Wandering Retirees

This was a day of rest and a wee bit of sightseeing. Our destination was the beautiful city of Hall-in-Tirol, about 10 miles east on the Inn River in Austria. The Inn continues to flow mostly eastward until it joins the beautiful Danube River at Passau, Germany.

Hall, as it’s called, became an important city in the 13th century because of the salt mines close by. Salt was long a precious and strategic commodity throughout Europe and remained so for centuries. (Kind of like oil is now.) Salt was often used as a form of currency and generated a lot of wealth for those who supplied it. Hall supplied salt to Switzerland, and much of the lower Rhine valley and the Black Forest in western Germany. So Hall and much of the region became prosperous and vibrant. That meant great buildings including churches, financial and trade houses, and so forth. Which helps explain the impressive historic city we visited today.

We took a local bus this morning and arrived in Hall around noon. Nearly all businesses are closed on Sunday, so there was very little traffic and no crowds to speak of. Of course the museums and most historic buildings were also closed. But the churches and many gardens were open. There are flowers everywhere in well tended gardens and window boxes galore.

We visited the Parish Church of St Niklaus, first built in the early 1200’s we think. It has survived many wars and renovations and is a now a beautiful – and maybe a little overwhelming – Baroque church. Connie has some wonderful pics of the church and it’s environs. One note – there’s a medieval chapel on the church grounds. This Chapel of Ste. Mary Magdalene is austere by comparison to the cathedral, but dignified and respectful. There is now a commemorative stone fixture set into the front facade dedicated to the many men of Hall who were killed in the First and Second World Wars. It reminded us of markers dedicated to lost soldiers in towns across America. Another reminder of war’s horrible cost.

On our way back, we stopped for a coffee (of course!) and rested our feet while a procession of marathoners ran/trotted/stumbled by. Judging by their expressions, I’m not sure they were really having a good time but we enjoyed it.

Back at our apartment we’ve just finished supper and are enjoying some more quiet time. Later this week, it will be time to ride!

We are back on the road! Some of the time will even be on a bike! We’re currently in Hungerburg, a small village up the mountain a bit from Innsbruck, Austria. We used mundane planes and trains to get here and are now acclimating ourselves to a new time and environment. And what an environment! If you like rugged mountains and green valleys and quaint (though modern) villages, this is hard to beat.

In a few days we will rent a motorcycle and begin getting used to riding here. The language and signs and roads are different from the States – a kilometer is NOT a mile, so going 80 means something very different here. We will be riding a newer version of the bike we already ride so the equipment will be similar. All-in-all we are so excited!

End of the Line

On the 28th we rode long and hard to get to Beaver Falls, PA, just northeast of Pittsburgh. Then on the 29th we ground out the entire PA Turnpike to home. We’re sort of sorry to say we didn’t stop to see much. On the other hand, we’re not too sorry. After 8 weeks we were eager to get home, sleep in our bed, and have no need to keep track of our stuff that has to be repacked each morning. So on Monday the 29th, we hustled until we pulled into our driveway, parked, and fell off the bike in exhaustion.

Well, not really. There was no falling, though we were hot and exhausted. So we scrambled to empty the bike, get into the A/C and take long, cool showers. And start the laundry, especially the bed linens. And pick up the yard after the last storm. In a word, we were glad to resume our normal, everyday lives.

We are so grateful we had the wherewithal and opportunity to take another magnificent trip across the continent. And we’re so blessed to have a nice home to return to.

Over the next couple of days, we got the house in order, changed our road weary duds into clean clothes, slept in beyond hotel checkout, washed the bike (OMG – 2 months of accumulated bug carcasses!), lounged and took naps. Busy few days. Yup.

It’s now a week later and I’m finally around to closing the blog. Thanks for your patience, gentle reader. We’re back on track in the grandparental role, ready to welcome a new grandson into the world (Ben and Aabha) and spend some time with granddaughter, Cora (Tim and Anna). We’re in touch with our volunteer groups and are almost acclimated again (not) with Delaware Valley summer heat. So the beat goes on.

Just a few random thoughts and impressions that have been rattling around my brain pan that haven’t made the blog until now.

Remembering Crater Lake in Oregon is a recurring pleasure. The stunningly blue waters of the lake we saw on June 23rd and 24th are as vivid a memory as any we’ve had. This 1949 foot deep body of water is contained in the caldera/crater of a volcano that will become active again. So below the waters is a cavern of superheated magma that will one day boil the lake away. Sitting on top of such immense fires, the lake and its environs suffer under temps as low as -40* F, and receive up to 44 feet of snow every winter. Let that sink in for a second. Forty-four feet equals 528 inches. That’s as tall as a four-story building. Spring, summer and fall last all of 5 months from min-May to mid-September, and the rest is winter. Shall we all now complain about our winters? That would be, no.

Tolls. As in $56.50 from the western terminus of the PA Turnpike to the Rt. 1 interchange. Really? That represents almost 5 hours of gross income at the PA minimum wage of $12/hour. Long trips by car are affordable to fewer and fewer people. I know I couldn’t have afforded such a toll structure in my early years. Yet the cost of maintenance and upkeep is significant and rests largely on the States. There’s been some talk about a federal infrastructure program. Hoping.

We have mentioned meeting some exceptional people during our travels. There are a lot of wonderful folks in all areas of the US and Canada who hail from all backgrounds of religion, politics, socio-economic status, so forth. Those things don’t matter so much when you meet someone face to face, shake their hand and listen with an open mind and speak with kindness and humility. We realized we were guests in each town we rolled into and tried to act that way. Of course there were some crumb-bums along the way who had a problem with a stranger. (Mark would say there’s no one stranger than we are. But I digress.) Not unlike the crumb-bums who live on the streets in our towns who are our neighbors. We need to get over the inevitable fact that we are different in many ways, but have much more in common.

For our part, we are constantly amazed at the doors that people open into their homes and hearts because we see persons instead of caricatures. It is our choice how we decide to see our neighbor. Just saying.

It has truly been a pleasure and an honor to share our story with you. It’s a little humbling to think you all actually wanted to follow along on our journey. Your interest and kind comments have added so much to our pleasure.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, and so long!

So we passed from Wisconsin to Illinois to Indiana today. Our journey around Chicago was long. How long was it? It was so long, we melted away to a shadow of our former selves. Oof. The major highway we wished to take was backed up for 20+ miles. Google cooperated with us today and helped us to navigate away from from the mayhem and into the country side where we passed miles of farms and car dealerships. While we could have rejoiced with its familiarity with Business Rt. 1 in Pennsylvania, instead we cursed fate that took us away from snow capped mountains and roads with s-shaped curves.

And when later we found ourselves in yet another Wyndam chain motel, we beat our chests and cried that we are tired of living in hotels. So what were we to do? We drank vodka and ate Doritos to comfort ourselves. Clearly, we are stuck in purgatory.

Many of you will think that we are nervy and ungrateful. Well we are, dammit. So we will turn down the air conditioning at the Microtel and go to sleep.

The end of a trip is never so exciting as its beginning.

Good night!

We left Minneapolis this morning and the welcoming home of brother Jeff and Rosemary. What a wonderful time getting reconnected and sharing memories and stories. There’s not a lot to share about our time – the usual family shmoozing and eating and drinking and laughing and crying at remembrances. It was a wonderful gift to stop and share with them. And they are so smart and well read that we have a list of books that need to be read RIGHT NOW. Well, maybe over the next month or so.

Jeff and Rose treated us to a show at the Guthrie Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. We saw “Guys and Dolls” with a fantastic cast including actors from local repertory companies and Broadway. It’s a bit old fashioned for some, but the cast had such energy and skills that they brought the house down. Or brought us out of our seats. Tough to choose the image, but we had such a fabulous time.

Jeff and Rose have a lovely dog named Romi who is a mix of huge Labrador, German short-haired something or other and what looks like wolf. He is big and goofy and loving and goofy and thinks he’s a lap dog. We loved him. Despite our inability to breathe with him nestled in our laps, we loved him so much. And I can assure you we’re carrying a bit of him with us as we travel. (Maybe a pound or so of his fur.) We are full to overflowing love for the family we’ve been with and the remembrance of nephew Joe who died this past January. Sharing was wonderful. Leaving was rough, but it’s time to head home.

We covered about 300 miles today reaching our lodgings outside of Madison, WI, home to the University of Wisconsin. We crossed the Mississippi River at La Crosse and shot east on I-90. Tomorrow we’ll do a bit more with the goal of racing home on Monday. Though if the heat index remains over the boiling point, we may divert to the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Prince Edward Island maybe. 😀

Curious as to what we would have found if we turned here.

Sorry not many photos. I personally found Wisconsin very beautiful. As we traveled I90, we saw rolling hills and farms everywhere. I believe “bucolic” is the word.

Connie here. Hank is taking a break this evening.

July 22 – Theodore Roosevelt National Grasslands National Park

We stayed in Dickinson, ND so we could visit this park. In 2017, we bypassed it due to fatigue. Well, despite the fatigue, this time we did the loop around the park anyway. This area of North Dakota was considered desolate and inhospitable until ranchers came. Cows, it seems, don’t mind grass mixed with desert scrub and rock.

We took some time to tour the visitors center when we arrived and learned about the different striations in the exposed rock, which you’ll see below. This entire area used to be sea bottom. There are many artifacts in the stone of mussels, alligators and dinosaurs. Who would have thought. As a consequence, much of the rock is compressed sand; hence the sand color. There are also layers of a type of coal called lignite. Lignite is a low rank coal and is not used for energy. But it does burn. There is evidence that lightening strikes have set this layer of rock on fire. In the park, there is evidence of a long burning fire (1951-1977!). Another layer of rock, called clinker, is colored red after lignite is burned underground. It’s truly a beautiful color. There is also bluish grey layer of rock, which is formed from ash from long ago eruptions of volcanos. It’s really amazing.

The park is also a preserve for bison, wild horses, long horned sheep and many prairie dog towns. We caught a glimpse of a bison and a bunch of wild horses. And we were mesmerized by the prairie dogs. They seems to be observing the park visitors as intently as we were observing them.

July 23 – A long trip across the state of North Dakota to Fargo.

Today, we traveled 281 miles from Dickinson to Fargo along razor straight I-94. Thanks to the residents of ND adding roadside attractions to this long trip. We visited a couple of steel sculptures on the “Enchanted Highway” (pictures below).

We saw New Salem Sue – a huge Holstein Cow model in New Salem of course. There, we met a nice family from Iowa (Josh, Trish, Wes and Nick). I joked that they must see lots of cows at home. They responded: no, just corn. Josh was very kind to take our photo in front of “Sue.” We also saw the world’s tallest Sand Crane and Bison along the highway.

Later we met Rick. A heck of a nice guy who recently retired and is aching to take a cross country motorcycle trip with his wife who will retire next year. We had such a nice time talking with him. It was hard to break away.

Otherwise, the roadside was marked with hundreds of miles of green fields: corn, alfalfa and other very green plants. A lot of hard working folks put in thousands of hours a year to put food on our tables.

We got to our hotel and settled in for a relaxing evening only to get a call from the front desk. Our bike was lying on its side in the parking lot. We aren’t sure it there is any structural damage aside from the cosmetic. This is quite distressing to say the least. As of this moment we are waiting to hear from the hotel manager in response to our request to see the surveillance footage. Tomorrow morning we’ll have a local motorcycle shop take a look at her. Note: it’s really uncommon for bikes to all kickstand down.

Oh well, there are worse things in life for sure. Working on attitude adjustment now. 🥃

Leaving you with a little ha-ha. If ever in Fargo, ND, be sure to visit the UFO serving pizza and burgers on 45 Ave W.

Long long long long day. 448 miles over 9-1/2 hours. I blame it on hubris.

We left Billings this morning looking to get to Dickinson, ND this evening. A straight shot along I-94 would take us about 6 hours. But no, we thought it would be so nice to take a couple of secondary roads to enhance our riding experience though it might cost us an additional hour or two. To get to the roads we thought we’d want, we headed out I-90 East (becomes NY State Thruway, to give a bit of reference. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, we could miss our turn-off, for one. And we sailed along, happy as clams until we realized our mistake around the time we reached the Wyoming border. Uh, oh. By this time it was almost noon and we were farther away from Dickinson than when we started. The best way to get there involved retracing our route north and then cutting a corner to I-94by using MT 49. No problem, no? Oh, boy.

We made the u-turn and rode the 1-1/2 hours back. Stopped for some fuel (human and cycle both) and headed up Rt 49. About 7 miles in we hit construction: 21 miles of hard pack and loose gravel, mixed well with over-sized RV’s at 10 mph. Oh, well. Slow and not fun, but okay.

We reached I-94 at last and high-tailed it east toward ND. Found the bike likes 85 mph sustained just fine, though mileage suffers some. Great bike for 2-up and heavy. We gave up thinking of our butts and kept at it.

We had a few laughs and a couple of “huh’s”.

At Crow Agency, MT, we stopped in for a cold soda and saw a white clapboard church and a casino on the same property. The casino was closed, but so was the church. This was about 11:30 this morning. Two things that don’t seem to go together. We wonder at the story behind this.

There’s an exit for a town/burg called Diamond Ring. Really. We wondered what that represented. A bait and switch to a frontier bride? As in, I have a beautiful ring for you, it’s just over the hill past that mountain range. We got 30 miles of fun with that. Turns out it’s a ranch near Miles City, MT that reputedly has great Angus cattle. Our made up story could still work.

Then there’s the sign for Home On the Range. Of course you have to start humming along. While there is no town by that name, the website “Visit Montana” tells us the there are 5 dude ranches located in eastern Montana that combined offer home on the range experiences that include every modern comfort. Amid the frolics of deer and antelope. I have to confess that we were pretty tired by then and our imaginings verged on the silly. Or were silly. I relate this with full apologies to the good folks who really appreciate visiting ranches. (. With frolicsome deer and antelope.)

It occurred to us today that re-entered Montana 3 times this trip: once in Cooke City after the Beartooth Scenic Highway, once leaving Victor, ID on our way by the Grand Tetons to Lolo Pass, and finally returning to the States from Canada. We realize that this state is one of our favorites to visit.

So, with fun sights and some beautiful scenery at 80+ mph we managed to have a little fun, and arrived in Dickinson at 6:30. We had some dinner and checked into our motel for the night.

Tomorrow it will be the Theodore Roosevelt National Grasslands, which we passed through just before Dickinson. But now for an adult beverage and a shower.

Beautiful green hills

Some things are incongruous

Oof! Not the ride we expected

Intriguing storm front

“Home, Home on the Range”

A lot of straight roads with interesting geology. More of that tomorrow, we’re sure.

We had a fun, long, pretty 330 mile day today. We left Helena, Montana’s Capital, this morning on the way to Billings, a pretty town that is home to Montana State University. Our round about route took us down US 287 to US 12 East, which in turn hooked up with US 89. Gorgeous riding. If you are ever out west and want a beautiful ride or drive, US Rts 12 & 89 will work almost anywhere you are. They are spectacular roads.

Anyway, we stopped for lunch in White Sulphur Springs and ate at the Branding Iron Café, a little eatery that is very popular with the local folks. We had a great meal that included locally prepared bacon and French toast to die for. While there, we met some neat folks. (Of course we did.). A couple, Dick and Janice, are mostly retired and ride their Honda Goldwing as often as they can. Residents of Helena, they suggested about 50 nice roads we should take on our way to Billings. (Well, maybe only a dozen.) We settled on one route that added about 2 hours and 100 miles to the day. Their recommendation was right on. More in a minute. Dick, we will most certainly call when we pass this way again!

Another wonderful woman was Geralita (her mother liked unique names) who is a nurse/care manager at a hospital near her home in Idaho. She got her training as a nurse some years ago and has used it as a stepping stone to some neat jobs. She was back in the area to meet up with her family and stopped for a meal. We’re so glad to have met all three.

White Sulphur Springs is well named with hot springs ready at hand for relaxing. Judging from the number of hotels, it is a popular place to get away. The aroma kind of gave away that natural hot springs were close by.

We took US 89 north for a ways to through a portion of the Lewis and Clark National Forest and turned east on a local road, MT Rt 427. Gorgeous land. We stopped for a minute and found ourselves under the scrutiny of a very large Angus bull. Connie got a pic. He was grazing near the foundation of a burned out farm house. Though there was a fence between the bull and our rest spot, it didn’t look all that solid to me. Fortunately, he lost interest after a while. Very glad were we.

Rt 427 took us into Raynesford Where we turned east on US 87. Riding through Geyser and Moccasin and Eddies Corner where we turned south on MT Rt 191. Rt 191 took us through Buffalo and Judith Gap to US 12 again at Harlowton. We turned east once more and rode to Lavina, where we headed south on Rt 3 into Billings. Very fun riding with so little traffic it’s beyond belief. And the land is unusually lush because of recent rains. We passed so many pastures with cattle and horses. To meet the need for food, so many fields are cultivated with hay and alfalfa. It’s hard to convey the scale of farms and ranching out here. Small ranches cover a mile or more. Larger farms go on for 5 or 10 miles or more. Feed grasses are baked in large, six foot rolls that are trucked to farms and feed lots throughout Montana. On a number of farms, these rolls were scattered by the thousands for as far as the eye could see. Connie got a fair picture of that, too. Back East, we just don’t appreciate how big the agricultural system that brings us our food really is. Or how much work goes into a farm. Or how thoroughly we depend on these folks to supply the food that’s on the shelves and coolers at Wegmans. And this is one small-ish part of the farm system that feeds us every day.

Anyway, we had such a good time today. Now we’re comfortably ensconced in our room and about to set to our meal. A nice shower and an adult beverage have gone down well. By the way: we have ridden through 80F weather for the first time in a month. Promise not to whine too much. 😀 Tomorrow we’re off to Dickinson, ND.

Big Snow Fences

A Prairie Day

Clusters of Hay Bales. There were miles of fields full of them. The ranchers are getting ready for winter.

We’ve came across fields of pink flowers for a few days now

More time on the prairie.

We love our bike and I love it’s rider.

Tenacity of life

Thursday, the 18th

We woke up this morning in this adorable apartment in the picturesque town of East Glacier ready to rock and roll. Until we got the skinny on the weather, that is: cloudy, rainy, low 50’s and windy – 30 mile sustained with gusts to 50 mph. After a couple cups of coffee, we decided discretion is the better part of valor and laid low. When we took a stroll to get some lunch, we saw a bunch of bikes crawl by whose drivers looked drowned and unhappy. All except one: Lisa.

We met Lisa Henne, from central Pennsylvania, while eating in the little café attached to the general store. She is a mom to seven kids (mostly grown), grandmom, wife, surgical tech to a dermatological surgery practice, and motorcycle rider. She is riding alone because her husband couldn’t join her this outing. Something about a new foal. She has been on the road a couple of weeks and will continue her ride through much of August, hoping to touch as many states as possible. And she camps – all her gear is loaded on her 750 cc Honda. We shared stories and tips for a good long time while she dried out and warmed up after a cold rain storm. Fortunately she didn’t have far to travel today. Her attitude toward life and work and vacation very much put us in mind of our Tina in Cortland. She impressed us so much with her ambitions and positive attitude and she’s now one of our heroes. We’re hoping she has a great, safe rest of her trip.

East Glacier is a neat little town at the intersection of US Rt 2 and Montana Rt 49. There’s an Amtrak station there that brings folks close to Glacier National Park and vacation. (From the inception of the National Park System, railroads have played a big part in bringing people to enjoy the parks.) Two Medicine Lake, part of Glacier, is just a few miles up Rt 49 and so gorgeous. (Have we mentioned that we feel so blessed to have our National Park System?) 😀 The folks here are friendly and helpful in that way of small towns across the country: people will smile and say hello on the street, and are happy to share some conversation and helpful suggestions. Beats a good morning snarl, for sure.

Our hosts. Barbara and Christine, are relocated easterners who truly love their adoptive Montana home. They earnestly suggest that we might like it, too. Their only recommendation is that we make sure to try out a winter in Montana (minus 50* for weeks at a time, about 20 feet of snow, closed roads, so forth.) before buying. Sounds like heaven, to be sure. Makes me wonder how many bodies are found in melting snow banks after months of close confinement. Hmmmm. That plus distance from family gives us pause. But there is some appeal here.

Friday, the 19th

Today is our last day in the Rockies. We’ve been in the mountains for more than a month and are very sorry to leave. From Colorado Springs on June 7th to Jasper, BC to East Glacier, MT, we have been entranced. It’s been a dream come true. But it’s time to move on.

Although the wind was still substantial today, we made a quick jaunt to see Two Medicine Lake and a fun loop along the eastern edge of the mountains. Our destination today was Helena, MT, thus making our way into the Great Plains and the first stage on our road home.

We covered over 220 miles today and there was a lot of buffeting (wind) along the way. We’re ready for an adult beverage, some supper and a night’s rest. Tomorrow we head out to Billings, MT, and hope the wind is a bit less. Now that we’re heading east, home is looking pretty good. Except the heat. We had a high of 66 today.

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Two Medicine Lake, Glacier National Park

Good-bye Rockies.

From the mountains to plains in 20 miles

We finished the day in Helena State Forest

We had a beautiful riding day today. From our hotel in Browning, MT we headed north on US Rt 89 toward St Mary’s and the east entrance to Glacier National Park. On the way we encountered a small herd of horses in and alongside the road. Seems they got free of their corral or paddock or whatever they hang and were chomping on some tasty grass or bushes or whatever. There was even a foal nursing, which was touching. Though it called for caution, there was no excitement and they appeared as happy as can be. Later in the day, a line of traffic came to a screeching halt as a “free range” bull just sauntered across the road in front of us. Everyone seemed delighted to let him go his way. He couldn’t have cared less what we thought. Just rural Montana traffic. Nothing to get excited about.

St Mary’s Village is located at the north end of St Mary’s Lake, which is in turn fed by St Mary’s River, which contains St Mary’s Falls. (Names around here can be pretty easy to remember.) This little village that boasts 50 year-round residents sits at a strategic spot for exploring the eastern part of Glacier Park. It is really small and really pretty. Two more important characteristics: it sits on the western border of the Blackfeet Reservation, and is the western terminus of the Going-to-the-Sun road through Glacier.

Going-to-the-Sun road is a high, tight and winding road that takes you through stunning mountains, rivers, water falls and even clouds for 53 miles. For bikers, it’s a famous “must ride” that is a little challenging with oh so beautiful spots to dismount and enjoy. Connie and I arrived early so traffic was not heavy and we had lots of opportunities to stop and drink it in.

We had a chance to talk to an Park employee named Tony, who has worked with the Park Service for a number of years. His wife also works for the Park Service. He couldn’t say often enough how much they both love it. They are full-time RV-ers and have started their own side business, Glacier Emblems, making commemorative pins and patches for discerning tourists. He is so enthusiastic about his work and seems to revel in meeting Park visitors. He’s the kind of representative who makes you glad you came.

Going-to-the-Sun empties out close to the western entrance to the park, where we spent a wonderful time with my sister, Judy, in 2017. We stopped at the Lake McDonald Lodge on Lake McDonald for lunch and a cup of coffee. We brought our own food but the coffee was hot and fresh. We saw more lovely mountain scenery and watched an intense stone skipping match involving a bunch of boys and girls. The girls won going away.

We headed out to our lodgings for the night, a cute apartment in East Glacier Village with a view of the park. Tomorrow will be our last day in the Rockies and we’re a bit sad to go, though we’ll be happy to see home again. We’ve been in the Rockies since Colorado Springs on June 7th. We also haven’t had days warmer than about 75F and most much cooler. I’m sure that doesn’t play particularly well right now with the eastern heat wave, but we’ve loved it. We plan to do a little more riding in and around Glacier then get some rest for our push to Minneapolis and family. This has been a wonderful day. Have a great night.