Day 34 - HOME

We left St. Augustine at 8:15am and headed down I95 for home. We had mixed emotions - we wanted the adventure to continue, but at the same time were anxious to get home and see all our friends. We arrived home at 11:30am (pic) with 34 days and 8,100 miles under our belts and began the unloading process - wow we took a lot of stuff! We know now what we really needed and what was unnecessary - that is to say most of what we took!

The hurricane shutters are now down, the vehicles have been thoroughly washed and cleaned, and we are ready to resume our normal routine. The trip was wonderful, challenging and the greatest adventure of our lives, but home is where the heart is.

We hope you all enjoyed reading about the trip. We enjoyed writing the commentary. Until the next adventure - cheers!

Day 33 - Columbia to St. Augustine

We left Columbia at 8:15am, thanking God that we decided to take the extra three hours yesterday and ride from Morganton, NC to Columbia. Yesterday it was 102 late in the afternoon. Today it was 87 at 8:00am and is set to reach 106 by noon. We are glad to be gone early, and thankful we only have 335 miles to go today and not 493 as per the original schedule.

What can I say about the ride down US26 and I95? We all know what it is like to ride on the interstates with all the trucks - not much fun! But, it is time to go home and the interstate does get you there fast - unless there is an accident or too much traffic congestion - which there wasn't!

However, once into Florida, one of those "scattered," or "isolated" thunderstorm decided to isolate itself right over us on I95 right at the World Golf Village. How appropriate. I got rained on when I visited my old home (Seattle), and now I get rained on when I return to my new home. Suzanne, in the car, laughed. Oh well, it was a short rain, as most are in Florida, unlike Seattle where the rain can go on for days (and did when we were there)!

We have been extremely fortunate with the weather for the most part, and with the vehicles. The Hyundai and the Harley have performed flawlessly ("knock on wood"). Indeed, I think the two of them have "bonded!" The only thing I am scratching my head about is the extreme variability in the gas mileage on the Harley. I am wondering if the fact that the fuel in the Midwest is often a methanol mixture had anything to do with it? I am sure the wind was a factor as well.

We are going to "do the town" tonight in St. Augustine. It is one of our favorite towns and it is time to celebrate a great adventure (pics). Wish you were all here with us! See you soon and "cheers!"

Day 32 - Pikesville to Columbia

We left Pikesville at 8:15am after having had a great visit with our friend Jeff, heading down US 23 East toward Virginia. Highway 23 is quite a marvel. It is cut through the mountain of Kentucky with precision and great engineering skill. Some hills are cut by 400 or so feet. The drill marks in the rock are clearly evident, and the blasting took place in tiers of 30 to 40 feet high each. In some cases there are 10 or more tiers to open the path for the highway. It is truly something to see. According to Jeff, carving highway 23 thought the Kentucky mountains moved more rock and earth than was moved in digging the Panama Canal and took 15 years to do it!

Reaching Virginia, we continued on US 23, but it can't compare to 23 in Kentucky. We reached Norton, VA and had breakfast at the Dairy Queen. The eggs were fine, but in my opinion, biscuit, egg and sausage doesn't make it in comparison with either the McDonalds or Burger King variety. The biscuit sticks to the roof of your mouth!

We left Norton and headed South into Tennessee for a short way on Hwy 91, what a scenic ride. Then we headed to Boone, NC, a truly scenic town with much "tourist" about it. From there we headed South to Morganton, NC, our original destination for the day. However, we arrived at 2:10pm and decided that we would rather spend more time in St. Augustine tomorrow, than in Morganton today, so we cancelled our reservation at the Comfort Inn, made another at the Comfort Inn in Columbia, SC, and hit the road for another three hours.

The ride was largely uneventful, given that it was on I-40 and I-77 at 75 plus mph, but the heat was a bit much. At times the thermometer on the bike registered 105 degrees. Several stops for water were required!

We arrived safely in Columbia at 5:00pm, unpacked and headed for Applebees for dinner. They have the greatest new appetizer menu. You can choose three appetizers for $10.95 - and they are all pretty good!

Tomorrow we head for St. Augustine. So far we have accumulated over 75 points on our ABCs of Touring, with one more to go "Georgia". Until tomorrow - cheers!

Day 31 - Crawfordsville to Pikeville

We left Crawfordsville at 8:15am on our way to visit our friend Jeff Joyce in Pikesville, KY. The first leg of the trip was on the Interstate to Indianapolis, then South into Kentucky. Flat Indiana farmland turned into rolling green hills in Kentucky, and the trip was uneventful. That is, until we got deeper into Eastern Kentucky and off the interstate! There, the Garmin once again had seizures as a result of road re-alignments, and we once again we did some circles.

Finally, I stopped at a Kentucky Highway Patrol office and asked directions (pic). While we had wanted to follow the beautiful parkway into Pikesville - and should have in retrospect - the advice from the officer was to get back on I-64 East to the Virginia border, then take US 23 South to Pikesville. The route was easy to follow, but it also added an hour and a half and 70 or so miles to the trip.

We finally arrived at Jeff Joyce's beautiful house in a tight valley off US 23 in Pikesville around 4:45pm. I was thoroughly exhausted after having endured temperatures that hit 100 degrees. Thank goodness I drank lots of water! We had a great evening with Jeff and he gave us directions for our next leg to Morganton, NC. He advised against the route we were planning to take as it is very arduous. I think at this stage, we are ready for a scenic, but less challenging ride! Until tomorrow, cheers!

Day 30 - Milwaukee to Crawfordsville, Indiana

We left the Holiday Inn for the Harley plant at 8:15am so we could get the first tour of the day (pic). The tour began with a video detailing the history of Harley Davidson, then a tour of the powertrain facility. The Wauwatasa plant (pic) makes the engines for the Sportster and the Bueul, manufactures the Quality Parts for older engines and does the Re manufacturing of older engines.

The tour was interesting for an engine nut like me, but not very interesting for Suzanne. Like all Harley plants, this one has its Eagle, manufactured from old car bumpers and other scrap metal (pic).

We got out of the tour around 9:45am and headed South - but not without incident. There is a lot of new construction in Milwaukee and the Garmin couldn't figure it out. We did three round trips through not so desirable neighborhoods before I noticed a sign for 41 to Chicago - I took it and the Garmin finally settled down and took us where we wanted to go.

The trip down I-94 through Chicago was hair raising to say the least. It is three lanes, two of which were full of trucks! Not only that, but the Interstate is a toll road, and you had to come up with $.80 every few miles - not a pleasant thing on a motorcycle!

The roads in Illinois are also very bad. The interstate is full of potholes, and a lot of high speed avoidance exercise was had! We finally got to Indiana and the roads improved. We arrived at the Comfort Inn - Crawfordsville at 5:00pm (we are back on Eastern Daylight Time), checked in and headed for the Applebees for a light dinner and a few beers - we needed the latter!

Tomorrow we head for Pikesville, KY to stay with our friend Jeff Joyce. We look forward to seeing a familiar face and sharing a casual evening. More later. Cheers

Day 29 - Prairie du Chien to Milwaukee

We left Prairie du Chien at 8:00am and headed East on WI60 to Madison. the first part of the trip was through wonderful Wisconsin farmland with lots of dairy (Wisconsin is "Dairyland" after all) and "corn as high as an Elephant's eye" (I know that was a reference to Iowa I think in a Broadway musical). Anyway, the farmland was very picturesque and it was not raining!

Of course, I was fully dressed in my defective rain gear for the expected rain - which never materialized all the way to Milwaukee. The trip was short - 173 miles - but it was a nice ride. After 90 or so miles on WI60, we switched over to I90/94 at Madison, and then onto I94 to Milwaukee. We arrived in Milwaukee at the Holiday Inn Express at 1:30pm. we couldn't check in so we went to the Harley Davidson engine plant, which was only two miles away and took a photo (pic).

We then returned to the motel and checked in, went to the laundromat and did a much needed load of wash, then went to dinner at a great steak house (Boulder Junction). Tomorrow we go to the Harley plant for a tour, and then head South to Crawfordsville, Indiana. Only a few days to go until we are back home. Until tomorrow - cheers!

Day 28 - Mitchell to Prairie du Chien

Mitchell, SD is famous for the Corn Palace. This is a civic center that is annually decorated with ears of corn cut in half lengthwise (pics). It also has a great little pub and restaurant called The Depot (pic). We ate at The Depot, not the Corn Palace.

This morning, we left Mitchell at 8:00am with 423 miles ahead of us, and the tail end of the same nasty storm we dealt with yesterday only a hundred or so miles ahead of us. The ride down I-90 was uneventful for the first 150 miles. The sky was heavily overcast, but there was no rain. However, after that we caught up with the tail end of the storm and had heavy rain all the way to the Mississippi River - some 220 miles to the East. The rain was bad enough, but the temperature never got above 62 degrees and was sometimes in the fifties.

Once again the rain gear failed the test in all the wrong places. By the time we got to the Mississippi and started down towards Harper's Ferry and Prairie du Chien, I was thoroughly wet and very cold. However, the rain had stopped. Despite that fact, the last 60 miles were not much fun. Too bad, because we were traveling down a scenic highway called The Great River Road. It would have been very scenic if the clouds had been a bit higher and I had been a bit less soaked! We couldn't even see across the river most of the time - and it's not very wide at this point!

We arrived at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin at 5:00pm. It had been a very long, and not very pleasant ride. Hopefully the storm moves faster tonight and we don't meet up with it again tomorrow on the way to Milwaukee!