The 3 point destination RR Loop

[rogdeb]

I've had a couple of requests for a RR of our recent trip across the States.

Takes time though to whittle down from over a thousand pics taken, to a manageable number, then figure out an acceptable number to post so as not to lull all to sleep LOL

I'll start with a few paragraphs if I may -- pics later.

The three destinations we had to shoot for were :-

1. Arlington National Cemetery --- cause we missed it by a half mile 13 years ago and aways regretted it.
   
2. Mount Pocono, PA –-- to see dear friends we'd been promising to for too many years.
   
3. Rugby, ND --- to be at the Geographic Center of North America, just because.
   

A few stats :-

Three up on the bike – myself, Deb and Kreel --- our great grand daughters cuddly kitten, tied to the top case luggage rack. Didn't hear it meow once the whole trip.

States ridden through numbered 19

Days on the road numbered 19

Miles covered was 6,336

Gallons of gas in the tank -- 163 -- but who's counting

Not our first multi hundred mile trip on a motorcycle, but the first on the Spyder.

2015 RT-L, which performed absolutely flawlessly. Started and stopped every time we asked it and took every road condition with ease.

Freeway, Toll Roads, sweepers and tight fast ones – no complaints here. Sooo glad we bought it to keep us riding.

Out of all those miles, only 150 of them was done in pouring rain – talk about lucky.

The bike dashboard did “black out” twice though – the problem being 5 mile long traffic jams where the bike thermometer ran as high as 118 degrees – Deb took pics to prove it

Many miles, smiles, people and places added for us, although I think the cat met more peeps than me – lol.

I'll be back.

 

[gregory]

Subscribed

 

[Old Michael]

Not getting any younger here.

Jus' sayin'.

 

[gregory]

Subscribed

 

[escapefjrtist]

...standing by!

--G

 

[Panman]

Looking forward to it.

 

[Uncle Hud]

with a CAT?!?! I'm tuned in for the punch line.

 

[rogdeb]

The route





Kitty Kreel belongs to Carter, our great grand daughter. Our plan is to have all the Kreel pics made into a story book for her.

Deb's got her wrapped and ready to be strapped.



And in position )





Mark (Bokerfork) needed to get outta town so escorted us for the first 440 miles of the trip. That's what friends do --



Middle of nowhere, Hwy 50, NV



The real sad looking "shoe tree' in Hinckley, UT -- A terrible replacement for the original that was hacked down in NV

 

[rogdeb]

The Ladies on this trip.



About 700 miles in and already biting at the potassium !!



Saw lots of this ..



This ..



And this. Beautiful scenery, much better than Deb's camera can catch.



Vail, CO. Time for a break to look around, refreshment and more gas -- in the tank !















More of the CO beauty, the traffic through Denver -- not as nice. :-(



Into KS, the first of the toll roads, and the really nicely put together welcome center



The KS State logo on the tiled floor as you walk in.

This was the first of a few really cool welcome centers.

Blue Springs, MO, and Black Springs, IN were also notable.



Approaching the Clark Bridge over the Mississippi River.

This bridge connects Alton, MO to Alton, IL



Breakfast ANY TIME !



A photo op -- always time for that.



And gas-up time again -- I could get high on this stuff !



Yup -- wild and wonderful, and radar detectors illegal -- or was that VA ? States blurring now !



And the first of the really loooong traffic jams ....



Cause of this bad one ..



But really green, green, green in W,VA

Not like CA's yellow brown and fire red right now :-((

 

[dcarver]

nice!

 

[Old Michael]

" That's what friends do -- "

What are ya sayin', Roger?

(That's what RETIRED friends do.)

 

[Niehart]

Liking this RR.

Also tickled to be able to say 'Go Deb Go'.

 

[rogdeb]

" That's what friends do -- "
What are ya sayin', Roger.

(That's what RETIRED friends do.)

Was wondering if you'd pick up on that Mikey

--gotcha !

More pics later, doing a grandson coffee meet -- maybe he'll pay this time. LOL

 

[rogdeb]

Aaaaand -- 2880 miles from home, Springfield, VA where the bike got tucked away for 2 nights at the Comfort Inn parking lot -- real nice place.

These guys ^^^^ are minding it for us







Destination number one ...

The silence and respect at Arlington National Cemetery ....

A humbling experience -- sooooo many have given all for us ....

The changing of the guard gave us goose bumps ..



Into PA then toward our 2nd destination.



The readout on the bike's themometer, right before the whole dash display blacked out because of the heat !!



The problem being five miles of the above.

Seems like PA has money right now to spend on infrastructure, and they're using it !!

A mile and a quarter in an hour and three quarters before we reached even 15mph, which only lasted briefly-- hot, sticky, humid, sweaty -- fun times !!



And finally, reached our second destination of the trip --3120 miles from home.

Brian and Janet, our good friends for many years.

Whom we thought we hadn't seen for maybe 10-15 years --- WRONG !!

19 years we were informed !! Ohhhh, time flies.

Their girls were only teenagers last time we saw them -- they now have teens of their own !!

Talk about a surreal meet-up ..







Let's not leave it so long from now on.



Chicago traffic --- blows. JSNS

But we got through Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and headed to our 3rd destination in ND

A couple more hotels, much food, and more waitresses later, we reached our 3rd destination ..

...







Destination three, 4700 miles from home. Rugby, ND -- the Geographic Center of North America





The actual center is something like 30 feet from here, or thereabouts, but the Hwy 3/Hwy 2 intersection efficiently displaced it - progress !

And for being a little town in the middle of -- well, N. America -- it's the neatest one we'd been in all trip. All the front yards of the homes looked like they came out of the Home and Garden magazine -- really cool.

The remainder of this RR is the "heading home" bit to CA ) .. :-((

So I'll pepper it with pics of Kitty Kreel, and a few of her peeps and places ---





Montana, big sky country.











We found Dolly's kin, LOL







And 6336 miles later -- home



That's all folks, thanks for looking

Oops -- missed one very colorful pic



DONE !!

 

[Old Michael]

Roger and Deb, thank you for taking the time to show us your trip, through pictures and words.

I can just hear Deb saying "Roger, let's stop and take a picture of that!"

And you snapping, "Christ, it's just a fecking natural wonder. There'll be more down the road."

I remember just a few years ago, you telling me that "I think I'm finished taking long trips."

You lying *******!

A lot of the newer Forum members haven't had the pleasure of meeting and knowing you and Sweet Deb,... and they are the poorer for it.

You two are a love story, and a testament to how motorcycling and marriage can be such a beautiful thing.

Your devotion to one another, your sense of humor (and your weird allegiance to Liverpool's soccer team), well, they make y'all a special duo.

All that said, ...Rugby, ND?

A f#cking destination?

Geeezus, Roger.

Where the hell did that come from?

You could've visited the Notre Dame campus. Or Brett Favre's estate in Mississippi.

. . . Or even those goddamned concrete corn cobs in Geek's world.

Really enjoyed seeing what you guys saw, and very glad that weird, Canadian 3-wheeler got you there and back safely.

 

[Old Michael]

Wow!

SacMike is a trucker?

 

[Bugnatr]

Roger and Deb, thank you for taking the time to show us your trip, through pictures and words.I can just hear Deb saying "Roger, let's stop and take a picture of that!"

And you snapping, "Christ, it's just a fecking natural wonder. There'll be more down the road."

I remember just a few years ago, you telling me that "I think I'm finished taking long trips."

You lying *******!

A lot of the newer Forum members haven't had the pleasure of meeting and knowing you and Sweet Deb,... and they are the poorer for it.

You two are a love story, and a testament to how motorcycling and marriage can be such a beautiful thing.

Your devotion to one another, your sense of humor (and your weird allegiance to Liverpool's soccer team), well, they make y'all a special duo.

All that said, ...Rugby, ND?

A f#cking destination?

Geeezus, Roger.

Where the hell did that come from?

You could've visited the Notre Dame campus. Or Brett Favre's estate in Mississippi.

. . . Or even those goddamned concrete corn cobs in Geek's world.

Really enjoyed seeing what you guys saw, and very glad that weird, Canadian 3-wheeler got you there and back safely.

+1 Thanks Roger

 

[rogdeb]

Thanks for the kind words and pluses guys

And RUGBY, ND !! What's wrong with that Mikey ? And does Brett Favor live in the middle of N. America -- huh?

Tell you what happened there though, and I didn't know if I should laugh or get upset ?

Just finished getting the above bike + monument pics and a guy (Ken) rides up on his HD -- not a joke ..

Ken -- " whaddya think huh? 1200 miles to take my photo taken at this here statue ? -- I'm beat"

Me -- " yeah, it's a cool destination -- we came nearly 5000"

Ken -- points at Spyder -- " jeeezus !! on that fookin' thing ??"

Me -- "yeah -- kinda what it's built for"

Ken -- "no way Man !! shoulda dun it on a Harley -- only way !!"

Me -- just a smile ..

Then he spent 5 minutes telling me about his Ducati crotch rocket -- tell ya Man -- i wus impressed

 

[exskibum]

Dang me! I just noticed this RR and checked in . . . too late. Photobucket had already decimated what promised to be an interesting report. Not to mention having hooked me with the promise of a tale about Kreel, the motorcycling cat. I've had several cats over the years, and can't imagine any of them riding a motorcycle even 10 feet. Hell, even car trips were ordeals (in which the cat and I would meow at one another conversationally the entire trip - typically to the vet and with some strange looks at intersections). So . . . feeling unrequited, I guess, but I'll just blame PB.