Montana to HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this is the day, should be home by 12. the day started out raining but stopped before I got going but the wind decided it was going to give me a hard time for awhile at least trying to rip me from the bike, quite similar to many other times on this trip. But as good fortune has followed me it decided to stop and made the ride to the border much more enjoyable. Felt pretty emotional as I got close to the border, boy did it feel good to be back in Canada, what a great country we have! Another 45 min. to home and it was awful hard not to speed, as it was quite often but much more so now. For the first time in almost 4 years it felt good to be home. In the past it seems I was always ready to keep traveling so I guess this trip has been good for me. I have gained more confidence, have seen some wonderful sights, some I hope to see again, a lot they can keep. I certainly don't care for the places with high humidity, I think the only way I could cope with that is with air conditioning, mostly so I could sleep without having all my bedding be soggy and sticky. One place that was not too humid when I was there but I think usually is is the beaches on the Florida panhandle. This is one place that I would really like to visit again ( with my wife next time). Other highlights would be, Carlsbad Caves, Nauvoo, Carthage Jail, Deal Gap and Tail of the Dragon ( all one road actually) a road with over 300 corners in 11 miles. ( I will have pictures to follow after I purchase them). On the day I went through, 3 professional photographers where there, this is how they make there full time living, taking pictures of the people going down this road and then selling them. Expensive but well worth it to most people. I want to thank all the people that have given there support and prayers while I was away on this trip. It was a memorable experience, well worth the aches and pains. Now to get the garden planted and get ready for my son coming home from his Mission in Chile, then I can plan the rest of the trips over the summer. These ones will be much shorter and not alone.

Wyoming to Montana

I got up early and managed to make it to Cody Wyoming for Church at 11. Also found a library and wrote my weekly letter to Steven as well as catching  up on other emails. I left Cody at about 2 and the weather had improved drastically, nice warm weather and nice scenery as I travel beside the rocky mountain heading to Montana.

I 

 
As I traveled through Montana the landscape got progressively flatter and the wind got progressively stronger, which made traveling quite a bit more difficult but I was definitely used to it as this trip has had lots of crazy wind for sure, along with the tornadoes, fires and floods that I seemed to have been able to miss. I rode as far as great falls Montana riding for quite some time into the setting sun which always makes it a challenge to actually see what's in front of me. As it was late and the local campsite was $37 I ended up getting a motel, of course if the campsite was expensive you can be sure the motel was also, after a bit of whining I managed to get it reduced a bit but it still ended up costing more than any other motel on the whole trip.

Colorado to Wyoming

I had some nice roads and scenery this day in Colorado and the crossed in to Wyoming at some point but there was no sign or much of any signs.

I was at a pretty high elevation as after I came down hill for quite some time I passed through a town that was over 7000 ft. While in Wyoming I traveled on some very isolated roads and through some pretty desolate looking country. I had snow at times and because of all the black clouds was worried that there may be lightning which it's a real good thing when traveling on a motorcycle int he middle of now where with no cover of any kind in sight.

As I progressed through Wyoming the scenery and the weather did improve. I ended up camping just outside of a town called Thermopolis a place know for it's hot spring. One of the few nights I had to set up in the dark and my head lamp flashlight that Steven bought me was dead, I guess something had been pushing on the button and drained the battery.

Carthage Jail to Nebraska, Kansas and onto Colorado.

Well at this point I was in heading home mode so it went pretty fast. All these 3 states were mainly mainly flat boring prairie which didn't surprise me too much until I got to Colorado, then I was amazed at how much prairie there was in that State, and even Denver although it was around 5000 ft. it still isn't actually in the mountains. It's not until just outside of Denver that you actually get into mountains, but then it happens very quickly.

I stopped just outside Denver in a motel for the night and then the next morning I decided my rear tire was too worn to make it home so manage to find a BMW shop close by and had a new tire installed. Really good prices, as good as online and they installed it right away when I showed up, I guess they get a lot of people traveling through the area so that's where a lot of there business is focused so they make sure they keep a good name for themselves. I did take pictures of this area as I went into Rocky mountain national park but the problem is even thought the camera appears to be working it just doesn't record much when there is no card in the camera. :o( Oh well I plan to go back to Colorado again one day as it's not too far away. I had big plans of going right through the park on the way home but the road wasn't open for another month yet and I didn't really miss much in the way of pictures because the clouds where very low and covering most everything.

Fom Nauvoo to Carthage Jail and visitors center to Big lake park in Missouri.

I could have stayed longer in Nauvoo I guess but getting tired from lack of sleep in these humid conditions. Just can't seem to get comfortable in a sticky soggy sleeping bag. On to Carthage Jail where Joseph  and Hyrum Smith was murdered by a mob while being held in the jail. Several families have lived in the jail but it has been kept quite original. The blood stained boards in the room where they were shot were replace with new ones.The original door is still there with bullet holes in it.

After leaving here I went through Iowa for a short time and then on to Missouri. Missouri was a little less flat so the the roads has some curves and dips in them which made them a little less boring and also the landscape was a little nicer.

Now where was I........Oh ya Kentucky to Indiana and on to Nauvoo Illinois

Indiana was similar to Kentucky until west of Indianapolis, then it started get flat and then in Illinois it is just like Alberta other than there are more trees. Apparently all this area has been cold and wet until the last 2 days now were having heat as if it was July, about 33 and Very Humid. Now in Nauvoo and there is a little more contour to the land. I am camping in a State park which is right in Nauvoo, \it's a decent park, nice and clean and only $10, and I'm the only tent here.

It's great to be here. After reading work and the glory as a family Nauvoo holds a special place in my heart. Went to the Visitors center today and then a play tonight ( ya crazy aye, me going to a play) well it's a trip of doing many things out of my comfort zone.

Finally got a haircut today and will be going to the Temple tomorrow.

Later I'll go on a horse drawn wagon that gives a narrative tour of the town.

Just for those that don't know, the city of Nauvoo was the second largest city in Illinois in it prime, and was manly LDS and built by LDS members. Sorry forgot the years. Now it is just a tiny little town.

Well I'm glad I came here, it is a special place for sure. To think all these people had to leave everything they had worked so hard for.

Rally Finished, heading north west.

Well the rally was interesting, but quite a different group of people. Not all but most were there to get drunk and party. A very large percentage of people in this area smoke as well, seems quite a bit more backwards in Carolina and Virgina from what I have seen, and some very depressed areas I come across as I get semi lost on tiny back roads in the middle of no where. This riding alone in a strange country on such isolated roads is not a good idea in my opinion, so I will try to stay a little closer to civilization from now on. They had motorcycle riding games at the rally that were a lot of fun and I managed to do quite good at them. I don't know how but I managed to get quite a good sleep the first night, even with the chaos, such as people blowing up things and blowing air horns at 1:30 in the morning. The roads and the scenery continue to be nice but it's hard to find anywhere to pull over for a rest or to take pictures. I can only imagine how nice it must look in the fall when the leaves are changing color as about 99% of the tress are deciduous. So I pulled over in a not so good area to try get some pictures and a bite to eat and my bike was barely upright so it was either when I opened the trailer or when a car went by my bike fell over down hill and my helmet went flying into the grass, luckily preventing it from getting damaged. As for the bike can't say the same, there it was looking somewhat like a turtle that had been turned on it's back, not a pretty sight. Saddle bag badly scratch and the mirror flew into the grass with my my helmet but got marked up a bit from hitting the pavement. So I guess I will have to get them painted one of these days. Well it's late and I'm hungry and nobody on here is answering me so I may as well go eat and crawl into bed. I might get around to putting up a few pictures tomorrow..Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful Mothers out there!

Cold and foggy here this morning and everything is soaking wet, hopefully turning sunny later. Well off I go, aiming for for home but that will take at least a week I am sure unless some miracle happens and I get some much needed energy and reduced pain.

St. George State park in Florida to Columbia S. Carolina.

Well it was hard to leave the white sand and warm water of the Gulf of Mexico but time to move on to another rally. I will return one day but not by myself. To me it is a romantic place, maybe just cause I like warm beaches and water so much. I guess I have some good memories of times I've spent at beaches. A place to relax, to play and it's always so nice to listen to the waves crashing on the shore. It's 3000 miles away but nice to know there is something like that without going to Mexico. Long ride today and another 200 miles tomorrow, goodnight.

From the Atlantic side of Florida to the Gulf of Mexico side, Below Alabama.

Okay I love it here Eh. The water's a little ruff here today, in fact I noticed after I went swimming, the big red danger flag in regards to swimming. Oh well I didn't go out over my head any ways. Well except when the waves were crashing over my head and knocking me down. So the water was beautiful and warm, apparently 78Ff and the gorgeous fine white sand, I love walking. barefoot in the sand. So I have decided to stay here at least one more day to just lay around on the beach and relax. We could have so much fun if there was someone here to share it with. This area is certainly worth coming to.

Oh ya forgot to say, the humidity on the Atlantic side of Florida was actually not bad at all, it is a little more humid here so we will see how it goes.So now I guess you want pictures?  Well maybe tomorrow, it's getting late here, time for a shower and a sleep.

It got windy and cold last night but should be good by this afternoon, hmm, how long to stay?

Georgia to Florida

Left Georgia this morning and made it to Florida.

So here I am by the beach as that's where the WiFi is, catching up on my Blog.  I met a couple of guys from the rally at arest stop and one of them offered to show me around and also to stay at his place if I'm still around on the weekend, I guess he is probably working and I'm sure I won't be here that long but it was nice of him. I guess most people from the rally now recognize me since I received the long distance award. The beach is nice with very light colored and very fine sand, and the bush around the campsite is quite thick. There's a few palm trees around but not many. I have been trying to add pictures but it seems to be having a problem so I will try again another time. It's been another long day and I need to go have a shower and go to be.