Today we went to Gardiner MT via the Teton National Park and the east side of Yellowstone. Too many things to see, places to stop and look at. We got in late and very tired. We are fine, more to follow.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
short update for a long day
Yesterday was a rest day in Jackson Hole WY. It's a touri$t trap with a capital $. There was a Harley store with only two motorcycles on display but lots of leather and other things that say Harley for many $$.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Twisting North
It mystifies us how the temperatures can be in the 40s but the sun is so hot. It seems to be the norm in the high desert areas. It was a bit on the chilly side when we left, but it warmed up fast. It was warm enough that we could start the ride in our mesh jackets.
We left Vernal, UT on US Highway 191 and proceeded north. The morning's ride was most wonderful scenery-wise. We went almost immediately into twisties. The rock formations were very impressive. We went around a curve and WOW! A lake! It was Steinaker Dam and Resevoir. The lake was such a beautiful blue and a total surprise in all that dry and brown.
Many of the buttes and formations were red, like this one. The clutter in the foreground is a phosphate mining operation.
The state of Utah kindly offered good notice on the pullouts and even posted signs occasionally to tell us what era the rock formations were from. We passed one called the Navajo Formation. It was from the cretaceous era. The rock was multi-colored and swirled. Unfortunately there was no place for a picture. But the rest of the formations and monoliths were equally interesting. We think this one looks like the remains of a castle.
This was the highest point around the resevoir.
We continued on 191 and the road surface was wonderful. We wound higher and higher and drove thru vibrantly glowing stands of birch, their white trunks and golden crowns blazing like so many candles. It was an amazing sight.
The road continued to twist around and soon we came to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Highway 191 runs right thru it and over the dam. The gorge was full of pines and junipers and green as can be. Because of the dam, there was a lake. It's rather large and highway 191 does not follow along the length of it so there is still much to see for another trip.
Off we went, twisting around and going up, until we had reached 9 thousand and some feet. Our bikes were sluggish but they made it. We saw antelope alongside the road, a group of four. They were beautiful to us, but they did not seem to find us the same, as they fled in a panic at our approach. Of course, this being hunting season, they probably had good reason. The scenery continued to be astounding at every curve.
Here I am at an overlook. You may think I am making a rude gesture at the camera, but I'm simply rubbing my weary hand.
We really enjoyed this part of the day and nearly ran out of "Oh, Wow!"s. We didn't know whether to slow down and enjoy the scenery or speed up and enjoy the curves. Eventually the road wound down out of the mountains and buttes and deposited us at I-80. It being time for lunch, we lunched and rested up and I took advantage of very clean bathroom to remove my cuddle duds which were beginning to cuddle me a bit too diligently. Then we tackled the Interstate. It was infested with large rushing trucks. Ugh. We were on it only about 10 or so miles and then it was off on one of the chicken scratch roads, Wyoming 372.
Now, I know that I have said that we passed thru remote and desolate lands before, but the lands surrounding Wyoming 372 are even more so. I am trying to think of a word which signifies more desolate than desolate and I can't come up with one. Whatever it is, this area made desolate seem comfy and homey. No one lives here but free-ranging cattle and oil and gas wells. The low rolling hills are a dull brown and the cows are the tallest living things in sight. Not that we saw all that many cattle either. The brush is the scrubbiest imaginable and nothing resembling a tree grows here. It was exceedingly dreary riding. My right hand kept falling asleep and I wanted to join it until the drear was all past us. The road surface ranged from nice to cruddy and fairly quickly changed it's mind about what it would be. It was hot and dry and deserty and waaaaay out there. We endured this part of the ride. Just about the time we got bored to death, we picked up US 189. This road offered a good surface and some nice sweepers and some bigger hills. After a bit, things got more interesting and we began to see buttes again and some life around and fenced in cows and a bit of river. Around a curve and there's another lake!
That was our last picture of the day, because having passed Dry Piney Creek, South Piney Creek and Piney Lake, we came to the Town (300+ people and 6675 elevation) of Big Piney. Now, I would like to know how these creeks and the town came to have the name of Piney, since there is not and probably never has been a pine tree within a hundred miles of this place. Two hops and we were in Marbleton (300+ people and 6685 elevation), where we have taken refuge within the friendly confines of Room 123 at the Marbleton Inn.
We ventured down to Big Piney for dinner, as it has the one restaurant in the two towns that's open on Sundays, that being Los Cabos Family Mexican Restaurant. We ate well in that dinky place.
Tomorrow it's off up US 189 to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where our surroundings will be considerably posher and correspondingly pricier, location being all in the motel biz. And hopefully, a fair number of curves in the road on the way there. We'll have a rest day in Jackson Hole, mingle with the well-to-do and see how the other half lives.
Today we went 215 miles today. Not so far but well worth the time and effort.
We left Vernal, UT on US Highway 191 and proceeded north. The morning's ride was most wonderful scenery-wise. We went almost immediately into twisties. The rock formations were very impressive. We went around a curve and WOW! A lake! It was Steinaker Dam and Resevoir. The lake was such a beautiful blue and a total surprise in all that dry and brown.
Many of the buttes and formations were red, like this one. The clutter in the foreground is a phosphate mining operation.
The state of Utah kindly offered good notice on the pullouts and even posted signs occasionally to tell us what era the rock formations were from. We passed one called the Navajo Formation. It was from the cretaceous era. The rock was multi-colored and swirled. Unfortunately there was no place for a picture. But the rest of the formations and monoliths were equally interesting. We think this one looks like the remains of a castle.
This was the highest point around the resevoir.
We continued on 191 and the road surface was wonderful. We wound higher and higher and drove thru vibrantly glowing stands of birch, their white trunks and golden crowns blazing like so many candles. It was an amazing sight.
The road continued to twist around and soon we came to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Highway 191 runs right thru it and over the dam. The gorge was full of pines and junipers and green as can be. Because of the dam, there was a lake. It's rather large and highway 191 does not follow along the length of it so there is still much to see for another trip.
Off we went, twisting around and going up, until we had reached 9 thousand and some feet. Our bikes were sluggish but they made it. We saw antelope alongside the road, a group of four. They were beautiful to us, but they did not seem to find us the same, as they fled in a panic at our approach. Of course, this being hunting season, they probably had good reason. The scenery continued to be astounding at every curve.
Here I am at an overlook. You may think I am making a rude gesture at the camera, but I'm simply rubbing my weary hand.
We really enjoyed this part of the day and nearly ran out of "Oh, Wow!"s. We didn't know whether to slow down and enjoy the scenery or speed up and enjoy the curves. Eventually the road wound down out of the mountains and buttes and deposited us at I-80. It being time for lunch, we lunched and rested up and I took advantage of very clean bathroom to remove my cuddle duds which were beginning to cuddle me a bit too diligently. Then we tackled the Interstate. It was infested with large rushing trucks. Ugh. We were on it only about 10 or so miles and then it was off on one of the chicken scratch roads, Wyoming 372.
Now, I know that I have said that we passed thru remote and desolate lands before, but the lands surrounding Wyoming 372 are even more so. I am trying to think of a word which signifies more desolate than desolate and I can't come up with one. Whatever it is, this area made desolate seem comfy and homey. No one lives here but free-ranging cattle and oil and gas wells. The low rolling hills are a dull brown and the cows are the tallest living things in sight. Not that we saw all that many cattle either. The brush is the scrubbiest imaginable and nothing resembling a tree grows here. It was exceedingly dreary riding. My right hand kept falling asleep and I wanted to join it until the drear was all past us. The road surface ranged from nice to cruddy and fairly quickly changed it's mind about what it would be. It was hot and dry and deserty and waaaaay out there. We endured this part of the ride. Just about the time we got bored to death, we picked up US 189. This road offered a good surface and some nice sweepers and some bigger hills. After a bit, things got more interesting and we began to see buttes again and some life around and fenced in cows and a bit of river. Around a curve and there's another lake!
That was our last picture of the day, because having passed Dry Piney Creek, South Piney Creek and Piney Lake, we came to the Town (300+ people and 6675 elevation) of Big Piney. Now, I would like to know how these creeks and the town came to have the name of Piney, since there is not and probably never has been a pine tree within a hundred miles of this place. Two hops and we were in Marbleton (300+ people and 6685 elevation), where we have taken refuge within the friendly confines of Room 123 at the Marbleton Inn.
We ventured down to Big Piney for dinner, as it has the one restaurant in the two towns that's open on Sundays, that being Los Cabos Family Mexican Restaurant. We ate well in that dinky place.
Tomorrow it's off up US 189 to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where our surroundings will be considerably posher and correspondingly pricier, location being all in the motel biz. And hopefully, a fair number of curves in the road on the way there. We'll have a rest day in Jackson Hole, mingle with the well-to-do and see how the other half lives.
Today we went 215 miles today. Not so far but well worth the time and effort.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Good Bye Sulphur, Hello Dinosaurs
This morning it was very cold in Hot Sulphur Springs. Here's the proof:
Here's the view out the window.
We put on lots of our clothes and hit the road, that being US 40. After about 12 miles, we stopped for gas and put on more clothes. Shiver! But by noon, we were shedding clothes as it warmed up nicely. By the time we got to Vernal, Utah, it was downright warm.
The skies stayed clear blue all day and it was once again beautiful. Leaving the misnamed Hot Sulphur Springs, we entered a canyon. Along the river at the bottom of the canyon there is a rail line. Think of the quintessential wild west rail road and there you have what we saw this morning. Unfortunately, due to the narrowness of the shoulders and the multiplicity of curves there was no place to stop to take pictures. But the whole scene was just about perfect.
We had good curves right up the mountains, faster ones than yesterday's and the road was much wider, although still very enjoyable and easier. We went through Rabbit Ears Pass. Here are the namesake ears!
And for the third time this trip, we crossed the continental divide. The other times, it was not safe to stop for a picture, but this time it was.
We had less traffic than yesterday and were able to stop and take pictures fairly often. Ray put together some panoramas. This is outside our motel.
This one is on the way up to Rabbit Ears Pass.
We saw many motorcycles today, especially on the mountain. Who with 2 or three wheels could resist that road? US 40 between Hot Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs is a great road. Coming down out of the pass we quickly came to Steamboat Springs. The area around there is wonderful, full of wooded hills and green valleys. But we think, based on the kinds of cars we saw at the gas station and on the streets, that we probably can't afford a house there.
Once we left Steamboat Springs the road straightened considerably but became very hilly. There surely is not much out there. This one was taken at a historical marker not far from Steamboat Springs. It details a coal mine disaster in which 47 miners died. From the names listed, it looks like all the wage earners in several families died.
The further north and west we went, the drier and more desolate the land became. We thought parts of Nebraska and Colorado were deserted. This is worse. And for miles and miles, no sign of habitation.
This is pretty much what things look like, junipers and sagebrush and cows. The cows spread out quite a bit, probably because there isn't much to eat in any one place.
The land you see in the background suffered a wildfire back in 1988. You can see by comparison with the foreground that the land has still not recovered from that fire.
Just before you get to the Colorado/Utah border, the road curves around and ahead of you rises an escarpment. It's high, layered, weathered, striated, grooved, eroded, enormous and long. If the earth were flat and the creator made a wall to keep us from falling off, I imagine this mountain is what that wall would look like. It's called Blue Mountain and it really does have a blue tint to it, and for some reason the sky over it looks bluer too. We rode alongside Blue Mountain for quite some time.
Utah is more rugged land than Colorado. It's got washes, hills, rocks. When it's farmed, the farmer works the land right up to the toes of the hills. This is dinosaur country around Vernal and some of the hills look like sleeping dinos, like a giant stegosaurus laid down for a nap and never got up. The sharp rocks poke up out of the land and give the illusion of bones.
Today we went 239 miles. Tomorrow morning we're off to Marbleton, Wyoming. The road that way should be fairly curvy, we think. It goes through Flaming Gorge Recreation area.
Here's the view out the window.
We put on lots of our clothes and hit the road, that being US 40. After about 12 miles, we stopped for gas and put on more clothes. Shiver! But by noon, we were shedding clothes as it warmed up nicely. By the time we got to Vernal, Utah, it was downright warm.
The skies stayed clear blue all day and it was once again beautiful. Leaving the misnamed Hot Sulphur Springs, we entered a canyon. Along the river at the bottom of the canyon there is a rail line. Think of the quintessential wild west rail road and there you have what we saw this morning. Unfortunately, due to the narrowness of the shoulders and the multiplicity of curves there was no place to stop to take pictures. But the whole scene was just about perfect.
We had good curves right up the mountains, faster ones than yesterday's and the road was much wider, although still very enjoyable and easier. We went through Rabbit Ears Pass. Here are the namesake ears!
And for the third time this trip, we crossed the continental divide. The other times, it was not safe to stop for a picture, but this time it was.
We had less traffic than yesterday and were able to stop and take pictures fairly often. Ray put together some panoramas. This is outside our motel.
This one is on the way up to Rabbit Ears Pass.
We saw many motorcycles today, especially on the mountain. Who with 2 or three wheels could resist that road? US 40 between Hot Sulphur Springs and Steamboat Springs is a great road. Coming down out of the pass we quickly came to Steamboat Springs. The area around there is wonderful, full of wooded hills and green valleys. But we think, based on the kinds of cars we saw at the gas station and on the streets, that we probably can't afford a house there.
Once we left Steamboat Springs the road straightened considerably but became very hilly. There surely is not much out there. This one was taken at a historical marker not far from Steamboat Springs. It details a coal mine disaster in which 47 miners died. From the names listed, it looks like all the wage earners in several families died.
The further north and west we went, the drier and more desolate the land became. We thought parts of Nebraska and Colorado were deserted. This is worse. And for miles and miles, no sign of habitation.
This is pretty much what things look like, junipers and sagebrush and cows. The cows spread out quite a bit, probably because there isn't much to eat in any one place.
The land you see in the background suffered a wildfire back in 1988. You can see by comparison with the foreground that the land has still not recovered from that fire.
Just before you get to the Colorado/Utah border, the road curves around and ahead of you rises an escarpment. It's high, layered, weathered, striated, grooved, eroded, enormous and long. If the earth were flat and the creator made a wall to keep us from falling off, I imagine this mountain is what that wall would look like. It's called Blue Mountain and it really does have a blue tint to it, and for some reason the sky over it looks bluer too. We rode alongside Blue Mountain for quite some time.
Utah is more rugged land than Colorado. It's got washes, hills, rocks. When it's farmed, the farmer works the land right up to the toes of the hills. This is dinosaur country around Vernal and some of the hills look like sleeping dinos, like a giant stegosaurus laid down for a nap and never got up. The sharp rocks poke up out of the land and give the illusion of bones.
Today we went 239 miles. Tomorrow morning we're off to Marbleton, Wyoming. The road that way should be fairly curvy, we think. It goes through Flaming Gorge Recreation area.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Riding The Backbone of the Rockies
We stayed an extra day in Westminster so we could spend more time with Leann, and the weather on the mountains yesterday was nasty. We got a tour of Leann's country club and had lunch there. She also took us into the kitchen, a place even the members don't go. It was very interesting and we appreciated it. We got to meet her friend Josh and really liked him. On Thursday we met them for a late breakfast and sat and yakked until it was time for them to go to work.
When we left Westminster this morning, we headed for Boulder and the Boulder Canyon Road. Wow what scenery! The aspens are turned gold, red and yellow and just glow among the pines. The road surface was good for the most part and loaded with twisties. It was really a fun ride with not too much traffic. We gained elevation and got lots of good pictures. It was warm enough we could wear our summer mesh jackets.
We got to Estes Park and the first thing I noticed was the Stanley Hotel, gleaming whitely above the town. You may know that this place is so haunted that it was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining". I wish we could have visited there, but we just didn't have time. Estes Park is in a truly beautiful setting and really seems like living in a park. The downtown is quaint and old and caters to the sizeable tourist business. There were so many people there that at first we thought it was a parade or some special Estes Park celebration. But no, just swarms of tourists.
We took a nice state highway to Rocky Mountain National Park and were surprised by the numbers of people who joined us there. There were thousands of cars and motorcycles in a place we thought we'd be fairly alone. Once in the park, the road rises swiftly, and becomes curvy immediately. I really cannot find enough superlatives to describe the ride through RMNP. It was the most amazing ride with the most amazing scenery. Everyone who rides a motorcycle should ride this road at least once. The road is very challenging with lots of 15 mph hairpin curves. There is often no edge, the paving goes right to the edge of the mountain, followed by a huge drop. There are no guardrails, no reflectors, no edge paint. There is no margin for error on this road. We didn't see anyone driving fast or stunting. Everyone kept to the speed limits and I suppose that's the effect a thousand foot drop has on a driver/rider. The Washington mountains trained us quite well for the Rockies but the Rockies exceeded anything the northwest mountains have ever thrown at us. This road was quite a challenge. It's wonderful, exhilarating, but also exhausting.
We were more than 12,000 feet up, well above the treeline and it got cold. We were glad we'd taken time to put warmer gear on. Everytime we thought we'd gotten to the top the road went up still more. The Rockies are much more intimidating looking than our cuddly tree-covered mountains. At one point the 2 lane road went right along the top of a ridge, with a steep drop off on both sides. No shoulders, just air. We felt like we were riding the backbone of the mountains. What a rush! There is still snow up there left over from last year. They are expecting snowfall any day now. We think we are probably among the last to ride that road this year.
We only went 143 miles today but as they were hard miles we both feel we'd gone far enough. We have done something we never did before, we rode right over the Rocky Mountains.
We're in the tiniest old knotty pine room in a motel in Hot Sulphur Springs, but it's clean and I think we'll sleep quite well, unless the trucks on the highway keep down-gearing outside the motel.
Hot Sulphur Springs (yes, there are hot sulphur springs here) is a town that time forgot.
But you can get a really great meal here because who ever is in the kitchen really knows what to do with green chilis:
When we left Westminster this morning, we headed for Boulder and the Boulder Canyon Road. Wow what scenery! The aspens are turned gold, red and yellow and just glow among the pines. The road surface was good for the most part and loaded with twisties. It was really a fun ride with not too much traffic. We gained elevation and got lots of good pictures. It was warm enough we could wear our summer mesh jackets.
We got to Estes Park and the first thing I noticed was the Stanley Hotel, gleaming whitely above the town. You may know that this place is so haunted that it was the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining". I wish we could have visited there, but we just didn't have time. Estes Park is in a truly beautiful setting and really seems like living in a park. The downtown is quaint and old and caters to the sizeable tourist business. There were so many people there that at first we thought it was a parade or some special Estes Park celebration. But no, just swarms of tourists.
We took a nice state highway to Rocky Mountain National Park and were surprised by the numbers of people who joined us there. There were thousands of cars and motorcycles in a place we thought we'd be fairly alone. Once in the park, the road rises swiftly, and becomes curvy immediately. I really cannot find enough superlatives to describe the ride through RMNP. It was the most amazing ride with the most amazing scenery. Everyone who rides a motorcycle should ride this road at least once. The road is very challenging with lots of 15 mph hairpin curves. There is often no edge, the paving goes right to the edge of the mountain, followed by a huge drop. There are no guardrails, no reflectors, no edge paint. There is no margin for error on this road. We didn't see anyone driving fast or stunting. Everyone kept to the speed limits and I suppose that's the effect a thousand foot drop has on a driver/rider. The Washington mountains trained us quite well for the Rockies but the Rockies exceeded anything the northwest mountains have ever thrown at us. This road was quite a challenge. It's wonderful, exhilarating, but also exhausting.
We were more than 12,000 feet up, well above the treeline and it got cold. We were glad we'd taken time to put warmer gear on. Everytime we thought we'd gotten to the top the road went up still more. The Rockies are much more intimidating looking than our cuddly tree-covered mountains. At one point the 2 lane road went right along the top of a ridge, with a steep drop off on both sides. No shoulders, just air. We felt like we were riding the backbone of the mountains. What a rush! There is still snow up there left over from last year. They are expecting snowfall any day now. We think we are probably among the last to ride that road this year.
We only went 143 miles today but as they were hard miles we both feel we'd gone far enough. We have done something we never did before, we rode right over the Rocky Mountains.
We're in the tiniest old knotty pine room in a motel in Hot Sulphur Springs, but it's clean and I think we'll sleep quite well, unless the trucks on the highway keep down-gearing outside the motel.
Hot Sulphur Springs (yes, there are hot sulphur springs here) is a town that time forgot.
But you can get a really great meal here because who ever is in the kitchen really knows what to do with green chilis:
Monday, September 20, 2010
Denver Puts On A Light Show!
If you would like to live in isolation, we have found the place for you. Western Nebraska and Northeastern Colorado are the places you should be looking for your hermitage. We passed farmhouses that were so out in the middle of nowhere that we couldn't see their neighbors and the land is so flat that you can nearly see all the way to the curvature of the earth!
If you are a fan of cattle, move to Western Nebraska or Northeastern Colorado. I am certain that there are way, way more cows than people out there in the lands we passed thru today. Once again we rode the chicken scratch roads, as my brother puts it. I prefer William Least Heat Moon's designation...he calls them blue highways. Very little traffic, mostly excellent road surfaces and plenty of room to see what there is to see. I imagine some people would call it desolate and since many of the fields are already harvested and plowed, it looks rather desolate. We think it is probably beautiful in the spring and summer.
In some areas, it's grazing land and some areas are farm land. Mostly it's grazing land though nearly every ranch grows hay and field corn for winter silage and feed. We didn't see any sheep although that does not mean they are not out there. There aren't many towns and most of them don't amount to much. I honestly don't know how people live in places like that. I don't understand how the towns persist with nothing there. I bet we were in places today that never see a UPS truck or the Schwan's man. There's certainly no cable tv and I didn't see satellite dishes. No cell signals. Wierder than wierd. We passed through only one sizeable town today, MT Sterling. It had some traffic lights and it had all the modern amenities. (McD's Taco Bell, Wendy's, Burger King, Arby's, cell phone signals)
It seems cowboys in the traditional sense, that being a man who rides a horse and herds cows is a dying breed. These days they use 4 wheel ATVs. Pretty soon, there won't be any "real" cowboys left. It's too bad in a way, but perhaps easier for the cowboys and ATVs don't need as much care as a horse. Perhaps todays children will never see a real cowboy, and certainly their children won't.
We saw more hay rolls today. There are 2 schools of thought on hay bales. Some believe you should gather them all together in one place, say stack them in a shed or together in the field. Others believe they should be left scattered all over the field. The reason for the scatter approach? If there's a prairie fire, then if the hay is scattered then maybe the fire will miss some hay bales and the rancher will still have some hay left for his herd. (Robin explained this to us) The stackers almost always use square bales. They are enormous bales, as big as the round ones are. Got to lift them with machinery, they are so big. Seems little bales that a man can lift are passing out of favor everywhere, like cow ponies.
It was hot today. Cool when we started out, it got hot fast. So fast that it seems like we went around a curve and up a little hill and wham! Hot! It happened so fast I checked to see if my bike was on fire. I would not have been surprised to find that it was. In the afternoon, thunderstorms started to build but we escaped all but a cooling sprinkling as we drove through the Denver suburbs.
The thunderstorm designated for Westminster, Colorado waited until after we'd had our dinner to threaten us innocent bikers. It being Monday, we opted for Taco Bell, the first Taco Bell we've had in 5 weeks. Mmmmmmm-mmmmm. It tasted good to me. Ray cheated and went over to the Kentucky Fried Chicken side.
We saw the storm coming and saw the lightening begin to strike so we scooted back to our motel. In the parking lot we were chased down by a couple who were very interesting in finding out more about my scooter and sidecar. The wife wants a rig and when she saw me driving one, she just about freaked she was so excited. So we stood in the parking lot and yakked while the storm bore down. We had just enough time to cover the bikes, get to the hotel room and back outside with the camera to catch some pictures. It was raining by that time so we retreated to our room. It's still going on out there but I think it will pass by soon. There's pretty spectacular lightening around here. Leann tells us that's the way it is.
Tomorrow we'll get the oil changed in the bikes and do I don't know what yet. Wednesday we'll spend with Leann. We checked with the house sitter and she reported that Brindi (her dog) and Normie spend about 4 hours a day wrestling and chasing and having a good time. She says they are both losing weight. I am afraid he will really miss Brindi when she's gone back to her own house. This weekend, she's taking the dogs out to Shaw Island, where she lives. She has 5 acres out there...imagine all the running and wrestling they can do out there! And in the bad weather Seattle has had our tomato crop is a total loss. Unless you adore green tomatoes, which I do not. Chris said she's taken about a hundred pounds of green tomatoes in the house. Sad, sad, sad. Such a spectacular year last year and such an awful year tomato-wise this year. Simply too cold and wet.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Motorscicles Into the Teeth of the Wind and Rain
Oh, golly, was it cold yesterday. The thermometer on Ray's bike read 48 when we left Grand Island and soon dropped to 41 degrees where it stayed until about a half hour out of Alliance when it raised up to 44, Nebraska and our next motel.
It rained almost all the way. Not hard, just omnipresent. The wind was gusty and cold. The clouds were low and dark and the day was completely wretched and gloomy. Gas stations on Highway 2 in NE are not what you could call numerous. They're spaced about 70 miles apart, so we had to ride that long before we could warm up.
We stopped along the way and put vinyl gloves on over our glove liners and under the gloves. My gloves and Ray's were saturated by the time we reached the first gas station. I bought a pair of heavy men's winter gloves. The fingers were way too long, but they were warm and above all else, dry. Ray bought a pair of heavy cotton liners, and our fingers barely avoided frostbite. My fingers got so cold in between stations that they hurt.
At our first station we both had big hot chocolates to warm us up. At the second, we had hot chocolate and gas station food. I could not recommend the fried chicken, but it was a 3 piece serving and Ray was filled up with the thigh and leg and I by the breast. The onion rings were less than appetizing. Both had, however, the much appreciated benefit of being hot. We lingered there a fair time until we had to get back out and face the weather. At the third, it was more hot chocolate, and I'm glad they all had it, but I was totally prepared to drink gallons of decaf coffee and plead medical emergency, just to get something warm in me. People from cars felt sorry for us out in that raw weather and didn't hesitate to say so.
The route is one of Nebraska's scenic drives and winds it's way thru the Sandhills area. It was beautiful we think, but honestly we only noticed the landscape particularly once when it wasn't raining and Ray commented that it looked like a scene out of Dances With Wolves. And it did, with Angus cattle standing in for buffalo. There are unfortunately no pictures, partly because we didn't want to risk the camera getting soaked and partly because Ray didn't think it was worth taking off all his gloves and partly because we were so cold we didn't want to spend one extra minute on that road. I bet today it is totally beautiful out there. It's still very green in Nebraska, one of the few years it's stayed green all summer and into fall, the natives tell us. There are supposedly lots of wildlife out in those plains but we could not testify to that as any animal with any sense was tucked away out of the rain.
I have never been so cold in my life. I think I had totally used up my ability to make my own heat. The only warm spot in my entire body was right were the hot chocolate sat in my tummy. About a half hour after we got warmed up the shivers would start again. You know you are cold when your helmeted head shivers too. All the vents on our helmets were closed, our rain suits buttoned up to our necks, rain boots on. We did everything we could do, but it was still TOO cold. Yeah, I know you guys think I'm just always saying that, but for yesterday, it really was true. It was a horrible day and I will never, ever ride in 41 degrees wearing only summer clothing. Nope. Don't ask me to do it, I will turn you down. In fact, I am not sure I'd do it even if I had a heated suit, gloves, boots and bottom warmer.
I turned the heat up in our lovely room and we both took hot showers. We dashed across the parking lot to the Arby's for supper. We had not thought we were in the mood for Arby's but it hit the spot and was just the right size for our supper. After that, we didn't do much and fell into bed about 10. I still felt chilled.
Today dawned cloudy but not too cold. We woke up in time to go to church. There were 13 people in Sunday School and 4 of us were visitors. There were 7 ladies in Relief Society and 2 of us were visitors. The Relief Society President is also the RS pianist. They have a nice little building with room to grow some, 18 benches in the chapel and not one was full. When we came out after meeting, the clouds had cleared and it was a wonderful day. We came back to the motel (went over to church in the sidecar...no ladylike way to get in OR out) changed our clothes and then walked across the street to try Martin's Family Restaurant. It was closed so we went next door to an Italian place, Sam and Louie's. The aroma was delicious, so we figured it was a good bet. We were right! We both decided on lasagne, with an appetizer of fried ravioli. Yum! We had enough leftover that we ate supper in our room. Beats gas station chicken hands down.
After lunch, we decided to drive out to see Carhenge. It's very odd. Why a family decided that this was the proper way to memorialize their farmer father is well beyond my imagining. But it is interesting. The family turned the installation over to the local government and now it's quite the tourist attraction. And free too.
And there was corn growing in the adjacent field, so we decided a picture there would be appropriate. This is field corn and is very near to ready to harvest. There are also many ripe wheat fields in the Alliance area, once you're out of the Sandhills part. The Sandhills are rangelands. But since you know I am 5 feet tall in my stocking feet, you can see how tall the corn is. Notice the corn on the edges of the fields grow a bit shorter than the corn a few rows back. It's always that way with corn.
After the excursion it was back to the hotel for laundry and repacking. Things seem to have gotten scrambled here and there in the luggages and need to be straightened out. So the laundry is still drying, but it's the last load. Ray has parceled out his pills for the week in his pill dispenser. The sun is setting on a beautiful day, the moon is up and tomorrow promises to be sunny and hot. I know. Tomorrow I will probably say it was too hot. But it won't be 103, and it won't be 39, so that will be a treat. We both have sore throats and snuffly noses and hope it won't come to more than that
We're starting to feel like we've been away from home for a long, long time. But I have to tell you that if you've got to be away from home, the Holiday Inn in Grand Island and the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance are great places to be. They have the most comfortable beds we've encountered the entire trip so far, the staffs have been wonderful and the breakfast is not the usual run of the mill stale muffins and toast. We recommend them both. Neither town amounts to much, size-wise, but the people are friendly and Grand Island has a Jimmy John's! We drove 3 miles there just to get a Jimmy John fix. In the absence of Beef Villa, it will do.
It rained almost all the way. Not hard, just omnipresent. The wind was gusty and cold. The clouds were low and dark and the day was completely wretched and gloomy. Gas stations on Highway 2 in NE are not what you could call numerous. They're spaced about 70 miles apart, so we had to ride that long before we could warm up.
We stopped along the way and put vinyl gloves on over our glove liners and under the gloves. My gloves and Ray's were saturated by the time we reached the first gas station. I bought a pair of heavy men's winter gloves. The fingers were way too long, but they were warm and above all else, dry. Ray bought a pair of heavy cotton liners, and our fingers barely avoided frostbite. My fingers got so cold in between stations that they hurt.
At our first station we both had big hot chocolates to warm us up. At the second, we had hot chocolate and gas station food. I could not recommend the fried chicken, but it was a 3 piece serving and Ray was filled up with the thigh and leg and I by the breast. The onion rings were less than appetizing. Both had, however, the much appreciated benefit of being hot. We lingered there a fair time until we had to get back out and face the weather. At the third, it was more hot chocolate, and I'm glad they all had it, but I was totally prepared to drink gallons of decaf coffee and plead medical emergency, just to get something warm in me. People from cars felt sorry for us out in that raw weather and didn't hesitate to say so.
The route is one of Nebraska's scenic drives and winds it's way thru the Sandhills area. It was beautiful we think, but honestly we only noticed the landscape particularly once when it wasn't raining and Ray commented that it looked like a scene out of Dances With Wolves. And it did, with Angus cattle standing in for buffalo. There are unfortunately no pictures, partly because we didn't want to risk the camera getting soaked and partly because Ray didn't think it was worth taking off all his gloves and partly because we were so cold we didn't want to spend one extra minute on that road. I bet today it is totally beautiful out there. It's still very green in Nebraska, one of the few years it's stayed green all summer and into fall, the natives tell us. There are supposedly lots of wildlife out in those plains but we could not testify to that as any animal with any sense was tucked away out of the rain.
I have never been so cold in my life. I think I had totally used up my ability to make my own heat. The only warm spot in my entire body was right were the hot chocolate sat in my tummy. About a half hour after we got warmed up the shivers would start again. You know you are cold when your helmeted head shivers too. All the vents on our helmets were closed, our rain suits buttoned up to our necks, rain boots on. We did everything we could do, but it was still TOO cold. Yeah, I know you guys think I'm just always saying that, but for yesterday, it really was true. It was a horrible day and I will never, ever ride in 41 degrees wearing only summer clothing. Nope. Don't ask me to do it, I will turn you down. In fact, I am not sure I'd do it even if I had a heated suit, gloves, boots and bottom warmer.
I turned the heat up in our lovely room and we both took hot showers. We dashed across the parking lot to the Arby's for supper. We had not thought we were in the mood for Arby's but it hit the spot and was just the right size for our supper. After that, we didn't do much and fell into bed about 10. I still felt chilled.
Today dawned cloudy but not too cold. We woke up in time to go to church. There were 13 people in Sunday School and 4 of us were visitors. There were 7 ladies in Relief Society and 2 of us were visitors. The Relief Society President is also the RS pianist. They have a nice little building with room to grow some, 18 benches in the chapel and not one was full. When we came out after meeting, the clouds had cleared and it was a wonderful day. We came back to the motel (went over to church in the sidecar...no ladylike way to get in OR out) changed our clothes and then walked across the street to try Martin's Family Restaurant. It was closed so we went next door to an Italian place, Sam and Louie's. The aroma was delicious, so we figured it was a good bet. We were right! We both decided on lasagne, with an appetizer of fried ravioli. Yum! We had enough leftover that we ate supper in our room. Beats gas station chicken hands down.
After lunch, we decided to drive out to see Carhenge. It's very odd. Why a family decided that this was the proper way to memorialize their farmer father is well beyond my imagining. But it is interesting. The family turned the installation over to the local government and now it's quite the tourist attraction. And free too.
And there was corn growing in the adjacent field, so we decided a picture there would be appropriate. This is field corn and is very near to ready to harvest. There are also many ripe wheat fields in the Alliance area, once you're out of the Sandhills part. The Sandhills are rangelands. But since you know I am 5 feet tall in my stocking feet, you can see how tall the corn is. Notice the corn on the edges of the fields grow a bit shorter than the corn a few rows back. It's always that way with corn.
After the excursion it was back to the hotel for laundry and repacking. Things seem to have gotten scrambled here and there in the luggages and need to be straightened out. So the laundry is still drying, but it's the last load. Ray has parceled out his pills for the week in his pill dispenser. The sun is setting on a beautiful day, the moon is up and tomorrow promises to be sunny and hot. I know. Tomorrow I will probably say it was too hot. But it won't be 103, and it won't be 39, so that will be a treat. We both have sore throats and snuffly noses and hope it won't come to more than that
We're starting to feel like we've been away from home for a long, long time. But I have to tell you that if you've got to be away from home, the Holiday Inn in Grand Island and the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance are great places to be. They have the most comfortable beds we've encountered the entire trip so far, the staffs have been wonderful and the breakfast is not the usual run of the mill stale muffins and toast. We recommend them both. Neither town amounts to much, size-wise, but the people are friendly and Grand Island has a Jimmy John's! We drove 3 miles there just to get a Jimmy John fix. In the absence of Beef Villa, it will do.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Mad Dogs and Motorcyclistas Out In The Noonday Chill
Usually, I spend a good bit of time ensuring as much air as possible gets in my jacket. Yesterday and today, I spent a good bit of time ensuring as little air as possible got in my jacket.
We wore the rain suits yesterday and today in spite of dry skies. It was an effort to fend off the cold and it worked pretty well. I am so glad I brought my "winter" jacket along. We wore our long sleeved shirts. Now I am out of long sleeved shirts and I do not believe we will see temps get much above 55 tomorrow. A cold front is moving through. Funny, I thought it already had, it was so chilly.
For breakfast yesterday we again had the Grandpa John's Cafe breakfast buffet (only place in Nauvoo except for the gas station that's open for breakfast except for the other buffet and we got a discount at Grandpa's that lowered the cost to reasonable) After eating buffets for 3 days, even the sight of a buffet sign makes me queasy. Not that the food was bad, it was just that 3 days of buffet is a tad overwhelming. I don't think I care if I don't see another buffet for some months to come.
Yesterday we traveled on an allegedly obscure road, Highway 2. Said road was occasionally paved badly and someone apparently left some speed bumps here and there under the wavy concrete. The majority of it was nice enough surface. We took an Iowa scenic route, a road that split off 2 and eventually rejoined it. We thought 2 was just as scenic as the scenic road, but then one corn field looks pretty much like another.
The surprise was all the signeage warning us to be on the lookout for horses and buggies and to share the road with them. We didn't know the Amish live in southern Iowa. We did pass much evidence of horses but only once did we encounter an Amish farmer on the road with his rig and that was in the small town of Leon. We stopped at the Dairy Queen for lunch and they had an elephant. Please do not ask me why as I do not know.
After lunch we passed the horse and buggy, very respectfully and as quietly as we could. I am sure the farmer found us as much of a curiosity as we did him. People in Leon were very friendly. In fact, people all across Iowa and middle Illinois were very friendly. Even without Norman we are still, occasionally, the traveling road show.
Southern Iowa is very hilly and has more deciduous trees. The farms seem split between corn/soybean and stock. It was very pretty. Many many of next year's Big Macs are now a-growing in southern Iowa. The roads were still mostly straight but also up and down. In contrast to Minnesota where the farms are all perfect, in Iowa there are many unused farm buildings.
We made it to our destination in good time and chose Godfather's Pizza for supper. It's been years since we had a Godfather's and it sounded really good to us. We walked in and guess what! They run a pizza buffet! But you can also just order one, so we did, and sat well away from the buffet. Our motel was a Day's Inn in Shenandoah, Iowa, and we were just about the only people in our wing. There was a lovely overstuffed recliner for Ray and plenty of room to stash the bags. I did some laundry and we repacked and went to bed.
This morning we found out our expensive bike covers cover bikes but do not keep the dew or fog off the bike. Harumph. I can only imagine how ineffective they'd be in a thunderstorm. O well, we hauled out the bike drying towels and dried them off. Breakfast at the motel being limited to dry cereal and toast, we went down the road to Mickey D's and indulged in some salty Sausage McMuffins. Protein! lol At least they are little and we didn't feel overstuffed, just thirsty.
We had a really short day planned today and Ray hauled me out of bed at 6 am, so we got here about 1:30. I was surprised they let us in our room that early. But they did. We're in a Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Nebraska and our room is very nice. We lunched at a Burger King for a change of pace. We picked up I-80 in Lincoln, Nebraska and battled a stiff breeze and passing semi turbulence for what seemed an interminable time, but at least it had warmed up enough to take off the rain suits. Suddenly, there was Highway 2 again and we spent the last 10 miles on a lovely, quiet country road. It's much flatter around here. I can't remember exactly when it got that way, I just suddenly noticed it. You can see a long, long way.
It was supposed to be thunderstormy but wasn't. Again. But the weather guessers still say thunderstorms tonight and some left over tomorrow. The percentage tomorrow ranges from 40% to 10% depending where on the route we are. We will not be on the interstate tomorrow. Yay! Back to the obscure country roads. They are really much nicer traveling than the interstates and when you stop you get to meet and talk with local people. We are often the only motorcyclists on those roads,it's rare we meet another, even at the gas station. But everyone else wants to talk to us, so that's fine. Most of them wish they could do what we're doing. We are so lucky!
Don't know what supper will be tonight, I only know it will not be a buffet. Tomorrow we head to Alliance, Nebraska. It is in the middle of Just About Nowhere, like many of the places we've been lately. But there's a Holiday Inn Express there too and an Arby's next door.
We wore the rain suits yesterday and today in spite of dry skies. It was an effort to fend off the cold and it worked pretty well. I am so glad I brought my "winter" jacket along. We wore our long sleeved shirts. Now I am out of long sleeved shirts and I do not believe we will see temps get much above 55 tomorrow. A cold front is moving through. Funny, I thought it already had, it was so chilly.
For breakfast yesterday we again had the Grandpa John's Cafe breakfast buffet (only place in Nauvoo except for the gas station that's open for breakfast except for the other buffet and we got a discount at Grandpa's that lowered the cost to reasonable) After eating buffets for 3 days, even the sight of a buffet sign makes me queasy. Not that the food was bad, it was just that 3 days of buffet is a tad overwhelming. I don't think I care if I don't see another buffet for some months to come.
Yesterday we traveled on an allegedly obscure road, Highway 2. Said road was occasionally paved badly and someone apparently left some speed bumps here and there under the wavy concrete. The majority of it was nice enough surface. We took an Iowa scenic route, a road that split off 2 and eventually rejoined it. We thought 2 was just as scenic as the scenic road, but then one corn field looks pretty much like another.
The surprise was all the signeage warning us to be on the lookout for horses and buggies and to share the road with them. We didn't know the Amish live in southern Iowa. We did pass much evidence of horses but only once did we encounter an Amish farmer on the road with his rig and that was in the small town of Leon. We stopped at the Dairy Queen for lunch and they had an elephant. Please do not ask me why as I do not know.
After lunch we passed the horse and buggy, very respectfully and as quietly as we could. I am sure the farmer found us as much of a curiosity as we did him. People in Leon were very friendly. In fact, people all across Iowa and middle Illinois were very friendly. Even without Norman we are still, occasionally, the traveling road show.
Southern Iowa is very hilly and has more deciduous trees. The farms seem split between corn/soybean and stock. It was very pretty. Many many of next year's Big Macs are now a-growing in southern Iowa. The roads were still mostly straight but also up and down. In contrast to Minnesota where the farms are all perfect, in Iowa there are many unused farm buildings.
We made it to our destination in good time and chose Godfather's Pizza for supper. It's been years since we had a Godfather's and it sounded really good to us. We walked in and guess what! They run a pizza buffet! But you can also just order one, so we did, and sat well away from the buffet. Our motel was a Day's Inn in Shenandoah, Iowa, and we were just about the only people in our wing. There was a lovely overstuffed recliner for Ray and plenty of room to stash the bags. I did some laundry and we repacked and went to bed.
This morning we found out our expensive bike covers cover bikes but do not keep the dew or fog off the bike. Harumph. I can only imagine how ineffective they'd be in a thunderstorm. O well, we hauled out the bike drying towels and dried them off. Breakfast at the motel being limited to dry cereal and toast, we went down the road to Mickey D's and indulged in some salty Sausage McMuffins. Protein! lol At least they are little and we didn't feel overstuffed, just thirsty.
We had a really short day planned today and Ray hauled me out of bed at 6 am, so we got here about 1:30. I was surprised they let us in our room that early. But they did. We're in a Holiday Inn in Grand Island, Nebraska and our room is very nice. We lunched at a Burger King for a change of pace. We picked up I-80 in Lincoln, Nebraska and battled a stiff breeze and passing semi turbulence for what seemed an interminable time, but at least it had warmed up enough to take off the rain suits. Suddenly, there was Highway 2 again and we spent the last 10 miles on a lovely, quiet country road. It's much flatter around here. I can't remember exactly when it got that way, I just suddenly noticed it. You can see a long, long way.
It was supposed to be thunderstormy but wasn't. Again. But the weather guessers still say thunderstorms tonight and some left over tomorrow. The percentage tomorrow ranges from 40% to 10% depending where on the route we are. We will not be on the interstate tomorrow. Yay! Back to the obscure country roads. They are really much nicer traveling than the interstates and when you stop you get to meet and talk with local people. We are often the only motorcyclists on those roads,it's rare we meet another, even at the gas station. But everyone else wants to talk to us, so that's fine. Most of them wish they could do what we're doing. We are so lucky!
Don't know what supper will be tonight, I only know it will not be a buffet. Tomorrow we head to Alliance, Nebraska. It is in the middle of Just About Nowhere, like many of the places we've been lately. But there's a Holiday Inn Express there too and an Arby's next door.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Brrr
Cold riding today, but it stayed dry in spite of low dark clouds.
Due to laundry duties and a puter hogging hubby, there is no post tonight.
We are safe and in Shenandoah, IA. Tomorrow we go to Grand Island, Nebraska with a possible detour to a cheese factory.
We may get wet tomorrow.
Due to laundry duties and a puter hogging hubby, there is no post tonight.
We are safe and in Shenandoah, IA. Tomorrow we go to Grand Island, Nebraska with a possible detour to a cheese factory.
We may get wet tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
We Are Betrayed
Betrayed by the formerly trusted weather service AND the weather channel. So much for all of Iowa overwhelmed by severe thunderstorms and flash flooding.
We awoke to find the storm systems had not joined forces to create huge storms, but gone their own ways to north and south, leaving Iowa mostly in the clear. We'd have probably gotten almost to our destination before running into heavy weather. And there are still rumblings about severe weather south of I-80, which is where we will be. So maybe just as well we stayed here.
O well. Lesson learned. Check in the morning before you go cancelling reservations.
In the meanwhile Nauvoo, outside of a distinct lack of eating establishments, is not a bad place to be.
We went down to the restoration area again this morning and visited the brickworks and the blacksmith shop and walked out Parley Street to read the journal entries posted along there. On the way, we stopped to watch some oxen pulling a wagon and eventually, the teamster asked if we'd like to ride in the wagon too. Oxen are huge and their noses are leathery not soft like horses noses. And they drool. But they had beautiful coats and horns. The ride was rough and I'm glad I didn't have to ride across the plains in one of those wagons.
We got a little tiny horseshoe at the blacksmith and a "Prairie Diamond" ring made out of a square nail. At the brickworks we came away with a little brick. It was fun!
Late lunch today was Creamy Chicken Soup at Hand, warmed up in the little microwave down at the Hospitality Room, a banana and diet soda. For dessert, we have homemade carmel corn from the Old Mill Bakery.
Ray is napping and I'm making this entry. It is still supposed to thunderstorm here later today and overnight, but it will all be over by morning and we will scoot off across Iowa in partly cloudy and mid-60s. It hopefully will be less humid than today is.
We awoke to find the storm systems had not joined forces to create huge storms, but gone their own ways to north and south, leaving Iowa mostly in the clear. We'd have probably gotten almost to our destination before running into heavy weather. And there are still rumblings about severe weather south of I-80, which is where we will be. So maybe just as well we stayed here.
O well. Lesson learned. Check in the morning before you go cancelling reservations.
In the meanwhile Nauvoo, outside of a distinct lack of eating establishments, is not a bad place to be.
We went down to the restoration area again this morning and visited the brickworks and the blacksmith shop and walked out Parley Street to read the journal entries posted along there. On the way, we stopped to watch some oxen pulling a wagon and eventually, the teamster asked if we'd like to ride in the wagon too. Oxen are huge and their noses are leathery not soft like horses noses. And they drool. But they had beautiful coats and horns. The ride was rough and I'm glad I didn't have to ride across the plains in one of those wagons.
We got a little tiny horseshoe at the blacksmith and a "Prairie Diamond" ring made out of a square nail. At the brickworks we came away with a little brick. It was fun!
Late lunch today was Creamy Chicken Soup at Hand, warmed up in the little microwave down at the Hospitality Room, a banana and diet soda. For dessert, we have homemade carmel corn from the Old Mill Bakery.
Ray is napping and I'm making this entry. It is still supposed to thunderstorm here later today and overnight, but it will all be over by morning and we will scoot off across Iowa in partly cloudy and mid-60s. It hopefully will be less humid than today is.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Sunshine, Smilin' On Me...
...but not for long. Tomorrow severe thunderstorms will be rolling across Iowa along our entire route. The severe weather will start around the time we are halfway across Iowa. That would make for a nasty, hazardous day. After much hemming and hawing and consulting with our Washington resident mc expert we have decided to take his advice and stay put. Thursday's weather will be fine all across Iowa. It will be a much better day to travel and let's face it, one decent motel is much the same as another when it comes to price. It means we will have one less rest day, but by giving up that day we'll be back on track on the 18th. We need to be in Denver on certain days, those being the days LeAnn is not working. So we don't have many more days between now and then for bad weather delays, but after Denver we've got some time for that. Our motel changes have been made and we can stay here in this room tomorrow and watch the thunderstorms from the safety of our nice dry room. Yes, we weenied out. So?
Doesn't this look like a nice place to hole up?
Today we visited the restored parts of Nauvoo. It's amazing! Nauvoo really was a beautiful city and that was apparent today, which was a truly spectacular day. We took a very interesting and informative wagon ride around the restored city for a tour. A percheron and a belgian pulled the wagon and we don't think either one of them was working hard. The teamster told us that there are 20 horses in their stable.
The old buildings are so carefully restored/recreated that it is hard to tell an original building from a recreation. There are people (church missionaries) inside each building to tell you about the owners and about the house and the things that would have been part of the lives of the people there or the work that took place in the building. We visited the home and workshop of John Browning, who is the man who invented the Browning rifle. It was very interesting. This happens to be a recreation of the original house, built on the original foundation. The land records and many drawings of original homes are in an archive on the site, and can be consulted.
When we visited the school, we learned that Nauvoo had contained 150 log cabins. This is one of them. The school, based on what the docent said, is an original.
At the time the Saints lived here, this land was covered with homes and other buildings. We were told that none of the trees now growing here were here in the 1850s. Apparently trees do not live that long in this climate.
The next picture was taken outside the visitor's center in "The Women's Garden" and is a statue of Joseph and Emma Smith. The last person who actually knew Joseph died not that long ago at the age of 107.
And just look at the beautiful temple on the hill!
After dinner, we went down to catch the sunset. The pictures don't quite do it justice. But I like this one a lot.
And Ray took some more pictures of the temple.
It was a good day in a good place.
Doesn't this look like a nice place to hole up?
Today we visited the restored parts of Nauvoo. It's amazing! Nauvoo really was a beautiful city and that was apparent today, which was a truly spectacular day. We took a very interesting and informative wagon ride around the restored city for a tour. A percheron and a belgian pulled the wagon and we don't think either one of them was working hard. The teamster told us that there are 20 horses in their stable.
The old buildings are so carefully restored/recreated that it is hard to tell an original building from a recreation. There are people (church missionaries) inside each building to tell you about the owners and about the house and the things that would have been part of the lives of the people there or the work that took place in the building. We visited the home and workshop of John Browning, who is the man who invented the Browning rifle. It was very interesting. This happens to be a recreation of the original house, built on the original foundation. The land records and many drawings of original homes are in an archive on the site, and can be consulted.
When we visited the school, we learned that Nauvoo had contained 150 log cabins. This is one of them. The school, based on what the docent said, is an original.
At the time the Saints lived here, this land was covered with homes and other buildings. We were told that none of the trees now growing here were here in the 1850s. Apparently trees do not live that long in this climate.
The next picture was taken outside the visitor's center in "The Women's Garden" and is a statue of Joseph and Emma Smith. The last person who actually knew Joseph died not that long ago at the age of 107.
And just look at the beautiful temple on the hill!
After dinner, we went down to catch the sunset. The pictures don't quite do it justice. But I like this one a lot.
And Ray took some more pictures of the temple.
It was a good day in a good place.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tripping Back
We left Elgin this morning, leaving behind a tearful Muzzie and a disinterested dog. (everybody else was gone to work/school already, except for Kaira who is sick and was huddled up in her bed sleeping) The weather was perfect for a change. Not too hot, not too cold, sunny and not too humid. When we left, that is. But how nice it was while it lasted!
Our rumps are not used to the seats anymore and so we stopped every hour or so, and as the day wore on, it got warmer and more humid. It would not have been so bad if we had not been slowed by line painting and road construction. The line painting was the worst because it happened in the afternoon, right in the humid heat of the day. We don't know how hot it was, but it was hot rolling along at 10-12 mph for many miles. And at the end of the line painting the road was blocked by a huge hole in the street. So we made a little detour but found the gas station anyway. The one decent set of curves we saw all day was in this line painting section. Any time there's a decent curve, they stick a town in it and set the speed limit at 25 or 30. Anyone who rides knows this is a bad thing to do. We do not appreciate what Illinois does with the curves.
We got good gas mileage today. Ray got 55 mpg and I got 40 mpg. Not so bad and we only filled up twice.
The little motel here in Nauvoo, Illinois is cute, but the innkeepers are 3 blocks away. Kinda funny. There are quite a few people here as this is the least expensive place in town. There's a couple from Spokane here too. They've just come from WA and are heading to Indiana. We are the only motorcycles. Our room is small but big enough that we can store all the "stuff" and still have room to walk around.
We decided to have a sandwich at the Old Mill Bakery for supper, only a block away so we walked. But they are closed at 5 pm. We walked on into "downtown" and found that both the Hotel Nauvoo dining room and the Grandpa John's diner closed early too. There is only one restaurant in town that's open on Monday evening, Dottie's bar and grill. It was either that or gas station pizza, so we opted for the bar. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable either. It was a meal. Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday, so who knows, we may end up back there. On the way back to the motel we stopped by the little grocery store and bought a 7 up so I don't have to drink my cranberry juice straight up. It was nearly dark by the time we got back and believe me, the streets in this town were rolled up tight.
Today we passed miles and miles and miles (about 240 miles) of corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn. For those who have not traveled in the Midwest, corn grows tall. Very tall. Sitting on the seat of a motorcycle with corn growing on both sides means you see (surprise!) CORN. That's all you see. At least the soybeans grow low so then you can see for miles and miles across the fields. And if you happen on a little hill with soybeans planted, you can see nearly forever. There's nothing there but corn and soybeans and farmhouses, but man, you can see 'em all. So we saw corn and road kill, smelled stock/dairy farms (ick) new mown hay (aaah!) and one squashed skunk whose fragrance lingered long after his/her demise.
Roads in the Illinois farm country tend toward the straight. Very straight. Ruler straight. Corn row straight. Then all of a sudden and for no apparent reason the road takes a left or right hand turn. Then it's back to straight until the next 90 degree corner in the road. One time, we decided we made all those turns just so we could get a good look at the little town.
Illinois farm towns tend toward the small. Like 350-500 people. The ones that have 1200 or more are considered the Big City. Those ones often have fast foods and some national chain stores. But the little ones usually don't have anything. At around 5 or 600 you start to get stores and maybe a gas station and a John Deere store. No restaurants. Most of the houses in the towns date from around the turn of the century with perhaps a few post WW2 houses. Those old homes are grand indeed sometimes. You can tell how prosperous a town is by the paint on (or off) the houses. Most of the little towns are only a block or two deep. I don't know how people live there with so few options in town but I can tell you that if you yearn for the small town life, you can find lots of small to medium towns in rural Illinois. But you'll have to get south and well away from any sizeable city because the cities around northern Illinois are growing like mad. The far away out in the boonies 2 lane country road that we used to drag race on is now a 4 lane divided highway and the geographic center of Elgin and lined with thousands of homes and hundreds of businessess for miles and miles. Very wierd.
The seed and field corn harvest is getting underway, as is the soybean harvest and the final haying. Makes for good smells as we go along. We passed thru one town where there's a huge DelMonte canning factory. This facility cans (can you guess?) CORN. We wondered if all the DelMonte corn in the country comes from this factory.
The sweet corn is nearly gone and I am so glad we made it to Illinois in time for sweet corn. My, my it was so stupendously good. Our thanks to my sister Lynn, who made it possible for us to eat ears and ears and ears of sweet corn and also let me eat Beef Villa Italian Beef Sandwiches twice one day.
It is thundering outside now and the forecast is for scattered t-storms tomorrow. I thought I smelled rain as we were walking back to our motel. We have decided to take the scoot tomorrow instead of both bikes, for our sight seeing.
So now it's time to harvest and then to bed, I think. Love you all!
copyright 2010
Susan K Rathburn
Our rumps are not used to the seats anymore and so we stopped every hour or so, and as the day wore on, it got warmer and more humid. It would not have been so bad if we had not been slowed by line painting and road construction. The line painting was the worst because it happened in the afternoon, right in the humid heat of the day. We don't know how hot it was, but it was hot rolling along at 10-12 mph for many miles. And at the end of the line painting the road was blocked by a huge hole in the street. So we made a little detour but found the gas station anyway. The one decent set of curves we saw all day was in this line painting section. Any time there's a decent curve, they stick a town in it and set the speed limit at 25 or 30. Anyone who rides knows this is a bad thing to do. We do not appreciate what Illinois does with the curves.
We got good gas mileage today. Ray got 55 mpg and I got 40 mpg. Not so bad and we only filled up twice.
The little motel here in Nauvoo, Illinois is cute, but the innkeepers are 3 blocks away. Kinda funny. There are quite a few people here as this is the least expensive place in town. There's a couple from Spokane here too. They've just come from WA and are heading to Indiana. We are the only motorcycles. Our room is small but big enough that we can store all the "stuff" and still have room to walk around.
We decided to have a sandwich at the Old Mill Bakery for supper, only a block away so we walked. But they are closed at 5 pm. We walked on into "downtown" and found that both the Hotel Nauvoo dining room and the Grandpa John's diner closed early too. There is only one restaurant in town that's open on Monday evening, Dottie's bar and grill. It was either that or gas station pizza, so we opted for the bar. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable either. It was a meal. Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday, so who knows, we may end up back there. On the way back to the motel we stopped by the little grocery store and bought a 7 up so I don't have to drink my cranberry juice straight up. It was nearly dark by the time we got back and believe me, the streets in this town were rolled up tight.
Today we passed miles and miles and miles (about 240 miles) of corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn. For those who have not traveled in the Midwest, corn grows tall. Very tall. Sitting on the seat of a motorcycle with corn growing on both sides means you see (surprise!) CORN. That's all you see. At least the soybeans grow low so then you can see for miles and miles across the fields. And if you happen on a little hill with soybeans planted, you can see nearly forever. There's nothing there but corn and soybeans and farmhouses, but man, you can see 'em all. So we saw corn and road kill, smelled stock/dairy farms (ick) new mown hay (aaah!) and one squashed skunk whose fragrance lingered long after his/her demise.
Roads in the Illinois farm country tend toward the straight. Very straight. Ruler straight. Corn row straight. Then all of a sudden and for no apparent reason the road takes a left or right hand turn. Then it's back to straight until the next 90 degree corner in the road. One time, we decided we made all those turns just so we could get a good look at the little town.
Illinois farm towns tend toward the small. Like 350-500 people. The ones that have 1200 or more are considered the Big City. Those ones often have fast foods and some national chain stores. But the little ones usually don't have anything. At around 5 or 600 you start to get stores and maybe a gas station and a John Deere store. No restaurants. Most of the houses in the towns date from around the turn of the century with perhaps a few post WW2 houses. Those old homes are grand indeed sometimes. You can tell how prosperous a town is by the paint on (or off) the houses. Most of the little towns are only a block or two deep. I don't know how people live there with so few options in town but I can tell you that if you yearn for the small town life, you can find lots of small to medium towns in rural Illinois. But you'll have to get south and well away from any sizeable city because the cities around northern Illinois are growing like mad. The far away out in the boonies 2 lane country road that we used to drag race on is now a 4 lane divided highway and the geographic center of Elgin and lined with thousands of homes and hundreds of businessess for miles and miles. Very wierd.
The seed and field corn harvest is getting underway, as is the soybean harvest and the final haying. Makes for good smells as we go along. We passed thru one town where there's a huge DelMonte canning factory. This facility cans (can you guess?) CORN. We wondered if all the DelMonte corn in the country comes from this factory.
The sweet corn is nearly gone and I am so glad we made it to Illinois in time for sweet corn. My, my it was so stupendously good. Our thanks to my sister Lynn, who made it possible for us to eat ears and ears and ears of sweet corn and also let me eat Beef Villa Italian Beef Sandwiches twice one day.
It is thundering outside now and the forecast is for scattered t-storms tomorrow. I thought I smelled rain as we were walking back to our motel. We have decided to take the scoot tomorrow instead of both bikes, for our sight seeing.
So now it's time to harvest and then to bed, I think. Love you all!
copyright 2010
Susan K Rathburn
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