Hannibal, Missouri to Loveland, Colorado

After a pleasant Tuesday night in Hannibal, MO, we left at sunrise, 5:40am, because we saw that the weather forecast was for very high temperatures through northern Kansas.  Our goal was to make Smith Center, KS so we would have less than 400 miles to ride the following day going into Colorado.  The morning temperatures were very nice, almost to the point of being chilly at 60 mph.  Route 36 runs straight across Missouri from Hannibal to Saint Joseph.  Along the way we passed through (or near) Marceline, the hometown of Walt Disney, Laclede, the birthplace of General John Pershing, and Chillicothe, where we could not find one place to have breakfast, so we had to settle for McDonald's, where I was undoubtedly the youngest person by at least 25 years!

It was another 75 miles to Saint Joseph, MO, the last big town before we entered Kansas.  At that point it was starting to get pretty hot and we still had 215 miles to go to get to Smith Center, Kansas, where we had reserved a room.  Saint Joseph was the starting point for the Pony Express when it ran from there to Sacramento, California in 1861 and 1862, so from there on we saw many signs for Pony Express stops, as well as signs for the Oregon and California Trails. 

Waiting for the train to pass

Dad's helmet sticker

 From Saint Joseph, MO to Belleville, KS, we could definitely feel the increased temperatures - it was reading 109 degrees on Dad's Goldwing by then - and the wind was picking up, gusting at times up to 30 mph.  Of course we had no luck, hitting several road construction stops as well as a train crossing, which stopped us flat under the sun.  The only light-hearted moment was passing through Dorothy's place, the town of Home, Kansas - get it?  There's no place like Home?! 

Belleville to Smith Center is 63 miles, and we really wanted to push through even though the conditions were pretty lousy.  On that last leg we hit 115 degrees with 30-35 mph winds gusting out of the south, gusting so hard that we were riding in a constant leftward lean just to stay upright and on the same line on the road.  Needless to say, by the time we pulled into the motel in Smith Center, we were thrilled to sit inside in the air conditioning with cold drinks in our hands. 

Ellen's helmet sticker - I think I need a helmet sticker too!

A few things about Smith Center, which I had never heard of before this trip...it is just a few miles from the geographic center point of the lower 48 states, and the words to the song Home on the Range were written by Dr. Brewster M.  Higley in 1872 in a cabin nearby,

with the music written in 1947 by Dan Kelley, 

when it was adapted as the Kansas state song. 

Up and on the road before dawn

Breakfast stop

The next morning was to be our last leg, 367 miles to Loveland.  It wasn't forecast to be quite as hot, and the winds were supposed to have dies down, but we still decided to leave as early as possible to beat the heat.  We were on the road by 5:30am and the conditions were great - cool and calm, a far cry from the day before.  We rode 96 miles straight through from Smith Center to Oberlin, KS, where we stopped for breakfast at the Frontier Cafe, and then is was on to St. Francis, KS, another 70 miles, before we stopped for gas.  From there we zigged north into Nebraska, where we gained an hour going into the mountain time zone, to pick up route 34, which runs straight into Loveland.  Once into Colorado, Ellen raised her arms in triumph at making it back home, and we stopped in Yuma to meet up with one of Dad's Goldwing buddies, Monty, who showed up with a cooler full of water, soda, candy bars, and fruit on the cargo rack behind his bike!  Monty rode with us through Akron, Brush, Fort Morgan, and Greeley before peeling off for his home in Milliken, and we rode the last few miles on our own to Dad and Ellen's house.  After a quick lunch, Dad and I went to spring his dog, Buddy, from the kennel, and then it was just a peaceful, rest-filled day after that.  Little did I know that it was the only rest period I would have before the chaos of a four year-old nephew and a ten month-old niece ensued the next day!

Shenandoah National Park from Skyline Drive, Virginia

New River Gorge Bridge, north of Beckley, West Virginia

New River Gorge Bridge

My guardian angel on my trip

View of the Mississippi River from the top of the Gateway Arch

The Old Courthouse on Dred Scott Way, viewed from the top of the arch

Arch shadow

At the top, 630 feet in the air

The tiny 5-seat pods that take you to the top

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri

Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Missouri

Mark Twain Riverboats

Tom Sawyer's whitewashed fence

Three years later, here I am again, making another trek across the country to visit family in Colorado.  This time, though, I have the opportunity to make the outgoing trip with my dad and stepmom, Ellen, as they return home from a Motorcycle Touring Association rally in Matamoras, Pennsylvania.

We left Maryland Sunday morning, June 24th, at 6:00am, heading west on I-70 to Frederick, then south on route 340 to Front Royal, Virginia.  Front Royal is where Skyline Drive, which runs 110 miles through Shenandoah National Park, begins.  It was a very pleasant morning and a nice ride 35-40 miles through the park, at which point we zigged west through Luray to I-81 south to I-64 west.  Route 60 winds 35 miles through the West Virginia hills to route 19, which took us right to the New River and its notable bridge.  The New River Gorge Bridge is the longest single-arch bridge in the world and the second highest bridge in the US.  It's so high that you could stack 2 Statues of Liberty on top of the Washington Monument and they wouldn't touch the bridge.  From there we headed for Beckley, WV for the night.

We had planned to head south into North Carolina on Monday and hit Great Smokey Mountain National Park and ride route 28, called Tail of the Dragon, before heading for Lynchburg, TN to see the Jack Daniels distillery.  However, we realized that we would not be able to do all that and still make it home to Loveland, Colorado by Thursday evening, so we scratched that whole plan and headed west on I-64 again, through Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, into southern Indiana.  Interesting things on the way?  The unfortunate name on the Louisville sports arena (KFC Yum! Sports Complex), the very angry WV driver who ordered up a vanity plate that read IH8MYEX, and billboards for Holidayworld in Santa Claus, Indiana.  No sightseeing stops this day.  We ended the day in Evansville, Indiana for the night.

Another early start today, on the road by 7am.  We made it to Saint Louis by 10am, but sat in stop and go traffic with a lot of trucks for a bit.  Once we got off the interstate, we passed the new Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, and parked to visit the Gateway Arch.  What an impressive sight! 630 feet tall, completed in 1968, and hosts 2.5 million visitors per year, with 1 million of them riding the tiny little 5-seat pods that take you on a 4-minute ride to the top of the arch and its observation platform.  You get a tremendous view of the city and of the Mississippi from the top, with visibility measured in miles.  Below on the river there are helicopter tours and riverboat cruises offered, and on the other side you can clearly see the Old Courthouse where the original Dred Scott decision was handed down, before it was overturned by the Supreme Court.  We stopped at the Saint Louis Bread Company for lunch, which was suspiciously similar to Panera, and then headed out for an overnight stay in Hannibal, Missouri.  Hannibal is the boyhood home of Mark Twain and the main setting for Tom Sawyer.  It's a quaint little throwback town on the riverfront, offering dinner cruises on the Mississippi aboard the Mark Twain riverboat, with train running through town every half hour or so.  Now we're turning in for the night so we can get an extra early start tomorrow - it's supposed to be blazing hot, over 110 degrees in northern Kansas, where we're bound!  Need to get some miles behind us before we get baked in the sun!