Final Day

We are home, safe and sound. We traveled from Carlisle, Arkansas to Asheville, North Carolina yesterday and stayed the night with Mark's cousins, the Tickle's. That left us only 200 miles today. The North Carolina Welcome sign was a welcome indeed and the Blue Ridge Mountains were a sight for sore eyes. They aren't the biggest we've seen, but they sure were pretty. Mark teased me in Burlington and said we were going to ride down to Carolina Beach to make it a coast to coast trip, but I knew he would not drive past Miss Emma.

We stopped and picked up a cheeseburger and milkshake for Miss Emma and I think she was as happy to see us as we were her. We are going to spend the rest of the day catching up on dog kisses and hugs.

Thanks to all for tagging along on our trip. We enjoyed all of the comments and emails while traveling and this blog turned out to be a wonderful way for everyone too keep up with us and know we were safe each evening.

We were blessed with good weather, a mechanically sound motorcycle, beautiful scenery, Mark's excellent motorcycling skills and the trip of a life time.

We have tons of pictures to share and we'll try to pick an evening when we can all get together and catch up.

A BIG THANKS goes out to Betsy, Patti, Bobby, Judy and Keith for taking care of Miss Emma, looking out after the house and keeping the yard mowed. We could not have taken this amount of time off without great friends and neighbors looking out for us.

Big Hugs from Mebane!!

Day 20

We made it another 580 miles today and are currently in Carlisle, Arkansas, which is about 100 miles west of Memphis. No detours or pictures, just still zipping our way back home, with only 810 miles left to go.

Mark loves Memphis, so we might find ourselves on Beale Street tomorrow for brunch.

Hopefully the mountains of Tennessee will be cooler as it has been hot today, but nowhere near as hot as Needles, CA.

Off to supper!!

Day 19

We booked through New Mexico and are currently about 50 miles east of Amarillo, TX, in a the little town of Groom, TX. As we were coming through Amarillo we saw Cadillac Ranch, it's 10 Cadillac's, buried nose down and is a public art sculpture. I had read about it in researching our travels, but we were busting across the country, so I pointed it out to Mark, but didn't get a picture. Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch. A few miles down the road I saw a huge building on the right that said "Boot Barn". We had stopped at several places during the last few weeks looking for me a new pair of boots so Mark whipped off the highway and took me there. Yippee!! Got me 2 new pair of boots!! One pair are cowboy boots and the other is a pair of funky galoshes (rain boots). Had to have them shipped home as we have no way of carrying anything bigger than a National Park pamphlet.

After the boot detour, we grabbed some supper and decided to ride another 50 miles before stopping for the night. As we got off of the highway, we came across a bunch on Volkswagen Beetles, buried nose down. Come to find out these are another public art sculpture.....it mentions them at the bottom of the link above.

We should be able to finish Texas and Oklahoma tomorrow and get into Arkansas. Finish Arkansas and part of Tennessee on Saturday and be home on Sunday at the latest. We may try to be home by Saturday, but we'll see!

Oh....I almost forgot. This morning I was tired and still half asleep when Mark snapped a picture of me. He thought it was SO funny. I am currently waiting on him to fall asleep with his mouth hanging open so I can get my revenge picture.

We're having so much fun. 456 hours together so far and we still like each other!!! LOL

We have currently gone 6,658 miles, with 1,386 left to accomplish, for a grand total of 8,044 miles in 21 days!

Big Hugs from a Tiny Town!

Day 18

We left Needles, CA this morning at 2:00 a.m. and it was still 86 degrees. Drove about 100 miles and it was so cold we had to stop and put our leathers on. The weather here is crazy. Took a slight detour to the Grand Canyon and it was amazing, but I don't think the pictures do it justice. We are currently in Gallup, New Mexico. Took a dip in the pool to cool off and will be headed to supper soon. Hope to accomplish another 500 miles tomorrow and continue east.

Just heard it start to thunder so I hope if it rains it gets it out of its system tonight and we'll have clear skies and cool weather for tomorrows travel.

Day 17

Left this morning at 6 thinking we could beat the heat and ride till around 2:30. By 12:30 it was 108 degrees, with an expected high of 112 degrees so we called it quits and got a hotel room and crashed. We are currently in Needles, Ca, just east of the Mojave Desert. We plan to leave in the morning around 3 a.m. and see how far we can get before the heat zaps our energy.

When you leave Wilmington, NC and get on I40 there is a sign that says "Barstow, CA 2554 miles", well today we saw the sign in Barstow that says "Wilmington, NC, 2554". That was pretty cool. Historic Route 66 parallels I40, but so far we have just stayed on 40 to make as many miles each day possible in this heat.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'

a'we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long why to go and a short time to get there

I'm east bound just watch ol'Bandit run

Jerry Reed - Smokey and the Bandit

Day 16

We rode US1 down to Monterey Bay and had lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf. Then we walked out on the pier and saw Sea Lions. They have the sweetest faces. We did not continue down to Big Sur because it looked like we would have to go all the way to Los Angeles before we could turn back east. We stayed the night in Bakersfield, CA and plan to get up early and continue to head east.

Day 15 A.M.

It is currently 53 degrees here in San Francisco, with a expected high of 62. We slept in this morning. I thought Montana would be cold and Washington and Oregon would been wet......boy was I wrong. It was warmer in Montana than it is here and we didn't encounter any rain in Washington or Oregon, just fog.

Still having trouble posting pics, but I did get some loaded from Saturday......will try again tonight.

Day 14

Two weeks down, one to go. We are currently in San Francisco. Today we rode more twisty on the US1. Around lunchtime I convinced Mark to ride out to Point Reyes, which is a National Seashore. Every other National Seashore we have visited in the past took us right out to the shore, but not this one. We rode for 21 miles through twisting, turning, busted up pavement and through cow pastures only to end up at the top of a mountain where the temperature was about 30 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy. We took a quick peek and jumped back on the bike to return to civilization. We intended to end the day early and catch up on our rest, but we drove and drove till we almost ran out of gas before finding a gas station. We pumped 4.8 gallons and the tank only holds 5 gallons, so we were riding on a wing and a prayer. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and got us a room and some grub and we will continue south tomorrow to catch Monterey Bay and Big Sur, unless we get sidetracked. No luck uploading pics, so I'll try tomorrow night to post some. Guess we will start to head back east either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Big Hugs from the Big City!!

Day 13

Didn't have internet access Saturday night, so I'm trying to catch up. Saturday we dropped into California and rode through the Redwood Forest. The size of the trees are amazing. Mark and the motorcycle look like toys compared to the trees. We then rode to Leggett, CA where you can actually drive through a redwood tree. I jumped off and took pics of Mark in the tree and then he circled back around, put the kickstand down, I jumped in the drivers seat and he took pics of me. LOL!!!! Mark had talked to a couple from Canada when we were in Washington that told us about a confused whale that was swimming under a bridge along US1, but couldn't remember the town, but told us to look for a bridge that had cars parked all around it and people on the bridge. We found it in Klamath and stopped to snap some pics from the bridge. This was the closest we have been to one. Having trouble uploading pics tonight so I'll try again on Monday.

Update - finally got a few pics uploaded, but it has been slow going.

Day 12

Started off this morning in a hunt for seals and whales, we found the seals pretty easily at Cobble Beach, the whales proved to be more elusive. After several stops along the way, we finally gave up and moved on down US101. We stopped for a snack of fresh crab and smoked salmon. YUM!! We visited the "Devils Punchbowl", which is a hollow rock formation shaped like a punch bowl that gets filled by the ocean at high tide. Since we caught it early we were able to walk into it. Later in the afternoon we came upon the Oregon Dunes where there was a Off Highway Vehicle (known as 4-wheelers in NC) recreation area . We really wanted to participate, we had helmets, but no 4-wheelers, so we snapped some pics and continued on. The dunes were as high as 100 feet in some places and went on for miles and miles. Later we stopped in Port Orford for a cold beer and iced tea at Pitch's Tavern. After a short break we saw a sign for the city port and came upon a crab shack and had a sampling of local shellfish and fish. While we were there, chatting with some locals, they pointed out some whales in the harbor. We sat for a while watching in awe. You'll have to look closely at the pics to see the whales blowing and rolling in the harbor. The wind was blowing at least 30 mph so we put on everything we had and continued on. Mark made fun of me packing winter gear when it was 100 degrees, but we have used it all!! We are currently in Gold Beach, about 30 miles north on the California line. Tomorrow we continue south to the Redwoods and whatever else we happen to stumble upon.

Hope everyone is enjoying tagging along.

Don't forget that you can click on the pictures to enlarge!

Day 11

We didn't make it very far today, only about 120 miles, but US 101 is slow going. We stopped along the coast to visit a tide pool, that had lots of star fish clinging to the rocks. We took the " scenic loop route" to see three lighthouses, only to find out that the loop was closed and had to backtrack. We ended up in Lincoln City, Oregon to stay the night and we are off tomorrow to continue down US 101 toward California.

We met a crazy homeless dude that was hauling his dog on a wagon, he didn't beg for money and allowed us to take pictures as long as we didn't use the flash.....cos Buz (the dog) didn't like flashes because he "was buzzed up on canned chicken and Burger King soda". He also receives signals from alien satellites.....go figure.... it's a wonderful, strange world out there....told him to have a "great day" and he said " no, he's not a great dane, he's a Labrador".

We're having a blast. 11 days down, 10 to go!!

Dipped my toes in the Pacific, and it was COLD!!

The dude up top must have been fulfilling his "bucket list"

Check out the post below from Day 10........we didn't have internet access yesterday, so I have posted two days worth of pics and updates.

Until tomorrow..........................

Day 10

Mount St. Helen was awesome. A contrast between total devastation and new life. A bit uncomfortable because she was still smokin'. It was a mere 117 miles between Mount St.Helena and the coast. We drove straight to the Pacific and at first glance, Mark thought it looked like our beach, until we saw horseback riders to the north and mountains meeting the coast to the south. Stopped in Long Beach, Washington for a cold beer and iced tea and my beer cap had a puzzle on it, "can you top this". We'll see.........

We stayed the night in Seaside, Oregon and had some awesome sushi and the room had a fireplace, no we didn't need it, but yes we used anyway. US 101 here we come!!