Andy's North American Tour

Hormell? No Thanks.

2013-07-13T23:10:00.000-04:00

Today was so boring. I spent the entire time on I-90 and literally the only thing worth noting was the horrible smell emanating from the Hormell factory I passed. That's it. Fortunatly I got a free room at a Marriott in Rochester, MN tonight and its pretty nice.

Time to enjoy my nice soft bed. Good night.

So Long Great Riding

2013-07-13T00:49:00.002-04:00

Today started with some green chili sauce on an omelet at Pistol Pete's in Buffalo, WY. After that hearty breakfast I got on I-90 headed east towards the Black Hills. I've been trying to avoid the interstates of course but there are only so many roads in these parts so I had limited options. When I got to Rapid City, SD I turned into the Black Hills themselves. After today I'll be stuck on the interstates for the remainder of the trip (just not enough time to dilly dally) so today was my last "fun" day of riding. I wanted to take advantage of is so I bounced around the various state highways and back roads in the area. I did make a quick stop at the Crazy Horse monument and did a quick drive by of Mt. Rushmore because you kind of have to when you're around here.

Here's a shot of a model of the Crazy Horse Monument in front of a view of the real thing, still very much in progress.

I decided to stop at Hill City, right in the heart of the Black Hills for the night. Apparently my timing was just right because it started raining right as I pulled up to the hotel.

That's it for today. Tomorrow I get on I-90 and don't leave it...all day on the interstate...I'm sure it'll be fun... I'll end the day in Rochester, MN.

Goodbye Yellowstone, Hello BigHorn

2013-07-11T23:38:00.000-04:00

Today started with a bang in Silver Gate, MT just outside of Yellowstone. Just look at the view I had from the hotel.

Once I got on the road, I rode along the Chief Joseph Highway (named for the Nez Pierce Chief who led his people though this area while trying to make it to Canada with the U.S. Calvary hot on his trail) and into Cody, WY then across Bighorn National Forrest and into Buffalo for the night.

Two years ago I traveled on the Beartooth highway which is just north of Chief Joseph Highway. It's higher in elevation and a more difficult road but CJH was pretty crazy in it's own right. Check out some of the scenery I saw there and in Bighorn just east of there.

I stopped in Cody, WY about halfway through the day to post blogs from the last couple days since my hotel last night didn't have wifi. While there I sent a note to my friend Kelsy who's from there and is now living in Hawaii with her husband and (soon to be) kid. I got a message back that her mom works at a bar there and would have given me free beer. Sadly I was already well beyond Cody before I saw it. I guess I'll try again next year. After all, who can turn down beer.

This was my third time riding through Bighorn but I do like it there. Even though it was a bit overcast today, the ride was still great and the wildflowers were in bloom. What's not to like?

So here I sit in Buffalo, WY, full from the ribs I got at the place across the street from my hotel and looking forward to eating breakfast at Pistol Pete's with their awesome green chili sauce that I had a few years ago while passing through town. And with that run on sentence, I'm off to bed.

Buffalos and Elk and Bears, Oh My!

2013-07-11T14:28:00.000-04:00

Yellowstone, Take Two
My plan for today is a little different from my normal day's on the bike. Instead of covering a bunch of miles and maybe stopping to see something along the way, today all I had on the schedule was to explore Yellowstone. Much like with Glacier, when a picture speaks a thousand words, how can I expect to do much better? So here you go, some of my favorites pulled from the many, many I took.

I realize that this one is a bit hard to see, but that's a grizzly bear. I was a pretty good distance away, not that I'm complaining about that.

While I didn't plan on covering too much ground in terms of miles, I did want to get to the east side of the park before the end of the day. I had planned on Cody, WY but with all the time I took in the park it didn't look like that was going to happen. As the sun was setting I was between the park's northeast exit and the Chief Joseph Pass, a high mountain pass with lots of twists and turns that I didn't want to take after dark. Fortunately for me, the town (I'm using that word loosely, village is probably more apt) of Silver Springs, MT is right outside the northeast exit. So here I am, in a village in a hotel with no wifi hoping that tomorrow morning I can find a cafe or coffee shop somewhere so I can post this.

Good night for now, see you when I find wifi.

Guess what? I found wifi in Cody, WY. It's at a McDonald's which was not my first choice but the Starbucks in town is in an Albertson's and didn't have wifi. What are you gonna do?

The Hidden Bench

2013-07-11T14:06:00.001-04:00

Most of my day today was spent making my way through Glacier National Park from west to east, from Hungry Horse to Browning, MT. There's not much I can say about this place except that it's incredibly beautiful. When pictures speak a thousand words who can do better than these.

After I finished my ride through Glacier, I turned south towards Yellowstone. But first I made a stop in Helena, MT to visit Carroll College. I went there because my cousin, Jake went there. Jake died some years ago from Fanconie's Anemia. He discovered he had it while going to Carroll. At some point since then, some of my family put a bench on the campus with a memorial plaque on it. Since I've never see it, I decided to see if I could find it. Despite combing the campus and investigating every bench that crossed my path, I wasn't able to find Jake's. Although disappointed that I didn't find the bench, I'm still glad I went.

From Helena, I continued south (not before stopping to pick up some more sunblock, which I desperately needed) to Belgrade, MT just north of Yellowstone. I ended the night there after some pizza, ready to spend the day exploring Yellowstone.

Catching Up

2013-07-10T02:00:00.000-04:00

Ok, time to get all caught up. When I last left you all I was in McCall, ID on my way to Walla Walla, WA for my brother's wedding. Here's the route I took. There was really some beautiful sceanery along the way and McCall is a pretty cool town. It's right on the shore of a lake and is kind of a resort town. I didn't even know it existed much less that it was a resort town. I headed north on 95 then west on 12 across the Snake River and on to Walla Walla.

Obviously I can't tell you all about the wedding weekend here in much detail since there's just too much to talk about. But here are a couple of pictures. Brendan (youngest brother) breaking out Cookie Monster with Whitney (bride/ new sister-in-law) for the 4th of July fireworks show, Justin (groom) averting his gaze so as not to see the bride before the wedding and lastly the men of the wedding party. If you want to see more about the wedding, check out the wedding website at justinandwhitney.

After the wedding weekend with all the wedding events and catching up with family and friends and every thing else that goes with something like that, I headed north to Spokane for one night at my parent's house before starting east again.

Want to know what this one says? Just click on the picture and read it.

After a night in Spokane I started east on I-90 where I crossed the continental divide and officially entered the "east of the Rockies".

I continued east on I-90 until I got to St. Regis, MT. This is an area that I've been to often and I always stop there to get something with huckleberries in it. Very good stuff. At this point I turned north until I got to Hungry Horse, MT just outside of Glacier National Park.

Just before I got to Hungry Horse I hit 40,000 miles on my bike. I bought it two and a half years ago with 4 and a half thousand miles on it so that means in 2.5 years I've put 35,500 miles on it. Not bad I think.

My original plan for the day had me going through Glacier and staying the night on the east side of the park instead of the west side. But since I got a late start to the day and could see this storm moving into the area I decided to be a little behind schedule rather than risk being caught on a high mountain road in the middle of a storm as the sun goes down. So I bedded down in a local hotel and prepared for the mountains the following morning.

Moon Craters and Nuclear Reactors

2013-07-04T01:17:00.000-04:00

Today I started out in Idaho Falls, ID and and headed west into the Sawtooth Mountain range. But first I stopped in the Craters of the Moon National Monument.

Craters of the Moon is a series of lava flows that were caused by the same "super volcano" that sits under Yellowstone. Back in the day, that hot spot in the earth's crust was further west and left this huge area of lava flows that is now just a desolate landscape. They say that if the Yellowstone area ever erupts then this is what it will look like when it's done.

After Craters of the Moon, I continued west through the Idaho National Laboratory where they do lots of nuclear research. I also passed through Arco, ID which proudly proclaims that they're the first town in the world to be powered by nuclear power. Having gotten my yearly dose of radiation, I turned north into the Sawtooth Mountains, stopping in Sun Valley for lunch. Sun Valley is kind of a cool town but very touristy. Further north and west the terrain gets very rugged and mountainous. One of the interesting things I noticed was the weather. On the east side of the mountains it was cool and there was even a bit of rain. Once I got up and over the mountains onto the west side, the rain cleared up and the temperatures shot up. I'm not sure how hot it actually was but it was quite warm.

I made it as far as McCall, ID today which is a bit further than I had planned. The goal for tomorrow is Walla Walla, WA for my brother's wedding (www.justinandwhitney.wordpress.com). He and Whitney are getting married on Saturday but tomorrow is the 4th of July BBQ and the bride's family's place, Friday is the rehearsal dinner and Saturday is the actual wedding. This will be the first time on one of these trips that I'm stopping for more than a day or two in one place. I think it'll be kind of nice, three whole days of relaxing (other than fulfilling my duties as groomsman, that is).

I probably won't be posting any blogs during the wedding weekend so tune back in on Sunday to read all about the wedding and my continued travels.

One Buffalo A Herd Does Not Make

2013-07-03T11:30:00.002-04:00

So I'm writing this from another coffee shop in the morning instead of my hotel room in the evening yet again. I'm sure it must get old reading all my complaints about hotel's wifi but it's just so annoying when it doesn't work. Now that that's off my chest, I can tell you that yesterday was a pretty good day overall. I started in Pinedale, WY a bit south of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I traveled north through the two parks, left Yellowstone through the town of West Yellowstone and kept going down to Idaho Falls, ID.

I really couldn't have asked for a better day in terms of weather. It was nice and warm pretty much the whole day. One of the ladies who worked at a gas station was complaining that it was too hot but I though it was just right. It was about 80 but with a nice cool breeze.

The first part of the day was very beautiful. I've never been in that area (just south east of Jackson, WY) but I was very impressed. There were mountains on both sides of me that were coming together into a V just before I got to Jackson. At the tip of the V, I went over a little pass and into Jackson where I stopped for lunch. Jackson is kind of a cool little town but everything is very overpriced.

From there I went north into Grand Teaton and Yellowstone. There was more amazing scenery along the way.

Once in Yellowstone I didn't spend too much time looking around because I know I'll be coming back through the park on my way back east. At that time I'm actually taking a full day off from riding so I can explore the area to my heart's content. This time through I just passed by and enjoyed the park as much as I could in my limited time there. I did expect to see some of the buffalo for which the park is justifiably so famous. I was kind of disappointed that I only saw one of the animals. He was just hanging out on the side of the road as I went past so I didn't get a picture of it (I did get it on video though). I did get a couple pictures of these guys though.

After I got out of Yellowstone and started heading down to Idaho Falls the weather changed a bit. There were some rainstorms I could see off to the west of me and I got a few sprinkles before I got into town but not much. It looks like those storms have passed now so hopefully today's weather will be nice the whole day.

My goal today is to head west through the Craters of the Moon National Monument then turn north and go through the Sawtooth Mountains to end the day in Cascade, ID or maybe a little further north than that.

Dam Thunderstorm

2013-07-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

I started the day in Hot Sulphur Springs, CO with some breakfast at one of the two restaurants in town that served breakfast. I was a little concerned when I walked into the place and found that I was the only one in there besides what appeared to be the kid of the one and only waitress and the kid's father. I find it's usually not a good sign when I walk into a place and find it nearly deserted. On the plus side, it turns out the food was really good and they had green chili, always a very good thing in my book.

After breakfast I headed west on highway 40 towards the Utah border through Craig and Dinosaur, CO and into Rangly, UT where I turned north towards Wyoming.

It was interesting to leave the very mountainous area around Hot Sulphur Springs and into the much flatter land west of there. Even though it was at nearly 7,000ft of elevation it was still very flat and hot. After I had turned north towards WY I passed through the Red Gorge area and over the Red Gorge Dam. It was just about the one body of water in the area.

Before long I was in Rock Springs, WY where I had planned to stop for the night. I had actually gotten a pretty early start in the morning and I still felt good and had lots of daylight left so I continued north towards Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Of course, almost as soon as I left Rock Springs I saw a rain storm that I was heading right into. Fortunately I only skirted the edge of it and just got a few sprinkles. I did get to watch quite a lightning show though and I always like seeing that, especially if I'm not getting rained on at the time.

Even without the thunderstorm there were some pretty cool views.

When I got into Pinedale and found a hotel I had to break out my new hard drive that I bought along the way because the old one was full. While transferring data from the old hard drive to the new one I couldn't load all the video and pictures I took so I had to do it this morning. It's ongoing right now. Fortunately for me the movie Pitch Perfect is on HBO so at least I'm entertained while I wait (don't judge me).

Twice As Good As Denver

2013-07-01T00:20:00.000-04:00

First and foremost, I forgot to post my route for yesterday so here it is. The only interesting part of it is from Denver to Idaho Springs.

I got up this morning and went to breakfast at the Marion at the Rockies restaurant. I had read some reviews that mentioned their green chili sauce. I love green chilies but I generally think of them as a New Mexico thing so I was happy to see them here in Colorado. I got a breakfast burrito with that green chili smothered all over it. It was both delicious and not something I'd planned on having this trip since I'm not going through New Mexico. It was good all around.

After my delicious breakfast I got on the road and headed for the Rocky Mountain National Park.

I got rained on a little bit as I was coming into Estes Park (the last town before the National Park) but only a little bit so I shouldn't complain too much. I stopped at a pho restaurant for lunch. There's few things better on a rainy day than a big bowl of steaming pho.

After lunch I headed into Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather was still questionable actually and while that made it a little worrisome for travel, it did provide some pretty spectacular views.

And yes, there was snow in July.

And just to take that uppity Denver, the "Mile High City" down a peg, check this out.

The actual elevation at the highest point of the road was 12,183 ft but there was no sign there to mark it. I read that there was a sign initially but people kept stopping their cars and there was no real room for it so they took the sign down. Kind of disappointing but what are you going to do.

After leaving Rocky Mountain National Park I continued on to Hot Sulphur Springs, CO which is my stop for the night. When I checked into the Ute Trail Motel and asked for the wifi password the lady at the desk promptly informed me that there are "adult filters" on the internet. Kinda weird. In all the hotels I've stayed in in my life I've never heard that one before. The lady also told me that the one restaurant in town the served dinner was closing at 5:45. It was about 5:20 at the time. I dropped my bags in my room and walked down to the burger/shake stand to get my dinner. I then walked back to my room to eat what turned out to be the greasiest burger I've ever seen and try to post this with the incredibly slow "filtered" internet.

Off to bed for now. The goal for tomorrow is Rock Springs, WY.

Goodbye Interstate, Hello Mountain Roads

2013-06-30T12:00:00.001-04:00

I'm finally in the mountains!! I'm finally done with the interstates!! (for a while anyway). I write this in Idaho Springs, CO which is just west of Denver and up in the mountains a little bit. I made it out of Hays, KS at a decent time in the morning and burned through the last bit of I70 before Denver as quick as I could. I was a little worried because as I approached Denver I could see rain clouds that were obstructing my view of the mountains.

I could just see a little bit of mountain poking through the clouds but not much. Lucky for me as I got closer to Denver I could see that most of the clouds were just a bit further south than the city. Lucky me. I pretty much blew through Denver with just a quick stop at Mile High Harley Davidson to get a shirt. These shirts I pick up at interesting sounding places are about the only souvenirs that I get on these trips. I got a shirt from Blue Grass Harley Davidson in Louisville, KY earlier in the trip.

After a quick ride through Golden, CO's historic downtown (pretty cool) I rode up highway 6 into the mountains. It was a really cool little highway that followed this small mountain river. It wound around a very tight valley and through several tunnels. It was a great ride and a wonderful farewell to the flat, straight and endlessly boring interstate.

I ended the day in Idaho Springs just at the top of the pass and the end of highway 6. I stayed at some little local hotel that had really crappy wifi. Somehow on these trips I find about 1 in 4 hotels has issues with it's wifi. It's such a simple thing yet can be so very frustrating. Anyway, that's why I'm posting this the following morning from the local Starbucks instead of last night from the hotel. That's life I guess.

My goal for today is to travel through Rocky Mountain National Park along the Trail Ridge Road, the highest improved road in the US topping out at just over 12,000 feet. I've given myself lots of time today, only about 4 hours of actual drive time so I should have enough time to explore the park and feel the effects of the altitude (not looking forward to that part). I'll end the day in Hot Sulfur Springs, CO.

Into the West

2013-06-29T00:07:00.003-04:00

I got off to a slow start today. I didn't get up all that early and then ended up having breakfast that was delicious but not exactly quick. I didn't actually get on the road until about 11:00. On the plus side, the breakfast was very good. I had the blackberry mascarpone french toast at a place called Half and Half. Once I got on the road (and through the construction that held me up for 30 minutes or so) I made good time. The entire day was on the interstate and really quite boring. The only real highlight was crossing the Mississippi and entering "the West". Not that it feels like it just yet. I'm still in the plains and surrounded by farmland. Once I get past Denver and into the mountains I'm sure I'll feel differently. Here was my route.

I stopped for the night in Hays, Kansas, about half way between Kansas City and Denver. There's no real reason I picked this town other than it's location. Tomorrow I'll be in the Denver area and, importantly to me, it will be my last day on the interstate until the very end of this year's trip. I'm really looking forward to that but also dreading tomorrow's ride. I'll be passing through western Kansas and eastern Colorado. I've been through these areas before and was nothing but bored the whole time. I'll be thinking about the mountains of Colorado the whole time and I'm sure that'll get me through it.

At the end of the day today I did have a nice sunset to enjoy. It was a nice way to end today's travels. Off to bed for now. The goal for tomorrow is Golden, CO.

The Incredible Rib Spoon

2013-06-28T00:38:00.000-04:00

I started today in Charlestown, WV. I could see that it had rained during the night and it was still overcast when I got up so I was a little worried about how the day would pan out. I went to breakfast at a place called First Watch Cafe. I was really quite good and they had a lot of interesting looking dishes on the menu but I had some kind of chicken and chorizo breakfast wrap. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Charlestown, WV. Of course, as I came out of the restaurant it was pouring rain. It was pretty hard but it didn't last too long. I kept heading west on I64 until I hit Knoxville where I stopped for lunch. I wanted to go to a Middle Eastern place I'd found online but it was closed for remodeling so instead I went to an Indian place that was next door. It was decent.
Continuing west, I ran into another rainstorm. This one was so hard that I could't even see the car in front of me. I felt very unsafe so I pulled off the interstate for a bit to wait it out. Fortunately it didn't last long and I was able to continue on to St. Louis.

Just outside of St. Louis I stopped, got a hotel and went for some BBQ (what else are you going to eat in St. Louis). The front desk person at the hotel recommended the 17th Street Grill and it was really very good. Sadly they didn't include any silverware in my to go bag which left me in a quandary about how to eat my green beans and mac n' cheese (which was too hot to just use my fingers). Being the creative type that I am, I used one of my newly cleaned rib bones as a spoon. Talk about ingenuity, right?

Despite the rain and the rather boring features of I64, it was overall a good day. I made good time and got as far as St. Louis, which was my goal for the day. Tomorrow, I plan to make it to Hays, KS which is between Kansas City and Denver. It should be my last real day of interstate travel. After that I get out into the back roads where things get interesting. Off to bed for now.

Appalachian Vietnamese

2013-06-26T21:35:00.001-04:00

So my 2013 trip has officially started. I'll admit it sort of snuck up on me a little bit and I haven't done much planning for this one. It's actually kind of nice, it makes me feel like I can just go with the flow and now worry too much about keeping to a schedule. I do have to mind the schedule a little bit since part of the point of this trip is to go to my brother's wedding.

Today I traveled from my home in Scotland, MD through Virginia, over the Appalachians and through most of West Virginia. I've stopped in Charleston, WV for the night.

I hate to say it but today was pretty uneventful. My plan for these first few days is to stick to the interstates until I get to Denver before breaking off onto the back roads and state highways. While the interstates are nice and quick, they tend to be pretty boring. There was some nice scenery up in the mountains but other than that, I just moved through the area as quick as I could. I didn't even stop to take and pictures or shoot any video. On the plus side, I found a Vietnamese place here in Charleston and had a nice hot bowl of pho for dinner. And after perusing Yelp a bit found a breakfast place that looks pretty good for tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how it goes.

Off to bed for this guy.

The Final Days

2012-11-02T18:52:00.001-04:00

Alright, so I'm a little late in getting caught up on this. I've been home for a while now but better late than never. When I last left you I was near Chattanooga, TN on the west side of the Great Smokey Mountains. I got up that morning and had breakfast at the roadside diner down the street. It was about what you would expect, nothing too exciting but good and filling. Before long, I was on highway 129 heading east to the mountains and Deals Gap. Now, if you were to ask people what the best motorcycle road in the country is there's a pretty good chance that they'd say it's Deals Gap, sometimes known as the Tail of the Dragon. The road consists of an 11 mile stretch that contains some 318 curves. There were tons of bikes on the road and only a few cars. I didn't see any trucks or RVs so that was kind of nice. It's definatly a big draw for bikers and people come from all around the country to ride. Just look at the parking lot of the one gas station in the area.

For me, it was a fun road to ride on but it was perhaps over sold. The road wound through the woods and there were very few sceanic views to see, which is something I like. In the end, it was a twisty road that was fun but once I had done it, I was ready to check it off my list and move on to other things.

On a side note, you may have noticed the fogged up area in the lower left of that list picture. This was taken with my now 2.5 year old iPhone 4. This fogging has been happening with varying degrees of seriousness for this entire trip. It seems that some moisture has gotten into the camera assembly and it doesn't seem to be going away. Fortunately for me, by the time I shot this picture, I'd already ordered my new iPhone 5 so I'm not too upset over it. That said, it'd be nice if I could take good pictures with it while I'm on this trip. After all, when am I ever going to be back here to take a better picture?

Anyway, my next stop was the small town of Cherokee, NC where I stopped for lunch. For your quick history lesson, this area is the home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. Most people (myself included) usually think of the Cherokee as living in Oklahoma but the Oklahoma Cherokee were forcibly relocated there in the 19th century during the "Trail of Tears". The Eastern Band managed to stay in their original home, though I'm not clear on how they managed it. It's now a state recognized Indian Reservation.

They have a small Harley shop there so I stopped to get a t-shirt and ask about a good place to stop for lunch. The guy I asked recommended Granny's Buffet. I typically shy away from buffets just because I've found that most aren't very good but in this case another guy in the store who overheard chimed in to say that Granny's was very good and that they made all their food from scratch. With that info, I decided to go for it and was not dissapointed. It must have been Thanksgiving in September at Granny's because the whole buffet was set up with roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, yams and all your typical Thanksgiving foods.

After my hearty lunch I got on the road headed east through Charlotte, NC and into Fayetteville.

Fayetteville is the home of Ft. Bragg and two friends that I hadn't seen in something like seven years; far too long. Tom and Emily are old Army friends that I met in our Officer Basic Course back at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. I actually met Tom shortly before that but Huachuca was where we spent the most time together. And since for some reason I always forget to take pictures of the people I see on this trip, I had to steal this one from Emily's Facebook page. If I'm honest, it's better than any picture I would have taken anyway.

I met these two for brunch at Fayetteville's best, most exclusive restaurant, IHOP. (Fayetteville doesn't really have much going for it if you can't tell). Both Tom and Emily are still in the Army and Tom was actually about to deploy to Afghanistan so it was lucky that we were able to meet up before he left. We all got caught up and traded stories about the preceding 7 years for a couple hours. It was a great time.

After brunch, I headed north for what was basically a straight run north back into Maryland. I had originally planned on going up the coast for a bit then cutting back inland in Virginia to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home but instead decided to get home a day early. This was mostly because I'd need a day to recuperate before heading back to work. I also figured that Monticello is close enough to me that I can just go there pretty much any weekend anyway. Though sadly I've planned on stopping there every time I do one of these trips and every year I skip it for the same reason but never follow through on it. One of these days I'll get there.

As I rode back into Souther Maryland, I was greeted with this view of the St. Mary's River. Not a bad ways to come home.

And that's the end of the trip for this year. Overall it was 37 days and 10,500 miles of (mostly) good times. Now it's time to get back to work and my normal, boring day to day life in Maryland. I can't wait for next year!

Smaller Than a Single Wide

2012-09-12T22:57:00.000-04:00

Today started in Tupelo, MS with breakfast at Connie's Fried Chicken. As you might suspect, I had a fried chicken biscuit. They also are self proclaimed experts at making blueberry donuts. The chicken biscuit was great, though messy. The blueberry donut was Betty Crocker blueberry muffin mix cooked like a donut. It was good but it was noting to pretend to be famous for.

On my way out of town I stopped at Elvis' birthplace. Talk about being born in poverty. That house was smaller than a single wide.

There wasn't too much at the museum to look at really. They had some poorly produced video that reenacted scenes from Elvis' early life that I couldn't sit through in entirety and a well stocked gift shop. But the house was cool, and not a replica but the actual thing if I read the sign correctly.

As I left Tupelo I headed for Decatur, AL and lunch. I hoped that I'd find a good BBQ place after yesterday's debacle. Fortunately I was in luck.

From Decatur I continued east, crossing the Tennessee River (and passing numerous Depression Era TVA dams and construction sites) and eventually ending the day in Etowah, TN near Chattanooga. I'm nicely positioned for tomorrow's run through Deals Gap and over the Great Smokey Mountains into North Carolina.

On a side note, I officially hit 30,000 miles on my bike since I bought it a year and a half ago. Not bad, eh?

The Dirt Hill and the River

2012-09-12T00:21:00.000-04:00

Today started in Magnolia, AR and ended in Tupelo, MS.

I stopped for breakfast at a place right next to my hotel called Mr. James Good Food. While I admire the hutzpah in that name, the food didn't really fill those shoes. I had country ham, eggs and hashbrowns. The hashbrowns were soggy and I just can't stand that. Otherwise it wasn't too bad.

My first real stop for the day was Greenville, MS, just over the Mississippi river. I actually crossed a pretty cool looking bridge over the river. I got it on video so you'll have to wait until that comes out to see it. I have read online that the best place in the area for BBQ is Tabbs in Greenville. Reading the reviews of this place it sounded like the best BBQ the South has to offer. As it turns out Yelp shows it's location on their map in the north part of town, lists the address in the south part of town and Google shows it in the center part of town. I went to all three locations one after the other and found not a drop of BBQ in any place. It was extremely frustrating and in the end I stopped at the restaurant nearest to the last location. I just asked the waitress what the best thing on the menu is and got that. It was grilled chicken mac and cheese. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great BBQ either. Maybe tomorrow will be more BBQ filled than today. It could hardly be less.

Just north of Greenville is the Winterville State Park. This is one of the Mississippian Mound Builder sites. The first time I saw one of these was in Cahokia State Park outside of St. Louis two years ago on my first bike trip. This was a Native American culture that lived around the Mississippi from about 1000 to 1400. They farmed corn, traded widely and built mounds out of packed earth. The mounds were sometimes used for ceremonial purposes, sometimes for burial and sometimes for who knows what. Even though the mounds have eroded quite a bit you can still get a sense of what it took to build these things by hand.

As I continued on my way I followed the Mississippi for a little ways as it wound through the cotton fields. I stopped at on point to take a couple pictures.

After I turned away from the river all that was left was to get myself east and into Tupelo so that's what I did. By the time I got there it was later than I hoped and about the only restaurant I could find open was some mexican place. I had some decent chile colorado and went back to my hotel to write this and soon go to bed.

Oh, and by the way even though it was fairly warm today the cold front is holding. Overall it was a beautiful day and not too hot or humid. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Entering the South

2012-09-10T23:31:00.000-04:00

Today was mostly about making my way from Austin through the rest of Texas and into the Deep South. But first I stopped for breakfast at Carrob's Cafe. It got some mixed reviews online but was really close to my hotel so I decided to give it a shot. I kind of understand why the reviews were mixed. The food was really good but the place itself was kinda messed up. The service was really not good at all and while I was eating on the patio outside I was accosted by two bums. They didn't ask for money or food or anything, the one guy just kept saying "Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are?" over and over again. One of the employees at the restaurant came out to run them off with threats to call the police and they quickly left. Kind of a weird experience but I guess that's life in Austin.

After breakfast, I left Austin and headed east and a bit north towards northern Louisiana and eventually into southern Arkansas to end the day in Magnolia, AR.

The nice thing about today and the last couple days in Austin has been the weather. Before this "cold front" moved in it was 105 or so. Now it's topping out at maybe 90 with low humidity. Normally I would never call weather that hits 90 degrees anything approaching cold but considering the alternative I'll take it. Even thought it's warm it's been really nice riding weather so I'm not complaining.

I stopped for lunch at some Mexican place in a town I don't remember. It wasn't very good. As the day wore down, the weather just got nicer and nicer. It cooled down a bit and since I was now in an area that actually has some trees (unlike the vast majority of Texas as far as I could see) there was even some shade to keep the sun off me. It was extremely nice and made me hope that this cold front will stay in place until the end of the week so I can experience the south without it being too hot.

When I got to Magnolia, AR and found a hotel I walked across the street to a place called Andy's. Naturally with a name like that I had to check it out. Turns out it's a fast food place that also serves BBQ. I had some ribs and they were ok. Not great but not bad.

And that's it for today. Tomorrow it's further into the South through Mississippi. Hopefully it won't be too hot.

Family, Friends, Beef and BBQ

2012-09-10T01:23:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted anything for a few days now so I'm going to knock out the last few days in one fell swoop. The first big event that happened was when I got to El Paso and met up with Marcella, Ethan and Colin for breakfast. This is the family of my friend Rory who is in the Navy and is currently deployed to the Middle East. Their son Ethan is my godson. I haven't seen then since my trip last summer so it was nice to get caught up again. Of course, I failed to take any pictures of anyone. I'm still kicking myself for that. We met at a Mexican place for breakfast. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the dish I had but it was great. It was seasoned ground beef with tomatoes and onions with a couple over easy eggs on it. After catching up with everyone, I headed for Big Bend National Park in southern Texas.

I read somewhere that the road going through Big Bend was once voted the most scenic road in the country. After seeing it I have to disagree. It was scenic, but not that scenic. The road follows right along the Rio Grande River and the US/Mexican border. That's Mexico in the left part of the image and the US in the right.

The road was pretty good and there was some pretty nice scenery but it was just so hot. It was something like 110 degrees down by the river and fairly humid too. It was hot enough that it just sapped all my energy and I was actually pretty happy to end the day in Alpine, TX. Unfortunately I had to go through a crazy thunderstorm to get there. I had to sit there and watch the storm for about 30 minutes as I approached it. There was lightning all over the place and when I finally got into it the rain was really hard and there was even a little bit of hail mixed in with it. And the lightning didn't stop. I didn't break out the camera for any still shots but I did get some pretty good video as I approached the storm. You'll have to wait until I post the video to check it out but I think it'll be worth it.

After spending a night in Alpine I got on highway 90 and headed east to Del Rio, TX for lunch at a BBQ joint (I had pulled pork and a cup of green chile stew) and then to San Antonio where my friends Mike and Kristine live.

Mike and I were in Iraq together back when I was still in the Army. Mike stayed in when I got out and is now a company commander. We walked down to a local pub for some good beer and food. Since Mike had to work the next morning things didn't get too crazy. Plus, Mike and Kristine were planning on meeting me in Austin over the weekend so there was no rush to craziness. The next morning their uber cute daughter Abi decided she liked my bike.

As I left San Antonio I headed for Fort Worth to see my Aunt Judy and cousin Dennis and Dennis' wife and new kid.

The weather weather was still so hot (105 or so) and humid that even though it was a fairly short trip it was just exhausted by the time I got there. Fortunately I had some time to relax in the air conditioning before we went to dinner at a mexican place that had a very unusual salsa. They put little bits of brisket in it. It may not sound too appetizing but it tasted great. It gave the salsa a little bit of savory flavor and some smokiness. Also the brisket tacos were amazing. The next morning, perhaps due to some after dinner cocktails, we all relaxed through the early morning hours and then had some grilled steaks, salad and potatoes. Great stuff.

At that point I got back on my bike for the ride back to Austin. I was retracing my steps a bit since I passed through Austin on my way to Forth Worth but sometimes that happens. Thanks to a cold front that moved in over night the day was actually very pleasant. Instead of 105 I had 85-90. Not bad. When I got to Austin I checked into my hotel (Hilton for $80 a night, thanks Hotwire) right on 6th Street. If you don't know, 6th street is the place to be in Austin. It's filled with bars all playing live music and awesome street food. Mike, Kristine, Abi (3) and Mike Jr. (3months) all met me for dinner at Stubbs BBQ where I had some great brisket and smoked turkey. I love the BBQ that I've been getting in Texas and am only looking forward to what I'll find in the rest of the south. Kristine took the kids back to their hotel for the night so that Mike and I could enjoy the nightlife. Lets just say there was lots of beer (most of it local micro brews), the ASU game, some music and a couple late night kabobs from the Kabobalicious food truck. A great time was had by all.

The next morning we all met up for brunch at the Moonshine Patio where they had stuff like green chile cheese grits, cornflake fried chicken and white chocolate bread pudding. This was followed by more great local beer and football and eventually culminated with dinner at Easy Tiger Bakery Bake Shop and Beer Garden for home made sausages. I had green chile chicken sausage in a pretzel bun.

But, like all good things, it had to end. Mike, Kristine and the kids loaded up and headed back to San Antonio and I went back to my hotel to write all this and hopefully get a good night sleep for my ride tomorrow.

Getting My Green Chile Fix

2012-09-05T00:37:00.001-04:00

Today was kind of a frustrating day overall but it had it's high points. One of them was breakfast. I woke up in Los Alamos fairly late and headed out to Viola's Restaurant. One of the things that I really like about the South West is the green chile and I've really been itching for some. I tried the other day when I was crossing northern Arizona but the place I stopped at on the Navajo reservation didn't have any. Maybe the Navajo don't use them. And then by the time I got into Los Alamos everything but the fast food places were closed. I was very disappointed but I got my fix at Viola's this morning. I had a ham and egg burrito that was smothered in green chile. Awesome stuff. It was a chunky green chile sauce, not like the more smoother more liquid stuff I'm used too. It tasted great though.

After breakfast it was all down hill...mostly. My plan for this day has changed several times over the last few weeks but in the end the plan was to get to El Paso and see my Godson, Ethan. This is my friend Rory and Marcella's kid. Rory is in the Navy and deployed to the Middle East and Marcella is in El Paso visiting family. On the way to El Paso I went through Santa Fe first where I stopped at the Harley dealership there to get my rear tire changed out. It was no big deal, the thing was just worn down and this is a simple procedure that shouldn't take long. What I didn't think about was that this is the day after a long weekend and everyone (it seemed) had taken their bikes out and broke something. The Santa Fe Harley people told me I would have to wait about 3 hours just to get someone to work on it. Since Albuquerque was only about 45 minutes away, I went there next. They said they could squeeze me in. As it turns out, it took them about 4 hours to finish with my bike. As frustrating as it was, in the end I now have a bike with a good tire and they even washed it for me (which it desperately needed). Considering the time lost, I didn't really have time to do anything but move as quickly as I could south. I made it as far as Las Cruces before it got dark and I got tired.

Tomorrow morning I'll head into El Paso and see the kid then continue on to the east.

If You Ride Long Enough It's Bound to Happen

2012-09-04T01:06:00.003-04:00

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Today started out in Page, AZ with a couple of disappointments. One) the wifi in the hotel was horrible, you have no idea how long it took to upload last night's blog. Two) I wanted to have breakfast at some place that had good green chili. Sadly everyone who was in town, which is close to Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon had the same idea. And since it was Labor Day the restaurant I picked had a line out the door. Too bad. And three) when they say you need to make reservations for an Antelope Canyon tour, they mean it. Since I didn't have a reservation here's what Antelope Canyon would have looked like if I had gotten there.

After my disappointing morning I set off heading east to cross the Navajo Reservation and then get to Santa Fe. I didn't quite make it to Santa Fe but I got pretty close and Made it to Los Alamos.

I've been in the Four Corners area before, actually in both of my previous trips so this was nothing new for me. I pretty much just blew through there as quick as I could. I did stop at the Navajo National Monument to take a couple of pictures though.

The real goal was to get to the mountain pass between Cuba, NM and Los Alamos, NM. This is a route that came recommended to me by a guy from work who grew up in Los Alamos. Because of what happened next I'll not mention his name specifically. Instead I'll just call him "Shack". "Shack" told me that this was a good road that wound through the mountains and was nice and scenic. While this description fit for the first part of the road the nightmare that followed cancelled out any good I experienced initially. The nice paved road that "Shack" promised me soon deteriorated into a hard packed gravel road that, while not great, wasn't bad. Much to my chagrin the gravel road eventually deteriorated to something much worse. It's hard to describe just what the road surface was like. I've seen it before actually in Iraq. When the rains come there they turn the entire country into one big muddy mess. That mud eventually dries and hardens into something akin to concrete. When that concrete like surface sees enough traffic it eventually breaks apart and becomes a very fine powder like substance that makes me think of moon dust. This is what the road I was on was like, the road that "Shack" recommended to me. This is the sort of thing that an experienced off road biker would find very difficult. I am an experienced on road biker but have very little experience with off road riding. At one very memorable moment my front tire dipped into a pothole that was filled with this powder (so I didn't see it ahead of time) and knocked the whole front end of the bike to the left. I wasn't able to recover and the bike, with me on it went down on it's side. Fortunately I wasn't going very fast and I didn't get my leg pinned under the bike. There was no damage to the bike and the only damage to me if you want to call it that is a bruised shin. I was able to quickly get my bike back on it's wheels and continue down the road. As luck would have it (if you want to call it that) I had my GoPro camera recording that the time of the crash. Standby for the video that I'll post at some point after I get home and have time to edit everything.

The powder eventually stopped and went back to the hard packed gravel and then to pavement. Before long I was pulling into Los Alamos at about 8PM. I decided to call it quits and stay the night here, not push on to Santa Fe. That's it for today, I'm off to bed. Here's a picture of the sunset I saw just before getting to the hotel.

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Death Valley, Vegas and the Grand Canyon

2012-09-03T02:29:00.001-04:00

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At the end of my last post I was poised on the edge of Death Valley. Well, since that time, I've crossed the Valley of Death, made it to Las Vegas and almost as impressively survived a weekend in Vegas with all four of my brothers. But first, Death Valley.

If nothing else, Death Valley will show you just how important elevation is to temperature. As I approached the area I was actually pretty high up and the weather was cool. It was actually quite pleasant. Then I dropped down into Panamint Valley which is adjacent to Death Valley. It was crazy hot there and I felt like I was experiencing a similar heat to what would be in Death Valley. I was wrong. After crossing the ridge separating the two valleys (which had enough elevation to be cool again) I came into Death Valley. It was like nothing I've ever experienced. And when I say that keep in mind that I've spend a fair amount of time in the Middle East so I like to think I know something about desert heat. It was like having a large number of industrial strength heaters blowing on you on high at all times. Fortunately Death Valley isn't all that wide to it didn't take too long to cross. I stopped at a convince store on the far side of the valley and had a slushy just to have something cold. Here's what the Valley looked like.

After surviving Death Valley I made it to Las Vegas to hang out with my brothers. Two of them live there and the other two came in from Spokane and San Diego. I'm not going to go into too many details about the goings ons in Vegas except to say that a good time was had by all. There was good food (Foga De Chao), gambling (with an overall positive balance) and perhaps a small amount of imbibing of adult beverages. We also went to some thing called "The Mob Experience" which was a sort of history lesson about the mob in Vegas, but with holograms, actual actors that we interacted with and a small museum of items from that time. Pretty cool. I'd post some pictures but in all the excitement I forget to take a single one. Go figure.

Today my goal was to leave Las Vegas, head for the north rim of the Grand Canyon then make it to Page, AZ. I did all that despite my very late departure from Vegas. Here's the route I took and some pictures of Grand Canyon and the sunset I saw along the way.

As a side note, why are there still hotels in this country that charge for wifi? Really? And why then when they do charge does the internet have to be so incredibly slow? Talk about frustrating.

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Massive Rocks and Tiny Viruses

2012-08-31T01:38:00.001-04:00

I started the day just north of Lake Tahoe in Truckee, CA. My plan was to take a quick look at Tahoe then cross the Sierra Nevada mountains to the west side and see Yosemite. Here's the route I took.

Lake Tahoe was very pretty but I wasn't all that impressed. Maybe part of the problem was all the road construction along highway 89 which follows the west side of the lake. There were at least three times when I was stopped because the two lane road became a one lane road. It really detracted from things. That's life I guess. I did get some nice views as I got towards the south end of the lake though.

As soon as I got south of the lake I got on highway 88 and went west over the mountains. It was a pretty good road and no real disruptions from construction. When I got to the west side I stopped for lunch at a diner in Jackson, CA. Turkey melt with avocado is actually pretty good as it turns out. Just south of Jackson is Angles Camp, CA which I think must be a lake formed by some dam. Those shores don't look very natural. On a side note, the Mythbusters used this area to test launch a rocket plane powered by fireworks. the plane actually worked...sort of.

From Angel's Camp is was a straight run down to Yosemite National Park. I've never been there before so I was really looking forward to it. Here's my first look at the park from a distance.

And here's Half Dome from a bit closer.

This place seems made for a wide angle lens, which fortunately I have.

As the sun started to set the mountains looked really beautiful.

I didn't really have a plan on where to spend the night. I did a quick search and found a couple hotels close to the park but I'm trying to keep my expenses down and these places looked pricey. Instead I headed for Mariposa, CA which was the closest town of any size. Just after I left the park I saw a sign saying that Mariposa was 36 miles away. On a given day when I'm just traveling from one place to the next 36 miles is nothing. But when I'm tired, hungry and the sun is setting it feels like forever. Especially when the road is winding and narrow and you have to go slower then you'd like it feels even longer. Eventually I did get to Mariposa and a hotel but then I had dinner at the hotel's restaurant. It was not good. I don't know how you screw up chicken parm but they managed it somehow. And to make matters worse, after I checked in and unpacked, I found out that the wifi was broken and wouldn't be fixed for some time. Apparently there was a sign at the front desk but I never noticed it. It was a fun night....

The next morning I decided to give the hotel restaurant one more chance. This was not so much out of generosity but the fact that there weren't any other places close by. On the plus side, their breakfast wasn't half bad. I had potatoes benedict which was just eggs benidict but on hash browns instead of english muffins.

Now I had to cross back to the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The road was pretty nice. There was one time when I had to stop for construction but it didn't take too long and was in the shade so I can't complain too much. Further up the road I got to see a different view of Half Dome which was pretty cool from this angle.

They said you could see mountain climbers on Half Dome from this vantage point but I didn't see any. I did see some on this closer mountain though.

Once I got back on the east side of the mountains and out of Yosemite, I turned south and made it to Lone Pine, CA which will be my jumping off point for crossing Death Valley and getting to Las Vegas tomorrow. Lone Pine is in the high desert and was scenic in it's own way. It was quite hot and desert like as you might imagine but there was a bit of rain too which helped cool things off.

When I got to Lone Pine and into my hotel I started to read the news and guess what I found? An article saying the two people have died from the Haunta Virus and two more are sick from it and they all got this deadly disease in Yosemite. Here's the link if you want to read it yourself. Haunta Virus Article. While you do that, I'm going on WebMD to look up the symptoms of the Haunta Virus and see if I have any of them.

Deep Water, More Smoke and the Donner Party

2012-08-30T20:56:00.000-04:00

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So I'm a little behind on my blog but hopefully this will get me caught up. But before I get to that I want to point out something. I can look at the stats to see how many people view this page. One of the things that it shows is what countries these viewers are coming from. As you might expect most of them come from the US with a smattering from the UK and Bahrain which you might expect if you know my family and travel patterns. But what surprised me is that in the last week I've had 20 page views from Russia and 3 from China. I have no idea who from those countries would be viewing this page but it's kinda cool I think. For you Chinese, you might want to spread the word a little bit. You don't want to come in second to Russia forever now do you?

Back to the trip. When I last left you I was just outside of Crater Lake, OR having survived the smoke filled highways caused by some nearby wildfire. I got up that morning and headed straight to Crater Lake. Here's what it looked like.

The lake is a remnant of an old volcano and, according to my cousin Joe, the deepest lake in the world. When I brought up that lake Baykal in Russia is the deepest in the world he insisted that the dirty Commies are lying about the depth of their lake just to stick it to us freedom loving Americans. Good old Joe.

After the lake I continued south along highway 395 towards the California border. Soon I ran into more smoke from wildfires. This time it was even thicker than before, to the point that my eyes began to water. This made keeping on the road a bit more difficult. I thought about stopping for a while but decided that that would just keep me in the smoke for longer and that the best way to get out of there was to just keep moving. I probably inhaled a bunch of carcinogens but I made it through the smoke screen without hitting anything or running off the road.

After a while the smoke cleared a bit and I made for Truckee, CA and a hotel for the night. But not before I passed a tree with a bunch of shoes on it (I don't know why), took a picture of the woods with the moon rising above them and saw Donner Pass, home of the infamous Donner party.

What's next you ask. Yosemite National Park.

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Smoke and the Water

2012-08-29T02:52:00.004-04:00

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So it's been a few days since I last posted anything. Here's the quick wrap up of the last couple days. I left Victoria, BC and took the ferry to Port Angeles, WA on the Olympic Peninsula and then another ferry from Kingston to Edmonds to get me back onto the mainland of Washington State. I had hoped to see a couple of my cousins in the Seattle area but a sick newborn put the brakes on that plan. Instead I headed south to Centralia, WA to see the Evelands. This is my friend Rory's parents. It was a quick visit but it's always nice to catch up with them. From there I continued south to Vancouver, WA to spend the weekend with the menagerie of Paddens and associated family members. A good time was had by all, there was a BBQ, I heard the same story from Grandma three times in the course of my stay and so on. My Grandpa had traveled to Pittsburg for a friend's 100th birthday party so I didn't see him until Monday morning but was still able to have a good chat with him. I was also able to go to my Uncle's "lake cabin" which is in the process of being built. It's far enough along to see just how nice that place will be when it's done. And the view... the view is just incredible. Here's what it looks like.

It was a pretty cool area with 7 different lakes and 5 of them connected by small channels that you can take a boat through. A great place. We also stopped for breakfast at the Char Burger (great food by the way) right on the edge of the Columbia River where I saw this stern paddler that gives tours of the river gorge.

It was a very cool time all around.

Come Monday morning it was time to say good bye to the family and head for Crater Lake, but not before Grandpa, at 93 years old decided to check out my bike.

Although my destination for the day was to the south, I first west east through the Columbia River Gorge to see the sights. One of those sights was Multnoma Falls, which I think was the highlight of the Gorge.

After the Gorge, I turned south to go through central Oregon. This was my first time going through this part of the country, not counting when I was a kid and crammed into the back of a van on our way to a family reunion. To be honest, there wasn't much to see. It was a high desert with lots of scrub brush and not much else. There was however a wild fire somewhere out there that cast a smoke screen across the area.

Before long I got to Chemult, OR just north of Crater Lake. There were two hotels there but the better looking of the two didn't have wifi so I went to the other one. As it turns out, this hotel did have wifi but it worked intermittently at best and slow when it did, the room was dirty, had no AC, a shower that never got hot and was next door to a truck stop with very loud trucks coming and going at all hours and waking people up all the time. It was a fun night....

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