In case you missed it, here is the link to our previous trip Through Colorado
http://coloradomotorcycletrip-june2007.blogspot.com/
And here is the link for our current trip!
http://greatlakestrip.blogspot.com/
Friday, July 18, 2008
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Day 7 - Bloomington, IN to Home
We started our morning over at the Starbucks across the street having some coffee, cocoa and treats to get us ready for the long ride home. We all planned on taking the freeways home to make it as quick a trip as possible, since we all had over 300 miles to go.
We rode with Dad out of town and then gave him some honks and waves as he pulled off heading North and we continued West.
We had perfect weather for our drives home, sunny and 80 degrees the entire way.
Steve and I enjoyed some two lane country roads before hitting the highway which was nice. Then it was on to the highway for the rest of the day. There was a lot of traffic due to the Holiday weekend but we motored through and made decent time. We didn't even stop for lunch, just took breaks at the rest areas and had some snacks there. We arrived at Steve's house at 5pm, unloaded all of our stuff and then hopped back on the bikes to go return my rental up in Janesville, WI. Another 45 miles or so.
After turning my bike in (goodbye bike, so sad) I got on the back of Steve's bike and we headed back home. We ordered his favorite pizza for his birthday and went and picked up his favorite cake, carrot cake, for dessert. We settled in and watched Superman Returns. It was a relaxing evening after 7 days of great riding.
Dad's total mileage: 2489
Our total mileage: 2355
We had a wonderful week of riding. We figure we only had a total of 80 miles of rain and most of that was welcome relief from the hot weather. Now the trip is over and it's time to begin thinking about next year. Hmmmmm....where will we go? Where ever it may be, you can count on us taking you along with another blog :)
Click here for the last few pictures
We rode with Dad out of town and then gave him some honks and waves as he pulled off heading North and we continued West.
We had perfect weather for our drives home, sunny and 80 degrees the entire way.
Steve and I enjoyed some two lane country roads before hitting the highway which was nice. Then it was on to the highway for the rest of the day. There was a lot of traffic due to the Holiday weekend but we motored through and made decent time. We didn't even stop for lunch, just took breaks at the rest areas and had some snacks there. We arrived at Steve's house at 5pm, unloaded all of our stuff and then hopped back on the bikes to go return my rental up in Janesville, WI. Another 45 miles or so.
After turning my bike in (goodbye bike, so sad) I got on the back of Steve's bike and we headed back home. We ordered his favorite pizza for his birthday and went and picked up his favorite cake, carrot cake, for dessert. We settled in and watched Superman Returns. It was a relaxing evening after 7 days of great riding.
Dad's total mileage: 2489
Our total mileage: 2355
We had a wonderful week of riding. We figure we only had a total of 80 miles of rain and most of that was welcome relief from the hot weather. Now the trip is over and it's time to begin thinking about next year. Hmmmmm....where will we go? Where ever it may be, you can count on us taking you along with another blog :)
Click here for the last few pictures
Friday, August 31, 2007
Day 6 - Dover, TN to Bloomington, IN
We awoke to a slightly foggy, but dry morning after all of that rain the night before. We headed in to town to use the McDonald's wi-fi and upload our info from yesterday. After that, we began our day by driving the Land Between the Lakes. It was a beautiful road and we saw more wildlife in the first 20 miles than we saw on the entire 400+ miles of the Natchez Trace. We saw bambi's frolicking on the side of the road several times, along with wild turkey's crossing in front of us. Steve saw Bison off in the distance. About 20 or so miles in to this ride we crossed back in to Kentucky, which meant that Dad and Steve could take off their helmets. You'll see their celebratory picture in the slideshow.
After we finished up that 40 mile stretch, we wound our way through the back country of Kentucky. Leroy, the biker we met yesterday, had told us about a free ferry that crosses the Ohio River in to Illinois. We checked it out earlier and taking it only added 20 miles to our route so we opted to go for the experience. Steve had impeccable timing and as we drove up they were loading it up. We rolled right on and in a few minutes we were being ferried across the river. That was really neat!
Off the ferry and in to Illinois, we headed East. There was a toll bridge that crossed the Wabash River in to Indiana and it was under construction. We had to wait in line and inch our way across to pay the toll at the other side. After the bridge collapse in Minnesota, we weren't too thrilled about sitting on a half torn apart bridge with semi's and all the other vehicles but luckily we made it across in three pieces. We stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen, thanks Steve! It's now officially a summer motorcycle trip now that I've had my Blizzard :) We continued following the Ohio River Scenic byway along through Evansville and along the river. Took a nice break at a roadside park in the shade.
We then took State Route 37 up North which took us through the Hoosier National Forest. It was a wonderfully curvy, hilly road and the scenery was beautiful. Followed this all the way up in to Bloomington where we stopped for the night. Dad took us out for a birthday dinner for Steve and now it's off to bed.
Tomorrow is our last day of the trip (and Steve's birthday!) and Dad will head back to Ohio while Steve and I head to his house in Illinois.
Click here for pictures from today.
After we finished up that 40 mile stretch, we wound our way through the back country of Kentucky. Leroy, the biker we met yesterday, had told us about a free ferry that crosses the Ohio River in to Illinois. We checked it out earlier and taking it only added 20 miles to our route so we opted to go for the experience. Steve had impeccable timing and as we drove up they were loading it up. We rolled right on and in a few minutes we were being ferried across the river. That was really neat!
Off the ferry and in to Illinois, we headed East. There was a toll bridge that crossed the Wabash River in to Indiana and it was under construction. We had to wait in line and inch our way across to pay the toll at the other side. After the bridge collapse in Minnesota, we weren't too thrilled about sitting on a half torn apart bridge with semi's and all the other vehicles but luckily we made it across in three pieces. We stopped for lunch at Dairy Queen, thanks Steve! It's now officially a summer motorcycle trip now that I've had my Blizzard :) We continued following the Ohio River Scenic byway along through Evansville and along the river. Took a nice break at a roadside park in the shade.
We then took State Route 37 up North which took us through the Hoosier National Forest. It was a wonderfully curvy, hilly road and the scenery was beautiful. Followed this all the way up in to Bloomington where we stopped for the night. Dad took us out for a birthday dinner for Steve and now it's off to bed.
Tomorrow is our last day of the trip (and Steve's birthday!) and Dad will head back to Ohio while Steve and I head to his house in Illinois.
Click here for pictures from today.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Days 3 and 4 video
The video process is going kind of slow, so......Here is the next installment going down the River road on day 3 and up the Trace on day 4. Enjoy!
Day 5 - Tupelo, MS to Dover, TN
We started out our day with a little bike trouble. Dad's bike wouldn't start and as he and Steve were working on it, there was also a fellow biker getting ready to take off too, and he stopped over to give Dad a jump. The boys all worked hard, but the jump didn't start the bike either. Thanks anyway, Leroy :) Eventually, it did start up (for no apparent reason) so we planned on stopping at the HD dealer later on in Nashville to get the part they thought might be the problem.
Once we were running, we hopped down the road to visit Elvis' birth place. We figured since we saw Graceland and this was only a few miles down from where we stayed, we should probably check it out. What a teeny, tiny house it is! We didn't take the tour, just stopped by for some photo ops.
Ahhh, out of the city and back on the Parkway. It's just so easy and mellow to drive this road that it's a sigh of relief when you're on it. Shortly after crossing in to Alabama, We stopped at the Colbert Ferry Site which is an old Ferry launch on the Tennessee River. It had a lovely view of both the river and the cool bridge we were going to cross. We had great weather for a good part of the day, but wedid begin to run in to some showers after crossing in to Tennessee. It appeared like we had actually caught up with the rain, so we thought we'd stop for some lunch to let it get ahead of us. We pulled off in the little town of Collinwood because Sally had said there was a diner called Melvins. Before we got to Melvins, though, We came upon a busy looking road side diner called Carol's Country Cooking. We were getting a little wet at this point so we pulled on in. They kindly let us park our bikes under their carport and we went in side and enjoyed some great sandwiches, fries, and home made onion rings. Once we were all dried off (I changed my jeans and socks) we suited up in our rain gear and headed back on to the Trace.
There is 2.5 mile road off the parkway that follows the original trace route. We took that litle loop and it was really neat to be riding back through the woods on the small, gravely road. There was fog hanging in the trees from the recent rain. I think you'll be able to see that in the picures/video.
We also made a stop later down the road at Jackson Falls. The picture on the map was amazing, but when we got there the falls were down to a trickle. I took a picture of the cows in the distant field instead.
At the end of the Trace, we crossed the famous Arches Bridge, but didn't stop to take a picture because there was no real view of the bridge from up at the top. We finished off the Parkway and headed in to the HD Dealer in Nashville. Got there 15 minutes before they closed so Dad was able to get his part.
We had about 85 more miles to Dover where we were staying. We hit rain around Clarksville and drove the remaining 30 miles in the dark and heavy rain to the hotel. Yuk! We made it safe and sound though, and the nice couple that runs the place gave us towels to wipe off our bikes. Now we're all warm and dry inside and done for the day.
Click here for the pictures.
Once we were running, we hopped down the road to visit Elvis' birth place. We figured since we saw Graceland and this was only a few miles down from where we stayed, we should probably check it out. What a teeny, tiny house it is! We didn't take the tour, just stopped by for some photo ops.
Ahhh, out of the city and back on the Parkway. It's just so easy and mellow to drive this road that it's a sigh of relief when you're on it. Shortly after crossing in to Alabama, We stopped at the Colbert Ferry Site which is an old Ferry launch on the Tennessee River. It had a lovely view of both the river and the cool bridge we were going to cross. We had great weather for a good part of the day, but wedid begin to run in to some showers after crossing in to Tennessee. It appeared like we had actually caught up with the rain, so we thought we'd stop for some lunch to let it get ahead of us. We pulled off in the little town of Collinwood because Sally had said there was a diner called Melvins. Before we got to Melvins, though, We came upon a busy looking road side diner called Carol's Country Cooking. We were getting a little wet at this point so we pulled on in. They kindly let us park our bikes under their carport and we went in side and enjoyed some great sandwiches, fries, and home made onion rings. Once we were all dried off (I changed my jeans and socks) we suited up in our rain gear and headed back on to the Trace.
There is 2.5 mile road off the parkway that follows the original trace route. We took that litle loop and it was really neat to be riding back through the woods on the small, gravely road. There was fog hanging in the trees from the recent rain. I think you'll be able to see that in the picures/video.
We also made a stop later down the road at Jackson Falls. The picture on the map was amazing, but when we got there the falls were down to a trickle. I took a picture of the cows in the distant field instead.
At the end of the Trace, we crossed the famous Arches Bridge, but didn't stop to take a picture because there was no real view of the bridge from up at the top. We finished off the Parkway and headed in to the HD Dealer in Nashville. Got there 15 minutes before they closed so Dad was able to get his part.
We had about 85 more miles to Dover where we were staying. We hit rain around Clarksville and drove the remaining 30 miles in the dark and heavy rain to the hotel. Yuk! We made it safe and sound though, and the nice couple that runs the place gave us towels to wipe off our bikes. Now we're all warm and dry inside and done for the day.
Click here for the pictures.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Day 4 - Natchez, MS to Tupelo, MS
We're all thankful that the weather channel isn't necessarily always right in their forecasts. We had an incredibly nice day today with only a small amount of light showers. Yeah!
We started out from our hotel trying to find the beginning of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which was very close according to the map. However there was construction and they re-routed us to get on the parkway further down which was really frustrating. We wound up getting on around mile marker 8 and then we rode all the way back to the beginning, then turned around and started back again. We want to ride the whole thing from mile one, darn it! Some of you may recall that this same thing happened to Steve and I on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so apparently we're not meant to start out at the very beginning of these things.
Once we were on the Parkway, it was smooth sailing. It's so great to ride these roads as they aren't open to commercial vehicles, there's no cross roads or traffic, just a beautifully maintained, park like setting with a nice two lane road through the entire thing. No stop signs, no lights, just continual riding through lovely scenery. In fact, the scenery was constantly full of trees and green fields and the road was so gently winding, we found ourselves all getting sleepy and had to pull over several times for breaks. There just aren't any distractions to keep your attention on this road. The one thing I had going for me was the "soundtrack" in my helmet. I was wiggling and dancing down the road, singing at the top of my lungs. Good thing nobody could hear me, though I personally think that if I were an additional member of Cold Play or Roxy Music, their songs would be much improved with my added vocals. ;-)
We only made one stop at one of the many historical markers along the way, and that was at the Mount Locust Inn, an old stopping place for people taking the Trace. It was just a small, old house but pretty neat to see a part of the trail history. We also drove by the Ross Barnett Reservoir which was a nice change and was really pretty.
We stopped for lunch around Jackson. It's such a bummer to get off the nice, mellow Parkway and back in to city traffic. In fact I was getting pretty grumpy trying to find a place to accommodate my vegetarian eating, and when they put me in the lead to pick something out I gave in and decided to have some "desperation" meat. Most of you know what I'm talking about there. I had some Chik patties at this place called Krystal Burger, which I guess is like a White Castle. Even though I ate chicken, I felt much better having some food in my stomach and cooling off in the a/c.
Back on to the Parkway for the second half of our day, we began to wonder if the scenery was ever going to change on this 440 mile road. It's all very beautiful, but there's not much variation. We stopped at an information center and met a couple from Montreal traveling on motorcycles. We had a nice break chatting with them and the staff at the center. The couple was heading back home from a trip down to New Orleans and it sounded like they must have been on the road for quite awhile. We passed them and vice versa a couple times more along down the road.
We only ran in to about 20 miles of light rain and it was actually really pleasant. Again, we only put our rain suits on when it seemed like it was getting a little heavier and the road spray was soaking our jeans. Of course, after putting them on we only had about 15 more miles of rain and then the remaining 30 miles in to Tupelo were dry and sunny. All in all a great ride and no complaints about the weather. Let's hope we're just as lucky tomorrow on our way up to Nashville.
Click here for pics from today. I'm trying something new with this link and sending you directly to a slide show. Send me a comment if you like or dislike it :)
We started out from our hotel trying to find the beginning of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which was very close according to the map. However there was construction and they re-routed us to get on the parkway further down which was really frustrating. We wound up getting on around mile marker 8 and then we rode all the way back to the beginning, then turned around and started back again. We want to ride the whole thing from mile one, darn it! Some of you may recall that this same thing happened to Steve and I on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so apparently we're not meant to start out at the very beginning of these things.
Once we were on the Parkway, it was smooth sailing. It's so great to ride these roads as they aren't open to commercial vehicles, there's no cross roads or traffic, just a beautifully maintained, park like setting with a nice two lane road through the entire thing. No stop signs, no lights, just continual riding through lovely scenery. In fact, the scenery was constantly full of trees and green fields and the road was so gently winding, we found ourselves all getting sleepy and had to pull over several times for breaks. There just aren't any distractions to keep your attention on this road. The one thing I had going for me was the "soundtrack" in my helmet. I was wiggling and dancing down the road, singing at the top of my lungs. Good thing nobody could hear me, though I personally think that if I were an additional member of Cold Play or Roxy Music, their songs would be much improved with my added vocals. ;-)
We only made one stop at one of the many historical markers along the way, and that was at the Mount Locust Inn, an old stopping place for people taking the Trace. It was just a small, old house but pretty neat to see a part of the trail history. We also drove by the Ross Barnett Reservoir which was a nice change and was really pretty.
We stopped for lunch around Jackson. It's such a bummer to get off the nice, mellow Parkway and back in to city traffic. In fact I was getting pretty grumpy trying to find a place to accommodate my vegetarian eating, and when they put me in the lead to pick something out I gave in and decided to have some "desperation" meat. Most of you know what I'm talking about there. I had some Chik patties at this place called Krystal Burger, which I guess is like a White Castle. Even though I ate chicken, I felt much better having some food in my stomach and cooling off in the a/c.
Back on to the Parkway for the second half of our day, we began to wonder if the scenery was ever going to change on this 440 mile road. It's all very beautiful, but there's not much variation. We stopped at an information center and met a couple from Montreal traveling on motorcycles. We had a nice break chatting with them and the staff at the center. The couple was heading back home from a trip down to New Orleans and it sounded like they must have been on the road for quite awhile. We passed them and vice versa a couple times more along down the road.
We only ran in to about 20 miles of light rain and it was actually really pleasant. Again, we only put our rain suits on when it seemed like it was getting a little heavier and the road spray was soaking our jeans. Of course, after putting them on we only had about 15 more miles of rain and then the remaining 30 miles in to Tupelo were dry and sunny. All in all a great ride and no complaints about the weather. Let's hope we're just as lucky tomorrow on our way up to Nashville.
Click here for pics from today. I'm trying something new with this link and sending you directly to a slide show. Send me a comment if you like or dislike it :)
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