JeremyJ

Sunday and we, now four, wanted to get an early start across the flat lands of Kansas. My bike, Big Red, that had been running so well failed to proceed!! Despite numerous efforts it appeared that there just wasn't enough battery power to fire her up. So GB borrowed some jumper leads from the servo and she started if a bit reluctantly. Wouldn't idle but that;s OK as we wouldn't be doing much idling!!. Decided to get going and if we needed a battery we would get one in Denver. We rode state route 18 to avoid the interstate. A great bit of road. We stopped at Lincoln for breakfast and a refuel. A small country town with character. It seems there is quite a bit of oil under the ground in these parts as you ... read more

Saturday was the day GB & I head off west. It had rained over night and was still cloudy and cool. So we donned our wet weather trousers, farewelled our great hosts, Charlie and Vicky and headed out of Decatur and on through Springfield on Route 36. We refueled and had breaky at Hanibal and as we progressed west the clouds dissipated and the day warmed up. At Cameron we took a left turn onto Interstate 35 which took us into Kansas City. We had hoped to arrive around 2.00pm to meet Andy who was to join the journey west. However, we hit a major traffic jam going over the mighty Missouri River. They are building another bridge and traffic was down to one lane from three!!Took 30 mins to travel a couple of miles. We ... read more

Up early for a quick breaky and hit the road north on Interstate 65 to Indianapolis. We decided to get off the Interstate at Indianapolis and took state route 36. Whilst this was a bit slower, 70mph instead of 80+ on the Interstates we passed thru some great countryside and many interesting towns like Rockville, Montezuma and Tuscola. It wasn't long before we were back in Decatur and heading for McGorry's Golf & Grill. Just in time for a quick refreshing beer before heading for Charlie's to get ready for dinner. The Smoky Mountain trip had been well worthwhile and a great experience. We had covered some 1300 miles (2092kms) in the five days. The next day was an opportunity for some R&R before the next big stage of our journey - The Ride to the ... read more

Woke up to a cloudy and overcast day. We all had a great breakfast in the dinning hall of the resort before saying farewell to Pete and we headed off to the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the way to the Blue Ridge we passed through Cherokee. On a whim we saw the Cherokee Indian Museum and headed in to check it out. This was a real eye opener on the history of these American Indians and the horror of forced migration from their traditional lands in mid winter, by the ruling Europeans in the early 1800's. Thousands died on this trek of a proud nation. After leaving Cherokee we entered the Blue Ridge and it soon started to rain. We donned our wet weather gear and headed off. Not only was it raining but we were ... read more

Before going to bed we had decided that Dave would guide us on a short early morning ride along the Ohio River to Richmond the birth place of Ulysses Grant. It was perfect morning for the ride through leafy rolling countryside beside the Ohio. What a mighty river it is and remains a busy transport route. We saw a number of huge tugs pushing large barges, up to 15, full of coal. The coal is used to power the power stations that are on the banks of the river. Whilst riding along I saw a squirrel on side of the road The first since leaving England 40+ years ago!! After returning back to Dave's place we said our farewells and headed south out of Ohio and into Kentucky on Interstate 75. As we headed south we ... read more

Saturday. The night before Charlie had mentioned that he had arranged something special regarding an opportunity to do some shooting on a property out of town. What an understatement!! More a bit later. We gathered at Macca's for a quick breakfast. Now that was a mistake!! After 10 minutes of waiting after giving our orders at the drive through Charlie went into the restaurant to give them a piece of his mind!! He was quickly served and we were on our way. We traveled about 30 miles out of town to this innocuous looking property amongst the corn fields. We were greeted by mine host, Kurt, and invited into his cellar to see his strong room. AND I MEAN STRONG ROOM!! The door is a 7inch steel door and in side is the most amazing collection ... read more

We were up early and over to the HD Museum Cafe for breakfast. We were their first customers for the morning and treated us to the best breaky. Then it was back into the Museum to finish off what we had missed yesterday. We also went into see the Evil Knievel exhibition. This was well worth the visit. Lots of stuff I did not know about his up bringing, lack of business acumen but more importantly his total dedication to doing the impossible. After a compulsory visit to the Museum shop for appropriate souvenirs we headed south in the trusty Hyundai for Decatur. This time the GPS behaved herself most of the time. She did try a couple of times to misdirect us but we just shouted back at her and she seemed to get the ... read more

We drove straight to the Best Western In Town Hotel and found that we have arrived in the middle of the Milwaukee 2010 HOG Rally. Glad we booked before leaving Aus!! Got chatting to a few guests on what's on and where!! Dropped off our bags and headed straight to the Harley Museum. Got there about 2.30pm. Wow, so much going on including HD Factory demo rides of the 2011 models. There must have been 40+ bikes available. Well we couldn't miss out on that. We both took two different bikes. Road Kings to start and then I took a trike and GB an Electra Glide. It was great fun as it was a marked route of about 8 - 10 miles and unaccompanied. That is they gave you the route and off you went. Included ... read more