A Reputable Journal

Natchez Trace

After days of really flat, really boring, riding / non-riding today was a welcome breath of fresh air. The Natchez trace is a really nice ride! Its a two lane road with a 50 mph speed limit and very few cars. The Natchez TraceThe trace dates back to prehistoric times when

Google Maps — You. are. Fired.

Due to my back pain I rode with Jane today from the Mississippi River state park to Lake Chicot state park. I’m not too sad as it was 80 miles of highway riding through flat (and mostly harvested) cotton fields was not so appealing. After crossing the river into

West Memphis to Mississippi River State Park

This is one of the most beautiful state parks with really nice campsites. After riding nearly 60 miles today, my back was so sore that I knew my long distance riding days were numbered. The rest of the way will be finding some shorter, more scenic/nicer routes to ride

A Dogged Ride to Fort Pillow

Today I saw fields of cotton ready for harvest for the first time in my life. What a sight! Acres of white “flowers” against a backdrop of green. After breaking camp at lake Reel Foot and riding for a while with Jane I got on my bike for the last

Zooming to Tennessee

My back felt better this morning, and with 52 miles on the schedule it felt very doable. Especially with all my new ointments to soothe my muscles and keep my rear end happy. The challenge for the day was that in addition to riding, and needing to move to the

Trail of Tears State Park

From Fort Kaskaskia we drove to the Trail of Tears State Park. This park marks the spot where thousands of Cherokee were driven across the Mississippi river in a forced relocation to reservations in the west. Over 1/4 of the Cherokee died on the trip. A shameful part of

Saint Louis to Fort Kaskaskia

Today was another 50 mile day, but thankfully the weather was 180 degrees from yesterday. Cool, sunny, and with a very light breeze that was almost behind me. I even saw my first dead armadillo on the side of the road! Oh joy! After yesterday, which I will always think

Halfway there? Or am I finished? A battle of will!

Today started out promising. Like any morning in the camper I made myself some coffee. Unlike most mornings the cell service at Pere Marquette was so bad that the best my devices could muster was a few received emails overnight. Despite Two bars of service digital was just out of

Not that kind of biker

Although today was a “day of rest” we still made a short ride into Grafton for lunch. I’ll ride this same path again tomorrow so this made up for a little of yesterday’s ride in the truck. As we rode into town I saw this big sign, “Bikers

Hannibal / Hamberg to Pere Marquette

I awoke with heavy legs this morning! The plan was for Jane to drive me back across the river, retracing part of my ride from yesterday. Then, to drop me off so I could ride to the State Park. Sometimes things don’t go quite as planned. A mile or

Nauvoo to Hannibal

Today was a total washout. I woke up and looked at the forecast and radar only to see a huge patch of rain heading our way. Strangely from east to west. I guess we are in the south now? I just had time to get the bike on the rack

Mississippi Palisades to Muscatine

Today I did 86 miles but it was a very relaxing day of riding. The majority of the day was on trails and it was nice to be away from traffic and goats. At one point I was riding right along the top of the levee but most of the

Dubuque to Mississippi Palisades

Today was a rough day. The hills were steep, the good people of Galena seem to hate bikers, and I was chased by a goat. View of our campsite right along the MississippiFirst, the hills. There were a lot of them, and some of them were steep, really steep. 16%

Pike’s Peak to Dubuque

After a wonderful weekend in Decorah for our 35 year class reunion, we arrived at Pike’s Peak state park just after dark. This was to be our first time of setting up cam in the dark, but we were not too worried, until we saw a pickup in our

02 Bemidji to Brainerd - My First Century

Yesterday the ride from Itasca to Bemidji turned out to be shorter than expected by 10 miles. Today’s ride turned out to be longer than expected by a good 10 miles. Yesterday started out with a flat tire after only 10 miles. But after the flat the ride was

Prelude (Day 0) Mississippi Headwaters

Standing at the headwaters. I remember wading here when I was much younger.We had a lovely 20 mile ride around Lake Itasca planned for today with a stop at the headwaters of the Mississippi. As the sign says, 2552 miles! That is roughly the length of our journey, in

The Long Road Home

Having spent three wonderful days with Jim and Karen in Chelan, the goal is now to get home! However, we are not willing to drag the camper for 16 hours one day and 14 the next, so it will take us a few days. Day 1: Chelan to Heyburn State

Three Days in Chelan

Well, I think it is time to head East. When we started making our egg scramble for breakfast this morning the sausage had mold on it, and so did one of our bags of shredded cheese! Its nothing that a stop at a grocery store won’t fix, but we

Snowy Adventure

The North Cascades (America’s Alps) is a beautiful stop on our journey. Not to mention the warmest temperatures (72 degrees) since Indio! It is also Memorial Day weekend, and the place is a zoo! Cars are everywhere, people are everywhere. Its almost as if friends and families have been

Deception Pass State Park

Yesterday was laundry day and hang around the park day. Jane headed into Oak Harbor to wash a load of clothes while I stayed at the camper to catch up on a some emails and Runestone issues. She brought me donuts. To work off the donuts we decided to do

Jane Can not Control the Weather

This morning we woke up to a bit of broken sunshine at our campground. The water was as smooth as glass. A bit of rain left over from last night was dripping down on the top of the camper. We got packed up and headed out to Port Townsend to

More Photos from today and 1986

This morning we went through all the weather in about 30 minutes! We started out at our Salt Creek campsite, where the forecast was for 60 and overcast most of the day. But as we climbed toward Hurricane Ridge we got into the low clouds and rain. The temperature was

Retracing our Steps

Camping takes teamwork. One person has to back up the camper, the other has to direct them and place the blocks to get the camper level from side to side. One person meticulously plans the trip, the other pulls on the rubber gloves and takes care of the black water.