Wandering Retirees

Hi friends. We had a really nice day’s riding today. We covered over 330 miles and are relaxing in Pontoon Beach, IL. Yes, you read that right. It just off I-270 about 5 miles from the Mississippi River. Or about 10 miles upstream from St Louis, MO, home of the Arch, the Gateway to the West Museum, and home to the Anheuser Busch beer company (think Budweiser and Michelob).

We started the day a little later than expected because (suspenseful music) we stopped to talk to a really nice couple. Doug and Heather are from Wichita, KS who were in town helping their daughter get settled in her new apartment. The daughter (sorry, we didn’t catch her name) just got a job in quality control for Hills Dog Food in Richmond, IN and needed some help prepping her rental, the ground floor of a 130 year old house. Oh, my, but Doug and Heather had some stories to tell about this project. Without going into details, they traveled 800 miles to really work over the course of a long weekend to make a safe place for their daughter. And they didn’t seem terribly unhappy, though home and jobs were beckoning. Amazing how parenting doesn’t necessarily stop when offspring reach 18, or graduation from college or at any particular time; we’re happy and willing to pitch in because it’s part of who we are as parents. We get to be needed and appreciated one more time. And it’s fun watching our kids’ adventures unfold. Maybe even get to say, “told you so!” If we’re lucky. BTW – did you know that dog food must meet the standards of human consumption? Another fun fact picked up along the way.

We so enjoyed Heather and Doug’s company. They are kind and openly warm people who make you feel like an instant friend. It didn’t hurt any that Doug rides a Harley and knows his way around a bike. And while he has spent his working life in the trucking industry, Heather is a teacher to more vulnerable students whom she adores. They offered their home if we were to get in trouble near Wichita. We are so glad we met.

Predictably, there’s not a lot of thrilling landscapes to talk about along I-70. We’ve seen some fun ads and a few head scratching official placards, like this one: “Drug Activity Impaired Driving, dial #677”. We spent about 200 miles trying to parse this one. It sounds like we should report a car driven by someone who is not in complete control. Sound reasonable. But how does one assess that drugs are involved? Or are they necessary? Could texting while behind the wheel be sufficient to call the hotline? Can we? (Please?!). Or if you’re impaired, should you call? “Man, I’m wasted …” There just seems a lack of clarity to what should be a wonderful Public Service Announcement. Just saying.

Around lunchtime, we stopped in Martinsville, IL, a little agricultural town of about 1,200 souls, 2 miles south of I-70. We parked and immediately met Norma, a town ambassador who also is coordinating the food vendors for the Clark County Fair coming up soon. (She took a couple of calls while we were talking.) she directed us to a little café where for about $6 we could get homemade ham and bean soup, and fresh sirloin quesadillas. We were hungry and the sale was ridiculously easy. We also provided a bit of conversation for the regular patrons, dressed as we were in our riding gear.

After the long day, we were really grateful to have a swim, a shower, a libation and some supper. Now, the only question is whether we can stay awake long enough to watch a period or two of the Stanley Cup finals. Have a good night! —

Cozy Candle Outlet billboards populated the edges of Interstate 70. There was even one with a half naked cowboy holding a hearth candle. Oo la la. So inviting!

We stopped in Martinsburg, IN for some lunch. It was a such a quintessential midwestern town.

Farm fields for miles and miles and miles

We were impressed by front page news of philanthropists sponsoring international studies.

How we track our progress. Spot. The device also lets us contact 911 if we have no cell service.

About midday we entered Illinois.

We were up and at ‘em early this morning, before dawn even and eager to get on our way. Yep. Sure did. The weather decided it wasn’t going to cooperate. Some early wicked storms forced us to lounge and eat complimentary breakfast food and drink lots of nearly okay coffee. Awful fate. We got to say hello to some nice folks who were curious and friendly. And we met a couple of young kids who dragged their parents to see our scary fascinating motorcycle they might want to ride some day. It was a fun way to start the day.

We wound up riding 331 miles to Richmond, Indiana. Traffic moved well so we decided to push past Springfield, Ohio. And we’re a bit bushed. It’ll be an early night ahead of another 300+ mile day tomorrow Where we plan to push to Pontoon Beach, IL, a rather small town close to the Mississippi River. That should set us up for some shorter days as we ride into Colorado Springs. That’s the plan. Looks good. Logical. Let you know how it works out.

We met a family at a rest area yesterday who I failed to mention. The father saw our riding gear and approached us to ask about our ride and where we’re headed. Well that got us started, don’t you know. He goes by Max and he has ridden for years. He has climbed Pikes Peak on his cycle and had lots of advice to share. We asked about his family and found out they were on a cross country trip, too. They were on their way home to Kansas after seeing the gulf coast, Florida beaches, Georgia and the southern Appalachia region, the mid-Atlantics and NYC. While he might have wished his minivan were his Harley, he said that they had a wonderful time seeing parts of the country they’d never had occasion to visit. Interestingly, they were all pleasantly surprised by how many people in they met who were kind and helpful and just nice. Imagine – East Coasters who are nice. We shared that we have had the same experience in our travels west and south. Maybe if more people got out and met their neighbors ….

Well that’s it for tonight. Rest well, friends.

Did we mention we get to ride Interstate 70 for four days?

Today we left Pennsylvania and traveled through West Virginia, Ohio and into Indiana.

Cute water tower at CAT equipment industrial plant.

And lastly, just because this tickled our funny bone …

We’re off! It was a sputtering start. We intended to be on the road by 8 AM. Right. 8:00 blew by as we did all those last minute things we forgot had to be done. Best laid plans and all that.

On the road a little before 9 and happy to settle in for the 280 mile ride. Somewhere north of Reading we stopped for the first rest. Coffee, rest for the glutes, some water and a snack and on our way again. The speed limit is 70 all the way out and we kept fairly close to that. Some folks blew by us going much faster. Surprise, they were from Jersey!

We stopped 3 times today before arriving in Donegal, PA, a small town of fewer than 200 souls but filled with motels, restaurants and shops to serve folks traveling through. The town is reputed to be named after the Irish town and county Donegal.

And we are so happy to stop here. Predictably, our buttocks are feeling the discomfort of prolonged residence on the cycle seat. Experience tells us it will take nearly a week to move beyond this. (We figure that cowboys needed to acclimate to the saddle on long cattle drives as well. This is a comforting analogy we’d be very very happy to maintain, thank you.)

As befits opening day folderol, we checked into our luxury accommodations at a Day’s Inn and decided a nice walk would be a “good thing”. So we set out on foot to what Google identified as a grocery store a mile down the road to buy our evening repast: a salad, some chips and seltzer for drinks. Following Google’s directions we walked about an hour (way more than a mile!) along a busy road past the Family Dollar and Dollar General and an antiques store to the Donegal Market which, it turns out, specialized in azaleas and firewood. No salad. No seltzer. No chips. Yikes. We stopped at the Dollar General (we admit it) and bought some block cheese (Pepper Jack), Triscuits and ginger ale. (Also a comb, sun block and sundry other things we forgot despite meticulous planning!) Home we walked with our goodies and set to with an appetite. We tried not to notice that we passed a couple of enticing pubs on the way. Go figure. However, having eaten and relaxed, all is good.

We should mention that the scenery is beautiful in western PA. We’re in the foothills of the Appalachian chain south of Pittsburgh, and it’s breath taking. We have a couple of pictures to prove it.

Tomorrow, we will try to start very early due to weather. Our goal is to reach west of Dayton, OH for the night ahead of inclement weather. We’ll let you know how we make out.

Have a great night.

It’s Day 1 and we are ready!

Cool tunnels

And occasional sweeping turn in the Allegheny Mountains, part of the Appalachian Chain

The long walk …

It’s what’s for dinner!

Our trip countdown has been in progress for almost a year, and we’ll set off tomorrow morning on an adventure lasting 60 days and will cover 12-13,000 miles to the west coast, with ups and downs and fun twisties in the Rockies, both American and Canadian. We are so excited we can hardly wait one more day. Though we have to because we’re tired and need a nap first. Go ahead, laugh. Ha!

After many moons our preparations are finished! The house is ready for the sitters who will reside in our absence, the neighbors kindly allowed themselves to be conscripted to help out, the bike has been serviced and prepped, the rider has done his practice hours in slow and tight quarters, needed equipment has been laid in, reservations have been made for lodging and ferries and parks, willing friends and family contacted for visits on the fly (and the occasional home cooked meal!), scenic roads and attractions have been researched for each area along the way, so forth. Of course, Connie has organized and completed that work using many spreadsheets. She’s justifiably proud of her work; I’m exhausted just watching.

Something we don’t talk about much is the state of our nerves. I mean, travelogues aren’t supposed to talk about nerves and apprehensions. Forget that we’ve already done this once. “What if’s” kind of pop up out of nowhere to make us wonder sometimes why we set out to do something like this. I mean, it’s risky riding a motorcycle and we’re grand parents, for pity sake! We might forget something essential, like deodorant or fleece or extra skivvies. (That last is serious, you know.)

Point taken. Yet, we also have a love of travel, particularly this beautiful North American land. And the people we meet on the road have been overwhelmingly fascinating, kind and welcoming. We’ve made friends on the road that we stay in contact with. Seriously, this is the kind of adventure we love very much. If something unfortunate were to happen, it makes little difference if we’re on the Olympic Peninsula or at the local grocery store. We will just do our best to manage the risks and see what’s around the next bend. So, nervous? Sometimes. Intimidated for a big project so far from home? Some. But the rewards are substantial. Skivvies and deodorant are sold everywhere we’ll roam. And won’t our grandkids be amazed what their old folks can do.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Colorado (with few overnights on Interstate 70 before we get there).

Hank and I are happy to announce we are planning another cross-country trip this summer.  We hope to leave June 1, 2019.

On the last trip we got a taste for the diverse landscapes of the USA.  This time, we are delving into the Northwest.  The Rockie Mountains are entrancing and so fun to ride.  We’ll spend the bulk of our trip traversing the Rockies from Colorado to British Columbia.  We’ll dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean on the Olympic Peninsula in Olympia National Park and spend some time on Vancouver Island exploring and soaking in the culture.

We learned so much from our last major trip our planning this time is going so easily.  And of course, it’s one of Connie’s greatest pleasures.  Please feel free to share ideas for places to see or things to do.

One of our greatest pleasures on our last trip was sharing the journey with family and friends.  You inspired us to take the time to process our experiences along the way so that we could share them with you.   We hope you’ll join us on this journey too.

The Plan:

One is not supposed to start a piece of writing with an apology. Fine. I’m doing it anyway, Gentle Reader. As I sit pecking at my screen, July has passed into August thus showing how much we didn’t want our adventure to end. (Channeling Pharoah, if it’s not written it’s not done.) Silly, isn’t it? So this is how we finished our wonderful trip. Leaving the big, luxurious and impersonal Marriott hotel in Kingston, ON, we rode northeast along the St. Lawrence River and crossed back into the States at the Thousand Islands entry heading south. (Connie and I both have Global Entry passes from US Customs. It made re-entry quick and easy. We recommend looking into it.). The weather was beautiful and the ride to Cortland, NY and the Patterson clan was a pleasure. Rural NY State is beautiful; we used some of I-81 and lots of back roads – our favorite kind of ride. Sue and her mom, Helen, were so gracious in their welcome. We feasted like royalty and soaked in the pool with little James and Kiely, two of Sue’s grandchildren. Their parents, Annie (niece) and Tom stopped by several times to catch up. Helen was kind and sharp as always, and so much fun to visit with. Nephew Gregg, who lives on the shores of Lake Como, also made an appearance. He continued his annual razzing about the NY Giants and predicts great things for his Redskins. He has such an imagination! His latest project is acquiring a plow to clear his ¼ mile driveway in winter. This is no small thing: last winter Cortland got about a foot of snow for every inch we got in NJ. Nephew Kevin, Tina and their son, Andrew were away camping when we arrived so, sadly, we missed them. We also missed Jim, Sue’s love for 50 years, and my brother, who passed in 2014. There’s both sweet and sorrow in every family.

On Thursday Sue treated us to a musical put on by the Cortland Repertory Theater, “Footloose”, which came out originally as a film in 1984. It was a fantastic production in an intimate setting with the audience on three sides, front row about three feet from the stage. Really good music, singing, acting and set design. We loved it all. Not all good Theater is on Broadway; not all good theater has to cost a mortgage payment. Just saying.

We had a wonderful time being able to relax, eat Sue’s amazing cooking, and connect with family. Sue is such good company. But it was finally time to head home on Friday. We’d been 82 days on the road and were worn out. In a good way, mind you, but ready for home. So down I-81 to the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension. Of course there was road work – lots of it. The NE Extension is like a two lane cattle chute full of traffic. Close a lane and everything clogs up leaving patience as your only tool. We had lots of opportunity to reflect back on the wide open roads out west. The desolation if US 50 in Nevada became a rose-hued memory. So forth. We knew we were back on home turf.

Then Philly – our main routes into NJ were filled with stalled traffic. The heat was firmly in the 90’s and Google was showing us a route through Philly. We took a shot and followed the GPS. Silly persons. We were led through a convoluted route leading to the Betsy Ross Bridge over the Delaware. We had no idea there were so many side streets and alleys, and the traffic was heavy. The saving grace was our familiarity with the real (unspoken) rules of the road close to home. Still, it took us 9 hours to cover 190 miles. But we finally crept into the driveway and poured ourselves off the bike. Home is a sweet place.

We covered 12,700 miles on our journey covering 82 days. We stayed in motels, hotels, Airbnb’s, and with loving generous family along the way. The bike held up wonderfully, needing two oil changes, a new set of tires and about 290 gallons of premium fuel that cost between $2.30 (Anywhere, NV) and $5.75 a gallon (Mendocino, CA). After the first 10 days, we rode in relative comfort, partly due to equipment and prep, and partly because we lost feeling in our butts. (Feeling has been restored, you’ll be glad to know!) Relative frugality on the road and Connie’s exceptional planning kept us solvent throughout the trip and leaves us owing nothing.

We were so fortunate to have seen so many national and state parks and monuments that our much maligned governments and public servants have preserved for our use and enjoyment. It’s telling when you consider the huge number of folks from overseas who invest their time, money and energy to come see our spectacularly American natural treasures. Makes me wonder if we take our rich heritage for granted. And the people. We met hundreds of folks along our journey. Some we have mentioned in our posts, but many we just couldn’t for want of time and space. In the insular and divisive time we live, its too easy to dismiss those who make their life in far flung corners of our country as alien or of no account. We have many sub-cultures, including indigenous peoples. To a person all struck us as folks who want what we all want: to make a living, care for their families and pursue whatever gives life meaning and makes it sweet. Naturally, some are arrogant and rude, but so many are folks who could be friends if we’d let go of the labels. We are a rich country. And the greatest wealth is found in our people. We’d do well to think on that. So that’s all we have for now. Thank you to everyone who looked in our journey – you made us acutely aware of how precious and exciting our adventure was. You encouraged us and added to the gladness in each day. I thank my partner and copilot, Connie, for her fabulous skill as a planner, navigator and boon companion. She is the love of my life, and makes every adventure sweet and rewarding.

Cortland, NY

Connie here:  We have been so lazy!  Sorry we haven’t posted.  We’ve had a lovely time visiting with Hank’s family.  Lots of chatting, swimming, eating! and sleeping and eating!.  Sorry we’ve been such piglets, Sue.  More on our visit when Hank writes.  

We’ll be coming home a day earlier than planned.  We decided that we’re road weary and need to be done our trip.  So today, Friday, we journey home.  And it feels good.

Midland, Ontario and then on to Kingston, Ontario 

Yesterday, Sunday, was a down day. We slept and ate and took time for ourselves. We met a group of three couples staying at our little motel in Midland (a great inexpensive place called the Kings Inn). They hailed from around Niagara and Toronto: Bill and Jan, Tony and Trina, and Tom and Penny. All are riders and were on the home leg of a great bike trip through Ontario. Funny, irreverent and kind were they, making room in their circle for these wandering New Jersey folks. Bill, a retired Ontario Provincial Police officer, was particularly funny as cops often seem to be. He was particularly interested in hearing about our Ben, the PA State Trooper, and wanted us to pass along his wish that he be safe in his tough job. We, promised we would add his wishes to our own. We are very proud of Ben. 

Midland, Ontario is a lovely and historic town on the southern shores of Georgian Bay, the northeastern arm of Lake Huron. (take a look on a map; it’s easier than parsing that sentence me thinks.). My Queen and I shocked the local inhabitants by processing the mile from our royal lodgings to the waterfront, stopping to enjoy a FABULOUS Italian meal at a family owned restaurant, Lilly’s. Everything is homemade and sumptuous, and one son is a trained sommelier (really knows his wine). If you’re in town, go there. Seriously. We then staggered our stuffed persons to the piers and had homemade ice cream. Walking back was both slow and necessary. Wonderful!  

While in Midland, we learned there was a solar flare and that it was likely there would be a light show across Canada and into the USA.  We were very excited about the prospect of see the Aurora Borealis (aka Northern Lights).  Alas, we had cloudy skies and contented ourselves with magical skies in our respective fictional books.

We also learned to enjoy coffee from Tim Horton’s, the Canadian Dunkin Donuts. (Been long north of the Border, eh?) Still not up to poutine, though, which comes in multiple varieties, eh? (twice fried potatoes, cheese curds and gravy plus extra toppings – like Vienna sausages, etc., if you like.) There are “chip trucks” at every corner it seems, all who offer this extraordinary culinary assault. Love so much about our visit to Canada, especially the folks we’ve met, but can’t quite reach poutine. 

We are struck how big and beautiful Canada is. It can be cold considering the entire country is north of Buffalo. There is just so much open space and relatively little congestion outside of the major cities. We smiled a Superior Jersey smile when hearing complaints of traffic jams up here. You know, 30 cars backed up at the light downtown. In Delran you can find 30 cars at midnight at Chester Ave. The take away is that the folks we met love their open spaces and don’t take them for granted. Nice. 

Today we headed across the top of Lake Ontario to Kingston, ON, at the east end of the lake near the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway. This is our last night before returning to the States. We covered about 240 miles today through some nice countryside. Nothing spectacular. Just relaxing and pretty. Except the time the navigator and pilot had a misunderstanding. Found ourselves in the lot of an old mill being demolished in a very small town trying to figure out how to get back on track. (Scowls and stomping amused the natives, I’m sure. A cold drink and clarified (simplified?) directions the pilot could understand got us happily back on track without further ado. A near thing that. 

We’re staying at a big fancy Marriott where our bike is something of a novelty. Not much bikerly camaraderie, I’m afraid. (Ooh, how could you ride that thing? So forth.) So sad the lives of the unimaginative. 😀

Connie here:  The photos below are from dinner last night.  The rolling hills and farmlands of southern Ontario are so similar to NJ, NY and PA, we didn’t take photographs.  But the scenery did exaggerate our longing to be home.  And we are tired (we didn’t want to admit that!)  It is time to go home.  We look forward to a couple of days visiting family in Upstate NY and then plan to hurry home to our peeps and our bed.  It’s been a wild and fun ride.  Oh yea:  our ETA home is Saturday!

Wawa, ON to Blind River, ON to Midland, ON

Traveling days through beautiful Ontario, Canada. Have to admit that there’s not so much “wow!” as it is serene and verdant beauty. We stopped a number of times along the road over the top of Lake Superior to take in the views. We found the views wonderful, of course. But we encountered a number of folks who stopped for the same reason. And wonderful introductions and conversations ensued. To give you an idea, it should have taken us about 5 hours riding to travel from Wawa to Blind River – it took us almost 9. From Blind River to Midland, ON should have taken 4 hours but took 8 instead. Talkative, friendly, enthusiastic people have been the primary order of both days.  
We met Mike, Mike and Not-Mike at a stop overlooking a series of beautiful islands of Lake Superior yesterday. (“Not Mike” is named Scott.) They hail from around Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and often ride together. One Mike is a veteran who has embarked on an Honor Tour, a nationally organized though self-directed tour to memorials and monuments in the US honoring those who served. He was with friends Mike and Not-Mike (Scott) on the way home from a road trip to Thunder Bay for the week. Then Mike and Lawrence, acquaintances who met on the road heading for Vancouver, BC joined in. We spent an hour with Mike, Mike, Not-Mike, Mike and Lawrence sharing tales of the road and things not-to-be-missed. With such a backdrop as Lake Superior, it was a wonderful time.  

In Blind River, we met Jules and Betsy from … drum roll please, Bridgeton, NJ who were on a cross Canada tour. They have ridden in all 50 states and Mexico and were traversing the provinces of Canada. Canada is celebrating their sesquicentennial this year, so it’s kind of special even for Yanks. They are farmers in South Jersey who talked their daughters into looking after their nursery for a couple of months so they could ride. Jules says he was asked for his wish for his 60t birthday. He answered that he wanted 60 days behind bars – handle bars, that is. Wonderful people! And we made arrangements to share some rides into Bucks County after we’re all back home. Oh, another hour or so added to the day. And then there was Leo, manager of the motel. He and I talked about fishing in the early hours of the day, hockey (he’s Canadian, eh?) and the pleasures and challenges of fatherhood and grand children. Another happy hour, but too early for drinks. And so it goes. At every stop for a break we met fabulous people with whom we shared stories and good cheer. We have truly enjoyed these past couple of days.  

Oh, and the riding has been a joy. And we passed 12,000 miles today and Trixy is still going strong. We’ll spend tomorrow here in Midland, ON looking at the sights and enjoying the day off the road. We’re at a wonderful “no frills” motel that features a great host, “Jaz” and his family, and some crazy bikers from the Toronto area. Good and fun people.  

So that’s our story and we’re sticking to it. Be well.

—

Beautiful Lake Superior (especially when the sun is shining).

Mike, Mike and Not Mike from Michigan.

A typical evening on the road …

Thunder Bay, ON to Wawa, ON (following the north shore of Lake Superior)

We are in historic Wawa, Ontario and not a hoagie in sight. And we traveled 320 miles to get here! <sigh>. 😀 The ride for most of the day was wet and cold like yesterday, but the weather gradually improved as we went further east. The sun even showed its face just before sunset, and tomorrow looks more promising yet. A number of folks have commented/apologized for the lack of summer sunshine. Seems 3 of 4 days for the last 2 months have been rainy. Hard on the tourist trade, but great for skeeters. Lots and lots of skeeters. Big ones, too. They found us the moment we got off the bike and did their best to drain us dry. Moving at 50+ is good.

The north shore of Lake Superior is very beautiful. Heavy forests and rocky hills with a multitude of streams and rivers makes for a quiet beauty that is enchanting. There are a few unfortunate names though: who names a river and a lake the “Fungus?” We may have missed something in the translation. But lovely nonetheless.  

We met up with the grandfather/grandson duo again today – three times! Their names are Clyde (the elder) and Nick (the younger). We independently decided to stop in the little town of Marathon to get some coffee. The town is about 4 miles off the main highway, and we wound up at the same shop in an out of the way center. Had the first of our great conversations and finally exchanged names. Later Connie and I caught up with the pair on the road and took some pics of them on their bikes. We all pulled over to swap emails to share the pics. Then in Wawa, Connie and I had supper at a little Greek restaurant and, yes, Clyde and Nick pull in. So we talked some more. It’s a wonder we got anywhere today.  

We’re in for the night, but will likely have to post tomorrow. The Wifi in our motel has very little wireless capacity. One of the pleasures of being away from civilization. No FB tonight. Withdrawal symptoms starting. Gotta go. G’nite.
Sorry no photos.  Not enough bandwidth on the router.