My Original On the Road Post - The Prequel Part 1

In 2009 I took a bike trip back East.  Although mom (Deb) wasn't actually sitting on the back in a frilly black leather bra for the trip, she was certainly going to be there in thought, with reminders, what to take, and what to wear, and ... well you get the idea.

For starters she had several suggestions on what and how to pack, but her greatest idea was to do a blog. Hence, "we" came up with 'On the Road w/ Mags' which I was to work on each evening at my destination. Well, the first day out was from Boise to Laramie, WY.  I stopped on the way into town for dinner and when I arrived at the motel it was looking like rain, so unpacked the bike, put the cover on, and then started repacking everything based on the day's ride and where weight distribution needed to be.  That finished, and having put just short of 700 miles under my belt I was ready for a hot shower and bed.  So nothing was written down. (I'd been told to take the old clunker Toshiba laptop, but it was too heavy and there wasn't enough room.)

For the next 29 days I stayed with either family or friends.  Guess what.  When you get there you don't say, "Hey, you got a table where I can sit down and write my thoughts and experiences from today?"  No, you get a cold beer or a glass of scotch and spend the night telling lies to each other, and getting numb.

By the time I returned home my Honey-Do list was so big I didn't have time to put the trip to paper.  But I began trying to make a few blogs each year.  Well, here we are five years down the road and it dawned on me I never did my trip.

It's kind of funny now.  My original idea was that riding solo each day for 12 hours or so I'd have all these great thoughts and meanderings go through my head and I'd record them in the evening.  Trying to recall those thoughts at the end of a month I realized most of them just meandered.  However, now even five years later, there are still some great memories of the trip, and I hope to take another one in the next year or two (against mom's wishes).  First I have to take her to Hawaii or to Jamaica, then I can hit the road again.  Oops, I'm taking too long.  Just since starting this blog she's now thrown in a trip to Wasilla to see our cousin.  Anyway, back to the trip blog.

Stayed with my cousin in Hershey, Nebraska for awhile.  Interesting little note.  His wife's father is into doing the cemeteries for memorial day, so we talked about that and genealogy.  Next day my cousin says he wants to show me something, so he, his wife and I get in the truck an off we go down the road towards town (it's about four miles into town).  Almost there he takes a right into this corn field that was recently planted but wasn't coming up yet.  We go out into the field about a half mile and he pulled up to this little obelisk right smack in the middle of the field. The farmer had planted right up to about three feet of the monument.  It was a gravesite for a Georgie B. Nowell born Apr 21, 1882 and died Jul 24 1890 on the Oregon Trail.  His folks had homesteaded there a few years and then moved on to California where his dad became the owner of a mine.  I took a couple of photos and established a memorial to him on Find-a-Grave, and have done searches on the family from time to time.
 In 2012 mom and I drove back to Wisconsin to see the folks and Deb's sister's family.  When we went through Wallace stopped and saw my other cousin.  Strawberry knew I'd taken the photo of the monument on the bike trip.  She pulled out the paper from Sunday, Jul 22nd and on the front page is a picture of Georgie's monument.  The local North Platte historian had written an article about it. It was like revisiting a relative.

On the way into Wisconsin to attend my inlaw's 50th Wedding Anniversary, stopped and saw an olde friend Dud in Missouri.  Then on to Cheese Country and an anniversary celebration for the folks.

Aunt Lucy was hoping for a ride on the Harley, but we thought a ride in a straight skirt would not be all that comfortable for her.  Plus the helmet would crush her hair-do.  What a willing sport she was though.

After the Anniversary party it was down to Orland Park, IL to my sister-in-law's home.  And of course we had to get the family together to go to Milwaukee to the Harley-Davidson Museum.  What a great day.  Since I was heading on from there, I road the bike up and the family took a van.

Turns out one of our family friend's son from Wisconsin was employed there and was working the day we visited.  Erin our daughter went to high school with him.  So she asked if he was around and he came down to the desk and picked us up for a personal tour of the facility.  Erin had also made arrangements for one of her best friends to drive to Milwaukee so they could meet while we were there.  All in all it was a great day.

On the Road when Winter is Ending

Kind of a funny thought really, since I try to ride year around, but when I no longer need long johns and a mask around the throat then I know Winter is in fact Ending and spring is just around the corner.  So up yesterday, jeans, shirt and vest, leather jacket, gloves and my HD pot helmet and was off to Birds of Prey.  Typical March morning with some good winds, but still entirely workable.

The benefit was at 1700 when I headed down to Costco to pickup Deb's contacts, the wind had died down and the temp was up to about 55F.  Debated tying the leather jacket to the bike, but didn't.  Got the contacts, headed home arriving just after 1800 with Matt coming over at 1815 so we could ride to an Idaho Gold Prospectors' Association (IGPA) Meeting down near the airport.  Temps were still around mid 50's and the wind had died down completely.

Turns out the incoming president of the IGPA was Matt's boss and had invited us as guests to come to a meeting. It lasted about an hour, they gave away a "ton of items" for gold prospecting and showed some nice nuggets and jewelry.  However, the thrust of the meeting was about the claim they have, maintaining it in a good shape, protecting the environment and planning ahead to ensure they also contribute to the community through things like a roadside cleanup this spring.

It was fun and reminded me of my first trip to the field after buying a metal/gold detector a few years back.  Gerry, our trainer told us the weekend would be spent concentrating on finding the smallest "nugget" possible -- a picker.  I think I must have taken first place as confirmed by the photo.  Yes, that was picked up on a sweep, and after much sifting, and gently blowing away dirt all that was left was the little bugger on the swirl of the finger print. The point -- if you can find those, anything bigger will seem like it's screaming at you.

So meeting over, we headed back home with a stop at the Black Bear Diner for a late dinner.  Matt and I had a great chat over dinner, separated a few blocks away as he headed West and I headed North for the house.  What a great night riding with two of my sons...