48 States and 107,000 Miles

Jerri and I made it to our final 9 states in late September 2011. We pulled our trailer to Waymart, PA to visit her cousin Wyland and his wife Shirley. It had just stopped raining when we took off on Saturday morning for New Jersey and a stop at Orange County Choppers. We rode through Connecticut, Rhode Island, and part of Massachusetts the first day. Sunday morning we by-passed Boston on our way to New Hampshire and up the coast of Maine. Monday we rode as far as Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Tuesday we crossed Maine and stayed in Farmington. On Wednesday we rode the Cog Railroad up Mount Washington and stayed the night in Montpelier, Vermont. Vermont was our last state and the miles was 107,700 as we entered the state. Thursday brought a full day a rain as we rode through Vermont to Massachusetts. We made it back to Waymart in time of Friday to ride with Wyland and Shirley on the Honda Goldwing Trike.

Labor Day Chapter Trip to Gatlinburg

Our group left on Friday morning for our ride to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountain area. On Saturday morning we rode through the National Park to Cherokee, NC and on to the Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum in Maggie Vally. After lunch we rode a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway and back to Galtinburg. Sunday we rode the Tail of the Dragon and the Hellbender; then on to Bryson City for lunch. A bit of rain slowed our ride back to Gatlinburg. Monday morning brought buckets of rain for our ride back home.

First Rides and 100,000 Miles

Jerri and I have riden the bike over 100,000 miles. I've included a picture of my first ride on my Uncle Gene's Harley-Davidson and a picture of our Grandson Milo on our bike.

Natchez Trace, LA, and FL

Jerri and I left at 5:15 a.m. on Thursday 7/21 and headed south for breakfast at the Loveless Cafe and on to Natchez Trace and our first stop in Jackson, MS. On Friday we finished the "Trace" and stopped for coffee in Natchez before heading for northern LA and on to the Gulf. We hit rain shortly after crossing the border and rode in rain off and until our stop in the Gulfport area. Saturday morning brought more rain as we crossed Mobile Bay via ferry to the Gulf Shores. As we arrived at the Oyster House for lunch the sun began shining and we had a nice ride over to the FL Panhandle and north to Montgomery AL. Sunday we stopped at the Barber Motorsports Museum and headed for Huntsville for our stay and a nice ride home on Monday.

Kentucky State HOG Rally

June 9-11 was the Kentucky State HOG Rally in Louisville. Our group stopped by the Patton Museum on Ft. Know before arriving at the rally site. At the dinner on Thursday night we met an official Col. Sander KFC ambassador, and had a great time at Casino Night. Kirby won a sign bottle of Jim Beam Black. On Friday we rode to Makers Mark and bought our signed black and gold dipped bottles of Makers Mark. We met our friends from Texas who were touring Kentucky. We had a great time on the Belle of Louisville Friday evening. On Saturday Jerri and I won the ring toss; and participated in the other games and the skills challenge. We had a great time in Louisville.

Wild Wonderful West Virginia

We're back riding with the Cave Country HOG Chapter, and our first ride was over the Memorial Day Weekend to West Virginia. Even though we lived 20 years in West Virginia, we never rode or even traveled to the southwestern section of the state. We stayed at Chief Logan Lodge, north of Logan, and certainly enjoyed riding the "roads less traveled". We had a great ride to the New River Gorge and actually rode the old road down the gorge, over the old bridge, and up the other side of the gorge. We even rode through Ansted where our favorite salsa and hot sauce is made, Blue Smoke. It certainly was a great trip and by the time we returned to Bowling Green we covered 1,147 in the 4 days of riding.

Fredericksburg and Llano Crawfish Festival

Our last trip in Texas was with Concho Valley HOG group to Fredericksburg and the Llano Crawfish Festival April 15-17. We had a nice stay in Fredericksburg and a great time on Saturday at the Crawfish Festival. The ride to LLano was great ride and the crawfish was very tasty.

Austin Texas

We headed to Austin, Texas on March 25th. Our route to the south took us through Blanco and Driftwood for a stop at the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que which was good, but not outstanding. After a few wrong turns and some Friday afternoon traffic we made it to the hotel on the north side of the city. We headed downtown early on Saturday morning for a visit to the Capitol, the Texas History Museum, and a walk through the city. Our lunch stop was at the Boiling Pot for crawfish and crab. Good food! Our trip back to San Angelo on Sunday took us through Marble Falls, Burnet, Lampasas, and San Saba. Even though it's been a dry spring the wildflowers are beginning to bloom.

TX Hill Country 2011

On Friday March 11th Jerri and I headed southeast for our annual trip to the Hill Country of Texas. We ate at a nice German restaurant in Fredericksburg and headed for Kerrville for our 2 night stay. We headed out Saturday morning for rides on Ranch Roads 335, 336, and 337 (The Three Sisters)and stopped at the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum outside of Leakey. Take note of Jerri dream motorcycle, The Whizzer. We stopped by Mac & Ernies in Tarpley for our cabrito (goat) burger and spicy catfish. We rode over 250 on Saturday and had a nice ride back to San Angelo on Sunday with our total mileage around 600 miles.

Marfa and the Big Bend

Jerri and I left on a chilly Friday morning for our annual trip to the Big Bend National Park. After a stop in Ft. Stockton for lunch we headed for Alpine and an overnight stop in Marfa. We stayed at the Hotel Paisana, an historic hotel built in the 1930s and was the home base for the movie Giant starring James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. At dark we headed out to see the Marfa lights and were successful. The lights cannot be explained and we seen by the Apaches. We enjoyed the ride from Marfa to Presidio and along the River Road to the Big Bend National Park area. We rode the entire park as usual. Sunday afternoon we held up in the motel because of a dust storm and a county wide power outage. We made it back to San Angelo by early afternoon on Monday.

Del Rio and Judge Joy Bean

Our first weekend trip in Texas was to Del Rio, Sanderson, and back to San Angelo. We left on a chilly Saturday morning and made it to Del Rio for lunch. The ride along the Amistad National Recreation Area was nice, and we rode across the highest highway bridge in Texas over the Pecos River. We stopped at the Judge Roy Bean visitor center in Langtry and toured the restored Judge Roy Bean saloon and his home. Sanderson was our overnight stop. We knew a cold front was set to arrive in San Angelo early Sunday afternoon so we left before sunrise. Jo Jos Cafe in El Dorado was our breakfast stop and we made it back to San Angelo an hour before the clouds rolled in.