Home Sweet Home

The “Great Motorcycle Adventure out West” has been completed! After traveling 7,869 miles across 18 states in 28 days, it’s time to call it quits…for now! What an experience, too. Already people are asking what the next adventure will look like. So far, I have two ideas in mind:

a. Traveling the southern border of Canada to Alaska and back
b. Traveling through all of Central America to Panama and back

We’ll see! It will be a little while before either of those occur, but ideas will be stirring in the meantime. As mentioned in a previous post, there are numerous stories to share, but right now I really just need to go to work and make back some gas money. So I’ll let the photos do the talking…

(I’ve never done a Gallery before, but I believe if you want a closer look at a photo, you can click on it, and it will open up. Hope it works!)

Diving head first into the West. Notice the Gateway Arch in the background.

A night in St. Louis with Nana Metzger. Enjoyed a wonderful meal at “Lewis and Clark’s.” Quite appropriate for the adventure we had just begun…

What a stud.

Gearing up for the first rain storm. Day 2 of the trip!

Philip made me a Founding Father.

My camera skills aren’t nearly as good. Sad.

Camping in the corn field. Same place where we circled by coyotes for a short time, yet we survived.

Philip thought this may keep him warm as he rides. If anything, he pulls off the look quite nicely.

My Indian friend.

The Badlands. They were bad.

Looks like a photo from a magazine. I totally did not plan that.

Where’s Waldo?

One of the many terrains we traversed over the course of the adventure.

Philip’s new friend.

My old lady friend.

Dining in the fine Walmart parking lot. Notice the oil leaks covering our…er…table cloth.

The dinner of champions. I, of course, went for the Chunky soup – Soup that Eats Like a Meal.

Yes, we had snow.

Intense. And ready for the cold. (And maybe even some undercover FBI sting.)

Big Horn National Forest. Beatiful. And cold.

4 cyclists from Minneapolis we spent the night with outside of Yellowstone. They were headed to Portland on mission to bring political reform to the cycling world. Interesting!

Old Faithful. Still faithful…

Philip was planning his attack on an elk.

Our entertainment as we laundered the wet clothes.

What a boring state sign?! Notice how we’re in rain gear for almost all of the photos…

Still in rain gear. Cool sign though.

Parking lot of a casino where we spent the night.

Action shot

Napping in the park (after finally reaching warmth!)

California border

Rainbow after a storm (that we, of course, had to drive through!)

Reno, Nevada

San Francisco

The home of Robin Williams.

Driving across the Golden Gate in a car. Later to be done via motorcycle.

Philip’s sailing/motorcycle-racing/yacht-designing/art-enthusiast/jazz-loving/adventurer of a cousin. What a guy!

Lombard Street. Acclaimed “Curviest Road in the USA.”

Along the Pacific Coast Highway

Bon fire on the beaches at Monterey, California. I purchased an entire bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate and later found out I was the only one who wanted smores. Lucky!

Pacific Ocean!

We made it to Hollywood! Unfortunately we didn’t see anyone famous.

Except Indiana Jones. The real one.

The tree I napped under outside of Los Angeles. So tired!

Desert. Beautiful.

Peter. Looking to have his “Memoirs of a City Boy” published one day. Keep an eye out on Amazon.com for this future best seller sometime in the next 10 years…

The Eiffel Tower – a quick detour to Paris from our trip across the US.

Here’s what happened in Vegas: It was hot, crowded, and bumper-to-bumper traffic. Not fun on a motorcycle. Fortunately, it was an uneventful stop.

Hoover Dam Bridge

“How’s your butt feelin’?” “OK!”

Hackberry’s General Store – Route 66

Historic Route 66 – The Mother Road

Famous motorcycle joint along Route 66. Grabbed some chili dogs and enjoyed interesting conversation with two Scottish tourists.

Grand Canyon

He’s a genius. Apparently his trench-digging barrier technique kept our tent floor dry. Good work, Philip.

Great Pale Horse was Philip’s western name due to his obsession with sunscreen.

Cliff Dwellers community – Arizona

Cliff Dwellers, Arizona. Look closely and you can see our itty-bitty motorcycles.

North Rim of Grand Canyon

These 3 mountains form the Court of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) – Zion National Park

After a new tire was installed – Grand Junction, Colorado

Art Institute of Anderson Ranch – Snowmass Valley, Colorado

Being the least artistic person ever, I was totally out of my element.

Yet it was incredibly fun to watch.

The Rim Trail (where we would later get lost and stranded!)

Aspen-birch trees.

Fun with the Benson bunch. True artists and truly kind.

Independence Pass. 12,095 ft. 2nd highest paved pass in Colorado. And cold!

So pretty.

John the Mechanic kept me from sleeping on the side of the road in Cookeville, TN. (Broken bearing.)

Fun with the Metzger boys! A stop in Pigeon Forge, TN. Great surprise…