Day 11 – Final destination HOME
Day eleven started out with a nice sunny morning and some breakfast in the hotel while talking with the owner for a bit. She had what seemed to be a well and clean hotel. I also got to talking with a nice gentleman who was traveling with his wife on a Heritage and they were on their way back to Virginia. It was great to see them out on the road enjoying life on two wheels when they were in their late 70’s. He was concerned about making the left turn at the bottom of the hill where the hotel was situated because there was some loose gravel in the road and his right knee was bothering him. I offered to help him down with his bike but he just said that he would have his wife walk down the hill and meet him at the bottom where she could climb aboard their ride.
As I hit the road I realized that I was on the home stretch of a fantastic ride and was a bit saddened that it would be over, but was also anxious to get home and get back into the normal routine and grind. The weather continued to be fantastic, sunny and hot. I continued through West Virginia, Maryland and entered Pennsylvania and made my way up 81 to Harrisburg, PA where I stopped for some lunch and to get out of the heat for a while. After lunch I filled the tank for the last time on the trip and headed north for 78. As I crossed from Pennsylvania over the Delaware River into New Jersey I was only about an hour away from home and could not wait to get there, take a shower and have a nice cold beer. As these things were on my mind I almost forgot to stop at the state line and put my lid on but good thing I did not as there was a cop parked in the U turn about ½ of a mile up the road and that would have been a costly mistake in the form of a ticket. As I pulled into the driveway I knew that this journey had come to a bitter sweet end. I put in 491 miles today. It was great to be on the road for 11 days with the wind blowing in my face and taking in all of the great scenery, smells (not all good) and freedom that this country has to offer. Overall I managed to travel through 21 of our great states and rode through all types of weather while covering 5,258.7 miles of smiles with a good portion of that spent with some great friends both old and new. David and I have been best friends for the past 34 years and even though we live on opposite sides of the country now (him in Nevada and me in New Jersey) we still manage to take a great ride every year with the exception of last year as I was not able to make it due to health reasons. I met Christian several years ago when we were all in Florida for David’s wedding and before we that long weekend was over we already had the trip for 2008 planned. Christian has become a great friend to me over the last three years and I am sure that there are plenty more years to come. I just met Leo for the first time on this trip and I can say that he is a stand up guy and that it was a pleasure to meet. I would like to thank David, Christian and Leo for joining me on such a fantastic voyage that I will never forget and hope to manage another trip with all of you sometime in the not so distant future.
I will post some more pics to this thread when I receive the picture CD of the photos that Christian took on the trip.
Now it is time to move onto the next important phase of this year and what will undoubtedly be the most exciting of my life, preparing the nursery for the little baby girl that my 100% understanding and wonderful wife will be welcoming into this world with a due date of September 23, 2010.
Until the next journey begins,
Mike