Day 7 - Louisville, KY to Belvidere, IL ( 445 miles)

Well, today was our last day of the trip and it was a heck of a ride, that's for sure. There were no curvy roads, not much for fabulous scenery, no small animal encounters and no unexpected nice surprises. What we did have was all interstate driving and the fun of fighting heavy winds for the entire day.

When we started out in the morning it was partly sunny through Indiana and didn't look like too bad of a day. It was windy and there was a lot of traffic all the way up until we hit Indianapolis, but it was in the 70's and fairly decent weather.

We headed West at Indianapolis and rode about 50 more miles with Dad before he peeled off to head North to Valparaiso. By that time the clouds were really thickening and there were no more sun spots peeking out anywhere. The temperature was also dropping and we all added some layers to get us through.

Steve and I continued on and crossed in to Illinois. We stopped for lunch and a little break in Urbana and then got back on the road to punch through the rest of our miles. We continued fighting the wind the entire day. It was so strong and consistent that it knocked 10mpg off of my fuel consumption. Geesh! I actually started running out of gas and had to flip to reserve to make it to the next gas station. Also, the further we traveled the darker the clouds got and the more the temperature dropped. It was about 55-60 degrees out and getting pretty darn chilly. We bundled up as much as we could and tried to out run the very dark clouds to our immediate left. We were able to pass the first one that looked like it was dumping rain on the farms in the distance, but as we came up on the second dark cloud we weren't so lucky. We were traveling on the very edge of it and I thought we might make it, but then we started to get some light rain. Steve pulled us off on the next exit and I thought we were going to put on our rain suits but instead we turned East away from the storm and spent the last 60 miles or so working our way home on country roads. So smart! We managed to stay dry for the rest of the ride in, though it did add some additional miles and time to our trip.

We pulled in to Steve's around 8pm and high-fived each other for our great job at not getting wet with so many rain clouds around us. We warmed up inside for awhile before unpacking our bikes and going to get gyros at Uncle Nicks. Yum! Memory meat! We checked in with Dad to make sure he arrived at his destination safely and we are all officially "safe and sound" after another motorcycle adventure. We put a total of 2247 miles on the bikes in 7 days. Not too shabby :)

Not many pictures from today, but you can click here to see them.

Well folks, that's it! Thanks for reading along with us and we'll be sure to let you know about next years trip.

Day 6 - Middlesboro, KY to Louisville, KY (forgot to check the mileage)

Last night a big thunderstorm rolled through, but when we woke up it was warm and sunny and there wasn't much rain in the forecast for our trip back to Louisville. We started our morning trying to upload updates to the blog because our rooms couldn't access the wi-fi last night. We sat in the lobby and did our chores and finally hit the road around 11am.

Right out of the gate, our route put us back on one of those back country roads in the mountains with all of the hairpin turns, not so great pavement and lots of coal trucks. I wasn't really ready to concentrate so much on my driving so I was going really slow and not having as much fun as I should have. Once we completed several climbs and descents over the mountains we got back on to less crazy, but still curvy country roads for the rest of our day. The majority of our ride was spent under cloud cover but there were a few sun spots along the way to brighten things a little.

Around 2pm we were getting hungry for lunch and Steve spotted signs for the Lake Cumberland Resort. After crossing the lake via the Wolf Creek Dam, we drove in the 5 mile entrance road to the resort to check it out. It turned out to have a nice little restaurant with a great view of Lake Cumberland. We got a table right by the window and enjoyed some good food while we watched boats and jet skis having fun on the water. It was a nice little surprise to our day, to find this beautiful state park and resort. Good job Steve!

After lunch we continued making our way back up to Louisville. We did some more of the Daniel Boone National Forest and got to gaze at beautiful, green, rolling countryside all day long. Our route took us up through Fort Knox which was kind of cool. Steve was able to snap some shots of the depository as we went by.

From there the rest of our ride in to Louisville was dealing with traffic through the suburbs. We made it to our hotel, had some dinner and now that's another day done. Tomorrow Steve and I ride back to his house and Dad makes his way up to Valparaiso, IN to meet Sandy for her class reunion this weekend. It's going to be an all highway day for us as we have about 400 miles to get back home. We'll post tomorrow night and share the last of our trip with you all.

Click here for pics from today.

Pictures from Day 4 - Tail of the Dragon and Cherahola Skyway

Finally uploaded the pictures from this day. Click here to check them out...

Tail of the Dragon

Kristi had the idea of posting the whole "Tail of the Dragon" video for those that wanted to see it. If you watch it you will be amazed at how fast we went through it....no, really....I swear I didn't use the double speed video option to compress a 20 minute video down to 10 minutes

Day 5 - Bryson City, NC to Middlesboro, KY (238 miles)

We woke up to a sunny morning and the mountain view from the little Ridge Top Motel was quite impressive. When went to pack up our bikes we found that the manager had kindly layed towels over all three of our seats to keep the dew off of them overnight. Nice service!

We checked out and headed down a fun little road that led us in to Cherokee, NC for breakfast. What's that you say? What's my favorite motorcycle road ever? Oh, well that would be the Blue Ridge Parkway, of course! So I was thrilled to learn that Steve planned for us to ride a section of it on this trip. We hopped on at Cherokee, which is where it begins, and rode it about 70 or so miles up to Asheville, NC. This is one of the best sections of the Parkway as it winds up and through the mountains with beautiful vistas on both sides as you curve your way through. It also has lots of neat stone tunnels and we honked in every single one of them. Steve pulled us off at one of the many overlooks and it happened to be the same one he chose the last time we were there. It's called Bunches Bald Overlook and I made him do the same pose he did before, stand behind the sign pointing at his balding head :)

We motored along further down the Parkway, enjoying the ride. We saw a little convoy of old cars coming the other direction which was cool. We pulled over again for a break and to soak up some sunshine after riding through chilly clouds in the higher elevations. This is when Dad jinxed us while he was talking to Sandy on the phone by saying "..and it hasn't even rained yet!". Nooooooo! Steve and I immediately gave him grief but the words had already been spoken and nothing could be done but wait....

So..we finished up and said goodbye to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville. We began heading west taking some pretty country highways through some beautiful scenery. We stopped in Newport, TN for gas and it was so warm that it seemed to me like a perfect time for Dairy Queen. Steve consulted Sally and lo-and-behold there was one just down the road. Perfect! This is now an official trip! We enjoyed our blizzards and soaked up some of the air conditioning before heading back out. We also checked the radar maps on my blackberry and saw a big ugly patch of storms in the direction we were traveling. We of course blamed Dad...

It was still sunny in Newport though, so we continued heading West towards the Cumberland Gap Tunnel (yes, we already went through that a couple of days ago. We're riding in circles). We began to see the clouds getting a little darker as we went and then at one point the road curved North and took us over a big hill and there they were. Big, dark, heavy storm clouds and the rain started to fall. Steve began looking for a place to pull over but we were in between towns and he could only find a little side road to get us off the 4 lane highway. We pulled off and were just beginning to put on our rain suits when this woman yelled at us from up the hill saying we should come in out of the rain. We gladly took her up on her offer as the rain started pouring down on us. She had this little hair salon located at the end of an old flea market building and it was comfy inside with plenty of chairs and a cushy sofa. Her power was out for a while but when it came on she made us some coffee and we sat and chatted with her until her next client arrived. She was so kind to let us wait out the bad weather and we ended up sitting there for over an hour. Her name was Sharon and we found out that we had stopped in Thorn Hill, TN, they had only one stop light in town, she had lived there her whole life, and they have an annual Tomato Festival that starts next weekend. It was a fun visit :)

Once the storm passed over and it was just a drizzle, we put on our rain gear and headed back out to the four lane highway. We only had 30 more miles to go to get to Middlesboro, KY where we were stopping for the day so we figured we could push through what was left of the rain. Thankfully, though, the rain stopped as soon as we left and we finished up our ride with only a little road spray getting us wet. We cruised through the mile long Cumberland Gap tunnel and rolled in to Middlesboro around 7pm. Steve found our hotel easily and we're now in our rooms relaxing. Another day done!

Tomorrow we head back to Louisville, KY and then it's home from there.

You can click here for pics from today. I still have to upload pics from yesterday and will do that tonight.

Day 4 - Harriman, TN to Bryson City, NC (266 miles)

We kicked off today with a bang and headed directly over to the Tail of the Dragon. For those of you who don't know, this stretch of road goes right through the Smoky Mountains and spans both Tennessee and North Carolina. It's known for having 318 curves in only 11 miles. Whew! That's a lot of work! Steve and I both rode this back when we took our Blue Ridge Parkway trip several years ago, but this was Dad's first ride. The weather was perfect for us and as we headed in to the mountains where the Dragon begins, we started seeing a lot of other motorcyclists on the road too. We even saw a guy coming at us with a regular ol' point-n-shoot camera mounted to the top of his helmet so he could film his run. Hee hee hee! Silly....he should have mounted it on his handlebars behind the windshield like we did :)

Our run on the Dragon went without a hitch, thankfully. We stopped about half way through for a break and to watch all the other bikes go by. Some were going slow and steady like us, some a little faster, and some were crazy freakin' nut jobs on sport bikes going so fast they were almost dragging their knees around the corners! We just watched them in amazement, shaking our heads. Then we hopped back on and finished up the rest of it, including a stop at the famous Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort which is at the very end of the Dragon. Had a cold beverage break and Dad bought a shirt to prove he did it :)

As if that weren't enough excitement, after a quick stop for lunch we headed on to ride the Cherahola Skyway. That's about 40 miles going up to an elevation of 5400 feet, up and over the Smoky's. This road was full of big, sweeping curves which I like much better than all of those hairpins. There is a lot less shifting up and down to take the corners and you get in to a nice rhythm as you weave your way along. It got cloudy and chilly at the highest points and we thought it might actually rain but we were soon out of the clouds and back in to the sunshine, working our way back down. We stopped at several overlook points to take in the beautiful views and take pictures. Then we completed our trip on the Skyway and continued on through more country roads to work our way up to Bryson City, NC.

Today was another full day of twisties and we're all darn tired from riding. It was a nice break that the last 40 miles or so were on a pretty 4 lane highway at a steady 60mph. Feet up on the highway pegs and relax a little bit as we rolled in to our stopping point. Ahhhh.....

So here we are in the motel. It has wi-fi, but only Steve can get his laptop connected. I'm typing up our report on his computer but may not get pictures uploaded tonight. Not sure what kind of access we'll have tomorrow either so the blog updates could be a little delayed.

That's it for now....more later....must sleep now...zzzzzzzz

Days 1 & 2 Video

First attempt at a video for this trip.

Day 3 - Hazard, KY to Harriman, TN (280 miles)

Wow! Well done, Smoky Mountains....you kicked our butt with the twisties today! Steve had planned our route with curves in mind, but there was no way to know how curvy the roads would actually be. We started off around 9am today and didn't waste any time getting up in those hills. In fact, we spent the first five hours of the day navigating our way through back country mountain roads which turned out to be quite an adventure.

First off, we had to share these small back roads with huge semi-trucks that were hauling big loads of rock or coal. It was obvious that the drivers take these roads back and forth every day because they were hauling ass around the corners and down the hills with frightening speed. Of course, we did get stuck behind them going up hills too, which was slooooooowwww going. The drivers were kind, however, and waved us around when the road was clear to do so. We caught whiffs of burning truck brakes several times on the down slopes and then sucked in lots of nasty black exhaust as they tried hauling their loads up the hill. A couple of times we met them head on, half way in to our lane as we rounded blind corners. Scary, big trucks.....but....

The roads were amazing! They were extremely challenging to ride, requiring all of my concentration through sharp turns, switchbacks and hairpin turns winding both up and down the mountains. We wound in and out of heavily wooded areas, sunny little valleys, small little communities and then back up in to the woods again. It was fabulous riding....a motorcyclists dream, I'd say. However, we weren't really racking up the miles very quickly and the hours were rolling by. After a stop in Big Stone Gap, VA for lunch, we continued on to make our way in to Middlesborough, KY (the home of Lee Majors!). At this point the roads straightened out a little and we finally put some miles under our belts and zipped through the Cumberland Gap tunnel and in to Tennessee. This was where we planned to end our day by doing the Devil's Triangle, another challenging motorcycle road requiring lots of focus and technical skills. During our rest break at the Norris Dam, we all decided we were getting tired and had had enough of those roads for the day. We had Sally re-route us to a straigher and quicker path to our stopping point for the night.

We rolled in to Harriman, TN around 7pm and checked in to our hotel. We then called our cousing Kerrie, who lives about an hour west and she and our Aunt Frankie came and met us for dinner. What a treat! I hadn't seen them in about 5 years so it was wonderful to see them and catch up a little. Steve had seen them on Mother's Day, so he got an extra visit in this year. Lucky duck! Dad hadn't seen them since 1979, so that was a bit of a reunion :)

Now we're done with another day. Tomorrow is the Tail of the Dragon, the Cherahola Skyway and then in to Bryson City, NC. Should be more fun :)

Click here for today's pictures. Oh yeah, and you'll see one in there of Chief Hootiemunja, who Dad quickly made up when Steve pointed out a formation that looked like a statue covered in ivy. I'm riding with a couple of dorks.

Oh, and we are having technical difficulties with the movies so be patient. Our cameras are putting them in the wrong format and we're struggling to convert them....we'll keep trying.

Day 2 - Louisville, KY to Hazard, KY (282 miles)

We hit the road around 9:30 this morning and had a great day of riding the twisties through the Kentucky country side. I loved being out early in the morning and smelling all of the clover, wild flowers and freshly cut fields as we rolled through some amazing scenery. We saw wild turkeys on the road side, some really impressive horse properties on the country roads and beautiful, huge old houses as we rode through some of the small towns. After a lunch stop in Somerset, we headed East in to the Daniel Boone National Forest. Oh, that was some pretty riding! Curves, hills, trees.....just lovely.

One quirky little road we took today seemed more like someone's driveway than an actual road. As we continued it got narrower and was full of holes, gravel, etc. At one point there was a car coming at us that actually had to stop to let us pass along side it. None of us could avoid hitting some huge honkin' potholes and in the video you can actually here me yelling through my helmet, over the roar of the engine as I saw this huge, unavoidable hole coming. Whoaaaaa! Thankfully it was a short little connector road and we were back on normal, state maintained roads in no time.

We also had a few small animal encounters today. We knocked three lives off some poor squirrel (assuming they're like cats) as he tried crossing the road in front of Steve, then turned around, then tried again in front of me, then turned around, then tried a third time in front of Dad and apparently thought "screw it!" and made it all the way across. We also scared a chicken in to crossing the road when he heard our loud rumbles coming his way (that's why, in case anyone ever asks you that again). And finally, because birds have an attraction to me I guess, I almost hit a Robin as it tried to fly across my path. Thank goodness it was smaller and more agile than that big ol' seagull I ran over last year. Whew!

With all of that excitement, we made it in to Hazard, KY around 5:30pm, checked in to our hotel and had a nice rest before going to get some dinner. Now we're all tucked in for the night and ready for more fun tomorrow. We'll be riding the Devil's Triangle in Tennessee which is supposed to be crazy switchback curves, etc. Fun stuff!

Click here for pictures from today

Ahhhh yes....there we go

We are now officially in trip mode! Sunny day, shiny chrome, rumbling engines, warm air...that's all it took to get us in the mood. We started our morning off at the Harley dealer in Janesville, WI to pick up Steve's rental. Then headed back to the house to pack up the bikes. We finally got rolling around noon and had a very nice first day, even though our entire ride was spent on 4 lane highways. We didn't see a single drop of rain all day, but we did ride through a very odd "Bug Storm". All you could see were black dots flying at you and our windshields were covered in HUGE, blood-red splats. They were hitting my legs and hands too, anything that wasn't behind cover. I don't know what the heck those were but I was never more thankful to have a windshield than I was today. Yuk!
Other than the bugs, our day was uneventful but pleasingly comfortable for both of us. Steve's bike fits him pretty well and his makeshift back rest did a good job keeping him comfy. And my bike (ok, Steve's bike) was great! I've never had so much luxury...back rest, highway pegs, cushy seat. I was in riding heaven :) The one problem with riding his bike is that I am now in charge of the bike-mounted camera and shooting videos. Yes, that's right....Steve-O-Vision is now fitted with a Kristi-tinted lens. I did some test runs today so hopefully I'll be able to get some good shots when we get in to the prettier country side.
We rolled in to Louisville around 9:30pm EST and found Dad sitting on a bench outside the hotel, waiting for us. He got in around 1:30 in the afternoon and spent his time waiting for us reading and napping. Quite a nice luxury, eh?
Now we're all fed, and getting rested for tomorrow. It will be our first day of twisties, riding through the Daniel Boone National Forest on our way to Hazard, KY. Not many pictures from today, but you can click here to see them.

Should get more entertaining tomorrow as we ride through more scenic areas.

Until then....

Are we leaving tomorrow?

It sure doesn't feel like it. For some reason neither Steve or I are in "trip" mode today. We have our gear all pulled together and we have everything well planned, but we just aren't feeling it. Maybe it's the fact that I took a red-eye flight last night and I'm exhausted. Poor Steve is tired from staying up late and getting up early to pick me up. I'm sure tomorrow, once we pick up that shiny new bike from the dealer and bring it home to pack it up.....I'm sure then it will finally hit us that we're taking off for a week of riding. But for now? We're both sitting around looking at each other in a bit of a stupor.

There is one person who is ready to roll, though. We talked to Dad today and he's leaving tonight to start his trek to Louisville. He decided to head out early to try and beat some rain that was moving in. According to the radar maps we've been looking at, it's highly likely that we're all going to get wet tomorrow at some point. At least it will be warm rain....the temps look like the lower 90's. Ugh. Muggy.

Well, that's it for today. We'll report again tomorrow and let you know, after riding 420 miles, if we finally feel like we're ready for this trip.

ps - Being the good sister that I am, I did manage to help Steve spend some money today on a brand new digital camera. I'm pretty sure he loves when I come visit and help push him in to making purchases :) He really did need a new one, and this one should be great for taking video and shots along our route. You will be seeing it's output in the coming posts.

Preparations begin...

In two days we'll begin another motorcycle adventure that will take us through the great Smoky Mountains. I will arrive in Chicago early Friday morning and spend a day with Steve getting ready to ride. Saturday we will pick up Steve's rental bike (he's letting me ride Ol' Blue!) and we'll head off for a 400 mile day to Louisville, KY to meet up with Dad. From there the real fun begins! We've got the gps units, cameras, laptops, etc. so we're all set for the ride and submitting daily reports to the blog. Feel free to follow along and leave us comments, we love to read them :)

Check in again on Friday or Saturday to begin the fun....