July 14 with Jaz, and July15, I'm now resting in Thermopolis,WY

It was a great day of riding when it was all finished. When we got up this morning, it was muggy, but had a little cloud cover, and a haze.


As we were getting ready to leave, we saw a red cardinal sitting on the wire. The cameras weren't ready. We'd had them in the room and when we brought them out and tried to use them they were all fogged up. Mine was still fogged up when we crossed the Missouri River, after having to pay a $1 per bike toll, into Nebraska and I wanted to take a photo of the Nebraska sign, Home of Arbor Day, for my boss, who is a Nebraskan and a Husker fan. So I'm going to show that photo anyway.

Home of Arbor Day.  We had to pay to get into Nebraska.

I saw a hen turkey along side the road. It's the only game I saw today.

This was at the Frontier HD in Lincoln, Nebraska.

We had lunch and I had a patty melt. That might have been the Western Tour food, but I just can't seem to get into anything. I keep wanting to go back to BLTs, but know I'd be so disappointed.

It started heating up. It was 82 at 7:46 a.m. when we got on the road and 88 degrees at 9 a.m. By 11:30 it was 92 … and just kept getting hotter. The warmest I saw during the day was 97 degrees at 1:40 p.m. I can tell you that my deodorant was not working today, and I lost another two water bottles. I also lost another bandage on my leg. Jaz says they can track us just from the trail of bottles and bandages I'm leaving behind. I cannot believe I'm losing all these water bottles. That is not the norm. And some of them have been brand new ones, the seal not even broken.

There's a lot of road construction going on in Nebraska, so we had to make a few detours. Zumo got us on a road that ended up closed due to construction. We finally got to another destination as we were too far out of the way to get to the original one. Worked out since it didn't really matter which place we were going to as we were looking to have breakfast.

Ended up with some wind but by the time we hit the Nebraska National Forest and gaining a little altitude, everything was perfect. It ride was absolutely excellent. We also had cloud cover off and on for most of the day and it really helped to keep some of the sun at bay.

There's been a lot of flooding in many of the states we've been riding through.

There was a lot of evidence of flooding in Nebraska, too. There were several corn fields that were just still standing, yellowed by too much water, and then dried out. It's sad to see crops that have been destroyed. I took a couple of photos of corn but am not sure how it was destroyed. The whole stock is not there, so don't know if they harvest only a part of them, or what. I kind of don't think so, but this was just really strange. I also saw a fence line that just wandered into the water, and cattle that are laying and standing in ponds and mud.

We saw a number of fields that had been destroyed.

I also learned that a milled surface is like our grooved pavement, except not as wiggley-wobbley. I learned, too, that Loup City is the Polish Capital of Nebraska. The sign said so.

We also have finalized our synchronized red light running. We had perfect synchronization when we ran a light that did not change for us … we did wait a while before we took off. Proper synchronization takes time and we had to wait for the proper count of 1 … 2 … 3.

Nice looking elk.

We stopped for gas near Thedford, at a Sinclair, Highway 2. Inside there were two elk mounts and several deer ones. The elk came from Wyoming and the deer from around there. I always take photos for Biker Bill cuz he likes to see them.

I like to see the elk, too.

Okay, last dead heads for the day, promise.

We saw lots of trains today, many more than any other day. They are mostly carrying coal, which I understand is in Wyoming. The best part is that we got most of them to give us a blast of the horn. YAY!!! Where we stayed tonight is right across from a train yard, so Jaz and I walked across and took train pictures.

Is there anything finer than a train?  Jaz and I got many of them to honk at us today.

Was very convenient to have these right across the street from our motel.

We saw hundreds of cars loaded with coal being transported by rail.

In fact, speaking of the trains, because there are so many railroad crews around and other construction, we had a hard time finding a room.

I talked to my friend, Jan in Montana, tonight. I plan to be at her place in Bozeman on Friday, so we'll have Friday and Saturday to visit. The Great White Hunter will list me to fly on Sunday, Bozeman, Minneapolis and Anchorage, so I may be home a day early. I'll leave Miss Scarlet at Jan's friend's house and while I'm gone she may be serviced so she's ready and waiting for me when I return a couple weeks later. I've promised Jan more time when I come back … she thinks we'll need lots more time to talk. We've not seen each other in a couple of years, and then it was only for an hour. It will be great fun, and we can totally catch up. She's got grandbabies, and I need to find out all about them. Plus everything else.

Tomorrow will be sad. Jaz and I have been traveling together for nearly three weeks, and together pretty much 24/7. As I sit here typing, she's in the other bed working on her story, too. That's what we do. It's been a great run and I'm sad that it's over. But we'll live to ride another day.

The post isn't going online tonight as the internet service is only in the laundry room and the pool area and I'm too lazy to go up there tonight, so I'll have to try to post tomorrow. It's 9 p.m., I'm tired and with that, we're all in.


July 15

Yellow flowers are my favorite.

Nobody died, no one was cranky and Zumo, the GPS, survived. It's a wonder as Zumo and I had some real issues over the past few weeks, but mostly during the past couple of days. I read signs, Zumo does her own thing. It was a great trip, but Jaz and I had to part ways this morning; she left at about 6:30 a.m. heading for California, and I left about 7 a.m. heading the other direction toward Montana.

I was wearing a sweatshirt and gloves this morning as it was a bit cooler. Of course, I immediately turned the wrong way out of the parking lot and had to turn around. I hate that. I went down and hit Highway 87 because I wanted to go see Carhenge, which is Nebraska's answer to Stonehenge. It's a replica of England's ancient alignment of stones that chart the phases of the sun and the moon. It was very interesting to see all of these vintage cars on end, buried in the ground. They are primarily from the 1950s and 60s, and the cars are about 7 feet wide, the same size as the standing stones of Stonehenge. I was the only one there so it was very cool.

The whole exhibit from a distance ... Carhenge.

This whole exhibit is amazing.

This was also at Carhenge.  I thought it a very neat piece.

So, what animals did I see today? I had a jackrabbit go in front of me, and what I think might have been a hen pheasant, although it looked like a roadrunner, so am not sure. I also saw more than a hundred antelope, a few herds of about twenty or so, and singles and four or five together. The most interesting thing I saw not too far off the road was a single antelope that was apparently being stalked by a coyote. I did not stop.

This is a loveable face.

Another antelope shot.

Some thoughts on things I saw today … a white-faced black cow lying down next to a fence looking straight at me with her yellow tags in her ears, a truck hauling hay going very slowly because it had a very flat tire, more construction in Nebraska than I think we have at home (also lots in Wyoming), heavy crosswind going one way, then the other once I changed direction (because there's nothing to stop it?). When I stopped to take photos I thought the bike would blow over …

How can you not like this little face?  When horns are small or non-existent, they don't seem nearly as mean lookingl.

What a ham this guy was.  It was like he wanted his photo taken.

Wyoming, trucks, guys with cowboy hats and lots of motorcycles. Ain't it great. I passed the Dave Johnston power plant at Glenrock. And the highest elevation sign I saw today was nearly 6,000 feet. No wonder most of my day was pretty pleasant riding. Mostly the speed limit was 75 mph, but I was running mostly 60-65. After all, I am still on holiday, and looking for photo support.

The Dave Johnston Power Plant.  It's actually in a very pretty setting.

Somewhere along the way I crossed the Big Horn River, which I think deserves a mention.

I stopped at the Casper shop, and as I was leaving, two women rode in on Sportsters. They had identical bikes, each pulling an identical trailer. They are teachers from Alberta taking a month to go to Texas and back … on a Sportster. I surely commend them.

Wind River, a beautiful ride along the river and in the canyon.

The Wind River Canyon is a beautiful ride, and I took it again. Years ago Biker Bill, his friend Bob and I raced a storm through the canyon trying to get to a motel so we wouldn't get soaked. This time was much more pleasant. There are three tunnels that you ride through, and lots of places to stop and take photos and look at the river and the rock formations.

One of the three tunnels.  You can see the other side from this end.

In the Wind River Canyon.  My bike looks really small.

So I'm here in Thermopolis, but not staying in the same place we stayed years ago, that was at the hot springs. I'm in a little motel called the Paintbrush Motel. It's very nice, and I'm in a new building with three rooms. The one I'm in is a handicapped room, so plenty of space, a huge shower, and even embroidered towels. My bike even gets to park under an overhang. Wow, got lucky again. I even let Vern out of the tour pack today to come in the room. He had not been very nice on previous days, saying things to Jaz, like “how ya doing baby?” So he pretty much was in time out most of the trip.

This is a very nice room.

Vern  was checking out where we'd been today in comfort.

Covered parking is always a plus.  You never know when it will rain.

Embroidered towels just add a touch of class.

Walked about a mile down the street to have some barbecue, and back. I should not have walked so far as I got overheated. Oh well. The air conditioner is a great one and I can set the thermostat to whatever I want. Had it set on 66 and had to turn it up warmer, if you can believe that.

Welcome to my good friend, Tom, the Zookeeper. Many miles we've traveled together, too.

So I'm fed, I'm in a nice room, and I'm all in.

Corn, cows and country music

Sounds like a country Western song. And I guess that's about where we are. Awoke to blue sky with some sun and a few clouds. We were wishing for some clouds as it takes some of the heat out of the sun and isn't nearly so hot. We're suffering, and it's only high 80s, low 90s.
Spot on? Yep, and we were ready to roll, to the corn and the road west.

Had to stop at the Harley shop, Reiman's, in Kewanee, Ill.  It was the perfect photo, Harley-Davidson bar and shield, a white bagger, an American flag and a water tower with the name of the town.

We got around Viola, Illinois, and I had to take a photo of a 10th year anniversary flocking. It was really too cute.

Ya just gotta love tacky pink flamino lawn ornaments.

From there we decided to go see the Lock & Dam #17, with the Dell Butcher tug. Little did we know that it was four miles in, and some of that road was not the best, gravel, dirt. But we got there without an incident, only to find that the area is locked and we couldn't get in. We wandered down a road and there was an open gate, so we took photos from there.

Got a photo anyway.  Not sure of what all there is.

The might river herself.

Big tug, little tug.  There are several of the small ones on the grounds.  Kind of cool.

Continuing on our way toward Muscatine, which is on the border of Illinois and Iowa, we saw a yellow crop duster, swooping up and down, and around. At the bottom of his swoop he'd drop his dusting onto the crops. Was cool to see, and the yellow airplane was very pretty.

We also saw a tug pushing a barge on the Ole Mississip, and a big doe ran across the road in front of us, from a cornfield on the right-hand side of the road to a cornfield on the left-hand side of the road. I'm sure the corn was much better on the left-hand side.
We decided it was time to eat and stopped at Columbus Junction. There were several Mexican restaurants, and that should have been a clue. We went into one and found that while it was a restaurant, it was also a Hispanic store. The parents spoke only Spanish though their son spoke English. He helped us order as the menu was in Spanish and a little hard for us to decipher. I told him I couldn't eat really hot stuff, so ended up with a guarache. It was a puffy flour tortilla with chicken, cilantro, cheese, onions, tomatoes and. Guacamole. While we were waiting for our food they brought out chips and a kind of salsa I'd never seen before, kind of like the regular ones we're used to, but with pieces of avocado in it, too. It was very good.
The lunch wasn't bad, but as other Hispanics came in they looked at us as if to ask what we were doing there. We finally figured out that we had wandered into a Hispanic community. So, off we went on our road trip.

It seems as though we've been running through corn fields for days now. There is another crop that seems to grow along side the corn, or across the road from the corn, but we don't know what it is. We need to find out. It almost looks like spinach from a distance.

I think I saw an eagle today, though, as it was dark with a white head. I also saw an owl, and we both saw a pelican. That was pretty cool.
But the road is straight, so much so that I figure I could go back into the trunk to make a sandwich and leave the bike on auto pilot. You find yourself wishing for a curve, something, to break the monotony. However, the countryside is beautiful and continues to be green … mostly with the corn plants.

There's been a lot of flooding, with the Des Moine River way high, and trees in the water. I'd heard that some of the places we've been through have flood watches, so we've gotten through just in time, although I'd expect that last night's rain might have caused some flooding. There was still water around from it this morning. We've seen crops that have been ruined because of the rain, mud and areas that are still wet that you know are not normally that way.

We've also seen multiple wind generation farms today, in Illinois and Iowa. We rode amonst them, the gentle giants with their blades slowly turning. I do enjoy seeing them, and hope we get some at home someday, too. I don't find them offensive at all, but beautiful in their own way.
One other thing I've noticed, not just today, is that the guys have their big farm equipment, and the women have their riding mowers.

The heat isn't as bad as it was in Vermont as it's not so humid, but it's still taking its toll on us. We arrive at our motel in the evenings wringing wet and exhausted. But we are continuing to make our way across the good old US of A in a timely manner. I want to be in Montana at my friend's place by Friday evening. Jaz needs to continue on back to California.

I've created a new bottle holder ... my water is in the front of my vest.

Of course, drinking a lot of water creates the problem of what to do with the empties. My solution was to put them down the back of my T-shirt, and pull them out when we arrived at the next gas stop. I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, I'm sure.

My job right now is to ride, and ride I am. Enjoying it, almost disliking it sometimes when the wind is blowing you sideways and you're racing hellbent, one step ahead of the rain, or nearly so. But it is a challenge, and so far, Jaz and I have met it head on and come out ahead. We've ridden in way more sun than bad weather. Hopefully it will continue like that.

Just so no one thinks I've forgotten, here's a shovel that would look mighty good on my bike, quite similar to the one I pack now.  So be very afraid.  This photo is from the motorcycle museum at the shop the other day.

We've stopped to see a number of memorials.  Most of them have cannons.  Really like cannons.

This memorial was a bit different, and was a part of the dedication just above.  It was for multiple wars, not just Viet Nam.

Yep, a cannon.  How can you not like something that looks so perfect an image.

Another memorial in the town where we had breakfast yesterday, Famoore's.

Lockheed Martin, the blimp hangar I mentioned yesterday.  I couldn't post photos because I'd run out of room and had to fix that little issue.  Thank goodness for Jaz, my attending computer nerd. Otherwise there'd never be a post.

A clock from Oil City.  There are a lot of these free standing clocks around.  This one is cool, "Gush with Pride."  It's oil country, you know.  The Hub of Oildom ... pretty interesting saying.

This time it's a one-trick turtle rather than a one-trick pony.  She stayed on for the required 8 seconds or whatever it is.

Another one of those cute little elephants.

And so, we are all in.

We woke up to a morning that did not promise to be a great one. While there was a little sun, it was mostly cloudy and overcast, and more of it was in the direction we were going. But it was definitely cooler, probably about 70 degrees, so was just wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and a hoodie. No gloves, and I was a little on the cool side, but it was nice.

Just leaving Findlay off to the right I saw a little critter, and I'm thinking it was a groundhog or something. It was sitting up on its haunches like a prairie dog does, but it appeared to be bigger. Cool.

Then I saw an old tree that was dead and topped off, with a carving of a bear in it. We weren't stopping do to much photo taking, though, since we need to get some miles in.

I had phoned home the evening before and Biker Bill said his sister, Janet, who lives in Michigan would be just above where we were when we crossed over I-75. I said I didn't know where that was. Well, first thing this morning, probably not 2 minutes after leaving the hotel, we crossed over I-75. Duh. I probably could have seen it from the hotel if I'd been looking for it.

Today we did a couple of the Harley shops. They are known as my Harley T-shirt tours as I've always tried to stop at a bunch of them. I like to get the little dip dots to put on a map at home as it shows a lot of the places I've been over the years. We stopped first at the Ottawa, Ohio, shop. It was very nice, but the best part is that they have a museum out back with lots of Harley memorabilia, and bikes. It was pretty neat so I took a few photos.

There were many cool bikes.  Loved the color on this one although it does not show up well.  It's a rich turquoise color.  I bought a shirt that color today.  YAY!!

1940s Hill Climber

1942 WLA 13,051 produced

We were riding along, and on the right hand side of the road, in the grass, there was a little gray kitty. He was all hunched down in stealth mode as there had been a bunch of little birds there. He was not having any luck right then.

At 9:40 a.m., it was 73 degrees.

As we were riding along, we were going to pass a vehicle. Probably a good thing he put on his left turn signal, as we didn't pass. There was a cop shop right there, and you know we might have been going just a little over the posted speed in order to get out, get by and get back in.

I've seen a couple of longhorn cattle on this trip. One of those was today. Seems unusual since I associate those more with Texas.

We rode all day with the corn, in all stages of growth. Some is very new, some is just getting the ears started, and others have what seem to be well-developed ears. I kept expecting the characters from the 1984 movie, “The Children of the Corn” to come walking out of the acres and acres of corn that we saw today. The movie is about children murdering adults, and participating in a cult that worships a malevolent force in the corn fields. I've never seen the movie myself since it's a terror show and those scare me.

Nah, actually the corn was beautiful, and it's hard to visualize how much corn comes from all the  plants we've seen, or to understand how many people it takes to eat all of it. I only recently learned to like fresh corn on the cob, but know I can eat about a half-dozen ears by myself at a sitting … with real butter and salt and pepper.

I made Jaz stop in the town of Markle, Indiana, because of the smiley face on the water tower. That's what we look like on a day of riding … good, bad or indifferent. Actually, Jaz and I are riding in Two Bike and Wrongway's old turf … Indiana. It's pretty around here, and some beautiful rivers. I still need mountains, though, and don't see anything resembling one here. Maybe in a part of the state where I am not???

Riding always makes me smile; what about you?

As we continued our journey for today, we saw a statue of liberty as a lawn ornament. It wass great, probably 3 or 4 feet tall. I was impressed, because that was in Indiana, near Markle. That town has lots of interesting things.

In Huntington, a little further down the road, we saw a sign for the Dan Quayle Museum. Geez, really sorry we missed that one.

Now Wabash was a great little town. We visited the Harley shop, and folks were so nice to us. The name of the shop is Brandt's. So, Robin, any relation? The lady who waited on me said they'd been the Number 8 dealership in 2008, the Number 9 in 2009, and were currently in the Number 5 slot for 2010. That's pretty cool. Wonder what the criteria is for that. I should have asked her.

We also took the opportunity to have lunch, and I let Jaz have Mexican food today. It was good, and in visiting downtown, we saw some little elephants all painted up, like the parade of Wild Salmon. These elephants were not full size, probably only about 2 feet high, 3 feet long. But there were about eight or so of them. In their midst were two larger elephant statues, gray in color like real elephants. Turns out school kids painted these elephants for in front of the coffee place, Modoc's. There's a story about an elephant named Modoc who in 1942 was visiting Wabash with the circus. Modoc escaped and smelled some freshly roasted peanuts. She smashed through the doors at the drug store and ate the peanuts. She then went on a five-day rampage through two counties. Her escapades made headlines across the country and she became the most famous elephant in America for one week in 1942.

There's just something about an elephant that is hand-painted by school kids.

Jaz's GPS and I are going head-to-head today more than usual. Zumo (the GPS) wants to take us on weird roads, and interstates. I read signs, and more than once asked Jaz about the direction we were heading. Zumo is a city girl, and she's great there. She's not so great in the outback, and map and sign reading are more practical. We had to make several turnarounds.

At Wolcott, the temperature at 3 p.m. was 85 degrees. The nice thing is that we gained an hour again.

Near Remington, Illinois, we saw a couple of wind farms, then near Gilman, there were two trucks transporting wind turbine blades. They certainly needed the entire road. That was cool. We saw several wind farms today. I always like to see them. It makes me feel like I'm amongst gentle giants, whoosh, whoosh.

We were ready to stop for the night, but no where around had motel/hotels. We ended up coming to Kewanee. The sky had gotten really dark, and then the wind started to kick up really hard. It was a race with the storm to see if we'd get wet before finding a hotel. The rain started as a sprinkle, but we saw lightning in the distance. Just as we pulled under the entry way to the hotel, it started to pour. We got very lucky in that we didn't have to ride in that. It would have been treacherous. And we even got to park under it … the gal working the front desk was very kind.

So, after eating an apple and peanut butter, and working on this, we are all in.

July 10 and July 11

July 10


Seneca Falls was where we spent the night. We ordered up a pizza and salads and were happy as could be, watching it rain all evening. Seneca County is set between two lakes, Seneca Lake on the west and Cayuga Lake to the east. It's called the county between the lakes and gets its name from the Seneca Indian tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy. For the wine drinkers, the county hosts more than 20 of the 78 wineries located in the Finger Lakes region.

This morning the bikes were still soaked although the parking lot and road were basically dry. We took off a little before 8 a.m. as we were going to breakfast and heading for the Geneva shop to see about getting services.

As we rode along you could appreciate the history of the area – distinctive homes, with character, and style, towns with buildings made of brick, memorials and museums everywhere. It's all a piece of history and you want to stop and spend some time.

We stopped for breakfast in the little town and walked around a bit before getting on the road to the shop. I met a red Golden Retriever named Oakley who bosses his people around. Usually Goldens are the ones who want to please. But, as usual, it's owner-error. Oakley would talk and grumble about things his people would do, and they promoted and rewarded that behavior. So now Oakley talks and complains and orders them about constantly. He was such a nice boy, though.

Such a pretty boy.

We viewed the Erie Canal from our walk, and a couple of factories that are no longer in use. Sad to see old, abandoned buildings, but we have many of them at home, too. There are statues outside of a lot of buildings, which is really kind of cool.

The Erie Canal and an abandoned factory.

Statues outside of an Oriental restaurant.

Some guy running for state senator, Nozzolio or something, had a big red, white and blue-painted deer in his window. Had to have a photo of that, even a bad one, for you, Big White Hunter!!! The guy also has promoted parks and veteran memorials. He must not be all bad.

Really liked the red, white and blue.  They do the deer on parade.

We see flags everywhere here, outside of homes, businesses, along the roads on light poles and such. It makes me feel good to see them and know that patriotism is not dead.

Lots of flags on businesses, homes, light posts, everywhere.

It's a grand old flag.

What's not to love about lawn ornaments?  And why do I always look for deer??

There are not quite so many lawn ornaments, although I did see a few faded pink flamingoes, my personal favorite, thanks to Uncle Glen and his band of hooligans and their flamingo caper years ago. But today I took photos of a couple of favorite lawn ornaments I saw. There have been some truly distinctive ones that I saw and did not get – a small oil derrick, a bicycle with a basket filled with flowers and a bathtub set upright, and half buried in the dirt. I really should have gotten a photo of that one since I don't know if anyone would believe what I saw. I've seen plastic draft horses, cows, deer, a whole team of horses with a wagon and driver that must have been 7 feet long or better across someone's front lawn. I also saw an old couch, but maybe that wasn't really a lawn ornament. They do go all out in some places with their lawn ornaments. In fact, some folks think more is better and put an abundance of them in their yards. I really enjoy looking at them, though, and look forward to seeing lots more of them.

This one had it all ... lawn ornaments and  flags.

Welcoming lawn ornaments.

This one got my vote for the day.

There are some working factories, too, and you can smell whatever it is they are doing. Not so nice a smell as some things. As we came around a part of Lake Seneca, which is the deepest of the Finger Lakes at over 600 feet, you could see there were some big goings on, as there was a huge long line of cars waiting to get in, and traffic directors, cars already in the parking lot. Glad we were on the other side and going the other way.

An old church bell.

Just as we were near the Harley shop, I saw an old guy on the shoulder with what looked something like a sports equipment bag, red, white and blue, I might add. He was hitchhiking, and had a sheen of sweat on his face. What's an old guy doing hitchhiking? That's a young person's mode of transportation. I felt sorry for him and wished I'd had a seat for him, and I am definitely not the kind of gal that picks up strangers. Shoot, I don't even pick up people I know, as some will attest to.

In East Bloomfield, just a little west of Geneva, there were cars parked for a city block on both sides of the road. Turns out there was a yard sale at some fancy house, and furniture lined up on both sides of the driveway. People were out of their cars two-by-two and walking to get to it. There were a lot of yard sales today. Almost wanted to stop and check out a few as it looked as though there was some good stuff. Just a little further on there was a big antique show and more yard sales. Cars were again parked all over.

This is all called the Finger Lakes area, and it's big on antique and antiques. There are also a lot of wineries in the area. It's made up of several counties, including Cayuga that boasts a history made up of the underground railroad, the building of the Erie Canal and the invention of talking films.

We rode through Waterloo, officially recognized as the birthplace of Memorial Day. It set a Guiness World Record for the most flags, 25,898, flying in a small community on May 29, 2000. I love that.

Made the shop in Geneva and they could do oil changes, but not a full service for me. We were happy to get what we could, and mosied on after that, heading west, and then south to get around Lake Erie.

Lots and lots of corn today.

We saw field after field of corn. Lots of sweet corn, versus what kind? Animal feed corn, I suppose, for sale. Stopped to get gas at a traveller monument, and I changed from my sweatshirt to my long-sleeved white shirt. It's still damp from the drenching it got yesterday, but it felt good then. It's actually a perfect riding day, shirt sleeves, 80 degrees and maybe a little more. It's super comfortable on the moving bike, not so much when stopped. At least today isn't humid like the weather we've been seeing and riding in.

It's cool to see things like this.

I'm still not sure I understand the significance of the white horse, though.  There's also one here on the water tower.

Riding along I decided to put my camera around my neck for quick and easy access. Then the strap pulled on my neck so I put it partially inside my shirt, which is a snap-button type. I hit a hard bump and that camera went flying and down, opening all the buttons. So, had to make a slight adjustment, and also pay a little more attention to the road. We grumble about our roads, but in this country we've seen lots of bumps and loads of tar snakes, and they make you sit up and take notice when you hit them. They're everywhere, literally.

Near a place called Knapp Creek we stopped to take a photo of a weather vane, and there was a big old draft-type horse rolling for pure joy. Had to have a photo of him because he was so enjoying himself. He got up, shook himself off and went about his business.

Big old draft horse.  You could hear him groaning with pleasure at his rolling around in the grass.

He was a fine looking animal.

A Harley shop appeared on the road in Varysburg, so had to go in. This must have been a very Golden day because there was a Golden Retriever in this shop. His name is Road King Mellow Yellow, Roady for short. One of his ancestors was named Mellow Yellow after Kyle Petty's NASCAR sponsor. He was a great meet and greeter for the shop. Two of these wonderful dogs in a day to talk to and pet. Think I'm having Beagle withdrawal.

He's a handsome boy, and smiling for me.

Stopped for a late lunch in Java, NY, and I'm thinking that maybe the Western Tour Sandwich might really be a club sandwich. It's not as heavy as a meatloaf sandwich although I kind of like the thought of doing meatloaf in honor of Biker Bill and to see if I can find meatloaf that is better than JGayle's. Anyway, the club I had was okay, but I'm sure not the best. I'll keep trying.

Stopped in Bradford, on our way south, for gas. This guy on a Road King shows up to talk to us. He was da man, looked like a hockey player (and I don't mean in stature) and was going to register his bike in Florida because he had had a DUI which was cuz the cops were picking on him. He'd only had three beers. Right. Don't the cops have systems that follow you no matter where you go? He gave us advice about a road to follow. Not the best since it took us somewhere else rather than where we had intended originally to go. But we came out in a good place anyway, and are still headed in the right direction.

We are now in Pennsylvania and the Allegany National Forest. The air became cooler and fresher, and here we are staying in Kane, home of Coach Chuck Daly (1930-2009), an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons (bet you knew this, Hobbs) to consecutive NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, and the Dream Team to the men's basketball gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Just a cool thing we happened across, from the Parade of Deer, Lakota.

Today I really wanted to find lawn ornaments and weather vanes. We've seen some interesting ones. Even some churches have weather vanes, and many are elaborate. It's a shame that rather than weather vanes, that satellite dishes and TV antennas are now taking their place. The vanes are an instrument for showing the direction of the wind, and typically are used as an architectural ornament for the highest point of a building. They are partly functional, but generally decorative. The traditional cockerel design with letters indicates the points of the compass. I found that finding a chicken weather vane was not easy. I have only seen one. Other common motifs include ships, arrows and horses. And not all weather vanes have a pointer. The word vane comes from the Anglo-Saxon word fane, meaning flag.

This is the plain old north, south, east and west type.

The horse vane.

The plain arrow style.

This one was atop a church.

This had been a weather vane at one time.

As we go along during the day you think of things you want to write about, based somewhat on what you've been seeing, like the lawn ornaments and flags. Then you set yourself up to find the perfect, or near-perfect, shot. It's like a puzzle each day, finding the solution first, then looking for the pieces to make it happen.

A statue on a county building.

While this photo doesn't show her from the front, it shows the magnificent detail and the gold coloring.

The place we stayed had this deer head.  The guy is a bow hunter.

And so I know that my Great White Hunter can appreciate this sign.

And so, dear friends, for this evening, we are all in.



July 11

Well, last night's blog didn't happen. All of the text was finished and I was in the middle of choosing photos. The lights went out, came on, went out, came on, and then went off for good. We waited a minute, and then I went out to the bike and got the handy, dandy little flashlight Biker Bill had given me to take on the trip. It worked great. I was able to find the candle I had, and so we could at least shut down the computers and move around a bit.

The manager was out and about with a flashlight and in a while said the power company told them a tranformer had failed and the power would be back on about 2:30 a.m. (Sounds like one of my stories.) It went out somewhere around 10:30 p.m. The guy at the place next door turned on his generator, but we were determined to go to sleep. Not much else to do. So not thinking I could sleep, I was out like a light in almost no time. I don't even know when the generator went off, and slept well. Jaz said the lack of a generator woke her and she turned off the lights and all. I know nothing about that.

This motel was the first we had that used natural air conditioning. Was hot at first but we got a cross breeze going, and in a couple of hours were a-okay.

My burns are still not the greatest, so we used one of the medical kits and put some burn salve on the one on my thigh. The one on my calf seems to be healing. Jaz says she thinks they''re second degree burns. So now I'll probably scar up. Good thing I'm not entering these legs in some million dollar leg contest.

It was cooler this a.m., probably in the 50s, and so it was time for my jacket and gloves. We stopped to do a photo … a metal grate bridge on the Allegheny River for Daisy Korn. Added my fleece neck gaiter as the cool air down the front of my jacket was just a little too cool.

This one's for Daisy Korn, who hates grated bridges.

This propane tank had horns on it, so a photo for Biker Bill today.

The little towns we went through were very sleepy this morning. So sleepy, a dog was a bit perturbed when we came along and he had to move from his spot where he was lying in the middle of our lane. A most beautiful ride.

The Allegheny River.

At Tionesta on Highway 62, the main street had flags and yellow ribbons tied onto each lamp post. Remember the song, Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree? That's the 1960s song by Tony Orlando and Dawn about a guy who went away and wondered if his girl would want him when he came back … and it's since been used for folks who have gone away and their loved ones await their return.
(As recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn)

IRWIN LEVINE

L. RUSSELL BROWN
I'm comin' home I've done my time
Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine
If you received my letter tellin' you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do if you still want me
If you still want me.

Woah tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do ya still want me
If I don't see a ribbon round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us
Put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree

Bus driver please look for me
'Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see
I'm really still in prison and my love she holds the key
A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free
I wrote and told her, please

Woah tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years do ya still want me
If I don't see a ribbon round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us
Put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree

Now the whole damn bus is cheering
And I can't believe I see
A hundred yellow ribbons round the ole oak tree


There's a little more to it, but you get the idea. The yellow ribbons were awesome.

So we were on the open road, and I mean open. Jaz and I were pretty much the only folks out there this morning. It was great. You could look into the forest, but not see very far. It was very, very dark in there the trees were so thick.

NO MORE PHOTOS TODAY / SERVER IS REJECTING THEM FOR SOME REASON.

We stopped in Oil City to eat at about 10 a.m. … on a funeral home I saw a sign that said drive safely; we can wait. I liked it. We ate at a restaurant called Famoore's Family Diner. We walked in and there is this amazing collection of Franklin Mint models … cars, trucks, you name it. There were Fords, Chevys, my favorite 1957 Chevy, an XKE Jag, red, that looked like the 1969 one I had years ago, woodies, Corvettes, vintage Thunderbirds (1955, 56, 57, the one with the porthole), Model Ts, military vehicles. I counted as best I could and figured there were more than 350 of the models. That is quite a collection, and very, very impressive. They were all behind glass on shelves, and I enjoyed seeing them.

After breakfast we saw a memorial, with cannons, and of course, had to take a few photos. There are lots of cannons in this country. I don't know that we have a single one at home.

I was also happy because I finally found my emery board and could fix all the jagged and broken nails. I felt nearly human again. Sometimes it's the little things.

At 11 a.m. it was 80 degrees, and time to take some clothes off. The gloves, the jacket, the neck gaiter, all packed away.

As we go along, we wave at everyone. It's interesting to see the looks, and a lot of times the double takes … two females on bikes, big bikes. Oh yeah. I just smile. Today just felt good out there, sun and not too hot for most of it, riding winding roads along a river in a long-sleeves shirt … no jacket, no electrics. Makes it easy to be nice to others. We didn't see many women riders until we got to Ohio, and there are more riding their own. Go Alaskan women, you rock, cuz you ride.

In Youngstown, Ohio, I saw a huge transmission structure right next to a house … and supposedly people worry about EMF … electric and magnetic fields. Maybe not so much. I also saw a rescue mission with bars on the windows and a place in Berlin Center, Ohio, called Noah's Lost Arc, which might have been cool to visit. It's a no-kill sanctuary for unwanted and abused exotic animals, and is dependent upon donations and admission fees to feed and care for the animals.
Near Akron we saw the Lockheed Martin blimp hangar. Jaz says there are very few left, maybe only three. She had me Google Moffett for more information, but there's more than I can put in here. So I've got a photo and a site below you can look on if you're really interested. It was a very cool building, though. Would be neat to see the inside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moffett_Federal_Airfield

We kept on going. On the Interstate, where we were for a short time, there was a truck in front of us in the right lane, smoking from the top. Jaz was passing, and I snugged up to her and was hollering, go, go, go. I didn't trust the truck as I didn't know why it was smoking. We got past it and left it in our dust.

Stopped for gas and water. I figured my head would get sunburned, so took my buff headband and got my auntie look going. It helps, though, and I can't afford to get my head burned. Got too much other stuff burned right now. I can only do a few things at a time, and worry about a few things at a time.

At Sullivan, on Highway 224, in Ohio, we pulled over to take photos of a veteran's memorial. It's all about the cannons today. We both like them.  By this time we had decided to stay in Findlay, but as we approached we both needed a restroom. Jaz said there were some hotels, and I told her gas station first, hotels second. So, we did find a gas station. Close call.

So we're in the hotel, we went to the store and got some fruit and cheese, and are now all in.