Final Thoughts and Information on the Trip

The top picture show the route I took on this trip. The next 2 are the "States Ridden In" maps both before and then after my trip.

What a great ride! People have asked how this compares to the previous rides I did the last 2 years and all that I can say is that each ride has been unique. Some of what made this trip different includes:

• The safety training I did early on in the trip. This trip was scheduled around this training. It was a great way to both refresh and learn techniques for riding better and allowed me to practice and integrate the skills into my riding during the next 2 weeks
  
• The many different mountains I rode on this trip: Catskills and Adirondacks Mountains of New York, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Green mountains of Vermont)
• The time spent by the ocean in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine
• The weather - I put on my rain gear more on this trip than the last 2 combined. While I only had 2 times that the rain was heavy, the other were just the nuisance of having to put on the rain gear and then taking it off shortly there after as the rain had passed.
• The traffic I dealt with. While I still avoided most of the major cities (other than Chicago), there was still more traffic in most places than I had dealt with on previous trips.
  

I must always remember how lucky and blest I am to have the opportunity to even consider doing trips like this. It is only with the support of many that these trips are so enjoyable to me. Thank you to all of you:

• To Cathy for her support as I prepare for and take the trips.
• To my co-workers and team that allows me to "escape" for this time to really enjoy and relax during these trips which then allows me to return refreshed and renewed.
• To those that welcome me into their homes while I am on this journey.
• To those that I meet and enjoy talking to while on the journey.
  

I know many of you don't understand how spending this much time riding motorcycle by yourself can be enjoyable. However, to me, this is the most relaxing and rejuvenating experience I have. While I am on the road like this, I am able to clear my mind of the many day-to-day thoughts that I am normally concerned with. Just being in these great parts of the country and taking in their beauty puts a different perspective on life that is often forgotten at other times.

So here are some of the final numbers for the trip:
Total miles: 7,125
Longest day: 669 miles from east of Niagara Falls to Chicago (July 22 - Day 17)
Average miles per day: 396
New states ridden in: 11 (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
Totals states ridden in: 19
Total number of states now ridden in: 36 (72% of them)
Total out-of-pocket expenses to me: $740 (plus the safety training class) with lodging and gas being the largest expenses
Nights of camping: 11
Nights in hotels: 3
Nights with friends/family: 3
Average MPG: 46
Average price per gallon: $2.74

I hope you have enjoyed following along during my trip and enjoyed the pictures I posted. I only posted a small number of the 184 I have from the trip!

The next major event and excitement in our lives will be Trisha and John's wedding on August 21. We still have several things to finish planning for and work to be done to prepare for the reception that is going to be at our house so busy times are ahead.

Good bye to all.

Day 18 - July 23: Home at Last

I arrived home at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night, safe and sound with no incidents to report. The total mileage for the trip was 7,125 miles. I will provide more details when I have time to update my spreadsheets and put my final thoughts together. Today, I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it home.

I left Trisha's around 8:15 and went to visit my relatives (Jed and Judy). It had not seen them for a while so it was good to catch up on family news with each other. Jed recently had open heart surgery to repair a valve in his heart so he is just beginning his recovery process. After having breakfast and visiting I continued my journey homeward.

I called my brother Perry that lives in Wisconsin to see if he was going to be home in the afternoon but they were going to be at a wedding so I didn't get a chance to him.

I stopped at my daughter Lindsey's place in Eau Claire for about 30 minutes before she had to go to work.

From Eau Claire, I couldn't stand to take the freeway anymore so I headed north on Hwy 53 and then come across on Hwy 8 through Wisconsin to Taylors Falls and then cross country to home.

What a trip!

Day 17 - July 22: A long way to go and not much to see

The title pretty much sums up the day. I knew at some point on this trip, this day would come. The day I needed to make some good time and cover some ground to get back home. Today was that day.

I spent the night in a campground right on the shore of lake Ontario and I slept the best I did on the entire trip. I don't think I moved an inch from the time I laid down until I woke up. From the campground in New York, the first stop was Niagara Falls. I had been there once before but I forgot what a tourist trap that place is. First I stopped on the U.S. side and paid $10 to park. After walking to the falls, I remembered that the better viewing is actually from the Canadian side. So I went across the river and through customs. The problem is that the parking and everything is such a zoo on the Canadian side. To park in the park is $20. I tried to pay for 1 hour of street parking, but the receipt never printed so I had no proof of payment. Much of the other parking is attached to business such as hotels where you need to be a guest to park or run the risk of being towed. I finally gave up and decided it was time to move on.

From Niagara Falls it was across Ontario and into Michigan. Coming back into the U.S. required going through customs again and it took over 45 minutes. They had 8 lines of cars backed up with people waiting to coming through. From there it was across Michigan and then back to Trisha's place on the north side of Chicago. Over all, I covered about 650 miles today with nothing special to report seeing other than Niagara Falls. Other than covering a lot of ground and getting closer to home, the only I thing I accomplished was squaring of my tires (other bikers will know what this means).

So in total, I have now driven in a total of 19 states on this trip (listed in sequence in which I rode in them): Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Michigan, plus Ontario in Canada. I will have covered about 7,000 miles by the time I get back home. I will provide more details, statics, and final thoughts once I actually get home.

My plan for tomorrow is pretty open at this time. I have a cousin that lives very near my daughter and I plan to meet them at 8:30 in the morning. From there I plan to stop and my other daughter (Lindsey) in Eau Claire. From there, I may also stop and see my brother that lives in Wisconsin on my home. At this time I have not even talked to them so Perry and Betty if you read this before I call you tomorrow, you might know I plan to stop by if it works out!

At the request of Trisha, I have been asked to include another picture of her dog Einstein - she really loves him.

Day 16 – July 21: New York

The day started early this morning as this was the first night I did not feel fully rested. I had trouble falling asleep and also woke up many times during the night. The weather in the morning was a cool 60 degrees and there was patchy fog. I was on the road by 6:00 a.m. Considering the weather conditions and time of day, I took it especially easy this morning as I made my way across Vermont to New York.

My route this morning was to include a ferry ride across Lake Champlain that separates Vermont and New York. However when I arrived, the ferry operator said they had an oil leak and didn’t know when it would be repaired. He sent me about 18 miles north to another ferry crossing. This location previously had a bridge but the old bridge had been removed and construction on the new bridge had just begun so they were using two ferry boats to bring vehicles from side to side.

Once across Lake Champlain, I did my planned routes through the Adirondacks Mountains. They were nice to see and I am glad I did them but I think my road selection could have been better. I stayed on the major roads and some of them were not that much fun. I should have been on more of the back roads; oh well. I did spend a little time in Lake Placid and did see the ski jumps that are still used for Olympic training. Lake Placid is really not much of a town. I am sure it was much different while the Olympics were taking place.

After leaving Lake Placid, I was just thinking that one thing I really wanted to eat yet on this trip was some really good BBQ. A few moments late I came upon Tail O’ the Pup (not sure where the name came from) but it was a large outdoor BBQ place – just what I was thinking off. I had a combination of ribs and chicken. I now have a new favorite BBQ rib place, to bad it is sooo far away. Unfortunately the chicken was a disappoint because it was very dry.

The last part of my route today was along Lake Ontario. To bad it is not apple season. Much of the area beside the lake has apple orchards. I love fresh apples but they are still looking a little green. I did find one fresh fruit stand that had sweet cherries so I did pick up some of them for supper and snacking on. I enjoy being able to pick up something like that along the way.

I believed we had our first causality of the trip today. As I was going down Lake Ontario Parkway, there was a rabbit that couldn't make up it’s mind about which way to go. It was on the right side of me but all at once I felt it hit my foot on the left side of the bike. It must have gone under the bike behind the front wheel but I think when it hit my foot and it was all over. Now we know where being indecisive gets you!

I am spending the evening at the Green Harbor campground that is right long the lake shore. I am between Rochester and Buffalo New York.

Day 15 – July 20: A Day with Mixed Emotions

I have many other cool pictures to share but the internet is to slow to post them here - sorry.

This morning was spent touring around Acadia National Park which is near Bar Harbor Maine. As I mentioned previously, President Obama was here this past weekend. Everything was back to normal as far as I could tell.

Acadia is a very beautiful and busy National Park. There are many walking trails and is also very popular with the bicyclists. One of the many highlights of the park is Cadillac Mountain which is a large granite formation. It is only about 1,500 feet but you can drive to the top and provides amazing views of the harbor and ocean front. The drive is much easier than Mount Washington was! Another neat feature is the Sandy Beach area. This was the only nice sandy beach that I found where you could actually get to it and spend some time relaxing. The sun was shining and the waves were crashing; what a beautiful morning. Around much of the area, you could see fishing boats putting out there nets and traps to provide everyone with fresh seafood. To do my part, the final meal I had in Maine had to be a fresh boiled lobster. I purchased it at a Lobster Pound which is a small restaurant that cooks and serves lobsters. They are boiled in large pots of salt water heated with wood stoves. It was good but I will still take steak over lobster any day.

About 11:30, after finishing off my lobster, I came to the hard part of my trip. It was time to turn around and start heading back towards home. The turning point is always difficult for me. It has been a very good ride so far and I am thankful for that. I am also anxious to get back home to see Cathy (my wife) and sleep in my own bed again. However, knowing this trip will quickly come to a close and soon I will be back into the normal home/work routines causes mixed emotions.

Once again, I must thank Cathy who continues to support my interest in motorcycling and doing these trips even though it puts an extra burden on her to deal with problems that arise while I am not there (computers crashing, hot water heaters not working properly, power outage due to storms – just a few of the problems that occurred while I have been gone!). Without her willingness and support, these trips would not be possible.

After much consideration and pondering this morning, I decided to alter my route for my return trip. Initially I had planned to return via Canada by going around north of the Great Lakes. However, one of the areas I still wanted to see on this trip is the Adirondacks Mountains in northern New York. This is where Lake Placid (winter Olympics 1980) is.

So, after my lobster was finished, I headed back across Maine and through New Hampshire and the White Mountains again (oh darn!). Tonight I am staying at a campground near East Thetford Vermont. Tomorrow, first the Adirondacks and then east towards Niagara Falls. I have already seen it once, but as long as I am this close, I may stop and see it again. Some depends on how long my return trips takes. I plan to be back on Friday if possible but it may push into Saturday depending on how things work out.

July 19 – Day 14: From Mountains, to Lakes, to the Atlantic Ocean

Finally internet access so I can update my blog. I didn't have it for the last 2 nights.

I was right about the weather this morning. It was 59 degrees when I woke up - it slept good.

I left the White Mountains of New Hampshire this morning and headed towards Maine. The first area in Maine is what is referred to as the lakes area. I would compare it to the Brainard area in Minnesota but with more hills. There are lots of lakes, cabins, resorts and the such. From there I was on my way back to the Atlantic ocean. The majority of the day was spent riding along the ocean area and weaving in and out of areas to get closer to the water. Unfortunately, I did not find many places where you can actually see much of the ocean. In some areas, there are large areas of swamps prior to the open water. In other areas, you can see the water in various bays but again not much open water. This is very different than driving along Lake Superior in Minnesota where you can drive miles right along the shore line.

Since I am in Maine, I had to have some lobster. today I had a Lobster roll (lobster meat with mayo in a sandwich). Tomorrow I plan to have a freshly cooked lobster. There are several steam cookers near the place I am staying tonight.

I ended my day today near Acadia national Park in Bar Harbor. I am staying at a KOA near the park enterance. Ouch, $53 for a primitive camp site! My plan for a good part of tomorrow is to ride through the park. After that, there are some roads in northern Maine that I would also like to ride.

Day 13 – July 18: Goal accomplished – but I’m not done yet!

I woke up this morning to mountain air that was a cool and crisp 65 degrees. It is a great way to cleanse the body with fresh air like this. Tomorrow I expect it may be even cooler as it is already below 70 as I am writing this before I go to sleep for the night. Should be great sleeping weather.

This morning I continued further north in Vermont (within a few miles of the Canadian border) and then west across Vermont and through New Hampshire. It doesn’t take long to travel across New Hampshire at the top as the state is pretty narrow there. From there I did a loop around Rangely Lake in Maine. With this loop in Maine, I accomplished my goal of riding in 11 new states on this trip. However, there is so much more to see.

The highlight of the day had to be riding to the top of Mount Washington on the AutoRoad. It is a 7 mile plus road that you drive to the top of the mountain which is over 6,200 feet. The road is just wide enough for 2 cars to pass in most places. Guardrails? Who needs them! 65% of the road is asphalt, but there is 35% in one section that is still gravel. My understanding is that motorcycles are not allowed on the road is the wind is above 65 miles per hour. I was fortunate today in that we were OK to ride. However, the last mile or so, the clouds covered the mountain, so you really could not see much from the top. It sure was windy up there. It is said that at the top of the mountain, on April 12, 1934, the strongest wind ever recorded by man occurred and it was 231 mph. One person I talked to said the road had to be closed for some time last week due to snow and ice - glad I missed that!

I keep seeing signs for “Moose Crossings” but I have seen any moose yet. I have been watching closely for 2 reasons. First, I would like to see another one in the wild (I saw a mother and her calf on my trip through Canada 2 years ago), and because I don’t want to run into one!

One other item I saw today was a monument named "Motorcyclist in Prayer". I had seen it during some of my pre-reading for the trip but I didn't note it specific location. I just driving by and happened to spot it so I stopped by. It is located in a cemetery. They have a large "Blessing of the Bikes" event at this location every year.

Tonight I am staying at a National Forest Campground named Passaconaway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Tomorrow I head for the coast of Maine and some fresh lobster.

A couple more interesting pieces of information:
• The roads in northern Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are even worse than most Minnesota roads. The rest of the roads have been in pretty good condition but these obviously take a beating in the winter.
• People in New England must really like their Subaru’s. I have never seen so many of them!
• People in New England must also like pizza (would have never guessed that) because every place advertising having pizza
• In 13 days of driving I have covered more that 4,700 miles