Home, home at last..... RW

It was the trip of a lifetime!

Gary did an excellent job of covering the highlights in his last blog update. I wanted to add a personal thank you to Gary, Mike and Pearse. Without Gary's advance planning of the road trip we all would have been lost. It became quite obvious he spent countless hours setting up way points, highway choices and riding times. We used the hard copy Mike carried so much it was almost in shreds by the end of the trip. Mike (Rocket Man) did a lot of the front running for the pack with Pearse in second with the fuzz buster when needed. When in doubt, Mike picked up the pace in almost all situations. Pearse (Zen Master) set the tone of the trip by keeping us all focused on what was important.....enjoyment and harmony. I personally learned a lot about BMW riding and appreciated Gary's, Mike's and Pearse's guidance. I believe my riding skills have improved and consequently a safer rider.

I have now checked off one of my major bucket list items. Thanks to all for the kind thoughts, words, and encouragement that enabled us to make this trip of a life time and all arrive home safe and sound. Take care.

PS: Hey Gary....what's next?

July 26 - gw

Well, I was the last to make it home, but arrived mid afternoon today. Total miles 11,784 over the past 38 days. We had a wonderful experience; got to see alot of sights, wildlife almost each day, good food and many miles of riding. What a trip!

Key take aways from the trip:
-Awsome places to see: Ferry across Lake Michigan, Black Hills, Glacier Nat'l Park, Banff, Lake Louise, Icefields parkway, Watson Lake Sign Village, Coldfoot, Atigun Pass, Prudhoe Bay, Talkeetna, Hwy 99 heading into Whistler, Vancouver, Columbia Gorge, Redmond, Moab, Arches Park, Durango.
-Riding Buddy - Pair up, don't ride alone. At times we did ride alone, not smart, no really stupid; especially on the trip up to Prudhoe Bay.
-Spot - we should all consider purchasing a Spot device for those extended rides or even short ones around home. Good safety device in case you get in trouble.
-Pack based on the climate(s) but pack light - you don't need as much as you think. Use layers
-Blog - glad we did it. Many folks will want to follow progress - we had 30 or so. Also good mechanism to update the family, especially when phone service is not available. Interestingly, we often had wifi where we did not have telephone support.

Many thanks to our families for supporting the trip. It sure makes the trip more enjoyable.

While I am glad we made the trip and had the experience, I must say I would not do this trip again. For me, too long away from home, friends, etc. - even though my wife met us and enjoyed a couple weeks with us on the road.

25 Jul 2010 Peru, Il. RW

Just a quick note to say we are back on the road again after only a day of down time for repairs at Gina's BMW shop in Iowa City, Iowa. Can't say enough good things about the service we received from Gina's. They expedited parts from California by Fed-ex for next morning delivery and had both Gary's and my bikes repaired and on the road within a few hours. Fantastic effort by their entire team.

We are currently in Peru, Il, and Gary will split off to see his friend Jon in Culver, In while I continue on my way home to Michigan. By Monday evening the entire team should be back home after a great adventure.

Current mileage is 11388.

July 23 - gw

Well, today was full of surprises. Some good, some not so good.

Temps: 70's going into the high 80's. Very muggy day, lots of clouds.

We left Lincoln, NE this morning around 7:30 or so heading for Lasalle, IL. It seemed like all day we were chasing rain. We rode on damp or wet Interstate all the way to Iowa City. Luckily we only had to ride in a slight rain for maybe 5 minutes. We sure thought we were going to see heavy rain all morning, but, again, we were very fortunate.

Now for the bad news... As we neared Iowa City, all of a sudden, Rusty noticed a heavy vibration coming out of his bike. We pulled over and discovered that his final drive bearing had deteriorated to the point the back wheel/brake rotor was rubbing on his brake caliper. Bad JuJu! Then we decided to check my final drive and found mine was loose also. We were lucky in that we were only 6 miles from Gina's BMW in Iowa City. They immediately dispatched a truck and trailer to come pick up Rusty's bike. We got into the dealership and they put our bikes in front of others, checked bikes out and confirmed final drives were bad on both our machines. They went on line and found there were only two of the drives in the U.S. and they were in Stockton, CA. They arranged, on a Friday afternoon, to get them air-shipped into their dealership for delivery tomorrow morning. So, with luck we should be back on the road tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. (The dealership said our drives were the first they had to replace in over 4 years. Just our luck.)

Mike said he couldn't wait on us and took off and headed for Michigan. What a guy!!!! Just kidding; when it was determined that Rusty and I had to wait on parts and he couldn't help, he did move on and it was the right decision. He called to check on us after riding a heavy down pour of rain all the way into mid Illinois. He should be home tomorrow. Hopefully with better weather for him.

Wish us luck on the parts getting here and enough time tomorrow to get them fixed. If not, we will be stuck here until Tuesday before we can get moving again.

July 22 - gw

Well, today we put the gals in the shuttle from the hotel to the airport in Denver. They flew home arriving safely in the mid afternoon. That is a good thing.

Temps: 60's to high 90's. Clear to partly cloudy skies.

Mike, Rusty and I began the long grind home; riding today via Interstate from Denver to Lincoln, Nebraska. In general, nothing to look at except alot of corn! Today the weather was hot, damn hot. And tomorrow, it's gonna be damn hot too! Maybe some rain also. I hope not, but we will be lucky if we escape the rain tomorrow.

This is the boring part of the trip, but it has to get done. Just a few more days and we will be home. We plan to put another 450 miles or so on the road tomorrow and bed down, just West of Joliet, Il.

July 20, 21 - gw

The past two days have been a bit different, but very relaxing and enjoyable. The weather has been very iffy with regards to rain.

July 20 - Temps in the 70's and low 90's
Mike and Lea went the twisty and high altitude route from Durango up through Silverton, Montrose, and Black Canyon. The altitudes were too high for me to ride that route, so Rusty, Pam, Janet and I took the easier, more mundane route through Pagosa Springs and Del Norte. Got to ride through a couple mountain passes, but not near as high as Mike and Lea. Luckily we did not have to ride through rain, but Mike and Lea were not that lucky. We met in Salida for the evening meal and hotel. Around 200 miles for the day

July 21 - Temps the same
We again split up. Mike and Lea were headed for Pikes Peak and a longer ride for the day, while the rest of us headed up Route 285 into Denver. We stopped in the BMW shop to buy a few small items. You can't pass up a BMW shop I always say. And Janet agrees. We are now in the Fairfield Inn at 3 p.m. drinking our lunch. You see, we carry wine and Crown for these down times when you need to mello out! Around 150 miles today.

Tomorrow the gals get on the shuttle for their flight back to Detroit and the guys mount up to start the long ride across the plains to get us home.

July 18, 19 - gw

Here are a couple pictures of Shoshone Falls and Arches Park