Day 7 Saturday, June 30

In the distance, we saw mountains today- a cool drink of water.

We left Glasgow, MT this AM via route 2 and followed it across the state. It was another day of ranches, Reservations and the huge blue Montana sky. We rode through amazing little towns that all have a motto and sports teams that won a state championship sometime (as advertised when you drive through). My personal favorite was the Chinook Sugar Beeters!

Magic reached a milestone today of 40,000 miles. An awesome accomplishment for a two year old!

Met a fellow aging biker at a rest stop. Sully was riding to Alaska from Boston to bury his buddy's motorcycle jacket. His friend died before he had the chance to make the trip he always wanted.

We all ride for a reason. Some of us are touring. Some of us are searching. Some of us are fulfilling a life's dream. Some of us are sad. What is the same to all of us is the ride, the scenery and the wind in our faces.

Day 6 Friday, June 29

The Plains changed into the Badlands today and as usual, I found bad to be much more interesting than plain.

From Bismarck, our last stop, we headed out on 94. Still more prairie, but it really got interesting in Salem when we saw Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstein. An awesome tribute to the dairy farmers and the biggest udders in the world.

Dickinson was next! An oil boom town where farmers worry that their sons will go into the oil industry. My thought- US oil is good oil.

Suddenly the terrain changed and we were on the moon! The ruggedness of the North Dakota/Montana Badlands grabbed my heart. We lunched at the Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park and we sat by pink layered geological miracles and drank wine and ate cheese.

We rode on through the Badlands on route 200, an off the beaten track road. It was beautiful, it was desolate and it was one of the best days of riding we have ever had. I love that I live in a country that offers all this.

Day 5 Thursday, June 28

Westward Ho! A pioneer, I would not be! After one day, I am growing very weary of the prairie and the Plains (they're very plain) and cannot imagine traveling at about 2 miles per hour, day after day, with the same landscape mile after mile. I'm done with it!

We started out from Alexandria, MN at about 8:30. The weather was beautiful and the air cool. We started counting lakes and only got up to 9,432. Do you think they lied? We hit Fargo, ND at about 10 and from there on the road was a perfect one point perspective with no distractions on either side. It was hot as hell, but I kept thinking about what winter must be like on this road. If you got lost in a blizzard, nobody would find you til spring. As "plain" as it is out here, there are some terrifying weather situations!

Another day of the Plains tomorrow and then we might hit some mountains. I wonder what those Pioneers thought after they spent months traversing the great center of our amazingly vast country then came up on the Rockies, and they had to figure out how to get over. It certainly would have been too much for me, but with Magic, I'm looking forward to it!

Day 4 Wednesday June 27

The heat is on!!!! We heard that the temperatures along route 80 were going to be close to100 and since the only air conditioning on the bike IS air, we headed North for some cooler road wind. We headed up route 61 toward the Twin Cities. A beautiful road that followed the Mississippi. We are in awe of how wide and fast it is here. Stopped for our picnic lunch on the river at a beautiful park in Red Wing, MN and were joined by hundreds of mayflies who act like butterflies once you get to know them. The heat seemed to be following us so we hit the highway (94) to cover some ground before turning in. We are resting in Alexandria, MN. Looking into buying some SPF 50 tomorrow!!

In the park where we had lunch there was a statue of Charles Lindbergh as a kid - he was born in Little Falls MN. I liked the inscription.

"What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don't believe in taking chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all."

Good night, all!

Day 3 Tuesday, June 26

A route 90/94 day! The weather was blue sky perfect all day. We tackled Chicago at about 8:45 and it worked! We were only in bumper to bumper for about an hour! Then on to Wisconsin! Magic gravitated toward Milwaukee like it was Mecca, the holy place of every Harley. The Harley Museum holds an example of every bike ever made plus the history behind them. I even got to drive a bike (under VERY controlled circumstances). Made it to the Mississippi and had dinner on the river in an old train station. As I get ready to go to sleep, I hear the train whistles along the river and am in awe at all the ways we have learned to travel: train, plane, car and "motorized bicycle"-
Harley Davidson-1903!

Day 2 June 25, 2012

450 miles later and we are outside of Chicago! It was a day of making tracks and not too much sightseeing, although we did see cars from just about every state, trucks carrying every imaginable cargo and, believe it or not, the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile! That made me so happy!

High winds and cold clouds made for a grueling ride for the morning, but in the afternoon bright sun and blue sky lead us to Portage, Indiana where we have kicked off our boots and uncorked a bottle of wine! Cheers!

Day 1 Sunday, June 24

Our first day on the road started at 8:00 AM with perfectly clear skies and perfectly beautiful 80 degree weather. As we "planned", we headed west, but the route was decided by whim! We picked up route 322 and followed it through Hershey (it smells like chocolate there) and past Harrisburg. We sidetracked to Little Buffalo State Park for our first picnic of the trip - wine, cheese and springerle cookies! Oh yeah!
When we left the park we wound our way north and found route 74. On the map, it is the only road in the area with multiple switchbacks as it climbs over the mountain from Ickesburg - we named it the Ickesburg Pass. Leave it to Jules to find the most memorable roads. Jumped back on 322 and rode on through numerous charming and Sunday-sleepy little western Pennsylvania towns. Brought our first day to a halt in Clarion, Pa and gratefully dismounted Magic and rested our weary derrières! We need to develop some calluses! A beautiful day and an auspicious start.

Magic's odometer read 37,700 when we left home. Just turned 38. The game is on....what will the odometer read when we cross the threshold of the garage at 461 again?

All our bags are packed....

Tomorrow Jules and I leave on our epic trip .... 60 days on the road in celebration of his 60 years on this earth. Destination-unknown. Direction- west! Packing wasn't as tricky as I thought it would be. Less is always better and a lot easier. We are fortunate in that the Ultra has so much room for extras like, maybe a make-up bag! We have said our good-byes and now it's just two for the road. Let the adventure begin!