Day 16 - Cerritos, CA to San Diego, CA

Home sweet home!

After 16 days on the road we arrived home early Saturday morning. Perfect timing Jenn, I finished the book as we were entering San Diego, I'm ready for the next one :)

Many thanks to my mom for her greenthumb and diligent watering, and for keeping our ever growing bird population thriving while we were gone.

Also our heartfelt thanks to JA for making this trip of a lifetime possible. We hope the four new tires help to make up for the 5,000 miles we put on your RV!

Interested in seeing our route? You can check it out by clicking the map below.

I'll also try to post the rest of my pictures sometime soon.
Thank you to everyone for following our trek, it's been fun sharing our journey with you.
-KT and GP

Day 15 - Wells, Nevada to San Ramon, CA to Cerritos, CA

We made it to California Friday afternoon and quickly came to the conclusion that out of the 12 states that we drove through California has the worst roads of all. We felt like we were ol' west settlers in a covered wagon on a wagon trail.

Our plan was to stop at friends/family in the bay area for the night, and in the morning pick up a bike (yes, that's right another bike) that Geoff had bought from someone in San Ramon.

The drive was really beautiful, through the mountains and through the beautiful golden hills of California.

We picked up the bike (an unrestored Triumph Cub) and decided that after 15 days on the road we were ready to come home. So we drove through the night to LA. It wasn't bad at all, we alternated naps (that's the great part about an RV!) made it in about 2am.

Day 14 - Cheyenne, Wyoming to Wells, Nevada

Today was an eventful day!

We drove from Wyoming and through Utah, just outside of Park City one of the inner back tires blew.

Luckily Geoff was driving and there are two tires on both sides in the back, so we could keep driving far enough to get us to the tire store which was only a few miles down the road.

















Cooter looked on while they replaced all four tires. He was glad to get back on the road, he's not too crazy for the loud noises at an autobody shop.

We drove past Salt Lake City, and past the great Salt Lake, and spotted the Bonneville Speedway just off of the highway. The Bonneville Speedway is a part of the salt flats that people use for racing and is famous for land speed records.

There's a sign indicating that you're at the "speedway" and then all you can see for miles and miles is salt.


After bowing down to the gods of motorcycle racing Geoff got out his bike and rode off into the vast whiteness while the pups and I watched on.


As we left the sun was setting over the mountains. The day turned out to be not so bad after all :)

Day 13 - Lincoln, Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming

So far we've been pretty lucky finding RV parks when we're not staying with friends or family. I've been mapping the route on my iPhone, and then doing a search on camping or RV camping and seeing what's close to where we want to stop for the night. As long as the place can be found online, and has a web site with halfway decent pictures, I figure it can't be that bad!

We decided we wanted to stay near Cheyenne, Wyoming and I found this place - Terry Bison Ranch.

It was part RV park, part animal farm, part railroad, part exotic animal petting zoo and part ol' western town complete with a herd o' bison. And all parts all a little run down. In other words it was the perfect place to take pictures, especially with the amazing Wyoming BIG SKY in the background. There are two many pics to post on this blog, so if you're interested in seeing my pics including all of my extreme animal close ups feel free to check out my flikr photo gallery.

Day 12 - Urbana, Illinois to Lincoln, Nebraska

Got a little lazy today and didn't really take many pictures. Here's one of the Mighty Mississippi and our antenna ball.

We drove from Urbana to Leawood, Kansas to spent a couple of hours with friends. They had a gorgeous house just south of Kansas City, and three kids that were entertaining us the whole time. They fed us a tasty dinner and we were on our way again.

We drove into the night and stopped in Lincoln Nebraska at an RV park called Camp-A-Way.

Day 11 - Urbana, Illinois

We stopped in Urbana, Illinois (about 3 hours south of Chicago) to see my Grandma Kate (my namesake, or am I her namesake? anyway, the person from whom I was named).

She's in an assisted living facility, it's a nice place, but not really a place that inspires you to take a ton of pictures. She does still have her home, and that's where everyone stays when they go to visit her. My family is scattered all over the country. Her house has stayed the same as long as I can remember.

It's a classic 60s house, everything from the rotary phone to the intercom - complete with AM radio.

And the classic buick roadmaster estate wagon - with fake wood siding of course.

One of these days the house will be sold - but until then I can go back and relive a little of my childhood every time I visit.

We took off on Tuesday for Nebraska, missing my dad's cousins who were also coming to visit my grandma by less than a day. I would have loved to have stuck around to see them, but unfortunately we've got to hit the road, home is calling :)

Day 10 - Heading home, Ohio to Urbana Illinois

We packed up the motorhome and bikes into the trailer picked up the pups from the kennel (they were very excited to see us) and headed east for the first time in 10 days!

Not much to report - it was only a six hour drive to my grandmother's house in Urbana, Illinois. Sorry Jenn, the only wildlife we've been seeing besides squirrels is roadkill of all shapes and sizes. I didn't think you'd want a picture of that.

My iPhone does take some kinda cool pics out the window when you're driving. The pictures are distorted so everything looks a little Dr. Seuss-like.

The only other amazing thing we saw was gas at $3.66. The cheapest yet. G and I decided that California gas must be so expensive so that people in the rest of the country don't mind paying a dollar less than us, no matter what the price is. "Lookie here - those Californy fools are payin $4.60 a gallon, we're only payin $3.66, filler up buddy!"

Days 8 & 9 - Lexington, Ohio, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

We've had a couple of fun days here at the vintage motorcycle show. We've done a little bit of everything (related to motorcycles of course).

We went to the swap meet...

Saw some jumping motorcycles...

And some racing motorcycles...

We even went to the movies and saw a movie about Triumphs...

Drank a little beer...

Grilled some delicious grub...
Took a ton of pics of course...
Got rained on a bit...

Geoff entered his bike in a contest against all of these bikes...

And won second place! Yay Geoff!


Tomorrow it's more of the same, then on to Urbana to see my grandma...

Day 7 - Steeleville, Illinois to Lexington, Ohio

Well, we finally made it to Ohio!

Out of all of the states Ohio wins in the best welcome sign contest. It's a really pretty state with rolling hills and lots of trees. Peg and JoMo, why did you ever leave? :)

We dropped the dogs off at a kennel because they're not allowed in the racetrack. That was hard since it's the first time they've ever been to one, but the kennel was nicer than we could have imagined and the people seemed really friendly.

The track is in the middle of nowhere, halfway between Cleveland and Columbus with farms all around.

We pulled in at sunset and luckily we had space reserved for us by a few of the members of britbike.com because the place was packed. They snuck in the night before and cordoned off an entire section (more of a compound). Everyone is really nice, not the harley crowd at all. I haven't even seen any leather chaps! Although I think the ratio of old biker guys to girls is about 20 to 1.




You can check out where our RV is in relation to the track (and you can check out my mad MS Paint skills) here.





More from the land of motorcycles later...

Day 6 - Steeleville, Illinois

No traveling today, we made it just in time to celebrate my grandfather's 92nd birthday! My grandma fried catfish and we ate that along with baked beans and potato salad, yum! Grandma comfort food is the best. Later on we toasted to my grandpa with a highball of Crowne Royal over ice.

At 92 and 90 my grandparents do pretty well, they still live in their own house and my grandma still drives. The only accidents that she's ever head are when people talking on their cell phones run into her.

Had to take a picture of my grandparent's favorite beer for Brandon :) if you look closely you can see my grandma enjoying a frosty beverage in the background.

I finally went for a run. The town is only 1.2 miles long, which makes it difficult to run any distance without running back and forth on the same road and if you leave town you'd be on a blacktop with not much shoulder, kinda scary. But it was nice to get out after sitting for so long.

Day 7 we're heading to our final destination - since Kent reminded me, I'd better dust off my leather chaps, leather bra and skull covered do (dew?) rags so i'm good and ready for the motorcycle filled weekend.

Day 5 - Topeka, Kansas to Steeleville, Illinois

If you've ever been to the midwest you'll know that everything is named Shawnee something. Shawnee Trail, Shawneetown, Shawnee Park. Well, on our 5th night we stayed at Lake Shawnee Campground in Topeka, Kansas.

When we pulled off I-70 to go to the campground the road was closed, we could see the lake on the other side of the road but didn't know how to get there. Within a minute a woman pulled up along side us and asked where we needed to go, then proceeded to have us follow her to the lake. Once we arrived people loaned us boards to level the RV (apparently if it's not level the refrigerator doesn't work, who knew!) and another person loaned us a converter for the electricity. Toto, I don't think we're in California anymore :)

Our spot was great, right next to the lake, very peaceful. Although the bugs we're crazy. The midwest in the summertime makes you appreciate living in a place with no humidity and no mosquitoes!

We took off in the morning for my grandparents house in Steeleville, Illinois. Population 2000. It was raining heavily but as we past over the Mississippi River into Illinois it cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day.

Day 4 - Dillon, Colorado to Topeka, Kansas

Cows

Corn

Soybeans

Wind farms

Gas at $3.75 per gallon!

One LONG stretch of highway past the wizard of oz museum, past the boyhood town of Bob Dole, past the infamous 50 foot prairie dog.

We must be in Kansas!

Left Dillon early this morning after our friend's daughter Lindsey showed me her best trampoline tricks before school.

Their dog Aspen was obviously happy to see our two pups hit the road.

Boy this is a big state - doesn't look like we'd have a food shortage with farms as far as the eye can see. On our way to Topeka now to stop for the night...

Day 3 - Green Mountain Reservoir, Dillon, Colorado

Finally got to an internet connection! We arrived last evening at Green Mountain Reservoir outside of Dillon Colorado to camp with our friends. They had quite the set up, RVs and pop up campers and of course a camp fire going. It was an ideal location, right on a lake and it was nice to get out of the Utah heat.

http://www.greenmountainreservoir.com/oir.com/

We're now at our friends house, a storm was brewing so we left the campground. D and D live right behind the White River National Forest. It's a gorgeous location, although sad to see the dead trees covering the mountains from the mountain pine beetle. Uncle Doug - can't you find a way to stop those pesky beatles!

www.vaildaily.com/article/20080622/NEWS/783960501/1062

Would love to get back here for ski season, they're just a couple of miles away from Keystone and Breckenridge.

Tomorrow we'll be on our way to Kansas. I've even been getting the hang of driving the RV with trailer in tow. It's not so bad as long as I don't have to back it up! More from the road...