I’m home! 

Thanks for being with me on this journey.   Now I have to start thinking about next year….

Here’s a “deleted scene” video of my second night on the trip – over two months ago…. When things were still uncertain as to how long I would be able to hold out on the road.  I thought you would enjoy it.

I had a good ride today as I continued my northbound approach back to New Hampshire.  The ride was a bit out of control as I vacillated between choosing a scenic route or a speed run.  After changing my mind and switching routes about 4 times, the speed run won out.  I blamed the fog and haze for detroying my scenic ride (you really couldn’t see anything up in the mountains) - but truth is, I’m getting more anxious to shorten the distance between me and home.

The highlite of the day – and one for the trip as well – was meeting up with Jennings (AKA: mdnefan).  I’ve been working with Jennings on Moto-Maps booklets for…what? two years now – but have never met.  He’s a great guy (and I’m not just saying that because he bought me lunch…. well… maybe a little).  We had a really nice visit and after declining his generous offer to spend the night in his guest wing, he pointed me on my way down the highway…

Jennings with his brothers – Jennings is the good looking one on the left.

I spent the last 2 days trying to burn some miles on my way north.  I was looking for a nice day – where, believe it or not – I could just cruise the interstate.  Yesterday was suppose to be that day – heading from Tupelo, MS to Knoxville, TN.  However, it was so damn hot down here that I fell a few miles short and ended the day in Athens.  The heat totally wipes me out…I’m getting a windshield for my next trip.  Today was much nicer as I headed out of the heat of Tennessee to the relative cool-ness of Virginia.  Next to teleportation, this was the easiest 360 miles I ever had.  A great day touring the scenic highways of the southeast.

Here are some pics and vids:

Nope… not death valley – or the deserts of arizona… would you believe… Chatanooga, TN

My plans for Thursday, August 23rd:

I met these guys at a rest area somewhere in Virginia.  A true “Finding America” kind of moment.  These guys are the “Late Night Players” (www.latenightplayers.com)  –  a traveling comedy act.  They travel the states doing local gigs at universities and nightclubs.  They’re a Boston-based group and their MAss license plate is what originally caught my attention.

I ended the day in Lexington, VA – home of Thomas ”Stonewall” Jackson and the Viginia Military Institute (where, by the way, Jackson taught military tactics…fyi).  The town was established in 1778 and was named after the Revolutionary War battle that took place in Lexington, MA (small world, aint it).  The town had a fantastic historic downtown district.

I left southwestern Louisiana on a northern path up towards New Hampshire (eventually).  I was pretty disappointed with the roads in Louisiana.  Granted, all the interesting stuff seems to be around the Baton Rouge/ New Orleans area, but usually when I program my GPS to get me from A to B without highways, I find some interesting roads.  Not this time.  Over 200 miles of junky roads and very uninteresting scenery.  Louisiana seems to have been hit hard by the corporate mega-stores – there didn’t appear to be any originality remaining.  Crossing over the Mississippi River  into Natchez, MS showed some immediate improvements. 

Today’s ride was a stark contrast to yesterday’s.  I followed the Natchez Trace Parkway which is a 444 mile ancient (as in thousands of years old – “The” Road) road that goes from the Mississippi River in Natchez, MS all the way up to Nashville, TN.  It’s a great cruising road – curvy, but not twisty, with very little traffic (at least on this Tuesday afternoon) and a decent speed limit set at 50 (ish) mph.  Today was a 265 mile ride in the park.

Here are some pictures and videos:

Along the Mississippi (on the MS side – I said TN side…but I was a little frazzled)

I decided to camp last night…take a break from all the cheap motels that I have been staying.  Not the best decision… as you can see from the “Blair Witch” moment.  The place was truely creepy ) at least in the dark.

 Here are a couple of shot I took of the bike by and old barn on my way out of the campground this morning

A 265 mile ride in the park — almost every mile like this… just cruising

I ended the day in Tupelo, MS…. Birthplace of the King

The outside of his house…

Inside the two room house

I had a couple good days of riding – leaving Texas and entering southwest Louisiana.  Once outside San Antonio, I got off the highway and did a good job navigating around the storm fronts.  As typical in the south during the summer, a lot of isolated thunder storms pop up – but I was able to stay dry.  The terrain heading east increasing improved and became more and more “normal”…. you know, trees with leaves and green grass and stuff.  At first it starts with only a smattering (nice word) of trees and green grass (looks like a giant golf course) and then it starts to look a lot like back home – only pulled tight so that it’s flat and the roads are straight.  It’s fast travelling because the speed limit on the secondary roads is 70 miles per hour.

Here are some photos:

Lockhart, Texas couthouse and town offices

nothing special about this picture – i just liked the way the bike looked against the grey wall

Crossing Lake Livingston… still in Texas

I headed south from Livinston and headed towards Beaumont and Port Authur.  I entered into Louisiana on its southwest gulf coast.  A lot of oil refineries – you can also see dozens of drilling platforms off the coast as you follow the coastline.

As you follow the coastline you can still find large objects (refigerators and other “machinery” type items) that must have been blown in during some of the previous big storms.  Maybe that’s how this truck found its fate…

Today marked two full months on the road.  As I hit the two-month mark, I now enter the begining of the end of my trip.  My plans are to be home before the kids start school on August 29th.  I still have a few miles to go…so I better get riding..

It was a great day today – the storm has passed and things started to dry out.  While my bike was in for service I decided to walk around the downtown area and see some of the sights.  The Alamo (of course) and then the Riverwalk (the riverwalk is this beautiful area - series of canals off the San Antonio river – with shops, restaurants and cafes.  lots of beautiful arched bridges and winding sidewalks.  Very reminiscent of Europe with a Mexican flair).  I really enjoyed San Antonio.

Here are some short videos and some pictures — no explainations required on these

Mother Nature is out to get me…

It’s my fault really.  I got so use to the So. Cal. climate that I haven’t even been checking the weather anymore.  I would get up, get dressed and go riding…. no bad days in southern California.  However, I’m a long way from San Diego now. 

Today I was finishing up my trip east to San Antonio, TX (to get service on my bike tomorrow).  Ironically, I was thinking how neat it was that I haven’t worn my raingear in a month.   I was also just getting out of the desert (after about 1000 miles) – things were good.  Then it happened… at first a few drops of rain on my face – this will blow over…  A few more drops… a little closer together this time - I guess I better get on my gear… Then the storm came in hard. 

As it turned out, I was entering the forward edge of tropical storm Erin and I still had 120 miles to go.  The storm was tracking a northwest course as I was following the same line heading southeast.  The last 30 miles were terrible and navigating into downtown San Antonio (to my reserved hotel) was absolutely terrifying.  The traffic was crazy – only a few feet of visibility - cars off the road or just stalled out in travel lanes and puddles up to my cylinder heads and a true fear of being blown off my bike.  San Antonio’s not a small town.  There were flashing signs: “water in road….” — what the hell am I suppose to do with THAT information.

I said a word of thanks when I finally made it to my motel.

Here are a couple pictures before the rain came

Keep your dogs on a leash… and… oh yeah, BEWARE OF SNAKES!

I thought this was a neat image – I liked the graffiti

I must have been on the road too long… I’m starting to see images in the landscape

(okay – i kinda cheated.  there was only one mountain – i “implanted” the second)

It was a much better ride today.  I planned better and I respected how harsh Mother Nature can be.

It rained like crazy last night – wind and lightning, but no thunder.  At around 7am the rain stopped and I was on my way.  At 80 degrees, the desert is truely a beautiful place.  Peaceful.

The terrain became a little more lush (enough to support cactus) and the cascading boulder fields returned.  It’s still a very harsh environment – well over 500 miles and still going.  For us in New England, that’s the same as if Bar Harbor, ME to Buffalo, NY was a complete desert.  It’s hard to even imagine.

A nice way to start the day – double rainbows over Tacna, AZ

I wish I could have captured photos of the boulder fields coming from CA to AZ – they were enormous.  Here is just a kind of “sample” of what they looked like.

Some cactus for Jen

I ended the day in Deming, NM. – Found a nice motel room….there were some holes in the panelling, but you can’t even notice because the repair job was done “spot-on”.  See if you can spot where the work was done…

After a great start to the day I had to begin my journey east.  I knew I would have to cross the desert AGAIN – making this the third and last time.  I never imagined that this country had so much “waste land” — hundreds of miles of open…nothing-ness.  This was the worst – much worse than Death Valley…. It destroyed me.. chewed me up, spit me out – and left me on the side of the road to rot…

116 to 118 while riding – 120+ when standing still.  It’s not just unpleasant or uncomfortable – it Hurts!!  I had to wear my gloves because my grips and the wind coming across the tops of my hand were too hot to tolerate.

This isn’t the beach… miles and miles of sand dunes and sand storms… They have signs posted “Warning: Possible ZERO Visibility” “Use Extreme Caution”

Border Patrols and Checkpoints were everywhere (I went through 2 checkpoints myself).  This was taken while I was still in CA.

I was literally suffering from heat exhaustion.  I knew that if I didn’t get somewhere to cool down my core temperature then I would be in serious trouble.  Fortunately for me, I found this motel in Tacna, AZ.  Its no MGM Grand, but it was a paradise to me.  I check in (almost passing out) made it to the room and forced myself to take a cold shower.  Afterwards, I dropped on the bed and don’t remember falling asleep.  I was the only guest… it was a very desolate town. 

The homes:

My motel:

The roads: