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Published: August 23rd 2009
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After tagging our fourth U.S. corner at Lubec, Maine, we spent a night in Bangor and then headed west on US 2 to begin the long westward trek back to Seattle. We rode Maine’s small towns and villages into upper Vermont and New Hampshire. Although we’ll only be on it for a few hundred miles, scenic US 2 actually runs the width of the country, terminating in Everett, Washington. Our longest mileage day so far (340) found us in beautiful Rutland, Vermont where we checked out the Vermont countryside with its covered bridges, most built over 150 years ago. The homes that are 100 years old here are not unusual at all in these neighborhoods.
Onward through New Hampshire and Upstate New York to amazing Niagara Falls. We left our gear at our Buffalo motel room, rode the twenty or so miles to the falls and spent the morning walking all around and in the American side of the falls. There are many ways to look at the falls including the “Maid of the Mist” boat tours that motor you right up to the base of the Canadian falls. We opted to take the “Cave of the Winds” tour which
took us down 13 stories on an elevator to a catwalk where we could literally touch the water and walk under it as it cascaded down the American side. The awesome power of all the falling water is impossible to describe.
We spent one night in Cleveland, Ohio which had a quite nice river front scene. We dawdled at an outside riverside restaurant chatting with other bikers and watching the pleasure boats cruise the Cuyahoga River. Then it was onward to Chicago with a couple stops along the very long Lake Michigan shoreline. Chicago was in the midst of an air and water show so we entered the city with FA-18s and aerobatic bi-planes zooming overhead. We had to try Chicago style pizza - all we can say is, GUTBUSTER! Too much for us!
After Chicago we put the pedal to the metal and tagged Indiana and moved on to Wisconsin. Rebecca always thought that the Amish stuff would be so cute, so charming UNTIL she saw an Amish fella in his black buggy beating his horse half to death to make it run like mad uphill. Rebecca was not pleased!
Leaving Illinois meant our escape from
the toll road system that dominates the entire Northeast U.S. I’m not sure where all the money goes because some of the roads, particularly in New York had potholes big enough to swallow our motorcycle. It get’s kinda pricey cruising these roads and none of the states give motorcycles a price break.
With no particular draw to the Midwest states we zoomed though Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa into South Dakota where we spent the night in Sioux Falls, just missing a substantial T-storm. We ate a rare meal at a chain restaurant… Chili’s (it was close to our motel). The food was great but our wacktress seemed to be under the excitable influence of methamphetamine. She provided wonderful entertainment as we listened to her hyped up greetings, order taking and constant and noisy checking on us to make sure we were madly in love with our meal.
As we passed Mitchell, SD we just had to check out the Corn Palace. They had spent so much on highway billboards advertising this palace made of corn we felt obligated. We did the drive by and snapped a few photos. A palace made of corn. Fit for a corn king.
Ain’t the Midwest grand?
Next up was the South Dakota badlands which could not have been named more appropriately (see photos) and of course we couldn’t pass through South Dakota without looking at the amazing work of visionary sculptor Gutzon Borglum who carved four president’s faces into a mountainside at Mt. Rushmore. This monument is right in the Black Hills of SD and is a very popular cruise for bikers. As we rode the Black Hills through Keystone and Deadwood we met bikers from all over the U.S. and Canada. We exited the Black Hills and had lunch in an almost deserted Sturgis which was still cleaning up from their 2009 motorcycle rally. Difficult to believe that this little town hosts a half million bikers for this huge rally in early August.
We made a quick ride to Sheridan, Wyoming where we spent the night and then rode west on Hwy 14 across the mountains and into Yellowstone National Park. Had a close call with a couple deer running across the road just seconds ahead of us.
Yellowstone was interesting - largely, but we can’t say awesome or fascinating because of the forest fires from a few years
ago. Old faithful - what can I say, we timed it absolutely perfectly. It was amazing, as were all the other geysers we saw. We also saw tons of wildlife, and in the space of five minutes as we left the park, we were lucky enough to happen to pull over for a butt-break and see a moose, ambling across a river, and then a bald eagle swooping down and splashing in the river, chasing fish! This was our longest ride day so far with 391 miles under our butts. We exited Yellowstone on the west side, tagged a small piece of Montana and then totally road weary, we checked into a really excellent room in Idaho Falls, ID (thanks again Priceline) and hit the hay early.
Craters of the Moon National Monument lies between Idaho Falls and Boise on a mostly desolate US 20. This place has an absolutely surreal landscape caused by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. It is all cooled lava which is black and formed into the most unusual cinders. Well worth the $4.00 that the U.S. Park Department charges for a drive through the park loop road.
In Emmet (just north of
Boise) we spent a night with Rebecca’s brother David and his family who treated us to a fantastic BBQ where we caught up sharing photos and stories. We camped in David and Missy’s yard and then set out for Washington State after a nice breakfast of French toast. Turns out Dan had left his wallet in David and Missy’s sofa so we turned around after 20 miles and had another great visit while we retrieved Dan’s wallet.
Back onto I-84 we cut across the NE corner of Oregon and entered Washington State on a very, very hot (105F) afternoon. A swimming pool was in order so we checked into the Red Lion in Pasco and Dan was in the water cooling off in record time. We ate tacos and burritos purchased from a rolling Mexican restaurant and chilled in our room watching TV into the night to prepare for our final day on the road.
Our last day on the road was spent westbound on US 12 connecting to Hwy 410 from Yakima, Washington. This beautiful road took us along a river and over two mountain passes and through Mount Rainier National Park and then through Enumclaw, Washington.
Back on very familiar territory and a very fitting last leg of our journey.
We could write volumes. Our blogs and photos tell just a little part of our road trip stories. That’s OK because we didn’t take this trip to blog about it. We took it to see the U.S. And see the U.S. we did. The United States is big. Really, really big. Our eighty-two day trip cut just a narrow swath through 42 of the 48 “lower” states and we saw just a tiny fraction of this sprawling, magnificent country. We met so many interesting people on this ride. So many kind, helpful and friendly folk. It’s comforting-and humbling to know that common courtesy, decency and kindness are all still alive and well. We learned that people and places all over our country have much more in common than not.
After almost three months sitting atop the same machine, sleeping in the same tent, eating at the same table, sharing the same room and enjoying the same people and sights we learned more than U.S. geography. We also learned a lot about one another. We wouldn’t change a thing. Thanks for letting us share with
you.
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john the neighbour
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How lovely, a wonderful trip...................and especially relieved about the best bit of all............the last paragraph!