Day 12: Garden of the Gods and Cripple Creek

Jul 23 2016

I’m taking a break from a long write-up since I am falling behind. I rode Frank’s bike around and he piloted the sidecar rig while we hit more beautiful scenery near Colorado Springs. Here is what we did today: 1. Garden of the Gods: Fantastic modern Visitors Center with many interactive displays in large touch screen form. The kids loved this place. The views and the short drive were stunning. I would love to come back here to go camping and hiking. 2. Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument: Another great visitors center with lots of fun kids stuff, lots of[…]

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[…]

Day 10: McCook NE to Colorado Springs CO

Jul 20 2016

OK. I am just going to come out and say it. Driving through Kansas is really boring. It makes Nebraska and Texas look exciting. The other thing I noticed is that every now and then they have these road closed signs that are similar to a railroad crossing bar. You know, the ones that are in the up position until a train is coming, then it swings down to block the road. Well, there are a bunch of these in Kansas…and no train tracks. At first I had no idea why they would need to close the road like that.[…]

Jul 19 2016

We spent the night visiting family in Nebraska and awoke to rain. Not again! It was not in the forecast, so I of course have to run outside AGAIN, to get stuff out of the sidecar and cover things up. I had even left our swimsuits out on their back patio to dry off, and those were now in the rain…oh the irony. This whole “weather” thing is kicking my butt. Since there is a bit of thunder and lightning I decide to wait out the rain, and we will boycott our mission to the family farm and head to[…]

Day 7: Naperville IL to Cedar Rapids IA

Jul 18 2016

Today was an interesting day, and we were kinda all over the place, literally and figuratively. We were traveling along the tollway I-88 out of the greater Chicago/Naperville area, and our directions had us stay on that for quite a while. I was tired of being on the interstate, so I thought I would just get off and take a smaller highway for a while. I saw a sign for the Ronald Reagan Home. OK, I was curious, plus it was about time for a break. We stopped to take a look at the boyhood home of the president who[…]

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.

To view more photos, click here: (more…)

Jul 11 2016

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[…]

May 22 2016

“…Lovely watching the elegant yellow Tug negotiate said twisties with precious cargo aboard, while squids launch themselves over guardrails failing at same test. This I will never forget….” George B. My husband grew up on a cattle ranch in the sand hills of Northeast Nebraska, where they grow their own corn, soy, and alfalfa to feed their cattle. He states that the best steak he has ever had is at Jocko’s Steak House in Nipomo, CA. Our motorcycle club, LABikers, tries to get up to Jocko’s once a year, and we make a 2 day trip out of[…]

Apr 09 2016

Today was going to be a great day to take part in the Southern California Ride for Kids Dual Sport. Why is that you say? Well two reasons, and both were exciting. Today’s ride was my friend Steve Squire’s first ride as the new National Campaign Manager for Ride for Kids. So a bunch of us LABikers were on hand to help support Steve as well as the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The second reason was rain was in the forecast!! Rain? In California? Inconceivable!! Last year at LA Barstow to Vegas banquet I had won a full Icon Raiden suit[…]