June 25, 26, 27, 28

On the 25th we headed for Bismarck, North Dakota to visit Larry's Uncle John, Aunt Ida and Aunt Connie.

It is about 500 miles from Alliance to Bismarck....most of the drive is through South Dakota. BORING! Lots of bugs on the car too!

As soon as we arrived in Bismarck we had a tornado warning!

On the 26th we drove to Solen, ND....where Larry's mother and her siblings grew up. We visited the cemetery to see where Larry's grandmother is buried. We then headed for Mandan, ND and the cemetery where Larry's grandfather is buried.

The 27th was spent visiting with family and a dinner with more cousins in the evening.

Today we departed Bismarck at 4:30 a.m. This time we drove west on the interstate for quite a while before heading south. We went to Devils Tower and to Mount Rushmore before driving to Alliance.

We stopped in Chadron at Helen's for food....what a mistake. The spaghetti sauce was simply tomato paste! The country fried steak was rare and my steak was FRIED not grilled.

We saw HUNDREDS of motorcycles today. We saw more trikes today than any other day of our trip. There was one black trike with gorgeous flames painted on the fenders. There was a GL1500 Goldwing with so much chrome that it looked like a diamond in the sun!

We enjoyed our stay in Bismarck...but today's drive was close to 12 hours and we are glad to be back in Alliance!

June 24

We spent the day regrouping and visiting with Larry's family.

We also dodged bad weather....a storm system brought tornado warnings.

June 23

We headed out at 6:30 this morning...with a temperature of 79 degrees and LOTS of humidity.

There are no pictures because corn fields are corn fields....and more corn fields.

The Platte River was full...as was the North Platte.

As we continued west the temperature only got up to 83 and the humidity dropped so it actually felt cooler.

An uneventful ride on I-80 and then north to Alliance, NE.

The rides are in the garage of Larry's brother-in-law, Jay....big storm brewing in the area. Last night they had 60 mile an hour winds. Tonight they could get golf ball size hail.

It is nice to sit, relax, eat and visit!

June 22

When we started the day at 7 a.m. it was already 79 degrees....fortunately as we continued our ride the temperature stayed around 83 degrees for most of the day.

As we continue west the high was 93...and the humidity was a killer. The heat index for the area was 101.

Not a great day to be riding a motorcycle.

We rode on I-72 to Highway 36 to I-29. At one point traffic was diverted to the exit so that authorities could continue the investigation of a fatality....which was under a trap on the pavement below an overpass. A reminder of how precious life is.

We are staying at the Americas Best Value Inn in Percival, Iowa. If you are looking for a place to stay....this is the place. Very nice and the price was right.

Tomorrow we should be in Alliance, NE

June 21

Happy Father's Day....Happy 1st day of summer.

We headed out with a temp. of 73 degrees....and wimped out 100 miles later and put on our cooling vests when it was ONLY 81 degrees.

We saw more trikes today than on any other day of our adventure...all headed east.

The ride was only a little over 230 miles today. Our destination was Lincoln's home in Springfield.

Wow...the National Park Service has done an awesome job. This is the 200th anniversary year of Lincoln's birth, so there is special stuff happening all year.

They have free tours of the home and today it was free parking. Couldn't ask for more! This was well worth the stop.

The weather here is sort of hot...89 and 55% humidity, so it feels worse. We are holed up at the motel staying cool.

The photos include one with a park employee in period clothing (poor young woman was roasting in the heat); one of what the Lincoln's outhouse would have looked like (it was actually a 3 hole); me; a photo of the Lincoln home....from a location that has been photographed since 1861; and Mary Todd Lincoln's ACTUAL kitchen stove.

June 20

Clearview, PA to Centerville, Indiana

Headed out of Clearview after 8 a.m. with all our gear for wet weather on our persons. It was raining but the National Weather Service information was promising toward the west. The Weather Channel was as useless as tits on a boar hog.

We continued to have light rain for most of the morning with one section of heavy rain. Everyone drove sensibly so the ride was safe!

In the a.m. we saw 2 motorcycles, but as the weather improved there were many more....obviously no helmet law in Ohio or Indiana. Lots of friendly people on the road and at fuel stops. Sometimes I wish they were less friendly...like when they checkout the trike looking in their right hand mirror and steer in that direction!

The farther west to got the better the weather. When we stopped for the day at 4 p.m. it was 88 degrees and sunny!

We saw a Boss Hog at the gas station here this evening....12 miles to the gallon and no suspension. Doesn't sound like fun but IT IS SO PRETTY!

Too bad this crappy Super 8 doesn't have a swimming pool! The place isn't bad, just over priced.

June 17, 18 and 19

No we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

On the 17th we headed south on Maine's Highway 1....and made it as far as Milbridge before we gave up for the day.

We stopped in Eastport at the Chowderhouse for seafood. Larry had lobster, I had steamer clams. Larry enjoyed his lobster, the clams were so sandy as to be awful. I ate some and they paid me back a couple of hours later.

The motel we stayed at in Milbridge was the Red Barn. BEWARE - if you have any allergies avoid this place. There are cats all over the place. One slept on the seat of my bike...and was flea ridden. Fleas all over the place. The room wasn't bad...no internet, no coffee, no breakfast, over priced.

On the 18th we didn't leave until close to 9 a.m. still determined to ride all the way down Highway 1....made it most of the way!

We rode on NON-toll roads. Slow. Awesome. Pretty, Gorgeous....WET, WET, WET in the afternoon. We rode in Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

We spent the night at the Glochester Inn outside of Glochester, Rhode Island. Hmm...all I can say is that we were very tired and it was raining pretty hard. The place was clean, the bed was almost comfy, the water was hot....and it was next door to a REALLY good restaurant with a bar! If these people ever get all the efficiency apartments updated it will be a good place to stay if you'd like the peace a quiet. Right now the 70s carpeting is a real negative to people walking in the room!

This morning, June 19th, we were on the road by 7 a.m. - and no rain. We rode through our 49th continental state....together and on the yellow rides. We also have been in Alaska, Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern and Atlantic time zones.

Twice in New York drivers decided to steer their cars into my lane while I was using it...and then some twit decided to pass me and THEN exit at the same time. That one sent my blood racing.

Most driving habits are the same from state to state....except I KNOW people in California show more respect for construction areas than what I have seen back here. People don't even slow down, let alone do the speed limit.

We had very little rain all day. We having been riding I-80 and are now in Clearfield, PA. It is warm and dry with rain on the way for tomorrow. We had dinner at the Dutch Pantry - another bad meal. I have been recalling the awesome meal we had in Stover, MO last September, so this was a major disappointment.

Already miss the nice folks in Maine...

I'm trying to talk Larry into going to Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL....weather permitting I think that is where we will point the bikes toward tomorrow.

Maintenance Day in Madawaska

We slept in this morning....got up at 6 a.m.

The day started out foggy and quickly changed to an awesome, warm, sunny day.

Larry was out early changing the oil in our rides. While he was out there a neighborly guy stopped by and offered his place to change the oil and offered to take the used oil. Thanks to this new friend there was one less thing to do today.

After the bike maintenance we rode to the other end of town and cleaned the rides and the clothes. The two jobs took an equal amount of time. The rides hadn't been cleaned since Blaine so they were more bugs than paint!

The internet access this evening is slow, so Skype calls keep getting dropped....nice ALMOST talking to Frank!

We had dinner at the Lakeview Restaurant in Saint Agatha....awesome views and tasty food.

Tomorrow we will complete our tour of the 49 continental states and head west.

Yippee!