Day 21 - Home, Sweet Home

Sorry, no pictures to share today. I got an early start so I could get to Shenandoah National Park in order to see all of Skyline Drive before heading home, but unfortunately it was far too foggy today to attempt a 105-mile ride along the top of a mountain ridge. So I continued north to Winchester, VA, keeping watch for a clearing of the fog at the tops of the mountains - never happened. Oh well, just a good excuse to come back again for another try. This was the first day in the whole trip that I felt really tired while I was riding, so I was really happy to reach I-70, Frederick, and finally, home. After 5,325 miles and 24 states in 21 days, it's a wonderful feeling to walk back into your house and be in familiar surroundings with loved ones. Thanks for following along!

Day 20 - Mammoth Cave, Kentucky

Another really exciting day today! I was up and out the door this morning to ride to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky in time to pick up my ticket for the 10am Historic Tour. On the way through the park to the visitor's center I saw 4 deer by the road, just nibbling on the dew-covered grass, and 2 huge wild turkeys! (Yes, Charlie, they were even big enough to feed your family for Thanksgiving!) It was a good thing I'd reserved a ticket ahead of time because that particular tour, as well as several others, was sold out by 9:30am. I grabbed a park brochure and a map and we were soon on our way down the wide, paved path to the historic entrance. As we approached the steps leading down into the cave, there was a definite change in temperature as we could feel the cold air from the cave the closer we got. Down the steps and into the darkness, the temperature had to have dropped at least 20 degrees, probably more, but it was quite comfortable after being in the 90 degree heat on the surface.

The historic tour lasts 2 hours and visits landmarks like Giant's Coffin, the old salt peter works where they mined nitrates for black powder, Booth's Amphitheater, Gothic Avenue, Sidesaddle Pit, Bottomless Pit, Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Agony, River Hall, Mammoth Dome, and the Ruins of Karnak. Fat Man's Misery, as the name implies, is a very narrow section of the caves, but only from about the knees down. It feeds into Tall Man's Agony, where the ceiling height remains the same but the floor steps up a foot and a half, so one has to crouch to get through the next 30 feet or so. While we descended gradually to a depth of 360 feet below where we entered, we ascended all at once by means of 192 steps up from the Mammoth Dome. Mammoth Cave is the largest cave system in the world, with 367 miles of mapped passages, and they still are not done mapping everything. It's so large that you could fit the 2nd largest (Jewel Cave in South Dakota) and the 3rd largest (in the Ukraine) inside Mammoth Cave with over 100 miles to spare. All of Mammoth's passages fit within a 7-mile by 7-mile square, with tunnels lumped on top of each other like a bowl of spaghetti, as the ranger leading the tour put it. This is another place I want to go back to so I can see more of what the caves have to offer.

From Mammoth, I headed for Lexington and then Huntington, WV to Hillbilly Hot Dogs, a restaurant featured on Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins on the Food Network. Interesting place, with even more interesting combinations of toppings for hot dogs. Check out their menu at www.hillbillyhotdogs.com. The garlic ranch fries were very good, and the West Virginia Dog and the Hound Dog I had were good too. I don't think I ever would have thought to put cole slaw on a hot dog!

From Huntington it was less than 50 miles to Charleston, WV. Tomorrow is my last day on the road, much to my mother's and Margo's mom's relief! I have to admit, 21 days is a long time to be away from home, and as much as I have thoroughly enjoyed my trip, I will be happy to be back in my own house again! Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive are just about all that stand between me and Catonsville now.

Day 19 - Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee

Wow, compared to how little I got to see yesterday today was jam packed. I got into Memphis a few minutes after 8, crossing the mighty Mississippi one more time, and found my way to Graceland. I've never been a huge Elvis fan, but I do enjoy his music and this seemed like one of those things that you just have to see. There were plenty of people there early, and most of them were lining up to buy tickets for the $69 VIP package that allows you to tour everything, airplanes, stables, the works. I chose to just do the mansion tour. They give you headphones and an MP3 like device so you can listen to the audio portion of the tour - saves paying tour guides, I guess - and load you on a shuttle to go across the street to the house and grounds. Elvis bought Graceland for $100,000 when he was only 22 years old and lived there until his death in 1977. He made many upgrades and improvements over the years, including building a racquetball court and fitness center in the back yard - that cost twice as much as the whole house did in 1957! The decor of the house must have been state-of-the-art at the time of its last upgrade in the 70's, but I have to say that the green shag carpet on the ceiling of the"jungle" room was kind of comical (Sorry, Barb!). A very interesting tour, nonetheless. I didn't know Elvis was such a philanthropist - there was a whole display of checks he had written giving donations to a wide variety of organizations.

From Graceland, I went back to the north to Union Avenue and the Peabody Hotel to see the famous "duck march." If you're not familiar with the ducks, there are 5 northern mallards that are trained to ride the elevator down from their rooftop home, at precisely 11am (with the Duckmaster as a chaperone, of course) and walk the red carpet to the fountain in the lobby. They spend all day there until it's time (5pm) to reverse the march and go back to the roof. There were tons of people in the lobby to see the ducks, and a fair number of us who were there sans chindren! The tradition started 76 years ago as a practical joke after too much Jack Daniels, and it was such a hit that the ducks have been there ever since!

Beale Street is just 2 blocks to the south of Union Avenue, so I went there for lunch. The best pulled pork sandwich ever! At BB King's Blues Club! The BBQ sauce was the first thing I looked for in the gift shop. Too bad there was no live blues music, except for the lone trumpeter on the sidewalk. This is a place I would like to revisit when I can stay overnight in Memphis. As I left Memphis, I rode up Riverside Drive along the Mississippi and could see Mud Island and its hanging red cable cars, featured in the John Grisham book and movie, The Firm. Then it was back on the road to Nashville.

I was afraid that I might not get to Nashville in time to see the inside of the Grand Ole Opry House, but fortunately I had some time to spare. I got into the 4:30 backstage tour and learned all about the history of the Grand Ole Opry and its cast members. We saw the dressing rooms and even stood on the stage, which has a large circle front and center, a piece from the old Ryland Theatre which used to house the Opry until the new Opry House was built. I was hoping to see an actual performance there, but they are scheduled for Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, so I missed it. Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krause are there this weekend, and I would have liked to see either one of them. That's another thing to put on the list for next time.

Home is now only 48 hours away! Tomorrow I visit Mammoth Cave and maybe the Maker's Mark distillery before settling in in Charleston, WV.

Day 18 - OK City to Baxter Springs, KS to Joplin, MO to Little Rock, AR

Not much going on on Tuesday other than a lot of riding. I didn't have anything in particular that I really, really wanted to see, other than maybe Branson, MO, but that was too far out of the way and would have added more miles than I was comfortable with for one day, so I just meandered through Tulsa, then exited the Will Rogers Turnpike at Miami, OK, the capital for 6+ native American tribes in the area. From there I followed old Route 66 off and on into Baxter Springs, KS and then into Joplin, MO. Then it was south into Arkansas, through Bentonville, Fayetteville, and then east to North Little Rock. I had originally put Little Rock on my itinerary so I could see the Clinton Presidential Center and the Central High School National Historic Site, where schools were first desegregated after Brown v. Board of Education, but since both of them closed at 5, before I got there, I figured I could use the extra rest. The temperature had climbed back into the 90s and I was pretty tired from riding all day. Called it an early night so I'd be fresh for the early morning ride to Memphis.

Day 17 - Raton, NM to Oklahoma City, OK

I knew I was going to lose an hour's time as soon as I entered Texas and hit Central Time again, so I dragged myself out of bed and onto the road by 6:30am. It was pretty chilly! I guess I've always thought of New Mexico and Texas being all sand and desert, but the elevation in northern New Mexico really makes a difference. There was snow still on the sides of the road in some places! I saw 4 jackrabbits and several more pronghorn before passing into the lone star state around 8:30, no make that 9:30 with the time change.

That seemingly small panhandle of north Texas is deceptively wide - it seemed like I was forever going east across there. I passed north of Amarillo, through Dalhart, Dumas, Borger, Pampa, and Canadian before entering Oklahoma - finally! From there, I rode through Arnett, Vici, and Seiling before turning southeast towards Watonga and Geary. I took the last 35 miles to OK City on the interstate and checked into my hotel around 5:00. Today I learned that there are more trees and fewer livestock in Oklahoma than in Texas, but both states must lead the nation in road-killed skunks!

I made the mistake of laying down on the bed to talk on the phone. A short nap ensued before I went back out to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial, a tribute the the 168 victims of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. I had expected this to be a very somber visit, but I was truly moved by the memorial and the significance and symbolism of each individual part. There are 2 gates, one at the east entrance and one at the west. The east gate shows the time at 9:01am, the minute right before Timothy McVeigh's bomb exploded, representing the city's innocence prior to the event. The west gate shows the time at 9:03am, the minute immediately after the bombing, representing how life was forever changed by the event. A reflecting pool stands between the gates to soothe the wonds of those whose lives were altered by the explosion. On the south side of the reflecting pool stands a field of 168 empty chairs, one for each victim of the tragedy, inscribed with his or her name, and arranged in 9 rows representing the floor that person worked on or was visiting at the time. Smaller chairs represent the children who died in the attack. On the north side of the reflecting pool stands the survivor tree, an American elm tree that withstood the explosion and now stands tribute to those who survived. Surrounding the survivor tree is the rescuers' orchard, an array of fruit and nut trees representing all of the emergency personnel who responded to the disaster. Next to the museum building is a children's area, lined with ceramic tiles decorated by children all over the world and sent to Oklahoma City as a sign of solidarity with the city as it struggled to come to grips with the tragic events of April 19th fourteen years ago. Finally, outside the west gate, the original fence set up to cordon off the building still stands with thousands of tokens of remembrance left by visitors to the memorial. A very sobering experience, for sure, but definitely well worth a visit if you are ever passing through OK City.

Finally, dinner time! I found my way to Bricktown, surrounding the minor league baseball stadium, and had dinner at Earl's Rib Palace, which was on the Top 10 OK City restaurants I found online. And, bonus - there was a marble slab creamery right next door! Now I'm definitely ready for a good night's sleep so I can make it through Tulsa and into Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas tomorrow!

Days 15 and 16 - Broomfield, CO and Raton, NM

Saturday, the 4th of July, began with a drive to the airport to get Margo back home to Catonsville. Dad was helping with another Kiwanis pancake breakfast so Ellen and I took Margo to Denver International. She got home safely, and early!

In the afternoon, we loaded up the car to go to Broomfield to Steve and Gina's for an Independence Day gathering. Gina's mom and dad and sister and brother in law were there, along with Jayden's cute cousin Katie. Several of their friends also showed up with multiple kids in tow, so Jayden had plenty of playmates and a large audience! He's not yet very good at sharing, as he kept taking toys away from Katie, who is 9 months younger than him, but he'll learn, I'm sure. Once home again in Loveland, I started packing for hitting the road again.

Sunday morning started out somewhat overcast and foggy east of Loveland. I said goodbye to dad and Ellen - they'll be coming back east in September so it's not goodbye for long - and turned east on route 34 towards Greeley, Fort Morgan, and Brush, CO. In Brush, I turned south on route 71 to Limon (passing through Last Chance on the way!) and then to Rocky Ford and ultimately, Trinidad, CO. I passed through Comanche National Grassland, but other than that, there wasn't much to see other than wide-ranging plains, a few cattle here and there, and a coyote that crossed the road ahead of me. I did learn, however, that just because there are towns shown on the map in an atlas, that doesn't mean that they are actually what we would consider towns back east. Between Rocky Ford and Trinidad, there was nothing but a few ranches far off the road and some long abandoned buidings that may have once provided services to travelers, but not much else. I was so glad to see a gas station in Trinidad that I didn't even mind the light rain that started to fall as I pulled into the pump. From there, I called Margo to see if she could check the weather on the internet for me. I knew I was only 25 miles from my hotel in Raton, NM but I also was looking at dark clouds moving in over Raton Pass on I-25 and I wasn't sure if I should make a run for it or wait a while. I decided to go for it! And of course, it started raining again about halfway there. It wasn't too bad, though, and I missed the worst of it - as I parked my bike at the hotel, there was a huge thunderclap and lightning flash, and shortly thereafter, pea-sized hail! Nothing better than fortunate timing!

I took a nap for an hour or so and by the time I got up, the rain had passed and the sun was shining again, so I jumped back on the bike for the 27-mile ride east to Capulin Volcano National Monument, a 10,000-years extinct cinder cone that rises 1300 feet above the surrounding valley floor to a height of 8182 feet above sea level. The road curls conter-clockwise around the mountain, spiraling all the way to the top at the lower side of the caldera. From there, you can either hike around the rim, a mile round trip, or descend into the crater, 105 feet down. I chose the hike around the rim, and I was definitely feeling the 8000-ft plus altitude! But it was worth it - from the highest point on the rim, you can supposedly see five different states, but you can also see other (mostly smaller) extinct volcanoes, including Sierra Grande, a million year old, 8700-foot, extinct shield volcano that rises 2200 feet above the plains. I didn't see much wildlife up on the volcano, except for the swarms of ladybugs that arrive each year, covering the branches and trunks of the scrub oaks and other vegetation - I have never seen so many in one place! On the way down the road, I saw a pair of mule deer - the female had already crossed the road and the buck was about to but he turned and ran as I approached. There were also a few pronghorn antelope in the fields flanking the exit road. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the ride to Oklahoma City tomorrow.

Day 14 - Westminster, CO

Friday's weather turned out to be questionable, with a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms, some severe, so our morning motorcycle excursion transformed into a car ride to Broomfield to visit with Jayden and Gina. Gina suggested a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster so we packed up Jayden's car seat and his lunch and headed out to see some bugs! Outside the pavilion was a very large statue of a praying mantis and with a little coaxing, Jayden was soon saying "mantis" without any trouble. The first exhibit room inside contained a wide assortment of cockroaches (giant flying, common American, Madagascar hissing), scorpions, tarantulas, and stick bugs, as well as a few species of beetles and a hive of honeybees. Jayden was interested in the "bugs" and "piders" for a little while but soon found the panel of light switches near the door more appealing. Margo and I both earned our "I held Rosie" stickers by holding a Chilean rosehair tarantula. Her venom, contrary to a lot of beliefs, is only about as toxic as a bee sting to the average person. Instead, as a defensive mechanism, she has urticating hairs that she can flick from her hind legs that will make the recipient itchy!

The next room held several tropical aquariums, and we saw the cast of Finding Nemo in the clownfish (Nemo) and blue tang (Dory) in one of the tanks. Two touch tanks gave Jayden the chance to feel a starfish for the first time. There was also a horseshoe crab touch tank, but we bypassed that to see the butterflies first.

The butterfly room was like a tropical rainforest, with hundreds of buterflies floating around on the breeze. In one corner was a glass-enclosed case literally filled with chrysalis coccoons and recently emerged butterflies waiting for their wings to unfurl and dry so they could fly away. We say so many different types, sizes, and colors of butterflies (or "bubberfies," as Jayden called them), it was amazing. We were able to take a bunch pf close-up pictures of some feeding on flowers, and we could see them uncurl their long tongues/noses(?) to reach the nectar in the blossoms. There were turtles and insect-eating plants, like sundews, venus fly traps, and pitcher plants, and a land tortoise too. By this time Jayden was getting a little tired so we took our leave of the butterflies, but to exit we had to walk through glass doors and an air wall, into a small room with mirrors for walls. A small sign told us to check ourselves carefully for hitchhiking butterflies so that none of them escaped their enclosure! We then sat on the patio and fed Jayden his lunch before driving back to Broomfield. We stayed until he got up from his nap, but then made our way back to Loveland.

We hit some rain on the way home but by the time we got there, it had stopped and the skies had cleared somewhat. We decided to take the motorcycles on a run to Fort Collins Motorsports to get some oil for my return-trip oil change, and to pick up a few things at Ace Hardware and King Soopers. A few raindrops, but nothing major. We did have to stop for a whole gaggle of 20 or so geese crossing the road in Fort Collins, with one of them bringing up the rear, honking at the rest to hurry up! Tomorrow we take Margo back to the airport and then head back to Broomfield for a family 4th of July picnic, and then Sunday it's back on the road again!

Days 12 and 13 - Loveland and Colorado Springs

Wednesday was a rest day of sorts. We were up early to get set up at Technology Driven Products in Loveland and help with the Kiwanis Club pancake breakfast. Dad, Margo, and I, along with 3 other Kiwanians served pancakes, sausage, coffee, and orange juice to 120 employees, all within abou 20-25 minutes, and then cleaned up afterwards. True to form, Margo finds it difficult to let go of her restaurant roots and was a little too gung-ho about cleaning the griddles - she was determined to make them sparkle! We loaded up the trailer and went back to the house to finish washing dishes and then worked in the garage for a while. Dad is building a wagon like Jayden's for cousin Katie, who is 9 months younger. We helped sand, prime, and paint the pieces and put some of it together, getting a lesson on how to use some of the tools we don't own in the process.
After dinner, a trip to Dairy Delite for ice cream was well overdue!

Thursday was a much busier day. Dad and Ellen and Steve and Gina teamed up to treat Margo and myself to a full day in Colorado Springs. We left the house at 8am for the 2 hour drive to the Air Force Academy. I drove the Prius the whole way, up to and through the guardhouse at the entrance - show ID, open the trunk, make sure you're not going to blow the place up - and then on to the Barry Goldwater Visitor's Center. We toured the exhibits, learning about the responsibilities of the cadets in each class and some of the history of the air force - I had no idea it was only formed in 1954, with the first graduating class in 1959. We walked the 1/3 mile to the air force chapel, a really stunning piece of architecture with the largest pipe organ I've ever seen, and watched some of the drills on the terazzo. Back at the visitor center there was a 14-minute movie about life as a student at the academy, and then we were back on the road to Manitou Springs and the Cog Railway to the top of Pike's Peak!

Although Pike's Peak is arguably the most well-known of the Colorado Rockies, it only ranks 31st in height out of the 54 Fourteeners, mountains over 14,000 feet in altitude, with Mount Elbert ranking 1st at 14,400 or so. Pike's Peak is only 14,110, less than half that of Mt. Everest. Still, it's high enough to make your head spin a little when you reach the summit. We had reservations for the 1:20 Aspen car to the top, with the trip taking 1 1/2 hours. The cog railway runs on a special track, with gears under the train that keep it locked in place as it ascends a 25% grade! A normal train can really only make it up a 9% grade, max. One cog railway in Switzerland ascends a 45% grade! I think that might be a bit much for me. It rained a bit on the ride up the mountain, but it wasn't coming in the windows so we could still get a good, clear look at everything outside - we saw deer, some big horn sheep, a few yellow bellied whistling marmots, and lots of deep snow higher up on the mountain. It is truly amazing that people had the fortitude to climb and build on this mountain before there were automobiles and trains to haul the goods needed.

Upon reaching the summit, we found the visitor center bathed in clouds, with visibility down to several dozen feet. We were only allotted 30 minutes at the peak to look around the gift shop, take pictures, and use the rest room before the 1 1/2 hour trip back down the mountain. I started to get a headache at the top, so I snoozed a little on the way down, sipping on some water as we went, to combat the effects of the altitude. You know, every year they have a half-marathon to the top, and a full marathon up and down the mountain, and all I have to say is, "WHY?!" Craziness! The record holder for both events did the half marathon in 2 hours, 1 minute, and in the same weekend did the full marathon in less than 3 1/2 hours!

Back at the foot of the mountain, we drove through lovely Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City before arriving at the Flying W Ranch for a chuckwagon supper and western cowboy music show. The Flying W is an actual working cattle ranch and replica western town, with multiple shops, a small church, a Navajo kiva, a train and mine entrance, and much more. With the rain, we were forced inside for the vening, but they also have an outdoor stage and seating area for when the weather is more cooperative. We sat at one of 117 picnic tables (each seating 12 adults) until we were called to enter the serving line. There you pick up a tin plate and collect your grub, Flying W beans, BBQ beef or chicken, a foil-wrapped baked potato, chunky applesauce, a biscuit and a piece of spice cake, and then a tin cup of iced tea, lemonade, or "boiled all day" strong coffee. So efficient are they that they feed 1400 people in about 30 minutes! All the while, one of the cowboys entertains the waiting crowd by asking which states everyone is from and announcing birthdays.

At 8pm, the show starts - 5 cowboys, the Flying W Wranglers - take the stage - a 5-time national grand champion fiddle, a 2-time Colorado state champion flat-pick guitar player, a mandolin, an upright bass, and a 2nd guitar played by a 5-octave range singer, and perform an hour's worth of western songs and jokes. Some of the songs I was not familiar with, but the music and the singing were fantastic. They did Ghost Riders in the Sky, Colorado, and a version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, except they modified it to tell the story of a possum that wandered in front of a truck and ended up in the skillet! "He's in my way, he's in my way" and "He's on my plate, he's on my plate" replace the more familiar "a-weem-a-way." Very funny and unexpected! They also performed Rawhide, from the old tv show, with a bit of a comedic twist. Overall, it was an extremely entertaining show. The only drawback was the 2-hour car ride home, which put us all up way past our bedtimes! Friday holds a possible ride to Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Trail Ridge Road, if the weather holds, or a shorter ride and another trip to Broomfield to see Jayden and the family.