Barn Quilts and Back Roads

If you've visited here before, you know we're often cruising some of the back roads (and sometimes not so back roads) of the areas we visit.  And you also know that I love quilts.  So when I spy a Barn Quilt, I try to quickly catch a photo as we drive by.  Sometimes I'm not successful and the picture is blurry or crooked or I miss my subject completely and end up with a photo of a telephone pole or road side weeds.  If you really want to see some great photos and stories of Barn Quilts, check out Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail. 

I really need to document a little better where my barn quilt photos are taken.  This one is somewhere in Western Kentucky in May of this year.

This one is at the Stream Cliff Farm just a few miles north of us. And I actually was able to get off the bike to take this photo!

I'm not sure where this one was taken, but it was somewhere near here, either in northern Kentucky or Southern Indiana on DH's birthday when we rode with friends in these areas.

This barn quilt was found in Michigan on our vacation there in July.  I believe it was in Peninsula Township north of Traverse City.  I'd hope to add to my collection of Barn Quilt photos because I know there are several on the roads we hope to travel next week.  But right now, with one motorcycle in the Harley hospital and the "back up" Yamaha ( the one that DH is supposed to sell but I guess maybe it's a good thing he hasn't) needing a new tire, my photos might be taken from the passenger seat of the RV !  

Hope everyone is having a great September! 

Alternate Plans

Egg Harbor  in Door County Wisconsin

It seems this travelogue is taking longer than the actual trip!  But if there is anyone still interested in reading about the final miles of our trek through Michigan and Wisconsin, I'll put the finishing touches on this and move on to other subjects.

Giant Hiawatha statue in the city park in Ironwood, Wisconsin.

After our drive up the Kewneenaw Penninsula, it was our intention to head down to Ironwood, Wisconsin, spend the night there, then the next day head up to Bayfield and on to the Apostle Islands. After a long day of riding we arrived at our motel, found a local restaurant for dinner and as usual spent the evening planning the next leg of our journey.  But when we turned to the Weather Channel and saw the forecast for severe storms in the area that we'd be traveling, we decided to change our plans.  It was disappointing because even though we had lived in Wisconsin for several years, we'd never had the chance to explore that part of the state.  But riding in heavy rain, with lightning and strong winds did not sound like a pleasant way to spend the last few days of our vacation. 

The next day, we got an early start as we headed east towards Door County, our alternate destination.  The best app on our iphones is the live radar weather map.  As long as we had good phone reception, we could stay ahead of the storms and plan our route across the state.  It wasn't but fifteen minutes after reaching our hotel in Green Bay that the heavy rain began.  We'd made it just in time!  The next morning, the clear blue skies were back and we could enjoy a trip up to the tip of Door County.  As you can see in the top photo, we had a beautiful day to enjoy a motorcycle ride and all the sights of this tourist mecca. Luckily the crowds and traffic during the week aren't too bad.

Though it had been over ten years since we'd been here in Door County, we didn't see that a lot had changed.  Wilson's Ice Cream shop was still the place to stop for a great lunch (or ice cream!) in Ephraim.  We sat under the awning and enjoyed our sandwiches and watched the activity at the beachfront park across the street.

After a day of riding, sight-seeing, and even a little shopping we tried one of the traditional things that tourists do in Door County.  Pelletier's is just one of the restaurants that offers the Fish Boil, but probably one of the most popular. You can click on their link for a full description of the "event" and the meal.  Which is basically just whitefish, potatoes and onions.  Maybe not the best meal we had on our trip, but still one of those things you just have to do when visiting the area.  The cherry pie that comes with the meal was wonderful though!

I thought you might like this pretty Wisconsin dairy farm photo.  Of course, buzzing by at 60 MPH on a Harley does not make it easy to get a good photo. 

We timed our departure from Door County to arrive in Sheboygan, Wisconsin around lunch time.  After a quick stop at the nice Harbor Centre Marina where we kept our boat when we had one, we were happy to find that one of our favorite restaurants of all time was  still in business.  Il Ritrovo has the BEST wood fired pizza!

 

So good, that I forgot take a photo until after we'd eaten half of it.  The waitress tried to tell us that one pizza only serves one.  But with the bruschetta, this was plenty for the two of us. 

Other than racing the rain storm, we'd had wonderful weather on this trip.  But by this afternoon, the heat was back on.  Once we got on the road, it wasn't too bad, but as we headed south to Milwaukee we hit road construction. For those of you who ride motorcycles, you know the joys of sitting in traffic on a hot Harley!  We were happy to finally get to our daughter's condo in northern Illinois, and even happier that her new air conditioner had been installed! Her college roommate and her cute little baby were visiting too, so we were lucky that there was room at this inn!   One food group we hadn't yet enjoyed on this trip was Mexican.  So E recommended a local place called Rudy's Mexican Grill.  We'd been here before, but I think it was so cold and rainy that I didn't really remember the food.  But this time I had the Tacos James - steak and shrimp tacos.  Yummy!   

We've never ridden the Harley through the Chicago area before, and we weren't looking forward to it much this trip. But it was either that, or take a looooong detour around the city and add several hours to our trip home.  So we got up early and hit the road.  I don't think we've ever had such an easy trip through Chicago - car or motorcycle.  But it was about 7:30 am on a Saturday morning and we lucked out with the light traffic.

Passenger's view of the Chicago skyline

The temperatures began to soar the closer to home we got.  The the last 75 miles brought back the necessary rain storm dodging again and we donned our rainsuits for the first time since we'd left home nine days before.  Home again!  Another trip is planned for August.  I think we'll be recovered by then and ready to tackle the highways again! 

On the Road, Once Again!

Tomorrow morning, we'll be loading up and heading up the road on the Harley.  Please rain, stay to our south!  With any luck, I'll try to get a blog post or two on here along the way.  We've been looking forward to another long road trip ever since we recovered from the last one!  See ya later!

The Last of the Miles!

I promise this is the last of the photos I'll post from our vacation last month.  When it gets to the point where I can't remember which one goes where in the sequence of our travels - it's time to move on!

I'm not sure where this pretty mountain range with the wildflower windowsill was  but it's pretty typical of the scenery we enjoyed through this portion of our trip. 

We did have to dodge a few rain showers and stopped to pull our rainsuits out occasionally.  This is our attempt at a self portrait!

Here's the full effect of the rainsuit.  Obviously I'm not making any fashion statement here but then I don't know that it's possible to care when riding a motorcycle for several days and attempting to stay dry (or cool or warm - depending upon the conditions of the moment!)

We spent some time exploring the Mabry Mill and taking a gazillion photos of this famous pictureseque old grist mill/saw mill.  Of course D was fascinated with the sawmill and old woodworking shop. 

Since we were there right at lunch time - we checked out the restaurant. 

It didn't take much to talk a hungry biker into trying one of their famous dishes.  Take a couple of cornmeal pancakes, stuff them with pulled pork and cheese then serve with the requisite cole slaw and pickle!  Maybe not the prettiest dish on the menu, but surprisingly good and definitely filling! 

One of the prettiest overnight stops on our trip was in Blowing Rock, NC.  We stayed at the Village Inn .  I think this is an older motel that has been remodeled and updated.  The rooms were small but attractively updated and decorated in an upscale lodge decor. Two complaints though were the non-working wi-fi in the room and the bedding on the comfy beds that kept slipping off.  (They do make fitted sheets for those deep mattresses!)  Otherwise - very nice!

Another interesting stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway is the Moses Cone Manor, one  of the Southern Highland Craft Guild shops.  A gorgeous old home with a great view.

We didn't just sit on the bike all day - we did get off and do a little hiking.  Which only proved to us that we should do that more often!  This was a nice hike up to Linville Falls.  I think it was about 1 1/2 miles up to this viewing point. 

We stopped at Mt. Mitchell for another hike up to the summit but didn't stay long as we could see the low clouds rolling in.  Sure enough, before long we were stopping to put our rain gear on again.  Nice of them to put those little rock walls along the sides of the scenic viewing points.  Within a few miles of this we had to come to a complete stop at a visitor's center to let the rain and fog subside. 

We made it to the Asheville Best Western where we had reservations for the night with plenty of time to do some research for an interesting place for dinner.  Downtown Asheville is a most interesting place, especially on a Friday night, with a wide range of local restaurants to pick from.  We found Mayfel's and enjoyed our meal there, plus it was right across from the park where they hold a weekly "drum circle".  This draws quite a crowd, with quite a variety of participates and observers. 

We hadn't planned to spend too much time in Asheville, since we've been here before.  But we drove out to the Grove Park Inn (someday we're going to splurge for a night or two here!) and spent most of the morning browsing at the Grovewood Gallery then back downtown  to the Mast General Store and  lunch at another great cafe. I should have taken a photo of another great store we discovered, Tops for Shoes, a huge shoe store downtown also.   

With all of our browsing around  Asheville, we didn't get as far on down the Parkway as planned but spent our last night out in Maggie Valley then made our way home the next day.  One last photo from the outside of the log cabin at the Visitor's  Center at the end (or beginning - which ever way you want to look at it!) of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

We love the Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway!  I'm sure this isn't the last time I'll be writing about a ride here!  So this is all of the posts  you will have to endure about this 2030 mile motorcycle vacation.   But I'm sure there will be more rides to come - in fact we're already contemplating a short overnight ride for this coming weekend!  Thanks for "riding" along with us!! 

More Miles to Go!

I hope you're not tired of seeing pics of our vacation yet - because I've still got at least a couple posts to go! 

I wish I could figure out how to post a map of our trip here but that one's a little out of my expertise yet.  I'm sure there's a way though!  Anyway - from Pennsylvannia we headed across the corner of Delaware, skirting around Philadelphia and Wilmington.  We used up some Hampton Inn points with a weekend night stay at a very nice Hilton near Newport.  We figured we'd be the only guests arriving by motorcycle but just as we drove up, a nice couple from upstate New York pulled in on their Gold Wing.  Most of our motel stays on this trip were at  Best Westerns.  They have a special  Harley Davidson  discounted rate (usually the same as AAA) and most of them advertise as "motorcycle friendly".  Which usually means they will let you park under the covered entry at the front if there's room and also provide a place to wash your motorcycle.  D took advantage of that several times as he's pretty particular about the dust collecting on his pretty bike!  

The next morning we headed across the bridge into New Jersey and down the little corner to Cape May.  This is not the New Jersey you imagine when thinking of this state.  There are a  lot of farming communities with roadside vegetable and fruit stands.  We made it to Cape May in time for the ferry ride across the Delaware Bay to Lewes - back in Delaware again.  The hour and a half ferry ride was fun and relaxing.  We spent most of the time on the deck and D experimented with his camera.  Mostly taking dozens of photos of the gulls overhead and the jelly fish floating by in the water!

This is one of the light houses as we approached Lewes.  And a beautiful tall ship anchored in the harbor where we disembarked.

We spent an hour or so walking around the pretty historical town of Lewes.  There were several cute shops and cafes but we arrived on the first day of a record heat wave and we were soon ready to be on our way.  We had found a parking spot near the old forge - we didn't notice the anvil hanging above until walking back to the bike.  Luckily the blacksmith did a good job of welding that sucker up there! 

A few sights from our stroll around the town. 

Our plan was to head on down to Ocean City, but we decided to eat an early dinner and hopefully let some of the afternoon heat subside.  (We enjoyed some excellent crab cakes at Crabby Dicks !)  Along the road we saw several of these towers.  They are remnants of the WWII Harbor Defense System of the Delaware Bay. 

I'm afraid we weren't too impressed with Ocean City.  Just lots of hotels, restaurants and beach wear and souvenir shops.  It reminded us of Myrtle Beach.  Plus the traffic was terrible and with the heat wave and the heat from the bike, the ride was not pleasant.  Sorry Ocean City!  Some of the beaches did look nice but they were very busy.  At this point we changed our travel plans.  We had planned on going on down the road and crossing over to Virginia Beach, but with expensive hotels, traffic, heat wave and  lots of people, we decided to cut back inland and head somewhere else.  This is the sunset as we headed west to Salisbury where we spent the night.  Hard to believe this photo is from the Delmarva Pennisula, and not Kansas! 

The next morning we headed back up the penninsula and across the Bay Bridge.  We thought we would go around Washington DC as we were hoping to stay away from traffic as we traveled toward Fredericksburg, VA.  In the end, we probably should have stayed on the freeway instead of the stoplight riddled suburban streets.  It probably would have been cooler.  This heat wave was getting the best of us and not making for pleasant riding.  The best temperatures for riding as far as we're concerned are between 70-80degrees.  Ninety-five plus is just too hot, especially when the humidity is near 80% (!) as it was these few days. 

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We had hoped to get to Fredericksburg in time to take a trolley tour, but by the time we checked into the motel and found the historic downtown area, we had missed the last tour :(  So we walked around a little but honestly, I was so hot and dehyrated that I  had no interest in sightseeing.  We were both tired so didn't do much here.  I would be interested in coming back here though.  Perhaps someday we'll get here again and we can go to Williamsburg and also back to Washington DC.  Just please - don't let it be hot and humid, especially if we're on the Harley!

Finally - Heat relief!  And the journey continues!

Adding Up The Miles

Hello again!   I hope you've had a great couple of weeks!  We certainly did!  With 2230 miles added to the Harley speedometer, we covered a lot of this beautiful country in the last few days.

 

First on our itinerary - Fallingwater.  We've been Frank Lloyd Wright fans for years and have always hoped to get here some day.  We've visited Taliesin in Wisconsin but Fallingwater is much more impressive. 

 

Built for the Kaufmann family as a summer getaway back in the 1930's, Wright constructed this unique home over top of a waterfall. 

He anchored it in the existing rocks and I'm sure it was an engineering nightmare at the time.  The beauty of the stream and trees and the work of the Conservancy to maintain the property make this a wonderful destination for anyone who admires the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Just one of the interesting trees on the property  - I call this the smiling tree!

We continued our travel across the state of Pennsylvannia and found lots of interesting little towns and stopping points.  This little log cabin gift shop of course caught my eye! 

But our next destination was Gettysburg.  Several years ago, when E was a grad student at Penn State, we stopped here on our way back from Washington, D.C. and toured the battlefields.  We bought a CD that was a self-guided tour and something I would recommend to everyone.  Next time we're through here, I'd like to take one of the bus tours.  It was pretty warm on this day and this tour group was lucky to have the shade of one of the big old trees.

Last time we were here, it was late winter so not much was open downtown.  This time, we browsed through some of the shops and had lunch at a corner "tavern".  The Saturday morning Farmer's Market was just about over, but we enjoyed looking at the wonderful fresh veggies, fruits and other products. 

These statues downtown looked very lifelike, right down to the corduory on the tourist's slacks!

Well, that's it for the first TWO days of our vacation.  We covered so much ground that it's going to take me a few more posts to get it all "blogged".  I probably should have tried to blog from the motel room every night, but since we didn't have a real set travel plan, we would figure out each night where we wanted to go the next day and what we wanted to see. With sometimes sluggish, or non-existent internet connections, we we lucky to get that done.   But it was great to not have to be anywhere in particular and take our time to get to where we wanted to be.   Even though we had some hot days of travel, the Harley was in top running condition and our little trailer came in handy as we collected our "souvenirs" along the way. 

Thanks for not giving up on me!  I'll be back with the rest of the trip soon.