Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 11, the last day!! - Mena, Arkansas to Dallas, Texas

No pictures today either. Today was a just get back home day.

We headed out of Mena at 7:20AM this morning and were on the Talimena Scenic Drive within 10 minutes. For the motorcycle enthusiasts, this ride is great. It connects Mena, Arkansas and Talihena, Oklahoma. It is 30 miles of twisting, hilly road along a ridge of the Ouachita (pronounced wash-e-ta) mountains. You have spectacular views on both the right and left hand sides. There are several curves with 15-20 MPH speed limits. What I have found over the years on curves is this. If the posted speed is between 45-50, you can go 60-70, if the posted speeds are 35-45, you can probably go 50-60, however, if the posted speed is 30 or less, you better be going the speed limit!!!

We then headed south on Oklahoma Hwy 259 through the Hochatown and Beaver Bend State Parks. It is a beautiful ride down to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. After that, the landscape flattens out until you get back to Dallas. It was hot here today, 105. Sorry guys that Michael and I could drag down some of the cooler weather from up north.

We got to see a lot of beautiful countryside on this years trip. Living in Dallas, you forget what it is like to just get out on the “roads less travelled”. You forget how clean the air smells. The biggest traffic jams are getting behind the logging trucks or farm equipment travelling down the roads, unless you are in Toronto!!!

Watching the landscape and the road beneath you go by (literally, try looking straight down when you are going 70) gives you time to think about things. You have time to clear your mind, your spirit and your soul and enjoy the beauty in everything around you. You think about the people and things that are in your life. The ones that you love and are important to you. You think about where you are in life and are you content with your place in it…and you decide that you are thankful with everything that you have. BTW, it’s easier to think when it’s not 105 degrees…when it is that hot, you are just thinking about getting to your destination. Also thinking what I’m going to do with the 12.68 Canadian that I have left.

This was a great trip with a good friend. Lots of miles and states covered. Just a summary…we left Texas, headed up through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, over through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada, New York and down through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma (again) and back to Texas in that order.

Day 11 Trip mileage - Today 291 - Total 4565 for this trip.

That's it for this year.

Next year is New England and the northeast. Hope to go in mid to late September to catch the leaves changing. We may have anywhere from 2 to 7 people going next year.

John

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 10 - St Louis, Missouri to Mena, Arkansas

No pictures today. I already have pictures of the chicken crossing the Missouri and Arkansas state lines from previous trips, so today we just drove.

We headed almost straight south out of St Louis along Hwy 67. The drive took us through part of the Missouri Valley. It was a very nice drive, through more rolling hills. We saw more pasture land than farmland today. We then headed down from northeast Arkansas down to Little Rock, then across to Hot Springs and on to Mena. Arkansas has some great road. for motorcycle riding. Very hilly and lots of “twisties” (curves). It’s fun, but you need to watch your speed sometimes as many curves are a bit tighter than they look. We did OK, no one ran off the road.

Mother Nature finally caught up with us. We had been lucky up until today. Heading into St Louis, you could tell that it had rained hard in the afternoon, but cleared as we arrived. Soon after checking in, it started raining hard again and there were tornado warnings around us. It rained all night, but cleared before we headed out at 7:30. It stayed nice until 3:00 this afternoon. We could see a large thunderstorm and thought that we might miss it. We had just gotten on Interstate 30 south of Little Rock when it started raining. We pulled over under a bridge and checked our smart phones. It looked like it was moving out, but still in the area. I put my rain gear on, Michael did not…we drove in and out of showers for the next 146 miles. Michael did put his gear for the last shower.

Day 10 Trip mileage - Today 481 - Total 4274

That's it for today.

John

Friday, August 20, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 9 - Louisville, Kentucky to St Louis, Missouri

Whoa!!!! Hold off on the heat. We had gotten used to the cooler weather and then we crossed the Mason-Dixon line. It started out at 70 this morning in Louisville, but warmed up quickly. It reached 96 for us today. I guess that it is just preparing us for the 103 that we will see on Sunday when we get back.

We got a bit later start than originally planned this morning. Michael’s back has been bothering him for the past few days. We stopped at the Harley dealership in Pittsburg and $400 seemed like a lot for him to spend for a back rest…it sounded like a bargain in Louisville this morning, so he got one put on. We headed out of the dealership at 11:00.

We headed down to Ft Knox to see where all that gold is supposed to be. The Bullion Depository is right next to Ft Knox, an Army base. We got a picture of the depository and then stopped by the main gate and visitor center for Ft Knox. We stopped to take a couple of pics at the front gate. While we were putting some sun screen on, a military police man came out and asked to see the pics that we took. He made Michael delete one of his because it had too much of the front gate area. The ones of the tanks were OK. He also asked to see our IDs and questioned us for a while before letting us go on.

We then headed out of Kentucky, into and across southern Indiana and Illinois to St Louis, Missouri. We stopped by the Arch before heading down to our hotel.
Most of today was through more farmland. I am still amazed at the amount of corn, soy beans and sorghum here in the south. We did go through a few forested areas that were very nice.

We are going to head out early tomorrow as we have about 500 miles to do, assuming that the storms have blown through. St Louis received some heavy thunderstorms this afternoon before we got here and there are some big storms out west moving this way.

Day 9 Trip mileage - Today 364 - Total 3793

That's it for today.

John

The St Louis Arch

The Chicken at the Arch in St Louis

Wow, it's big!!

The Chicken made it to Illinois!!!

Finally

The Chicken arriving in Kentucky

The Chicken had a hard time finding a Kentucky sign, but we did it!!

Front entrance to Ft Knox

The Chicken at Ft. Knox

The Chicken just needs 1 gold bar!!!

Fort Knox

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 8 - Marietta, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky

I am sure that the drive into and out of Marietta, Ohio was a beautiful one, but we didn’t see it. We arrived late yesterday and the drive was along the Ohio River to the left and hills to the right, but it was dark and we didn’t get to see much of it. Leaving this morning, we drove the first hour in the fog. It was hilly and curvy, but we didn’t get to see much. Once it cleared out, the countryside was very nice. Lots of pasture land and farms.

I have never seen so much corn in every state that we have visited. We expected to see it in Iowa, but we have seen numerous farms in every state that we have been through. Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio is beautiful riding area.

About mid Ohio and into Indiana, the land flattened out and it was nice to get to speed up some. Taking the back roads is slower, but has much more character.

We were going to visit one of our company’s distribution centers in Indianapolis, but the guy that I was going to see is out of town, so we went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was quite impressive. We got to drive into the infield and watched a couple of professional motorcycle racers testing. We then went to the museum and got to see the winning race cars of most of the races dating back to 1909.

After that, we headed down to Louisville, Kentucky for the night. On the way to the hotel, we stopped at Churchill Downs the home of the Kentucky Derby. We could not go in, but it was impressive from the outside.

Day 8 Trip mileage - Today 448 - Total 3429

That's it for today.

John

History of Churchill Downs

The Chicken ay Churchill Downs

History of Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Chicken at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Hello Indiana!!

The chicken made it through some states today.

Chicken leaving Ohio

Heading west out of Ohio

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 6 and 7 - Sudbury, Canada to Buffalo, New York to Marietta, Ohio

Didn’t have internet access on day 6 so I will have to give you 2 days today.

Day 6 was Sudbury, Ontario Canada to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York. It was a beautiful day. Started out at 57 degrees and ended up at 84. The drive down was great. There were many lakes, streams and rivers. They all looked so clean and pristine. Most of the drive was through Indian territories with many different tribes being represented. We then headed into Toronto to get a picture of Lake Ontario. Got the picture, but Toronto traffic suuuuucked!!!! It took us over 3 hours to get into town, get the picture and get south of town. The construction traffic was terrible. We finally made it down to Niagara Falls and got some great pics. Made it into Tonawanda (North Buffalo) and stayed with some friends, the McCreadies , Thanks Bob and Sandy for your hospitality.

Day 6 Trip mileage - Today 377 - Total 2544

Day 7, we left out friends in Buffalo and headed to the Harley dealership to get some t-shirts. The temperature started out at 70 and reached 80 today. It was cloudy to start, but cleared out by noon. We then headed just south of town to get a picture of Lake Erie…we have now seen all 5 of the great lakes. We then drove south through western New York and Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful drive. The rolling hills of farmland and forests!!! We went through Amish country again and stopped by an Amish furniture store to look at the quality.

We finished the day going through a portion of West Virginia and ended here in Marietta, Ohio.

It is supposed to get down to 59 degrees tonight and reach 86 tomorrow. We will head west towards Indianapolis and visit our distribution facility before turning south and heading to Louisville, Kentucky.

Day 7 Trip mileage - Today 437 - Total 2981

That's it for today.
John

Chicken made it to Pennsylvania

The chicken is travelling well and not complaining too much!

Lake Erie on a cloudy morning.

American Falls

This is the American Falls viewing from the Canadian side.

Niagara Falls 2

Just another view of the falls.

Niagara Falls 1

Just another view of the falls.

Niagara Falls with a rainbow

Just another view of the falls.

American Falls and a rainbow

This is looking at the American Falls from the visitor center on the Canadian side of the falls.

Lake Ontario from Toronto harbor

Monday, August 16, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 5 - Marquette, Michigan to Sudbury, Ontario Canada

It started out sunny and 58 in Marquette, Michigan. It was a beautiful ride all day. We stopped by and got one last picture of Lake Superior and then started out going across the northern portion of the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. After about an hour, we headed south until we ran into Lake Michigan. Then headed across the lower portion of the UP for a while before heading back up to the northern part to cross over into Canada at Sault Ste Marie. A lot of criss-crossing just to see all of the Great Lakes, but at least we can say that we have.

As we approached the border, we went through a brief shower (about a minute) and stopped on the US side to grab a bite to eat. While dining, we debated getting the rain gear out since it looked like it was going to get worse. When we walked out of the restaurant, it was sunny and 70!

Once in Canada, we started looking for public access points to Lake Huron. It is a difficult thing to do. We did find a couple as you can see from the pictures. We were also surprised at the large Amish presence up here. Actually saw a guy in a horse and buggy going along the highway.

The drive in Canada was beautiful as always. It looked like it was going to rain as we were getting close to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. However, it cleared out without a drop. We have been very lucky with the weather.

It is supposed to get down to 57 degrees tonight and reach 81 tomorrow. We will head south from Sudbury down to Toronto and on to Niagara Falls. We will be staying with the parents of one of my teammates on my hockey team…Thanks McCreadies!!!

Trip mileage - Today 406 - Total 2167 Halfway point!!!

That's it for today.

Probably won’t have wireless access tomorrow. If not I will blog both Tuesday and Wednesday travels on Wed. night.

John

Lake Michigan

Our first view of Lake Michigan.

Morning on Lake Superior

This was our last view of Lake Superior from near Marquette, Michigan.

Chicken on Lake Michigan

We dropped down to the lower portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see Lake Michigan. We have now seen 3 of the 5 Great Lakes

Made it past Customs!!

We had just crossed the bridge from the US into Sault Ste Marie.

The chicken about to go for a dip in Lake Huron

The lake was surprisingly warm.

Lake Huron from Bruce Mines, Ontario, Canada

It was hard to find a public access point to Lake Huron. This was the best view that we could find.

Fishing boat on Lake Huron

This was taken in Blind River, Ontario, Canada We talked to the guys and they had caught about 1500 whitefish and trout. It looked like there were 3 generations of fishermen on this boat.

Watch out for horses and buggies!

We didn't realize that there was such a large Amish community up here. We actually did see one horse and buggy along the road. I can hear it now..."Honey, going to the store, see you tomorrow"

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 4 - Walker, Minnesota to Marquette, Michigan

I understand that it was 104 in Dallas today and I hate to keep rubbing it in…but the high today for us was 70!!! It started out mostly cloudy and 66 in Walker, MN. It was mostly cloudy all day, but the sun did peek through from time to time. There were several showers around, but we only got sprinkled on a few times. We got lucky.

The drive through the middle of Minnesota was very nice. We hit the road at 8:00 and in about an hour, we crossed a river and the sign said “Mississippi River”. We made a u-turn and took some pictures. I knew that it started somewhere up north, but had no idea exactly where. When I got to the hotel tonight, I googled it and found out that it starts within a mile of where we took the picture at small Lake Itasca, Minnesota.

Headed on down to Duluth, MN and got our first glimpse of Lake Superior. It was just an inlet portion that was very industrial looking. Crossed over into Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We paralleled the lake from Duluth for the rest of the day. We took a little detour so that we could ride along the shore for about 13 miles. Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. From Wikipedia, there is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land mass of North and South America with 1 foot of water assuming they were flat.

Enjoyed talking to the locals and hearing the dialects. Got to hear a “Bit nippy to be riding the bikes yaaa!” and a “You bet-chaa”. We met a man in Ironwood, Michigan that wanted to warn us that there was a helmet law in Michigan (we were wearing them anyway) and had a 20-30 minute discussion on the merits of cold weather versus the hot weather. He said that you can always put on a heavier coat (to a point until you look like the Stay puff Marsh mellow man and can’t shovel the average 300 inches of snow a year) and we can always take clothes off to a point (unless we want to be arrested for indecent exposure). We parted ways deciding that we will stay living were we each do.

You can also tell that we were not locals by what we were wearing. We had on all of our leather gear – chaps, long sleeve shirts, leather jackets with leather vests on top of that…and the locals were riding their bikes in short sleeve shirts, well not all of them but some!!!

It is supposed to get down to 56 degrees tonight and only reach 66 tomorrow. We will head east through Michigan, cross into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie on the way to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Trip mileage - Today 414 - Total 1761

That's it for today.

John

The chicken can't believe it!...

...and neither did we. Had to take a picture and googled it later.

Only up North!!!

You will never see one of these signs in the southern US.

The start of the Mississippi River

The Mississippi actually starts within a mile of here at Lake Itasca, Minnesota.

Nee-Gaw-Nee-Gaw-Bow "Leading Man"

Nice carving in Wakefield, Michigan. Note the chicken under his chin!

Lake Superior looking north

Another view of the lake.

Amazing Lake Superior

Hard to fathom how big this lake it, but we were driving parallel to it most of the day

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 3 - Spirit Lake, Iowa to Walker, Minnesota

Today could be split into 3 distinct parts. In the morning, it was cool and foggy. We headed out at 7:00 AM and it was 68 degrees. It was very foggy. There were times when you couldn’t see more than 20-30 yards ahead of you. We almost missed the turn off for a new highway that we needed to take. After about 45 minutes, it cleared up and we could see the farmlands of southwestern Minnesota. The temp got up to about 80 before we ran into a cool front that dropped the temp about 10 degrees in an hour, back to the 68 that we started with (sorry you guys in Texas). We actually had to stop and put our jackets on.

The middle third was all interstate in South and North Dakota. The only good thing about this part was that the speed limit was 75. It also got very windy. We got to Fargo about 12:30 and went to the Harley dealership and then had lunch. The temp warmed back up to near 80 again.

The final third was back in Minnesota and it was a beautiful ride. We left the farmlands of the lower part of the state and drove through the forested areas. The drive from Detroit Lakes to Walker, Minnesota was a great way to end the day.
We are staying at a casino and got a break on our room rate…however, we left that plus some more at the gaming tables!!
It is supposed to get down to 54 degrees tonight and only reach 75 tomorrow. We will head east through Minnesota, across northern Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Trip mileage - Today 467 - Total 1347

That's it for today.

John

Sunflowers everywhere!

This was along Hwy 34 about 50 miles south of Walker, MN

1918 Harley

Check out the skis. It was supposedly used to deliver mail.

"I'm, uh, Jerry Lundegaard" - Fargo the movie

About the only thing in Fargo!

What's in a name...Really!!!

Wonder what the corporate geniuses came up with this name!!!!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 2 - Manhattan, Kansas to Spirit Lake, Iowa

Sorry you guys back in Texas...we did escape the heat today. Was 85 degrees when we headed out at 8:00 AM and soon there were high thin clouds that filtered the sun. They got a bit thicker and we ran into a few light showers before we got to Lincoln, Nebraska. Stopped at the Harley shop and had to get new spark plugs (long story) but the bike is running great now. By the time they finished, the sun was out and the temp was only 80. It worked its way back up to 90 by the end of the day, but felt great.

Western and northwestern Iowa is beautiful. Rolling hills with nothing but crops as far as you can see. Mostly corn, but 2-3 other things too.

Supposed to get down to 65 degrees tonight and only get up to 74 tomorrow. Might have to put a jacket on. :)

Trip mileage - Today 391 - Total 880

That's it for today.
John

Harleys and corn

This is Michael's new bike.

Fertile land!!

Corn was by far the biggest crop, but we saw hardly anything but farmland.

It's chicken food too!!!

Had to get the chicken in a photo. He was hanging on to a nice big ear of corn.

Corn...duh!!!

Obviously Iowa is the corn capital of the US, but it was amazing to see miles and miles of it.

Dunlap, Iowa

Just a cool building in a small Iowa town.

$6.59 per gallon

...for 100 octane. Was tempted to try it, but not sure what impact it might have on the bike.

Gassing up at BP!!!

Yeah we did...got gas at a BP station!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Mid-State Trip Day 1 - Dallas to Manhattan (Kansas that is)!!!

Well, Michael and I thought that we would escape the heat a bit today, but it was hotter here in Manhattan, Kansas than it was in Dallas. Reminded me of a postcard that I got as a child from Las Cruces New Mexico - "Las Cruces, 100 miles from nowhere, 2 feet from Hell".

We headed out at 7:00 AM and it was 80 degrees, by 11:00 it was a 100 and when we arrived in Manhattan, it was 105. Well, tomorrow it is only supposed to be 84 in Spirit Lake, IA.

Not much to see today, so that is why there are only a few pictures.

Trip mileage - Today 489 - Total 489

That's it for today.
John

Best Western Pool Rules in Kansas

OK, I guess that we can fill the pool up with aliens, animals and other miscelleanous life forms, but there is some limit on "People" and those people must not have any communicable diseases. There must have been that situation at some time for the lawyers to come up with this one!!!

Train Bridge over Big Blue River in Manhattan, Kansas

This just caught my eye as we were heading to dinner. Came back to the hotel to grab the camera. The river was up and moving at a good clip.

Downtown Council Grove, Kansas

Stopped in this town for a quick water break and thought that I would grab a picture.