Epilogue

When I was a young and naïve man, I was inspired to travel across the United States on a motorcycle. The movie Easy Rider got the bug in my head. This idea seemed absurd to some people. The realization that I love two wheeling, the open road and new places made the idea seem like a great adventure that I someday needed to do.

The first steps in my dream to go across the country on a motorcycle were find a riding partner and pick a timeframe. My friend Tom, who I’ve done many other smaller road trips with, was up for the adventure. We agreed on the departure date for the beginning of the summer. I couldn’t have asked for a better riding partner. We road 21 days together and were in synch every day. When I was tired, so was he. And when I wanted to keep riding, so did he. Tom was the lead navigator. He did an excellent job of finding some of the best motorcycling roads I ever been on. Thanks for sharing my dream with me.

We did our planning and then one day, D-Day was here. My bike was loaded up with all the gear I thought I would need and the tools for emergencies. I had a new digital camera and compact laptop to chronicle the journey. I had a road atlas strapped to the bags and a GPS installed on the bike. We knew we weren’t getting lost but if we did, who cared. We were off.

The rest, as they say, is history. Or more correctly, it's the contents of this blog. 10,000 miles through 21 states. Weather ranging from desert heat to the mountain cold and freezing rain. Amazing days and moments when I couldn't have felt more alive. Hours when I thought I could ride forever and instances when I just wanted to be in the comforts of my home. Some mornings when the old bones ached so that I wasn’t sure I could swing a leg over the saddle and other mornings when the road and sky beckoned and the bike flew like it was built for touring. There were nights when I wanted to sit up all night watching the stars and nights I was so exhausted I just wanted a comfortable bed.

I saw the most beautiful skies and the most colorful sunsets. I met the friendliest people who wanted to talk to the guys on the motorcycles from so far away. I learned that fear is best when I am aware of it and happy it's there but don't let it overwhelm me. I learned that we really don't need much to live on, but that good toys in their place are wonderful to have. I learned to love this country and its history and the pride of its people. I learned to love the road and appreciate the yearning for home.

I learned the importance of good gear. My riding suits for protection from the elements. A comfortable helmet that I wore for 12 hours a day. Gloves that kept my hands warm and dry. I learned that every time you drop your sunglasses, they will land on the lenses. I learned the importance of a good rain proof tent, its fly cover and my sleeping bag. And mostly I learned the importance of a tire patch kit. I’ve been carrying it for 15 years and never needed it till this trip.

I learned that it's good to have people who care about you. The emails, phone calls and comments to the blog meant so much to me while I was on the road, so thank you to those people.

After all that I have seen, there is still a certain longing for the things I missed. The cities I didn't see, the lakes I didn't swim in, the beers I didn't try and the people I didn't meet. But I could spend a thousand lifetimes exploring my world and still have the world to see. That just means there's always more road to ride. The people who tell me this is a "once in a lifetime experience" befuddle me: it will be very sad indeed if I don’t do this again. There will be many more journeys to come. I am the traveler and the road, and the journey is wherever I go.

And the most important thing I learned is that cancer has changed my life for the better. I realized life is finite and we all have an expiration date. A friend told me it’s the universe giving us a pinch to remind us life isn’t forever. I think it’s more like a punch. But don’t let it knock you down and out. Keep a good attitude and remember the big “C” stands for CURE. Enjoy life today. And remember……

Life is good.

Day 21 Home Sweet Home

Bike's in the garage and I'm in the recliner.
Please stop back one more time for the conclusion.
Life is good.


Total miles: 490 Butt factor: 2

Day 20 The Rhythm

We were up early and I had the bike packed by 7:00 AM. Before we left I decided to call home and talk to my wife for the daily status call. Her first question of each phone call the past 3 weeks has always been “How do you feel”. She worries about me. I understand why. She has a lot of care and emotion invested in me this past year. For the first time on the entire trip I told her I felt tired. I told her it was probably due to us heading home and the fact that the excitement of touring new places had worn off. At that moment I was actually dreading another long day with my skinny ass in the saddle. Soon after I hung up the phone we were on the road. It didn’t take long for the peace of mind feeling to come back again. You can't put a price on it. The rhythm of the road returned and I was scooting down the road, putting the miles behind me and feeling charged. One thing I’ve learned is that any day on a motorcycle is a good day.
We continued on interstate 90 through Wisconsin into Illinois. When we got to Rockford, IL we made the decision to take 39 south to interstate 80. We calculated it would be the longer way but it would bypass the Chicago area. We stayed on 80 into Indiana and then finished the day in Sandusky,Ohio.
The day started at about 64 degrees and cloudy. It remained cloudy all day but slowly climbed to about 75. As we approached the bottom of Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Gary, IN the temps started dropping again because of the winds off the lake. We drove most of the day in mid 60’s temperatures which helped make the riding very comfortable.
Tomorrow is the final ride of the journey. We’ve got about 500 miles to Delaware. The homecoming will be bitter sweet. It will be nice to be in the comforts of home but these 3 weeks went by way to fast.
Life is good.

Total miles: 649 Butt factor: 3

Day 19 The Road

The road map was first created soon after the invention of the automobile. Motorists were anxious to tour the country without frequently stopping for directions. I remember when maps were promotional give aways by the big oil and gas companies. Some state and local governments still give maps of their own to tourists, using them to promote the scenic wonders of the state, and perhaps enticing visitors to remain a few more days. We didn’t need a map today to get where we wanted to go. We made a right hand turn this morning onto interstate 90, drove 600 miles through South Dakota and Minnesota and stopped for the night when we crossed over the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.
We were on the road at 7:30 AM. The skies were over casts with some dark clouds mixed in with blue sky. Temperature was 64. The wind was gusting and blowing the bike around like a kite. I knew it was going to be a long day if I was going to have to muscle the 900 pound motorcycle around for 600 miles. Fortunately the sun came out after about an hour and burned the clouds off. The wind finally stopped and we had great weather the rest of the day.
I wish the roads were as good as the weather. There was too much construction going on in both South Dakota and Minnesota. I kept having second thoughts about turning around and not heading home yet. We reached La Crosse, Wisconsin and pulled into a Super 8 motel around 7:00PM.
Life is good.

Total miles: 602 Butt factor: 4

Day 18 The Rock

The sun was shining again when we woke up at 6:30. We’ve been very lucky with the weather while we’ve been riding for the past two and a half weeks. We’ve watched the weather reports on the news, it helps us to decide which way to go each day, and it seems it’s been raining everywhere in the country except over top of us. As we’ve been traveling we’ve seen huge dark clouds in the distance. The storms look right next to you but in reality are probably 50 miles away. Something you just can’t see on the east coast. We raced lightning and thunderstorms storms that were traveling along a mountain range as we rode along the valley floors. In Nebraska we saw the formation of a funnel cloud in a storm that was traveling parallel to our north. We even saw one weather phenomenon that we’ve never seen before. It appeared only a mile from us while we were in Nevada and it looked like an upside down funnel where the rain appeared to be flowing up instead of down. When I asked Tom “what was that?” He said I don’t know but I don’t like it. Let’s get out of here. When you ride you need to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. The weather gods have been good to us.
We left out of Douglas, WY this morning at 8:00 AM. It was 72 degrees and looked like it would warm quickly. Since I knew we were not riding into any elevations I decided to wear my Olympia Air Glide jacket and pants. Good choice. It stayed cool most of the morning and rose to 88 later in the afternoon.
We headed north on 58 out of Douglas. The 100 mile stretch was fast and straight. We rode past mile after mile of farmland used for raising horses, steer, goats and sheep. There were also a lot of wildlife along the route like deer and antelope. The road paralleled train tracks where we raced trains that carried coal and were as long as you could see.
When we reached the town of Gillette on interstate 90 were stopped for a quick breakfast and some gas. After a short ride on 90 we took 24 north towards the Black Hills National Forest.
We soon reached the most photographed piece of rock, the Devil’s Tower National Monument. What an impressive sight it was as we crested a hill and saw the rock for the first time. We stopped and took the one and a third mile walk around the rock as we snapped about a hundred pictures between us.
We continued north on 24 into Sturgis, SD were we then picked up interstate 90 east again to Rapid City. We followed 16 south to Mt. Rushmore. We were both a bit disappointed when we arrived and they wanted to charge a parking few even though we had purchased an annual national park pass. We decided to just drive through without parking and take some picture from some of the turnouts around the mountain. At one pull off we met the first people on the trip from Delaware. We sat for about 45 minutes and talked to the retired couple now living in Arizona. How ironic it was that we met them then because this was our last sight to see before heading east to Delaware.
We left Rushmore and headed back to 90 east. We stopped in Wall, SD for the night, home of Wall Drugs. For those who have never traveled in this area, Wall Drugs is the South of the Border of the west. There are billboards everywhere advertising the store.
Tomorrow we hope to be up early and supper slab it back east. Hoping to make it to Wisconsin by tomorrow night.
Life is good.

Total miles: 405 Butt factor: 3

Day 17 Iron Butt

There is an Iron Butt Association which is a group of motorcycle riders who are dedicated to long distance safe riding. In order to qualify for the exclusive club you have to ride 1000 miles in a 24 hour period and certify it with certain documents. This is just the minimum ride to join the club. There are others rides that are even longer and can last for many days. I have never done an Iron Butt ride and don’t have the desire to do one. However I feel Tom and I are some type of associate members. After 17 days on the road we have traveled 8000 miles and visited most of the western states except Washington, Oregon, and Texas. It doesn’t qualify for the IBA club but it sure qualifies for the Dream Come True club.
I received a wakeup call this morning at 5:30. It wasn’t the front desk at my request either. It was work from back home calling with a question. Claimed they forgot about the time difference. Oh well, I did tell them to call if they needed me.
As we were leaving Glenwood Springs at 8:00 AM, I saw the hot spring pool that the town is known for just before we got on I70. It was 55 degrees and this huge pool was full of people. People out west seem to be much more health conscious then back home. Outdoor activities are a life style around here.
We only took the interstate about 30 miles and it was really beautiful as it weaved through the base of the mountains, sometimes through tunnels and along a raging river. We looked on a map and saw this small road off the interstate that looked interesting. It had no route number but meandered north along the mountain range still following the river. As we got about 10 miles down the road it became all crushed stone for the next 12 miles. We then picked up 134 east which was a nice high speed twisty road. We came to route 40 and stopped in a small sportsman town named Kremmling for a quick snack and some gas. While we were there we spoke to a couple from Michigan who just came from Rocky Mountain NP. They told us it was in the 40’s up on top so we decided to but some warmer clothes on. We picked up 34 east and entered the park on the west side at Grand Lake. The drive through the park, except for some road construction, was spectacular. We climbed 12,200 feet over a mountain pass where the temperature dropped to about 48 and exited the park on the east side at Estes Park. We continued to Loveland and got on interstate 25 north bound through Cheyenne, Wyoming. We stopped around 6:30 in the town of Douglas, WY.
Tomorrow we’re heading north to the Devil’s tower and then east into the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Life is good.

Total miles: 418 Butt factor: 3

Day 16 Extremes

Today was a day of extremes. Temperatures, landscape, weather, you name it we saw some big swings. The first extreme is that Theis is not writing the post today, Tom is. I hope you will forgive the change in prose and literary style. Although Theis did tell me he would censor this before it made it to print.
We started the day in Durango, CO at the corner of Highways 550 and 160. Heading east to Pagosa Springs, we swung south on Hwy 64 into New Mexico just to visit the state. We rode through Chama, NM and headed northeast from Chama on Rte 17 past the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR. A narrow gauge coal fired historic passenger train that toured the San Juan National Forest. Our first stop came in Antonito, CO where we met an extreme of living standard but where I encountered an excellent breakfast burrito. The terrain from Durango to Antonito was mainly the rolling hills and ridges of the San Juan NF, with lots of cattle ranches and RV parks, but as we left Antonito, the terrain suddenly changed to the long flat plain of the San Luis Valley.
Our next stop was San Luis, CO, the county seat of Costilla County and the oldest city in Colorado. Founded in 1851, it was not the first colony, but is the oldest surviving one. Although still surviving, it is by no means flourishing with 22% unemployment. But the valley is surrounded on all sides by some beautiful scenery. With the Culebra range to the East, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the north and the San Juan mountains to the west, the views are spectacular in all directions. But the ride out of San Luis up through Fort Garland on 159 and then west on 160 to Alamosa where we turned North on Rte 17 was flat and in straight lines. An extreme contrast to yesterdays twisty mountain roads. At one point on route 17, we rode north for 40 miles watching a thunderstorm drift east toward us. It was a nip and tuck, but we got around the storm with just a few miles of precipitation.
Route 17 turned into 285 and then into 24 as we made our way north into the Rockies. Up to this point the weather was co-operating and we had most of the day in the high 60’s and low 70’s, but a big dark cloud was up ahead. With every turn of the road, we seemed to be steering into the storm. We turned west on Route 82 heading toward the Independence Pass, a 12 thousand foot pass, and our first time above the tree line. As we turned onto 82, we decided to don the raingear. At first it appeared that we would miss the rain as we wound up the steep narrow climb to the top. But, at the top as we pulled out to get a quick photo of the summit, the rain started. We had to make our way down a steep narrow road at 40 degrees in rain and hail; some nerve racking riding. Apparently not as bad as the bicyclist I followed down the mountainside. As I rode, I could hear him yelping as the cold rain and hail left him shivering in his shorts and t-shirt.
But we finally wound our way down from Independence Pass into Aspen and stopped for fuel. We seem to be getting high mileage out here. The ride from Antonito to Aspen was about 260 miles and we took on 4 gallons of gas. At the gas station, the proprietor suggested we stop in Glenwood Springs where we could find some good accommodations for a reasonable price. The trip to Glenwood Springs was about 40 miles, and we passed some extremely high dollar properties, and the Aspen airport where there was an endless line of private jets. One took off as we rode by, probably winging some executive back to the east coast on Sunday evening in time to be in the office on Monday morning.
We made it to Glenwood in just about 450 miles from Durango and stopped at a nice local place called the Caravan Inn where the pool, restaurant (and beer) were welcome refreshments to end the day. A day where we saw extremes of temperature from 40 to 87 degrees; altitude from just over 6K to 12K feet; wealth from Antonito to Aspen; weather from bright sunshine to thunderstorms and hail; terrain from the rolling San Juan NF to the flat plain of the San Luis Valley to the jagged peaks of the Rockies and the Independence Pass. They call Denver the mile high city. I guess that was a better tag line than the “lowest spot in Colorado”.
Well, I expect Theis will return tomorrow.

Total miles: 464 Butt factor: 1

Day 15 Chicken stripes and dragging pegs

We had 2 different plans for today depending on the weather. When we awoke the sun was shining. It was 52 degrees and the forecast for the day was sunny with a high of 70. Since we were staying at the same motel for another night we did not have to pack the bike with the extra weight of our luggage. For that reason we chose to ride the more challenging mountain loop. It was time to get rid of those chicken stripes on the new rear tire and drag some pegs through those mountain switchbacks.
After a quick gas stop and a tire pressure check, we headed north around 8:00 AM on 550 out of Durango. It’s known as the Million Dollar Highway. This road takes you into some high mountain passes with altitudes over 11,000 feet as you pass through the old mining towns of Silverton and Ouway. This is truly God’s country. I felt I was in motorcycle heaven as we passed beautiful mountain streams and waterfalls all along the route.
When we reached the town of Montrose, we turned east on 50 and headed to Gunnison. We then took 149 south through the Rio Grande National Forest. As we motored through the forest the large Cottonwood trees were shedding their cotton and as it drifted in the breeze it appeared as if it was snowing in June.
We picked up 160 west in South Fork and traveled through Pagosa Springs and Chimney Rock as we headed back to Durango. We arrived at home base around 6:00, cleaned the bugs off the bike and had some dinner again at the Texas BBQ place across the street.
Tomorrow we’re heading east and dropping down into New Mexico briefly before visiting San Luis where Tom’s family has some property.
Life is good.

Total miles: 402 Butt factor: 3

Day 14 T.G.I.F. part 2

When you’re riding a motorcycle for 10 to 12 hours a day you have plenty of time to think to yourself. During most of this trip my thoughts are as pleasant as the sights around me. Today was the second Friday that I’ve been on the road and my thoughts often returned to the dreaded days of last summer. Those Fridays will be forever in my mind but today the visual pleasures sure helped me to forget.
This morning our primary task was to get my rear tire fixed. We found a Honda dealer in Monticello which was about 20 miles North from where we were staying. We were in no hurry to get on the road because the dealership didn’t open till 9:00 AM. We left Blanding at 8:15 and arrived at 8:45. As we pulled into the parking lot we met a couple from Tennessee who were waiting to have their Goldwing repaired too. So Tom and I decided to go have some breakfast while we waited our turn. It was 11:30 when we finally pulled out of Monticello with my new Dunlop Elite III.
With a new confidence in my bike we took 191 North to 211. This is the entrance road to the Canyonlands NP. The colorful grandeur spires of cedar mesa sandstone that have been eroded over time, dominated the area. We left the park and took 46 east into the state of Colorado where it became 90. We continued till 90 became 145 and as we came over a mountain we could see the giant, white capped mountains of the Rockies. It was so nice to see mountains covered with green foliage again instead of the bare rock monuments we saw in Utah. As we drove into the mountains the air smelled so clean and fresh. It was obvious that the area has been receiving an abundance of rain because as we traveled along the creeks and streams at the base of the mountains, the waters were high and the current was fast.
We continued south on 145 past Telluride were we climbed to the elevation of 10,200 ft over Lizard Head Pass. I was literally higher than I’ve ever been, pure euphoria. We descended down into Cortez and took 160 east and arrived at our destination of Durango around 7:00 PM.
There are 2 possible loop rides we can take from here. One will take us east and then south into New Mexico and other north to Silverton and Ouray. So we’ll be staying here for 2 nights and deciding which ride to take depending on the weather in that direction.
Life is good.

Total miles: 365 Butt factor: 3