First part of the week in PA

 Hi All,

  Lissy playing with the same old moustache and some new toys Samantha got for her.

  The tongue is inflatable, and it feels creepily lifelike.

 Sam, Molly, and Kewpie cuddling on the guest bed.

 Sam, Lissy, Toby, And Rachel at the rehearsal dinner.

 "You may kiss the bride"

 The Newlyweds, Samantha and Andy

 Lexi, Marcus, and Evelyn

 The Newlyweds in their Reno Arch Just Married shirts

 The B&B for the wedding was outstanding.

 Lissy's Aunts are a hoot (and super cute too)

Well, we have been busy since we got to Pennsylvania. First there was the day and a half at Sam and Andy's in Carlisle, then the wedding in Gettysburg, and finally the day's ride to Hop Bottom (40 minutes North of Scranton) to visit with Lissy's parents, aunts, and all of the rest of the available family. Thought I would tell the story with pictures, super fun and long day on the lake at Gary and Jane's. Stay tuned for more...

The Pictures

Well, I figured out how to rotate the pics on the Mac, but am now using Sammy's Compaq, so I am lost again... Also, the pictures are not in order for some reason...

I should probably remove these and put them on when they make better sense. O well. This is Kewpie walking back up to camp after our walk from Tygart Lake.

Kewpie at the Tygart Lake camp site.

Kewpie and I at the camp site in Louisville, KY. KOA. Yes, we were there before the pics above...

The Louisville bathroom had evenly spaced white ashtrays bolted between the sinks. (Kinda art deco-e)

BUT there was a matching pink sign that said you couldn't really smoke and I am left wondering why they didn't just remove the bolted ashtrays... anyone have an idea? EVERY stall had a KOA sign reminding us not to smoke, too. This is or has been a VERY big issue in the Metro KOA!

This is the matching smoker-trailer to the RV. We think they must compete with BBQ or something... It's amazing what people do to support their hobbies, isn't it? (I with my pink helmet, gloves and vest included... LMAO!)

I feel like Kewpie should be wearing a cape...

Right- back to the camp site at Tygart. I was hoping to capture some fireflies, but no.

The Gosh at Tygart before the wind picked up and sent us scrambling to find ways to keep everything dry. See? Peaceful face!

Kewpie being the Kewpiest!

The Trail to Tygart Lake.

SheNayNay taking in the lake. It is rather large and the ranger explained that it may be the only clear body of water around after all the rains. Certainly everything we saw along the way was muddy and full of debris. O, and if you fish? This is pretty popular. While sipping my coffee, I saw some large fish catch a bug and splash happily back into the depths.

The Kew on the beach.

SheNayNay meditating on our final leg of the journey to the wedding.

The video of all the wedding presents will be coming... I think I need the Mac and the internet together to make it happen. Tomorrow we will head to Gettysburg to start the loveliness of Sammy's wedding. It may take a few days to get everything updated again. Stay tuned and in the meantime, do something that brings YOU joy! (Too hokey? Too bad!)

Day 11

Well, we rolled in yesterday to Carlisle, PA in just under 3000 miles...

WAIT! Where have we been the last few days? When last we left our heroes, we were getting new tires and staying in the Metro KOA of St. Louis. Right! From there, we headed out of IN and into KY on I-64. The guys at LaMond were right, even on the freeway, the roads were twistier and as we progressed, the hills got rollier and the trees got taller and more lush. Still, you can see the effects of all the rains we heard so much about: there were sections of the freeway where both sides were under a few feet of water AND lots of farmland has all but disappeared. I don't know much about farming, but I hope all those folks are doing alright.I remember seeing a billboard that said, "One Kentucky farmer feeds 126 people AND YOU." That seems like alot of responsibility for one farmer under four feet of water. Still, I can't help think about all the movies Gosh has been watching about, well, basically, about how nothing is really as it seems. Kinda conspiracy stuff, really. Think Michael Moore. Anyway- we say ALOT of corn and soybeans. We smelled ALOT of cows and chickens. Where is the artichokes, brocoli, and spinach? Where is the variety? (See disclaimer above, I do not know much about farming... someone else is probably blogging right now about how all they saw on their trip was spinach! Where's the beef?)

Anyway... we planned to get into WV and stay at Tygart Lake State Park. We did it, but only after missing the turn by about 15 miles and having to turn back. Whoops! This is what a long run without stopping for a snack will do to you at the end of the day. We know better, too, but we were trying to stay our of the thunderstorms that were threatening to happen all day. We stayed dry but we got a bit slappy at the end there. We pulled off the freeway to get back on highway 50 and found a Kroger's market. I headed in- ahhh! air conditioning! and found sandwich meat, Utz's potato chips and Yuengling beer- PERFECT! I headed out with the goods and was again slammed with the humidity- we probably could have just eaten that!

Like I said, we missed the turn the first time but it was SO worth the stop! (We joked how beautiful that part of the ride was and how much we were looking forward to doing it a third time, but well rested.) We picked out campsite, unloaded our gear and headed down to the water for a dip. AHHHH! Sweet! We headed back to our site, fixed sandwiches and Gosh commented on how luscious the chips were. As he was looking at the bag, he noticed they are made with lard. I knew it! Fat IS flavor! We watched the fireflies wake up and the heat lightening off in the distance. But wait! It's real lightening and the rolling thunder is bringing the winds. We batten down the hatches- remember the hatches we though we hadn't packed? Well, we found them and secured them and headed into the tent. We stayed dry! At this point, the bikes had been rained on twice but we and our gear stayed (mostly) dry.

We stayed in bed pretty late the next morning. First, because it was still raining, and second because it was a pretty short day- a little over 200 miles. But now I must ready myself to head out with my sister on a few errands... Gosh will be taking over from here...

Wow, this is the first day we got to sleep in and not worry about packing the bikes and hitting the road. As Alissa said, the last couple of days were through some beautiful country. but yesterday was probably the best of the two days. We had to run on I-64 for a while to make up for the time lost for new tires, but it was worth the piece of mind if we encounter rain in our travels. Tygert Lake State Park is just off of Highway 50, so we were able to get back to our original route for a good portion of our ride yesterday. What a ride! 100 miles of some serious twisty-turnies, which were a very fun change from the Midwestern plains. We ended up in Winchester, Virginia, and rode right past Stonewall Jackson's house. Weird state lines too; within 150 miles we went from West Virginia to Maryland to West Virginia to Virginia to Maryland to Pennsylvania! Alissa was getting something from each state for her sister's wedding gift, but we were only in Maryland for a total of 25 miles. We stopped multiple times, but we could not find any Maryland souvenirs.

 Now some rest and relaxation and a wedding to attend. after that we will head north to Alissa's parent's place in Hop Bottom, PA, which is about 45 minutes North of Scranton. After a few days there, we will begin our journey home. Now, about our return route...

P.S. Alissa will add the pictures later today.

Day 8

Kewpie on our morning excursion in Mt Vernon, IL.

Today was a short day. Gosh was nervous about my tires... something about rain and hydroplaning... So we called a local dealer in Mt Vernon and though they didn't have the tires, he sent us to LaMond in Evansville, IL. There they are out in the middle of nowhere- there is about a block of homes, some abandoned buildings, a few industrial businesses and some abandoned/ taken apart buildings with debris and a smell of mold. You know, along with everything being green comes the idea that nothing ever really dries. Those buildings may have smelled bad but they looked lush!

Back to the story... Gosh called LaMond before we left Mt Vernon, they found my tires (which is apparently a big deal- my rear tire is something of an odd size) and they were able to get the bike in and out relatively fast. And friendly! We were out of there in less than 90 minutes!

We left our new friends and headed out to find a perfect IL wedding present. Gosh had us stop along the freeway but I wasn't impressed with the goods. I asked how long until we reach KY and he said we had some time so I wasn't worried... Until we reached IN! Crap! Now what are we going to do? Can't backtrack, that's not right! So we plugged along and when we stopped, we  found something I thought about picking up earlier in IL... So we are pretending we got it in IL. Shhhh....

So we have IL and IN gifts safely tucked away when we enter Louisville, KY! And then rapidly leave again. THAT was crazy! We crossed the Ohio River twice and ended up in Metro Louisville KOA in Clarksville, IN. We are on the train tracks in our own private Idaho.... replete with green grass, tented neighbors and lots of RVs (at least one of which has it's own BBQ trailer tow-along that matches).

Kewpie looking cute!

Kewpie on our morning excursion in Mt Vernon, IL

Kewpie and I discussing the day...

Kewpie is ready to ride!

Evansville, IL- LaMond is just at the end of the street.

The Gosh walking with us in Evansville as we wait for tires.

The pond we walked around as we waited for tires.

One of the front yards along that stretch you saw in the picture above.

Floyd packed up and receiving the gift of new tires

SEE??? New tires!

Well, there's no sign and Kewpie is barely in the shot, but this is IN.

SEE? There was a really nice man who took this for us. There was another really nice man who suggested we ride to Nova Skotia... HOW DID HE KNOW???

SheNayNay checking out the sunset in our campsite in Clarksville, IN.

Nothing too philosophical today... mostly, it was about chatting with good people, riding along the freeway (some of the forests areas along the farms looked like they were buried under four feet of water- Gosh said if he'd had a canoe he'd have been in heaven!). It was pretty, for sure, but not the same as riding through those smaller towns- they used to be the reason the roads went that way! Now it is much easier to stop and a Love's or a Pilot or a Flying J... But we are trying to get to my sister's by Wednesday without anyone's eyes bleeding, so we are pushing in one way to relax in another.

Day 7

Today's ride was really beautiful! We got off to a slightly frenetic start, though. At 5am, Gosh was trying to hit the road to put some miles behind us, get me a rear tire, and avoid a storm. I don't know about how other people handle conflicting goals but the Gosh gets a little goofy. By goofy, I mean really frustrating to be around. It didn't help that the lobby didn't begin serving coffee until 7am. It also didn't help that I asked him to blog about his fabulous experience at Harley. Oh hell, it all helped really, because he was able to find cause for all his frustrations. I get it.

At 9am after finding some Yamaha folks that would be open on Monday near our end point for the day, we headed out. Highway 7 south met up with highway 50 east and was really pretty. Highway 50 has not been disappointing, either. It's neat to roll through the little towns- and I hope I don't sound condescending (as I live in Sparks... "Huh? Where's that?"). There are some really pretty little towns. Brick and stone houses and buildings that have been around long enough to change purpose, stay the same or stand empty as a testament to what is current, has been considered important or is no longer necessary. And green? Everything is SO green!

We also saw alot of dead animals on the side of the road. We saw raccoons, mice, squirrels, armadillos, possum, a dog, a cat and a few turtles. We saw and swerved around a turtle crossing the road. We saw other motorists do the same. Silently, I prayed the turtle would make it and part of me wanted to cry. I tried to put a tangible reason to the sadness, like: it says something about us two-leggeds when a turtle can't cross the road safely, or a symbolic reason like: turtles are an ancient animal that deserves better than to die unceremoniously on the highway. Realistically, it's probably just me trying to handle to idea of mortality. Yeah... JUST that... ha! So simple.

Though it looked like we were in the middle of a storm, it never really rained. Still, we pulled into a Super 8 in Mt. Vernon, IL. for the night. Kewpie loved her walk through some open fields and we went to Steak 'n' Shake for dinner. YUM!

Oh, did I mention the FAT Mississippi River? Or the flooded fields? Or seeing downtown St. Louis from afar? It's really hard to capture it all...

This is Kewpie on our morning walk in Blue Springs, MO. She LOVED the fields! And somehow, when she was on her leash, she kept wanting to cross the road...

Self portrait in the morning.

SheNayNay packed up for the trip. This was in Jefferson, MO... at the Conoco.

Kew catching some shade in Jefferson, MO.

I planned to start this entry with the question in my head while walking Kew this morning... "Why does Kewpie want to cross the road?" It seemed apropos after seeing all those other animals who tried unsuccessfully and rooting for that little turtle. I had planned to write some clever analogy about her trying to cross the road and us trying to cross the country. I was going to point out that none of those animals were trying to get hurt, that Kewpie wasn't trying to scare me... that none of it is really about anyone else other than the animal trying to accomplish whatever it is trying to accomplish and no amount of explaining will really make sense to anyone else. "Why are you headed to Gettysburg?" Well, to get to my sister's wedding, duh! But really, we are just on our own journey.

Day 6

 Paco Loco Llama of Love got the ultimate bath in the shower of rain and almost golfball sized hail.

SheNayNay seems to be happy, despite the rain. Perhaps we could all learn a lesson.

K. Here is a very large section of one of the windmill towers we have been talking about. Just left of the KS trooper you can see a cylindrical object on a trailer. it is about 20 feet wide and 50-60 feet long. The KS troopers stopped all traffic for this truck to turn onto the highway.

The Gosh at Blue Springs, trying to re-route the route, and Kew holding down the grass under the bench

SheNayNay having a ball at Blue Springs

The girls are ready for bed, and I can't say as I blame them

OK, Josh's turn today.

 OK, crazy rain, hail, thunderstorm last night. Add the fact that my rear tire was worn to the wear bars before the end of the day yesterday, and that means I do not want to see water on the road before I get a new tire. I got 14,000 miles out of my last rear tire, but I think most of those miles were just me on the bike.           Since I got my last new rear tire, we have ridden 5,700 miles with our touring gear (about an extra 100-150 pounds on my bike) and 1380 miles for a total of 7,080 miles. I think the extra weight really wears on the rear tire. The good news is the tires will have no problem making it home. And I do not have to worry about changing any oil for about 2300 miles.

 This morning I called Blue Springs Harley Davidson to see if they could change my tire on the fly. "We sure can, and what time will you be here" they replied. The price was good too, less than at our home town Harley shop, by quite a bit. Excellent customer service.

 Seeing the country from a motorcycle has been a fabulous endeavor. As Alissa said to the lady at the Lamar Welcome Center "if we were in a car, Josh would be driving, and I would be knitting". Hardly any way to see the country, in our eyes. Whomever said "life is a journey and not the destination" knew what they were talking about.

 To end our day, and avoid more evening rain storms, we got a room right next to the Blue Water Harley store, and then we went to eat at the 54th St Grill & Bar. Wow, talk about a good steak! We split a 9oz steak, Caesar salad, and a ginormous baked potato. FAABUUULOUSSSSS...

 Tomorrow we trek across MO to a destination yet to be determined. I think Lissie may need a new rear tire, so our trajectory may depend on how that shakes out.

 It is a good thing we have travelled together for long periods, and it is a good thing we have come to love and respect one another, or we might have punched each other in the nose every time things got tough. Than goodness we are both loving, patient people (at least with each other).

TTFN (ta ta for now)

Day 5

And why wasn't day five written on day five, you ask? Well, because it was a long day! Over 400 miles! We got into camp around 6:30 local time... Here goes:

Windmills, stockyards and amber fields of grain were today's theme. Our first stop was Lamar, CO. After two days of riding in Colorado, we still hadn't found the Colorado wedding present! The folks at the visitor center were fabulous! After giving us a bit of background information, pointing out the restrooms, and offering us every map they had, they sent us to a store across the street. They did not have what we were looking for but they were very friendly and called the store next door and THEY had something that would get the job done. I think Lamar is full of friendly people... and windmills! This is where windmills are made and if you want to talk about crazy structures, look at a windmill wing. The first time we'd seen them was in Beatty, NV. There was one per truck and they are GINORMOUS! At the Lamar Visitor Center, they have one wing on display. Yep- it's huge! They also have photos of someone cleaning a windmill- I mean repelling into the windmill- we are talking MASSIVE! After this stop, we saw two patches of windmills; large groups of them all moving at once- they are SO cool to watch. We also saw a couple of loners- they look small all alone off in the distance.

Ahhh- stockyards- from Colorado into Kansas we have seen at least ten stockyards. WHOA! That's alot of beef! And PHEW! That's alot of smell! Sometimes we'd smell first and look around for the stockyard. Other times we'd see it first and the wind would be on our side and we couldn't smell it at all.

Oh, and the wind- bringing the smell from the cattle trucks. THAT is a smell! And the wind from those trucks made riding a bit of a challenge. We think it must be all those ventilation holes. I started to duck behind my windshield and that seemed to help.

Amber (and green) fields seem to roll all over the place here. It's really amazing to see them and the machines that turn it all into food. As we moved through the state we went from desert to humidity and from flat to rolling hills- outstanding!

Finally, our journey ends in Salinas, KS. We get our tent site and take Kew for a walk to McDonald's for dinner. We head to the truck stop for beer which they do not have. But we are directed down the street to the liquor store- perfect! From there to our site we are both looking up at the sky and not saying anything. We start setting up the tent and a KOA gal tells us there is a storm with hail on it's way. We should batten down the hatches. We are on motorcycles! There is no room for us to pack hatches to batten down! It may miss us, she tells us... then asks if we'd like to stay in the unrented cabin. For free! AND she helps us take everything over there in her golf cart! WE LOVE HER!

We get settled in as the rain begins. We head into it to cool off. We back up the bikes and watch and listen as the hail falls. We are SO thankful we are not in a tent.

This is SheNayNay in our site La Junta CO. She flipped around to watch over us in the middle of the night. (If anyone knows how to flip a picture on this site, please let me know!)

This is our cabin in Salinas, KS.

This is Gosh working on homework in the cabin.

Oh, and if you are wondering why there aren't more pictures, it's because the camera died... you'll just have to make the trip yourself...