From Nashville to Asheville

We spent the night in Asheville,NC Saturday night. We made around 300 mi with 300 more the next day.

So..here it is the next day. Everything is *was* going just grand..we left at a record time in the AM! On the road by 8 AM and our a**es were in a tow truck by noon. Luckily some fella at the gas station we stopped at said.." Have yall looked at yer rear tie-alr lately?"(folks talk real funny down here:)The white cords were showing in the center of the tire in two places. So, here we are on a Sunday, a holiday weekend, and we need a tire installed. We called every stinkin dealer,both motorcycle and tire, around and no tires available. We did the next best thing..called AAA tow truck and got towed to Myrtle Beach. We rode 4 hours with both the Honda and Spyder on the truck and us inside. We will be able to get a tire either tomorrow or Tuesday. We suprised Pats sister to tears, literally, and are enjoying their food and companionship. I am very thankful that that man noticed the tire,for it could have ended in disaster for me, for we were doing our usual 80 in a 70 zone.

Time to relax and enjoy ourselves once again. Jill, thanks for giving our niece our phone number. We appreciate it!

Brad

Friday night in Nashville

We made it a whole 190 miles from my friend Jills home in Lakeland,TN to Nashville. The day started out with retracing our steps from 20 miles out back to Jills because "someone" forgot Brads hearing enabling devices. So, back to whenst we came, retrieved the said devices(which, suprisingly, were right where they were left) and jetted back towards Nashville. That was bump in da road Numero OOnO.

Then Numero Dous came when Pats commnunicater decided not to let her increase the volume. We tried taking it apart to repair it, but couldnt get it apart. So, in the end, we had to buy a new set of helmet radios. Not as good as the ones we have,but good enough. They are charging and will try them on the morrow.

It started raining, so we stopped at the "Bucksnort Deli", which, apparantly, hadnt had enough bucks snortin' in it and was for sale, and hung out for a bit. Two HD riders stopped to getout of the rain and we had a nice convresation with them.

So..here we sit lookingout the window at "beautiful" downtown Nashville, which is really unattractive, but we are grateful that we have the opportunity for this fantastic voyage. I can get hung up on the little things that go wrong, and forget that there are wonderful things happening all around me, if I choose to get out of myself long enough to look. For instance, a child getting joy from petting our lil bundle of energy Kiddo..it just brightens my day every time that pup makes a little one smile with her relentless kisses.

Thats all for now..its off to lalaland. :)

B.

Made it to Lakeland,TN

We made it to visit our friend Nana's daughter in Little Rock and then ventured on to Lakeland,TN. Ran into a nasty thunderstorm for about a half hour which soaked us completly. We hid under an over pass while the worst of it blew over. Spent the night with my HS friend and let Kiddo play with thier dogs.

We are off towards Myrtle Beach tomorrow morning.

Fort Smith,AR. Too pooped to..do anything

We made our destination. It was raining quite hard this morning in Wichita, but it cleared and heated right up!..in the mid 90s after 2 pmish. Had to stop often to cool Kiddo off, her being black..we soaked her down with water before putting her in her Kiddohut, so I m sure she was fine.

The pic is from this morning in Wichita, with steady rain coming down.

Tomorrow we leave for the Memphis area, cant remember the exact town, but its near there. Really looking forward to seeing my friend from HS and do some catching up and getting some needed rest. My(our?) back and backside are seriously hurting.

off to bed!

b/p/k

Wichita,KS

We wimped out and just made it to Wichita, but had lots of fun just the same. Are in no hurry, of course, you already know that after making it less than 100 miles today.

We did laundry, hung at MickeeDees waiting for the motel to start taking guests, then went to an AA meeting. Pat officially celebrated 28 years tonite. The meeting gave her a coin, it was very cool. "it works if ya work it!" :>)

The Spyders backrest pin needed some new circlips, so I got to ride around for a bit in Wichita without a helmet. Its been years since I rode without one. Back in 1992ish I rode to WI to some sort of HD factory thing, and we rode thru WI helmetless. It feels nice, but I do feel more comfortable with one on.

So..the "plan" is to stop in Fort Smith for the night tomorrow, and then on to Memphis and my friend Jills place somewhere near there.

No pics today..Wichita is not the most picturesque city, but its was extremly hot..in the upper 90's, we were not in a pic takin' mood. Here are some ones I havent posted from who knows when..

More to come, of course..

B/P/K

McPherson,KS

Left 10 am from the Springs and stopped at my friend Earl's house at around 7:45. This included some extra stops for the Kidd, who decided she wanted OUT of her dog hut, while zipping along hwy 70 at 80mph.

We set a new "record"..440 miles in a day. It was especially hard for Pat who had to wrestle with the puppy.

So, we had some extremely hard crosswinds in KS while going east on 70. Not so bad for Pat, but very challenging for me. We had wind coming at us from the north, and then when we went over a certain overpass, the wind changed to the south. This almost ended in disaster for me and taught me a valuable lesson in driving with high winds. Passing tractor/trailers is a bit of a challenge, also. But I learned quickly, or the old motorcycle experience started coming back.

We are extremely tired tonite, and will be spending 2 nights here. I d like to visit with my friend again tomorrow, tho its gonna be a surprise to him..hopefully a good one!

Colorado

Here we are in Colorado Springs. Had a long, hot slow trip through Denver, Friday, rush hour and and an accident, (not us), forcing 4 lanes into 2 lanes. We were going so slow the GPS asked if we wanted to switch to pedestrian mode, now that is slow. Almost 1 hour to get through Denver.

Stayed an extra day to visit with Brad's sister and to rest. Hot and windy here, off to Kansas tomorrow, 445 miles to next destination, who knows how far we will get. (The Shadow Knows!)

mountain pass

The Togwotee Mountain Pass was where we passed through snow, rain, and 39 degree temps. First time and last time for that kind of experience. I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it or be found some hundreds of years later frozen in the ice. The Rocky Mountains are very rocky and snowy in May.

They forgot to tell her about the foil hat

While we were laid up in Bliss we had quite a weird experience. The first thing was a Sheriff came to the front desk and got a card for the motel. Then there were a few people, who were wearing yellow reflective vests, at the front desk talking about someone. I did not hear the conversation except that it was about some female. Then there was a car parked next to the bikes for two days and a woman was in the back seat every time I went outside. I asked her once if she was ok and she said yes thanks.
Anyway, while checking out I gathered some interesting info. She was brought there by the Sheriff, her car was towed by a tow truck because she lost the keys. She had a room but did not feel safe there because of the lasers that were hitting her brain from above somewhere. She even checked the second floor. So she would not stay in the room and stayed in the car, covered up with either a blanket or towel. Poor thing was schizophrenic and not well to say the least. The owner said her family had been called but by the second day they were a no show. When we left the woman was on the phone with (I think) a garage about the keys.
Brad worked with a guy who it was rumored wore tin foil in his hard hat for simular reasons.........

Pat

Thursday in Rawlins,WY

We spent the night at some sort of resort somewhere in the Tetons,close to Jacksonhole,WY,and headed out this morning, not having any oidea of what was to come. We kept going up..up..up and it got colder..colder colder, then the rain started, then, wouldnt ya know it, SNOW! I was getting a tad nervous, being on two wheels instead of three, and still putting up with this bronchitus stuff..which means having to spit once in a while. I almost dumped it after one spitting session, so no more of THAT till we hit dry,no snow pavement

Oh, one more thing about motorcycles, helmet communicators and spitting. I found out yesterday, the hard way, about forgetting I have a microphone in front of my mouth when dealing with one of those spitting incidences I have to endure with this bronchitus. I ll just leave it up to your imagination..twas not pretty AT ALL!! :(

We saw some really fantastic views on the way back down, the temp got down to 39 but gradually crept back up the further down away from the snow we drove. In an hour we were up to a balmy 50 deg or so.

I ll post up all the pics when I get em off the phone. We are all doing well. Pats off doing laundry,and me and Kiddo are chillin', awaiting pizza..

Colo Springs and my sisters tomorrow!

CYA

bpk

Tuesday to Emergency Room in Rain

Major hiccup..I have aquired a headcold/sorethroat/chestcold type of dis/ease. Rode the Spyder to the hospital at 8 am after a fitful nights sleep. Guzzled some Nyquil and got some sleep, but I m in need of some rest. I got some drugs from the hospital and are spending one more night in the most misnamed town in the US...Bliss,ID. I had to ride 12 miles on the Spyder this morning to the hospital. Got my drugs at the pharmacy then had to run to the bank for an ATM..no card reader.

So..absoutly no miles today,we are spending another night in "Bliss",LOL, then make a decision in the morning depending if I feel any better or not. We do not want to travel further if I get sicker while doing it. I did feel much better riding back from the hospital, but I know rest, fluids, and drugs are what I need to get over this. I m having a real hard time talkiing..I sound like I ve been smoking 2 packs of humpbacks for years right now.

No pictures, and believe me, there is NOTHING in Bliss,ID worth recording a memory of!

later,eh?

BPK

Monday Morning Comin' Down

YUK! What a night. We made it 420 mi yesterday, but far short of our "planned" mileage. I heard somewhere, possibly from some comic, "If you wanna make God laugh, plan something". Yep.

We have made a major tactical decision. We get as far as we get per day, and not a mile farther. Not fun stressin about lack of mileage in a day. If it takes longer to get somewhere and have fun doing it, then thats whats gonna happen.

Anyway, its somewhere around 10 am and we are in Baker City OR at a RV park where we pitched a tent last night. We had coffee and oatmeal for starters and are almost all packed up and ready to hit the road. We dont have a sd card for the camera, and getting pics off my phone is requires a Masters in Computer Science, its time just to comment and wait to do pics latert.

Thanks for following and will be back possibly on the morrow..

BPK

CRAP! We are supposed to leave soon and here I have a headache that rivals the ones Iused to get after 3 days of ...I ll call it "socializing". Its just starting to subside, so we will be on da road within the hour..

Here we are all packed up for morning. Kiddo said she wanted to be in the pic, so we had to "let" her. We haven't gone on an overnight camping type motorcycle ride since back in the "bad old days". Now we remember such minor stuff like money, tent, sleeping bag, clothes, and,most important, a reliable motorcycle.:)

We will be leaving tomorrow morning for our first leg of the trip. It will be south thru WA into OR and then into Idaho to a town called Mountain Home.

SUNDAY IS ALMOST HERE! GETTING REAL EXCITED! :)

Here is a pic for your enjoyment in the mean time.

Snow at our place we used to live in Sands,MI.

Glad it was a 4WD!

Trip to MIchigan via South Carolina!

This is the first "installment" of our blog. I m Brad. I m married to a very patient woman named Pat and we have a little black dustmop of a dog named Kiddo. We live in the beautiful state of Washington in a city called Everett,which is a half hour north of Seattle. We are both retired, me from construction, and Pat from the Michigan's Corrections system,aka Corrections officer. We decided to try living somewhere else than Upper Michigan, and landed here in WA.

<----< Pat and Kiddo on Pat's Spyder

We are leaving on a...lemme see.. OR,ID,WY,CO,KS,TN,MS,GA,AL,SC,NC,VA,WV,PE,OH,MI,WI,MN,SD,MT,ID..I count 21 state tour this coming Sunday. I am riding a 98 Honda ST1100 motorcycle and Pat is riding a '08 Can Am Spyder trike. Kiddo will be riding on the back of Pat's trike. We will be visiting friends and relatives along the way. Lots of camping at various campgrounds along the way with the occasional stay at friends and/or relatives. We think it will last around 6 weeks. A long time, but it should be a ride of a lifetime.