Epilogue

 It’s done, 10,351 miles, 32 States, 15 days.  Mission accomplished.  From a riding point certainly.  But it was more than that.  

After my return I have put myself into home quarantine just to make sure that I didn’t bring an unwanted souvenir  back home with me.  We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially me, I traveled through some of the new hot spots like South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Luisiana, Texas, California (again), but also northern states like Minnesota, Illinois, or Indiana.  It was also to proof that safe traveling through the US is possible, even with the virus around us.  Now I had an advantage, I traveled with a motorcycle in open air, and I camped as much as I could, thus minimizing my interaction with other people.  But I touched a gas pump handle more than fifty times at different places, no problem, hand sanitizer worked great on my hands and gloves as well.  I checked into some motels, no problem, face mask and hand sanitizer during the check in, distance to the receptionist, and disinfection wipes in your room for surfaces you may touch, and all was good.  It was sometimes funny to see how some motel chains are combating COVID-19 through the removal of the in room coffee maker, or removing the free soap bar and shampoo bottles, and of course by eliminating the free continental breakfast in almost every motel I visited.  And as I not always cooked my meal on my gas stove every night, visiting here and there a restaurant (if I found one which was open) was no problem neither. Tables were spaced widely, waitresses wore face masks, everything possible was done to keep you as a customer safe.  And what about interaction with people?  I have to say that most people I met were very much aware of the situation we are currently living in, and were very considerate by keeping social distance and wearing masks.  Just as an example, in Arizona, the day my thermometer was at 120F and couldn’t move further, a couple in an RV at a rest stop was handing me from their fridge two cold water bottles, and wiped them down with a smile and “... you know, the COVID thing ...” before handing them to me.  But of course this was not everywhere the case, South Dakota presented a completely opposite picture.  Most of those riding up to Sturgis wore no face masks, maintained no social distance, had no consideration for the circumstances we live in.  People there were mostly ignorant to the danger it presents not following the simple rules of wash your hand, keep social distance, wear a mask.  And really it as simple as that, as I have successfully proven in those 15 days.

It was a great ride, a safe ride.  I met very helpful people, I met no sign of hate or prejudice, but I met hard working and honest people of different decent, telling me their life, inquisitive about where I come from, where I go, what I do and who I am, and many other things we talked here and there.  I saw a beautiful country again, worth to maintain its beauty for generations to come, for our children to enjoy, and not to destroy it for profits for a few.  After all, there is only one place to live in, and when its gone, so are we.

In finishing, one quote from one of my favorite authors, John Steinbeck:

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation - a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here.  They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something.  I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited.  Nearly every American hungers to move.” - Travels with Charley: In search of America

Mile 10,351

 Today is my last day on the road.  I’m leaving Toledo, OH early to make my way toward Cleveland, OH.  Of course it is far to early to pay a visit to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, but with music from my iPod I take the split from I-90 onto I-80 into Pennsylvania.  I follow the Interstate through some forested areas which keep the air cool and make riding this morning easy.  The more I move eastward the heavier the traffic becomes, and finally in Wilkes-Barre, PA onto Scranton, PA I get hit with the heavy traffic entering I-84.  I continue and cross the Delaware River at Port Jarvis, NY, the Delaware valley we visited last year and definitely a must if you enjoy a nice river valley, and continue through the hills down to the Hudson River to cross at Newburg, NY to the other side.  From here it is old territory through Danbury, CT up to Waterbury, CT and then back home.  The circle is closed after 15 days and 10,351 miles.  Now the bike will be parked, cleaned and repaired where needed, I will have a nice, long shower, a cold beer and a good night sleep.  And then in the next days, when all slowly sets in, I will realize what I have done, re-live some sections of it, and reflect on the many conversations I had with the folks I met, the sceneries I have seen.  Then the whole story will be completed.

“I think the motorcycle is best because it puts you so much in contact with everything.  You experience much more closely the nature of the terrain and almost taste the cultures’ that you’re riding through, but exposes you to the climate and to the wind and rain and it’s a much more complete experience.” - Ted Simon, British travel writer noted for circumnavigating the world twice by motorcycle, author of ‘Jupiter’s Travel’

Mile 9685

 Today was just raking up miles, but I kept it well below the 1,000 miles. But you see what’s driving me, sweet home .....  I leave Sioux Falls, SD and enter the Plains again.  Some miles down the Interstate I enter Minnesota and the road is straight, the sight left, right and front the same.  Only thing to worry about this morning are those dark clouds and streaks of rain I see in the distance.  But I’m pushing the clouds in front of me, almost like the mule and the carrot on the stick in front of him, the mule will never get the carrot, and I never hit the rain.  I follow I-90 into Madison, WI, and dropping down towards the lake area as the rain clouds disappear and a low mist is coming up.  Humidity is immediately rising, and the winds normally around the lake are not present.  It is muggy and hot, and I’m getting soaked in my gear, even though the temps are only in the upper 80’s.  So I descend into Chicago, IL and have to fight my way through downtown as the Express Loop is under construction, and the 7 lane Interstate reduces to 3 lanes.  Thanks god its early Sunday afternoon, and even though traffic is heavy, we are always moving.  Won’t imagine what it looks like tomorrow morning at 8 AM.  Once at the South shore I can enter the Express Way and moving to Michigan City, IN and Toledo, IN is a breeze.  I leave Toledo behind me, and look for a place to call it the day.  Nothing special really today, just miles.  And perhaps my music tip for today, Paul Thorn and his album Tupelo Blue at Niagara Falls.  If you’re interested, here the link: https://gear.bmwmoa.org/products/paul-thorn-greatest-hits-cd

“Chase your dreams, but always know the road that will lead you home again.” - Tim McGraw, American singer, actor and record producer.

Mile 8830

I'm leaving a little later than usual Butte, MT and follow the various rivers like the Jefferson Slough, the Bolder River, and Madison River, and climb my way up to the Continental Divide at about 6,500 ft.  I descend down to Bozeman, MT and wind my way up and down through the mountain ranges and National Forests to Livingston, MT, following the Yellowstone River into Billings, MT, always staying at about 3,000 ft to 4,500 ft elevation.  I see some hot air balloons drifting in the morning breeze against the slowly rising sun and the mountains as their backdrop, what a great way to start the day.  I'm now in the High Plains, and in the territory of the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nation.  I continue following I-90 to Sheridan, WY and over Buffalo, WY and Gillette, WY into Spearfish, SD.  Sturgis, SD MC valley is on, and the Highway gets more and more crowded with motorcycles heading this way.  Close to Rapid City, SD it's almost a mad house, and besides all the warnings about the COVID-19 pandemic, Sturgis visitors are immune against it.  Social distancing, face coverings, likewise riding without protective gear (hot pants, bikini top and flip-flops at 80 mph, an ER's nightmare) nothing can happen to a Sturgis visitor.  I don't have to do that to myself and continue my way through the Black Hills into the Badlands.  Being out here one shall definitely not miss Wall Drug Store, established 1931, and a tourist attraction ever since.

Wall Drug, SD - The mouse trap in the Badlands

  One gets pointed to it 100 miles before already with huge billboards, and repeated every so often until one reaches the exit.  Once you have survived that, 1880 Town is coming up, a recreation and tourist attraction as well.  

1880 Town, SD

I have seen both before in 2014 on our Alaska trip, and leave them left handed, continuing toward Sioux Falls, SD.  Starting in Murdo, SD I'm stopping at the usual hotel/motel names to find a bed for tonight, but with Sturgis going on, I have no luck until I finally find a place a little outside of Sioux Falls.  Along the way I came across the Dignity Statue in Chamberlain, SD, a native woman standing on a bluff overlooking the Missouri river receiving a star quilt.  A great statue, and I couldn't think of a better place than that. 

Dignity - Chamberlain, SD

A lot of miles today, but great country and lots of history here.  But for now, and it is 10:30 PM when I finally find a place to lay my head down, for now I close the day.

"Hear me, my chiefs!  I'm tired.  My heart is sick and sad.  From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." - Chief Joseph, leader of the Way-lam-wat-kain band of the Nez-Perce tribe (Pacific Northwest tribe)

Mile 7857

 This morning I wake up to rather chilling temperatures.  I completely underestimated the change in climate up here in the Pacific mountains, and I have already double layers on.  Anyway I leave Leavenworth, WA and follow the Wenatchee river with the sun just not being high enough to illuminate the valley.  I turn following the Columbia river along the Entiat lake, one of the basins where peaches and cherries grow, and which is proof that "water grows food".  But rather than following the Columbia river to the Grand Coulee Dam, I turn East at Orondo, WA and run into the blinding morning sun.  Wherever I look there are only grain fields all around me, Washington State, the bread basket.

I go up the mountains to the Banks Lake and Coulee City, and continue to Spokane, WA.  From here I follow Interstate I-90 to Coeur d' Arlene and follow along the lake.  Unfortunately the Hwy is under renovation and a stop at the photgrapher point is not possible.  Anyway, here a picture from a previous visit:

From here I'm climbing up again into the mountains, and it is getting chilling cold.  I can't remember having ridden my bike on August 8th, with having had my grip and seat heating on full power.  Anyway, I climb to elevations of over 4,000 feet and can't complain as I love every mile of this winding and turning mountain pass.  But all the joy comes to a sudden end as I encounter a sudden and strong wobble in my front tire.  I have to stop shortly after I have passed the Lookout Pass.  Now again, my $59 per year membership to Road America becomes very handy, and Road of America is sending me a tow truck to pick me up and bring me to Missoula, MT, the nearest H-D dealer to take care of my patient.  My suspicion of another wheel bearing failure turns out to be a blow out on the rear tire, with a hole about the size of a penny, which I must have encountered somewhere along this many road constructions at the Lookout Pass, together with a damage to the front wheel.  Many cudos to the guys at Grizzly Harley-Davidson in Missoula, and Bob from Services in particular, who where already waiting for me to arrive and took the bike immediately in to the shop for repair.  In and out in less than two (2) hours, that's what I call a great, great service on traveling folks like me.  With still some daylight left I continue my path towards Billing, MT, but decide to stay further out of Sturgis, SD as the 2020 rally is going on and finding a place to put my head down may become very difficult and expensive, besides the point that social distancing and any consideration about COVID-19 is ignored.  So I call it the day in Butte, MT a former copper mining town, declining to nothing because of the lack of interest in a once major city in the West.

One of the many Copper Mine Shafts in Butte, MT

It is like in many of the historic towns in the US, the lack of interest in preserving the history which built this country is eaten away by deterioration and the decline of the city around it, and history will be gone forever.  Without its presence we will not remember and know what our heritage is, and become a nation of anonymous people.

I have had a very mixed day, but besides the difficulties today, I met many very helpful people, helping me bringing my bike to the shop, repairing it, and getting me back on the road again, even tonight having a beer and something to eat conversing with Tony the man at the taps, and the other folks telling me their stories.  Live is sometimes hard, but all in all it can be so much more easier if we just are open to each other, listen to the other one's story, and throw prejudice over board.  I met today so many people, very kind and helpful, if this continues every day, the world will and must be a better place.  Believe in it, I do.

"It is on your hands to build a better world for all who live in it." - Nelson Mandela anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. 

Mile 7415

 I'm getting up this morning and it rather chilly out there.  Today is definitely double layer under the riding gear.  There are still low hanging clouds in the mountains here in Roseburg, OR and it looks like that I might be in for a shower here and there.  I like this area, as many others in Oregon, the mountains, the ocean air coming up the coastal range, and forests with their diverse trees.  And with the mist and the daylight breaking only here and there through, Tolkin would have liked this place too.  But all the fun is over when I hit Eugene, OR, as those lovely clouds open their gates.  I slip into my rain gear, as there is no easing in sight and drive on.  By the time I reach Portland, OR I know that also rain gear is not water tight, and diverse body parts are getting soaked.  By the time I hit Tacoma, WA I don't care anymore about the rain, and when I reach Seattle, WA the weather man was right on, 11:00 AM rain was the forecast, I was there, it started to rain.  I wonder how they do that, down to the hour?  Anyway, my target is another 110 miles further North, Blaine, WA to get my last check mark.  And once again, the weather man said it would stop at 12, and so it did.  Finding the post office was not difficult in this town of 4,000 something, and with that I concluded the four corners of the lower USA.  I took me exactly 6,624 miles to connect those four points, a bit more than 7,100 miles considering riding to the start point as well.

Last check-in, Blaine, WA

But there is no time to waste, as the black clouds are rolling in from the South.  I turn my bike East and change my plans and skip riding through the Northern Cascades, which I always wanted to do, but also this time I have to detour and follow the lighter pattern in the clouds.  I backtrack on I-5 south to about Everet, WA and join Hwy-2, my all time favorite going over the Stevens Pass (a monument of him is at Hwy-2 at the summit of Marias Pass) on the South side of the Cascades.  

John Frank Stevens - American Civil Engineer
(Great Northern Railway & Panama Canal)

This is now the third time that I follow this road, and I have done both directions, and still thinks it is one of the best in the US.  My decision to take this route is rewarded with the sun breaking the clouds and shining in to the valley and onto the mountains.  What a great picture to finish the day.  I stop in Leavenworth, WA, the Bavarian Alpine Village, a town which reinvented itself when the wood industry declined, and now a major tourist attraction in this region.  I celebrate the day with a Mass Bier and a Bratwurst at one of the Bavarian sausage places.

"I still have a long way to go, but I'm already so far from where I used to be, and I'm proud of that." - unknown

Mile 6755

It's another early morning for me, I don't bother to adjust to the new time zone anymore, as I will be heading East soon again, so why upsetting my inner clock.  I leave Oceanside outside of San Diego, CA at about 4:30 AM and hit Santa Ana, CA at about quarter past five.  If you have seven (7) highway lanes and you have crawling traffic at 5:30 AM, than I don't want to know what it is at 8 AM.  I'm happy that I'm that early, even though the temperatures are quite nippy at about mid fifties, I better should have put my hoodie on.  Too late, I don't want to encounter the morning commute traffic in Long Beach or Los Angeles and move on.  I pass my former place of action in Long Beach and Burbank, in both places I built some HRSG when we lived in California, and see some heavy mist hanging over the city of angels.  I continue my way to Pasadena and Glendale, and move into the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Fernando Valley.  Once passing Santa Clarita, CA I climb into the mountains again over the Tejon Pass and into the valley, or the dust bowl as the locals call it.  Drooping into the valley I leave the mist behind me and temperatures start immediately to rise.  With Bakersfield, CA on my right, and Streets of Bakersfield from Dwight Yoakam & Buck Ownes on my lips (having lived in Bakersfield you must know this song by heart), I pass another two places I know very well from my HRSG days then, Buttonwillow, and McKittrick.  Not very much has changed, except Buttonwillow has a Starbucks now, besides all the cotton bails.  This is really the country John Steinbeck was writing about, dust and more dust, thats all what exists here, unless you bring water to it.  And that's one of the big differences I see today, many of the aqueduct canals are dry, and so is the land.  Very much to the enjoyment when you like to see dirt devils build up and run over the barren land.

That's what it is all about since the creation of this State, 

or perhaps even before than, water, and who gets it

  I continue North and pass places I know very well like Wasco, CA, Coalinga, CA or the bigger places like Fresno, CA or San Jose, CA.  At about Modesto, CA I start to fight gusty winds which make me and some big rigs make use of the full width of the Interstate.  This is an exercise for Arnold S., but not for me.  I make my way through Sacramento, CA and have of course another song in my head, remember Middle of the Road, the good day when we where young, ....  After Sacramento I enter the Sacramento Valley with more gusty winds (thank you Lorraine for your wishes, but the sailor is fighting heavily to stay on course), I finally make it to Redding and into the mountains again.  Temperatures have risen already to the 100's in the valley, so the mountains are very welcome.  I climb up to the Shasta mountain, pass, lake, and the scenery is just breath taking.  I like this place, if there weren't those big black clouds moving in from the West.  And sure enough, descending to Mount Shasta, CA those clouds are unloading all they carried over the mountains.  This only means one thing, ride farther to get dry again.  But before I got drenched I had a marvelous view of the Castle Crags, a mountain formation I have not seen before, or perhaps only in the Dolomites in Italy.  Spectacular is only poorly describing this view.  

That range is something to come back for.  I continue further North on this spectacular, winding up and down Interstate, climbing to 4,000 ft, dropping down to 3,000 ft, climbing up again and dropping again to 1,800 ft, and up and down, left and right, it is just plain fun to ride this road in such a nice setting, and especially with the evening sun illuminating the mountains.  I will add this section to my America's Best Roads.  Nevertheless in Roseburg, OR I have finally enough, I'm tiered from fighting the gusty winds, feeling somehow cold now, and looking forward to a hardy meal.  So I call it quit, when I see again a motel at a rate cheaper than a tent site would cost me for the night.  A no brainer for me, the old bones say thank you.

"What good is the warmth of the summer, without the cold of the winter to give it sweetness." - John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America