things grow. They do have many large cottonwoods in town. Robin says they were all planted and are not native to this place. We got to tour Robin's offices yesterday and it was quite interesting to hear about all they do and all the different specialties who work in that office.

We had lunch with Robin at the Wendy's and then went to the Dakota Dinosaur Museum near our motel. They have fossils that have been recovered in North Dakota and many examples of minerals, fluroscent minerals and gemstones from around the world. Then we three retreated to a cooler movie theater to see "Scott Pilgrim Against the World". We all thought it was clever and we liked that you could never tell what was going to happen next. It was also quite funny. At least I thought so. Robin and I decided that one day 3 guys were hanging out stoned and drinking beer and one of them said, Duuuuudes, what if life really WAS like a video game and that's how that movie came to be.

We saw Robin's house and toured Dickinson, something which can be done fairly quickly, as Dickinson is none too large, but it is growing by leaps and bounds. They have so many new businesses in town and since horizontal oil well drilling has become doable, there are many oil field workers in town. There is a severe housing shortage and so there are "Man Camps" set up just outside of town, tent cities for the oil workers. Women are not allowed in the Man Camps, so Robin can't tell us much about them. Robin says crime has gone up since the advent of Man Camps. And they have huge problems with meth, but that was before the Man Camps. Just about everyone is hiring and that's a good thing. We went to dinner at Pizza Ranch and came back here and shortly hit the sack. We were so tired we slept thru til nearly time for Church, and so instead of Church, we went to have breakfast with Robin.

Now we are doing our laundry and cleaning our helmets, two much needed things, and later today Robin will pick us up and we'll go out to Roosevelt National Park for wildlife viewing. We needed to wait til later in the day for that, as she says the wildlife are too smart to be out in this hot sun. And after sundown, we'll be able to see the Milky Way if we are out of town. That is a treat for urban people like us. I am wishing we could stay another day, but Ray says we have to get on the road tomorrow. It is nice to not be on the bike for a day. Our jackets will surely need washing when we get to Elgin. And Ray's mesh pants. He's got bug splatters on the knees! Ugh! I'm glad I have a nice fairing. No bugs on my knees. Not yet.

Our route is getting some minor reworking for tomorrow's travels, as Robin has recommended we travel the Enchanted Highway on our way out of town. And the road we had planned to take she says has no services. hmm. Tomorrow we are off for Mobridge, South Dakota and that will be on non-interstate roads. Robin says to watch out for farm machinery on the roads.

For my brother especially: We went 200 miles yesterday and my right hand was killing me 95% of the time.

Turn It Down!

Somebody keeps turning up the heat. It was 103 today. It was miserable and I thought I'd die of the heat. My hand was hurting the entire time. And that's it for tonight, I'm toast. We are in Dickinson and here we stay til Monday. More tomorrow, I hope.

Sizzle!

We made it to Miles City before we became human torches, but it was close. At 7 p.m. it was 90 degrees here. I do not know how hot it was at 5:30 when we got here, but it was over 90 for sure. Tomorrow will be 102 in Miles City and in Dickinson a relatively mild (hahaha) 95.

Here's the view out the door this morning.


It was actually chilly when we left 3 Forks and we stopped alongside the road to put on our rain jackets and take some pictures. When we left that spot Ray took off down the road and my bike just wouldn't get going. Ray asked if I was ok and I said, truthfully, I don't know. So I pulled over to the edge again and Ray disappeared over a small rise and out of com range. It was soon discovered that Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, emulated Ensign Chekov and thus didn't get very far in Starship Burgie. (if you have not seen the latest Star Trek movie, this may not make any sense to you, but if you have, you'll get it) By the time I was back in com range, poor Ray was running back down the highway. He said I nearly gave him a heart attack. Humph. This picture is in that location.


We both liked Bozeman, Montana, what we saw of it. The land around there is spectacular. There was road construction but the worst of it was 25 mph and that mostly because of the water truck that was wetting down the newly tarred and gravelled road ahead of us. Its spray was giving not only the gravel on our side a thorough wetting, it got everyone on the other side of the highway divider too. We were glad we weren't over there, as it was still chilly, but later in the day, every time we saw a construction sign we hoped for a nice water truck. Alas, we were stuck in the devil's own skillet all day.

Out here, the cities do not seem to engulf the interstate, like in the Olympia-Tacoma-Seattle metroplex and Chicagoland. Every time we think we'll have a good deal of city traffic, there isn't any. This is possibly because there are more cows than people in Montana or perhaps it is because they build away from the interstate instead of toward it. There is an apparent abundance of buildable, vacant land in this state. The most traffic we had today was in Billings, where we stopped for lunch. While we were standing at the counter waiting to order, I said to Ray, I feel like I am radiating heat. And he agreed. And I think he was right.

We stopped briefly at Pompeii's Pillar. It's a big ol stone thingy, but don't ask me beyond where the porta potties are. That's all I know and all we had time for. I don't even know why it's called Pompeii's Pillar. I do know there is a town of the same name in the opposite direction across the freeway some miles. Here's the Pillar.


I am amazed at all the freeway interchanges that have no services, but at least they are clearly labeled no services. Most of the time there appears to be no earthly reason for an interchange in those places, yet there they are, like someone anticipated huge cities popping up overnight. You have to watch carefully for gas stations. They do not litter the landscape like in Seattle.

Mariah wanted to know what's in the sidecar. Well, there's a roll-on suitcase, a medium sized cooler with water bottles and ice, a plastic bag with 2 pairs of shoes, a zippered reusable shopping bag, a 2 gallon can of gasoline, a smallish duffel with electronic gizmos and plugs, a smallish duffel with the pharmacy we must carry with us, a large first aid kit, some motorcycle cleaning equipment, motorcycle covers for each bike, Ray's raingear, my overnight kit and our reflective vests. It's full.

It was so hot today. So hot. And my right hand is have troubles with numbing, pins and needles and pains. I got special gloves, but while they help some, they don't help much. It got to hurting so badly and it was so miserable hot that the last 50 miles was hard for me and the last 20 of that was practically not doable. But I hung in there and here we are in our a/c'd room. We are grateful the a/c works.

Meanwhile in Seattle and environs, they are hearing the sweetest words in the English language: partly cloudy, with highs in the mid-60s'. We wanted to make this trip, we keep reminding ourselves. Here I am, looking for cooler weather.


For my brother especially: we went 328 miles today. At least 275 of those miles were blistering hot.

Three Forks In The Middle Of Noplace

is where we are tonight. It was a long day getting here and we are both tired.

Leaving Coeur D'Alene on I-90 you get into the mountains in a short time. Outside the city it is beautiful, the lake is beautiful, the mountains, the trees, a feast for the eyes. City of Coeur D'Alene itself? Meh. Here is our morning view out the window of our room.



Shortly after we left town, I saw a sign by the road that read: Wildlife On Road. I thought, no, so far it's been pretty tame, but I knew they were referring to Wild Things. I wished they had been more specific. Are they talking trout? Deer? Elk? Mountain Goats? Griz? No worries, didn't see any. We did see many bikers of the V-twin persuasion heading West. Returning from Sturgis perhaps. We saw a truck pulling a trailer with 2 bikes, one of them chromed enough to blind you from half a mile away and I bet they were there. The Harley riders were about the wildest thing we saw all day.

Right away the road starts curling around and gaining elevation. What a wonderful motorcycle road I-90 is in this area! The curves were challenging and fun. Ray was a little surprised at how well I did in the curves at the speed we were going, but I've gotten stronger I guess and I was able to keep the rig right where it should be and hold the mph. We saw so many beautiful little towns tucked into the mountains, we want to come back and explore them one day. I'm glad we'll be going over this part of I-90 again on our way back. I wanted to turn around and do those curves again today, but we had miles to make and so we didn't.

It got right chilly up in those mountains, but we persevered and didn't resort to our rain jackets. The skies were clear blue and the sun was shining. So beautiful I can't even describe it, and sad to say, no safe places to stop for pictures in the twisties. There wasn't even too much traffic.

Temperature wise, we were fairly comfortable all day, even tho it got up into the mid 80s. It's very dry over this way and there was a strong gusty wind. That wind was a double edged sword. It was cooling, but it was also yanking at our helmets and pushing us around. And it came from all directions...it was not simply gusty out of one direction, but all directions. It beat me about the head and shoulders with my own pony tail. The first time my tail end jumped up and tapped me on the left shoulder, I turned my head to see who was there. I was nearly ready to call the Ghost Hunters when I figured out it was only my hair. But it was freaky when the wind would blow my tail up and the end would whack me on the top of my helmet!

We had several occurrences of twisties and elevation changes during the day, but the best ones were between Coeur D'Alene and St. Regis. Not to be missed if you ride.

Montana has interesting rest areas. They are all beautifully sited and nicely landscaped, well kept (although many, many miles apart). Instead of large rooms full of stalls, they have 6 separate bathrooms. Each one is larger than our master bath at home! You can get a whole family in there at once and they have baby changing tables too, and toddler chairs, so you don't have to worry about what your kid is touching whilst you are otherwise occupied. Nice touch.





Today both of us found to be tiring. We think it was mostly that wind, although the numerous curves made us work. Getting a side car rig around a twisty in good order is not as elegant as riding a motorcycle thru a twisty, it's more a matter of strength and will. Each is hard in it's own way, but my arms and shoulders got a better work out than Ray's!

We went a long way today too, it is our longest day of the trip to Illinois. I could have stopped in Butte and been quite happy, but we couldn't stop there.

My communicator decided about 3:30 that it did not wish to speak to Ray's communicator any longer and since it would not do that, it decided it might as well be out of power too. This is not normal for my com, it's always lasted a full 8 hours. Not normal for it to unpair itself either, so Ray had to fix that tonight. No good having coms that won't work. Right now he's working on my helmet, as the speakers are rubbing my ears.

We went thru Missoula before we realized we'd reached Missoula, it can't be much bigger than 3 blinks. And I was afraid I'd loose Ray in the rush hour traffic in Butte. We arrived in Butte at 5:30 and if they have rush hour there, it was either not on I-90 or it was already over. We didn't even see traffic.

And soon we got to 3 Forks. This is a teeny little burg. One bar, one pizza joint, one fancy restaurant, a feed store/catering service, 2 gas stations, a sausage equipment company, a computer repair place, 2 motels, one really pricey the other moderate, (guess where we are)no stop lights, although they do have one stop sign that I saw. Our lovely motel is well off the beaten path and we will not be bothered by road noise tonight. The room is very large and there is high-speed wireless in the rooms. Plus we are on the ground floor and that is always a plus when you have to carry in every thing you have with you. We recommend the Broken Spur Motel should you ever find yourself in Three Forks, Montana. And the pizza from Stageline Pizza. They delivered it too, with 2 large cold diet Pepsis for 18.50! We think that is a bargain for what we got.

Now We Believe...

....that we are really going to take this trip. It took so long to get to this point that we weren't sure it would happen. But it has!

We could not leave without a last dinner at Todo Mexico, our favorite Mexican restaurant, which we enjoyed in the company of our good friends Brion and Geneva. Hi, you two!





We got on the road in good time yesterday, despite the fact that we went back home to get my overnight kit, the one thing I cannot live without. Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, left it sitting outside the garage and didn't pack it. O well. Short detour.

We got to North Bend so quick it was unbelievable. And starting out from there saved us time this morning, since we didn't have to deal with Seattle traffic. We went back to the hotel because at breakfast Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, was missing his wedding ring! Sadly, we didn't find it in the room or in any of his pockets. We still hope it will turn up in some odd place in the luggages. Here is the view out our motel room door.



Also, believe that Western Washington has the best weather in the country. Well, maybe Hawaii has better weather. But Western Washington sure beats Eastern Washington when it comes to weather.

It was actually cold up on Snoqualmie, and we had to put on our rain jackets or freeze. But when we topped Snoqualmie Pass, the skies cleared and just past Lake Kachess (which our boys called Stump Lake) we stopped to take off the jackets. By Ellensburg it was 91 and there were no more trees.



Just past Ellensburg, we passed a field with about a dozen motorhomes dozing in the sun. I am sure they were feeling the call of the open road in their aluminum bones as everyone went rushing past on the freeway.

Man alive, are there some bad smells around the east side of the state! Phew! That's one thing you all miss, driving around in your cars...the smells! When it comes to giant composting heaps, you are lucky indeed. But then we passed mint fields and the aroma was incredibly fresh and good. Kinda made up for the heaps.

The landscape changed after E-burg, sere dry hills lying around like giant sleeping dun-colored mangy beasts, tufts of grey-green prickly fur sticking up here and there. It was so hot and it was so dry. We were grateful when a cloud hung around for a while. It's really desert, sagebrush is the only thing that grows.

We stopped way out in the country at a little diner called Barbara Ann's. It didn't look like much, but it was clean and the food was truly tasty. The fries were among the best we've ever had and we know our fries. There was a gas station there and I was getting low on gas, but Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, said we'd go to the next one. Just after we passed the next one, Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, said oh, oh, I need gas!! But there was no gas for many miles and we ended up hauling out the emergency gas can in a rest area and each bike got about a gallon. It was enough to get to the next station and thirsty bikes took on a load of gas. Someone, Who Shall Remain Nameless, took on a load of teasing. (and still is, as you can see, but there is no one else I'd rather be traveling with) She Who Will Remain Nameless thought it was silly and dangerous to carry gasoline, but I'm glad we did.

We arrived in Spokane before rush hour and that was good. However, it was now 93 degrees and sunny again. Horrible for people used to a summertime average of 76. Hot, hot hot. The longer and hotter the day, the tighter my helmet gets. By mid-afternoon, nothing fits and the fidgets set in.

Just before meltdown, Coeur D'Alene popped up and we gratefully retreated to a nicely a/c'd room to cool off for a while. We'd discovered that Ray's communicator was malfunctioning, so we hunted up a m/c dealership that had our kind of communicator in stock. We couldn't buy just the broken part, we had to buy a whole new 2 person kit. It's our first unplanned expense, but we did plan for those in general, so as long as there are not a lot more unplanned expenses, we'll be ok. On the way back we stopped for dinner at a Chinese Buffet. My favorite things were the stuffed crabs, the crab salad and the vegetable egg rolls. They had hot and sour soup, and shu mai and pot stickers, but they were not near as good as Fu Man's.

So now it's time to relax a bit before bedtime. We are tired, but we're fine, and we're really on the way. I will share with you one lesson from todays travels: in one rest area, there was no toilet paper in the porta-potties, in one gas station, there was no paper in the stalls. Always, always carry your own t.p. when traveling! We do, and we were glad we used up space on it. Hope you all are well and happy. See you tomorrow, with any luck!

Well, we are almost ready to depart on our big trip, wonderful adventure or fool’s errand depending on your view of a 5000+ mile motorcycle ride. It certainly is not the longest one anyone has ever taken. Our son Justin did one of 11,000+ miles just last summer. We will be visiting some of the same places and people that he did. Moreover, it is not even a long one considering our age. I read of a guy planning to ride from Florida to the north shore of Alaska next year at the age of 75. But it is the longest we’ve ever attempted or likely to attempt again. We have done a couple of trips of a little over 1000 miles. Training rides if you will.

The basics are I am riding a 05 Moto Guzzi Nevada 750 and Susan is riding her 09 Suzuki Burgman that has a Kenna sidecar attached. Yes, she rides her own. The sidecar has solved many of the questions of “do we have room to take this? “

The bikes are all ready to go and we think we have the necessary accessories to make the trip enjoyable but we’re getting down to the wire on getting the house ready for the house sitters and various other things. So in a great tradition of “I need time to get ready for vacation” I took Friday off work to help Susan get the last minute things done. I should get lots of husbanding points for that.

We depart on Tuesday, August 17 in the evening and go just far enough to get past the Seattle traffic mess. The real trip will start on Wednesday when we head east on I90 and then I94 to Dickinson, North Dakota, to visit a niece. From there we get off the interstate and go through South Dakota and into Minnesota to Hasting to visit one of Susan’s sisters. Then we follow the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side for a while and then on east to Elgin, Illinois, where will spend a couple of weeks visiting my brother and Susan’s other siblings. After that, we head back. While we have laid out a route, we are not tying ourselves to it. We’ve already talked of some alternate stops and detours.

Susan's ride. Dauntless Motors is the place that manufactures and installs the Kenna sidecar that's on her bike.'



My ride is a little more traditional.