5 July

Left Twin Falls, ID for the final leg over the Blue Mountains into the Oregon flatlands. On top of the pass it was 70 degrees and as we dropped into Pendleton the temperature rose to 98 degrees. What are great welcome home to the northwest with sunny blue skys. Hot and dry thru Yakima where the temperature reached triple digits at 101. Up and over Chinook Pass and into the backyard of Enumclaw. Arrived home safe and sound at 5:02 PM. What a great vacation seeing America, nothing compares to her beauty! Visited Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and Oregon. 19 states and one territory in 14 days. Some things to reflect on from my point of view:

Most beautiful state: South Dakota

Longest state to ride: Montana

Biggest Mosquito: Wisconsin

Best roads: Wyoming

Worst roads: Washington DC

Most traffic: New Jersey

Least traffic: Wyoming

Flatest state: Nebraska

Worst drivers: New Jersey

Should anyone have 5 or more days to travel across this great nation - do it. Ending mileage - 51144. Total miles traveled - 7218.

4 July

50519 - Glad to be off the flat land and back to the mountains. Wyoming and Utah were a welcome site to see. Couple of thunderstorms in the distance - but dry for the most part and sunny by noon. Gained two hours of daylight and posted 1027 miles yesterday. Just shy of 600 today and should roll in sometime early evening - keep you fingers crossed. Should be a walk in the park compared to yesterday. Everything good - nothing falling from the sky and no one aiming at us (yet). Bikes ready for a oil change and a bath. Already sunny and clear at 0510 this morning on America's Birthday! So who throwing the BBQ tonight!

3 July

49493 - Should hit the 50K mark today!

2 July

48758 - First day heading west was exciting. On the wet road at 0700, rain gear on, rain gear off, rain gear on again. Hit a downpour in Pittsburg, PA. Rained so hard we had to drop the speed to 45 just so I could see the fog line. That lasted a good 30 minutes and just as it let up we look towards the east bound lanes to see a straight truck (furniture van) head right for us coming thru the medium. We gassed the bikes but before it entered our lane of travel it hit the pavement and spun it 180 degrees back the way it came. It then hit the bottom of the ditch, went up on the two right wheels, spun and up on the two left wheels before it was back on the east bound lanes of travel. I bet that guy crapped his pants and the scratch and dent section of that store will have additional furniture in it tomorrow. All and all to much excitment for me - hopefully tomorrow the sun will be back out and the skys will dry out. Did manage to rack up 686 miles today. With that pace, weather permitting, we should arrive home late on the 4th. Lisa must be slipping - neither mishap was reported to me before hand or she's waiting to cash in a policy! Added some photo's, 1. storm clouds to the west, 2. early evening sunset in Grand Island, NB, 3. corn - corn - corn, 4. camp last night. Posted 735 miles today - speed limit go up as we head west - Nebraska 75 MPH. Changed out the front brake pads this evening, can't believe Renton Motor Sports missed them when I had them do a safety check on the wing before I left. Took us about 20 minutes to swap out both sets in the front. Ready for the road again.

1 July 2009

48073 - We had another event last night. Just got into bed, fell asleep when all of a sudden we head a loud snap above followed by a crashing sound off to the tents left. A 8" diameter branch, 24' long fell from about 30'. Missed me by 5' and landed on my trailer. Bend the top rail but no worse for wear - we are headed west this morning. Cloudy with scattered rain this morning.