Part 3: The Ride Home

The adventure begins. My father knows a guy at his church who drove to Virginia last summer and then for various reasons could not drive it back. Enter John De Jong. I offered, since I was already going to be out there anyway, to drive it back for him if he would cover the cost of the trip. How often do you have a chance to go across the country on a bike and have your expenses paid? Not often, and I know that once my wife has the baby, I am pretty much not going anywhere so it is now or never.

I picked the bike up on a Sunday and then drove through Shenandoah national park and then to West Virginia.
Here is the bike. The big reason the bike could not be shipped is the trailer I towed.

This was my view for the next 2500 miles. I will never get tired of this view.

Here is the bike in Shenandoah NP.

The first night I stayed in a hotel. Day 2 would bring me to IN and my sister and brother in-laws.

In WV there were a lot of great views.

And here I am with the beast.

Another great roadside attraction.

Southern Ohio was very nice.

Then into Indiana.

Here is my little niece.

After Indiana I left for IL and my old hometown. It rained all day since the minute I left and the temperature never got above 42 degrees.

My hometown has a few dutch people in it.

I arrived at Stephs house and the went to her parents for pizza and to see Brett and Mel, whom I have not seen in about 10 years or so.

Mel is due the day after Brenda is. It was great to see them and it sounds like they have a great house in Savannah.

The next day I left for Sioux Center. The high for this day was about 43 and the low was about 30. There was about 1' of snow in Storm Lake and lots of snow along the road all day. Man was it cold, but great to be back in the Midwest again.

Matt and Janey just moved there three weeks ago and it was great to catch up with them and meet the two kids they have had since I had seen them last time. They looked like they were doing well.

I also checked out my old stomping grounds...Man if that building could talk.

The next day I found the bike had some heated gear in the trailer. If I ever take a trip like this again I will buy heated gear. that stuff was a life saver. I think it gets up to like 105 degrees and feels like a massage...unbeatable.

SD was a bit boring and cold and rainy for the first 4 hours of the day. I was not going to stop at the Badlands if the weather was the same, but it miraculously got warmer and sunny.

It was a perfect day at the park and without a helmet law, I could take the bucket off and enjoy the slow ride and the sites.

More awesomeness.

Then on to WY and MT.

Oh that does not look good, but I ended up going around the storm and not getting rained on. I made it to Billings for the night (800 miles this day), and awoke to light snow and very cold temperatures.

I was advised not to go anywhere that day, but I continued to check the DOT reports and the pass looked like I could make it so I did.

I stopped at the Belgrade MT Harley dealer had great coffee and recommended a good massage place. I only rode 3 hours this day, but needed a little TLC.

I went to the grocery store before going to Kris's house

Here is Kris. We had a great time. His wife is very nice and she is also due in the not so distant future.

The next day I was going home. I woke up to very cold weather, but the sun was up and the high was supposed to be 60.

Ice on the bike.

This has got to be wrong...but it was pretty cold

The air was so clear and the scenery was amazing.

Entering ID.

I think I may have had the hand warming grips on a bit to high. I just bought this pair of gloves before the trip.

Cour D Alene.

Entering WA...only about 4 miles to the house.

And then there I am, safe and sound.

It was such a nice day that I wanted to go on a ride that afternoon. I can never get enough riding in, but I had to mow the lawn instead.

All in all a great trip and stayed two nights in hotels and four at friends houses. This is a great way to see the country, and hope to do it again someday.