Saturday, April 6, 2013

Finally off again!! 2013


We are now formally retired and enjoying it immensely.  We can go on a road trip when we want instead of only in the summer vacation period....ok, we are now off to tour down the US eastern seaboard down to the Florida Keys and back via New Orleans.  This was never possible in the summer due to the storms; we'll leave on Tuesday April 16th and should be back on May 13th. See you on the blog....

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Crossing Lake Michigan and Home




We took a high speed ferry The Lake Express across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee Wisconsin to Muskegan Michigan. No bike trip is complete without a ferry ride and this one was fast as well as being being relatively easy to get on and off. From Muskegan it was a day and a half of interstates and 400 series highways and we were home. The whole trip was 8,600 km or about 5,400 miles for you Americans.

Milwaukee







After touring the Harley museum we stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Milwaukee. The city has some very well maintained old buildings including the theatre and city hall. There are also nice walks built along the canal that runs through the city.

Monday, August 2, 2010

State Trooper VS Bev

Well, Bev was travelling along the Interstate minding her own business when she noticed a cop car travelling beside her at the same speed....hmmmm. Then she saw the flashing lights, whhaaattt??? but she was only 5 miles over the limit, she was flying a Canadian flag, what the HELL??? She cautiously removed her hand from the grip and pointed to herself...twice...but the state trooper did not budge. Geeeezzz, she had to pull over on the narrow side driving at an angle over the rumble strips at the side of the interstate (dangerous for bikes), all the while looking at Dave's bike disappearing over the horizon (Dave looks in his rearview mirror once every 5 miles!!).
Once stopped and off her bike, the Trooper says that her front light is out....she checks and sure enough her high beam is dead. She puts on the low beams and begins to panic...where is Dave? How will they reconnect? Even the Trooper begins to get upset, Bev is nearly in tears....thank god he didn't ask for her driver's licence (guess who has it...way up on the horizon). Dave had the licence to show along with our US National Park Passes. So, the Trooper followed Bev to the next highway turnoff, but no Dave was to be seen. At that point the Trooper abandoned Bev with a pat on her back, and she hit the Interstate alone worried that not only did they they not have bike-to-bike communication, and not only did Bev have no ID, she didn't even have a charge card!
As Bev drove along creating different horrific scenarios, she wondered; is Dave at the next exit? will I see him going to other way on the Interstate? How will I get home with no money? I have Dave's Insulin! What if he is not seen at the next exit because he is on the bridge making a Uturn and I miss him? etc etc etc. Good result, about 7 miles later he has pulled off to the side of the highway and we reconnect....guess what, we now know what we want from Santa = Bluetooth bike-to-bike communication.

Harley Museum











We travelled to Milwaukee and visited the Harley Museum. Bev's bike was born here in Milwaukee at the Harley factory in 2007. They have an amazing collecti0n of motorcycles including the first Harley ever built - serial #1 (CIRCA 1903), a WW2 army bike and a drag bike based on the Vrod, as well as the two bikes used in "Easy Rider". Not many women ride a 750lb Harley and so Bev was photograhed by some touriss.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Our Longest Biking Day




There is not a lot to see in South Dakota once you get past the Black Hills, the Badlands, and of course "Wall Drug". We saw all these attractions when we came through in 2008 so we just drove. In fact with stops every hour to eat or cool off (see picture of Bev applying air conditioning....she missed the wet Tshirt contest at Sturgis) we covered almost 600 km before stopping at the Earth Inn in western Minnesota. See Bev standing on a nicely mowed roof of this "underground" motel.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Sturgis Bike Rally






















Sturgis is enjoying its 70th bike rally this year and, as in 2008, we are visiting it one week before it really blasts open. You'll see us arriving, with the Sturgis name on the hiil; and, the bikes are parked in front of the tatoo joint....Dave and I got tatoos......nah, just kiddin'.....but we did have lunch in the infamous Knuckle Saloon and bought the requisite Tshirts. AND all sorts of bikes come to Sturgis, they expect about 350,000 this year and you can see that some have certainly seen better days!!