I went to Garnett, KS on Thursday for the opening ceremonies for the traveling Vietnam War Memorial Wall. The wall was set up in front of the American Legion/VFW building at the south lake. The area is also known a Veterans Park. The ceremony started at 6pm I was there a few minutes for that. Garnett was very pleased that they could afford to have the wall stop there and they have made it a big affair. They are having a variety of programs until the wall is taken down on Tuesday. Friday was to be school day. Garnett is the county seat and many students from all over the county go to school at Garnett. Friday was wet and humid all day. Sprinkling most of the day. I later learned that over 1000 student came ... read more

23 AUG 09 Sunday 6:31 A.M., oh, shit the alarm didn’t go off. I had set it but not turned it on. I use my phone as an alarm clock, I got in the habit of using it when I was traveling so much. Think about it, you would rarely forget to pack it, it keeps correct time for the area you are in and is unaffected by any power outages that happen. It usually works really well, except when operator error is involved. I now have a half hour to meet up with Marcia at the Mickey Ds about 2 miles from my house. I had set the alarm for 5AM, so I would have time finish packing, to change my air filter, gas up and get a sausage biscuit before I met her. Now ... read more

I had the pleasure of participating in the 2009 Not Superman Rally. Its a 54 hour endurance rally for motorcyclist. It was made of two 27 hour legs, each with a mandatory 3 hour rest break. The purpose of the rally is to collect as many points as you can during each one of the legs. Points are collected by taking pictures of the bonus locations with your rally flag also showing in the picture. Some bonuses are different but for the most part that is what is required. Usually the farther the location from the starting point the higher point level it is worth. The bonus listing, a list of all the available bonuses, was emailed to us on the 2nd of July this gave the riders over a week to come up with a ... read more

27 JUNE 2009 Saturday Left this morning about 10:30am pulled into a motel at 12:30am. The goal for the day was to get a picture by a Ziebach County sign for the ABCs of Touring. This lead me on the best ride of the trip. The second goal was to get a picture of the MN state line sign. I love little towns and this route through SD was full of them. Starting the day in SW North Dakota I am heading for the Blue Bunny factory in LeMars IA it has an ice cream shop that is open until 10:30PM. Again most of the day was great riding weather. More tag with rain and wind. Best gas mileage today for the trip. Over 53 MPG. Had a strong wind at my back most of the ... read more

25 JUNE 2009 Thursday Gone from the hotel by 7am. The weather was great. I’m convinced it is actually cooler wearing my armored jacket than it is just a t-shirt. The only time I was uncomfortable was when I stopped to take pictures or get gas. Again the weather is great for riding. The scenery is just beautiful here. First stop was Wounded Knee, SD. It was not what I was expecting. I had read again some accounts of the massacre on the internet the night before. The mass grave is atop a big hill. The only road I saw at the time was in really bad shape and was extremely rutty. I sat at the bottom of the hill and picked my route up the hill. Putting her in first I proceeded up the hill. ... read more