Day 16 - Barboursville to Leesburg, VA

Homeward bound with 357 miles and two states to go. Our morning started out a chilly 44 degrees and extremely foggy. It made for interesting photos of Interstate 64 East as the sun tried to break through. 

In higher elevations the fog cleared. 

We made good time, taking a single break at 11 am for an early lunch. We stopped at a small WV gas station/feed store/convenience store/Subway. It is not often one can buy night crawlers, bulk mulch, a ham sub, and whiskey in the same place! 

Unfortunately this convenience store did not have any convenient tables (no tables or benches at all actually) so we ate on the seats of the bike like drifters. The sun was warm so we just watched folks come and go in the store while we ate.

After lunch, we noticed that traffic increased and became a bit frenetic on I-79 North, likely the result of a football game in Morgantown, judging by the WV flag adorned vehicles. We took our turn onto 68 East just before Morgantown and traffic was more sparse. We also grossly misjudged the temperatures for this final leg, falsely thinking it was warm while in the sun at lunch. Brrrr! As we entered Maryland and the Cumberland area, the temps dropped from the 60s to the 50s in the hills (although only 1,000 feet or so in elevation, it was enough to make things cold). 

The fall color was staring to show here. Out West there were no red hues, just yellow and green. It was nice to come back to Fall. 

We saw this interesting cloud formation. 

At around 2:30pm we arrived home.

Our trip got the Wing very dirty! Rob packed it well, as you can see from this photo (there was even enough room for Michele to buy a few things and bring them home!). 

(Rob also adjusted the cables for the reverse once we got home....just in time for the trip to be over).

We went through 18 states over 16 days and covered about 6,000 miles. The weather held amazingly well for us, with minimal rain that never really hampered our fun. Temperatures ranged from 89 to 34. We were surprised at the wildlife and variation in scenery in Colorado. The sand dunes were really cool, the mountains delivered incredible views, Steamboat Springs is a new favorite place, and Michele got to see her special friend Lynn after way too long. We feel like we got a great sense of many parts of the state that we would not have seen if we had not had to change plans due to the flooding. Although we had hoped to see Rocky Mountain National Park on this trip, it gives us an excuse to return!

Thank you to everyone who followed our blog!

Day 15 - Fairview Heights to Barboursville, WV

Our second to last day on the road took us through four states: starting in Illinois, through southern Indiana, the width of Kentucky, and into West Virginia. We were within sight’s distance of Ohio as well. 

Traffic was light for us this morning leaving Indiana. We crossed several rivers over the course of the day.

We noticed a yard full of airplanes on a stick. He has quite the assortment.

Continuing into Indiana, traffic remained tolerable for us. A few trucks rolled by with large cut logs.

Passing into Kentucky, we noticed how several states have their claim in President Lincoln. Illinois claims to be the “land of Lincoln” while Kentucky hails as the birthplace of the great man.

Traffic increased dramatically entering Louisville, KY and stayed heavy for a long time.

Outside town, we noticed a few trailers with the “Trailer Tail”. We assume this makes those 54-foot 18-wheelers more aerodynamic. This specific truck had none of the usual vortex of turbulence that blows our bike around as we approached and rode past, so we agreed that this accessory is pretty cool.

We approached Lexington, Kentucky and noticed the well-to-do horse farms, homes and barns. East of the city, a sign announced the Thoroughbred Retirement pasture. These horses have the good life here.

Just West of Morehead, KY, we got a neat surprise. A Bradley fighting vehicle! Missing a few parts, but an interesting sight on the highway.

We made great time today, riding 8am to 5pm, with just two stops and covering 450 miles. Our hotel is right by the Huntington Mall in Barboursville, WV (not a coincidence per Michele’s planning), so we had dinner options. We recommend the Blackberry Patron margarita at Chilis, so good! So good that Michele just had to do some shopping in the mall after dinner.

Tomorrow we have a short riding day and arrive at home after 16 days.

Day 14 - Concordia to Fairview Heights, IL

The wind was still blowing this morning but much less than yesterday (or maybe we were used to it by now?) We had about 150 miles of moderate winds today. When you see wind mills, it’s a good bet it is going to be windy.

We were truly thankful that the winds were more bearable today, as this is how the conversation went yesterday (according to Michele's accurate recollection) while in the thick of it:

Rob: It's a bit breezy, yes?

Michele: The wind is insane.

Rob: You are doing fine. 

Michele: No I'm not. If these winds keep up I'm going to rent a car and drive myself home.

Rob: It's only 30 more miles or so of the strong stuff.

Michele: You said that 30 miles ago.

Rob: I was wrong.

We made our way south to I70 and took the interstate east just past Topeka where we picked up US50 east. We rode east on US50 for the remainder of the day. Funny thing, the Wing's weather radar showed the wind storm expanded today and was actually following us. Luckily we were never in the the strong "yellow blob". 

When we rode through Topeka, we saw a huge gain distribution facility.

We also saw some huge tires. Each of these are about 4+ feet wide!

We crossed over the Republican River again today. Although we didn’t see the Democrat River, we did ride on the Clinton Parkway. I don’t think this road was actually named after the 42^nd president as this road was in Kansas.

As Fall has now arrived, we've seen corner farm stands with pumpkins and passed this pickup with a rather large pumpkin weighing down its bed.

Note the bumper sticker on the side of the truck. I hope the Democrats out there reading this now feel they have had equal treatment on this blog. :-)

We saw more fields of milo yet to be harvested. We had to look up this crop on the Internet since it has baffled us the entire trip. The color is really interesting especially first thing in the morning when the sun is still low.

We made our first stop after 145 miles around 10am. We took the opportunity to fill up the bike with gas. The Wing took 4.5 gallons of fuel which equates to a miserable 32mpg. That is the worst mileage We’ve ever had in the 95k miles of riding that bike. Our assessment of “moderate” headwinds for today is obviously relative based on yesterday’s wind storm but based on the mileage, they were quite severe. Without the benefit of the higher elevations, the wind's impact on the fuel mileage today was much greater than yesterday.

We crossed over into Missouri around 11:30. Michele realized this once she saw the "Leaving Kansas" sign, promptly followed by the official Missouri state sign.

Soon after, about half way on our 500 mile ride today, we stopped in Warrensburg, MO for lunch. The winds had finally calmed down to a slight breeze and the temps had risen to about 80F.

Continuing on US50 through MO took us through mostly farmland. Some of the views were really idyllic.

We rode through Jefferson City and Michele took a picture of the top of the Missouri State Capital.

We made one more additional stop about 70 miles west of St. Louis where we put on our chilly pads to keep us cool for the last hour. We were a long way from the 32-degree mornings of Colorado!

We crossed over the Mississippi and entered Illinois.

This trip we went around the city of St. Louis instead of going through it as we did two years ago. We did however get a view of the Arch in the distance.

A short time later, we arrived in Fairview Heights (about 5pm) at our hotel. After dinner we reflected on the nearly 1,000 miles in two days, we traveled since we left Colorado yesterday! Our Mighty Wing has carried us far with more to do. Except Rob discovered that the reverse gear cables need adjusting, requiring Michele to now push him backwards out of parking spots. (Michele's note: this must be fixed pronto--pushing a 1,000lb bike uphill, even a few feet, is not girl's work.)

Tomorrow we’ll make our way to West Virginia for our last night on the road.