Day 5

Note for day 4: We  stopped in Limon Colorado last night. The idea was to be close to pikes Peak so we could ride to the top.
This morning started out like the others. We woke in camp and began taking down the tents. No storms, tornadoes nothing unusual. We had breakfast of pancakes and sausage orange juice and coffee. This seems to be the new thing at KOA's. Pancake breakfasts. Ok with us. Saves the trouble of looking for a restaurant. Anyway, we headed out rt. 24 west towards Pikes Peak. If I could load pictures, I'd put one right here. But I can't, so I won't. The trip to Pikes Peak was uneventful. It was a relatively boring ride. Pretty in spots, but sometimes monotonous.
We eventually made it to Pikes Peak Highway, then to the Ranger gate at the beginning of the road to the top. It was 19 miles from this point to the top. The recommendation is that you have enough gas for an 80 mile trip because you'll be in low gear almost all the way. This turned out to be true. We figured they knew what they were talking about. We were fine on gas.
At this point those who know me have to wonder if I'm right in the head. Heights bother me.
(Good thing Sandy and Pam aren't here yet, don't want them to see me all whiny and stuff.)
Sometimes a lot. I never stop, or quit doing whatever puts me at an unwanted height, but sometimes I wonder, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
 Jim and Doug don't seem to have any problem with  the winding mountain roads and the heights. I do.
That was today. Winding up the Pikes Peak Highway on a motorcycle. Some places there are hair pin turns, no guard rails, drops of hundreds of feet. Then to top it off, about a mile or two was gravel and dirt. Wet gravel and dirt. I was thinking about turning around when I saw the next stretch of road was back to blacktop. Much better after that. Still not great but at least not gravel roads with hair pin turns and no guard rails.
We eventually made it to the top. We even have photos, just can't post them today.
The best part of the day was that while we were on top, a storm moved in. Isn't that GREAT? We, fortunately, didn't have to ride through much rain getting down off the mountain, but it did make things a bit dicey here and there. The real rain started once we were off the mountain. It didn't last long though. We rode out of it in about a half hour.
Tonight we are in the KOA at Cripple creek Colorado. It has been interesting so far. A storm appeared to be moving in as we were setting up. The rain started a little, so we got the tents up and started covering the bikes. While we were doing this Jim's tent blew off across the field. Once this was recovered, with pictures that you can't see yet, the storm appeared to move past us. That's a good thing.
Not sure how many miles were traveled today. I believe under 300. The trip to Pikes Peak took a goodly amount of time. I'll post that when I get it from Jim. He's the official mileage keeper.


More on day 4
When we can post pictures again, we have several interesting ones.  The ride around the Lake at Scott lake State park yesterday was interesting. The ranger lady said the road wasn't black top but it was a gypsum road and they took good care of it so it should be ok for motorcycles. Turns out gypsum is about as slick as snot on a glass door knob when it's on top of a flat rock or hard packed dirt. That was fun. We tried after Scott lake to go to Monument Valley. Turns out Monument valley only has two ways in or out. Both are not well kept gyp roads. One was about 6 or 7 miles in and out, the other was a 14 mile round trip. No thanks.
Hopefully we can post pictures soon.
Ya'll take care and we'll post again tomorrow.

Dougs pictures

Here are some of Dougs pictures from the last couple of days. Some I will caption, others need no explanation.
Lincolns three holer. Room for the whole family. The family that.......

Mrs. Lincolns private privy















Well, that's it for today. Looks like I can only load a few pictures a day then it stops. Bandwidth limiters don't help much.

Day 4

Wow, it really hasn't been a long day, but it sure feels like it! We only rode about 300 miles today, 303 to be exact, but everyone is tired from last night. The storms were enormous and a real show to watch. When they moved us to a cabin we had to take down everything we had just put up.

All set up

Jim's tent doesn't like the wind.
We moved the bikes to the protected sides of the cabin. There was a wooden privacy fence on two sides. We parked the bikes between the cabin and the fence, then covered them with tarps.

Good thing we did, I think the hail would have damaged the paint quite a bit. The hail measured between 1/4" and 3/4". The first wave of the storms passed us about 9pm. It looked like it might be the last, but the radar showed a big system behind the 9 pm system. That one was the one that got us. It hit about 3 am. At this point none of us had gotten very much sleep.

Not to say anything against the cabins, but the beds were not the most comfortable things in the world. So from about 3 til 4 or so we were watching the show. That's why we're tired today. 
Moving on. We had breakfast at the WaKeeny  KOA. From there we left and took Rt. 283 south to rt.4 west. We took 4 to Oakley Kansas. There really is not a lot to see on 4 between WaKeeny and Oakley. Just lots of ranches. We did see some llamas chasing each other in a field by the road. Doug saw some buffalo, I missed it. I must have been sleeping. We also stopped at Scott Lake State park to view some Pueblo Indian
ruins. 

In Oakley Jim searched out a computer store to find a cable for Dougs camera. We found a place called S&T Communications. Doug asked about a cable and the young man at the counter checked and didn't find one in the store. He said he thought he might have one at home, just a couple minutes away. He said he would check and we could stop at the Bluffs Grill for lunch and stop back after we had eaten. We  were just parking the bikes when he pulled in beside us and handed Doug a cable. It fit. He wouldn't take any money for it. He said he would never use it anyway. There are still some just plain nice people out there. Thanks S&T.
After a lunch of smothered hamburgers and fries, and a pork tenderloin, we headed out again.
From Oakley, KS, we headed to Rt. 40 west. Route 40 west is a lot like Route 4 west, not a lot to see and talk about. Lots of ranches, cattle in various stages of rest and relaxation. Oblivious to their true purpose.  In some instances, ignorance IS bliss.
Now, we did have time to evaluate the effect of the turbulence generated by the various trucks that would blow us off the road on occasion. For some reason the tankers had the worst effect, then the open flatbeds carrying a full load. The stock trucks had the next worst turbulence and the straight 18 wheeler box trucks didn't seem to have much effect on us at all. Cars of course had no effect on us..... as long as they didn't hit us. So far, none has. This trip none have even tried, so far.....See how we keep our minds occupied on these long journeys?  Interesting huh?
Just a side note here, We seem to have settled on the correct tents this time. We can set up camp in just a few minutes. No one laughs as my tent falls over for the third time. Sorry Brian, I really don't like your tent with those silly crossed poles. Brian has a tent I borrowed last time. It has to be set up wrong first then corrected. If you try to set it up right first, forget it.
I hope to clean this up a bit but there really isn't a lot of time. So here goes.


Following here are some pictures from the ride today.On the road again

Jim watching me pack

Scott Lake State Park

note for day three

Just a quick note before we take off this morning. We survived the storms last night. Man that was an awesome sight. Eighty mile an hour winds, rain, then hail. Fortunately for us the ladies that own the campground made us move into a very solidly built little cabin. We rode out the storm quite comfortably.
We'll upload some pictures tonight I hope.

Day 3

Note for day two, mileage was 427
Day three total is 380
We woke up in Topeka this morning. Altogether not a bad stay. The campground left a little to be desired but it wasn't that bad. We were braced for rain because it was forecast for a 60% chance overnight. We didn't get it. The temps weren't bad in the morning. It was actually fairly cool, in comparison to what we've been dealing with anyway.
I didn't get any pictures, and I should have, it seems Doug was adopted by a goose! She followed him up to the showers and ran, wings spread, at a kid who's path was intersecting Doug's. Definitely should have gotten a picture of that. She stood by his tent and made quiet cooing noises while he was getting up in the morning. It was really kind of sweet. Doug's goose, yeah, should've had pictures.
Before we broke camp we decided to make some coffee and tea for a wake up. Those pocket rocket back packers stoves are the berries. In just a minute or two we had enough hot water for all of us. After coffee we packed up and were on the road again.

We rode a few miles to Burlinggame KS and stopped at the Sante Fe Cafe for breakfast. 

Nice little place in the center of town right across from the newspaper office.

By the strange little tree man thingy.

Breakfast was very good. I like the Mom and Pop little local diner/restaurants. They're always interesting. Sometimes the foods really good too.

After a hearty breakfast, it was back to the bikes for another few hundred miles. We left Burlingame on Rt. 4 west/99 north. We weren't expecting much from the drive across Kansas except for a long ride. We were surprised by the views along 4 and 99, it was really a very nice ride. Very scenic. 

We stopped in a little town to gas up and waited for a train to pass on the way out of town.
What the picture doesn't show is the Rt. 4 sign 50 yards up the road to our left....this side of the train. Oh well it was neat to watch the train pass, then turn around and go the right way.
We did get to see the train drop gravel to fill the bed next to the tracks. That was kind of cool.




Oh well, that's what we're out here for, to see new things!

At this point I really need Dougs camera because he's got some pictures pertinent to the days travel. So I'll stop here, post and continue in the morning. Meanwhile I'll post a few of the pictures of us setting up and settling min before they told us the tornado warnings were on for the area and we needed to move to a cabin.

Day two

Day one found us stopping at the KOA campground in Springfield Illinois. The campground was ok, but the weather was not cooperating. It was miserable sleeping weather. We started to head to bed around 9:30 or 10:00. Sleep just wasn’t possible. It was in the 90’s and very muggy. Absolutely miserable. Then around 11 or 12 a whole gaggle of teenagers came through the woods about 10 feet from the tents. Apparently all wound up and ready to party. When that settled down, and things got quiet again, I started hearing little noises around my bike. At first I couldn’t tell what it was but eventually I saw the eyes. There was a momma coon and 2 juveniles. Momma was on the table trying to get Jims trail mix open, the 2 others were dragging off Dougs Doritos and pretzels. Doug was up by this time and we were shining lights on the critters. Momma ran but it didn’t bother the young ‘uns at all. They had carted off the pretzels and Doritos but when Jim came out they left the trail mix. After inspecting the bag Jim tossed it into the woods. So much for snacks.

So after a miserable night with very little sleep for any of us, we broke camp at around 6:30 and headed into town.

 After our miserable night, Jim and Doug participated in what has become a daily form of entertainment. Watching and kibitzing while I try to get everything tied back on my bike.

Breakfast was Denny’s pancakes and eggs. Not too bad.

From there we headed to Lincolns home in Springfield for a short tour then we drove to his tomb. Impressive for sure.  

The Lincoln home

                                                       

 The kitchen at the Lincoln home

A three holer at the Lincoln home  Here, I suppose they could all sit together and discuss the days news.

  

Lincolns tomb

 

Here I should add a bit about the way we travel. Jim is the leader (since he’s the oldest) and he rides in front. That way Doug and I can keep an eye on him and make sure he remembers where he’s going. Doug rides in back. His responsibility is to pick up anything that falls off my bike. Also if anything happens to him, he doesn’t take out the rest of us. I ride in the middle, my only responsibility, other than keeping an eye on Jim, is to wave. You know, that cool biker wave. Left arm slightly extended, fingers generally pointing to the ground, with that ultra cool “ay’. The simple acknowledgement of a fellow two wheeler on the road to “somewhere” with the rubber down and helmet up. We hope.  

Next stop Topeka Kansas. After such a bad night I was hoping we might cut a few miles off and stop at a state park somewhere shy of Topeka. We figured we would travel more than 400 miles to get to Topeka, I wasn’t sure I’d make it. We left Springfield and followed rt. 72/36 west. Here the rain started. It wasn't heavy and we drove out of it fairly quick. So the mornings ride was again cool and pleasant.Just  little wet. 

Rt. 36 was a 4 lane at 65 mph all the way through Missouri. We made really good time. We stopped several times to gas up, but didn’t stop for any sights. Once again, sorry Missouri, you just weren’t on the agenda. The ride was ok, although it was pretty much just a highway. 

Had a 40 mile detour around rt. 59. The Missouri river was flooded and over the 59/116 area and the roads were closed. Minor details. Because of the detour we had a couple wrong turns and some misdirection, but ultimately we did arrive at the Topeka KOA. Just over 420 miles today.

The detour around 59/116 took us back up 59 to 36 west to 7 south to once again rejoin 59 south of 116. Seven turned out to be a very pleasant ride.

We finally made the KOA at around 7:30 eastern time.

After the long haul we made today nobody was ready for a big meal. Supper was Doritos, salsa, pepperoni and CC and coke. It don’t git much better’n ‘at!

The wifi here at the KOA Topeka leaves a bit to be desired. We can connect to the wi-fi system, just not the internet. That’s a lot of help. So this is being uploaded on the Tuesday the 9th  of Aug.

We're on our way!

Our day started out around 5 AM with the severe crack of thunder. We had a spectacular light and sound show for about an hour. About 0530 we settled back down while the rain continued, and Marie said, simply, you're nuts, all of you, just nuts. To which I replied " Nah, this is just God cooling things down for us so we don't have to start our ride in such uncomfortably hot weather" . To which Marie again said "your all nuts".
I went out and brought the bike in from the rain so I could finish packing in the garage while the rain continued at a slower pace. By the time I said goodbye to Marie, the rain had all but stopped.
I rode to meet Doug and Jim at Jim's house through just the slightest sprinkle. By the time Doug arrived shortly after eight, the rain was gone. We started our trip with some very pleasant temperatures. Very nice riding for the 3 miles to the Sunny Side Grill where we stopped for a breakfast of omelets, home fries toast and coffee. Gotta be well fed for this kind of ordeal.
After breakfast we mounted up and headed off down Harrison Ave.  Five miles later we stopped to gas up. The bikes need food too. 
We were off and running. We headed out Harrison Ave. to State St. then on to 46 West. 46 is a pleasant run through central Indiana. We then picked up 231, another nice ride up to 36 where we again headed west. During our run through Indiana we must have passed a dozen streets named Nashville and a town called Gnaw Bone. Ok. We stopped a couple of times to fuel up and get cold drinks. As we rode the temps went steadily up.  By the time we stopped in Springfield Il. the temp. was near 90. Downright hot if you ask me.

The bikes resting in the shade

 

Doug

  

Jim

 

Another Doug 

Doug and Jim at the campground in Springfield.

We rode a total of 327 miles officially today. It was altogether not a bad day. The morning was great riding weather. The afternoon was definitely hot. Hot, but ok. We had a good dinner of beer, trail mix, tuna, and slim jims. A veritable feast! 

Tomorrow the plan i to stop at some of the Lincoln sights here in Springfield, then head on to Topeka KS.