Journey to Paradise.

A sign posted at the first rest stop a came to in Florida.

I just assumed that there would be lots of beach campsites along the west side of Florida, apparently not. After a few campsites not being open or where they were supposed to be I found one just before dark at a State Park inland. It turned out good as I was camped right beside a couple and there two little girls who were visiting from Switzerland. I had a nice visit with them and even got fed breakfast. I love meeting people from other countries.

The park ranger at this site told me about a campsite on the beach, and it turns out the Switzerland couple had been there also. So off I go to find my Beach campsite.Well I finally found paradise.A little pricey but nice. Supposed to be #1 beach in America, ( I guess they mean in the U.S  )

It's still not all that hot, my bike says 25 but with the breeze still a little cool in the shade.The raccoons around here are brave, one just walked up to within a couple of inches of me while I was writing this.

The rally and on to Valdosta Georgia

Huge wind storm Fri. Night at the rally, two trees fell, one on top of a tent, luckily the guy wasn't injured but had a hard time getting out. The rain started pretty seriously Sat afternoon, in time for the steak barbeque. By this time lots of people had left and lots moved to motels. The food was good and lots of it, more so as so many had left. I ended up with the long distance award for traveling over 2500 miles to the rally, but missed out on any of the big prizes.

 So Sun. morning it's all over and time to pack up. It was still raining and had rained all night so it wasn't much fun packing up. When I left it was 10 degrees C. and continued to rain a good two hours as I headed south. But I must say even with the poor weather it sure felt good to get on the bike again and head down the road after resting for a few days. Crazy that it was colder than at home, way up north. The sun came out eventually and it warmed up to about 25 by the afternoon. Stopped along the way to go to Church and then ended up in a motel again as the Campsite and Motel were both $30. By supper time it had clouded up again and looked a little threatening. On to Florida tomorrow and hopefully warmer weather.

Greers Ferry Lake to Nashville Tennessee to Hiawasee Georgia

Don't quite know why I ended up in Nashville (where I stopped for the night ) when I was aiming for some where near Chattanooga, but I did. After leaving Greers Ferry the twisty roads ended and it became a lot flatter but still lots of trees. Something to note on the pictures I took in Arkansas is that the trees are only about half in leaf so it would get even nicer when all the leafs are out. As I got into Tennessee the roads got more curves to them and there's lots of great roads in this and North Carolina area but I need to rest for awhile so I'm headed straight to the rally in Georgia.

These are at the camsite near Nashville, nice but too many trees for my liking, even though I was near the water I couldn't see out as there were trees in the water as well, so no way at all to see out from the trees or to get any direct sunshine.

At the Rally in Hiawasee Georgia....................4722 kms. so far or 2551 miles.

I thing that's all you'll here for awhile, at least until it warms up a bit.

Harrison Arkansas to Greers Ferrry Lake Arkansas

Arkansas..............Motorcycle heaven. A person could spend 2 weeks just in the west side of Arkansas and ride wonderful twisty roads all day long. It been fun but this body of mine just can't keep the pace I would like on these roads for very long. Beautiful scenery, beautiful roads.

Stayed in a campsite in Greers Ferry Landing which wasn't actually open yet. Had a nice visit with the person taking care of it. He is a Vietnam Vet and pointed out that there were also Canadians there. He gave me a patch saying Canadian Vietnam Veterans.

Baxter Springs Kansas to Oklahoma, Missouri and ending in Harrison Arkansas

Well......................., it's been awhile. Other that the Mount Rushmore area can't say there's much to see in the eastern part of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Oklahoma. In Missouri things started to improve a bit with some leaf on the trees and even a few blossoms. Then into Arkansas, finally some twisty roads................ and nice scenery, Yeah!

 

Doniphan NE, Winter Quarters, Baxter springs KS

The day started Very Foggy, Damp and Cold. The tent was soaked with dew. I would take 5 degrees colder and dry and day.

Stopped in a Winter Quarters for a little tour and a few pictures.

These wagon wheel are darn near 6' tall, this one is showing a counter that would measure the distance traveled.

The sun stated to come out and warm up a bit as I traveled Baxter springs KS, passing in and out of Missouri a few times as I travel along the border. The sun disappeared and I could see that it had rained in a lot of the area I passed through later that day, luckily it missed me and didn't really get much colder. I looked for campsites along the way but they were either in the opposite direction down the end of 2 miles of slippery gravel road or just not a good place to stay. They must have had a lot of rain in this area. The country side is getting a little nicer to look at, some of the trees are starting to show signs of life and even a few trees in blossom.


Now in a motel again in Baxter Springs.Hung the soggy tent up in the shower to dry and catching up on my blog.



The next state will be Arkansas and from what I can tell the scenery should be much nicer.

Hotspring SD to a Campsite near Doniphan, NE

A pretty good day weather wise with my bike saying a high of 27, although I thinks that's at least a couple of degrees high. I still had a bit of nice scenery in SD. Not much in Nebraska though other than one place they called the Nebraska state forest.

Nebraska's idea of a scenic road is somewhat different than mine. Most of the area they called the sand hill but to me it just looked like rolling prairies.

Most of it was like the picture above, minus the trees.

Finally found an open campsite, near  Doniphan, NE.

Trying out the new stove and mattress.

This blogging takes a long time, going to bed, goodnight....................Hopefully will do some more in the morning.

Miles City to Mount Rushmore then on to Hot Springs SD.

Well I can't say there was anything spectacular in the Dakota's, well other than the longest straight stretches of road I have ever seen. At one place I went over twenty miles with out a bend in the road. I somehow missed the sign for South Dakota, probably something to do with the wind trying to rip my head off and me trying to hand on to it. Not all is lost for south Dakota though as just before Spearhead heading to Mount Rushmore the scenery started to improve, although along with that came snow, but not on the road. I finally found lots of campsite but unfortunately they were all closed, and mostly covered in snow. It was good to see Mount Rushmore and happy that I saw it in the off season. It looks like it would be a very busy place in the summer, judging from the numerous entry gates and parking areas.

Ended up the day in a Motel in Hotsprings South Dakota.

Miles City Montana

As I'm ended up in a Motel, I thought I should write a bit as I may not have internet again for awhile.

Mileage at the start of the Trip.

Well I finally got on my way. A bit of a delay as I realize my new front brake pad were dragging a little more than they should but problem solved but managed to damage my finger in the process but it should be fine in a few days. Rode to the border with Beth to pick up a few supplies at the shipping outlet that I needed for the trip and sent a few home with Beth. Weather not to cold but a little windy. It took a little longer than we thought picking up supplies so I wasn't planning on going to far but couldn't find a campsite so ended up in Mile City Montana and about 11PM. Far to long a ride and a little tense with the hundreds of dear I passed on the side of the rode. I pulled over and waited for a car to follow at a slower speed to lessen my chances of a close encounter with Bamby. It got down to about 5 degrees but not to bad with all my heated gear on.

Today I'm off to Mount Rushmore. The weather is looking pretty good but not terribly warm, it will probably hit the mid teens.

Waiting one more day.

Now leaving Wed. so that it won't be so cold. Looking forward to warmer climates.

For those interested in technology, here is a link to my Spot GPS locator, if you want you can see where I am as I travel. Password is sidecar.

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=1oaLbq21BDmEV2JgSgr6IxrBidQ5Poa2I

Waiting for the weather to improve a little.

Well I have postponed the date that I leave due to poor weather. We had a little snow again last night which wouldn't be a big problem except the direction I am heading would be even colder. I am now planning to leave on Tue. the 23rd. It will still be cold but hopefully no snow. In Rapid city South Dakota where I will be passing through, it will only have a high of 6 on Wed. where this time of the year there normal high would be 17. So at night it may be a little cold in the tent as it will be below freezing. It looks like I will need to get into Georgia before I see weather in the low 20s, so I think it's going to be a cold journey south, but I'm sure my heated gear will keep me warm.

Time to start up my Blog again!

Well it's been almost 2 years since my last big solo trip, so I thought it was about time for another. I have so far visited 32 states and 2 provinces in Canada on my BMW 1200RT. I am now in the process of getting ready to visit the rest of 49 states in the U.S. and hopefully some more Provinces in Canada. Hawaii may be a little hard but not impossible to get my bike to, therefore is why I have only focused on 49 states for now. Last summer I managed to visit the bottom tip of Alaska but will include a more detailed trip in the future along with the NWT and the Yukon with the hope of making it to Inuvik, but I might need to get one of those new BMW 1200GS's for that trip. Last time I took a trailer, this time I will be traveling without. I am looking forward too no trailer but now have to focus more on packing small which is achievable but will also cost. Out with the 30" Therma rest and in with the 30" Nemo Como that will take up 1/3 the room. I am also hoping to cook a little more and stay in motels a little less to save money. Not sure about the motels as I only stayed when it was raining or if I could find no campsites.

My bike now has 95,000 kms. on it and hasn't missed a beat. Looking forward to getting over 100,000 on this trip. I had to have my oil changed at a Harley shop last big trip and they had tightened the drain plug scary tight so I am making sure I have torque setting to give them this time. I am in the process of getting the bike ready, changing tires, rear end oil, greasing splines, changing oil etc. There's actually not all that much to do at this time as I have done spark plugs valves and air filter recently. I am fortunate to have a nice warm garage and a lift to work on my bike so it is quite an enjoyable and relaxing time.

Feel free to ad comments, I look forward to hearing from people. I plan on leaving on April the 20th, right after our local church has a cub car rally for us adults.

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.