Day 22 - Heath to Home

Our last day of the trip was only about 370 miles so it would be a short day. We decided to get another early start to avoid the heat plus we thought it would be fun to stop at Cabela's just off of I-70 in WV. This morning was a bit more humid that yesterday. The ground fog was a bit thicker and stayed with us for the rest of stay in OH and into WV.

 

 

We arrived at Cabela's around 9am. The store has quite the display of animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike found a new knife for his collection and Michele found a little top in pink camo for her soon to be born niece. After about an hour, we were ready to hit the road again.

We saw this truck carrying what looked like gigantic cigars!

The morning ground fog and flat farm lands of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, made way to the mountains of West Virginia.

 

 

We had our last lunch planned in Cumberland, MD at D'Atri. The food was very good. They also had quite the bakery inside with pies, cakes, and other pastries. Michele said you can never go wrong with a restaurant that has a bakery. She was right. Yum!

As we neared Leesburg, we all split off to head to your homes. It was strange riding the last 4 miles without Mike and Tom's headlights in the mirrors. They had been there for the last 3 weeks and nearly 7k miles.

We rolled into the driveway right at 3pm. This was quite the trip with so many great experiences. We saw 5 amazing National Parks (6 if you include the quick lunch at the Grand Canyon) and 2 National Monuments. We crossed the US from VA to CA though 16 states. We experienced the vastness of the Bonneville Salt Flats, the solitude of US 50 across Nevada, the peacefulness of timelessness of the Giant Forest and the brilliant night sky of Sequoia NP. We saw the spectacle of mankind along the Las Vegas strip. We were surprised by the scale and color of Kings Canyon. We were struck by the huge variety of scenery and animals in Yosemite. We got a little taste of the brutal heat and desolation at Death Valley. We rode the highest continuous ribbon of road in the US (Trail Ridge Road at 12,000') to the lowest land location in the US (Badwater at 288' below sea level). Best of all we got to experience all of this with great friends. This trip has supplied us with plenty of memories and many stories that we'll be looking back on for years to come. Now where shall we ride to next?

Day 21 - St. Charles, MO to Columbus, OH

We decided last night to depart earlier today to avoid as much of the hot day as possible. We were waiting at the hotel breakfast area before they opened at 6am, and got the bikes on the road at 6:30. The sun was starting to peek above the horizon.

Interstate 70 East would be our route for the majority of the day. We soon crossed over into Illinois within the first hour or so. Being a skinny state, we were soon in Indiana also. The morning humidity blanketed the fields.

At 10:30 we took a fuel and bio break. Since we left an hour and a half earlier than planned, our lunch stop was only 20 minutes away. We decided to push on for an hour to make more time before lunch. About 20 minutes west of Indianapolis, Tom got on the CB and said "I assume we're still in Missouri?" Rob responded,"We've gone through two states, we're in Indiana!" So funny. To Tom's credit, the Illinois and Indiana welcome signs were not especially obvious. Not so with Ohio, can't miss it!

We were fairly hot after lunch with temps at or near 90, so the chilly pads came out of the coolers and around our necks.

Traffic was intense around the major cities today - St. Louis, Indianapolis, Dayton and Columbus.

This billboard on the opposite side of the road told us to go to Yosemite. Done!

A few funny sights of the day: Welcome to Brazil water tower, a huge golf ball, a blue pinto (that Rob said is older than him) that Rob kept a safe distance due to their habit of exploding (LOL), and a dude in an orange shirt riding in the back of this pickup (on a major interstate! Michele thought it rude to take a picture.)

We made it to our hotel before 4pm. The first floor of the Hampton Inn Heath is still being renovated and the lobby smelled like turpentine or varnish--stinky. Luckily the room did not.

For a few months ahead of our trip Michele had planned to meet her former Columbus, Ohio coworker and friend, Mechele, for dinner. They both have unique spellings of their names so how could they not be good friends?

We all met at nearby Pappy's on 79. The ladies caught up on work gossip from days long ago. After dinner we decided to hang out in the hotel lobby area and finish off the bourbon and whiskey that the guys brought on the trip. Michele and Mechele giggled about various topics and soon the guys were giggling as well. We think we snookered Mechele into joining us for our next Kentucky bourbon trail ride in a year or so.  She got this snap of us rather silly after 3 weeks and nearly 7000 miles of riding!

Around 11pm we had to call it a night, as Mechele had an hour commute back home and we needed to rest for our last day of the trip. Tomorrow we are home!

Day 20 - Pratt, KS to St. Charles, MO

Hello humidity! After two weeks of dry climate, we felt sticky for the first time this morning. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed out at 7:30am. No heated gear needed today. Our total route would be about 500 miles and we made good time in the morning, despite the eastern rising sun in the guy's line of sight. The small oil rigs were working amidst the agriculture fields. 

Traffic was fairly light on our route the first few hours. We hoped to have a better day than this guy. He was struck by an 18 wheeler!

A few small ponds dotted the landscape.

And, the train crew was making repairs on the tracks.

We mainly stayed to smaller highways until lunch.

 

We crossed into Missouri around 11:30am. It was already 90 degrees!

Our planned lunch stop was Sinclair's Restaurant in Blue Springs, MO. It was rated the best restaurant in Blue Springs, so how could we not check it out? It was ice cold inside and we welcomed the chill. The wait staff thought our trip was pretty amazing, that we rode from VA to CA and back again since leaving September 2. We agree!

After lunch we soon got on Interstate-70 and had about three hours left to our hotel. The highway was super busy, and Michele was hot, so not many photos were taken after this point today. We did see interesting things on trucks or being towed, such as:

• A U-haul towing a pickup with a washer and dryer in the pickup bed
• Two trucks carrying about a dozen or more new golf carts each
• A pickup from Georgia with a large trailer of furniture and a tarp that was shredded up. That won't last. 
• A large smoker-grill named "Bubba"

Temperatures got up to 95 degrees. As we approached St. Charles, which is about 10 miles from St. Louis, rush hour traffic picked up dramatically. The gas tank empty indicator also came on. Rob said we "could probably make it" to our hotel before filling up. Michele preferred a guarantee. Why do these guys thread the needle?

We made it, with nearly 6.4 gallons put in the bike. The tank is 6.6 gallons. Rob insists he was "totally in control". Living on the edge, that one.

Dinner was just a few blocks away at Hendricks BBQ. It was a really cool place with huge drawings of famous musicians, rustic wood decor and excellent food. We had cocktails, homemade cornbread with various sauces, smoked meats (the smoked turkey didn't even need BBQ sauce, it was that good), a few side dishes and dessert. Tom and Mike bourbon pecan skilled pie with ice cream. Tom really liked his with several "Oh my" comments. Rob and Michele got a strawberry milkshake. Our waitress had a lot of energy and treated us well. Mike thought she was amped up on energy drinks.

Tomorrow we head for Ohio as our day's destination.

Day 19 - Raton, NM to Pratt, KS

We got a proper night's sleep last night at the Microtel Inn so we were more rested to begin our day. Today would be only about 350 miles. It started at a very cool 45F degrees.

As we drove, the huge grazing fields had herds of pronghorn antelope, cows and cute horses.

Rob learned that August was hunting season and ranchers apply for permits to allow people to hunt on their land. Presumably, the land owners can then charge hunters to hunt antelope on their property. We rode to the Capulin volcano first thing this morning, only about 20 miles away. As we approached we could see volcano shaped peaks ahead of us and wondered from afar which was the one.

When we entered the gate, the sign said no trailers, but Rob ignored it and assumed it was referring to large RV trailers. The ride up was short and twisty, with the road close to the edge of the volcano cliff. Rob and Michele took the hike around the top rim to see the volcano fields surrounding it. It was so windy and cold on one side, not a glamorous picture!

The path was well made with educational signs along natural stopping points. The views were amazing! Supposedly we could see all the way to Black Mesa, Oklahoma.

Once around the rim we walked down into the center. Rob later told Tom and Mike that it was very warm at the vent due to the molten rock. Haha.

This may be a spotted towhee. Rob heard it before he saw it.

 And this one is diving. Not sure what bird it is. Anyone want to confirm either for us?

This bench was hit by lightning at the top of the rim! Seems like it should have more damage, don't you think?

After the hikes we rode back down to the visitors center. The ranger told Rob no trailers allowed up, we would have to leave them at the bottom. She didn't see us go up already, apparently. The park had hummer feeders and a few hummers were busy fighting for them. They flew away once Michele got her binoculars out, of course. NM has 17 hummer species, compared to our one in Va, so she was really hoping to catch a glimpse.

We had about 90 minutes from there to lunch. We approached within 50 feet of Texas, then crossed into Oklahoma, and then into Kansas.

At lunch in Elkhart, KS, everyone in Big C's cafe looked at us when we entered, as I expected. A nice local lady about late 50s came over to chat since she and her husband travel by bike also. She called us "her people".  During lunch we also talked about the cowffalos we saw yesterday. Mike called them long-haired cows. There is such a thing, cow and buffalo mix!

After a good lunch we pushed on for another 190 miles, checking out the huge farms and great scenery along the way.

We think these were chicken coops of the commercial variety. The aroma was not so pleasant.

 Parts of a combine being hauled.

More interesting sights along the way. Milo fields in a dark, copper brown phase.

Michele thought the train engineer was honking the horn for all of us after Rob honked his horn.

 We counted well over 200 wind turbines that we could see in the distance and near.

We got to our hotel around 6pm local time, Central Time. The guys picked up quite a few bugs today, Kansas is very buggy! We met for dinner and walked down the street to Legends Bar and Grill for a tasty meal. Tomorrow we depart for Missouri.