Day 33

Start mileage 99042
End mileage  99360
Daily total 318
Ride total 8385

Well today should be the last day of this once in a life time ride.

I was up early but didn't really get with the program very quick. I did daily duties, packed everything I took into the motel room last night. Then put it all in the trailer and bike. I was rip roaring and ready to get ice and breakfast. I did both. Gas station for Ice and Denny's for breakfast.

After all that, I got on the bike, headed to I70 East and continued the ride. Google Maps which has been very instrumental in my planning and execution of this ride said I had 314 miles to Dillsburg. I got email from a friend who wanted to know what time I would be home. I could only guess and said around noontime.

Off I went. Not wanting to have an inglorious finish to the ride I made sure I did the speed limit or as close as I could so as to not get a ticket on the final day of my Retirement Ride Across America. Had to travel through the rest of Ohio, West Virginia and half of Pennsylvania until I rested.

Actually the ride went well today with no issues. No rain or tornadoes. Thank you Lord! I got home around 12:45 pm and my neighbor was parked on my door step until I got there. She took several pictures of me arriving, getting off the bike and the Welcome Back sign on the garage door. I thought that was very sweet that she would do that for me. She will emailing me the pictures she took or I will assist in getting them from her camera to the blog site.

Come back for pictures.


Almost home.

Parking on the sidewalk.

Trying to get off the bike.

Home at last, Home at last!

Once home, picking up the family cat and giving him some attention, I proceeded to unload the bike and trailer. It was hot and I managed to change into sneakers from my riding boots. The sneakers were much cooler.

I made a mad dash to the state store in Carlisle to resupply the house with alcohol that seemed to disappear while I was away. I had to have a celebratory Beef Eaters Gin Martini as my brother-in law says should be Beef Eaters. Of course Grey Goose for the wife's martini.

When I arrived home after the alcohol run my wife's car was in the drive way. Upon going inside she said she had to come home early since she was unable to function knowing I was at home after 33 days on the road. We ate a meal and had our celebratory martini's. All is good in the world now.

I missed home and being here but would not have missed this Ride of a Life Time!
 I hope to go over the ride check list to advise on things I used and things I never used. Also some Wisdom from the Road thoughts to pass along to others who want to ride distance on their motorcycles.

Please do come back for more.

Day 32

Start mileage 98561
End mileage  99042
Daily total 481
Ride total 8067

I am sitting here after finishing my ride today thinking, I wonder where I was when I started today. Yes I am kind of tired. Oh yes! I started in Troy, Il.. You know everything seems to run together.

Got up early. Around 5:30 am. Decided to redo yesterday and get an early start. Got up did daily duties, packed all my stuff. Carried out to bike and loaded up. Hit the road about 6:38 am. Heading East of course on I70. At 80 mph I might add. It was overcast again and I was wanting to get out of the way of thunder storms forecast for later on in the morning.

I stopped after some 100 miles for breakfast. The sign said BBQ place. They are open seven days a week and serve breakfast. I had short stack and  eggs over easy on top. Not great but breakfast. Then back on the bike to continue my journey.

Rode through Illinois and into Indiana That includes Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Richmond.  Into Ohio through Columbus and I thought it was too early to quit just yet so I rode until my butt said enough is enough. I stopped in Zanesville at another cheap motel. Still spent $67.00 on the room for just one night. Call me cheap.

I did get rained on before hitting Columbus Ohio. It started to rain then got progressively faster. I decided to pull over under a bridge. I thought might as well have lunch. Had my usual Peanut butter and Ranch Dressing rolls and milk. Well after lunch was over, BTW, I dripped ranch dressing all over the side of my bike, it is even in the back speaker. I will have fun cleaning this. Oh yes! and another BTW, I am now missing a piece of my back seat. The missing piece has come out before but never to the point that I lost it. So I believe remodeling of the bike will be in order when I get home. If you remember I had a run into with dried manure and straw just yesterday and had to wash the bike. That probably means there is dried manure (shit) in the air filters. Just some things to have the mechanic look at and things to replace. So I put on my rain pants and started out again. Wouldn't you know it. Just 10 miles or so down the road it stopped raining and never rained again today. I am sitting on the bike in 80+ degree temps with this rubber pants thing on and sweating my behind  off just because I didn't want to get it wet. I will rethink my decisions on riding in the rain from now on.

So I am in a motel. I have somewhat recuperated from today's ride and plan on hitting Denny's down the road. BTW, I will be walking to it since I am very much done riding for today.

Looks like only 314 miles to good old Dillsburg and my baby and  her cat. I am looking forward to that.

TTFN

Day 31

Start mileage 97964
End mileage  98561
Daily total 597
Ride total 7586

I got up early this morning because I was concerned about the potential for bad weather today in the area. Turns out it was extremely overcast and I thought I had better get out of Dodge while I had the chance. I was thinking I might out run the storm front if I left now instead of doing several things before leaving. Pulled out at 6:30 am. Ran about 60 miles with the conditions staying about the same but I was hungry. Stopped at a little restaurant after passing all the gas stations and fast food places. Seems this is the locals favorite place to congregate on  a Saturday morning. I sat beside six old, older than me, Farmers who were discussing weather and crops. They didn't care if the weather was rough just as long as they got rain. Crops in the state are in if they have irrigation and some in even without irrigation and still for the time being look like they are healthy.

I wanted to take pictures of another windmill farm this morning but it was to foggy to seen the tops of the windmills. I gave up on pictures.

I ran about 150 miles before I saw the sun. It now is shining and the sky's are clear with some white puffy clouds. I doesn't look  at all  like rain. I continued finishing my crossing of the great state of Kansas.

While crossing the Missouri, Kansas border on I 70 the sign welcoming you to the state was on a bridge so I could not stop in traffic to take my picture with the sign. I stopped in a shopping mall parking lot for lunch. I thought I still had some lunchmeat but it was not in the cooler. I made rolls with peanut butter and Ranch Dressing sandwiches for lunch. I am now out of lunch and dinner foods. I still have cereal and  milk to go with more peanut butter and rolls. But the number of meals eaten on the road is getting fewer and fewer because I should be home day after tomorrow.

Altogether I rode through Salinas, Topeka, Kansas City Kansas. Through Independence Missouri, Columbia and St Louis Missouri. I crossed into Illinois and stopped in Troy, Il for the evening. I saw several motels I am familiar with so decided this exit would be the one the end of the day. First I got gas. As I was pumping it I saw Congress Inn just beside the gas station. The sign said $39.95 for a single. I thought cheap motel sounds good to me. I registered and went into the  room. It looks  ok to me. The building is a little rundown and the parking lot has holes in the macadam but I am not interested in that.

Went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Had the Chicken Livers. They were excellent. Back to motel and a nice hot shower  and I feel like a new me. Will be researching distances and places for tomorrow's  ride.

Enough for now..

TTFN

Day 30

Start mileage 97379
End mileage  97964
Daily total 585
Ride total 6989

Up early today around 5:30 am after a great nights sleep in a soft warm bed between sheets. Motels are nice. But expensive.

Did daily stuff. Rounded up all the gear to go out to the bike. Went to breakfast in the dinning room beside the lobby. Had hot eggs, sausages, cold orange juice, Danish, fresh coffee. I am in heaven. I did not even have to do dishes. Filled my thermos with coffee. Carried all my stuff out to the bike, about four trips.

Got a fill up, and some ice. I went into town and the Walgreens was not open yet and could not find the car wash. Oh! well! another day of dirty bike. I am feeling very guilty about this since I promised a bath first thing in the morning. I rode down the Interstate 70 towards the East.

Here are a few shots of Colorado on the West side of the state.

What a mountain this is.

 Towards the middle of Colorado you get into flatter land like these shots show.

Flat with mountains all around

  Towards the middle of the state you get into mountains and ski country. See the snow.

 I 70 takes passed Vale Colorado and its Pass. The pass elevation is 10,662 ft. high. When I went over it the temp was 54 degrees. I was shivering on the bike since I didn't put on an under jacket. But eventually got up and over and down the other side and warmed up.
You might want to follow this link for some more information about Vale Pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vail_Pass

Snow on the mountain in the middle of May. See the ski runs?

Denver in the back ground

Colorado knows how to handle windmills.

These are all working on a large wind mill farm.

 The Eastern side of the state is flat and goes on forever. Did I mention it was flat.

More flat Colorado

 Kansas did not have a sign welcoming visitors into the state on I70. They were redoing the roadway.

 I stopped at the Kansas Visitor Information Center. The people were very helpful and helped me make up my mind to stay at a KOA but not tenting. It was very windy all the time I rode in Kansas. I had to slow down to the legal speed limit to keep the bike on the road.

Did you know all this Interstate stuff was the idea of President Eisenhower. Seems he thought the Germans had a step up on us. They had the Autobahn to go from one side of the country to the other. Personally I am glad he had that idea. I70 is a wonderful highway.

Camp site at KOA.

 Notice I am not tenting. I rented a one room cabin. I cooked outside just like I was tenting. Used the bath house for shower but I have a room with a queen size mattress, my own sleeping bag etc. It is less expensive than a motel and was very convenient. I also did what I hope is my last loads of laundry prior to arriving home. I found out where the local car wash is and told the bike tomorrow I promise first thing out we give it a bath. I thought I heard a sigh!

Well I rode a lot today. Made some good mileage. Had no incidents. I even passed the couple from Ohio I spoke to back in Utah.

Day 29

Start mileage 96941
End mileage  97379
Daily total 438
Ride total 6404


Got up early to get a good start on the day. Ran through daily duties and packed up what little I brought into the motel room. Ran stuff down to rig and packed my stuff. Not very hard since not much was taken out of the trailer last evening. BTW, I took time to move many tunes into one folder on my phone. That way I could tell it to mix up tunes and not replay any all day.

Went for gas down the road a block or two. Stopped at McDonalds for coffee and egg McMuffin (yuck!). Ran across the street for ice. They have free air so I pulled over to the pump, unhooked the trailer and put the Goldwing up on its center stand. That way one can turn the tires to find the air nozzle. The back tire took a little air and the front was right on the money. As well as both trailer tires. So hooked up trailer again. Got out phone and setup tunes to play today. This is nice since the trip out west was without tunes. Off we went.

It was misty in the desert this morning. About 56 degrees and cloudy. This is what I saw.

 

Seems there is a windmill farm close to the Utah boarder

Very many windmills

Not a one was working. It wasn't windy at all. The down fall of  wind energy. Some say unreliable.

Well taking routes US 6, US 50, US 93 out of Ely was quick. US 93 dropped off and continued on US 6/50. The US 6 turned and US 50 was the route to take. It runs into I15 which goes north for a couple of exits and then off turns US 50. Following US 50 across Nevada you find a sign that says no gas for next 167 miles. You look at your gas gauge and say, Hey! no problem! Off you go then. While cursing down US 50 you notice there is absolutely no one around. No cars, no house, no live stock nothing. The speed limit is 70 so you crank it up. Then you think, will how about 80 mph? Not bad so you try 90 mph, this too works great. Then you think what the hell 100 mph. There is no one out on the desert except you, your bike and it's shadow. Setting the curse control for 100 mph was a little bit thrilling. I rode like this for many a mile. Slowing down only for the Welcome to Utah sign.

Meet four kids going to Yosemite Park. I took their picture by the sign for them. Told them I had just come from Yosemite and they needed to be mindful how big the place is. It is not something to drive across quickly. I told them about my ride around the park taking CA 49 and the high pass I traversed. They were interested in my blog so I gave them a card with the address on it.

Back on the bike to finish the 167 miles between gas stations. Back to 100 mph again. All this fast traveling was great. Just as I was getting to the end of the 167 mile stretch I slowed down cause I was coming into civilization. Lucky for me I did because the white truck up ahead was the Utah Highway Patrol. I followed him for a mile and he turned off. I stopped for gas in that town.

I met a couple who were going home to Ohio and taking the same route as me. I had passed them along time ago.

Here are scenes from Utah I thought were interesting.

Crops being irrigated in Utah

Stopped for gas and shows the long road here.

Lots of mountains in Utah.

More mountains in the other direction.

Just one more mountain

I don't know what you call this but lots of them here.

Still another one of the things I don't know what they are called. But they are impressive.

I think this is just gorgeous. Don't you?

More beauty.

Still more.

Had to ride down this little hill.

Once on I70 I kept passing the same group of trucks probably about five times. I would stop and take a picture and they would pass me while stopped. I pass them again and then stop for more pictures. I thought maybe we could become friends since we saw so much of one another but exchanging niceties at 80 mph just doesn't work.

Finally hit Colorado.

Colorado scene.
 

 Ran into this old car and driver at a gas stop on I70.

1934 Olds

He rides shotgun.

I asked the driver if he was running the Interstate?

Sure he says. He was running at 85 mph.

The car has a 350 cubic inch engine and runs like a top he says. He travels periodically between Iowa and Nevada in this car.

I pulled into the first exit close to Grand Junction Colorado for a room and a good nights rest.
Had Mongolian Stir Fry but it did not live up to Mongolian Stir Fry in Phoenix.

TTFN

Day 28

Start mileage 96432
End mileage  96941
Daily total 509
Ride total 5966

Wow!!!! What a day this has been!

Up early this morning to the sound of Wild Turkey in the forest by the KOA campground. I kept listening thinking at first they might be tame birds but they would call periodically to one another. So instead of the roster crowing the turkey gobbles out here close to Yosemite. What kind of farm is this?

Started off doing daily stuff, then made my breakfast, grapenuts and peanut butter sandwiches. washed the few dishes and got a clean pair of jeans to put on. The current pair only lasted two days before I got grease and dirt all over them. I will have to remember to do laundry in a few days.

Broke camp and was off by 7:18 am. Today I would connect to CA 49, CA 108, US395 and then US 6 to US 50. I had decided to go around Yosemite because I thought it would be a hassle to go the entire way through it. Instead what I found by going around Yosemite was a ride of a life time.

At first just over the mountain from the KOA I was slowly coming around a curve and saw three hen turkeys. They ran when they saw me. Later down that same road there was a fawn running along side the road until she could jump into the woods. Very exciting stuff. These were the  first real animals I have seen on this trip.

On CA 49 it goes through some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen yet. Click link for some info on the road for motorcycles.

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/roads/ca49.html

The road will be twisty up and down mountains. It runs along rivers (out here they are not wide) between two mountainsides.

Just a couple of quick views along the way.

Lovely mountains.

I had to take a Butt Break so I shot these two scenes for you.

Notice pine trees

Just a pretty tree.

It also goes over Sonora Pass which 9624 ft high. I rode up and over it. See link for information
http://snowbrains.com/9624-foot-sonora-pass-ca-is-open-earliest-opening-in-years-tioga-pass-likely-may-11th/
But I did not ride over the pass in snow but there was snow on some of the mountains. The pass was long, about 17 miles up and down the other side. Very steep and very curvy, twisty. A motorcycle riders dream road. The views were stunning. I must add that the last gas station before hitting the pass area was out of gas. I had maybe 3/8ths a tank left so I ventured forth. I kept watching the gas gauge and after coming down the Pass I thought I ought to hit my spare gas can in the saddle bag. I know if I wouldn't have used that gas then I would have had to sometime prior to hitting the next gas station.

Prior to getting to the above pass I stopped at Stanislaus National Park for a quick couple of pictures.
Click link for more information on the park. http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/stanislaus/home

I am a sucker for a pretty tree.

What a view!

More pines and the desert background.

Had to get the bike in  a picture today.

Now I must apologize for not taking anymore pictures. I have two reasons why.
1. All these shots were taken while trying to go around Yosemite National Park. The trip around was one I will never forget. It is as or more amazing then the trip into Yosemite itself.
2. I am trying to get out of the wilderness and to a major US Interstate Highway because I have decided I am ready to get home, now.

After leaving California and entering and traveling through Nevada I was trying to make miles. I did make a good number today even after my very slow start around Yosemite. The drive through Nevada, I am still in Nevada (Ely is the town I am staying at) but soon will be in Colorado, was spectacular due entirely to the vast distances of nothingness. There were ranches, cattle, mines, oil wells, horses, irrigation running, pasture lands and lots and lots of dry dusty terrain. The road ran from one horizon to the  next and when you got there it happened all over again. Believe me I will never forget this desert ride today for many reasons. But most importantly I was safe the entire time on my wonderful machine.

A prayer now and then was said and  I know it helped get across this land.

Up tomorrow and over to Colorado and I70.

TTFN