Getting Ready for Vacation! Maine, Here We Come!

I know, I know. The last post was about how embarrassing it was to not have posted in a year. Now it's been 2 more. I am beyond embarrassed, but there is little I can do about it now. 

This summer we are returning to Bar Harbor, Maine for a week of hiking and camping. We went last year to celebrate our 25th anniversary and this year we are taking some company! My sister and her husband will join us!. We will not be taking motorcycles and while I know this blog is supposed to be about motorcycle rides, I am going to use it to document the trip. So you can pretend that the trip was on a motorcycle or whatever makes you feel ok about it. 

The trip is going to be a blast. Two weeks total. We will tent camp up through VA, PA, NY, CT, NH, VT, and ME. Then we will stay in one of the wonderful one room cabins at Hadley's Pointe in Bar Harbor. 

So beginning at the end of the month, the blog will go live and you can follow along with pictures and commentary on the food and fun! Hope to "see" you here then! In the meantime, here are a few pics from last year to get you prepped! 

A real Vermont covered bridge!

Whale Tails in Maine!

One of the many lighthouses on the Main coast.

Our first day of hiking!

Maine without Paul Bunyan doesn't count.

Sturgis Day 2 - Nashville TN to Kansas City MO

So the day we had dreaded came. It was a second day of 600+ miles in a row. Something neither of us had ever done. And something that both of us had felt would be the toughest day of the trip to Sturgis. Were we right? Well, read on and decide for yourself.

The ride started out early with "kickstands up" at around 7:00. I had assumed this trip would take us about 12 hours. It is always safe to assume a max of 50 mph average and so that's the "rocket science" I applied to reach this estimate.

We pulled out of Nashville under some overcast skies and about 110% humidity. I mean it. It was very sticky already. So we headed north toward Paducah, KY. A place I had looked forward to seeing on the trip since it is the area of the country my dad is from. I had spent time in this area as a kid, but I hadn't been back since my junior year in college when my grandmother passed away. As we approached the sky was getting darker up ahead. Time to gear up (again). Just a note to any of you who think about a trip like this. If you find yourself staring at raingear thinking "Do we really need to spend $150 on a rainsuit?" just buy it. You will think that amount is cheap the first time you hit rain. As it started to rain, the trip got much more comfortable. The temperature dropped and over the long rolling fields we saw massive streaks of lightning up ahead. As we got into the heart of the storm there was a sudden flash and a nearly simultaneous BOOM! form the thunder. The sounds reverberated through my whole body and I looked back fully expecting to either see the bag had exploded form the strike or that I was now riding solo with just a poof of smoke where Rhonda once was. But thankfully neither was true. And a huge smile came over my face. "This is really fun!" I thought to myself. And fun it was...

We made a quick stop to rest (and spend some cash) at the very unique steamboat themed Harley store in Paducah. My dad had visited there and brought me back a shirt. He had raved about Four Rivers Harley and how cool the place was. And I have to say he was right. It was a neat stop, but we had to get back on the road.

I admit I hadn't expected a lot from todays trip. I was looking forward to seeing St. Louis and the arch, but the thoughts of riding through Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri just didn't excite me much. No offense intended to anyone who lives there, but I pictured vast fields with little or no personality. But I was wrong. Illinois reminded me of Sweden. The wind was whipping across the huge corn fields dotted only occasionally with a cluster of trees around a houes to shelter it from the wind. Almost identical to the raps fields in Sweden. It brought back a lot of good memories.

Finally we felt comfortable enough to remove the raingear. Well, comfortable was not the right word. The heat was picking up and already I was longing for the cool rain we had been riding in. But the sun came out and it started to push upward as we pushed on toward St. Louis. The reputation of the heat inside St. Louis had proceeded it. And it did not disappoint. As we came up on the town, the heat went up as quickly as our excitement as we got our first glimpse of the St. Louis Arch on the horizon. It was really cool to see all three bikes point and (I assume giggle a little) as they finally saw the landmark that we had looked forward to for today's trip. Lucky for us (well, maybe) there was a traffic jam in St. Louis that allowed Rhonda to snap a few pictures of the arch as we rode through. I will get those posted as soon as I swing by WalMart to get the one cable I forgot to bring (failure).

As we left St. Louis it seemed the fun part of the trip was over. The sun was sinking lower and we were headed due west. Not a good combination when the temps are above 95. It was hot, and to be as respectful to the people who live there, pretty darn boring. It was time for a short break. Well, our bike thought so at least so I pushed up and told the leader to take the rest area that was coming up. So we pulled in and it seemed God was with us. The Christian Motorcycle Association was there giving away free hotdogs, snacks and drinks. You have heard this said many times before, but this was truly a "God Send". After the took time to pray for our whole crew, we were back on the road.

The remainder of the trip was how, sunny and tough. Honestly the last 150 miles of a 600 mile day is always hard, but this one was really hard. We pushed into Kansas City, passing the Royals stadium where a ballgame was going on. It was pretty neat as you could see directly into the stadium from the highway and see all the people (well, not so many since this was a Royals game) watching. We made it to the hotel, checked in and took a nice shower. A much needed shower.

So today means that we have put 1200 miles behind us in 2 days. Pretty amazing. And again, Rhonda did better than I did today. She never complained and took everything in stride. I never thought we could actually "enjoy" this trip, but we did. We just rode and chatted all day long. Of course it was tough at times, but still it was so nice to just "be together" for 12 hours doing something new.

So you tell me. Does it sound fun? Does it sound like it was a good day? Sitting here in the air conditioning makes it harder for me to decide. So I leave it to you to decide if it is something you would consider a good time.

Misc Things

• I forgot a cable so until I get one I can't post pics from the camera. I will fix this.
• As far as the equipment goes, everything is working great. Headsets lasted all day, bike ran great, raingear kept us and the bag dry and we got here in one piece. Can ask more more than that.
• I can't think the CMA enough for being setup at that rest area.  We had good snacks and great conversation.  They didn't have to give up their Saturday to make mine better.  So a big shout out to them.
• Tomorrow is a shorter day.  Only about 400 miles to Sioux Falls, SD.  We are even waiting until 9AM to leave!

Route From Today

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Sturgis Day 1 - Clayton NC to Nashville TN

Well, the first 582 miles are in the books.  And it went as well as can be expected.  Better in some regards.  We pulled out of Clayton at 6:15 this morning after pulling the gel pads out of the fridge.  Note to anyone that might use gel pads.  Put them in the fridge before you use them (if it is hot outside).  It was awesome!

It was overcast when we got on, but we expected it to burn off pretty quickly once the sun came up.  But we were wrong.  And we were glad we were wrong!  The weather stayed completely overcast until the first stop just past Winston Salem.  We stopped there for some gas and a quick McMuffin and we noticed that it was looking a little ominous up the road.  So we put the rain pants on and got back on the road.  About 20 miles up the road the bottom fell out and we ducked into a rest area and covered the bag and put the rest of our rain gear on.  We road in the nice cool rain all the way across the mountains until we hit Asheville where the sun came out.

We spent some time at the Asheville Harley Davidson talking shop and then got back on the road.  This is where it got interesting.  It got hot, sunny and the road was loaded with truckers.  It was slow going up/down the mountain and we were going through water pretty quickly.  But the mountains were pretty, so Rhonda tells me.  I was too busy trying not to kiss a truck's backside.

The ride from Knoxville to Nashville was not overly fun.  Between the intense heat, sun and frequent stop and go traffic, Rhonda and I were about done for the day.  But we made it.  The last 10 miles took over an hour since we (poorly) planned the trip to make sure we arrived in Nashville at 5:00 on a Friday and were headed out of the city.

Anyway, here I sit in a nice comfy chair in the hotel and I could not be prouder of my wife.  In fact, I think she did better than I did today!  We really enjoyed each other's company the entire trip.  I look forward to spending then next several days with her!

So how did the gear do?  The SENA headsets arrived with enough battery to take us to Chili's for dinner.  They were awesome.  Music and conversation the entire way.  The gel seats were good, especially for the first half.  But we are going to try switching it up tomorrow to see if moving to ride with them and then without them helps.  I will let everyone know.  The bike did great, even though slow maneuvering with the bag and Rhonda on was something to get used to.  But on the open road it was perfect.  We tried out the Garmin GPS app on the iPhone and it worked great with the headsets.  However it ate thorough the battery in no time.  Got to try something new there tomorrow.

In general, it was a great day.  I just hope the ones to follow are as good.  I apologize there are no pics tonight.  I am short of time, space and energy.  But I promise that if not before we get to Sturgis, I will get pics up for everyone.  I tweeted a few and Facebooked a few today.  But we took others.

Here is the route from today.  About 1300 miles to go!


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