Finally, no more video editing....WooHoo. I hope you enjoy the last installment!
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 :)
Monday, August 27, 2007
First Video Installment
I threw together a quick video of the first two days for everyone to enjoy! Hopefully it plays better on your computer than it is on mine tonight. If not I'll try and redo the download at a later time.
Day 3 - Robinsonville, MS to Natchez, MS
We would like to report that we are not now, nor will we be in the future, infested with boll weevils. This is due to a light crop dusting we received shortly after take off this morning. If you look close in the second picture you'll see a yellow plane flying over the road. Very nice. We figure we can return the mosquito repellant we bought too.
Continuing down the road, we decided to stop at the Great River Road State Park. They had a cool tower to climb to get a view from above of the Mississippi Delta region. After the tower, we had a nice break sitting in the shade for awhile. We watched some boats go by and Steve walked out to the sandy area for a closer look. The temp on Steve's bike showed 92 in the shade, so it was a very warm day.
After the park we kept following the River Road route. It was tediously straight, two lane highway for the majority of the way, with little to no view of the river. Nicely done, Mississippi. It was scenic, with lots of fields, etc. but I don't think it should be classified as the River Road. Sally (Steve's gps unit) sent us on a little detour for a short while which did take us up close to the river. The river was really high and there were lots of trees that were flooded up to their first set of limbs. It was really odd looking at all those trees under water.
Back on the main route, we stopped in Vicksburg for lunch at a Sonic drive-in. The bank sign in town said it was 99 degrees. Y'all, it is HOT in Mississippi! And what were we thinking picking a drive-in for lunch when there is no indoor seating? We did sit in the shade, and nice cold drinks did cool us down, but after we ate we stopped at a gas station/convenience store for some water and we sucked up some of their a/c before we got back on the road.
We had about 80 more miles to Natchez and Steve had read about the Windsor Ruins, which was a manor house that burnt down in the 1800's. We thought we'd stop if we saw the sign for it. We didn't have much to go on except there was supposed to be a sign across from an Exxon station in Port Gibson. After driving by an Exxon station and not seeing an obvious sign, we turned and went back to check it out. Found a sign saying "Windsor Battle Tour" so we followed that. This took us on the best road of the day! It was non-stop curves winding through heavily wooded scenery. It was a full 20 degrees cooler and felt so good. We didn't see any more signs for Windsor, but kept following the road anyway because it was so much fun. Finally we came upon a sign and a gravel drive. We drove back in and there the ruins were, sitting back off the road in a quiet grove of trees. We were the only people there and it was neat to be there with these majestic ruins with only the sounds of nature around us. Well worth the side trip :)
We followed a little more of the curvy fun road and then Sally re-routed us to get back on our main route to Natchez. We had about 30 miles to go and it started to rain lightly. We drove for quite a bit without rain gear because it was refreshing and not coming down too heavily. After a bit though, we really started to get wet from the road spray and the temps had dropped down to 72, so were were getting chilly. We pulled over and put our gear on to make it the rest of the way in to Natchez. We found our hotel and got settled around 7:30pm. Grabbed some dinner and now we're back for the night.
Tomorrow starts the Natchez Trace Parkway and the forecast is calling for scattered showers throughout our entire day. We'll see how it goes....
Click here to see todays pictures.
Continuing down the road, we decided to stop at the Great River Road State Park. They had a cool tower to climb to get a view from above of the Mississippi Delta region. After the tower, we had a nice break sitting in the shade for awhile. We watched some boats go by and Steve walked out to the sandy area for a closer look. The temp on Steve's bike showed 92 in the shade, so it was a very warm day.
After the park we kept following the River Road route. It was tediously straight, two lane highway for the majority of the way, with little to no view of the river. Nicely done, Mississippi. It was scenic, with lots of fields, etc. but I don't think it should be classified as the River Road. Sally (Steve's gps unit) sent us on a little detour for a short while which did take us up close to the river. The river was really high and there were lots of trees that were flooded up to their first set of limbs. It was really odd looking at all those trees under water.
Back on the main route, we stopped in Vicksburg for lunch at a Sonic drive-in. The bank sign in town said it was 99 degrees. Y'all, it is HOT in Mississippi! And what were we thinking picking a drive-in for lunch when there is no indoor seating? We did sit in the shade, and nice cold drinks did cool us down, but after we ate we stopped at a gas station/convenience store for some water and we sucked up some of their a/c before we got back on the road.
We had about 80 more miles to Natchez and Steve had read about the Windsor Ruins, which was a manor house that burnt down in the 1800's. We thought we'd stop if we saw the sign for it. We didn't have much to go on except there was supposed to be a sign across from an Exxon station in Port Gibson. After driving by an Exxon station and not seeing an obvious sign, we turned and went back to check it out. Found a sign saying "Windsor Battle Tour" so we followed that. This took us on the best road of the day! It was non-stop curves winding through heavily wooded scenery. It was a full 20 degrees cooler and felt so good. We didn't see any more signs for Windsor, but kept following the road anyway because it was so much fun. Finally we came upon a sign and a gravel drive. We drove back in and there the ruins were, sitting back off the road in a quiet grove of trees. We were the only people there and it was neat to be there with these majestic ruins with only the sounds of nature around us. Well worth the side trip :)
We followed a little more of the curvy fun road and then Sally re-routed us to get back on our main route to Natchez. We had about 30 miles to go and it started to rain lightly. We drove for quite a bit without rain gear because it was refreshing and not coming down too heavily. After a bit though, we really started to get wet from the road spray and the temps had dropped down to 72, so were were getting chilly. We pulled over and put our gear on to make it the rest of the way in to Natchez. We found our hotel and got settled around 7:30pm. Grabbed some dinner and now we're back for the night.
Tomorrow starts the Natchez Trace Parkway and the forecast is calling for scattered showers throughout our entire day. We'll see how it goes....
Click here to see todays pictures.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Day 2 - Southern Illinois to Mississippi
What a beautiful day of riding! I convinced Steve last night to change our route slightly to allow us to drive by the SIU campus and take some pictures. He and Dad were both pretty agreeable so that's how we started our day. I got a picture of my old dorm and one of the Universtiy sign. I remember being back in college and thinking that I wished life came with a soundtrack that followed you around and changed with your moods. At the time I probably wanted one of those uplifting Smith's songs to follow me all the time ;-) Anyway, before we headed out we stopped at the store and I picked up some great little earbud headphones and hooked up my Ipod. I have to tell you, having music along for the ride is amazingly awesome! Someone should have thought of this sooner! (Ok, Steve and probably quite a few other people did).
From SIU, we headed over to hook up with the Great River Road following the Mississippi River, down through Kentucky and Tennessee. (Tennessee is a helmet law state, so Dad and Steve had to pull over at the state line and put their helmets on. You'll see the excitement in their faces when you view the pictures) The terrain varied from rolling farmland to curvy, tree lined roads. The temps were in the mid to high 90's so it was wonderful to go in and out of the shade spots. One thing we did discover is that when you follow a scenic route through the country side on a Sunday, there aren't many places open for food. Around 2pm we decided we needed to stray from our route a little to find some sort of chain restaurant that would be open. After a couple of missed turns and u-turns to get back on track, we finally made it in to Union City. We all needed a break, we were hungry and hot and we were soooo close to McDonalds, when Steve announced at the stop light that he lost his flash card out of his camera. Dang! Another u-turn to head back to where he lost it. Now, Steve is the person to have around if you ever lose anything on the road. So far I've seen him find his highway peg, Mike's license plate and now, his camera card. We were slowly rolling along the side of the road and he was just getting ready to park and check on foot when he looked down and spotted the card. Amazing. And it still worked! So, finally....off to rest in some a/c and get some food and drink in us. What a great break.
After about a 1/2 hour rest, we were off for the second half of our trip. Much of this was 4 lane highway for the 90 or so miles to Memphis. Once we got to Memphis we thought it necessary to stop and take some pictures of Graceland. I mean, who knows if we'll ever get back to this area? So we swung by and took a peek. The stone wall around the property if filled with graffiti from people signing it. Kinda cool. We didn't have a pen on us, but Steve and Dad found a "Kristy" signature and posed with it, with Steve changing it in to an "i" on the end for me. What great guys :)
After that, it was off to Robinsonville, MS to our hotel for the night. By this time it was dark but we found the place okay. Checked in and tried to find some food. We found a Subway opened and grabbed some sandwiches. We didn't make it to the restaurant suggestion made by Mom (thanks Mom) because it was getting too late and Sally (Steve's map/gps unit) was being a little fussy today and had already sent us in the wrong direction several times. I guess she was hot and tired too.
Anyway, that's about it for today. We took more pictures and some video too. The video probably won't get uploaded tonight because it's getting late. But you can click here to see our pics.
From SIU, we headed over to hook up with the Great River Road following the Mississippi River, down through Kentucky and Tennessee. (Tennessee is a helmet law state, so Dad and Steve had to pull over at the state line and put their helmets on. You'll see the excitement in their faces when you view the pictures) The terrain varied from rolling farmland to curvy, tree lined roads. The temps were in the mid to high 90's so it was wonderful to go in and out of the shade spots. One thing we did discover is that when you follow a scenic route through the country side on a Sunday, there aren't many places open for food. Around 2pm we decided we needed to stray from our route a little to find some sort of chain restaurant that would be open. After a couple of missed turns and u-turns to get back on track, we finally made it in to Union City. We all needed a break, we were hungry and hot and we were soooo close to McDonalds, when Steve announced at the stop light that he lost his flash card out of his camera. Dang! Another u-turn to head back to where he lost it. Now, Steve is the person to have around if you ever lose anything on the road. So far I've seen him find his highway peg, Mike's license plate and now, his camera card. We were slowly rolling along the side of the road and he was just getting ready to park and check on foot when he looked down and spotted the card. Amazing. And it still worked! So, finally....off to rest in some a/c and get some food and drink in us. What a great break.
After about a 1/2 hour rest, we were off for the second half of our trip. Much of this was 4 lane highway for the 90 or so miles to Memphis. Once we got to Memphis we thought it necessary to stop and take some pictures of Graceland. I mean, who knows if we'll ever get back to this area? So we swung by and took a peek. The stone wall around the property if filled with graffiti from people signing it. Kinda cool. We didn't have a pen on us, but Steve and Dad found a "Kristy" signature and posed with it, with Steve changing it in to an "i" on the end for me. What great guys :)
After that, it was off to Robinsonville, MS to our hotel for the night. By this time it was dark but we found the place okay. Checked in and tried to find some food. We found a Subway opened and grabbed some sandwiches. We didn't make it to the restaurant suggestion made by Mom (thanks Mom) because it was getting too late and Sally (Steve's map/gps unit) was being a little fussy today and had already sent us in the wrong direction several times. I guess she was hot and tired too.
Anyway, that's about it for today. We took more pictures and some video too. The video probably won't get uploaded tonight because it's getting late. But you can click here to see our pics.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Day 1 - To Southern Ilinois we go...
Steve and I woke up to discover that it wasn't raining and our outlook for the trip down South was warm and dry. Dad had about 1/2 hours worth of rain on his ride over from Indiana, so all in all it was a nice day for all of us.
We had a really enjoyable drive down through lovely, green farm land. I too easily forget how scenic the corn fields, soybeans, etc. are until I come back to visit and take a drive. Lovely groves of trees interspersed throughout the fields, horses, cows, cool old barns....it was really nice. We met up with Dad in Vandalia around 3:30pm. Steve and I pulled in to a gas station and were pulling out a cell phone to see where Dad was and we looked up to see him coming across the street from a nice shady spot. He'd been waiting for about an hour for us to arrive, enjoying the shade and reading his book.
Once we were all together, we had about 94 more miles to our destination. We continued on and as we drew close to the end of our drive, we started seeing all of these motorcycles coming the other direction. Groups of 15 to 25 bikes at a time just kept passing us. We probably saw over a hundred bikes and we waved to them all. I have no idea what the heck was going on in Southern Illinois but it sure was full of bikes. I thought perhaps they had all just dropped off freshman students at SIU and were on their way home ;-)
Speaking of Saluki country, I haven't been down this way for 20 years when I was going to school. I'm going to try and pop over to the campus in the morning to take a couple of pics (if I get up early enough).
We made it to our hotel and found a small, family diner for dinner. Now we're back in our rooms, resting and hanging out. Today was a great start to our trip and we're all excited to really get in to the scenic areas coming up.
We didn't take many pictures today since it was all about high-tailing it down here quickly and hooking up with Dad. We traveled about 350 miles. Click here to see the few pics we did take.
We had a really enjoyable drive down through lovely, green farm land. I too easily forget how scenic the corn fields, soybeans, etc. are until I come back to visit and take a drive. Lovely groves of trees interspersed throughout the fields, horses, cows, cool old barns....it was really nice. We met up with Dad in Vandalia around 3:30pm. Steve and I pulled in to a gas station and were pulling out a cell phone to see where Dad was and we looked up to see him coming across the street from a nice shady spot. He'd been waiting for about an hour for us to arrive, enjoying the shade and reading his book.
Once we were all together, we had about 94 more miles to our destination. We continued on and as we drew close to the end of our drive, we started seeing all of these motorcycles coming the other direction. Groups of 15 to 25 bikes at a time just kept passing us. We probably saw over a hundred bikes and we waved to them all. I have no idea what the heck was going on in Southern Illinois but it sure was full of bikes. I thought perhaps they had all just dropped off freshman students at SIU and were on their way home ;-)
Speaking of Saluki country, I haven't been down this way for 20 years when I was going to school. I'm going to try and pop over to the campus in the morning to take a couple of pics (if I get up early enough).
We made it to our hotel and found a small, family diner for dinner. Now we're back in our rooms, resting and hanging out. Today was a great start to our trip and we're all excited to really get in to the scenic areas coming up.
We didn't take many pictures today since it was all about high-tailing it down here quickly and hooking up with Dad. We traveled about 350 miles. Click here to see the few pics we did take.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Done with airplanes, moving on to bikes
I made it in to Milwaukee on time and Steve picked me up at the airport. We headed directly over to Janesville to pick up my rental bike at Kutter Harley Davidson. Now, I'm pretty sure you have all heard of the rain and flooding going on in this area of the country, right? Well......we hit some of that precipitation and it happened to hit right at the dealer when I was picking up my motorcycle. I basically picked out my rain gear, tried it on and left it on for my test ride in the parking lot and the 45 miles back to Steve's house. Thankfully it was daylight, it was warm and it wasn't really heavy rain. In fact, with hole-less rain gear (you may recall in Colorado mine had a hole and I ended up with very wet pants) and the warm weather, it was actually quite enjoyable riding.
Back at Steve's we grabbed some dinner and some last minute necessities at the store. We also checked in with Dad, who left Ohio today and was planning on stopping somewhere Indiana. He called when he "landed" at his stopping place for the day and apparently he had run in to quite a bit of rain. Unfortunately for him, he had left his helmet in Steve's trailer from the last trip, so all he had was a ball cap and sunglasses. Not much protection from the elements :( He didn't get as far as we thought he would due to the weather, so we may be meeting him in Carbondale at the motel tomorrow. He and Steve are mapping out weather and routes over the phone as I type this update.
That's it for today. Pretty uneventful, no pictures, just traveling across the country to get here. My bike seems like it will be comfortable and hold all my gear, so you can't ask for more than that.
We'll check in tomorrow after our first day of riding and let you know how our day went.
Back at Steve's we grabbed some dinner and some last minute necessities at the store. We also checked in with Dad, who left Ohio today and was planning on stopping somewhere Indiana. He called when he "landed" at his stopping place for the day and apparently he had run in to quite a bit of rain. Unfortunately for him, he had left his helmet in Steve's trailer from the last trip, so all he had was a ball cap and sunglasses. Not much protection from the elements :( He didn't get as far as we thought he would due to the weather, so we may be meeting him in Carbondale at the motel tomorrow. He and Steve are mapping out weather and routes over the phone as I type this update.
That's it for today. Pretty uneventful, no pictures, just traveling across the country to get here. My bike seems like it will be comfortable and hold all my gear, so you can't ask for more than that.
We'll check in tomorrow after our first day of riding and let you know how our day went.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Another ride is almost here.....
So my brother Steve and my Dad had planned on taking another motorcycle trip this year at the end of August. I decided at the last minute (last Thursday) to join in the fun and made my flight and motorcycle rental arrangements over the weekend. Now it's time to fly off to Illinois and hook up with Steve! I arrive on Friday, pick up my rental bike and then we head out on Saturday morning.
The plan is to meet up with Dad in Decatur, IL and drive down to Carbondale. Then we're taking the Great River Road down along the Mississippi and then following the Natchez Trace parkway all the way up to Nashville, TN. From there we'll ride the "Land between the Lakes" in Kentucky, go up through Southern Indiana and then head back to Illinois (parting ways with Dad who will head back to Ohio).
We estimate the trip at about 2100 miles, which we'll do in 7 days. I sure wish the entire Colorado gang could join us too, we had so much fun on that last trip :)
We'll try to keep you all updated with our daily ride reports along with pictures and "Steve-o-Vision" video.
The plan is to meet up with Dad in Decatur, IL and drive down to Carbondale. Then we're taking the Great River Road down along the Mississippi and then following the Natchez Trace parkway all the way up to Nashville, TN. From there we'll ride the "Land between the Lakes" in Kentucky, go up through Southern Indiana and then head back to Illinois (parting ways with Dad who will head back to Ohio).
We estimate the trip at about 2100 miles, which we'll do in 7 days. I sure wish the entire Colorado gang could join us too, we had so much fun on that last trip :)
We'll try to keep you all updated with our daily ride reports along with pictures and "Steve-o-Vision" video.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
