| Posted: 20 March 2006 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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This trip took about 5 months to plan, finding new parks, shorter distances per day, different routes etc... to make it possible. As you will read, this trip wasn't so much difficult by any means as far as distance goes, but it took timing to pull it off. As most of you know that have done this before, you can't get your stamps to prove you were there after 5 pm, so all of the stops had to be made during visitors centers operating hours.
I'm 38 years old, but still prefer the old school way of mapping a trip like this which is using a Rand McNally. At no time was a GPS used in planning, figuring mileage, during the trip. We used maps on our tank bags during the ride. Call us stupid, but it seems more of an adventure to me to figure it out this way than having a computer tell me how close the next Denny's is. You guys that rode long distance before all of these farkles were invented appreciate this.
My father was talked into this ride with me, and we decided to use the middle of June for daylight reasons.
6-17-05 Leave home heading to Prairie Du Chien, WI for the start of the ride tomorrow. Went through 3 detours due to construction during this 330 mile hike. I was hoping this trend wouldn't continue, as we would have to go through 65 more detours before the week was out. A woman in a gas station said my K1200LT looked like a space bike, I told her it was a BMW and she said " Oh, like a knockoff of a Goldwing". At least she knew bikes, most people ask me what kind of Harley it is.
6-18-05 Day 1 Left the hotel at 7:15 to get our gas receipt for the start, and head to the first park. A doe decided to check my ABS about a mile from the park. I've decided that that close calls with animals is better than any caffiene in the morning.
1. Effigy Mounds National Monument, Harpers Ferry, IA 8:00 am
2. Herbert Hoover Home, West Branch, IA 11:15 am
3. Lincoln Home, Springfield, IL 3:00 pm
Rode to Paducah, KY for a hotel, arrived at 8:00 pm. In the upper midwest they sell "Billy Bob" teeth in gas stations as a gag. I noticed that as we went farther south that the frequency of seeing them for sale got less and less. It made me think that maybe they sell "Yankee" teeth which are straight and white and make fun of our accents down here. Never did see any. 630 total miles
6-19-05 Day 2 Left hotel at 7:00 am and rode down " The Trace" in the land between the lakes. Beautiful ride, but another deer timed it's road crossing with my arrival. I don't have enough undrwear along to keep this pace up. I've brought my crappiest (he he) pairs of underwear and socks along for the trip, throwing them away each morning, so I have less baggage at the end of the trip, and new underwear etc.. when I get home. I don't know why I kept some of these so long, some of them looked like jock straps, and the poor fruit of the loom guys had just the grape dude holding on with one hand in the back.
4. Fort Donelson, Dover, TN 8:15 am
5. Mammoth Cave, Mammoth Cave, KY 11:15 am
We took Hwy 70 (2 lane) from the park to W.M. Natcher Parkway, and kept passing a church (it's Sunday) it seemed like every 5-10 miles. I looked at my map, and my throttle hand figured out the speed needed to get to the parkway before noon when all of these people were leaving to go slowly to a buffet somewhere.
We stopped in Owensboro, KY for gas and found Second Chance Auto sales for a picture with our bikes. We had to pay homage to Earl Hayden for raising 3 of the finest motorcycle racers in the nation. This dealership funded everything before they turned pro, and Earl still runs it, too bad they were closed.
6. Lincoln Boyhood home, Lincoln City, IN 2:00 pm
We got split up in Cincinnati, me making the wrong turn, Dad didn't. I stopped because I thought he got caught at a light, he wasn't coming so I thought maybe he went down. I backtracked to where I last saw him, turned back when I realized I went the wrong way before. (Insert GPS joke here) I continued toward our destination for the evening, figuring he would be pulled over somewhere sooner or later waiting for me. It came up pretty soon, because he wasn't wearing his reading glasses, and couldn't read his map on the tankbag. We continued on to Chillicothe, OH stopping for a sit down meal on the way because I over calculated the distance by 50 miles. Hotel at 9:15 pm, 650 miles.
6-20-05 Day 3
7. Hopewell Culture Monument, Chillicothe, OH 8:30 am
8. Flight 93 Memorial, Shanksville, PA 1:00 pm
Hopefully they will be putting signs out for this soon, it wasn't easy to find.
9. Johnstown Flood Memorial, St Micheal, PA 3:00 pm
10. Allegheny Portage Historical Site, Cresson, PA 4:30 pm
Rode to just east of Middleton, NY stopped 10:15 pm, 610 miles.
6-21-05 Day 4 Left hotel at 7:00 am, arrived at 7:50 to FDR Home, visitors center gift shop opened doors 45 minutes late to get stamp.
11. FDR Home, Hyde Park, NY 8:45 am
12. Vanderbuilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY 9:00 am
13. Eleanor Roosevelt Home, Hyde Park, NY 9:10 am
14. Martin Van Buren Home, Kinderhook, NY 10:30 am
15. Springfield Armory, Springfield, MA 1:00 pm
To get Connecticut as a state, we used the Appalachian trail as the stamp. To show good intentions on this we went to Salisbury, CT which the trail runs through and took pictures of our bikes on the Appalachian trail when it crossed a street in town. then we took a picture of our bikes by a sign that said we were in Salisbury, CT and left to get our last stamp for the day. It was this time that I realized that it was going to be tough to make it there by 5:00 pm. The roads to get back are full of stoplights, traffic etc... We decided to not race there, because some of the parks had summer hours until 6pm, and it wasn't worth the risk. Well it was 5:45 by the time we got to the visitors center at Dingmans Falls and they were closed. There were some cars in the parking lot yet, so we waited for them hoping one of them had gotten the stamp. Amazingly one couple did, but they wouldn't even sell their stamp. We were screwed. Dad suggested that we go to the ranger station to get them to sign something to prove we were there. Nobody at the ranger station either. We stayed deciding what to do for about 20 minutes, and I had called it quits when a ranger drove in. Dad walked over, explained our situation, and he said he could do better then sign something, he had keys to the visitors center! So back we went, got our stamps, profusely thanked the ranger, and rode all the way to Harrisburg, PA like we were on a cloud, because the trip was still on! 580 miles
16. Delaware Water Gap, NJ-PA
6-22-05 Day 5
I should explain at this time that on the previous 4 days we were wearing all the correct protective gear except for gloves. Now it looked like we were wearing red mittens. I snore a lot, and Dad has been wearing earplugs at night in the hotel. As I was falling asleep in bed with the lights out, I hear this squishing-squirting noise coming from Dad's bed. I'm frozen now, eyes wide open in terror because it sounds like Dad is playing with himself, and he can't hear how much noise he's making because of the earplugs. As I'm figuring out how to get him to stop, i'm trying to look over there from the bathroom light and notice his hands rubbing together. I get up, turn the light on between the beds, and see him applying aloe-vera on his sunburnt hands. I still didn't sleep for an hour (from the laughing).
Leave hotel 6:45 am
17. Gettysburg National Battlefield, Gettysburg, PA 7:45 am
18. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal national Park, Williamsport, MD 8:45 am
19. Potomac National Scenic Trail, Williamsport, MD 8:45 am
Dad met a really nice retired couple in a Winnebago here.
20. Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD 9:20 am
21. Harpers Ferry National Park, Harpers Ferry, WV 10:00 am
As we were leaving, the nice retired couple met us on their way in in their Winnebago. As the driver was hanging out the window waving to us, he rear ended a stopped camper doing about 15 miles an hour. Dad looked at me like it was our fault, and i said we can only drive defensively for ourselves, not everyone. We left.
22. Appalachian National trail Stamp, Harpers Ferry, WV 10:20 am
23. Monacacy Battlefield, Frederick, MD 11:00 am
Traffic started getting really heavy around here, and lasted until about 6:00 pm. We didn't get as many on this day we wanted to, but we had some reserves to use on the next few days.
24. Manassas Battlefield, Manassas, VA 1:00 pm
25. Fredericksburg Battlefield, Fredericksburg, VA 4:00 pm
Rode to Richmond, VA 7:30 pm 310 total miles. My wife Sue started working on getting more possible spare sites if we needed them. She found 2 more possibles, and steered us away from another. How's that for support!
6-23-05 Day 6
Left hotel at 7:00 am
26. Maggie L. Walker Historic Site, Richmond, VA 8:05 am
27. Richmond National Battlefield, Richmond, VA 8:20 am
28. Petersburg National Battlefield, City Point, VA 10:40 am
Not an easy one to find (insert GPS joke again) On the way to the next spot, it was getting into the high 90's and hydration was getting to be a factor, just kept our jackets on, and kept drinking Gatorade. on I-40 between Raleigh and Wilmington, we got to enjoy going through a fresh entertainment center debris field while the owner was still trying to re-tie the rest of his load.
29. Moorre's Creek Battlefield, Currie, NC 4:00 pm
The ranger gave us directions on how to get to Charleston while avoiding Myrtle Beach. Thanks!
Arrived in Charleston, SC 10:20 pm 530 miles
6-24-05 Day 7
30. Charles Pinckney Home, Charleston, SC 8:45 am
31. Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC 9:45 am
32. Fort Frederica, St. Simons Island, GA 12:30 pm
33. Cumberland National Seashore, St. Marys, GA 2:00
Don Williams was the rangers' name, but he didn't sing.
34. Fort Caroline, Jacksonville, FL 4:00 pm
35. Timucuan Preserve, jacksonville, FL 4:00 pm
Rode to Ashburn, GA 9:30 pm 620 total miles.
6-25-05 Day 8
Left hotel at 6:45 am
36. Andersonville Historic Site, Andersonville, GA 8:10 am
37. Jimmy Carter Historical Site, Plains, GA 9:30 am
38. Tuskeegee Airfield Historical Site, Tuskeegee, AL 10:00 am
39. Tuskeegee Institute Historical Site, Tuskeegee, AL 10:45 am
Visitors Center is very difficult to find on campus. We had to get directions from someone in the food commons during lunch. How do you think 2 old white guys from Wisconsin looked dressed in biker gear at on all black college dining room? We used our wits, tried to pass ourselves off as students there, and someone helped us.
40. Selma to Montgomery National Trail, Tuskeegee, AL 10:45 am
41. Horseshoe Bend National Military Park, Tallapoosa, AL 1:00 pm
Rode to Clinton, MS 590 total miles. We arrived much quicker than expected I messed up my addition again, and my speedometer must have broke for about 85 miles because the Nissan Titan (w/radar detector) we followed on Hwy 80 (2 lane) showed he was averaging @80 mph in a 55, but it started working again when we got on the interstate.
6-26-05 Day 9
42. Vicksburg Military Park, Vicksburg, MS 7:55 am
Met some boys from Texas there who were re-renacting battles, I asked them how they did, and they said they lost every year they participated, were thinking about switching sides or cheating.
43. Poverty Point Historic Site, Poverty Point, LA 9:15 am
Hard to believe the poverty around this part of the country.
44. Arkansas Post National Monument, Gillette, AR 11:30 am
45. Trail of Tears National Trail, Gillette, AR 11:30 am
Ranger said it wasn't hard getting to the Central High School Monument in Little rock, so went there instead of Hot Springs.
46. Central High school Historic Site, Little Rock, AR 2:30 pm
Got our pictures taken on top of the steps going in, and the national gaurd didn't try to stop us. The bike said it was 103 outside, and it felt like it.
Rode to Wal-Marttown, AR, arrived 9:45 pm 570 total miles.
6-27-05 Day 10
Arrived at George Carver site early, didn't open until 9, talked one of the maintenance people to open the visitors center to get our stamp, left at 8:20.
47. George W. Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO
48. Fort Scott, Fort Scott, KS 9:10 am
49. Tallgrass Prairie Monument, Strong City, KS 11:00 am
50. Homestead National Monument, Beatrice, NE 4:58 pm
Notice the time we arrived, they were folding the flag inside when we arrived, and had to unlock the door for us. i thought we were going to need a defibulator for me. We screwed around to much looking for a Pony Express barn to get that stamp, and had to hustle to get here. Turns out the stamp was located here.
51. Pony Express National Trail, Beatrice, NE
52. California National Trail, Beatrice, NE
53. Oregon National Trail, Beatrice, NE
Hoped you enjoyed the story.
Spanky
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'03 K1200LT
'52 DKW RT250
'74 CB750 Rat Hack
Montevideo, MN
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Iron Butt.org General Discussion : Member Discussion area
Topic: 53 National Parks, 25 States, in 10 days
