Made It Home

I made it back home shortly after 3PM yesterday. The trip meter on the bike registered 6000.7 miles. The last 75 miles was in the rain, but given I was on the road for 10 days and only had one other day with rain, that's nothing to complain about. I started working on the full ride story and hopefully I'll get some of it posted this weekend to include pictures and other details from the ride.

Mothers Day and Beyond

I made it to Foley Saturday night and although I didn't get to completely surprise mom for Mothers Day, I did get to spend the night and next morning with her. It was just like old times. I show up, mess up a bed, have her cook breakfast for me, and ride out. I'm sure she was thrilled to have me. :)

The ride from Texas to Alabama was mostly uneventful. Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike riding on interstates. We'll the ride from Texas to Alabama was I-10 for 400-plus miles. I'll be hard pressed to come up with anything exciting to say about that day of riding.

Sunday I rode from Foley to Dublin, Georgia. I had an easy day of only about 415 miles. After another 200 miles of I-10, I got to do some back roads and enjoy the ride a little. Today started with back roads, to I-20 where I hooked up with a former Marine in a BMW SUV driving 95mph across South Carolina. Needless to say, I made good time.

Currently I'm sitting in Fayetteville, North Carolina having ridden 80 miles of I-95 (one of my least favorite interstates in the country). But, the highlight of the day was my visit to the Fisher House at Fort Bragg. The volunteer staff there took good care of me and went way above and beyond the call of duty to ensure I was able to get on the base. Julie Miller drove to the local mall to pick me up and then gave me the grand tour. In addition, I got another terrific Fisher House story to add to the blog.

Here's the plan. I'm going to write up a blog entry about my Fisher House visits and those pictures. I'll do another blog entry for the ride out to Vegas (yes, I'll include the pictures). Then I'll wrap this ride up with an entry for the return ride.

Many of you made contributions to the Fisher House Foundation and I thank you all for your support. We manage to surpass the goal and I really appreciate it. The donation page is still open so hopefully, we'll add a few more bucks to the cause.

One more day and then this adventure will be done. I should get home tomorrow evening. I will visit one more Fisher House on the way in Richmond tomorrow. There are a few I missed because of getting access to the bases, but I hope to be able to include some brief info about them too in the blog entry.

Until tomorrow.

Two More Days of Riding

Two days worth of ride notes because I've been racing the sun the last couple of days and the sun has been winning. When I last posted, I was in Socorro, NM. That was Thursday night. Since then I've had a couple of more mad dashes south and east. I crashed Jeremy's and Casey's first night back home as husband and wife last night. But in fairness to me, that wasn't my intention. I was headed for College Station. When I got to Waco, I had a couple of messages from Jeremy telling me to save the hotel cost and come stay with them. It was a little out of the way, but the price was right and it included dinner and my fair share of a six pack of Shiner Bock.

I got some good pictures of my ride across New Mexico and West Texas on Friday. As usual, they are still on the camera, but soon, really, I promise I'll get them uploaded for you. Today didn't include many pictures, but was I did make it to Foley, Alabama and am spending the night at my parents house. Again, you can't beat the hotel rate. Just when I thought it was impossible to stay cheaper than Motel 6, I got myself two free nights.

I wasn't able to connect with the director at the DeBakey Fisher House, so I didn't get to visit with them today. Also, the Keesler VA Fisher House is on the base and I need to have a reflective vest to take the motorcycle on base. I had to miss them too, but all that was planned was a drive by and a quick picture since the director there was also out of town. I plan to stop and get a reflective vest on my way to Augusta, Georgia tomorrow so I can enter the bases at Fort Gordon and Fort Bragg and go visit those Fisher Houses. They are on tap for Monday.

So far the overall trip has been a little more than 4800 miles over 7 days of riding. That's almost 700 miles a day on average and trust me when I tell you, my butt feels it. Tomorrow should be a relatively easy day of 400 or so miles. I hope to visit the Jefferson Davis State Memorial in Georgia where Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops at the end of the Civil War. It's open until 5PM and it's about 5 hours from here. So, if I can get on the road by 10AM, I should have a chance of getting there in time. I lose an hour on the way, so that makes it a little harder than it has to be.

Pictures and the full story of the ride coming soon.

Headed Home the Long Way

I bugged out of Las Vegas this morning. It was a long day with most of it on the interstate and retracing my course across Arizona. I was able to slip off I-40 in Holbrook and go across the desert on some 2-lane roads that were more interesting than the interstate. Also, I went down a dirt road near Flagstaff that led me to an overlook that had great views of Sedona and the desert. Yeah, I got pictures. No, I don't have them ready to post yet. Hey, I was in Las Vegas, so cut me a little slack. I promise the pictures will get posted. Hopefully soon.

I did have a minor mechanical problem today. That delayed me for a while, but I made it to my planned destination in Socorro, NM tonight. I probably could have gone a few more miles, but between my off road adventure and the extended stop at Grand Canyon Harley-Davidson for repairs, it was dark by the time I got to Socorro.

Tomorrow is wide open. I hope to get DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS tomorrow. The weather looks good, so maybe I can make good time and get pretty close to Houston. I'll be stopping by the Fisher House at the VA in Houston on Saturday morning then maybe the one at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi later on Saturday. We'll see.

Wedding Day

We got the kids married today. All went well and they had a terrific time and a nice ceremony. Last night was a little different as the boys hammered Jeremy pretty hard.

I did get my pictures uploaded to the laptop today, but I haven't got any of the ready for a posting yet. I'll keep trying to get that done as I ride back.

I leave Vegas in the morning and hope to get to at least Socorro, NM tomorrow night. I'll have to see where I am at 3PM tomorrow and make a decision whether to cancel the motel room or not. I'd like to get further, but I lose an hour going east, plus the sun sets earlier. We'll see.

Made It To Vegas

I made it to Vegas last night. I avoided any additional bad weather and made good time. The day started out with temperatures right around freezing, but with crystal clear, blue skies. Luckily, I brought along enough warm clothes and layers that it wasn't too bad. My fingers and toes took the brunt of the cold.

I hit a few of the towns along Route 66 to break up the monotony and made the big Route 66 loop across the desert from Seligman to Kingman via Peach Springs. That was a nice ride. Yeah, I got pictures, but I haven't loaded them onto the computer yet. I should get to that today.

My son, his fiance and friends arrived last night, so the wedding party is getting cranked up. I bailed a little after midnight to leave them to their fun. I was ready for a comfortable bed and some sleep. Hopefully, I'll catch a second wind now that I've had some rest and be able to hang with the big dogs a little better tonight. Renee is getting in today, so she'll keep me in line.

Day 3 - Mostly Dry But Cold

I changed my course on Saturday and moved a little south of my planned route. Instead of going through Kansas and Colorado to Arizona, I decided to go through Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and New Mexico. It turned out to be a good decision. Yesterday afternoon I was getting gas and met a couple of riders from Durango, CO. They said they had spent the day in snow, sleet and rain riding down. They were about to head east on I-40, so I was at least able to give them the good news that it was mainly dry and warmer the direction they were going. Unfortunately, my direction, west on I-40, was just the opposite, wetter and colder.

I traveled 630 miles on Sunday from Bristow, OK to Albuquerque, NM. I managed to dodge most of the rain showers I could see north and south of me between Oklahoma and Clines Corner, NM. My luck ran out in Clines Corner. I could see the weather coming ahead of me, so I stopped for gas and geared up. Plus, it seemed it was getting colder every mile. That was a good decision since I hit the first rain within a mile of leaving Clines Corner.

The 60 miles or so to Albuquerque was intermittent with showers and road spray, but nothing too treacherous. The problem was the temperature because I was freezing my rear off. Thank goodness I decided to try on a couple of extra layers at Clines Corner.

I plan to upload some pictures and do the blog entry for the entire ride out while I'm relaxing in Vegas Tuesday. However, it is Vegas, so no promises. I need to get back on the road. My old body is feeling the effects of 3 days of riding, but I think I've got one more good day left in me. Then I can rest. The wedding is on Wednesday, so a couple of days of R&R should have me ready for the road again.

The temperature in Albuquerque is 35 degrees right now. If I can make it the next 140 miles to Arizona, I should be ok. I know Grants and Gallup were getting some snow and rain yesterday evening. Hopefully, that has cleared and it will be smooth riding over the Continental Divide this morning. Grants is about 60 miles down the road and the temperature there is 24 degrees right now (hopefully it will warm up to a balmy freezing by the time I get there). Gallup is on the other side of the divide and showing 22 degrees right now. Holbrook will be my first stop in Arizona and it's already 29 degrees there.

Gonna be a cold day on the motorcycle!

Day 2 - I Think I'm Dry Now

As predicted, Day 2 began wet and ended wet. I woke up at 4AM to the sound of the thunderstorm rolling through Seymour, IN. I managed to doze until 6AM and by 6:40, I was heading off into the rain. I put in another 710 miles today, but a lot of it was interstate. Hey, if you have to ride in the rain, the interstate is as good a way to get there as anything.

I also dramatically changed the route today. Instead of going into Kansas, I decided to get further south and try my luck through Oklahoma. Plus, I got to stay with my in-laws and their price for a bed is even better than Motel 6.

The weather is weird (what did I expect in early spring). I'm worried about snow in the mountain passes in Colorado, so I am going to try my luck along I-40 instead. Several years ago I rode the old US-66 (Route 66) from Chicago, IL to Clinton, OK. I'm going to pick it up again in Clinton and ride it as far as Kingman, AZ. Tomorrow I hope to get to Albuquerque, NM, but they are predicting rain in NM. Could be another wet ending to my ride. I'll get pictures and more details about the ride once I get to Vegas. In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.

My Visit at the Wright-Patterson Fisher/Nightingale House

I was fortunate enough to make it to Dayton, OH on Friday in time to get a quick tour of the Fisher Houses located at Wright-Patterson AFB. There are two Fisher Houses at Wright-Pat. The original house was called the Nightingale House and it was the first compassionate care facility in the Department of Defense. The charity that runs the houses at Wright-Pat is the Fisher/Nightingale Houses, Inc. and Chris Stanley, the Executive Director, was kind enough to pick me up and give me a tour.

The original Nightingale House is being replaced by a brand new 10,000 sq ft, 13 bedroom, 13 bath Fisher House. The foundation has been laid and the wood for framing arrived the day I visited. The new house will increase the number of rooms available to military families visiting loved ones at the base hospital.

I'll be providing more details about the work at Wright-Pat and the other homes I visit at the end of the ride, but I wanted to make you aware of the first visit. The work these charities are doing is incredible. They can all use your support monetarily, or if you are fortunate enough to have one in your area, they can use your time too.

Here's a link to info about the houses at Wright-Pat: www.fnhi.org