Thursday June 16th: HOME!

Nice relaxing start this morning, weather was warm but beautiful. An uneventful day with lots of traffic as we traveled down I90 into Massachusetts. Stopped at Paddy's in Dalton for a quick lunch around 1:00 PM - then off again towards home. As we approached our road we saw banners and flags that Donnie's' mom made which welcomed us home and our neighbor Carol waving as we drove by. THe feelings are bitter sweet - great to be home but sort of sad that the trip is over. It's absolutely amazing how much has changed since we left - 23 days, 10,375 miles - truly a quest. Thanks for following our blog - time to start planning the next adventure! LOL D&C

Wednesday June 15th: last night away from home

We awoke this morning to a stressful situation - severe weather forecasts of 100% torrential downpours with the possibility of thunderstorms throughout our entire day. The good news is that we were able to outrun those storms by zig-zaging east faster than the storms were moving in from the west. We definitely ran into lots and lots of traffic - mostly tractor trailer trucks and cars (not too many campers) - all of which ended up trying to get through Canadian customs at the same time. They only had 4 lanes open at the border - so the rain we had escaped almost caught up to us by the time we got through. We did run into some rain just before London Ontario - but not enough to slow us down too much. Traffic continued to increase throughout the day - I think basically it was just the normal flow of cars that travel through these cities on a daily basis. We saw our second accident of the trip today - a scary reality check for us as first we saw the ambulance driving away then a badly damaged Harley in the median which apparently had been forced off the road by a tractor trailer truck. We continued on and the temps began to rise - reaching high 80s by the time we reached the US border. As we still had our rain gear on from this morning needless to say we were more than overheating - so stopped at the first rest area we came to on I-90 and took off several layers. Decided to stay the night at a campground in the finger lakes region of New York - had steak and corn on the cob cooked over the open fire for supper - much better than any restaurant food we could have purchased. Psyched to be only 255 miles away from home - that'll be the shortest day we've logged in 23 days! D&C

Tuesday June 14th: stopped in Bay City Michigan

550 miles - beautiful weather. The U.P (upper peninsula) of Michigan is absolutely beautiful. We drove within a stones throw of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. One of the great things about riding on a motorcycle is that you get to utilize all of your senses - so as we were approaching each of the lakes we could feel the drop in temperature immediately - once past the lake and into the interior the temps increased again. We drove over the Mackinac Bridge {http://www.mackinacbridge.org/about-the-bridge-8/)which is the 5th longest suspension bridge in the world. They were doing construction on the outside lane (the concrete lane) so we had to drive on the inner lane (the metal grate lane) - of course! The trailer really shuffles the bike around on that metal. Once off that bridge we continued down route 75 and stopped in Bay City for the night. Plan to swing through Niagara Falls tomorrow if the weather holds out again! we have now logged over 9,500 miles for the trip.

Monday June13th: Bismarck ND to Saxon WI

Hit 3 states today - started in North Dakota, passed all the way thru Minnesota, and landed in Wisconsin for the night - just 16 miles shy of the Michigan border. Took a more northern route to avoid the rain - our decision paid off as the day turned out to be absolutely beautiful without a single drop of rain. We did experience an issue with the bike however - one of the bolts on the shifter was loosening up. We didn't have the right tool accessible at the gas station so Donnie tightened it as much as he could and we continued on for another 200 or so miles. Stopped for more fuel and the bolt had loosened up much more than before - but - he decided rather than fix it then, he would continue on for another 60 miles and fix it at the campground. This was not such a good idea as less than 5 miles down the road he was completely unable to shift the bike! We had to pull into a state park, open up the camper, find the right tool and tighten the bolt. (Sorry - although I really wanted to take a picture of Donnie with tools in hand fixing the bike - I decided it was best to just grab a shot of the name of the park we were at!) LOL. The whole ride was awesome - driving through the Minnesota Lakes Region is gorgeous, Lake Superior is very impressive and the road conditions are good.

Sunday June 12th: Bismark North Dakota

Beautiful weather day - started in the 40's and quickly topped off around 78 degrees. Was nice to be able to ride without the extra gear. Logged just shy of 650 miles from Shelby Montana to Bismarck North Dakota. We drove Route 2 - nice road, long straight aways, up and down small hilly sections. Very little traffic - speed limit 75 mph - we saw antelope (both alive & dead on the side of the road). Before turning off Route 2 to 13 South, we stopped at the local diner to have lunch. As it is the only restaurant open in town on Sunday, it was packed and we had to wait at the door for a table. As we stood there waiting for a table to open, an elderly local man who was sitting alone offered us to join him at his. He shared with us that he had owned Harley's back in the day - his first was when he graduated from college sometime in the 50's and he bought the second some years later. We talked about his life's travels and work experience for close to an hour. He told us that he had a business in California for over 35 years installing Corian countertops before he retired back to to his home town of Wolf Point. Just before we all finished our lunch, he pulled out a pen that he had made out of Corian - and gave it to Donnie as a gift. We offered to pay for his lunch, but he flatly refused - he followed us out to the bike and chatted for at least another 15 minutes before he left. Just one more example of the amazing people that we have met along this great adventure. The rest of the trip was riddled with constantly changing landscapes - we drove through flat agricultural lands (yes including those wind gusts again), miles and miles of livestock free range areas, and rocky multi-colored areas that look like the pictures we've all seen of the moon scape. Great day overall - hoping to get out and infront of the storms the Weather Channel says are on their way to the great lakes region. D&C

Saturday June 11th...back in the US

Left the hotel in slight rain and temps hovering in the low 40s. Mountain peaks were spectaular and visible above the forming clouds. We saw an abundance of wildlife...elk, bear, deer....and our share of tour buses. As the altitude increased, the temps decreased to mid-30's and of course it started to snow. Thankfully it only lasted for a short time and the roads didn't freeze. As we descended that mountain - it started to rain - eventually temps rose to above 60's and the skies were beautiful blue. I have to say that the Canadian Rockies are amazingly outstanding but nothing beats the pure nature of Northern BC, Yukon and Alaska! Experienced a few stressful moments driving in traffic through Calgary - not everyone looks before they change lanes. Post Calgary, the landscape changed from huge mountains to agricultural flatlands and for the next 3 hours we drove in very strong constant cross-winds and super wind gusts that damn near made us change lanes! (Pat - if you are monitoring this blog - it's the first time I heard Donnie mention his neck & shoulders). Currently in Shelby Montana staying at the Comfort Inn rather than battle the wind gusts in our canvas tent camper. LOL. Plan to get through Montana tomorrow and land somewhere in North Dakota. Today was a great ride, with amazing landscapes of all kinds - a great way to spend our 28th anniversary. D&C

Friday June 10th: Jasper Alberta

Rain started around 9AM and had not stopped by the time we landed at a hotel in Jasper Alberta. Forecast for tonight and into tomorrow is - yup - you guessed it - more rain. :-( Despite the weather we logged just shy of 400 miles and traveled along some more of the beautiful roads of southern British Columbia. Due to the rain, I did not get to take any pictures today but I can tell you that we started and ended the day surrounded by mountains and passed by many lakes and farmlands in between. We saw coyotes, deer, bear, and an elk - AND - lots and lots of campers headed in the opposite direction. We are so glad to be heading home rather than have to battle with the rest of the travelers going to Alaska! At one point a few days ago we saw 27 large RV's all traveling like a convoy....would hate to get stuck behind them as they climb up some of these incredible mountains or behind a pilot car as it leads the pack through the various construction sites. Plan is to make it across the US border tomorrow....starting to run out of days to get home. D&C