Friday, August 7 – Monday, August 17
Friday, August 7
Hi Everyone...Welcome from Joplin, Missouri! We have completed the first day of our motorcycle trip, traveling 354.5 miles from Our LITTLE Lot in Holiday Village at Lake Fork.
The number of miles isn't particularly impressive, but we did use up most of the day to cover them. In our haste to get away from the heat in East Texas, we didn't give enough consideration to the two days of heat that we have to endure to get to Minnesota and (we hope) cooler temperatures. But, with several stops along the way and the use of our new hydration vests, even the 104-degree afternoon temperatures in Oklahoma were manageable (for us, that is…we did learn when we unpacked the shaving kit this evening that a can of shaving gel is not designed to be bounced over bumpy Oklahoma roads in 110 degree temperatures; however, it will expand to fill existing space when the seam at the top of the can splits)…just another informational tidbit for motorcycle travelers. In any case, we are hunkered down for the night in a motel in Joplin...have had our evening meal and are ready to read and fall asleep. We'll keep you all posted on the progress of the trip which, we hope, will get us to the shores of Lake Superior at Duluth, Minnesota, sometime Sunday afternoon.Saturday and Sunday – August 8-9
Hi, Everyone and Welcome from Osceola, Iowa! Saturday morning found us hitting the road a little later than we had planned...seems that I must have set the alarm clock for 5:00 pm instead of 5:00 am. Still, we woke up around 6:00 and scurried around to reload the cycle and trailer, have some breakfast at the motel, and then saddle up to ride some more. Our goal for the day was to reach Des Moines, Iowa, but with the high temperatures, we decided to take more rest breaks than we had originally planned. The temperatures were close to 100 degrees in the Kansas City area as we came through there, with the heat index about 104. Needless to say, with the sun burning down on the asphalt, we felt like we were in a convection oven for most of the day. By the time we got to Osceola, it was a little after 5:00 pm, so we decided we'd just check in to a motel and scout out the area. We had been past the town several times in Big Red (one of Liberal's activity buses) with loads of Odyssey of the Mind kids on the way to Ames and Iowa State University, and had actually stopped here at the Pizza Hut on one of those trips, but other than that, we knew nothing about the place. We did get caught out after dark, one of the basic "no-no's" for cycle riding, but if we hadn't done that, we might not have discovered that we had a problem with the trailer lights. As we were returning to the motel, a car pulled up to us at a stop sign and the lady in the passenger seat asked if we knew that we didn't have any trailer lights. Sure enough, after we had ridden the couple of blocks back to the motel, we discovered that two of the wires were sheared off, probably from being pinched between the hitch and some speed bumps we encountered along the way. It was too late and dark to deal with the problem, so we decided we'd take care of it Sunday morning and went back to the room and dropped off to sleep after a long and very hot day.
Sunday morning we woke up much earlier than we planned, so I went out to check on the wiring situation with the cycle and trailer. Unfortunately, my extra spool of wire and tools are in Big V, so I walked down the street about a block to a convenience store and found what I needed.
When I returned to the motel, we had a quick breakfast (English muffins and a bagel) and then went outside to tackle the wiring harness. The job wasn't too difficult, and soon we had all the lights working again (and the harness shortened a bit so it shouldn't drag).
We checked the phone book for a Baptist church to attend, but couldn't find one in the area, so we decided we'd ride over to the Methodist church around 8:30 to see if we could find out what time the service started. As luck would have it, the main service started at 9:00, so we went in and found one of the friendliest congregations we've ever encountered. The service was wonderful, with a very good balance of song styles, and a "knock your socks off" sermon...it didn't take us long to figure out we were exactly where we were supposed to be!
When church was over, we had to make a decision on travel plans for the day. We were supposed to saddle up and ride to Minneapolis/St. Paul, but the weather forecast for most of the trip included high winds, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms...not the optimum conditions for a cycle ride. After looking at the forecasts and thinking it over, we decided we'd just check in to another hotel and sit out the storms; and boy, were we ever glad we did. When the front hit, it came at us with a fury and vengeance that would have been impossible to handle on a motorcycle...maybe even in a car.
And so, we find ourselves spending another night in Osceola, resting up and getting ready for a long day of riding tomorrow. Our friends that we were going to visit in one of the Minneapolis suburbs called us this evening to say that they wouldn't be at home tomorrow because they were going to the Minnesota Vikings training camp...guess we'll just go on to Duluth and catch John and Carolyn on the return trip.
Monday, August 10
The first two entries were originally written as updates to the family to let them know where we were during the trip. We really planned to “go back to our roots” and write as we did when we first started the journals, but long days of riding and sightseeing, along with “iffy” internet connections, halted that line of thinking.
Today’s journey took us from Osceola, Iowa to the Big Bear Resort just a few miles south of Duluth, Minnesota, following I-35 all the way. Interstate cycling isn’t nearly as much fun as other highways, but this was the most expedient way to go, given our limited amount of time.
We did get an early start out of Osceola and made our first stop at Ankeny, just a few miles north of Des Moines, to fill the gas tank and look for a Wells Fargo bank to replenish our cash supply. While I was gassing the cycle, Barbara went inside the convenience store to find out if there was a Wells Fargo in town. Neither of the clerks could think of where one might be, but a young man said that if we just needed money, they had an ATM machine back in the corner. When Barbara turned around to see where it was, she also saw that it was a Wells Fargo ATM…right away we knew that God was looking out for us.
After a light snack, we climbed back on the Voyager and continued north, only to run into rain about the time we got to Ames. We pulled off at a rest area and found four young men riding Harleys who were changing into their rain gear. We got our rain jackets on, climbed back on the bike, and continued north, getting a little damp, but able to see through the light rain that was blowing against our visors and windshield.
(Just a side note here---at this point, we were entering new territory for both of us. While we were at Liberal, we made several trips to Ames and Iowa State University with our Odyssey of the Mind teams, but never got north of there. I guess it was just my imagination I almost steered to the Ames exit as we came up on it…old habits die hard.)
Continuing north, we made it to a point in northern Iowa where we could finally shed the rain jackets, only to have to stop under an overpass farther up the highway to put them on again when a storm crossed our path. We had met up with the four Harley riders a little earlier when we stopped for fuel and found from one of them that they had been on a ride to Memphis and were returning to their homes in Minneapolis. Well, we met up with them again at the underpass where we all got off our bikes and donned our raingear before heading out again. This time, Barbara was able to take a couple of photos.
After about fifteen minutes, the sun came out again, so we pulled off once more to shed the rain gear and take a short break before heading into Minnesota. Boy, there are miles, miles, and more miles of Iowa between Missouri and Minnesota!We took a short lunch break at Burger King at the Faribault exit and then continued north on I-35. When we got to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, we had our choice of taking I-35 W through Minneapolis or I-35 E through St. Paul. The map showed the Minneapolis route to be the straightest shot, but signs warning of construction and detours changed our minds and we motored on through downtown St. Paul. We were expecting the worst in the way of traffic, but found that it was a relatively easy shot through there.
I’ve always wanted to go to St. Paul and see The Prairie Home Companion show with Garrison Keiller, but it wasn’t the weekend, and the show was on the road, so there wasn’t much point in venturing away from the interstate.
We made the rest of the trip to the Black Bear Resort with only a minimum of discomfort (the hot sun and a long time in the saddle were taking a heavy toll on us), got checked in, and prepared for our adventure.
When we had cooled down a little and rested our rear ends, we decided to ride into Duluth to check out some spots for sightseeing tomorrow. What we learned was that going somewhere new on a scouting mission at the end of a long, hot day of motorcycle riding, is not a great idea. We got to Duluth just fine and even made it into Superior, Michigan twice (the first time intentionally). It was after the second time that we decided it was too late in the day and we were way too tired from our two-tired traveling to enjoy the experience, so we made our way back to the hotel (about twenty minutes) and shut down for the night.
Tuesday, August 11
Finally…we are in the cool north country of Minnesota. The natives are complaining about the unseasonable heat wave (highs in the lower 80’s and lows in the 60’s), but we’re happy. It’s worth the long, hot ride from Texas to enjoy weather like this.
We waited until time for the morning traffic commute to finish and then rode the Voyager to Duluth (this time avoiding the lanes that could divert us to Superior, Michigan) and on to the historic Canal Park section of the city. We managed to find the right exit, but since we didn’t know for sure what we were looking for, we blew right through the Canal Park (so named for the shipping canal that cuts through from Lake Superior to the docks) and found ourselves motoring along a narrow strip of land toward Minnesota Point.
Along the way, we stopped to enjoy the view of Superior Bay. While we were stopped, we saw two crew teams out practicing on the bay and managed to get some pretty good photographs.
Continuing to the end of the road, we found a pretty little park (this is a popular walking and bicycling route) and a beach on Lake Superior. Of course, we also had to walk over the tall dunes to get some photos of the lake from the beach.
Just a side bit of info about Lake Superior. It has frozen solid 3 times. And, when it does freeze solid, there is room for every person on earth to spread out a 12’ by 12’ blanket on the ice…now that’s a BIG lake!!!Returning toward Duluth, we found the Canal Park area we had been looking for (actually, we rode right through it on the way out…just didn’t know what we were looking at). As we were approaching Canal Park, we heard loud horns indicating that the aerial bridge over the canal was going up. We were first in the line of traffic, so Barbara hopped off the cycle and ran up to the canal walkway to get a picture of a freighter coming through, but never saw anything. When she came back, I gave it a try, but nothing ever came through, and after a long wait, the bridge came back down, allowing us (and a l-o-n-g line of traffic behind us) to cross.
We found a parking place at a restaurant that hadn’t opened yet and got off to explore the park area. In addition to the great view of Lake Superior from the westernmost point of the shoreline, we also visited the Maritime Museum, the site of many historical artifacts, including an exhibit dedicated to the Edmund Fitzgerald, an ore freighter than sank in a storm as it neared its destination on the eastern side of the lake in 1975. All 29 crew members died when the Fitz, until 1971 the largest ore freighter on the lake, went down. The story of the voyage and the sinking are immortalized in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” sung by Gordon Lightfoot.
After a great meal of fish and chips at Grandma’s Restaurant (we sat outside on the upper deck and had great views of the lake and the aerial bridge), we wandered back downtown to do some sightseeing.
As we were leaving from the downtown area, we decided we’d take in the Skyway Drive, a 25-mile scenic drive at the top of the hills overlooking Duluth and Lake Superior. What we didn’t count on, was unbelievable traffic congestion as we left the city and started up the hill on southbound I-35. The three lanes of traffic came to a screeching halt, leaving us trying to balance the cycle as we were going uphill and leaning slightly to the left on a long, sweeping curve. For 45 minutes we were able to move only 5-10 feet at a time, putting great strain on my arms, legs, and the cycle’s clutch.Just before we got to the exit for the Skyway Drive, all three lanes of traffic (which had been narrowed down to 2 and then to one) were diverted to a country road detour because of a big wreck at the beginning of an interstate construction area.
Needless to say, we canceled our plans for the skyway ride, took a break for fuel and a cold drink, and then found our way back to the Big Bear Resort, where we rested, washed clothes, packed, and prepared for our departure on Wednesday.
Wednesday, August 12
We got up early, finished loading the trailer, trunk, and saddlebags, and after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, climbed aboard the Voyager and headed south on I-35.
Earlier, Barbara had contacted one of her college roommates who lives in the area, but was house-sitting for one of her kids in the Minneapolis area. Carolyn and John, who also are fulltime motor home folks and who summer in Minnesota and winter in Pharr, Texas, said they would meet us for lunch at KFC in Forest Lake, an easily accessible site from the interstate.
We all arrived at KFC at the same time and spent about an hour catching up on what has happened since the last time we visited (we think it was about 8 years ago when we were visiting in Mission, Texas). Carolyn is a retired teacher and John is a retired supervisor for an iron mining operation in northern Minnesota.
After much talk (and several photos) we said our goodbyes, gassed up the cycle, and continued our trip through St. Paul and points south.We had planned to stop in Clear Lake, Iowa, “the town where the music died,” for the night. It was on February 2, 1959 that Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper performed their final concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. Early the next morning, soon after taking off in a Beechcraft Bonanza airplane at nearby Mason City, the plane crashed in a cornfield near Clear Lake, and a musical era ended. This event was later eulogized by folk singer Don McLean in his famous song, "American Pie,” in which the death of those '50s icons serves as a metaphor for greater changes within American society as a whole.
We hadn’t made a motel reservation, so were disappointed to find that every motel room in the area had been booked for the National Fireworks Convention…go figure. So, after consulting the map and checking our options, we backtracked a few miles across the Minnesota border to the small town of Albert Lea and found a Super 8 Motel where we spent the night.
Thursday, August 13
Even though we weren’t in a great hurry to get to our destination for the night, Osceola, Iowa, we got an early start out of Albert Lea. The weather was beginning to look a little “iffy,” and we thought we’d get on the road and stop wherever necessary.
As it turned out, we hadn’t been gone but about an hour when that “necessary” stop occurred. The dark clouds were crossing the highway ahead and the rain was starting to pelt us; so, we pulled in under an overpass, put on our rain jackets, and waited about 20 minutes for the storm to pass enough that we could safely ride again.
Later, when we were away from the storms, we pulled off at a Flying J Truck Stop to take a break and get the rain gear off and packed. It was at the Flying J that we also had some photo ops of a modern windmill and the cycle and trailer parked beside an American Flag and a field of corn waving in the background.
As an aside, we are pretty sure that there will not be a shortage of corn in the United States this year. For hundreds of miles from northern Missouri through southern Minnesota, the highway was lined with field after field of tall corn as far as the eye could see…wow…what a lot of Fritos corn chips!!! Notice photo on top right...the tree gives one an idea of how tall the corn fields are.
Back on the highway, we motored down to Ankeny and stopped to refuel. Then we rode the few more miles to Des Moines, but this time left the craziness of the traffic on two interstate highways that converged there and took a less traveled, but very good
4-lane highway that looped around the city.We arrived at our destination around 3:30, none the worse for wear after a relatively short day.
It was in Osceola that we received two important phone calls. The first was from a wonderful friend, Cheryl Burton, informing us that her husband, Lynn, had passed away around noon. Lynn had been in the hospital in Lubbock suffering from some pulmonary problems, but everyone thought he was getting better, so his death today was a shock for his family and many friends.
Lynn Burton was a friend of mine since high school days. Although he was from Tucumcari and I was from Artesia, we met several times a year at music competitions and auditions. Our acquaintance grew into a strong friendship from our first day at Eastern New Mexico University, where we were both music majors.
We kept in touch over the years, and when a band job at Bovina, Texas, came open in 1976, Lynn called me in North Carolina to tell me about it. Since my first wife and I were looking at returning to Texas, this seemed to be a good move, and in late June we left Gaston County, North Carolina, to go to Bovina where, for four years, Lynn and I taught at neighboring schools (he was at Farwell, just a few miles down the road).
Our friendship has continued over all these years, with thousands of miles of travel together to Texas Bandmaster Association and Texas Music Educators Association conventions and countless all-region band festivals, not to mention visits just to talk to each other and share stories of our teaching experiences.
Lynn Burton was far more than a friend-he was truly like a brother to me. He will be deeply missed by his family and the brotherhood of band directors who have worked with him for over forty years.
The second call, and one which helped raise our spirits, was from son Mike, who was on his way with Kelly for a weekend in South Carolina. They had received a call prior to leaving Richmond that their offer on a house had been accepted and that they would have a meeting next Tuesday to settle on a contract. We had told the kids that we would be coming to visit in September, and now it looks like we might be able to help them get settled in.
Friday, August 14
Today was another travel day, but without too many miles. We had made arrangements to visit Whitney, Jim, and Little Jimmy in Lenexa, Kansas, so we took our time riding down I-35, and through the Kansas City area to get to our Kansas City home away from home, the Days Inn in Lenexa.
The kids both worked until after 5:00 and we didn’t particularly want to go out again after getting settled in at the motel. Besides, they were having a house-showing until 6:30, so since they couldn’t get into their own home, we ordered from Pizza Hut delivery and had a get-together in our own room.
Little Jimmy was fascinated by the motorcycle, which thrilled us. We had pictures of all the grandkids except Jimmy sitting on the cycle and were hoping that he wouldn’t throw a fit when we tried to get him on it long enough for a picture. Not to worry…he couldn’t wait to climb up on the cycle and push all the buttons. In fact, he even put on my Harley cap and declared that it was his.
The evening, while relatively short, was great fun as we ate and talked and then ate some more and talked some more until it was time for the kids to take Little Jimmy home and put him to bed. The timing was just right, because it was also time for these two bodies to shake off some road weariness and get a good night’s sleep.Saturday, August 15
Today was just a fun, family day for us, and a welcome break from getting on the cycle for another ride. In fact, Barbara told Jim that he was her new hero since she wouldn’t even have to get on the cycle.
The kids picked us up at the motel at 9:00 and we went to Mimi’s, a nice restaurant in the mall parking lot, for breakfast. The highlight of the morning, of course, was watching and listening to Little Jimmy. He’s developing very good speech, and his fine motor skills are really advanced. He demonstrated how he could get the wrappers off the straws (and not just by tearing little pieces) and put them in our water glasses and his cup.
After a fun hour or so of eating and visiting, Jim drove us to a convention center across from the Sprint World Campus to view go to a model railroading exhibit. The big draw for us was that they were to have exhibits that the children could ride, a guarantee of excitement for Little Jimmy, but after paying our entry fees and walking around the railroading exhibits, Jim found that the man who was supposed to bring the riding models backed out of the show at the last minute.Still, Little Jimmy (and, I think, all of us) were enthralled by the many different model railroad layouts that were there. Jimmy got excited every time one of the trains came huffing and puffing past him, and spent nearly an hour just watching and telling us about what he was seeing.
Even a 2-year old can get enough of a good thing, so when it was evident that Jimmy’s enthusiasm for the trains was flagging, Barbara and Whitney took him out to the lobby while Jim and I continued to look at the exhibits and marvel at the high costs of model railroading (a set of one engine and four cars was on “sale” today for ONLY $999.00).While Whitney came back into the exhibit hall to let us know that Jimmy was through, Barbara stayed in the lobby with him. Jimmy discovered a coke machine change slot with 2 nickels in it. Without any prompting from Barbara, Jimmy reached up, put first one coin and then the other in the “pay” slot. Once Grams showed him how to retrieve the nickels by pushing down the return lever, his routine was set! Get the change, put coins in the slot, push the lever…that kept him occupied for a long time.
When we were all out of the exhibit hall, we got in the car and the kids took us to the Deanna Rose Park to walk around and see all the animal exhibits at the farmstead. Little Jimmy got to feed the goats, and each time one would take one of the feed pellets out of his hand, he would squeal with delight.
The children’s slides were probably the highlight of Jimmy’s morning. Whitney or Jim would take him up to the platform at the top and Jimmy would slide down, hop off, and immediately head back for the steps that would take him back to the top. The only little tantrum he threw all day was when we told him it was time to leave the slides and go see something else, and even that was short-lived as he got excited about something else.A little after noon we returned to the motel and the kids took Jimmy home for lunch and his nap. That worked out well, as it was also time for our nap, so it worked out well for everyone.
After our nap, we got out and washed a couple of loads of clothes. We don’t take much clothing with us on a cycle trip, so we have to do the laundry more often than usual. Since we would be leaving to return home the next day, we wanted everything washed so we wouldn’t have to do laundry as soon as we got back to the lake.
Jim came back and picked us up at 5:00 to go spend the evening at their house. He was the head cook tonight, whipping up his special fajita recipe. We all sat around and visited (and watched Jimmy) while Jim grilled the steak and chicken. Then, it was time to build our own fajitas and savor the flavor. I’ve got to admit, Jim definitely outdid me in cooking this meal, and we couldn’t compliment him enough on what a great cook he is.
Later in the evening we had some visitors…Abby (formerly Reimer, and also formerly from Liberal) and her husband, Dan, came over to see us. It was wonderful to get caught up with them and the latest news about Abby’s family. Abby is Little Jimmy’s babysitter/nanny, so of course, he was happy to see Dan and her.
Even though the get-together was still going strong, we had to call it quits at 9:00. We wanted to get away by 6:00 tomorrow morning, so we said our goodbyes and Jim took us back to the motel where we packed as much as we could in the trailer and then called it a night.Sunday, August 16
Our day started much earlier than we thought it would. At 3:00 am I was awakened by the sound of rumbling thunder. When I got up to check what was happening outside, I saw pouring rain and some violent lightning flashes.
Since I was already awake and probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, I quietly turned on the TV and started checking weather stations…and the news wasn’t what we wanted to know. There was a series of severe thunderstorms tracking northeast, right along the I-35 corridor into the Kansas City area. The only good news was that the storms appeared to be moving quickly and should be out of the area by 6:00 am.
When Barbara got up at 5:00, we got ready for our travel while keeping an eye on the progress of the storms. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much progress, as the line of storms slowed down and settled in.
Intrepid travelers that we are, we took a chance that everything was going to be okay, so we packed the rest of our things in the trailer and trunk, checked out of the motel, and climbed on the cycle while there was just a light sprinkle going on around us. Unfortunately, before we could get out of the parking lot the storm cell opened up and we were drenched within 10 seconds.
We decide to just stay in the motel office area and have a little breakfast until the next break in the storm. When that did occur, we dashed out to the cycle and took off again, only to run into more rain before we even got to the Olathe exits, where we pulled in under an overpass to stay as dry as possible.
For the next hour, we alternately rode a while and parked under overpasses for a while until we finally ran out of the drenching rain at Ottawa, where we could turn south toward Tulsa. After a short break at McDonalds in Ottawa, we again mounted up and began the ride toward sunshine and, we hoped, drier clothes. We still don’t know what we were thinking when we put on our rain coats but not our rain pants, but we paid for that bit of nonsense by being soaked from the waist down.
As we crossed into Oklahoma, the skies started to clear a little and it began warming up, and it wasn’t long before we were wishing for some of the cool weather we had earlier in the day.
Except for the heat, the rest of the ride was generally uneventful, but we had spent so much time with slow riding through Kansas and hiding out under overpasses that it became obvious that it would be dangerous for us to try to reach the lake tonight…maybe if we weren’t so exhausted, but it just wasn’t worth the risk.
So, we made it as far as Grant, Oklahoma, at the southern end of the Indian Nation Turnpike around 6:00 and checked in to a hotel for the night, exhausted, still a little damp, but none the worse for wear.
Monday, August 16
With only a two-hour ride ahead of us this morning, we took our time getting ready, packed up, and checked out of the hotel, and were on the road again.
We bypassed Paris, Texas (the city streets are murderous for motorcycles, as we found on the way north) and headed on down to Sulphur Springs, where we stopped for a Sonic breakfast and a short break. From there, it was a little less than a half-hour ride to Holiday Village and Big V.
Upon our arrival at our lot, we opened up Big V, cranked the air-conditioning down a few degrees, and began the process of unloading the cycle and trailer and getting everything put away. Even though it was still relatively early in the morning, we were exhausted after 10 ½ days and 2,378 miles on the Voyager.
Once everything was squared away, we took a little afternoon nap and then drove to Mineola to pick up our mail and check in with the family before returning to the lot and getting settled in again for at least a couple of weeks.
Barbara…By the end of this experience, I had had plenty of time to ponder what in the world I was doing on the back of this motorcycle! During these periods of reflections, I finally solved the mystery. Riding on the back of the cycle for me is much like having a baby. Let me explain this analogy…
When we first planned the trip the excitement was high same as it is when you are planning to have a child…
When we finally took off on the cycle, it was like finding out that you’re pregnant…everything is rosy, great hopes; mission accomplished…that sort of thing.
The longer the trip went on was like the first months when you feel sluggish and suffer from morning sickness…you wonder if you’ll survive.
When we arrived in Duluth, it was like getting over the morning sickness, the queasiness, finally…some days to feel better.
The trip home was like the very last month of pregnancy when you can’t move, can’t tie your shoes, everything hurts, and you just want it over!
And, now that I’m home and I don’t have to ride the cycle every day, it’s like how a woman forgets all the discomfort and pain during childbirth and is ready to do it again…that’s me…ready to do it again…ride the cycle, that is…not have a baby!
“It is not the finishing point, but the act of traveling which makes it important.” - Unknown
Back in Big V at Holiday Village-Lake Fork,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
