Final Entry

leaving Amarillo Texas at sunrise.

En route to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

Travis being brave from a canyon overlook. 

We got into Utah late and the town where we thought we would stay was booked, so Eric got on the phone to his son and told him to find us some place, any place. He tried a bunch of places then finally spoke with a woman who had a "lodge" and had rooms with enough beds. "Just go 20 miles up the road and look for a driveway with a sign between mileposts 67 and 68". The town was named Orderville I think. We turned up a gravel drive in the dark and a man with a flashlight was waving us in. We were all pretty surprised at what we found. I mixed up the picture order but the exterior is shown then after a few pictures, the interior. We had two floors. That's how we rolled, seat of our pants. Lucky us. 

We left the lodge and went though Zion National Park, pictured above and below the lodge pictures.

Our total was 27 states, WA, Id, Mt, SD, Ia, Ill, Ind, Oh, Pa, NY, NJ, Va, W. Va, NC, Ms, Miss, Ark, Ga, Tenn, OK, TX, NM, AZ, UT, NV, Cal, Or; more than half the stars on the flag. All had their own beauty.

We had sun, wind, rain, sunrises and sunsets. Hot, cold, lost then found again.

I logged 8090 miles on my bike from home to home. Travis lives in Port Angeles so add 240 to his total. Thanks to my fellow travellers, it was an adventure. 

Thanks for looking at the blog and keeping track of us, I hope we did justice to our trip and made you feel a part of it. Peace.

The squirrel who lost his nuts

The same video loaded twice, not sure why. I hope you can make it go full screen. When you watch, look in the mirror of his bike and see the rest of the riders following.

I hope the video plays for you because it is hilarious.

We were riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway a few days ago and Travis decided to video some of the ride. He was behind Rick and he caught on video, a squirrel that ran out on the road carrying two nuts. Of course it got confused and went right then left, finally dropping his nuts in the middle of the road and narrowly missed becoming road kill. If you listen you can hear Travis howling in the background. I hope he found his nuts.

So not many new pictures to share. We have ridden through parts of N. Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and we are now in Texas. heading for New Mexico tomorrow.

Heading Home

We stopped at the Harley Davidson manufacturing plant in York, Pa. This is where all of the touring models and specialty bikes are built. We took the tour, can't take pictures inside.

This was taken at Harper's Ferry. The guy in the middle is Eric White from Nampa Fire in Idaho. Next to him is Bryan Gibb from Shoreline Fire in Seattle.

More Harper's ferry, run by national Parks

Morning on the Blue ridge Parkway

Old Mabry Mill, along the Parkway

Water flume that brings water to the paddle wheel

Shenandoah valley

Rick got this from an overpass

We only made 330 miles in 9 hours today. we are staying in Wayneville north Carolina, we were supposed to be in Tennessee.

We've seen many deer, wild turkeys, squirrels and even a rattle snake on the road! Weather has been nice. We got a text from Aaron who is in Livingstone Montana, about 120 miles out of Billings. He said everything is going well except that it was 31 degrees when they left Bismark North Dakota this morning. Hope to actually find Tennessee in the morning, wish us luck.

September 12, New york

Brooklyn Station 255 Engine, 157 Ladder Tower. Over 100 years old.

The spiral stair case was used to prevent the horses from coming upstairs

Memorial in the apparatus room for a member who lost his life on 9/11

This Maltese is made of steel from the twin towers

Memorial on the wall of Engine 10, Ladder 10, this station is at ground zero.

Construction of the new buildings at ground zero

We started our day going to a Brooklyn station that housed 255 Engine and 157 Ladder tower. Before leaving on our trip, Rick was given a banner and challenge coins by representatives from the Hero to Hero's organization to deliver to this particular station. When we arrived they sat us down in the kitchen and fed us lunch. The engine was out and the ladder crew advised us to park inside, not a great neighborhood and we had all of our belongings on our bikes.

We presented them with the banner and coins, they gave us t-shirts from their ladder company. The guys were so nice and happy we were there.

We then made our way to ground zero where a nice young police officer let us park the bikes behind a barricade and watched them for us while we went for photos. The pictures shown are the new construction at ground zero. The memorial on the side of the station at ground zero was the first one done, by a private law firm because nothing was being done by anyone else. We left the city and spent a night in Allentown PA. We were unable to get to the Pentagon. We did stop at the Harley Davidson production plant in York PA and toured the place where all of our bikes were made! We went from there to Gettysburg where it wasn't raining this time and we enjoyed touring the battlefield monuments and museum. On to the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow. Stay tuned.