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Day 17 and 18: Bryce UT to Ely NV to Carson City NV. Hwy 50 The Loneliest Road in America

Aug 06 2016

Long stretches of desolation abound, be sure to watch your fuel and know you can make it to the next known stop. Take snacks and lots of water.-Sister’s Centennial Ride Guide Book This is the first sentence, or I guess I should say the gentle warning in our guide books. Highway 50 in Nevada has it’s claim to fame written on the signs you see along the way. “The Loneliest Road in America” So that is what we are up against for two days. Our guide book even says: Get gas wherever it is available. Stations are far apart. Very[…]

Day 16: Reminds me of a Taylor Swift song…

Aug 04 2016

In the 1980’s I loved Debbie Gibson. She wrote and sang her own songs, and played piano. So I have to admit that if I was a young teen today, I would probably love Taylor Swift. ( I am not saying I don’t like a lot of her songs now…but that’s not the point…) Before this cross country trip started, I joked with a few people that this trip kind of reminded me of some lyrics of a Taylor Swift song. “It’s either going to be fantastic, or it’s going to go down in flames!” I took creative license and[…]

Day 15: Page AZ to Bryce UT

Aug 01 2016

Yesterday was one of our longest days, today would be one of our shortest. Again our goal was to get up early and try to beat the heat. We drove over the “I hope you are not afraid of heights bridge” that leads out of Page. (OK it has a real name, Glen Canyon Bridge) My picture doesn’t do it justice. It really is a deep canyon, and I am sure some people get the heebee jeebies going over that bridge. Frank and I went our separate ways not too far out of town. He decided to go down a[…]

Day 14: The Million Dollar Hwy Ouray, CO to Page AZ

Jul 29 2016

We had a long day ahead of us, as this would be one of our longest days at over 330 miles, as well as a day with the most dramatic landscape changes, and variety. Our plan was to get up early, have breakfast and get going. The city of Ouray looks like a little town you would find in the Swiss Alps. I was bummed we were only there for a short time. We departed, surrounded by the Colorado Rockies, and it was cool and, are you ready…it started to rain. We donned our rain gear and hit the steep[…]

Day 13: Colorado Springs to Ouray CO

Jul 28 2016

Today’s journey took us away from Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak, and led us over another high peak, Monarch Pass, at 11312 ft. The sidecar rig chugged up that big hill pulling the weight, but we made it. The ski lift there was running to take summer visitors up for hiking and biking, but we kept moving on. We made sure to stop at the south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, National Park. Very dramatic cliff views similar to the Grand Canyon. The type of lookouts that give you a hint of vertigo when you are at the[…]

Day 11: Pikes Peak

Jul 22 2016

Frank planned some vacation days to join us on the last part of the ride, and he met us in Colorado Springs last night. Today was a get up early kind of day. Today was an epic adventure kind of day. Today was the group ride up to the top of Pikes Peak. The night before it had rained as we were driving up to Colorado Springs CO. We were all cozy in our hotel not realizing what was going on up in the mountains above us. We dragged the kids out of bed, had an early breakfast and got[…]

AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days

On our way to the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio Race Track we had the chance to go through a little bit of Amish country (we did see one horse and buggy in Pennsylvania). Today we saw families outside of their farm, kids driving the horse and buggy to town, and even saw a beautiful Clydesdale next to his red barn. Another beautiful drive through perfectly green farmland. My one surprise was seeing an Amish couple (I assumed) get into a car at the gas station while I was filling up. Later someone told me they might be Mennonite.

The plan for the group was to arrive together and get staged for a lap around the race track in between the regularly scheduled races. I did not know that. I assumed that we would be in a parking lot, and I would unhook the trailer before going on the track. When we got there, they led us directly to the gate and they lined us all up at the front of the “false grid”, I think they called it. Then a whole bunch of other bikes and riders start swarming around us and we get packed in. So, I guess this was happening now! When it was time, they then lined us up on the grid area, and with a pace car in front of us we all got to do 2 laps around the track. Makayla took video and Spencer took photos, and they said that was a lot of fun.

Some other highlights of the day: the kids got to watch part of a live race (we watch Motot GP on TV all the time, but they have never been to a race before). The most exciting thing was to see the Wall of Death, where motorcyclist ride a bike around a small wooden “bowl”. Both kids thought that was awesome. We walked around and got a lot of great photos of old bikes.

Today was considered a “easy rest day”, so by 1:30 we were done looking around and headed to our next stop for the night, Lima, OH.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that on the way to the hotel there was a super strong headwind, and I got horrible gas mileage. I hit reserve at only 58 mi on the odometer. I was in a section that did not have any gas stations for quite a bit…so I was crossing my fingers to make it to the next gas station. Well my luck ran out and it died about a mile before the exit. Not the best scenario but I was prepared! We had placed a small plastic gas can ( can I call it a can if it is plastic?) in the trailer, so I poured the emergency gas into the tank and got to the station. Not fun, but we survived.

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Jul 11 2016

Springfield, MA to Sayre, PA

Jul 08 2016

The first real day of riding started with a quick trip to the tire place to get the lug nuts tightened before I took off. If you are ever in Springfield MA, the guys at Tire Warehouse are great! I then realized that the only GPS route that was not loaded was today’s route, even after I spent so much time the night before checking everything. So it took me a while to get out of the Springfield area. I may or may not have take a few wrong turns going through some traffic circles. My GPS and I were[…]

Sister’s Centennial Ride

Jul 06 2016

Many thanks to our friend Wayne, and fellow LABiker, for driving out our sidecar rig from California, and picking us up at the airport in Connecticut. We took the red eye on Sun July 3rd, and landed in CT at 5:30am. We were lucky to have breakfast followed by a 3 hour nap at Waynes’ house. Then we drove up to Springfield Massachusetts to check in for the Sister’s Centennial Ride. We had a riders meeting and got to meet all the riders who would be going all the way to California. Some had some amazing stories to tell, and[…]

May 30 2016

Memorial Day Weekend is our annual Sierra Rally ride, that takes place with Porterville CA as our home base as we ride all the twisty in the southern Sierras. We have gone every year since 2000, but this year would be our first with the sidecar, and the first time the kids would join in the adventure! In the past we just hired a babysitter to watch them while we were out riding. This year is the 21st annual Sierra Rally. The fantastic Lorraine Aldort organizes the hotel, the catering company, and provides maps and such for all of the[…]