Home again

Saturday August 22 Sabato 22 Agosto

We arrived at the house yesterday afternoon about 4 PM. We had a leisurely trip from Portales taking back roads across New Mexico. We did stop in Fort Sumner to see both the Billy the Kid Museum and also his gravesite. The museum in town, not the one by the gravesite which we didn't visit, had a lot of memorabilia and even had some old cars that had belonged to some of the local residents. It was an interesting visit and unfortunately the last sightseeing stop of our trip. Later we stopped at a cafe in Willard and had a bowl of chili to re-acclimate ourselves to New Mexico food. Then it was the last hour or so on the road and we arrived safely back at the house. My mileage for the trip was between 17-18000 and Clint's was 21000. No real close incidents with other vehicles, slightly close a couple of times but nothing notable. One ruined tire and one broken trailer wheel which are the only problems I have encountered in over 80,000 miles. All in all it was a very good trip made especially so as Clint and Charleen are extremely agreeable people and we share common interests and riding styles. This morning we had pancakes for breakfast covered with the Vermont maple syrup that we brought back with us. Linda quickly reminded me that she was ready for her morning cappuccinos and so I had to relearn the skills. Today we will air out tents, sleeping bags and clean the road grime from the bikes. Then I will reread all of the blog posts as a sort of instant replay. 275 miles yesterday.

Siamo a casa ancora. Siamo ritornati ieri alle 16:00. Siamo fermati alla citta di Fort Sumner per vedere la tomba di Billy the Kid, un fuorilegge famoso nella storia di New Mexico. E poi siamo guidati la strade piccole per l'ultima parte della nostra gita. E triste a finire ma felice a arrivare a casa. Era una buona gita con amici gentile. Addeso e il tempo per fare un programma per la gita prossima e pulire le moto. 275 miglia ieri. Totale per tutta la gita ~17500


The morning New Mexico sky
Il cielo di New Mexico nella mattina


The grave of Billy the Kid
La tomba di Billy the Kid


Our triumphant return
Il nostro ritorno trionfomente

Last Border

Thursday August 20 Giovedi 20 Agosto

Just 316 miles to New Mexico, one more state border, one more motel room and our trip is complete. CnC lead the way with their trusty? GPS guiding the way. I was really impressed with the interesting roads we were taking and thought Clint had worked overtime planning the route. But the same route was in my GPS and I should have seen some checkpoints and did not. It turns out that his GPS was just throwing in these interesting side roads. Good job! We can tell that school is starting soon as every little town has football signs posted. Go Panthers, Go Bulldogs, yes even Go Mules was seen as was an advertisement seeking wood donations for the pep rally bonfire. Texas is very big on high school football. We also saw lots of farm country, cotton, corn, sunflowers and of course cattle. We also saw a group of camels but the camera was too slow for a picture and we are homeward bound so there are no u-turns allowed. The terrain is very different from east Texas but then again it is 500 miles west so it should change. The weather prediction was for 90 degree heat and lots of rain. At 10:15 the temperature reached 90 degrees but there were no clouds in front of us. At noon it was a pleasant 82 degrees and low humidity, at least compared to Louisiana. All in all it was a great day for riding.

Oggi era un bel giorno per le moto, non troppo caldo e senza pioggia e venti da indietro. I campi qui are molti diversi dal est Texas ma quel'area e' 500 miglia lontano. Quest'area e' un area agricola. Molti campi grande e verde. Scuola comincera' presto e tutte le citta piccole hanno avuto cartelli entusiasmi per le squadre. La gente di Texas piace molto il sport liceo football (Americano). Finalmente abbiamo visto il cartello "Benvenuto in New Mexico". Abbiamo trovato un albergo economico per la notte e domani saremo a casa. 316 miglia


Long, straight road
Strada lunga e dritta e tipica


Cages for veal calves
Gabbie per carne di vitello


Sunflower field
Anche qui ci sono campi di fiori del sole
ma i fiori sono piu' piccoli che quelli di Toscana

The Last Picture Show

Wednesday August 19 Mercoledi 19 Agosto

Today we drove about 30 miles to Archer City where the movie "The Last Picture Show" circa 1971 was filmed. It was based on a book by Larry McMurtry who was raised here and lives here again now. He also wrote the book "Lonesome Dove" (and several others)which was the basis for the television miniseries in ~1988. He also is a book collector and has a large used bookstore in town that is spread out among 4 different buildings. Only one store has someone in it. You can look through the stores and if you find a book you like you take it down the street to store 1 and pay for it. I did that and arrived less than one minute before Larry McMurtry left. I would not have known what to say to him anyway as I found his stories of life in Texas quite depressing. Linda and I love book stores and by the time we left it was a little late to drive on to New Mexico so we returned to Wichita Falls. Clint and Charleen arrived about an hour later so we are united again for the last 2 days of our trip. 60 miles

Oggi abbiamo visitato una citta 30 miglia lontano di Wichita Falls dove siamo stati ieri. Questa citta era usato nel film di 1971 "Last Picture Show". L'autore del libro stesso abita e era cresciuto qui. Lui ha una libreria grande qui che usa 4 edifici. Si cerca in uno e portare i libri al negozio 1 per comprare. Io e Linda piacciono le librerie e siamo stati ~3 ore. A questa volta era troppo tardi per guidare in New Mexico cosi siamo ritornati a Wichita Falls. Clint e Charleen sono arrivati un po' dopo cosi siamo insieme ancora per l'ultimo 2 giorni della gita. 60 miglia
Ho scritto l'italiano per il blog scorso.


West Texas plains
Pianura di Texas ovest


Horned toad sculpture
Scultura del rospo cornito


The theatre from the movie
Il teatro dal film


Bookstore 4, theatre on right
Libreria numero 4, teatro a destra

Deep in the heart of ??

Tuesday August 18 Martedi 18 Agosto

The stars at night,
Are big and bright,
clap clap, clap clap,
Deep in the heart of Texas
Yes, here we are. When we crossed the border I told Linda that the next state was our home. But I did not mention how far it was to New Mexico from the border by Shreveport. But we are taking the interstate so the miles fly by. Interstates are hopefully not too exciting so Linda reads instead of staying on alert for photo opportunities. Which means she missed the Russian Mig fighter in front of the antique store in Forney. I snagged the photo from the internet. I did not look for the price. I am not in the market for a jet plane, even if it has a red star. Going through one of the Dallas interchanges we notice that the supporting pillars have a star emblem on each of them for The Lone Star State. We finally arrive at the offramp where I will call Mark that manufactures the tire changer that I am interested in. We go to his garage and I give it a test on a GoldWing rear tire. Linda gets ready to plug her ears from vulgar words of language as she has heard me change these before. But this tool makes short work of the job. I have tried others but this is the best yet. So I order one and we leave for Wichita Falls where we will spend the night. CnC are to be there tomorrow so we have to arrange if and how we will meet as Linda and I are now a day ahead of them. Passing through Denton where I need to change highways I see a billboard for "Kolache Haven" at offramp 465 which is only 4 miles out of the way. Kolaches are a Czech pastry and were an important part of Linda's childhood life. The last one I bought her was over a year ago when I stopped in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and brought some back to Albuquerque. So naturally we went to Kolache Haven which had closed an hour earlier. But at the end of the day they take their unsold merchandise to the store next door. We got an assortment for 1/2 price and of course ate some in the parking lot. Then it was back on the road to Wichita Falls and the motel. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant just up the street. Linda showered and fell asleep early. I am still going but it is time for me to call it a night also. Just as soon as Clint Eastwood shoots all the bad guys. 380 miles

Il nostro posto oggi e' lo stato di Texas. Ho detto Linda che il prossimo stato sara' New Mexico ma non ho detto che bisogniamo 2 giorni per arrivare in New Mexico. E' lontano dal bordo est al bordo overst. C'e un uomo a Dallas che fa una machinetta per cambiare i pneumatici sulle moto e io ho voluto provarla. Siamo fermati a casa di lui e l'ho usata sulla ruota anteriore dalla stessa moto come mia. Ho provato qualche altri ma non mi piacciono. Questa era il piu' facile per usare cosi ho comprato uno. Si deve pagare $30 al concessionario qui per ruota e io cambio molti ogni anno. Anche abbiamo visto un negozio che vende un aero dalla Russia. Non ho spazio nel garage. Ho deciso a guidare sulla strada diversa per evitare il traffico nella citta. Buona decisione perche' ho visto un cartello con una pubblicita per una paneterria che fa i Kolache. Kolache e' un pasticcino dalla Repubblica Ceca come la nonna di Linda. Linda ha mangiato sempre quando era giovane. Cosi abbiamo comprato una dozzina. Veramente niente arriveranno in New Mexico! 380 miglia


Mig at antique store
E' possibile comprare ogni cosa negli
Stati Uniti


Lone Star emblems on the pillars


GL1800 rear tires made easy
Ho comprato perche' fa il lavoro facile


My favorite Czech girl with a scrumptious KOLACHE
but are they as good as Grandma made?
Mia amore con un Kolache di Texas ma i kolache dalla
sua nonna erano piu' buoni.

Natchez Trace, Vicksburg and Shreveport?

Monday August 17 Lunedi 17 Agosto
OK, not really Shreveport but the suburb to the east Bossier City. That is where we are spending the night tonight. We started out riding north from Natchez to the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The parkway roughly follows the original Natchez Trace which was an animal trail enlarged by the native Americans, then enlarged some more by the early US government to establish a route from Nashville to the Mississippi river. It was also where Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame died. Suicide or murder, nobody knows for sure. But today it is a beautiful road rivaling the Blue Ridge Parkway and with no commercial traffic. We could only see a small portion of it as it goes northeast and we are going west. After the trace we went to Vicksburg home of the famous civil war battle that turned the tide of the war. The battlefield is now a national park which we visited. There are monuments for each of the companies of both sides placed where the companies were positioned. There are a lot of monuments. It seems that Illinois provided the largest amount of soldiers for the Union side as the Illinois monuments outnumbered every other state. Illinois also had the biggest monument, almost a cathedral. Every so often we would arrive at a point where we could see enough of the battle area to envision how it must have been. It was interesting to stand where history was made but also depressing to think of all the personal tragedies. There is also a resurrected armored gunboat, the Cairo, located in the park. When in use it weighed 550 tons. It also seems that it was debatable whether gun battles or exploding steam drums was the most danger to the crew. We learned a lot of history today as we have also done at other stops on this trip. When we finally left we went west and Clint & Charleen went north. I want to stop in the Dallas area to look at a machine for changing tires. This will take a couple of hours and does not fit into the planned schedule. So we will meet up later in the week. I also want to stop by Archer City in Texas. This is the city where "The Last Picture Show" was filmed and is also the home town of Larry McMurtry who wrote the book the movie was based on as well as the book Lonesome Dove which was made into a 6 hour tv special. It was a rundown town in 1971 when the movie was made so it will be interesting to see if it looks the same. Surprising enough we encountered no real rain today. 275 miles.

Oggi e' cominciato a Natchez, Mississippi. C'e una strada chiamato Natchez Trace. Questa strada segue una strada storica con il stesso nome che era usata dagl'indiani e animali molti anni fa. Non si permettono i camion su questa strada cosi e' in condizione buona e anche e' piu' sicuro per le moto. Dopo abbiamo fermato al parco nazionale alla citta di Vicksburg. Qui c'era una battaglia famosa durante la guerra fra gli stati nel 1836. E' molto triste quando si pensa della gente perso nelle guerre. Mi sembra che gl'umani essendi non hanno imparato molto dopo tante mille anni. Dopo il campo da battaglia io e Linda andati ovest quando Clint e Charleen hanno guidato nord. Voglio vedere un'aparecchio per cambiare pneumatici in Dallas, Texas. Ci incontreremo ancora mercoledi. 270 miglia


Natchez Trace Parkway


A little of the old trace
Un po' della strada storica


A typical battle station
Una stazione tipica per i soldati


Cannon and monument pillar
Cannone e monumento


Illinois monument

Plantations and poverty

Sunday August 16

Having finished our stay in New Orleans we get on the freeway with the plan to cross the last bridge on the Mississippi River and then follow the river north to Natchez, MS hoping to see some plantation mansions along the way. Up on the freeway the police are investigating yet another accident by our motel. 3 serious accidents in 16 hours within 2 miles of each other? What does this say about the local drivers? We cross the last bridge and start following the Mississippi on small back roads. This is really the way to see the country and the various lifestyles. We definitely have seen a lot of poverty appearing areas both here and in South Carolina. Sugar cane seems to be the big crop here as we go through miles of fields. People are working today in the fields which is surprising as it appears that Baptist churches are the second biggest crop. They are everywhere we look. As are plantations. In the west every plot of ground is labeled as a ranch, here we see many signs of this or that plantation. But every so often the signs are accurate and we see a reminder of what the old south was like. Gigantic houses set back from the road and surrounded by gigantic oak trees. Or we see old slave cabins, all run down but still standing as a monument to one of our inglorious practices of the past. One of the plantations was Oak Alley which has been used in several movies. We thought about taking a tour but did not want to take the time. Clint had selected several back roads and they were really scenic as well as passing by some of the local residences and small towns. At one point we took a ferry across the river. While waiting in the line Clint got into a conversation with one of the local boys. They both learned a lot about dialects and accents. I don't know who had the harder time. Once again we had a brief but strong thunder shower with no place to stop. But then again the warm weather quickly dried us off. 250 miles


Last bridge across the Mississippi


Oak Alley plantation


Old slave cabin

Big Bridge, Big Meal

Saturday August 15

Low miles today, we will sightsee in town and also cross Lake Ponchartain on it's 24 mile long bridge, the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. But wait, we can't leave yet. There has been an accident on the freeway and all of the traffic is being routed off in front of our motel. It looks like we will be in the traffic jam on the surface streets. But we get ready to go anyway and just as we leave they reopen the on ramp and we are the first ones back on the freeway. It turns out that there were 2 different accidents. We go over the bridge which is very impressive, it should be as it is the second longest in the world being beat out by one in Thailand. On the other side we are in Mandeville, LA and we pause at a boat launching area/park where we can view the lake. Then we have a coffee and go back over the bridge again as it is about 75-100 miles to get back without using the bridge. Now we can sightsee a little bit in the daylight with less noise but not much less people. It is much easier to see the fancy wrought iron balconies that New Orleans is noted for. After a walking tour we return to the motel for a rest. Then we return for dinner and just for fun we follow the new, strange directions that Clint's GPS has given us. We won't do that again!! Into a different area of town we search for parking places. Clint finds one that is questionable but decides to take it. We continue on a block and see a lady trying to get people into her restaurant. The restaurant appears to be what we are looking for so I motion her over and ask her about parking. She points me to a space that looks really illegal but I will be able to get to the bike quickly should there be a problem. Thankfully there wasn't. So we ate dinner there and listened to the live jazz band. Linda had alligator, we shared gumbo and also my red fish. It was quite good but too much for us to finish. Afterwards it was coffee and then we returned back to the motel full of New Orleans food and music.


New Orleans skyline


View from Lake Ponchartrain Causeway


New Orleans balconies


Your basic everyday voodoo store

4 states, big boats, big easy

Friday August 14 Venerdi 14 Agosto

Today would be a short day of 200 miles or so. But it took us from Florida into Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. We got on the freeway from our Florida campground and almost immediately crossed the border into Alabama. I wanted to stop in Mobile and see the battleship USS Alabama that is on display there. Doug Hendrickson and I went by there in 2006 but I elected not to stop at that time. This time I was going to stop and we did. It was impressive to walk around the ship and the biggest surprise was that the engine room was also open to the public. That is where I was stationed on an aircraft carrier when I was in the navy so I really wanted to see an ngine room again. It was somewhat different naturally then the aircraft carrier but close enough that I could explain some of it to Linda. I probably sounded like a kid with a new toy to her. After touring all of the battleship we walked over to the submarine on display, the USS Drum and toured it as well. The diesel engines that drive the generators in a submarine have always intrigued me and one of them had clear covers over the upper crankshaft so that I could see the internal construction. Very interesting. Before leaving we had a cool drink as it was quite hot and humid. Then it was into Mississippi where we were hammered by very heavy rain for about 5 miles. There was no offramp and the visibility was too poor to safely stop on the side of the highway. We were soaked when we got through the rain and we were almost completely dry again in 20 more miles of riding. On into Louisiana to the motel where we would be staying for 2 nights. Thankfully it was right next to the offramp and easy to find as my GPS is basically worthless now with all of it's problems. Clint and Charleen had arrived 30 minutes before us and had arranged for our room. The air conditioning and a shower felt really good. Later we went into the Bourbon Street area for dinner and observations of the nighttime revelry and debauchery. I hate to admit it but it was too crowded and noisy for me but the meal was really good as was the opportunity to actually see sights that I had only seen on tv. We did see quite a few damaged or destroyed houses and businesses. Very sad. About 230 miles today.


Linda controls the engine speed


Looking forward past the 16" guns


The Bourbon Street beat

Gulf of Mexico

Friday Morning August 14 Venerdi mattina 14 Agosto

So here we are on I-10 just east of the Alabama line. We camped here last night while Clint and Charleen backtracked to the noon time restaurant in Apalachicola where she left her purse. We are going to Mobile to see the battleship USS Alabama and then proceed to New Orleans where we will all meet up at a prearranged motel. We are over 100 miles ahead of them so our tour of the ship should even driving times. They are not overly interested in seeing a battleship. It is 6 or 7:45 here. We are right at the time zone change so we are not really sure. It is already warm here and we are in the shade. The humidity is very high, over 90% and we don't care for it. The Aussies live just below the tropics so it is more comfortable for them as they are accustomed to it. Yesterday was a travel day but it was along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico so it was quite scenic. We saw oyster boats doing their trade with long rakes to pull the oysters off the bottom and into the boat. The boats were piled high with oysters so it seems to work well. We stopped for coffee in Apalachicola a little after noon. After that we saw a white sandy beach so we stopped for a look and Linda and I waded in the warm waters of the gulf. About 3 we stopped for gas and that is where Charleen discovered that she was purseless so they went back and we went on using a different route that took us closer to Mobile. At the gas station was a large boat filling up for the weekend. When I looked his gas bill was $153 and climbing rapidly. He told me that he was just getting started with putting fuel into it. There was also a Lamborghini with him filling up. It appears that I was in rich company. We found a very nice KOA alongside I-10 and only had to pay $23 for a tent site. The bugs were not too noisy so we managed to get a decent night's sleep until the early bird's chirping woke us up at sunrise. 320 miles.

Watch for bears
Attenti ai orsi


Linda in the Gulf
Linda nel mare Gulf of Mexico


Right color, wrong brand for me
Colore giusto, ma non e' una Ferrari

Way down upon the ?

Wednesday August 12 Mercoledi 12 Agosto

Think Stephen Foster. We left Titusville this morning for a short 230 mile trip to Perry which is close to the west coast. We paid $11 in toll road fees to get here but we did not encounter much traffic. Our last road was Highway 19 which brought us right into town and the motel we are staying at. We arrived after a short 6+ hour ride. We just are not motivated at 2:30 in the afternoon to set up a tent in 95 degree temperatures and high humidity and then sit around in the sun. So we paid an extra $25 and are in an air conditioned room at a motel with a pool that we have already used. I stayed at the KOA here with my friend Doug in October 2006 when we were going to Key West. He may not remember the KOA but he should remember the restaurant that we ate at. It was absolutely the WORST buffet either of us had ever been to. Today like then we stopped where Highway 19 crosses the Suwannee river and took pictures. We also threw crumbs into the river for the baby fish to fight over. There were also 2 very small turtles sitting on a log but the cookie pieces hitting the water scared them away. Tomorrow we will continue on to Pensacola and Friday we should arrive in New Orleans.

Una gita piccola oggi di 230 miglia. Solamente una pausa al fiume Suwannee. Questo fiume era fatto famoso nella canzone storico di Stephen Foster. Abbiamo cantato un po' quando erano qui oggi. Stanotte stiamo nel motel perche' siamo arrivati alle 14:30 e la temperature era 35 gradi e l'umidita era alta. Non vogliamo sedere nel campeggio sotto il sole ora dopo ora. Qui c'e una camera con aria condizionata e una piscina che abbiamo gia usato. Stasera leggeremo libri e rilassarci.


Entering Orlando
Entrando Orlando


And yet another toll station
Ancora un'altra stazione per pagare



The Suwannee River made famous by Stephen Foster
Il fiume Suwannee, il sogetto di un famoso canzone storico

Kennedy Space Center

Tuesday August 11 Martedi 11 Agosto

Today was minimal riding and maximum sightseeing. Total mileage for the day was less than 40 miles, on the bike, plus who knows how many miles in Kennedy Space Center tour buses. We signed up for a tour that gets us close to the launch pads and the VAB (Very large assembly building) where they assemble everything for the launch. It was really a great day. Linda's father was career Air Force so anything to do with planes and space are interesting to her. I am of course awed by technology of all sorts. And I mean all sorts, such as why were so many fences at the Space Center curving outwards at the top and had a much finer mesh at the top? The answer is that alligators can climb fences so the curved part prevents them from going straight up and over and the finer mesh is too tight for them to get their claws into. The whole Space Center is a protected habitat for wild life and there is a lot of it there, eagles, turtles, buzzards, panthers, pigs and of course the ubiquitous alligator. The blast from the shuttle's launch engine would be deadly within a 1/2 mile radius Iif I recall correctly and deafening at greater distances. So the closest anybody is allowed to the launch pad is 3.5 miles during the launch. That means that the astronauts are suddenly left all alone when the countdown starts. Wildlife is not forgotten during the launch. There is quite a procedure for clearing the area before the launch. We also saw the gravel covered dirt roads that the crawler uses to haul the assembled shuttle and launch engines to the pad. It is about a 6 mile trip at 1 mile per hour. The crawler has 8 tracks with 57 cleats per track and each cleat is one ton in weight. The total launch weight is several million pounds. And we drove by the landing strip which is 2 miles long and paved. It must be cleared of alligators before a landing as the gators like laying on the warm pavement. The tour was full of interesting information that we were completely unaware of when we went in. This was definitely one of if not the most interesting days of our trip. I also returned my temporary GPS. The mount was broken in the box and a second unit was the same way. Too bad as it may have worked well for us.

Oggi abbiamo visitato il Kennedy Space Center, il posto dove il Space Shuttle parte terra per lo spazio e anche ritorna se il tempo e' buono. Era molto interessante. Quest'area e' anche un posto sicuro per gl'animali selvaggi. Non lo sapiamo primo d'adesso. Non e' possibile a soppravivere se si non e' piu' lontano di .5 miglia dal shuttle durante la partenza. La gente hanno metodi per mettendo via gl'animali primo della partenza. I ricenti erano costruito in maniera speciale perche' gl'alligatori possono salire sui ricenti normale. Ci sono molte cose strane si devono considerare per un viaggio nello spazio!! Era un giorno speciale per io e Linda!


The shuttle ready for the Aug 24 launch
Il shuttle pronto per la partenza 24 Agosto


Large assembly building stars are 6' from point to point
L'edifcio dove il shuttle e' preparato, i punti sono stelle sulla bandiera
sono 2 metri da punto a punto


Buzzards taking a break
Avvoltoi fanno una pausa


Linda and a mock shuttle
Linda e un shuttle modello


Snoopy, my favorite astronaut
Snoopy, il mio astronauta preferito

Florida Gators

Monday August 10 Lunedi 10 Agosto
Today we were more interested in getting from Savannah, GA to Titusville, FL than we were in sightseeing. So we took I-95 most of the way. We did see some nice rivers and swampy marshes some of which were labeled as manatee habitats. We did not see any manatees but we did see lots of Florida I-95 Gators. They look just like New Mexico I-40 gators. Big pieces of truck tire tread laying all over the highway. One truck blew a tire out in the north bound lanes just as we were passing by. Then we saw another truck that had been next to us stopped on the side with a bare rim sitting down on the ground. Evidently the inside tire also went flat so he had a lot of work to do. Are recaps really worth the initial cost savings? My GPS is not working at all except to display the map and my current location. Tonight I bought a cheap replacement to get us home. We will see how it works Wednesday. If we were taking major highways I would not need one at all but when zig-zagging on back roads it is a big help. 260 miles


Typical wetland area

Cherokee to Savannah through South Carolina

Sunday August 9 Domenica 9 Agosto

Today was a long, hot ride. We started on the back roads of North Carolina and crossed into South Carolina on Highway 178 which was great fun for a little while. It was very twisty but was not long enough. We continued on through South Carolina on back roads until about 100 miles from Savannah, Georgia where we got onto I-95 for the last leg of the trip. South Carolina was quite interesting. There would be a big southern style mansion on one side of the street looking very clean and elegant and on the other side would be a run down house, often a pre fabricated with a front yard full of old cars and junk. There were an incredible amount of churches. As in North Carolina there was a lot of grass. All day Saturday and Sunday we saw lots of people out mowing these great expanses of grass. There are also road crews with tractors cutting the grass on the side of the road. At one gas stop we pulled in behind a pickup pulling a trailer which was a cage. In the trailer was a black bear that was being relocated. Needless to say that the bear drew a lot of attention. We finally arrived in Savannah after close to 400 miles. It was hot so weselected a motel with air conditioning and an indoor pool. We took advantage of both and later went to eat at Ruby Tuesdays which was an easy walk. Linda had a bowl of soup but I broke down and had a fish dinner with the salad bar option. Very good but too much food. I tried again to fix my GPS but did not succeed. We slept like rocks.

Oggi era un po' noioso con ecetto della strada 178. Era una strada bellissima con tanti tornanti! Linda non e' piaciuto South Carolina. Questo stato ci sembra povero. C'erano qualche case grande e elegante ma sul altro lato della strada sarebbe una casa sporca con rifiuti dappertutto. Al distributore c'era un carello e sul carello era una gabbia. Dentro c'era un'orso nero. Tutta la gente facevano le foto. Alla cena ho mangiato buono pesce e ho bevuto un martini. E poi abbiamo dormito bene. ~400 miglia oggi.


Chasing Clint and Charleen
Inseguendo Clint e Charleen


Bear in cage
Orso nella gabbia

Linda the Dragon Slayer

Saturday August 8, 2009

Today we rode first to Deals Gap and the Dragon, a road with 318 curves in 11 miles. We did not want to be here on the weekend as it will be very crowded with all speeds of motorcycles with all capabilities of riders, sports car clubs, casual (slow) car drivers observing the bikes and of course there will be the police. So we left shortly after 7 and arrived at the Deals Gap store at 8:30. We did not stop but went right on by and up the road into the first of the curves. We took it easy as Linda does not like curves and steep lean angles and none of us like speeding tickets. We were into the road less than 2 miles when we saw the first police car. Then we speeded up. At the end of the 11 miles we stopped for awhile and finally returned toward the store at a brisk pace. Linda did not complain so we kept it up until we arrived at the other end which is where the store is located. We did have to pass 2 bikes and a Cadillac Escapade which is much easier said than done in a reasonably safe manner. The police were busy writing tickets to 2 other bikes. If you crash on this road you have been bitten by the dragon. We did not crash so we can say that Linda has slain the dragon. When we arrived at the store that parking lot was quite a bit more crowded than when we first passed by. And the crowd increased. It was now impossible to ride the road briskly so it was good that we had left early. We bought t-shirts which is unusual for us but this place is special and known around the world. And we had ridden it together. If it had been a weekday I would have taken a couple of passes alone but definitely not today. We went up the road one more time albeit very cautiously because of the traffic on our way the Cherohala Skyway. It was another beautiful mountain top road but this was our third day of them and it was a little harder to appreciate the sights we were seeing. We returned back to our motels where I took my GPS apart to see if there was any visible problem but to no avail. So we will need to stay close to CnC the rest of the trip or buy a GPS which I do not want to do. Tomorrow it is 360 miles to Savannah, Georgia by way of South Carolina. 225 miles today.

Oggi era un giorno molto prevenduto. Era il giorno del drago. Il drago e' una strada famosa fra i motociclisti. 318 curve in 11 miglia. Buonissima. Linda non piace le curve, ha paura, ma per oggi lei era molta corragia. Abbiamo guidato la strada una volta con veloce media e poi un altra volta velocemente. Quando si guida questa strada senza cadendo per terra si ha ucciso il drago. Adesso Linda ha ucciso il drago. Brava Linda!!


At the start of The Dragon
Alla comincia del Drago


The straightaway
Un sezione dritto

Boone to Cherokee

Pictures and Italian later
Delayed because of no internet access
Friday Aug 7
Today we finished the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wish we could get pictures that show the views from the Parkway looking out to the other mountains. It is one mountain and then another and behind that still more mountains that gradually turn blue and disappear in the haze. There was a sign stating that the haze is caused by industrial pollutants and not by automobile traffic. We saw 3 wild turkeys this morning and a groundhog in the evening. That was it for wildlife. We ate lunch at the Mitchell Peak Restaurant which is the highest restaurant on the east coast. That makes sense as Mitchell Peak is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. We did ride up to the parking lot at the top and then walked up to the observation area. From there we finished the Blue Ridge Parkway and found motels in Cherokee. Cherokee is a city on the reservation and there is no alcohol allowed. There are lots of motels but few with internet service. Ours is not one of them. We also do not have cell phone service. If we turn off the tv we lose all of the channels until the tv searches and finds all available channels. We are on the main street and it is the weekend. The town is full of motorcycles and most of them have loud exhaust systems. And we are here for 2 nights. Then we move to Savannah, Georgia on Sunday. 225 miles

Daniel Boone

Today was to be a short 200 mile day, almost all of which would be on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We woke up to light rain and then watched it get heavier. It was Linda's turn to be the optimist saying it was only temporary. She was right and we were soon on our way dressed for heavy weather which thankfully never happened. There is nothing unique to report today, just another day in paradise. We did see an old mill that has a working waterwheel and I had to severely test my brakes when a car decided to make an unexpected turn. That got Linda's attention and mine also. I actually squealed the front tire. We had a nice breakfast at Tuggle's Gap restaurant. We are in the south now and Clint and Charleen are noticing the accents here. We arrived at Boone, North Carolina this afternoon earlier than we normally stop. The weather looked promising so Linda and I decided to camp at the KOA. Our decision was helped by the motel that quoted us one price on the phone and a higher price when we arrived so we left. ~200 miles

Siamo guidati solamente 200 miglia oggi. Abbiamo visto un mulino vecchio e siamo dovuto frenare forte quando una macchina e' girato subito senza freccia. Ho quasi scivolato la gomma anteriore. Siamo arrivati alla citta di Boone, chiamato del uomo famoso Daniel Boone. Il tempo sembra buono cosi siamo stati al campeggio stanotte.


An old mill
Un mulino vecchio


Inside the forest
Nel bosco


Are motorcycles really the reason for life?
Mi chiedo "Le moto sono veramente la ragione per la vita?"

Strade Belle

Wednesday August 5 Mercoledi 5 Agosto
Strade Belle means beautiful roads and today we started riding them. That is right after we did a parking lot oil change at the local Walmart. The 3 most famous roads in these mountains are the Shenandoah Skyline, Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherahola Skyway. We intend to do all 3 and did the Shenandoah today as well as the northmost 95 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views are awesome and our camera will not do them justice. Yesterday we saw a groundhog and today we saw several deer, a black bear and one poor rattlesnake that chose to sun itself on the blacktop. We were going farther on the Blue Ridge but it was looking a lot like rain so we stopped for the night at Roanoke where we had discount coupons for a motel that was about the same price as the campground we were going to stay at. And the rain did not disappoint us. It started right after we entered our rooms. It is not bad sleeping in a tent while it rains but you must pack everything while it is wet and then hope that the next night is dry so that everything will dry out. We have had a lot of rain this trip and cannot trust that the next night wil be dry. And it is absolutely no fun to set up or take down a camp while it is raining. So tonight we are really enjoying our $35 motel room. ~230 miles today

Abbiamo cominciato il giorno cambiando olio e filtro sulle moto nel parcheggio del Walmart. Ci sono 3 strade in quest'area famose per la loro bellezza, il Shenandoah Skyline, il Blue Ridge Parkway e il Cherahola Skyway. Oggi abbiamo viaggiato il Shenandoah e 95 miglia del Blue Ridge. Anche abbiamo visto 2 cervi e un orso nero. Il cielo e' diventato nero cosi siamo fermati a Roanoke e trovato un'albergo per la notte. Non ci piace facendo la tenda nella pioggia. Per fortuna non piove fino a siamo entrati le nostre camere. ~230 miglia


Walmart oil change
Cambiando olio al Walmart




2 nice views
Due viste belle