We notice somebody looking over our shoulders Monday morning as we eat a decent reasonably priced breakfast. We go out to investigate.
We meet the last surviving Rushmore driller. 97 years old. We listen to a few stories.
We are a looooong way from Wall South Dakota when we start seeing signs promoting Wall Drugs. As we leave Rushmore we are getting into the “ready to be home” state of mind. There aren’t any major attractions left on our route. Just an asterisk on the route a little past Wall, because it’s hardly out of the way. We pass the exit for Wall Drug. I’m not interested in any more gimicky tourist trap kind of stuff. At the next exit we pull off for fuel and ice. We stop at the info center for Badlands National Park to see if this little detour off the slab looks worthwhile. Wouldn’t you know it, Mrs1911 sees Wall Drug on the next block. We’ve come in the back door. She says “I’ve been reading Wall Drug signs for two days and we’re going to check it out”. Well, if you have any fondness at all for a good ole American tourist trap, or taxidermy, you’ve got to see this place. There’s a whole main street/shopping mall/circus atmosphere surrounding it. And you can get anything you want there, except a bag of ice.
We spend a little time in Wall Drug. We spend a LOT of time in The Badlands. The Badlands being an afterthought kills any notion I have that I am a master trip planner.
And the last corny rest stop lunch pic, no lie.
Our planned stop for the night is Waubonsie SP Iowa. At Rushmore I asked a family from Iowa how to pronounce Waubonsie but they didn’t know. I still don’t know. We’ve done more sightseeing today than planned. At 11pm we are still an hour from camp. It’s a warm, muggy and buggy night. We recalculate and Super8 for tonight. Blair Nebraska.
Day 19 Blair Nebraska to Lexington Kentucky
This was already a long day as planned. And now we add to it the 70 miles or so that we stopped short yesterday. Traffic and weather favor us. Des Moines, Ottumwa, Quincy, Springfield and Champaign fly by. There are afternoon thunderstorms around, but we enjoy their power from afar. We turn south at Indy about dusk. The sunset to our right is a beaut. The fireflies come out in abundance. It’s odd that we’ve never ridden through lightning bugs before, we’ve got them at home. Smashing fireflies with your windshield and visor is something everybody should try at least once. And should my headlights go out you could still see me coming thanks to natures hi-vis jacket coating. Louisville is pretty at night. I’d like to see it in the day. We pitch the tent at Kentucky Horse Park’s primitive (cheap) campground and finish off the ham and cheese tortillas about 1am.
Day 20 Home sweet Home
We wake up to bright sunshine, heavy dew, and HUMIDITY. I want to go back to Montana. At least the campground isn’t too crowded.
We visit with Secretariat and Man-O-War before packing up to head home.
Heading south we can see tstorms straight ahead. But we are going to turn east at Corbin. It’s too warm for rain gear without the rain. The race is on. I think we can get to our eastbound turn before the rain does. Or at least get to our exit and cover before the rain. And we might have done it too if not for the goofy Ky drivers that slam on their brakes and turn on their flashers, on the interstate, at the first sign of a moderate downpour. We end up with raingear on over soggy clothes again but at least it’s not cold.
When we stop for fuel in Jonesville Va we have broken out of the clouds for good. The c-store that we stop at has tables and chairs off to the side. They are made of black steel mesh and there is no shade. It’s like they set this up as the perfect place to take a break and dry gear just before you ride one of the best m/c roads around. We do, we do and we do. Hwy 70 through Blackwater Va is one of my favorite roads. I’m reminded how lucky I am to live where we live, despite humidity. After 20 blissful days lapping 2/3rds of the US I find myself inwardly grinning as the last couple of hours riding into home have roads like Va70 and NC208/212.
Home is ok. WOW, what a ride. I remember to zero trip 2 before we left and manage to not accidently reset it at gas stops. Something which I can’t always do on a short trip.
There is still one little YFO related thing to do. We get home Wednesday night but it doesn’t feel fully like home. I work Thursday and Friday. Saturday we go back down to Orlando to get the dog. We take the hounds out to eat in Celebration one more time.
When we get home Sunday night with Smokey, then we are HOME and it is GOOD.
Random closing thoughts:
20 days on the road and…….
…… only the first day, with heavy, three day weekend interstate traffic, from home to western Kentucky would be a chore. And if we’d left on time we might have enjoyed day one. The ride from Grand Canyon to Mariposa was a long day with a lot of slab, but what we’ll remember of that day will be Joshua Tree Highway. All the rest was adventure, new to us and wonderous.
…….the grand aggregate of time spent in traffic jams due to accidents or construction wouldn’t come to two hours. Only one significant detour for fuel. Nothing in Basecamp, Zumo or the phone said that Kenton Oklahoma had fuel, but I had to try. Zumo never let me down
…..unplanned expenses: A night’s camp fee at KOA Eureka Springs Arkansas, hiding from the storms in southwestern Missouri; two extra nights in the cabin at KOA Livingston, hiding from snow and wind; a night’s board at Super 8 in Blair Nebraska, just cuz we were tired; and a new visor for my helmet’s tumbleweed impersonation.
We dodged a few storms and rode through a few, but never spent more than about twenty minutes at one time in rain. The highest temp on the FJR dash was 97, and that was only for a little while, through Bullhead City, on the Arizona/Nevada border.
The only mechanical glitch was Mrs1911’s intercom crapping out (she could hear me but I couldn’t hear her- I know some would not call that a negative but I will, and not just because she might read this).
The only scare close to messing with this ride was Mrs1911’s back acting up but that worked itself out after a few days.
Considering all that luck, how can a person NOT conclude that this was a trip meant to be?
I think understand addiction a little better now. After months of preparation, anticipation, and panicked preparation leading up to it, and three solid weeks of adventure and surprise, getting back to the the same old grind is just so….damned…… BLAH.
Food porn/meal plan
This was no ride to eat. Our plan was to eat breakfast at camp, usually oatmeal and a bagel or muffin, a little fruit, and coffee. Lunch was to be light and quick on the road too, and then we’d get a nice dinner before each night’s camp. We usually take sandwiches along on a trip. By the time we were done packing space was tight-I had to bump my sweat shirt. Swapping loaf bread for tortillas was a stroke of genius. They pack much smaller. On a few nights it was ham and provolone tortillas for supper too. But for supper we’d heat them up and wash them down with a cold adult beverage, so it didn’t seem like we were eating the same meal twice. We both loved this meal plan. It gave us options. It was nice not having to find a restaurant a couple times a day. Just find a nice spot to pull off and roll up a couple. If we did happen on a good looking prospect while hungry we’d take advantage of it. But never having to go looking for food was nice. Too, it made Tyler’s banquet that much better.
Since my son-in-law moved to Orlando to work for The Rat, and took my daughter with him, we’ve spent a lot of time in and around the big theme parks. I guess I’ve come to expect getting gouged in the wallet for a meal at an attraction. It was a pleasant surprise to us that the cafes’ and restaurants that we patronized in the national parks (Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Rushmore) served decent meals at fair prices. Heck, the only places that gouged us were Ruby Tuesday and Chile's.
I saved my gas card statement as a reminder of where we’ve been. It’s surprisingly detailed thanks to the FJR’s limited fuel range, especially on 80mph limit highways with strong headwinds.
Drivers out west are better.
Mrs1911 wants more. She says she’s in on any of the future FJR events that I frequent, EOMs, SEORs, camping meets RTEs, etc. I hadn’t figured on that.
Here’s a resource I found quite useful, just filtered campgrounds with showers https://www.allstays.com/
Next? More Utah. And I’ve got my eye on bigjohnsd’s next Black Hills event and waiting for the 2018 vacation bid sheet.
