We made it home! Safe! It was a long ride, but somebody had to do it!
5108 miles, 15 states, 11 days, 34 gas stops!
Beautiful country! Everywhere we went, I could live there! It was a lot of pavement but we are so lucky to be able to travel so many miles, without a security check post, the rules are relatively the same in every state. We could stop where we wanted, with in reason, the dotted yellow line is a stupid place to stop, eat where we wanted, drive N,E,S or W. depending on our whim.

I love America! And our freedom!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 10
It was another yellow day today. Yellow flowers on the top of sage brush. Yellow flowers bordering the road. Yellow dirt on the hillsides and under the pine trees, (I wonder what kind of dirt it is, lime, clay?) Yellow lines to follow! Yellow is pretty, mellow, soothing!

Then the hillsides started to turn red! I love red! Red brings us into Moab! And what can I say...Moab... speaks for itself with its own memories! We tried to spend the night in Moab, but all the hotels were sold out, and we stopped at 4. There were No Vacancy signs up everywhere, so onto Green River. It is almost done. The ride for 2009, 11 days total, over 5000 miles. I will get a final mileage tomorrow, but we are thinking that it will be over 5000.

I have eaten more food than if I had been on a cruise, and we haven't even gone to any, all you can eat buffets. Just eating out, the meals are large and plentiful.

I am trying to convince Kevin that I need 5000 minutes of massage to top off my vacation, he isn't convinced that a massage is going to be different than a 5000 road mile massage. But I know it will make me happy!

This world is such a pretty, diverse, wild place. There are so many varieties of plants, rock formations, and people inhabiting each area. It has been fun to run clear across the United States and back again!

Reflective ride notes: 572 miles!
The mountains of AZ were cold. Did you know that AZ known for its over 100 degree heat had mountains with elevations of 8300 feet above sea level. The pine trees were plentiful, but the vegetation under the trees was sparse.
Have you heard of the aliens in Roswell, NM. Well, I think they have multiplied and were standing at attention all over the desert. The yucca's are up to 5 feet tall and the flower stems on top of the yucca's stood another 5 feet high. They looked like men with antennae.
Beautiful, Beautiful!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 9
WE DID IT! We crossed Texas! Finished off the second half of Texas today, from Sonora to Silver City, NM. Today was yellow! Yellow grasses, Yellow dirt, dry riverbeds-where water flows when it rains. There was green along the Rio Grande, so there must still be water in the Rio Grande at this time of year. We ran parallel with the river, but never got close enough to see the river.

Such a change from green and water.....lots of water.
Now we have vista's of cactus, yucca, mountains rising in the distance and visibility for long stretches. We saw cows, goats, a few deer, some road kill.

Ate lunch at the John Madden Hall of Fame, Chuy's in Van Horn, TX. Real authentic mexican food. Yum, Yum!

Silver City is a mining town and pretty big for being stuck in the middle of nowhere!

Love it!

Reflective ride notes: 537 miles, 4 gas stops, high $2.89, low $2.44
Only one meltdown today and it wasn't me. Sorry Grandpa, we are almost home!
Love the cactus, dry air, views, low bushes, mountains! I must have been born in the West!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 8
Go West young man...and west we went!
God Bless America!
On I-10 we drove!
Over plains and mountains!
Through rain and sun!

What a fabulous day! Pounding out the miles, heading West. Back to the land we love! I love driving over a hill and seeing miles of valleys and hilltops. Only to go into the valley and climb back up the other side of the valley, up a hill to have another view of another valley.

No, it is not as green here. The trees are shorter and farther apart. Water is scarce and a precious commodity. Men have died over water in the west.

We left Baton Rouge, LA and entered Texas. Where it is big here. Big state! Big trucks, big farms and big mileage! Motored through Houston and San Antonio more than half way across the state to Sonora, TX.

Reflective ride notes: About 640 miles today!
Love the road signs, God Bless America, Jesus Loves You and Drive Friendly
Love the West! I want to go back to North and South Carolina and spend some time there. But there is no place like home. I know, Texas is not home, but the terrain feels closer to home than the beautiful green luge!
God Bless You!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 7
Let's talk bridges today! Some are short for small creeks, some are long for travelling over the ocean to another land mass! Each are constructed to take us from one side of a water mass or ravine to another! If we did not have a bridge, the journey would be treacherous, laborious, maybe only a little difficult and/or maybe deadly. So we like bridges!

We covered a lot of ground and our journey was made simpler and quicker with the aid of a lot of bridges today!

When we left Birmingham, AL, we got back on I-59 heading South. In Meridian, we stopped at the Harley Store, they are so irresistible! We were told by a nice gentleman, "Do not drive 11, it is a really rough ta dunk ka dunk road". This peaked our interest, so, instead of driving the luge (tree lined freeway where all you see are yellow lines, white lines and trees) we got onto State Road 11. It ran parallel to 59, and the scenery was good. A house, a cow, a horse, another house, a mobile home, trees, and only the dotted white line, no shoulder, stop signs and yes - bridges, ta dunk ka dunk!

There are a lot of bridges in this part of the country. There is a lot of water, i.e.-rain. And it seems that when a bridge starts, ta dunk ka dunk, and then when the bridge ends, ta dunk ka dunk! On both 11 and 59 we experienced ta dunk ka dunk. The bridges are built really long, they have to cover the river and the river bank. The river is about as wide as our canal in Utah. Then they have to also cover the flood area and the flood bank, thus the river is 10 feet wide and the bridge has to be 100 feet wide.

Lunch in Meridian and back on to 59. Now we are making a run for Gulfport, MS. I used to live here and I wanted to see if our house was still there. I was only two and I remember right where it was. NOT! Just kidding! It was fun to think that I lived here a long time ago! There are still a lot of trees. I am amazed at the trees! They are thick and everywhere! Utah really is a desert!

Now for a really fun, long, over the ocean bridge, into New Orleans! Here we are on this bridge over the ocean. There is no place to turn around, pull off for gas or a potty and if you have a wreck, the police have to be able to get to you somehow through a traffic jam, or come down the freeway backwards. Our lives depend on this bridge. To get us back to land, where we can drive any direction, stop anytime, go left, right, fast or slow. Funny how the bridge is a lifeline, but with few options! Obey the rules and drive nice, then we will make it back to land!

New Orleans! Loved driving through here and visualizing where Hurricane Katrina waters may have come to. The people stranded on the bridge, the people staying in the Superdome. The night life, the jazz music, seeing places rebuilt and places still boarded up and falling down. All the people we spoke with here, where gracious and kind. Not angry or suspicious! Ready to help a stranger! Loved it! Would love to come back!

Then on the Baton Rouge, where it started sprinkling and getting dark so we called it a day!
Ta dunk ka dunk!

Reflective Ride notes: About 500 miles, 3 gas stops, low $2.52, high $2.69.
First we ran into signs that said "Bridge will ice first in cold weather", then we came to signs that said "Bridge may ice in cold weather".
DeSoto National Forest- starts about....all over the state!
Best thing invented for the day, bet you can't guess, yep, it's bridges!!!!
Ta dunk ka dunk!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 6
It stopped raining and we had a beautiful ride this morning leaving Asheville, NC and going SW to Hendersonville, Brevard, past Lake Toxaway, Sapphire, Highlands, Gneiss, Cullasaja, Rainbow Springs, Shooting Creek, Murphy, Ranger, Isabella, Old Copper Road, Water Level Highway. Past places named Horseplay Lane, Cornhusk Lane, Transalvania County, The Jelly House, Bear Wallow, Black gum and my favorite is lickskillet. There is humor in this country. Favorites from yesterday: Deadbeat Petes Restuarant, Nawger Nob, Lazy Horse and Special peoples Park.

We found some dryer roads and winding curves to rub the pegs on this morning.

After lunch we dropped down out of the big hills and into the lower hills where we made a run for Burningham, AL. Boring! Straight roads, Tree lined, white line, yellow line. Thats all there was to look at for 4 hours. Sorry! It is fabulously beautiful, but the tree lined luge run is boring on the back of a bike.

Reflective ride notes: Just over 400 miles today (Don't have exact mileage at this time)
3 gas stops - High $2.69, Low $2.53
Had to fix Ray's shifter again today! This time we bought a new part! Now it's fixed, fixed!
Only got sprinkled on today and it was very warm and humid when we stopped.
We got to stop and see a couple of waterfalls. Because of the rain, they were dirty brown and powerful!
Best thing invented for today: Lemon drops! I sucked on them until my mouth was raw! One for me, one for Kevin! You suck them until they are little and then chomp chomp chomp! Time for a new lemon drop!

Harley Ride 2009 - Day 5
Beautiful, Beautiful! We didn't put a lot of miles on the road today. It rained and rained and rained! We started out sleeping in. It was very nice. We didn't get on the road until 10:00 a.m. ish. Because it was raining. There was a break in the clouds so we decided to go ahead and drive the dragon. In spite of the warning from Joy at the the hotel that there were 9 fatalities on the dragon this summer. She gave us a scenic tour from Alcoa over the Foothills Parkway. What a pretty road. It ran along a ridge with trees everywhere.

When you can peek through the trees the view of the mountaintops are beautiful! Clouds settling on the hills. And the smell of rain! This brought us to the Chilhowee Lake and onto the Dragon. It was a tough battle. We had rain and leaves on the road, but we slid (slayed) the dragon.

Lunch at Stecoah and a Harley shop in Cherokee and Waynesville. We had to fix Kevin's shifter in Waynesville. It broke. Then we floated into Asheville.

It has rained 10 inches in 24 hours in this part of the country. We are wearing our rain gear which is the best thing ever today. My boots were soaked through and I had a wet strip down my shirt. When driving down the road, the water would soak my hands, nose and mouth. It has been an adventure. And it is still pouring. Not raining, but pouring.

Reflective ride notes:
About 300 miles - Kevin hit his reset button too fast and zeroed out the trip mileage, so I am adding. 1 gas stop at $2.38 a gallon.
We rode our Harley's in the Southern Super Soaker! (That's what they were calling it on the news). Right into Ashville where they had the most rainfall reported for this storm in North Carolina. At least 4 inches in 24 hours. It was causing some bad flooding in Atlanta Georgia.
Thank you to the Harley store in Cherokee, NC and Asheville, NC for letting us drip on your floor and shop! And a big Thank you to Ghost Town in Asheville for letting Kevin fix his shifter on his bike under the covered parking and not in the pouring rain.
We had to put half our clothes in the dryer at the hotel to get them dry again. They were soaked through the carry bag.
Best thing invented for the day: Waterproof gear! Even though the water came through a little, ok, with this rain storm and driving all day, it was quite a bit. We were able to stay warm and not shiver. The water felt like standing in a warm shower! My boots were wet all the way through. You should have seen our room with everything hanging up to dry and the air blowing and steaming up the windows.

Harley Ride 2009-Day 4
We are so close to the Dragon, So close and yet so far away! From Nashville to Alcoa we got rained on. Not just a drizzle, A good ole Eastern warm water drenching. Where it feels like you are standing under the hose. We made it to Alcoa and decided to get a room. It was only 2:00 p.m., but none of us wanted to drive the dragon on wet roads. Yes the dragon is only 11 miles. But there are 335 turns in 11 miles. And it is not fun if you can only go 10 miles an hour. So, we are drying off and resting. Cause tomorrow, the dragon waits for us.

The gal at the hotel said that there were 9 fatalities in 3 months on the dragon this summer. See, dry roads are a must and even then, it could be dangerous.

Dragon Slaying - tomorrow! Weather permitting.

Reflective ride notes: 225 miles. 1 gas stop at $2.69 a gallon. My jacket is not waterproof. Stayed relatively dry once I got my rain gear on, just didn't get it on soon enough. Beautiful, Beautiful. It is so green here. There are spots where Ivy has grown up the trees and completely covered the ground. It was a fairy land, or hobbit land whichever book you want to land in today! Hot tubs are awesome when you are soaked through. It is also nice to have a hotel with a washer and dryer!

Harley Ride 2009- Day 3
Green - Can I tell you that I like green. Green fields, green trees, trees, trees. Once we get far enough east to pass the farm lands, the trees become very plentiful. There is lots of rain here. We even got rained on today while travelling into Nashville. We had about 2 1/2 hours of riding in the rain, so, not bad. But all this rain leaves things green.

And then the moisture causes a blanket of fog in the morning. We have been starting out at 7:00 and the sun is just coming up. The air is chilly and the fields are covered with fog. You see the fingers of fog moving across the ground about 6 feet above it. It dances and swirls. Then as the sun warms up the fog, it becomes thinner and almost invisible, until it vanishes altogether.

There are old dilapidated farm houses and new state of the art farmhouses with a yard full of tractors and tractor equipment. My favorites are the old ones. Open windows, gray wood, shake shingles, stalls on the side and no stalls on the sides. Who use to live there? What did they farm? Why is this barn abandoned? Did they just move over to the next field, or are they a product of generational changes?

We crossed the Missouri River, Mississippi River and Ohio River today. Big wide lazy rivers. Lots and lots of water. *Rain* Tom Sawyer comes to mind!

It was mostly flat riding all day again today, but about 45 minutes out of Nashville, the mounds along the way started to become hills, and then they rose abruptly out of the ground with shear rock faces. Granted they are only about as tall as South Mountain, but they were a beautiful sight to see. I love it out here, but I love the Rocky Mountains.

My favorite invention for the day: ear plugs! These are the best things ever! You roll them between your finger until they are small snake like. Then you put them in your ear and wait for them to expand. When they are fully expanded, it cuts the noise out like you are under water. Saved me from another dreadful headache. Love em, love em!

When I get home, I am going to have to work off the 2 ax handle wide my tush is becoming. Instead of a secretary spread, I am getting a Harley spread. I even notice the flattening of the thighs when I take a potty break. All this sitting causes the blood to pool in my behind, so I am grateful for breaks, send the blood back to the feet and to the heart. For exercise, I dangle my feet off the pegs. At 80 miles an hour the wind pushes them at a consistent pressure against the saddle bags. When Kevin let's off the gas, my feet rock forward and back, where ever the wind blows them. This is very small movements, but it is entertaining. So for exercise, I do resistance. I try to hold my feet forward for as long as I can. The problem is that the blood is still pooled in my behind and so the workout only lasts a few minutes. Or, because my fanny gets soar after about an hour, I will hoist my fanny just above the seat and try to hold that position as long as I can before settling down on the seat again. So now you know what my leftie and rightie brain are doing for 10 hours on a motorcycle.

Reflective ride notes: 537 miles today. Went through Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Crossed 3 Rivers, Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio. 4 gas stops. Can go just under 150 miles on a tank of gas. Least expensive gas today was $2.49/gal. Most expensive was $2.79 a gallon. Got rained on, but not enough to put on rain gear.

Harley Ride 2009-Day 2
Line upon line, we left the hotel in the early morning dew! The humidity was high, which made it a little cold as we drove the line down the path of I-70 from Limon, CO to Blue Springs, MO (just outside of Kansas City, MO). The sun comes up in an eye piercing halo through the mist. It was a beautiful morning on the road! Chilly, but we dressed warm!

We found ourselves line dancing the dotted white line and the solid white line on our way to where we will finally crawl off the motorcycle and plop ourselves under the covers of a bed in a nice hotel. See things are good on the road:).

Hold the line to be safe and never surrender your position on the freeway, cause then you just have to pass the half asleep drivers again. Cruise control is the best thing ever invented.

Have you driven across the flats of Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Beautiful sights of fence lines, electrical t-pole lines, corn rows, lines of rolled hay, pass a line of semi's, semi's pass us, just kidding, semi's were not passing our bike, railroad lines, silo's lined up along the railroad tracks, roads extending as far as the eye can see, windmills turning slowly in the breeze, tractors standing at attention, waiting for the next field to plow. There is order out here in these farms and in the world!

This adventure is a hard line we are taking. It takes a lot of endurance and will to stay awake, when you are on the back of a motorcycle, with the chilly humidity trying to enter the depths of your body and make you shiver, the only thing you hear is the hum of the engine and the wind blowing in your ears, the smell of fresh cut grass, or cut corn, or cut the cheese, or road kill, smell the dog food being made as we pass the dog food plant, a whiff of gas or fuel, sunflowers, moist leaves, turned dirt, it is the briefest scent and then gone with the wind. And the sights are amazing line upon line upon line upon line.

So this is my story line for today! All 599 miles of it!

Reflective ride notes: 599 miles. Drove through Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Ate lunch at Bob's in Dorrance, KS. Bob bought an old gas station and has a sign out front saying burgers and beer. With his ice chests sitting in front of the picnic table. Next to the building is a Sno Shack. Bob keeps his wife in the Sno Shack, she fixed our lunch and never came out, while Bob chatted and drank a beer for all of us. It was awesome!
Ray's shifter fell off the bike and we had to to a minor repair. That's how we discovered Bob's. It happened in front of his place. Then the GPS fell off the bike between Kansas City and Blue Springs, MO. It is history! Road kill! Milo grain growing along the sides of the road, waiting for a freeze so they can harvest. Went to Liberty Jail in Liberty, MO. Fascinating! Ate at the waffle house (Yuck!)(Agreed upon by all three of us!)
4 gas stops. $2.57 was the cheapest gas and $2.70 was the most expensive.

Harley Ride 2009 -Day 1
3 best things:
1. Mountains that rise higher than 10,000 feet above sea level. Snow tipped. Aspens turning yellow. Cool mountain air. Fabulous ski resorts that have evolved into shopping bonanza's - We bought ice cream. Can't fit anything else in the tour bag. 6% grade and then some. Long sweeping turns that are cool on a motorcycle. Tunnels through the mountain. Better than going over it!

2. Riding a Harley-cool wind in your ears, nose and eyes. Even with a helmet, face shield and glasses on. More wind! Blowing at you from different directions, but the Harley can handle it. Sunshine! Love the sun shining on my back or my face as we ride down the road. No Rain! Yes this is a good thing while riding the Harley! The roar of the motor on the road. I like the sound at 80 miles an hour better than 2 miles an hour stuck in a traffic jam in Denver that took us 2 hours to get out of. Orange. Orange is an awesome color for a motorcycle. You can see it coming from a long ways a way. And it helps start up conversations everywhere we go!

3. 681 miles in one day! Ray and Kevin are studs! They ride and ride and ride. I sit on the back after 1 and 1/2 hours and start to whimper. My fanny is sore. My legs are numb. My knees are stiff. I have a back ache! Too much wind in my ears, they are ringing. As long as they keep food in me on a regular basis, potty breaks and stretch my legs. Bring it on! I will go the distance! I will ride on the back, take pictures and keep my whimpering to myself, Cause this really is fun!

Reflective ride notes: 681 miles. Pounding down the pavement! Saw a fox running through a field just past Nephi. Went over Vail Pass 10,666 above sea level. That's higher than the top of Sugarloaf at Alta, and this was the pass, not the top of the mountain. These mountains have tree lines. Where the pines do not grow any higher. There was snow on the tips of some peaks. Bought ice cream in Vail, CO. Variety of scenery. Desert rocks and pine covered mountain sides.

Traveled through Utah and Colorado. 3 gas stops with $2.89 the cheapest and $2.93 the most expensive.

Lotoja 2009!

Yea for another year of Beautiful weather, Awesome support crews, Good Friends, Strong legs and the Finish line!

Jamie podium'd this year. Third place! She worked hard for this accomplishment. Congratulations girl!

Kevin was a stud! He peddaled the whole 206 miles on the tandem with a change of riders on the back. I took the first ride from Logan to Preston. This was trippy, we left at 5:45 a.m. In the dark, a huge group of riders moving through the farm lands yelling "slowing", "rider down", (yes, there was a wreck on the way and that adds a little bit of stress, in the dark, in a group). There was fog along the river and we pulled into Preston as the sun was coming up!

Tiffany, was awesome! She did a long stretch and one of the hardest!. She rode from Preston, up Strawberry Summit and into Montpelier! 46 miles. It was still cool and a beautiful morning!

Then 2 studs tackled Geneva Summit and Salt River Pass. Rob and Kevin rode the next 45 miles and the steepest climbs. Rob was in euphoria! And a blessing for Kevin and the climbs.

Then the original tandem team of Kevin and Morgan rode from Afton to Alpine. 34 miles in the wind tunnel. Morgan did an awesome job of keeping them riding with Toni and "Wookie" Josh. She had a hard pull, in the wind and keeping up with 2 men on a tandem.

I climbed back on at Alpine to ride the last 47 miles. Kevin was tired and we had, as always, wind coming into Jackson. But, we finished! Crossing the finish line is an awesome feeling. I still would love to kick over the 5 km sign one of these days.

Thank you to all who helped support, ride and send their energy our way! We had a lovely time together as a family and completing our goals!

Thank you Chase for taking pictures. After Chase finishes editing them, I will post our favorites!

Wheels!

A day in our life at our house,

There are chores that need to be done!

Kevin has a variety of tools,

That make yard work lots of fun!

A new acquisition for mowing,

Cuts the lawn in a very short time!

But to move snow, dirt and manure,

Use a tractor to cut down on grime!

If he wants to put some wind in his hair.

There is a variety of bikes to choose from!

A single bike or a tandem,

Or a big orange Harley is the Bomb!

Maybe just take a trip to the movies,

Will use something with four wheels!

A couple of ways to go buggin,

It depends on how he feels!

But I am waiting for day when this arrives,

It will be the envy of the neighbors!

All the kids will want a ride,

On this wheelin, crushin, hauler!

You never know what will happen at our house!!!!